The door gave way to the bright sunlight of the early morning, revealing a rather beautiful garden in front of Draco. There was a small fountain with a cupid baby spewing water from its mouth in a charming pose, along with hedges and bushes neatly trimmed by gardeners who were presently working hard.
Immediately, a person who had been bringing a rolling tray of breakfast, revealing themselves to be a maid, was startled by the sudden exit of Draco. However, she quickly recovered and let go of the tray, hurriedly bowing with utmost reverence.
"Young Lord Draco!" she greeted softly, her eyes shining as she glanced at the young man.
Draco glanced at her, and unlike his usual slightly uncomfortable yet interested expression—for she was quite beautiful—he only looked at her with coldness and disdain.
"Ah, Claudia. I'd forgotten about you after you tried seducing me and failed, then accused me of rape. What at all happened to you after that, did my family get rid of you or something?" Draco mused aloud, cast into remembrance by the visage of someone from a long time ago in his memories.
Meanwhile, Claudia, the maid, was utterly confused and chilled at heart. She had fought tooth and nail and made countless sacrifices to get this cushy job as a maid in the Morningstar Family estate, a modern-day elite family who paid extremely well as long as the minds kept silent about their secret gatherings and the strange occurrences in the manor.
However, Claudia was extremely ambitious and had latched onto the estranged young master of the Morningstar Family, who secluded himself in some shack at the side of the estate, becoming his personal maid in hopes of getting into bed with him and bearing his child. Once that was done, whether as a wife, concubine, or mistress, she would be set for life!
Unfortunately for her, future Draco—even without the power of hindsight—managed to resist her seduction at the last second but was thrust into controversy when she suddenly maliciously accused him of forcing himself upon her. It was this event that completely cut Draco's ties with his clan, as their response to this was less than ideal, and the already troubled young man completely exploded, becoming cold to his heritage.
Now that he was back, he wouldn't allow such a measly and unimportant creature like this woman to become a distraction on his path to save humanity.
With a cold glance, Draco took a step forward and passed by Claudia, gently pressing a hand on her head and squeezing, crushing her skull in one easy motion. Blood and brain matter burst out and spread across the area in front of his door as the corpse of his personal maid fell to the floor while spurting blood.
Yet the young man bore no traces of her bodily fluids or gray matter, pristine as could be.
The nearby gardeners were stunned by this act, not even sure how to react. The young master was known for his reclusiveness and troubled nature, but they had never seen him kill so decisively and so easily, with near inhuman power!
Draco simply glanced at them askance and nodded, because these fellows had no problems as far as he remembered—just background characters in the play called life. As he left his corner of the estate and headed to the main manor, more and more people encountered him on the way, with those who served the family bowing respectfully while those in the family simply glanced with strange looks.
Hoh, the young master had come out of his self-imposed exile? Was he going to the main hall to throw another tantrum and disgrace the clan once more?
Many were interested to see, so they stopped what they were doing and followed Draco along, who ignored them as he calculated how to handle the next scene efficiently.
Soon enough, he arrived at the door to the main hall, stopping for a moment as he became emotional. He hadn't stepped through here for years after his falling out with his family, and even after his rise to power, he never heeded their attempts at reconciliation.
Now that he had perished and seen the kind of foe they had to face in the future, his personal grievances felt so childish in hindsight—but that was hindsight. With his current knowledge and ability, the sources of his grievances could be easily dealt with, not to mention that if he wanted to rise to the level of his past life and soar beyond it in this short four-year time period, he must leverage the full power of his family.
But reconciliation? Hehe.
Draco had a different plan in mind as he pushed the doors open, passing by the shocked clan guards as well as the manor servants, who hastily greeted him with pale faces. Draco nodded to them, which was unlike his usual self, walking briskly to the clan hall where he was certain that the morning clan meeting would be held.
The tail of clan cousins and relatives in the same general age range as himself began to rise and increase, the trailing parties muttering to themselves with interest and a hint of amusement.
But even they dropped their casual demeanor as they reached a pair of majestic double doors that were partly open, leading to a large ceremonial chamber styled for the sake of discussion.
Immediately, they paused and broke off from Draco, turning to use the side doors for peripheral clan members that led to their branch seats.
Meanwhile, Draco calmly walked through the main entrance, causing more than one pair of eyebrows to rise.
And this gave way to the Clan Hall, which was more like a throne room, with a set of tiered seats on either side that had clan youths at the lower end and clan elders at the highest, with the adults seated in the middle.
On the left and right were six separate segments of tiered seating, each one corresponding to one of the twelve branches of the Morningstar Family.
