FVN Chapter 160 : Greenwhistle (4)
Chapter 160 : Greenwhistle (4)
Chapter 160: Greenwhistle (4)
Maximilian looked at us with a smile filled with resolve.
Meanwhile, Michel looked even more shaken than before.
She stared at her former servant for a long while before finally asking:
“…You risked your life… just to save me?”
“Because it was you.”
“What am I to you? What am I, that you’d gamble your life for me? Why?!”
The outburst was so unlike her that Rubiana’s eyes widened in shock.
But the person in question didn’t even blink, calmly reaffirming his determination.
“When everyone else looked down on us, you alone treated us like human beings. You are the center that weak people like us gathered around. Being able to risk my life for someone like you is nothing less than an honor.”
“If you die!”
KWA-A-A-ANG!
“If you die… then what’s the point of any of it?”
“…….”
“Even if the world is filthy and cruel, you have to survive to strive for what comes next. Dreams, ideals, friendship, love… once you die, none of it means anything anymore.”
“No.”
At his former master’s cry, Maximilian firmly shook his head.
“There are dreams that can only be fulfilled through death.”
“…That’s not a dream.”
“That’s merely a difference in perspective.”
“It’s… not… a dream….”
“Well, that’s fine. I didn’t invite you here to ask for your consent in the first place.”
His gaze shifted toward me.
“You understand how I feel, don’t you, Eugene Carter?”
“…Hard to say.”
Sure, there had been times I risked my life because I trusted the girls.
But this felt fundamentally different from that.
Unbothered by my ambiguous expression, he continued.
“We spent a long time gathering evidence to bring Bernhardt down.”
“We obtained decisive evidence rather quickly, but we also needed enough material that they wouldn’t be able to suppress it.”
“So just compiling usable information took us a full twelve years.”
Maximilian pulled a carefully folded document from his coat and handed it to me.
“What’s this?”
“Visitor records and manufacturing logs.”
I skimmed through it lightly and immediately understood.
“…So they worsened Johann Bernhardt’s illness to cloud his judgment, then manipulated him into writing a will that ensured they would inherit the Family.”
“…Exactly.”
As expected of Eugene Carter. Truly impressive.
He offered praise he clearly didn’t mean, then continued explaining.
“Edgar Bernhardt and Mikhail Bernhardt. Despite their outstanding abilities, both ranked rather low within the Family hierarchy.”
Johann Bernhardt, the seventh Head of the Bernhardt Family, wasn’t the sort of man obsessed with hierarchy.
But that didn’t mean he fully embraced meritocracy either.
No matter how much Bernhardt was called a corporate family, if he built the entire system solely around ability, internal backlash would have intensified dramatically.
So he likely chose a middle ground.
Since he was already dead before the main timeline of the story began, all I could do was infer things from the remarks of other characters and evaluations written in internal documents.
Still—
Under his rule, Bernhardt had never once suffered any major instability.
That alone made it obvious Johann was one of the greatest saints ever produced by the Bernhardt Family.
More importantly—
Johann was the one who elevated Michel, a collateral-line descendant, into the direct lineage.
There was even a route where the young Michel became Bernhardt’s eighth Head.
That alone proved how deeply he cherished her compared to his other direct grandchildren.
‘Or perhaps Michel was simply such an overwhelmingly gifted talent that he ignored the existing system altogether.’
That possibility made perfect sense too.
Because of the various mistreatment she suffered within the Family and her desperate struggle to survive, she never stepped fully into the spotlight.
As a result, she tended to be underestimated.
But her talent did not lose in the slightest even compared to Edel Ribenia or Rubiana Magnus.
After proving her abilities at age five and ascending into the direct line, she revived twenty-one out of twenty-seven failing businesses over four years before Johann’s death—and transformed five of them into Bernhardt’s primary revenue sources.
Even now, her capabilities remained unchanged.
She flawlessly handled the notoriously overwhelming duties of Karbenna’s Chairwoman while working barely twenty hours a week.
As though old memories resurfaced, Maximilian slowly closed and reopened his eyes.
“The two men, blinded by ambition, decided to seize the Family even if it meant committing patricide.”
“For the Bernhardt they would control, they chose to sacrifice two people.”
“One was Johann Bernhardt, the seventh Head.”
“And the other was….”
Unable to continue, he fell silent.
Michel finished the sentence for him.
“Johann’s most beloved granddaughter, Michel Bernhardt.”
What she pulled from her pocket was a violet Orb slightly larger than her thumb.
---
“This is….”
“…A Phono Orb.”
As Michel poured a trace amount of mana into it, the Orb began releasing sound.
A recording containing the truth of that day.
The conversation between the two men.
“So, only about a week left?”
“Yeah. In two days, even his consciousness will disappear. The attending physician guaranteed it, so it’s certain.”
“So this is the ideal time to proceed….”
“Your expression doesn’t look too good, friend. Why? Thinking about backing out now?”
“Hmph. If I intended that, I wouldn’t have started in the first place. But… are you truly fine with this?”
“With what?”
“You’re planning to pin every crime onto your own daughter.”
“What’s this? Suddenly getting sentimental?”
“That’s not… the issue.”
“Pull yourself together, Edgar. This isn’t some practice drill. This is real.”
“…….”
“The moment we decided to kill Johann with our own hands, Michel’s treatment stopped mattering to me entirely. No—rather, I should be grateful that my own flesh and blood can participate in this great undertaking.”
“…If you insist that strongly, fine. Tomorrow at midnight, we begin.”
The Orb rapidly lost its glow after exhausting every last sound.
