TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 112

“Dad!”

Albin threw his arms around Zeman, who had just arrived after a long journey, and was enveloped by the man’s wide cloak.

He blinked innocently, as if he hadn’t run away from home at all and everything were perfectly normal.

The coldness in Zeman’s eyes softened. Taking hold of Albin’s wrist, he immediately pulled off his black glove and carefully examined his hand from every angle, as though checking for something.

He also cast several detection spells on Albin. Magical runes circled around him before fading away. Only then did Zeman’s expression finally relax.

A puzzled look appeared on Albin’s face.

Was it because he had gotten close to Little Black? Was his father worried that he was in danger?

Zeman’s cautious behavior made Albin become serious as well.

“Why did you run away from home?” Zeman asked coldly, completely unmoved by Albin’s enthusiastic greeting.

“Because all of you have been hiding things from me!” Albin shot back indignantly. “Why didn’t you tell me you had already found Little Black? Why am I supposedly in danger if I get close to him? Why won’t any of you tell me anything? What exactly are you planning, Dad?”

Zeman fell silent as he looked at Albin’s angry face.

After a long while, he finally said, “I know you want to see him, but can you wait a little longer? I will let you reunite with him.”

Albin looked at him in disappointment.

“That’s not good enough.”

“I can accept not seeing Little Black for now, but I want to know what’s going on.” Albin unwillingly grabbed the corner of Zeman’s clothing. “If it’s some work-related matter that isn’t appropriate for me to know, then fine, keep it from me. But this time…”

“Gold and Sutanlai were both seriously injured while I knew nothing about it. I had absolutely no idea.”

Albin carefully watched Zeman’s expression.

Zeman didn’t deny it. Instead, he seemed surprised that Albin even knew.

That only made Albin angrier.

For a long time, even when he couldn’t directly participate in dangerous matters, he had always tolerated them and done everything he could to support them in his own way.

He had always been understanding.

But this time, if he hadn’t seen it in the comic, he would still be completely in the dark.

His family members had nearly died, and he had known nothing before or after the fact.

“I want to protect all of you. I want to protect everyone. If my power can’t help the people I care about, then what’s the point of having it?” Albin accused, staring at him. “Do you still think I’m that weak little child I used to be?”

“No!” Zeman immediately refuted him and answered solemnly. “You’re very capable. I’ve always been proud of you.”

He gently stroked Albin’s fluffy white hair, pride visible in his eyes.

This was the child he had personally raised.

No one knew Albin’s strength better than he did.

Even Zeman himself now found Albin somewhat difficult to deal with in combat.

Albin was already a first-rate mage proficient in all elements. Given enough time, he would undoubtedly surpass Zeman and become the strongest person on the continent.

As far as Zeman was concerned, even Albin’s personality was flawless.

At home, he was lively, adorable, and considerate. Toward ordinary people, he was gentle, tolerant, and kind-hearted, yet never weak.

Years of love and affection had erased the insecurity Albin carried as a child. At the same time, it had fostered a perfectly balanced stubbornness—a determination to get what he wanted and never back down. That stubbornness had become the strongest part of his character.

And because of that, Zeman knew Albin would never let the matter go until he got answers.

Sure enough, although Albin’s anger lessened somewhat after the praise, he didn’t retreat.

Instead, he spoke even more bluntly.

“Dad, even if you refuse to tell me, I can investigate the truth myself. Unless you watch me twenty-four hours a day, I can run away from home again. Emerald can’t stop me. Larimar and Hailan can’t stop me either.”

“At that point, maybe it won’t be you catching me anymore—it’ll be me catching you.”

Those crimson eyes stared at him firmly.

“I won’t let you put yourselves in danger. I might ruin your plans and tie all of you up.”

Narrowing his eyes and placing his hands on his hips, Albin declared,

“Choose. Either you tell me honestly, or wait for me to come capture all of you.”

Beneath his black-and-gold cloak, several crimson chains radiating dangerous energy dangled restlessly.

The space around him rippled as if chains capable of restraining even gods might emerge at any moment.

Those chains had originally been created specifically to deal with Zeman.

A father was being threatened by his own son!

Yet Zeman felt no anger whatsoever.

Instead, he felt a sense of pride.

As expected of my son!

The corners of his lips lifted slightly.

With a personality like Albin’s, even if Zeman were gone someday, no one would ever be able to bully him easily.

Still, he needed a different approach if he wanted to persuade Albin.

Lowering his eyes, he concealed his emotions.

“I understand.”

He let out a helpless sigh, looking every bit like a father giving in.

“I can tell you the truth. But in exchange, you must promise not to go near that Blake anymore.”

Albin puffed out his cheeks unhappily.

“Tell me what’s going on first, Dad.”

“The Sun God is inside Blake.”

That short sentence instantly caused Albin’s brain to stop functioning.

“W-what?”

He stared at Zeman in disbelief, struggling to process the words.

Zeman explained,

“Eight years ago, I severely wounded the Sun God, but I failed to kill him completely. A fragment of his soul escaped. At the time, that fragment attached itself to Blake, who happened to be near the battlefield.”

Albin’s eyes widened abruptly.

“The person who should have become the Sun God’s vessel was me. If not for my mistake, that boy would never have been targeted by the Sun God.”

“No!” Albin interrupted his guilt. “I remember the Sun God choosing me as his Holy Son… Wait, is this the danger you were talking about?”

