The Man’s 101st Bad Ending

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If I were to unravel the relationship between Yuria and me, it was always closer to me being on the receiving end.

To her, the family was everything.

Even if she compared herself to the family, Yuria would choose the family.

She said the choice to kill me was because my existence was detrimental to the family.

-It’s not because I hate you. I’ve never disliked you. It’s just that the name Taylor was too much for you.

Because it didn’t suit you, you had too many shortcomings to be called someone with the name Taylor.

The most important factor I considered while going through the previous regressions was not only my survival but also trying to change the hearts of Yuria and Theresa.

For Yuria to turn her eyes to family rather than the household, for Theresa to abandon her own greed and repent.

Someone might call it foolish to wish for such things, but they were quite precious to me.

Even later when my feelings changed and they were no longer precious to me as before, I believed Yuria and Theresa would change.

If I had targeted the Crown Prince, the cause of my death, by overthrowing my family, I probably would have finished it after a few regressions.

But the reason I didn’t do that was because I wanted to move forward while embracing everything.

Even if I looked like a fool or an idiot, I thought that was right.

I didn’t think Yuria would change in this life.

I had long since abandoned such assumptions, so it was right to think that Yuria would remain the same in the future.

Since I had already given up on that possibility in the previous turn, let’s think about how things would flow if she followed her true nature.

She probably wouldn’t do anything right away.

Even if I declared my intention to become the family head, from her perspective, it was still a statement without much issue.

My position in the ducal estate was truly miserable.

There was no one to support me, and even Renold… No, even Renold might be supporting Yuria.

Let’s think that I had absolutely no support base.

Although I had the imperial family, it didn’t have much meaning now without contact from the Crown Prince.

Then what should I do right away?

After confidently throwing out those words, what exactly should I do?

The answer to this was simple. Go to the head of the Taylors and clearly state my position.

They say to catch a wolf, you have to enter the wolf’s den.

It was time to meet the biggest wolf.

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“What were you thinking, moving like that?”

Those were the words that greeted me as soon as I entered the study.

As if he had seen through the fact that I had been in contact with the princess, his voice was filled with certainty, making me ponder for a moment.

Now that I had made up my mind to become the family head, my judgment had to be solely for the family in the eyes of others.

The reason for contacting the princess was to create my own power, but the apparent reason was for the benefit of the family.

After a moment of silence, I casually opened my mouth.

“I thought it would be advantageous for us. I didn’t think the subjugation would succeed anyway.”

“Why?”

“There are too many different races. If the elves and orcs unite to block us, even if we succeed in the initial subjugation, it will definitely fail.”

This could be considered a story already confirmed in the future.

The subjugation that seemed successful at first would later fail completely, and the imperial family that had opposed it from the beginning would gain the upper hand in power.

Considering what was to come, it was definitely not good for the Taylors’ power to diminish.

So I thought about taking the initiative, and that was the result of this harvest.

As a result, the Taylors would side with the imperial family, and the subjugation would be postponed for the time being.

The benefits the family would gain here?

Even if I didn’t explain, wouldn’t Father already know well enough?

“The reason you thought it would fail is because of the distribution of different races you independently investigated. I don’t know where you got it from, but is it reliable?”

“I am confident. The subjugation will definitely fail.”

“…Then, what benefits will we gain from that?”

“The support of the imperial family, and the ability to maintain the highest position among the nobles in the future.”

In reality, after the subjugation failed, the prestige of the Taylors was greatly shaken.

Since the Taylors had been at the forefront of advocating for the subjugation, they had directly received the repercussions from it.

Did Father really not anticipate this?

He probably did. It was just a bit of a gamble.

Those cold eyes were still staring at me, but it was clear that he was definitely intrigued.

He wouldn’t be able to find any flaws in what I had said.

Also, it was natural since it matched what Father himself had been thinking.

Just when he was pondering a way, I had taken the initiative and said I had contacted the imperial family, so his evaluation of me must have been revised.

From a foolish and weak incompetent son to someone who could think for himself after all.

However, I had no intention of stopping here.

That’s why, without stopping my words, I added the next thing.

“And in order to become the next family head, I needed to gain the support of the imperial family in my own way.”

“…The next family head?”

It must have been quite amusing, as he laughed hollowly and glared at me.

His narrowed eyes, as if trying to determine if I was serious, soon returned to normal.

He must have realized it was not a lie.

He was probably thinking about why I had uttered those words now.

I, who had never been interested in the position of family head until now, was saying I would become the family head.

Wouldn’t it be quite difficult to find the reason behind such actions?

“I won’t ask why. You still have the right to become the family head. However, I’m curious if you’re capable of it.”

“I plan to head to the north in the winter. Shouldn’t I repay the favor for the handkerchief I received last time?”

Originally, it was a card the Taylor family had intended to use to gain benefits, but as I changed my mind, I also changed my thoughts about it.

It was better for me to go to the north directly.

