Is this what revenge feels like?
Watching someone who once bullied you wail in agony.
Watching someone who stood high above fall into the mud.
This thrill of holding someone else's life and death in your hands...
It's simply addictive!
At this moment, Tendou Kisara
had completely entered the zone.
That hatred, suppressed for ten years, had found an outlet at this moment.
Coupled with the fact that she had just received a promise from Heimer,
she was like a vengeful demon ready to devour its prey.
As long as she could get the truth,
she didn't mind turning into a monster.
"If you don't speak,"
"I will chop off your remaining limbs, piece by piece, right now."
"Until you are whittled down into a human stick."
"I'll count to three."
"One."
"Two."
Tendou Kisara's voice had no inflection.
Madwoman!
She's a lunatic!!
Being stared at with those eyes, Tendo Wako's psychological defenses collapsed completely in an instant.
He didn't doubt for a second.
This madwoman would really do it!
And so,
just as Tendou Kisara was about to count "three,"
"I'll talk! I'll talk!"
"Just don't kill me! I'll tell you everything!"
"It was... it was all Father's fault!"
Tendo Wako screamed in a breakdown, his tears and snot mixing with blood, looking utterly wretched.
"It was Father who wanted to expose the hidden, shameful side of the Tendou Family!"
"Whether it was the construction funds for the Monolith or the Tendou Family's other gray-market projects, Father held a massive amount of evidence sufficient to expose the Tendou Family!"
"He wanted to make all the family's gray income public!"
"We kept trying to persuade him, but he wouldn't listen!"
"If we didn't kill him, the entire Tendou Family would be finished! Finished!"
"The security deployment that night was handled by Hinata! He was the one who deliberately withdrew the two security squads that were supposed to be at the back door, leaving only two scapegoats!"
"Suppressing the news was Genshu's doing! He used his connections in the Metropolitan Police Department to withhold all the crime scene investigation reports, and he even had the bodies cremated before an autopsy could be performed!"
"Even that Gastrea... that Stage I Gastrea was obtained by Ximin through underground black market channels!! That's how he got his start!"
Tendo Wako dumped out all the dirty laundry that had been tightly covered up for ten years.
Tendou Kisara's hand holding the blade was trembling.
But it wasn't over yet.
"An... and..."
Tendo Wako tremblingly raised the hand that was still stained with his own blood.
His fingers shook.
Finally,
he pointed at the old man standing at the head of the conference table, who remained expressionless and silent even in the face of such a scene.
"Also Grandfather!"
"It was he who gave the order!"
"It was he who told us to do it!"
"He said Father's whistleblowing would destroy the Tendou Family! It would make us lose our current status! So, we had to purge the family!"
"For the sake of the family's reputation! To protect the status of everyone else in the family!"
"It was Grandfather who decided to deliberately release a Stage I Gastrea to kill Father and Mother, in order to fake it as an accident!!"
Boom—!
Once those words were spoken,
the entire conference room fell into a deathly silence.
It was as if the air itself had frozen.
Although the ministers present had long heard of the Tendou Family's methods, and even their own hands weren't clean,
but—
personally orchestrating the murder of one's own son and his family,
and using the most heinous Gastrea to do it,
was simply too insane!
Even a tiger doesn't eat its own cubs!
This is simply madness!
Besides this,
the person most impacted was none other than the Seitenshi.
This young ruler was currently looking with an extremely strange gaze at the old man she had always respected like a father.
—Tendou Kikunojo.
The advisor who had served three generations of rulers, hailed as the anchor of the Tokyo Area, and who had always taught her to be benevolent, just, and to act for the country and the people.
The wise man hailed as the last line of defense for the Tokyo Area.
Was actually the mastermind behind the murder of his own biological son?
Merely for...
The family's reputation? To cover up corruption?
Is this even human?
"Kikunojo... My lord..."
The Seitenshi's voice was trembling.
She tried to find a denial on Tendou Kikunojo's face, even if it were just a flicker of hesitation.
However,
nothing.
There was nothing.
Tendou Kikunojo still stood like a silent mountain at the head of the conference table.
Even when faced with his own grandson's accusation, the Seitenshi's questioning, Tendou Kisara's eyes that seemed ready to devour him, and the gazes from those around him that looked at him as if he were a monster.
Not only was he not in the slightest bit flustered,
he didn't even frown.
He was so cold that it chilled one to the bone.
"Wako."
Finally,
Tendou Kikunojo spoke.
