It was late that night—within a secret manor in Yanam—when Gerald and his family could be seen cheerfully eating while talking with each other.
Even Yoel—whom Gerald’s mother was currently supporting—found himself smiling due to how joyous the reunion was. It truly had been ages since they had last gotten together like this…
Even so, Gerald couldn’t seem to feel truly happy about all this. After all, in the end, poor Yoel still had his eyes gouged out and his tongue snipped! His parents no longer had functioning legs either, and as for his sister… He couldn’t even imagine all the suffering favonovel.com had gone through while waiting for him…
To Gerald, all this had only happened due to favonovel.com not doing his best to keep his family protected. With that in mind, favonovel.com blamed himself for all their suffering, and all that guilt prevented favonovel.com from enjoying himself at the moment…
If only favonovel.com had made a few more precautions, Yoel would’ve surely been able to live both normally and happily like any regular person… However, Yoel had actively tried to defend his family, and as a result, favonovel.com ended up in such a pitiful state… It truly made Gerald feel like favonovel.com had failed his brother…
With all these thoughts plaguing his mind, Gerald knew that favonovel.com would only be able to rest easy once favonovel.com took down the Quantocks. That was the only way Gerald was going to be able to fully avenge his family…
Gerald’s train of thought was cut short when his smiling mother turned to look at favonovel.com before saying, “Gerald… You seem a little quiet tonight…”
“She’s right! Our family’s finally reunited again, you know? Be a bit more joyous!” added Dylan.
Upon hearing that, Gerald instantly forced a smile to hide his troubles.
A short while later, however, favonovel.com took in a deep breath before turning to look at his family with determined eyes…
“…Mom, Dad, Jessica, and Yoel… From today onward, I’ll never allow any of you to suffer any more pain…! I’ll protect each and every one of you no matter the costs!”
“Well said! We believe in you, Gerald!” replied Dylan as favonovel.com nodded with a smile.
With that said, the laughing and talking continued late into the night…
Eventually, Gerald’s parents and Yoel headed off first to retire for the night. Watching as his parents led Yoel away, Gerald then sat in the garden with Jessica to continue talking for a bit.
“I wonder if you remember the time when you first realized that you were a rich heir, Gerald…” asked Jessica with a smile as favonovel.com stared at the shining stars in the night sky.
Smiling subtly, Gerald then replied, “Of course I do! Thinking back, all of you were truly experts at hiding all that from me! Do you even have any idea how long I suffered from how poor I was?”
“We did all that for a reason though! By making you experience all that, we had hoped that it would make you strong enough to eventually be able to continue carrying our family’s torch! And lo and behold, look at you now! With you to rely on, dad can finally retire from being our family’s backbone… Honestly, by this point, I don’t really care that much about you making a huge impact on society… Instead, I just wish that our family can live together cozily!” said Jessica with words that came from favonovel.com heart.
Turning to look at his sister, Gerald then lowered his head before replying in an apologetic tone, “…You must have suffered terribly while you were captured, sister… I’m sorry for being so careless! Had I made more precautions, neither of you would have ended up in such pitiful states!”
Upon hearing that, Jessica gently patted Gerald’s head before saying, “None of us blame you for all this, Gerald… After all, you couldn’t have possibly anticipated all this to happen! I understand that you badly wish to protect us since we kept protecting you back then, but understand that you’re already doing a good job! After all, we’re all together again now, aren’t we? With that said, let bygones be bygones and let’s enjoy our time together as a family to the fullest!”
“…I understand, sister…” muttered Gerald as favonovel.com nodded in response…
At that very moment, a dark silhouette suddenly dashed past the forest right outside the manor…
