Academy's Second Seat [part 2 Complete]

Chapter 220: Astria (12)

Everyone has their Achilles' heel.

It could be a weakness or perhaps a trauma.

For Yurik Astria, it was people.

Yurik couldn't trust people.

It hadn't always been that way.

When he was younger...

No, until the competition for succession, he was more trusting of people than anyone else.

He trusted Perrian, his brother competing for the succession, and the nobles around him.

Even when warned that politics was a mire to be wary of, Yurik couldn't understand.

It didn't seem to apply to those around him.

Yurik simply focused on honing his skills.

He thought that a capable person could stay out of politics.

He believed he could act in politics as he did within his family.

But it was not so.

It was all an act.

Perrian, who seemed kind and good-natured.

Perrian habitually told Yurik not to behave like other families or predecessors, but to compete fairly on merit.

However, as the time for deciding the successor approached, Perrian completely changed his attitude.

The primary criterion for deciding a successor was the support of the nobility.

One needed the support of the numerous families under the Astria banner.

And when the support was evenly split, other factors would be considered.

Yurik never got to that stage.

The families that had promised to support him all sided with Perrian.

They were nobles who clung to Perrian and only offered sweet words to Yurik.

"There's no process in competition, only the result remains."

With those words from Perrian, Yurik was ousted from the family.

He had nowhere to appeal his injustice.

Even the few nobles who had supported him to the end merely pitied Yurik for being deceived.

After being expelled from the family, Yurik immediately shaved his head.

He couldn't bear to see the hair that connected him to that filthy and vile family.

Thus, Yurik severed his ties with Astria.

"Is Yurik here?"

At that moment, a man entered Yurik's mansion.

"It's been a while. Count Mayer."

It was Owen Mayer, Karen's father and the head of the Mayer family.

"Just call me Owen, like old times."

The two had been friends since before the Mayer family came under the Astria family.

The Mayer family's entry into the Astria family came after Yurik was expelled.

That decision was made by Owen's father, the previous Count Mayer.

However, Count Mayer felt a sense of responsibility for being under the family that had ousted his friend Yurik.

Even if it was a necessary decision for the survival of his family, he couldn't bring himself to face Yurik.