His voice was low and hoarse, yet carried the unique majesty and oppressiveness of someone who had held a high position for many years.
He didn't even glance at his grandson, who was crying uncontrollably and writhing on the ground like a maggot.
He simply spat out one sentence:
"Is this your last will?"
"Wha... what...?"
Tendo Wako's screams, which had previously been begging frantically, were suddenly cut short, as if an invisible hand had choked his neck.
He stared blankly at his grandfather.
It seemed he didn't understand the meaning of that sentence.
Everyone else around him, including the Seitenshi, was also stunned.
"To save your life,"
"you bite wildly like a mad dog."
"You dump out the Tendou Family's internal secrets as if you were dumping trash."
"Even in public, you are willing to trample the Tendou Family's dignity underfoot just to beg for mercy."
"It's too unsightly!"
"Wako!"
"I originally thought, although you are greedy, although you are incompetent, although that stench of money on you makes me sick!"
"But I thought that since you were born into the Tendou Family and carry the Tendou blood, you would at least have a bit of the backbone of a Tendou man!"
"Even if you must die, you should die with some dignity!"
"It seems I overestimated you after all."
After saying that,
Tendou Kikunojo slowly lifted his heavy eyelids.
He looked directly at Tendou Kisara.
"That's right."
Tendou Kikunojo admitted it calmly.
"The order for the operation that night was indeed given by this old man."
"Just as Wako said."
"It was all planned by me."
Boom—!
A personal confession!
The Seitenshi looked as if her last bit of strength had been drained; she slumped into her chair, her eyes vacant.
He admitted it...
He really admitted it...
"Why..."
Tendou Kisara's hand holding the sword was trembling violently.
Even though she had expected it, even though she had long hated him to the bone,
actually hearing her own biological grandfather admit to killing her parents with his own mouth
was a shock that still made her feel as if her chest were being torn open.
"That was your son!!"
Tendou Kisara roared, her voice carrying a bloody hatred.
"He was your own flesh and blood!!"
"And what of it?"
Facing his granddaughter's questioning, Tendou Kikunojo asked back coldly.
"Kisara."
"You are still too young."
"In this position, at the heart of this country,"
"nothing is more important than the name of the Tendou Family."
"Your father..."
At the mention of his deceased son, a flash of complexity crossed Tendou Kikunojo's eyes, but it was gone in an instant, replaced once more by coldness.
"He was too naive! And too foolish!"
"To actually dream of finding so-called justice in this filthy world."
"To attempt to expose the internal capital flow of the family, trying to destroy the foundation built by generations of the Tendou Family in one fell swoop!"
"His existence!"
"To the Tendou Family, he was simply a malignant tumor!"
"If I didn't excise that tumor,"
"the entire family would have been buried with him."
"Therefore."
Thump!
Tendou Kikunojo heavily slammed down his cane.
"Everything I have done! It was all out of necessity!"
"For the survival of the family!"
"For the greater good!"
"Even if it is one's own son, if he becomes a stumbling block, he must be removed!"
"This is the resolve I must carry as the Head of the Tendou Family!"
"And this isn't just for the Tendou Family!"
"It's for this country!"
"If the Tendou Family didn't control the political arena! If I wasn't strategizing behind the scenes! Do you think this crumbling Tokyo Area could have lasted until now!"
"For the greater good, sacrifice is necessary!"
"Even if that sacrificial lamb is my own son!"
Madmen.
They are all madmen!
This was the only thought in the minds of everyone present.
Even Heimer, who had been watching the show from the side, couldn't help but raise an eyebrow upon hearing this.
Quite interesting.
After all, if one set aside morality, purely from the perspective of a villainous boss's self-cultivation, Tendou Kikunojo was definitely a perfect candidate.
Ruthless enough, decisive enough, cold-blooded enough.
He could even murder his own flesh and blood.
Especially since he had a set of self-consistent logic loops.
He wasn't making excuses.
He truly believed from the bottom of his heart that he was doing the right thing.
Even if it meant killing his son or grandson, as long as it was for 'the concept', he considered it correct.
"So—"
Tendou Kikunojo looked at Tendo Wako, who was already scared witless on the ground.
"Wako."
"Since you are already a cripple and have brought utter shame to the family,"
"rather than living like a dog,"
"it's better to fulfill your final loyalty to the family here."
"Go and die."
As soon as these words were spoken,
Tendo Wako felt as if he had been struck by lightning.
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