The Strongest Family Has Arrived!

Chapter 1

—–CROW—– 

Click.

Countless scenes unfolded in my head, rewinding like a film. A long period of time reversed in an instant.

The moment I gasped for the breath I’d been holding.

“Huk!”

My vision had changed before I knew it.

“Ha… Ha…”

A luxurious dining hall, a table laden with food, and maids rushing towards me in alarm as I suddenly convulsed.

“Lady Vania! Are you alright?”

“Oh my, what happened?!”

There was no pain.

Just surprise at experiencing regression for the first time.

“…I’m fine.”

This place is…

‘Windsor Castle?’

The castle where Father raises his illegitimate children.

The place where I spent my childhood.

‘I’ve become much younger than I thought. How many years have I gone back?’

I grabbed a familiar maid, only guessing at the time.

“…Maria?”

“Yes, Miss. Are you alright?”

“Yes. But when can I see Father?”

This question wouldn’t seem strange. It was something I’d been tiresomely curious about around this age.

As expected, Maria spoke without suspicion, only with a pitying expression.

“As soon as you awaken your ability, Miss, you can see the Duke anytime.”

“What if I can’t?”

In my family, if you don’t manifest an ability by the age of twelve, you’re deemed “incompetent” and cast out.

So, to see Father, I either had to awaken my ability or be judged incompetent and meet him for the first and last time at twelve.

“…Birthday party?”

Maria seemed to pity me, taking a long time to choose her words before finally speaking.

“After you celebrate two more birthday parties, Miss, the Duke will come to see you.”

“I see.”

Being able to see Father after two more birthdays even if I didn’t manifest an ability meant…

‘I’m ten years old now.’

I spread my hands. They were definitely mine, but so small they felt unfamiliar.

‘I’ve gone back ten years.’

Ten years.

Just moments ago, facing death, I regressed ten years.

***

The House of Vasenberg.

An all-powerful family that even the Emperor of the Empire bowed to.

Vania was the jewel of that family.

The most cherished daughter of the Duke of Vasenberg, her father, and also the family’s vice-head.

This was because she possessed an unprecedented ability.

“Vania, we have to run.”

However, the family that seemed eternal crumbled one day. Father and my siblings were all killed.

That horrific dawn.

At the hands of a single person.

“He’ll kill you too.”

My lover grabbed my hand and ran frantically.  As I fled, I saw corpses strewn throughout the mansion.

My half-siblings.

My eldest brother, my second brother…

My sisters, and… even Father.

I couldn’t believe it.

How could they, such powerful ability users, be slaughtered so easily?

“Are you Vania Vasenberg?”

At last, I came face to face with him.

The incompetent one, supposedly banished from the family long ago. The man who, despite that, had caused this massacre.

Ryan Vasenberg.

“What’s this? Your Highness? Let go of her hand and get lost if you don’t want to die with her.”

Ryan gestured dismissively at my lover with an annoyed expression.

“My dreams will be haunted if I kill innocent people along with the guilty.”

“Please spare her.”

My lover immediately pleaded for my life.

“She didn’t know. She’s still too young and innocent…”

“Puhahaha! Really?”

Ryan chuckled, then his eyes glinted menacingly.

“Really didn’t know? The esteemed Princess of Vasenberg? For all twenty years of her life?”

“…”

“All the things you’ve eaten, worn, and enjoyed your whole life… Did you really not know what kind of filthy power you were living on?”

How could I not know?

I knew very well.

Strong military power becomes political power.

It was only natural that the Vasenbergs, the only family to produce ability users, would seize power.

And the fact that such absolute, unchallenged power had become corrupt…

…was a perfectly natural process.

“Please spare her. She couldn’t escape the Duke’s control, nor could she disobey his orders. Please.”

My lover pleaded again, as I couldn’t even offer an excuse.

“Look, Your Highness. I’m not here to weigh whose sins are light and whose are heavy. I can’t trust your judgment, and it’s not my place to judge anyway.”

But the murderer was cold.

“I’ll count to ten. After that, Your Highness will also have a sin to answer for. The sin of protecting her.”

“…”

“That means I’ll add that sin to your list and send you along with her, so don’t misunderstand.”

I swallowed, fear choking me.

I tried to let go of his hand, but my lover gripped it even tighter.

“If you value your life, let go of her hand and get away while I count to ten. 10, 9…”

My mind went blank.

What should I do?

I was also an ability user. I could respond in some way.

But right now, I didn’t know what Ryan’s ability was, so I couldn’t act rashly.

Hadn’t Father and my siblings all died?

What kind of power was Ryan, the supposed incompetent, hiding?

How could he have slaughtered all my siblings, ability users who could conjure fire, lightning, and storms, in such a short time?

“Let go of her hand and get lost if you don’t want to die with her.”

“If you value your life, let go of her hand and get away while I count to ten.”

Ryan seemed to have no intention of taking my lover’s life.  That’s why he kept demanding he get away from me.

‘If we stay together, we’ll both be hit. So, it’s probably an area-of-effect ability.’

I thought calmly.

I recalled the corpses of my dead father and siblings.

Their bodies were completely undamaged.

Not stabbed by a sword, not pierced by a spear.

They had simply stopped breathing, eyes wide open, without a single trace of struggle…

“Ah.”

In that moment, I realized.

And as soon as I realized, I despaired.

‘I’m going to die.’

If Ryan’s ability was what I suspected, there was no way to survive.

“6, 5…”

Then, as if to say a final goodbye, my lover gently cupped my cheek and looked into my eyes.

“Listen carefully.”

But the words he whispered softly weren’t a goodbye.

“If you go back, stop him from taking revenge, Vania.”

“….!”

I was startled. I knew what he was planning to do.

“N-No. If you do that…”

He smiled. Tears welled in his eyes as he gently touched his forehead to mine.

“And… don’t look for me. I’ll only… ruin you again.”

“…”

“Let’s never meet again.”

I couldn’t say anything to his pitiful request. Tears streamed down my cheeks.

“3! 2!”

In that final moment, as the murderer’s taunting voice drew closer…

My lover smiled sadly and said,

“Let’s never love again.”

***

“Miss?”

“Ah.”

“Have you lost your appetite?”

I saw my hand, blankly holding the fork.

“Perhaps you’re not feeling well. I’ll call a physician.”

“No, I’m really fine.”

I shook my head, thinking of someone.

Ryan Vasenberg.

My half-brother, whom I met for the first time facing death.

He was the legitimate heir of the family and Father’s fifth son, but he was incompetent.

At twelve, he was banished from the family, and to make matters worse, Father framed his young son for murder and had him imprisoned in the Imperial prison.

All of this happened before I was even born.

‘It must be… revenge.’

Ryan must have harbored resentment towards Father, who abandoned him and branded him a criminal.

“Hu.”

I quietly put down my cutlery.

“Miss?”

“I’m sorry. I’ve lost my appetite. I’ll eat later when I’m hungry.”

Right now, Ryan would be imprisoned, falsely accused.

No one knew Ryan’s whereabouts after his release, so immediately after his release would be my last chance to find him.

‘He received the maximum sentence at the age of twelve.’

Calculating the time, I immediately ran out of the dining hall.

‘Two years until his release.’

There was no time to lose. I was the only one who knew the tragedy Ryan would cause ten years later.

—–CROW—–