Not only did I have a reason to meet Adele, but above all, considering the future, there would be nothing more helpful to me than the military power of the north.

“And after that, I will go to the south with the saint.”

“The saint?”

“I have a personal friendship with her.”

When I mentioned Adrianna, his slightly strange expression was briefly tinged with surprise.

He must have thought it quite unexpected that I had a friendship with the saint.

The weight carried by the name of the saint was quite immense.

Her support meant the support of the church, and if the support of Adele and the imperial family were added to that, at least the way I was evaluated from the outside would change at once.

The imperial family’s support for me could be considered a coincidence.

There must have been some deal between the Taylors and the imperial family, and it could be dismissed like that.

But if the north and the saint supported me, from then on, his evaluation of me would have to change.

“…It seems a lot has happened without my knowledge.”

“I’ve been quite busy in my own way. The decision to become the family head was made quite recently.”

“This change of heart, was it your own choice?”

I was momentarily at a loss for words at that question.

My decision to become the family head was made after going through the previous runs,

but Father would think it had suddenly changed in just a few days since he knew nothing about my regression.

My own choice. Laughing at the thought that followed, I slowly opened my mouth.

“Someone once told me. When I was doing something pathetic, they came to me and said this.”

This was a memory only I knew.

When I first died, it was what Father, who had come to visit me in prison awaiting execution, had said.

Those words stuck with me, and I began the regression.

With the determination to never do that again, I kept the Moonstone in my body.

“In the end, everything is your own fault, and no matter how much you regret and repent, nothing will change. Even if you meet a miserable death, it’s a mistake you made, so who will you blame?”

“…Those are quite arrogant words for someone talking to a Taylor.”

“I realized something after hearing those words. So I want to prove it.”

What I realized through my numerous regressions was that no matter who I blamed, nothing would change.

The people around me did not change.

Neither Yuria nor Theresa. In the end, their true nature was set, wasn’t it?

So in the end, it was I who had to change.

Father stared at me for a moment, then leaned back on the sofa and looked into the void.

Anguish was evident in his eyes as he endlessly pondered something.

What was he agonizing over? For what purpose was that anguish?

Before I could even guess that, Father soon muttered in a small voice.

“Then prove it.”

Although the anguish in his eyes remained, his tone was firm, unlike before.

The disdain for me had faded, and it was a serious gaze I was seeing for the first time since I was born.

Finally facing those eyes that saw me not as a pathetic son, but as someone who might become the family head in the future,

I slowly nodded.

“Prove to me that you can become the family head. Go to the north, and go to the south. If you gain the qualifications to be the Young Master over Yuria.”

Piercing through the momentary silence, fierce eyes reached me.

“I will give you the Taylors.”

Come to think of it, this was the first time I had received such recognition from Father.

But I wasn’t happy. Rather, a strange feeling filled my heart, and I nodded my head a bit late.

Suddenly, a thought came to my mind.

It was the imagination of what would happen after I inherited the Taylors according to those words and became the family head.

If I inherited the Taylors, what would Father say then?

My Taylors, who would point their sword at the imperial family and sharply bare their fangs at the empire…

What expression would you look at them with?

My heart raced for no reason.

If I called this emotion welling up now exhilaration, what was I feeling exhilarated about?

Barely hiding my pounding heart, I managed to escape from the study.

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“Young Master, is it true?”

With this, rumors would spread throughout the ducal estate that I was trying to become the family head.

The rumors spread so fast, as if they had wings, that even Renold, who had not heard the story, was surprised enough to ask me.

He was so startled that he came running with his hair disheveled, and when I laughed, Renold opened his mouth with a serious expression.

“You know well that the position of family head is not so easy. Did you really mean it?”

“I have never lied to you while talking. The same still holds true.”

Renold bit his lips as if frustrated for a moment, then soon let out a deep sigh.

Seeing that, I wondered if he was really worried about me.

Didn’t he look down on me before?

But it didn’t seem like such actions were simply false, so I was just watching.

I knew better than anyone the impact of what I had said.

Just looking at the rumors, I could tell that public opinion of me was not good, so what would they say if I said I would enter the competition for family head in this situation?

They would probably say something like, “That guy’s head is filled with flowers again.”

I think it will be like that until the winter is over.

That’s why winter was important to me.

If I thought everything would go well in the winter, my forces and Yuria’s supporting forces would soon become roughly equal.

Then the problem was what I would do until then, but fortunately, there was one piece of good news.

A letter brought by Renold, I smiled slightly upon seeing the name written at the end of the letter.

‘J’

It was the alias used by Arwen and the name of the only alchemist living in this area.

The fact that a letter with no content had arrived now was proof that she had made up her mind in her own way, wasn’t it?

Now all that remained was to find her and finish the conversation about the Crown Prince that I had started last time.

The role Arwen played in this run was quite simple.

If the Taylor family was likened to a wolf, the Crown Prince was the tiger I had to catch.

And what I needed to find out how to tighten that tiger’s throat was none other than Arwen.

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