SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant-Chapter 359: Magnus du Morgain

They left the hall without ceremony.

The noise of voices, clinking glasses, and forced laughter died the moment the doors closed behind them, cut off as cleanly as a blade through silk. The warmth vanished with it. What remained was stone, distance, and silence.

They walked side by side through the inner corridors of Morgain Castle.

There were no servants, maids or guards lingering in the shadows.

Everyone had been reassigned. Every capable hand was focused on the family, the guests, the gathering above. The heart of the castle had been emptied on Valttair’s order, leaving only long stretches of corridor and the quiet authority of his presence.

The air felt colder here. Not because of the mountain outside, but because nothing softened it.

Trafalgar noticed the change immediately.

Valttair’s expression had shifted back to what it usually was.

Not the public mask he wore before the family—controlled, commanding, satisfied—but the real one. Cold. Stripped of performance. Almost inhuman in its lack of visible emotion. If Trafalgar hadn’t known better, he would have thought other races capable of more feeling than the man walking beside him now.

Valttair didn’t look at him as they walked.

His gaze stayed forward, steps measured, unhurried. There was no uncertainty in his pace, no hesitation at turns or intersections. Though the path seemed aimless, Trafalgar could tell it wasn’t.

Valttair knew exactly where he was going.

They passed through sections of the castle Trafalgar hadn’t seen in a year—older corridors, less traveled, where the stone was darker and the ceilings higher. Tall windows lined one side of the passage, revealing nothing but clouds and empty sky beyond the glass. The world outside the mountain was distant here, irrelevant.

Their footsteps echoed softly, the sound swallowed almost as soon as it was made. Just the two of them, moving deeper into the castle’s spine. Trafalgar kept his posture relaxed, hands at his sides, expression neutral. Inside, he was alert.

They slowed without stopping.

The corridor opened into one of the oldest passages in the castle—a spine of stone and glass suspended over nothing. Massive windows rose from floor to ceiling, uninterrupted, revealing only cloud and sky beyond them. No land. No horizon. Just a rolling sea of white, drifting slowly beneath the castle’s impossible height.

The void felt closer here. Pressing. As if the world below had been erased.

Valttair came to a stop at the center of the hall.

He did not turn.

"Trafalgar du Morgain," he said, voice level loud enough. Simply stated, as if reciting established fact rather than speaking to a person. "Adopted son of this house. Ninth heir of Morgain. Bearer of an SSS-ranked talent." A pause. "And the biological and only son of Magnus du Morgain."

Trafalgar felt them settle rather than strike, heavy in a way that rearranged things instead of breaking them. He looked past Valttair, through the glass, at the endless clouds below.

"So," he said calmly. "Who was Magnus?"

Valttair remained still.

"And why," Trafalgar continued, eyes narrowing slightly, "does no one speak of him?"

Only then did Valttair answer.

"He was my brother," Valttair said. "And the rightful heir. Magnus du Morgain possessed an SSS-ranked talent," he went on, tone unchanged. "The same class as yours." A brief pause followed. "Unlike me, he was not suited to rule."

Valttair finally turned his head, just enough that Trafalgar could see his profile reflected faintly in the glass.

"He was a free soul," Valttair said. "Restless. Principled in ways that made governance... inconvenient." His gaze sharpened slightly. "In that, he resembled Mordrek."

The name lingered.

"I have lost two brothers," Valttair continued. "And I failed to protect either of them."

There was no visible emotion attached to the admission. And yet, Trafalgar could tell—it wasn’t indifference. It was restraint. Something pressed down so hard it had learned to stay buried.

"Magnus died protecting you," Valttair said. 𝓯𝙧𝙚𝒆𝙬𝙚𝒃𝙣𝙤𝒗𝓮𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

The corridor felt quieter.

"I never knew your mother," he added. "I only know that Magnus disappeared from the world for a time. Adventured. Wandered." His eyes returned to the clouds beyond the glass. "Then one day, he returned, with you in his arms."

Valttair listed the witnesses as if reciting names from a ledger.

"Seraphine was present," he said. "So was Armand. Alfred was the one who brought Magnus here."

Trafalgar listened without interrupting.

"I was already Patriarch," Valttair continued. "I had four wives. A reputation to uphold." His tone did not change. "We chose the simplest solution."

He looked at Trafalgar then.

"We claimed infidelity," Valttair said. "You were presented as my illegitimate son."

The statement carried weight without apology.

"My standing suffered," he went on. "Rumors spread. My image fell." A pause. "No one dared confront me over it."

Trafalgar understood that immediately. In House Morgain, survival often masqueraded as agreement.

"For the outside world," Valttair said, "Magnus’s disappearance was framed as an internal power dispute." His eyes hardened, just slightly. "It was said that I killed him to secure my position."

Another pause.

"I did want the position," Valttair added. "But not that way."

The wind shifted outside the glass, clouds folding over one another like slow waves.

"Magnus was erased from the world’s record," Valttair said. "Armand, my father ensured it. Through the Council." His gaze flicked briefly toward Trafalgar. "That is why you will find so little written about him."

Trafalgar absorbed it all without comment, the shape of his past finally visible.

Valttair straightened.

"You were adopted," he said. "Not because I saw you as my son, but because you were Magnus’s." His voice remained cold, analytical. "I waited to see if you would become valuable."

A beat.

"You have," Valttair said.

He met Trafalgar’s eyes fully now.

"Your talent will soon be known," he continued. "Rumors are already circulating. Your siblings suspect it. The house will know it before this gathering ends." His tone sharpened. "From this moment forward, you will no longer be treated as disposable by either of them."

Trafalgar inclined his head slightly. "I understand."

"Good," Valttair replied. "For the sake of House Morgain, you will continue to grow."

Trafalgar nodded once. "Yes... Father."

The word cost him nothing—and meant nothing either.

Inside, he knew the truth. Valttair did not see him as a son. He saw him as leverage. As potential. As an asset that had finally matured enough to justify the investment.

And that was fine.

The benefits were too great to ignore.

"Come," Valttair said, already turning away. "It is time to return."

They began walking back the way they came.

Before they reached the end of the hall, Valttair spoke once more, without slowing.

"You have the brightest future in this house," he said. "Live up to your talent. Do not allow yourself to be diminished again." A pause. "The war will change everything. When your power is revealed, the world will learn your name."

His gaze flicked to Trafalgar, sharp and assessing.

"You will no longer be a bastard. Or a student. You will be a true Morgain."