Ignotus and Gaia hadn’t even made it close to the northern gate before their path was blocked. But it wasn’t a guard this ti, but his own personal headache of a cohort.
Lykos, Ulv, rlin, Nora, and even the usually stoic Aur were there, forming a wall of annoyed faces and crossed arms. They didn’t look like they were there to celebrate his victory...
They looked like they were there to stage an intervention.
"What the absolute Hell was that, Ignotus?!"
Lykos’s wolf ears were flattened so far back against his head that they were practically invisible.
"A public declaration? About a Demon invasion? Do you have any idea what you just did?!"
"I used my words."
Ignotus stopped and tilted his head.
"They have a relic that makes your voice loud. It seed like a waste not to use it."
"You put a massive, glowing, ’Kill ’ sign on your back!"
r added, her hands on her hips, her fire sparking slightly around her hair.
"The Great Houses were already annoyed with you. Now? You’ve basically challenged their entire way of life! They’re going to be sending assassins by the dozen!"
Even Aur, the birdfolk who barely revealed any emotion, looked genuinely concerned.
In response to all their worry, Ignotus let out a dry chuckle while adjusting Eris on his shoulder, who was currently preening her feathers and looking bored by the whole ordeal.
"Exactly. I put a massive public target on my back. It’s much harder for them to kill a public target than a private one. If I die now, everyone knows exactly who did it and why. I hid the real target behind a loud one. It’s called strategy."
’It’s called making sure I have an excuse for the assassins.’
He added that last part only to himself.
"You’re insane, Lord..."
Nora muttered with a long sigh.
"Brilliant, maybe, but mostly just insane."
Ignotus looked down at Lykos, who was still fuming, his tail twitching erratically.
He reached out and casually patted the top of the wolf-folk’s head, ignoring the way Lykos snarled and tried to bite his hand.
"Stop worrying, pup. Your fur is going to fall out from the stress."
Though he was teasing him, his face remained completely deadpan.
"I didn’t know you cared so much about my safety. It’s almost touching. Are you going to cry? Please don’t cry; it’s embarrassing for both of us."
"I’m not crying! I’m angry!"
Lykos barked, his face turning a bright shade of red.
"I just don’t want to lose my only al ticket, you jerk!"
"Sure, sure."
Ignatius turned to Gaia, who was still trying to process the fact that her husband was officially expelled.
"Stay with them. Go back to the manor and start packing the high-value items. We’re moving out soon."
"Where are you going?"
Gaia asked, reaching for his sleeve.
"I have to go visit my sister."
Ignotus pulled his arm away.
"She’s in the dical hub. I feel like she needs a little bit of sibling encouragent. Or at least a reminder of who won."
...
The dical hub was quiet, a stark contrast to the roar of the Colosseum.
Ignotus walked through the halls, ignoring the nurses who scrambled to get out of his way, and quickly reached the place where his sister was supposedly lying.
He pushed open the door to Rosa’s private room and stopped.
Ignotus had expected to find Rosa alone, wallowing in her defeat.
Instead, he found a woman standing by the bed, her back to the door.
She was dressed in the finest silks, her posture collapsing on itself.
It was his mother.
The Matriarch of House Plant turned around as he entered.
Her tearful eyes were scanning him with a mix of distaste and sothing that looked suspiciously like regret—though she’d never admit it.
"Son..."
"Mother."
Ignotus replied with too flat a voice.
But that was all the attention he’d give her.
He walked up to the foot of the bed where Rosa lay, wrapped entirely in bandages.
"Couldn’t you have been a bit more gentle?"
His mother asked, gesturing to the unconscious Rosa.
"This is your sister. Your own blood. You humiliated her in front of the entire stratum."
Ignotus felt a bubble of genuine amusent rise in his chest.
"Gentle?"
He let out a short laugh that echoed off the sterile walls.
"That’s funny coming from you. Where was this ’gentleness’ when you let participate in the First Trial? You knew I was "talentless." You knew I’d die in that dungeon. You didn’t just watch—you signed the papers."
That seed to hit a nerve.
His mother opened her mouth to reply, but a raspy, pained voice beat her to it:
"Just because..."
Rosa was awake.
"Just because your reputation is better now... it doesn’t give you the excuse to act like this!"
She was pushing herself up on her elbows, her face pale and twisted with agony.
"Don’t think I’ve forgotten what you did to our maids!"
Rosa spat, a bit of blood flecking her lips.
"Everyone knows what kind of filth you are, Ignotus!"
Ignotus stood still, watching her.
Instead of feeling angry, he felt... disconnected.
"I was there that day!"
Rosa’s voice rose into a shriek despite her injuries.
"I saw that maid run from your room half-naked and crying! You disgust ! You’ve always been a monster, and a fancy title won’t change that!"
’Ah, that old story.’
Ignotus rembered the mory—or rather, the lack of it.
His past self hadn’t been exactly the best of people, but still, nothing of this was true.
Ignotus had been frad so many tis he’d stopped trying to deny it.
His smile turned into sothing soft, almost sad.
"I’ll say this one last ti..."
It was a look that didn’t belong on a "monster."
"That never happened."
He didn’t elaborate.
He didn’t provide an alibi or a defense.
He just stated it as a simple, objective fact.
Ignotus looked at his mother, then back at Rosa.
"I ca here to tease you, Rosa."
Finally, he turned towards the door.
"But honestly? You’re not even worth the effort anymore. You’re trapped in a past that isn’t even true."
He didn’t wait for a response. He didn’t care if they believed him. He just walked out of the room, the heavy door clicking shut behind him, leaving the two won in the silence of their own rotting legacy.
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