And in the middle, where the Patriarch and Matriarch of the clan were seated in resplendent throne-like chairs decorated in a pseudo-religious style, sat the two most influential people in the family as of today.
When Draco waltzed in, one of the branches on the left was in the process of making a supplication to the Patriarch about some matter or the other, when the person fell silent after being nudged by one of his peers, guided to look over to see Draco walking through the main pathway with a strong gait.
Much like those outside, these people adopted expressions of curiosity and interest, wondering what kind of show they were going to watch today.
Meanwhile, Draco did not pay attention to any save for a few familiar faces from the previous timeline who stood beside him as well as those who stood against him.
No, his eyes were solely reserved for the Patriarch, and more often, the Matriarch. Likewise, their eyes focused on him, with vivid expressions visible in them as they gazed at their… son.
Seated in a chair that was pitch black with the motif of a heart and a forked tail was the Matriarch Lilith, a mature woman appearing to be in her mid-thirties with healthy ivory-colored skin unblemished by any defect whatsoever, her dark eyes filled with pleasant surprise and doting as she gazed lovingly at her adult son.
Wearing an elegantly conservative dress fitting for a woman of her stature, yet still unable to hide her well-developed figure begotten by her genetics and bloodline—especially visible in the curvature and expansion of her hips, which seemed to have stolen all the thunder from her bosom in order to reach such volume.
Yet beside her was a man seated in a chair of the brightest scarlet color, styled with the motif of flames and two horns growing from either side of the headrest.
Even among men, he was quite huge. Due to his height of six foot four inches, he resembled a behemoth even when seated, especially considering his burly body that looked like he was a professional bodybuilder who took light steroids—stocky without the over-bulkiness to slow him down.
With slicked-back dark red hair and strong green pupils, Patriarch Dante was the premier authority and bulwark of the clan, usually cold-faced and indifferent when handling matters, yet upon seeing his son, a complex set of emotions ranging from guilt to regret and potent love shone through.
Draco came to a stop at the podium in the clan hall that was meant for reports or trials against clan members, looking up at his shocked but pleasantly surprised parents who were clearly happy to see him come out of his hovel for once.
Which brought the issue into question: Why did young Draco feel the need to seclude himself so strongly from his family when both his parents were the highest authorities while also showing positive parental love?
The answer was partly revealed when Draco opened his mouth to speak after a long period of silence in the hall, all eyes on him, waiting to see what kind of trouble he would cause now.
"I have come here today to let you all know that I will be formally assuming my role as the Heir of the family." He announced simply, clenching his fists lightly and placing them on the railing of the podium.
WHOOSH!
Immediately, there was an uproar in the Clan Hall as none expected Draco to say such a thing, not even in their wildest dreams!
While what he said was not outrageous—as it was family law and his birthright, usually incontestable by anyone—his years of neglect toward this position and the complex circumstances around it made them subconsciously feel that a resolution would be more complicated, likely never coming!
Indeed, they were right, as in the previous timeline, rather than claim his position, he directly disowned his family and swore enmity with them due to a misunderstanding that blew up beyond logical proportions, bringing all past grievances and trouble to the fore in one go.
But now, with knowledge of the future, the true power he held, and the crisis upcoming, all those grievances that previously felt like insurmountable barriers were akin to childish tantrums he couldn't let go of.
Even Dante and Lilith were shocked, not expecting their son to do the opposite of what everyone expected, but Dante's eyes visibly lit up with resplendent energy for the first time in a long time.
"Hahaha, great! Son, I support you in whatever you plan to do!" he stated his position right away, causing the troublesome elders who were about to speak to become silent, as if their throats had been choked.
But that was only going to stop the general crowd, as some were not pleased with this development—chief among them being a relatively tall woman with beautiful Italian features and large golden earrings as accessories.
She stood up immediately, not hiding her disdain and dislike of Draco as she gazed down upon him directly.
"Nonsense! What qualifications do you have to come in here and make announcements as if you're some final authority? Have you forgotten your situation all of a sudden, Young Master Draco?"
The "young master" was called out with the deepest sarcasm and disrespect, making many sigh internally that indeed things were not good, and a serious fight was inevitable.
Draco himself turned slowly to regard the woman speaking, his eyes showing a ripple of emotion for the first time today as he felt his buried guilt and former inferiority complex surface—but his gaze firmed with the mettle of a man who fought in a digital galaxy for 15 years, eventually coming to stand atop the entire human race.
It was with that same mettle that he spoke back to her for the first time in two lives, saying rather coldly:
"My qualifications? They are something you should know more than anyone else, isn't that right, Aunt Isabella?"