Duke's Son Wish To Follow The Story

Chapter 9 : The Oath

Leon stops speaking. He looks at his mother who suddenly burst into conversation. The Duchess looks frantic and startled by his words.

'is she still can't accept my leaving??'

he looks at her with a casual expression and calm.

"ah"

she gasps as she realized how frantic she was just now. She looks at Leon calmly.

"you... didn't you realize that you're still... not telling Luis about this right??"

Gasp*

'oh... right... I suppose not telling him yet but...'

Leon glance at Luis who's wearing a calm face and still eating his meat elegantly.

'he already knows...'

smirk*

he put on a smiling expression as he turn his head towards his mother's back, though his mother was wearing a calm face, clearly her eyes give away that...

'she looks worried.'

he stares at his mother's face with a warm expression.

"well... I will tell here then"

Leon looks at all his family's faces, before adding on more in a calm demeanor.

"With all the servants here as a witness."

Stiffened*

His family seems surprised by his gag while the servant was stunned by this sudden development. The servant starts looking at each other with a confused expression on their face. Leon is still with his calm demeanor.

His family stares at each other as they look at how nonchalant Leon is. The servant in the dining hall, there are only four people. The first one is the chef, while the other three were the maid that ensure the food serving. Leon looks at each one of them before asking one of them

"Will you guys become a witness for my statement here today??"

Thump*

"but young master Leon... I don't think its w-"

"Don't fret out over it Chef... I know that the witness was supposed to be the royal hall scholar but ... it doesn't matter as long as we used the Frontis family plate or crest right??...though the risk is bigger as we need to put our life on the line after all."

"...."

The four of them look at each other faces in silence as they hear Leon's words. From their understanding, this oath is truly different than the oath of the Royal Hall. 

In the case of making an oath at the royal hall, the royal hall scholar would be the witness and the risk of breaking the promise was smaller compared to if you take an oath using a family crest. If one person wants to use their family crest as the medium for the oath to take place, they need at least one life to be on the line for the oath to work, if they didn't, then the oath is automatically void.

"but young master Leon... then if you allow me to put my l-"

"I don't plan on using your life as the price chef.."

Flinched*

the servant and Leon's family flinched as they saw Leon whose face turns cold.

'they thought I would sacrifice them??? who do they think I am??'

His cold eyes that glance at the servant make all the people in the dining hall break a cold sweat.

'he seems angry...'

Luis who was calmly eating gulped as he tries to slice the meat in front of him, his movement stopped as he watches his brother from the sideline.

'did he didn't like the fact that they're willing to sacrifice themselves for him??? but.. isn't that great??'

Luis somehow feels odd about Leon's action.

"th-then who-who??"

"Who do you think??"

"Young master Leon... is it yourself???"

Smirk*

"you really a smart chef smirk*... indeed I am"

"hey, Leo wha-"

"Are you crazy Leo!!!! There's no need for you to do this!!!"

"yes, young master Leon I'm wil-"

"THIS IS MY OATH, NO ONE SHOULD INTERFERE!!!"

Bang!!!

The loud sound of a spoon being knocked onto the table along with the voice of Leon could be heard filling the dining hall like a clap of thunder.

Stiffened*

every frantic voice of them starting from his father, to his mother and chef, stop as they heard Leon's angry voice. All of them could see how deadly cold Leon's face was right now. He was gazing straight at his family's face and slowly turn his head towards the chef on the left side.

"Who Do You think I am?? Some coldblooded beast that is willing to sacrifice his servant for a petty oath???"

His gaze becomes sharper as he utters those words and stares at the chef for a length of time, searching for his answer.

"no- no young master Leon... it just I should b-"

"This is my oath I don't need a sacrifice but a witness so I will put my life on the line..."

Leon's cold voice resounds again as he speaks his mind. His family become restless as he heard the conversation. They understand why the chef would like to offer his life but they also can't refute Leon's words.

"In that case young master Leon... we can just be your witness there's no need to use the pl-"

"It's useless if it's just a verbal word ...I need a strong and firm statement that can't be refuted so this oath is needed"

"but my son... father understand your manners but... instead of oath why don't we just write it on a piece of paper??"

Paper written agreement surely could become credible evidence for an oath or vow but,

"It's not enough..."

Leon shakes his head as those words flow from his mouth. It's not like he doesn't understand his father's intention but, for him, that wasn't enough. To follow his dream of living isolated, instead of agreement, an oath with his life on the line was more credible as the paper could be destroyed, but the oath can't.

For those who already going thru an oath, they can't undo it, unless the condition was fulfilled. But if he followed his father's suggestion of using a piece of paper as an oath, anything could happen to the paper, whether it's ripped apart or even gone missing. He couldn't trust a piece of paper for his future life.

"paper could be destroyed unless you're thinking of using magic paper but... I doubt even father could prepare a magic paper on short notice like this..."

"and more importantly, isn't using magic paper the same as making an oath so why try the difficult road when there's the easier way like this?? and also... magic paper could be stolen..."

'or it could be forge with something that more nasty by 'those' bastard... like hell I will take that kind of risk'

of course, those later words remain in Leon's mind only, as that kind of thing is soon only discovered in the novel later.

***********************************
To be continued