No Escape
1207 Words
10 Years Earlier
Alois lay on the familiar bed, endlessly thinking about how he could refuse his father's proposal.
If he got involved in the drug business, he would be destroyed.
That man—Felix Faust—would come to kill him.
That fate had to be avoided at all costs.
Alois tried to remember how he had failed to refuse the offer in his first life.
If he understood why he had failed, then he could prepare a countermeasure.
"Ah... back then..."
At last, Alois remembered.
Back then, all he had done was stubbornly insist that he didn't want anything to do with the drug business.
But his father had immediately fired back, saying that the reason Alois had been able to live comfortably all his life and pay for his education was because of drug money.
It was true.
The one who had paid for his study abroad at a prestigious university in the People's Union, along with all his living and social expenses, was his father.
Alois simply hadn't known.
He hadn't known that the money he was using was stained with blood.
But that excuse had come too late.
As a result, Alois had reluctantly accepted his father's offer, convincing himself that helping out a little wouldn't hurt, and transferred from a university in the People's Union to the Faculty of Pharmacy at a university in the Federation.
He was already connected to drug money.
The Goddess of Fate was cruel.
She had never given Alois a choice to begin with.
Even after returning ten years into the past, it was already too late to start over from there.
"No. I can start over."
It was true that he had unknowingly spent bloodstained money.
But that could still be corrected.
He could repay it.
If he paid back every cent his father had spent on him, the chain of causality would be broken.
At least, that's how it should be.
Certainly, Alois had spent enormous amounts of money throughout his life without realizing it.
He had never known financial hardship.
His car, his motorcycle, his tuition, the money he used to go out with friends—all of it had come from his father.
The total amount must be enormous.
Even so, it wasn't impossible to repay.
Alois had studied pharmacy at one of the most prestigious universities in the People's Union, the most advanced nation in the capitalist bloc.
And the economy was booming right now.
Just as he had always dreamed, he could become a researcher at a major pharmaceutical company and gradually repay his father with his salary.
Just as hope was beginning to appear, someone knocked on the door.
"Young Master. How are you feeling?"
"I'm fine now. Father is calling for me, isn't he?"
"Yes. Master is waiting in his study."
That's right.
The study.
That was where his father had revealed that he was a major figure in the drug trade.
Alois steeled himself.
This time, he would reject him clearly and firmly.
Guided by Ivo, Alois headed toward his father's study.
"Master. I have brought the Young Master."
"Come in."
Ivo respectfully opened the door and bowed as he saw Alois inside.
"Alois. Welcome home."
Alois's father—Heinrich von Nettesheim—spoke.
Once, Heinrich had possessed unruly black hair, but now it had turned gray.
He had grown old.
And with Alois's mother—Heinrich's wife—now having only a short time left to live, Heinrich had suddenly begun to fear his own mortality.
Alois had inherited much from his father genetically.
Their family line was a mixture of North Elf and South Elf blood.
He lacked the beautiful black hair of a North Elf and the dazzling silver hair of a South Elf.
Instead, he had pale black hair, slightly tanned skin, sharp eyes that gave off an untrustworthy impression, and an expressionless face that seemed devoid of emotion.
With that expressionless face, Alois had won countless games of poker at university.
"You've probably already heard. Your mother is in critical condition. The doctor says we'll be lucky if she survives until tomorrow. I called you back suddenly, but at least you made it in time."
"Yes. It's tragic."
"It is."
Not a trace of sadness could be seen on Heinrich's face.
Was it because of the family's naturally expressionless features?
Or was he feeling something entirely different about his wife's impending death?
"Alois. There is something I must tell you."
Here it comes.
Alois braced himself.
"What is it, Father?"
"I have worked as a federal prosecutor. You know that. However, a federal prosecutor's salary is not particularly high. So how do you think I managed to pay for your cars, your motorcycle, and your studies abroad?"
Exactly as expected.
In his first life, this was where he had failed to refuse.
"I don't know."
Drug money.
Blood money.
That's what it was, wasn't it?
"I... was involved in the drug business. Using my position as a federal prosecutor, I gathered information on investigations and successfully expanded my operations. I built a cartel. The money used to raise you came from that empire."
"Then I'll repay it. Every last cent. I don't believe that will erase the sin of having used drug money, but it's certainly better than doing nothing, isn't it?"
Alois's immediate response clearly caught Heinrich off guard.
Though his expression remained unchanged, his eyes revealed unmistakable surprise.
"That isn't the issue."
But Heinrich continued.
"You must inherit the empire. Otherwise, there will be those who take advantage of its fragmentation and target your life. An empire requires an emperor. And just as with the empires of old, succession is determined by blood."
Those words were new.
Even in his first life, Heinrich had never said this.
"If you refuse to inherit the empire, someone else will seize a fragment of it. And that person will inevitably wonder, 'What if the empire has an officially designated heir?' In fact, I intend to write in my will that the empire is to pass to you."
Why would you do that!?
Alois desperately suppressed the urge to shout.
"Because there will always be people who try to rally behind you as the legitimate heir. And in a pride of lions, the first thing a new male leader does is kill the cubs of the previous leader. I want you to inherit the empire and gain the power necessary to protect yourself."
There was no room left for argument.
Alois had believed that repaying the drug money would free him from the drug business.
Reality was not so kind.
He knew it well from his first life.
He knew the brutality and ambition of those involved in the drug trade.
To sit upon the emperor's throne after Heinrich, to make their claim unquestionable, they would do absolutely anything.
Even fleeing to the People's Union would be pointless.
Their reach extended there as well.
The possibility that a man with a knife could suddenly stab him while he was taking a walk was by no means zero.
Ah.
Damn it.
Damn it.
Damn it!
At this rate, there was no way to escape.
No matter what he did.
Alois could only sink into despair.
- Writer
