Derek's Backstory(End)

As I entered the banquet room, I grabbed a glass of champagne that was given to me suddenly by a maid. I just accepted As I might come off as rude to her.

I was the first to enter as Abby excused herself to the bathroom, She was accompanied by a maid as she didn't know the way.

I was quickly surrounded by people trying to gain favor from me, and I just small-talked all of it of course.

As I was about to excuse myself, Another name that I knew by heart was introduced by the guard at the door.

"Introducing, One of the 3 clans' heir's fiance, Miss Abby, Young master Andrew's lover and fiance." The guard said in a shout that can be heard by everyone in the banquet room.

Hearing this my brain circuited, I didn't know how it happened, what had happened, and why it was happening, but I do know that this is connected to what my mother said.

As my brain was processing all of this, A certain conversation with my mother came into my mind, it happened just before I headed to the banquet.

...

Just as I was about to head towards the carriage, My mother just pulled me out of nowhere towards an empty room.

While pulling me, I noticed that she seems to be looking around everywhere while trying to be discreet as possible in the process.

As we both entered the room, My mother quickly said in a hurried tone, which was unusual of her as she's usually composed no matter who she's with.

I was about to ask what was going on, but my mother talked first giving me no chance to speak, "Andrew listen to me, Your whole life is being controlled by your father, heck! Even Andrew's life is also controlled by his father!"

"Huh? What do-" I tried to ask but.

"Don't talk, for now, listen to everything that I have to say as we don't have enough time to converse as your father might find out."

Hearing my mother's desperate tone, I just nodded and listened to what she will say carefully.

"Andrew's And your father made a bet with the town's mayor, they betted about who will be better between their heirs, which is you and Andrew."

"By the rules of the contract that they signed, they can't help their heir in any way, and the contract must not be leaked by anyone."

*Spurt!*

My mother has blood dripping out of her mouth, which I assumed was a backlash from the said contract.

I was about to help her but was instead stopped by her, she just kept saying things without carrying about the blood that she is leaking everywhere creating a mess on the rugged floor.

"Whatever you do, you must not show any weakness in the upcoming banquet, as you might be bested by -"

*Knock* *Knock"

'What's happening? Contract? Betting? Controlled?' I don't have any idea what my mother was saying but just kept it in my head as my mother said.

My mother stopped what she was about to say and looked gravely at the door opening, seeing this, I looked warily at the person entering the door, which revealed my father.

He just eyed my mother for a few seconds, then looked at me and said in a cold tone, "The carriage is waiting in front, hurry up or you'll miss the banquet."

I was about to say that I'll cancel my plans for today and just stay with my mother, but my father said in a much colder voice, "Now..."

Seeing my father releasing a strong aura, I decided to follow his orders and walked out of the room, I glanced at my mother for a few seconds and turned back as I kept walking toward where the carriage was currently.

...

Remembering all of this, I connected all of the pieces from what my Mother, Father, Andrew, and Abby said to me these past few years.

I concluded:

I And Andrew's father had a bet with each other with the town's mayor about which of their two clans' heirs is better.

They can't interfere and help their heirs, even if they are caught in a trap, which I think the trap in this situation is 'Abby'.

Andrew seems to either know all this as he had set up a trap in advance or he already had a plan like this starting from the past.

'My mother seems to be the only one I can trust at this moment, I hope she's fine and my father didn't discover all of the things she talked about with me.'

*Sigh*

'How dumb am I? I decided to make a promise to marry someone when I was young. I didn't even know much about her.'

While regretting all of this, I was snapped out of my thought as I heard a voice that was quite familiar to me.

"Glad you can make it Derek, I hope you didn't mind me for not telling you about my engagement. I wanted to surprise my only friend after all, So how did I do? Aren't you shocked?" Andrew said in a competitive tone with a smirk on his face.

Abby was at her side wearing a beautiful red dress, she looked beautiful in it. Though I didn't care about it as I considered her a traitor.

She was just looking at me with a wronged expression on her face which the crowd found pitiful.

"Hmph! What a friend you are." I said in a cold tone that got noticed by the crowd around us.

I just ignored Abby as I currently have a bigger problem to solve, though I kept her betrayal in the back of my mind.

Well, this is where the story gets interesting, The crowd was wondering why we seemed to be fighting in a competitive tone.

And a few servants that Andrew hired blended with the crowd and kept telling everyone some lies about why we were fighting.

"Oh? Is an heir getting cuckolded?"

"Looks like it, The Santos Heir seemed to be in the wrong though for stealing the young master's woman."

"Sigh, Why would you fight for just a woman? Youngsters these days..."

"Well, this is interesting I wonder how this will be handled..."

"From the looks of it, they seemed like they would fight..."

Seeing the crowd getting heated up, Andrew suddenly challenged me to a battle to regain his noble pride he said.

I was allowed to refuse, but I wouldn't do it as my mother said to not show any weakness in today's banquet.

I accepted, and as we both were holding our weapons, we were about to start our match as

Someone from the crowd volunteered to become a referee.

Just as the countdown was about to reach zero, I suddenly felt something amiss as I felt a burning sensation on my mana circuit near my heart.

The next moment, I felt all of the mana in my body suddenly become chaotic. I quickly tried to cancel the duel as soon as I felt this.

But, unfortunately, I was already too late and was hit in the stomach with a full blow of the back of Andrew's sword.

I wasn't even given a chance to speak as I felt a wave of pain assaulting me in my stomach.

*Kughk!*

I felt pain in my stomach and tried to curl, but instead, I suddenly passed out as I was hit with a decent follow-up attack in the back of my neck with Andrew's sword sheath.

Seeing me passed out on the ground without even having a chance to defend myself, the crowd can't help but feel pity and disappointment in me.

"To think that the number 1 genius of our town only amounts to this much." one of the crowd said in disappointment.

"Did anyone else see his shocked face before he was hit in the stomach?"

"I saw that too! His face was of pure disbelief, HaHaHa!"

...

A few hours passed, As I regained consciousness, I was met with my room in the family mansion.

I quickly checked my mana circuit, and what I felt shattered my heart. My whole mana circuit was destroyed, and I was 100℅ sure that my life as a mage was now over, I can't even feel the mana in the surroundings.

A month quickly passed, During this month my mother visited me a total of 24 times, while my father hasn't visited me even a single one.

Though my mother didn't say it, I know that she is worried about me due to the face she always had when she visited me.

Another month passed by, and Everything became clear to me, I didn't have a single ally except for my mother. Heck! even my father was avoiding meeting me.

I also figured out that the wine that I drank just as I entered the banquet room was laced with poison.

It was a poison that would make the mana circuit shatter, while also slowly killing the host in the process.

I also lost the title of heir of my clan, people lost respect for me and avoided me except for the doctor that would visit me from time to time.