Zeman nodded.

“I’m worried the Sun God might transfer from Blake to you.”

“But it was supposed to be me in the first place! The moment I chose to become the Holy Son of the Sun, I accepted facing things like this. But Little Black is innocent!”

Thinking about Blake’s current situation, Albin became frantic with worry.

If he got close to Little Black, would the Sun God transfer into him instead?

But Zeman sharply rebuked him.

“And that is exactly why we couldn’t tell you the truth. Exactly why we couldn’t let you get close to him.”

Once Albin learned the truth, with his personality, he would undoubtedly volunteer to become the Sun God’s vessel himself.

Albin had no energy left to argue about that.

Pressing his lips together, he asked,

“Is there a way to get the Sun God out of Little Black?”

He knew that once someone was possessed, the host’s soul would disappear. In other words, Little Black could die at any moment and become nothing more than the Sun God’s vessel.

But if they were constrained by the need to protect the host, how were they supposed to deal with the Sun God?

“That’s exactly what I’ve been working on,” Zeman said, his eyes dark. “As long as we lure the Sun God out and defeat him, it will be enough. If Blake encounters an opponent dangerous enough, the Sun God will inevitably appear to keep his host from dying.”

For Zeman, killing the Sun God wasn’t difficult.

The difficult part was figuring out how to keep Blake alive.

“But didn’t you already defeat Little Black before, Dad? Did the Sun God come out then?”

Zeman explained, “Even a god can only act within the limits of the host’s original strength. Blake isn’t strong enough yet. The Sun God knows that even if he emerged, he still wouldn’t be able to defeat me, so he never showed himself.”

“That’s why I deliberately pretended to be severely injured, lowered the Sun God’s guard, and pushed Blake to grow stronger as quickly as possible. Everything was done to draw the Sun God out.”

Realization dawned on Albin.

“No wonder you told Little Black that you were his father’s killer. So that was on purpose.”

He knew it!

His father wasn’t that kind of villain at all!

“Including Larimar and the others—they’re all part of the process of helping Blake grow stronger. They may get injured along the way, but don’t worry. I won’t let anything happen to them. And Blake will definitely reunite with you safely.”

The thought that everyone would have to fight made Albin feel inexplicably uneasy.

Still, he knew his father truly wouldn’t harm Little Black.

After all, Little Black wasn’t only Albin’s friend—he was also Uncle Jacque’s adopted son.

Albin muttered unhappily, “Can’t we just let the Sun God transfer into me and then carry out the same plan?”

From his father’s description, it sounded like Little Black was going to get beaten up again.

Albin’s heart ached for him.

If it were Albin instead, maybe they could at least pretend to fight.

“No.”

Zeman rejected the idea without hesitation.

“If the Sun God transfers into you, he could move back into Blake’s body at a critical moment. Then everything we’ve done would be wasted. You haven’t received the Holy Mark yet, so the best way to save him is to stay as far away from him as possible.”

Albin wilted and quietly acknowledged it.

“Will that really be enough?”

Something still felt wrong to him.

“Yes.”

Zeman nodded.

Frowning, Albin said, “Even though I don’t want to see everyone get hurt, I’ll cooperate if that’s what’s necessary. But why didn’t you tell me earlier? At least let me help somehow.”

Zeman lowered his head and apologized.

“I’m sorry. I was afraid you’d worry.”

The apology came so quickly and decisively that Albin froze.

“Don’t do this again next time!”

“There won’t be a next time,” Zeman replied softly.

After spending some time together, Albin returned to his room.

Even if he couldn’t see Little Black for now, he could still write letters!

The thought immediately cheered him up, and he hurried away to start writing.

After he left, however, a blue-haired figure entered the living room.

Hailan looked at the expressionless Zeman and suddenly spoke.

“That isn’t your entire plan, is it?”

Zeman’s crimson eyes swept over her.

“If that were all there was to it, you could have told us—and Albin—from the very beginning. Albin is sensible and reasonable. He wouldn’t have interfered. As his father, there’s no way you couldn’t have predicted how he would react.”

“But you still chose to hide it. That means you know Albin would never accept your real plan.”

Albin might sabotage the plan.

He might even place himself in genuine danger.

As she spoke, a thought suddenly occurred to Hailan, and her expression changed.

“You’re going to die, aren’t you?”

Hailan didn’t know Zeman’s true plan.

But she understood his perspective and the way he thought, allowing her to infer his intentions.

Among the siren siblings, Hailan—the older sister—had always been the smarter and more perceptive one, and she was usually the one who made decisions.

Zeman had guaranteed Blake’s survival.

He had guaranteed everyone else’s survival.

But he had never once mentioned his own.

Defeating the Sun God and destroying the Sun God were clearly not the same thing.

Zeman had concealed the method by which the Sun God could truly be eliminated without killing Blake.

And that method was probably one that required Zeman’s own death.

If Zeman already knew he was destined to die, then it made sense that he couldn’t let Albin learn even the slightest hint of the truth.

But Albin had turned out to be far more perceptive than Zeman had anticipated.

As a result, Zeman had been forced to reveal part of the plan in order to dispel Albin’s suspicions.

Faced with Hailan’s probing question, Zeman offered no reply.

He remained silent.

He neither answered—

nor denied it.

After a long pause, he finally said only one thing:

“Don’t tell Albin your suspicions.”

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