The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Household Wants A Divorce-Chapter 121: The Great One

At last Rihanna rose to her feet.

“Isaac, rest for a moment.”

His face was death-pale, breath ragged as if he might collapse.

She hated seeing him like this, yet knew there was nothing more she could do for him here and now.

So Rihanna simply swung her greatsword, clearing a space so he could breathe in peace.

Their numbers weren’t large anymore.

With the right and left flanks re-forming, Isaac’s side now held clear numerical superiority.

The Transcendents who had crossed dimensions were reduced once more to prey.

Crunch!

“Graaah!”

Rihanna’s blade skewered a serpent-like Transcendent, pinning it to the ground.

While it lay there gurgling blood and waiting for death—

Isaac slowly stood and walked toward it.

“Isaac?”

“Maybe…”

He hesitated, then murmured as he looked down at the writhing beast:

“If that thing uses its way back as a tunnel… couldn’t I ride the same path to their side?”

A gate was a gate.

If the price of their ritual was forcing them across dimensions, surely he could ride the backlash to reach their world.

Eyes widened, but the risk was obvious.

“How will you get back? And even if it works, you’ll only move a handful of people at best.”

“……”

“It’s too dangerous.”

Rihanna tried to stop him, fingers reaching for his sleeve—

But Isaac pressed his blade into the creature’s wound first.

“Gyaaaargh!”

“Where did you come from? Talk.”

Its forked tongue fluttered.

Tormented by pain, its mouth proved as loose as that tongue.

“Th-the Wall! We were storming the inner citadel!”

“The inner citadel? The Malidan Wall?”

“Y-yes! Kkhh! We skirted around Uldiran and—”

Isaac’s eyes flew open.

Once a path appeared, retreat was no longer an option.

“I’m using this thing to cross over.”

“Isaac!”

For once Rihanna raised her voice, but Isaac didn’t waver—his eyes burned with the resolve to go help.

“…Then I’m coming too.”

Rihanna stepped forward.

“We might never make it back.”

No one knew when the ritual’s toll would be paid in full. If it ended before their return, they could be trapped forever.

But Rihanna didn’t step back.

“Rather than worry every day if you’re alive, I’d rather die at your side.”

“……”

Isaac’s shoulders twitched.

He remembered the Rihanna of his former life—how she might have spent every day praying for his safety.

He couldn’t deny her now.

“Lohengrin.”

Rihanna called to the family’s eldest.

“Until I return, hand all Helmut authority to Edel, the youngest.”

“Aye, I’ll take— what?”

He’d assumed the mantle would pass to him, yet she was giving everything to the youngest, still managing the manor with the second son?

But there was no taking it back.

“That child has a talent Helmut lacks. If we compare—”

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

She takes after Mother, Galenia.

“Guide him well and Helmut will become iron-clad within. That’s the head’s order.”

An order from the head.

Grinding his teeth, Lohengrin exhaled a bitter breath and bowed.

“I obey the head’s command.”

He already knew where Rihanna meant to go; that was why he offered no resistance—

Brcause if things went wrong, this might be their last farewell.

Just then the Transcendent’s body twisted. Transit had begun.

Isaac and Rihanna clasped hands and stepped into the vortex blooming in its chest.

“I’m coming toooo!”

“Wha—?!”

Sharen leapt onto Isaac’s back from behind, and her added weight pitched them forward—accelerating the dive even more.

* * *

“So that’s how you ended up here?”

Isaac nodded at Silverna, who was hurriedly wiping tear-tracks from her cheeks.

Neither of them looked healthy, but just seeing each other like this gave them strength.

“…Back up.”

A hand slid between the two—close enough that their noses nearly touched.

Rihanna was staring at Silverna with the same lethal glare she’d used on the Transcendents.

“A-ha, sorry. I just got excited.”

Silverna scratched her cheek in embarrassment.

The instant Rihanna lowered her hand, Silverna pounced on Isaac again—with all the precision of a northern huntress who never missed her prey.

Her aim was true, and her lips met their mark without hesitation.

“Mmph!”

Isaac jerked in surprise, eyes flying open.

Silverna, eyes squeezed shut, clumsily mimicked the kiss techniques she’d picked up from romance novels.

“…!”

That, Rihanna could not abide.

She pried them apart in a panic, sending Silverna sprawling on her backside.

Yet the faint smile on Silverna’s lips—and the tongue that flicked out to taste them—was sheer satisfaction.

“Glad I got my first kiss in before I croak.”

“Y-you…!”

Rihanna stamped her feet, searching for words.

“What? A man and woman who once had a thing can share a kiss, can’t they?”

Silverna shrugged smugly.

“Miss, your face is bright red,” someone noted.

Her words were cool, but her cheeks blazed scarlet.

“Just like our lady!”

“A true northern lass!”

“We never let the quarry escape!”

The Malidan soldiers behind them nodded their approval; Silverna’s bold strike clearly pleased them.

“Ugh…”

Sharen could only watch in awe from the rear.

Isaac, for his part, wiped his lips with the back of his hand and asked in his usual calm voice:

“So—what’s the situation?”

“…Huh? Oh, right—”

Everyone else had forgotten the crisis, fluttering over the kiss, yet Isaac remained perfectly composed.

Silverna swallowed her mixed feelings and reported.

“Honestly, the few of you arriving doesn’t change much. The wall’s gone haywire and is blasting out frost, so the Transcendents’ assault paused a bit, but there are still plenty inside the inner citadel.”

“Our real problem is supplies. Frankly, we don’t even have the strength left to heft a spear.”