Rubiana sat speechless in shock.
Maximilian frowned with complicated emotions.
And I alone remained relatively calm.
Michel looked over all of us before speaking.
“You said you could finally save me now, Maxy.”
“……Yes.”
“But you don’t need to.”
“I can save myself whenever I want.”
“You possessed evidence of this level all along, and yet how could you….”
“…True. Why is that, I wonder? Maybe I still held some pathetic hope for those people.”
Leaning back against the chair, she looked toward me.
“What do you think I’m trying to do?”
“…….”
I had been waiting for her to ask that question.
In truth—
I already knew the answer.
Ever since the first moment I met her.
The reason I hadn’t spoken it aloud was because I believed she wasn’t yet prepared to face her true feelings.
If this weren’t Apocalypse Mode, there would still have been plenty of time.
She could’ve steeled herself, stepped forward slowly, stumbled a few times, and eventually sought genuine happiness on her own.
But now, there was no time left.
Even if she wasn’t ready, I had to drag her forward by force.
As she herself had said—
One had to survive first before pursuing what came next.
Saving her heart could come afterward.
“Children can’t choose their parents. Unfortunately.”
That was why I said it.
“To a young girl, parents are her entire world. You wanted acknowledgment, didn’t you?”
That alone was why she devoted her talents to them.
Those bastards likely viewed it as a blossoming that should never have occurred.
But naturally—
A child is never guilty for being born.
If there was sin involved, it belonged entirely to the adults.
“The truth is… you probably already know it yourself. That man’s vessel was simply too small to contain someone like you.”
“…….”
“You’ve already proven yourself, Michel.”
“…….”
“You no longer need anyone’s acknowledgment.”
Those words were undoubtedly salvation for her.
Michel silently exhaled for a long while before barely suppressing the tears welling in her eyes.
Then, in a trembling voice, she whispered:
“But… he’s still my father. The only family I have left….”
“No.”
“To that man, you are no longer his child.”
“If Mikhail has any child at all, then that child is Bernhardt.”
And why say you have no family?
I extended my hands toward Rubiana and Maximilian and smiled brightly.
“Just because blood is connected doesn’t automatically make someone family… so isn’t it possible for people without a single drop of shared blood to become family too?”
Michel could no longer say anything.
Rubiana, who had quietly listened the entire time, ended up becoming even more emotional herself and hugged Michel tightly as they cried together.
Watching the scene with complicated feelings, I noticed Maximilian gesturing toward me.
A signal suggesting we give them some privacy.
So we headed out onto the terrace.
Perhaps because the mansion stood deep within the forest, the cold wind blew rather harshly.
“…Haa.”
There was a very high chance this truly was the best choice available to her.
And it was also true that bringing Bernhardt down would be nearly impossible without her help.
But still—
I never wanted to make her cry like this.
Rubiana. Francia. Michel. Edel. Karen…
I wanted them all to smile.
“It’s always darkest before dawn, they say.”
That was what Maximilian quietly remarked while looking at me.
“Yes… I hope that’s true.”
“Eugene Carter.”
Suddenly, Maximilian spoke in a cold tone unlike anything he had shown before.
“I intend to tear Bernhardt apart and burn it to ashes. Until not a single trace remains.”
“Without leaving even a trace… huh.”
“It won’t be easy… but I’ll do it.”
“But why only act now?”
“…….”
“Even if the evidence wasn’t enough yet, it still seemed sufficient to pressure them. If your goal was to free Michel from those bastards….”
“Everything has its proper timing.”
Stretching his hand toward the distance, he continued:
“To completely burst a dam, you first have to fill it to the brim.”
“The countless sins the direct line accumulated have already filled the dam completely. Now even the smallest crack will be enough.”
As he spoke, he clenched his fist tightly once more.
“The filth will pour out and poison this land for a short while, but that damage will only be temporary. Because afterward, the Empire will no longer contain poison like Bernhardt.”
“…Though I’m not convinced the organization you belong to is all that different.”
“We aren’t certain we’re right either.”
“But there’s one thing I can promise.”
“At the very least, we’re better than Bernhardt.”
The conviction in his eyes bordered almost on fanaticism.
Looking directly into the faint killing intent emanating from him, I asked:
“Is that statement coming from the leader of Greenwhistle, or from an executive of the Platinum Dawn Society?”
“From a citizen of the Ribenia Empire.”
“…….”
“And let me make this clear in advance—I can no longer make decisions solely for Master Michel’s sake. The life I carry… the life I chose to carry… is for the overwhelming majority of the Empire’s citizens.”
“So despite my shamelessness, I ask this of you.”
“Please become her reason to live, Eugene Carter.”
“…….”
“If you promise me that, then no matter what chaos erupts in the future, I will personally guarantee the safety of both you and Michel. Even if it costs my life.”
Seems Michel truly had done a great deal for him.
Leaning against the terrace railing, I answered his request.
“Sorry, but I’m greedy. I never intended to choose only one from the start.”
It might differ slightly from what he imagined, but this was my path.
“My goal is to save Michel—and save the world too.”
“Because that’s the life I chose to bear.”
“I sincerely hope you’re looking toward the same future I am.”
I spoke with unwavering certainty.
Perhaps seeing a young man who possessed eyes equal to—or perhaps greater than—his own caused something within him to shift.
“…If it turns out I was wrong.”
Maximilian grasped my left hand firmly and said with determination:
“Then kill me without hesitation. For Michel’s sake.”
“…Depends on how you behave.”
For a brief moment, we looked each other in the eyes and exchanged a handshake of oath.
The night deepened further.