Looking at me, Luke-niisan broke into a smile.
"I was the only person in that house who truly cared about you, Erik. That's precisely why I got you out of there, even if it meant sacrificing myself."
"...Why did you go that far? Weren't you on good terms with the rest of the family anyway, Luke-niisan? You could've just left things as they were."
When I said that, Luke-niisan's expression hardened into complete seriousness for the first time.
"Ngh!"
"I was never on good terms with them. Not with people like that."
His voice dropped low, and hearing those words, I knew he meant it from the bottom of his heart.
"Honestly, I spent a long time agonizing over whether I should tell you this, Erik."
"...The reason I was treated like that in that house?"
"That's right. I'm sure you've already cast that family aside, but I thought you might still want to know why you were subjected to such cruelty."
To be honest, I felt like I had already severed ties with them in my mind.
I would never involve myself with them again.
I figured that as long as I stayed far away from that village, I would never have to deal with the people living there.
Yet hearing Luke-niisan bring it up made my resolve waver.
"Erik-kun, are you alright?"
"...I'm fine."
"Heheh, it seems you're well looked after, Erik. Just knowing that made coming all the way to the royal capital worthwhile."
Seeing Reina-san look at me with concern, Luke-niisan smiled.
"...Tell me. What really happened?"
"Looks like you've made up your mind."
"To be honest, I was trying to forget about everyone from back then, including you, Luke-niisan. But I feel like this is something I need to know, so I'll listen."
"You've truly grown into a strong kid, Erik. Well, you were in a situation where you had no choice but to grow up that way, but you did well to endure it and survive."
Luke-niisan said this, his smile fading into a grave expression.
"I know that receptionist over there is someone you trust, Erik, but what I'm about to tell you is critical. Would you mind asking her to step out of the room?"
"Reina-san, it's alright. Also, this conversation is probably going to take a while, so could you let Olivia-san know that I'll be delayed?"
"...Understood. I'll step outside."
Hearing our requests, Reina-san gave her assent.
Once she left the room, only the two of us remained—Luke-niisan and me.
"I wonder how many years it's been since we talked alone like this."
"I don't have any memory of it, so it must have been a very long time ago."
"Heheh, fair point. Well then, without further ado, let's get into it. First, the most important detail: Erik, you and I are only half-brothers."
Hearing Luke-niisan's words, for some reason, I wasn't all that surprised.
"Is the shared blood on Father's side?"
"...It seems you roughly figured that out from Mother's behavior."
"I hadn't thought that deeply about it. Just had a slight hunch... So then, who's my real mother?"
Same father, different mothers—I had gathered that much from the context.
In response to my question, Luke-niisan exhaled deeply and looked straight into my eyes.
"Erik, your real mother is Mother's younger sister."
"...Huh?"
That was the only sound I could muster.
I had assumed it was a woman from some neighboring village, or perhaps someone Father had met in a red-light district.
Stunned by Luke-niisan's words, my thoughts ground to a halt.
"W-Wait, what?! Wh-What does that mean?! M-Mother's sister?!"
"Erik. Calm down, I'll explain everything."
Prompted by Luke-niisan, I somehow managed to rein in my emotions.
Then, he laid out the sequence of events.
Father originally hailed from the village where I was born and raised, but Mother had come from somewhere completely different.
"In the first place, Mother isn't even from this country."
"...Just how many times am I going to be shocked today?"
"Quite a few, I imagine. I'm laying bare everything that was kept from you, so it's bound to be a heavy burden to process, but I know you can handle it, Erik. You're strong."
"Could you stop with that mysterious faith in me? Honestly, having you smile like that while saying such things is creeping me out, so please stop..."
When I said that, Luke-niisan seemed genuinely wounded and fell silent for a few seconds.
"Back to the topic. When I was a young child, we used to visit Mother's hometown from time to time. Back then, relations were completely cordial. Her family treasured the rare occasions they got to spend with Mother, who had married off to a distant land....However, Father destroyed those peaceful days with his own hands."
That day, Father had traveled to Mother's family home with the rest of us, as usual.
He ended up drinking heavily with the man who would be my grandfather, becoming utterly wasted.
Normally, Mother would look after him and guide him to bed, but on that occasion, the drinking had dragged on late into the night.
As a result, Father had to stumble back to his room on his own.
"Only Father made the terrible mistake of wandering into the wrong room. Unluckily, that happened to be Aunt's room."
Drunk out of his mind, Father mistook the sleeping woman for Mother and assaulted my aunt.
My aunt was jolted awake and realized what was happening immediately.
She fought back, of course, but even drunk, Father overpowered her, and she couldn't break free.
The horrifying truth only came to light the following morning.
"Naturally, all ties with Mother's family were severed after that. But a few months later, we were summoned back. Aunt had become pregnant from that incident and given birth to you, Erik. Her family declared they couldn't possibly raise a child born from such a tragedy, and they thrust you onto us."
"...I see. So that's why Mother treated me the way she did."
"Well, I'm not going to ask you to forgive her. When all's said and done, Mother was the one who chose to despise you after taking you in, Erik. And as for Father, who committed such an atrocity while drunk out of his mind—killing him might be taking it a step too far, but if you beat him half to death, I think anyone would forgive you."
"No, obviously I'm not going to do that. To begin with, I don't want anything to do with them."
I answered Luke-niisan, who was saying such terrifying things with an easy smile.
"Still, that's a harrowing story. I might still be considered a child, but you witnessed and heard all of that when you were even younger than I am now, right, Luke-niisan? Wasn't it incredibly painful?"
"I don't think I felt what you'd call pain, really. If anything, I just felt sorry for you, Erik, since nobody loved you. That's why I decided that I alone would love and protect you."
"...Your way of showing love was pretty twisted, though."
"I can't argue with that. But hey, you grew up into the person I hoped you'd become. That alone makes me happy enough, so it's all fine by me."
Having heard the truth of our past, perhaps because I had already weathered a barrage of shocks, I found myself surprisingly calm.