The soldiers behind her looked haggard—amazing they were alive at all in that state.

“What about the margrave?” Isaac asked.

A shadow crossed Silverna’s face.

“Father said he’d block the main gate himself. It’s only wide enough for two or three at a time, so he insisted on holding it alone.”

Yet the inner citadel crawled with Transcendents. If so, had Uldiran already fallen?

This is insane, Isaac thought. Even with him and Rihanna here, the situation hardly improved, and the others clearly shared that grim assessment.

“…I think we need to confirm Sir Uldiran’s status first. What do you two say?”

Isaac looked at Rihanna and Silverna—each a commander in her own right.

Both hesitated.

Rihanna feared they might run head-on into the Transcendents at the gate.

Silverna wanted to go, but worried her feelings clouded her judgment.

“I actually think… there might be no Transcendents at the gate.”

Even peering from the corridor windows, the ground was invisible beneath the white fog of frost.

“The ones inside all either scaled the walls or flew in.”

He pointed at the scattered corpses, and the women’s eyes widened: every enemy here was exceptionally mobile.

“In that case—!”

Hope flickered in Silverna’s eyes.

Isaac gave only a brief nod—no sense feeding hope that might sour into disappointment.

“Let’s go. The Margrave could still be fighting.”

They set out for the main gate to find Uldiran.

Here and there Transcendents appeared, but Rihanna’s greatsword hacked through them as though venting her fury.

After cleaving down one that came from behind, she fell back into step beside Isaac.

“Hey,” Silverna murmured, catching Rihanna’s wrist.

“…What.”

Her crimson eyes held more hostility than she’d shown the foe moments ago.

“Why is he… totally unfazed?”

She pointed to Isaac striding calmly ahead.

Even Silverna’s blush made Rihanna bristle with jealousy.

“No idea.”

“Is it because he’s done that with you a lot?”

“We haven’t done it that much,” Rihanna muttered.

“Really? Then did he get plenty of practice before the wedding?”

Flinch.

Rihanna scowled.

“Isaac isn’t that kind of man.”

“I know. But he’s so calm.”

“Because the situation’s critical.”

“Maybe… Still, I wish he’d react a little.”

Rihanna’s gaze dropped; the hand gripping Silverna’s spear was trembling.

She realized Silverna’s concern wasn’t only about Isaac—

‘She’s scared.’

Heading off to learn whether her father lived or died.

Rihanna realized she kept bringing up Isaac on purpose—an attempt to shove aside the dark thoughts crowding her mind.

Before long they neared the inner gate.

Strangely, the closer they drew, the thicker the cold became, and the fewer Transcendents they saw.

When they finally reached the gate, they found a man and a woman.

A man stood barring the entrance, a woman wrapped around him from behind.

“F-Father! M-Mother!”

Silverna dashed forward.

The motionless man slowly turned his head, his battered face breaking into a grin when he saw his daughter.

“Look after your mother, will you? She’ll freeze to death like this.”

“I’m not leaving you.”

Seleny Caldias, Uldiran’s wife, clung to his waist.

Her tears had already frozen to her cheeks—a measure of how desperately she’d wept.

“Father… y-your legs—”

As Silverna reached them, the part of him hidden behind Seleny came into view: everything below Uldiran’s waist was encased in blue-white ice, as if he were a sculpture.

“The wall’s frost did that to you—?”

“No, it didn’t!” Seleny cried, fresh tears welling.

“This foolish man froze his own legs because he said he couldn’t stand any longer!”

Even in that misery Uldiran’s smile never wavered.

The newcomers were caught between shock and awe.

All to keep fighting—Uldiran had deliberately frozen himself in place to hold the gate.

“Silverna.”

His voice was oddly calm. “If, as your father, I managed to teach you one last lesson, that’s enough.”

Tears spilled anew. Silverna nodded fiercely.

“You’re my proud—my most proud father.”

Truly, great.

Just as the first Caldias had said, the northern guardian before them was great upon great.

Yet Uldiran let out a ragged breath.

“Heh… Seems that damned hound wasn’t entirely wrong. If Arandel were here—”

“Father!”

She didn’t want to hear it. Who else could have come this far? Arandel was a monster beyond measure; that didn’t mean her father was lacking.

Still, at the worst of times Uldiran could not help but think of Arandel—wondering if the outcome might have been better in his hands. The thought dogged him like a shadow.

Then Rihanna stepped between father and daughter.

“My father said… up to his dying breath, ‘Be great.’ That way, he said, we never shame the ones who fell to our swords.”

“Haha, that sounds like him,” Uldiran murmured.

Rihanna went on, voice steady.

“My father was always arrogant—because he had that much faith in his blade. And that same father…”

“…”

“…never once denied the verdict that the Margrave stood his equal.”

“…!”

Uldiran’s eyes widened; his arms tensed without his knowing.

The words shocked him—and thrilled him.

“He never said it aloud, but because he never denied it… it meant he acknowledged you.”

That Uldiran Caldias was a man equal to him.

“Hah! That bastard! If he were here I’d punch him in the face!”

Rihanna bowed her head, eyes closed.

“Please—help us. We still need the Margrave’s strength to get everyone out alive.”

Crack!

Lines split the ice around his legs.

Cra-ack!

Shards flew; Seleny hastily backed away.

And then—

Cra-a-ack!

The legs that had been frozen solid began to move again.

“Blasted Helmuts—provoking me to the very end,”

Uldiran growled, a wide, exhilarating smile spreading across his face.

– – The End of The Chapter ––

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