Revenge of the Alastair Family

Among us

Caelum POV:

As we left the royal palace, I decided to go with my parents back home. It had been a while since I had been home. I had been too invested in my research at the magic tower, but being that I had already lived one life, I could already achieve what I wanted.

"Father, Mother." I looked up at them in carriage. "I'm sorry. Our family went through a crisis, and I was nowhere to be found. I didn't even hear of your deaths till a week later. I was just holed up in that damn tower the whole time." The more I thought about it, the more ashamed I felt. I looked at my parents in the face, expecting to see disappointment. Instead, they looked at me with understanding.

"Son," my father replied. "You have always been this way, thirsting for knowledge. We know this, and we love you for it. Do not apologize for something that has not happened yet."

My mother chimed in. "We knew what it was going to be like with a genius magician son. We just want to support you. I know in the past, we put a lot of pressure on you to come back and inherit the title, but we won't do that this time." Mother sounded serious, but it wasn't what I wanted to hear.

"Mother," I protested. "I have learned all I can. I am the most powerful wizard, and still, I couldn't protect my family. Please let me come home and be Duke Alastair. At least with this, I can be here for my family when I need to be. I can't relive my past mistakes again. I know now that my place is here. I have already found a replacement for my position. I am ready to take my place." If I had learned anything, it was that I needed to be by my family.

My parents looked shocked, like they never expected me to come around. Unfortunately, it had taken their deaths for me to change.

"I believe there is mole in the family." I began. "The evidence for your crimes was carefully gathered by someone on the inside. There is no other explanation."

I thought of how the king had so much concrete evidence against my parents that dated all the way back for months.

"Aye," my father replied. "I also had a feeling, but I wanted to be sure before I brought it up." He looked unsure of his next words.

"My brother had always wanted this position and had even tried challenging me for it. After he had lost at every opportunity, I thought he had quiet down. It wasn't until we were being led to our deaths that I saw him talking to the King's mistress."

My eyes widened. I knew my father cared for his brother. If my uncle was even just a little capable, father would have relinquished the title to him. However, my uncle was a fool. He took shortcuts at every corner, had illegitimate children all over, and was so easily pulled into other's schemes. He was thoroughly jealous of my father, who was not just a Duke, but trusted diplomat and hero to our country.

"We need to find who is working for uncle, I think the easiest way will be with a rumor." I carefully explained how we would let out three different rumors to our trusted staff. The butler, the head maid, and the captain of the knight's order. Whichever rumor came back to us would reveal the traitor. It was a simple but solid plan. However, the thought of it being any of these people was unsettling. I truly hoped for no rumors to make its way back to us. And so, my father practiced giving two different performances for the butler and captain, my mother to the head maid. By the time we arrived home, we were ready to take action. All we had to do was set the bait and wait for the letter. I went to my chambers to get ready for the night and write down all that I remembered from my previous life. As new memories began to erase old, I didn't want to forget important happenings that could be used to my advantage. I could only remember vague events from before my parents' deaths, but I'm sure they could help fill that in. I just needed a general outline of events to better navigate my new standing as Duke. We discussed that we would have a succession party next week, hopefully after we caught the traitor. Father didn't have good feelings handing down his title, knowing there was turmoil.

"Leave things better than how you found it," was a favorite saying of my father's. He was a just man, through and through.

I wrote down what I could remember and then stuck the paper in my time space portal. One of the biggest perks to being a time wizard was that I could store anything, no matter the size, and it would be stored, frozen in time. I had no need for a bag or pockets. It was very convenient. It's one downside is that it could not store any living thing. I had tried a plant, but it did not come out the way it came in. The plant was floppy, like it had gone through a freeze. I didn't care to extend my curiosity to breathing things, so I stopped my experiment there.

A portable pocket that could hold an infinite amount of inanimate objects was good enough. I took a bath and headed to bed.

I hope Celestia was able to get work done as well, I thought as I drifted to sleep.