Chapter 168 - 166

Chapter 168: Chapter 166

Gawain eventually took over the explanation because our father—I mean, Gavin—had somehow managed to make a simple family history sound like a conspiracy theory.

According to Gavin, our mother, Callista Delanye, had been a stunning woman.

She was not just beautiful.

Apparently, she was the most beautiful woman in the entire empire.

I almost started wondering if my ears were going to bleed because Gavin kept repeating it every few minutes like he was personally responsible for maintaining her reputation.

"Your mother was incredibly beautiful," he said for what felt like the tenth time.

"Yes, Father," Gawain said through gritted teeth.

"The most beautiful woman in the empire."

"You’ve already mentioned that."

"And she had the most beautiful—"

"Father."

"What?"

"Please."

We decided to ask how they met instead, but we instantly regretted it.

Gavin’s eyes immediately sparkled again.

"We were very much in love the moment I saw her," he said dreamily. "The moment I laid eyes on her, I knew she was the one."

Gawain and I leaned forward at the same time.

"And...?"

Gavin sighed dramatically, as though preparing to recount the greatest tragedy ever written.

"But your mother didn’t know I was the only one for her."

We slowly started frowning.

"So I pursued her," Gavin continued, pointing at me. "But she only had eyes for your father at the time."

Gawain and I stared at each other.

It was painfully obvious that Gavin had suffered through a one-sided love story for years, but neither of us had the heart to point it out.

Well...

Gawain probably did.

He just wanted to hear the rest of the story first.

"So," Gawain asked slowly, narrowing his eyes, "how exactly did you manage to scam Mom into marrying you?"

"I did not scam your mother!" Gavin scoffed.

"Really?"

"Absolutely not."

I watched him carefully as his confidence lasted approximately three seconds.

"Technically..." He cleared his throat. "I did not scam your mother."

Gawain’s eyebrow twitched. "Then what did you do?"

Gavin suddenly became very interested in his tea.

"I simply..."

He coughed.

"...spread the news that Blanca’s father had died."

Gavin smiled innocently, as if he had done nothing wrong.

"Father..." Gawain finally spoke.

"Yes, my dear son?"

"You faked another man’s death..."

"I didn’t fake it."

"You spread the news that he was dead."

"Technically, he was in a coma for a year."

"...And then you married Mom?"

Gavin nodded proudly. "Exactly."

Gawain slowly rubbed his temples. "So who’s the first husband? You or Blanca’s father?"

"Blanca’s father."

I nearly choked on my milk.

Gawain’s eye twitched. "So you became her second husband while her first husband was still alive?"

"Yes."

"While he was in a coma?"

"Yes."

"And you thought that was perfectly normal?"

Gavin shrugged.

"Your mother needed someone to take care of her."

Gawain stared at him in disbelief.

"You needed someone to take care of her."

"Same thing."

"No, it absolutely isn’t."

I slowly raised my OmniSync and typed.

[So you basically waited for Dad to fall unconscious, declared him dead, married Mom, and called it an opportunity?]

Gavin looked offended. "That sounds terrible when you put it that way."

Gawain immediately pointed at him. "That’s exactly what happened!"

"I prefer to call it romantic persistence."

"It’s called taking advantage of a coma!"

"Your mother was happy."

"That’s not the point!"

I took another sip of milk while watching the two of them argue.

’I was starting to understand why Gawain turned out the way he did.’

Someone had to develop common sense in this family.

Unfortunately, before I could start questioning whether that responsibility had fallen entirely on Gawain, I made a small sound.

"Nyaa."

Both of them immediately looked at me.

"Yes, little sis?" Gawain asked. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"Do you need something?" Gavin leaned closer.

I pulled out my OmniSync and typed carefully.

[I want to know about my real father and why Duke Lyndon Tajiri was introduced as my father instead.]

The moment Gavin read my message, the smile disappeared from his face.

For a second, I thought he was finally going to give me a serious explanation, but instead, he leaned back and sighed.

"After your father woke up from his coma and learned that I married your mother, he immediately tried to kill me by wanting to rip my balls off and feed them to the fish!"

"Father."

"Luckily, your mother decided to rescue me because she was already pregnant at that time."

"Father."

"When your father found out about that, he tried to kill me a second time by kicking me off a cliff."

"Father."

"I was lucky enough to grab onto a branch."

"Father."

"Unfortunately, he saw me still hanging there..."

Gavin paused dramatically.

"...and threw a massive rock straight at my face."

"Father, can we please get to the actual point?" Gawain finally snapped, his patience visibly hanging by a thread.

"Ah, right."

Gavin cleared his throat and finally sat properly.

"Your father is one huge asshole—"

"FATHER!"

"Alright, alright!"

Gavin raised both hands defensively.

"The name of your real father is Hephan Frostine."

The moment he said the surname, he suddenly turned toward me.

"...Wait."

His eyes narrowed.

"You’re also using the family name Frostine. How did you know about that name?"

I froze.

"That name was forgotten a long time ago."

He leaned forward, studying me suspiciously.

"Did you also inherit his ability?"

Gawain immediately shoved himself between us. "Father story now. Questions later."

Gavin frowned. "You’re no fun."

"I’m trying to prevent you from derailing the conversation for the tenth time."

"Fine."

Gavin cleared his throat and finally returned to the subject.

"Hephan Frostine was considered a genius carver. He suddenly appeared and completely swept through the entire carving industry. Nobody knew where he came from, but his skills were extraordinary."

I listened carefully.

"But what made him truly famous wasn’t his carving ability."

Gavin’s expression became more serious.

"It was his ability to see the future."

My ears perked up.

"According to the people who knew him, Hephan always seemed to know what would happen next. He could predict events before they happened, anticipate people’s movements, and sometimes even avoid disasters before anyone else knew they were coming."

I stared blankly at him.

’Hmmm...It seems he also got sucked into a novel as I did.’

The only difference was that he apparently knew the entire plot while I was sitting here like a confused extra who only recognized a few character names.

And what was this whole ability thing anyway?

Why didn’t I have one?

So unfair.

I looked down at my tiny paws.

What did I get?

’Being fluffy.’

...