God of Tricksters

"Hmm…" Theo mumbled while reading the document Leonardo had prepared. It recorded his mother's development.

His mother was a bright and kind person in the past who couldn't stop helping people in need as long as the matter wasn't related to the War God Family.

She was an extremely talented person. In terms of prowess, she was among the top three among the entire clan. But her brain was also in the top three. Unlike Marzio's good tactical ability but lack of martial prowess, her talent allowed her to become a solid expert of the War God Family.

In fact, Marzio always believed she would be the successor of the War God Family, albeit everything changed when she was 18 years old.

She met Ray during the Grand Gaia Competition. Although Ray overpowered her with his Control, the battle resulted in a draw because of her strategy.

After that competition, Ray and Valerie met on a few occasions, such as international missions. Their relationship also grew every time they met.

With Valerie making the strategy and Ray executing it, they became an unmatched duo among their peers.

People thought they were a perfect couple, and everyone expected them to get married.

Unfortunately, there were many objections from both families. The War God Family wanted Valerie to inherit the house, so they needed to have Ray marry into their household.

It was not a problem at first because Ray had decided not to join the Griffith Family after becoming 18 years old. But everything changed when he got closer to Valerie.

When there was talk about their marriage, the Griffith Family immediately made a huge exception and forced Ray back to the Griffith Family regardless of the rule or his objections.

The moment Theo read this part, he could finally understand why the Griffith Family made that exception. After all, they had been expecting Ray and Valerie to give birth to their ancestor's reincarnation.

To fulfill their ambition, Ray and Valerie needed to stay in the Griffith Family.

And this made Leonardo angry and stopped the talk about their marriage.

Unwilling to comply, Valerie tried all her best to trick her grandfather so that she could go to Ray. On the contrary, the Griffith Family forced Ray to marry the Mind Elder's daughter to tie him down, not caring whether he would have another woman or not.

Ray took this opportunity to lower their guard and used the Mind Elder's daughter to escape from the Griffith Family.

And as soon as they reunited, the couple decided to elope.

Both families were infuriated. The War God Family demanded Ray go back to them with Valerie while the Griffith Family chased both of them openly since it was their specialty.

After a few years of running away, Ray and Valerie managed to gain some stability and chose to get married.

And this was the start of the tragedy where Owen died.

It turned out when Ray 'accepted' the marriage with the Mind Elder's daughter to lower their guard, the woman was actually the Mind Elder's puppet. When Ray's guard was down, she used a secret skill to track Ray.

When everything settled down and Ray lowered his guard, the Mind Elder used that secret skill to locate them and deal with Owen. They simply used Ray's plan against him.

As for the rest of the story, he had heard about it.

Theo never thought his parents had such a tragic past as well.

He had a terrible childhood because of his parents, but Leonardo didn't interfere with his love story. It seemed the reason Leonardo didn't interfere with his love story was that he didn't want to repeat the same mistake that killed his grandson.

That might also be why he tried to support both the parents and the son despite what Valerie did. He felt guilty about what he had done in the past.

Contrary to Theo, Ray had a good childhood because his parents were there for him. But the prophecy screwed up his love story with Valerie, resulting in this complicated situation.

If there were no prophecy about the ancestor's reincarnation, this wouldn't happen. Ray would marry into the War God Family, and their family could live happily in Italy.

When Theo read it, he pinched the bridge of his nose, not knowing what to feel.

"To think the root of the problem was the prophecy of the Griffith Family's ancestor… It screwed my parents; then my parents screwed me over."

Theo looked at the last few paragraphs of the report. It seemed to be a note from Leonardo about his thoughts in the entire situation.

"When they had you, they were in Thersland, living a quiet life. It wasn't supposed to be a problem because the Griffith Family believed Owen was the child of prophecy. Even if you were born, the Griffith Family wouldn't come to you anymore. That's why the Griffith Family didn't come to them right after you were born."

"However, it turned out you were the child of prophecy. After learning about your extraordinary talents, they realized the Griffith Family would come once again."

"At the same time, if they wanted to leave Thersland with you to seek refuge, the Griffith Family would realize they were trying to hide you. Even before reaching this place, they might have taken you away."

"Both of them were still too weak to even fight the Griffith Family. So, they decided to suppress your talent by throwing one ordeal after another. They wanted the Griffith Family to think you have no talent."

"In the meantime, they started weakening the Griffith Family from the inside so that when your talent began to bloom, they couldn't send their agents to kidnap you. Those few months you had in your school, they created it by weakening the Griffith Family."

"And after showing your talent in the Grand Gaia Competition, they could stop the Griffith Family because of your attachment to your brother. Seeing this, they thought you still had some love toward your parents and that you would return to the Griffith Family when they visited you on your birthday."

"That was when your adopted brother told you the harsh truth to push you away from the Griffith Family."

"When you reached the War God Family, Valerie used my motto to protect you for a few years until your strength was strong enough to create an even bigger connection that could stop the Griffith Family."

"I couldn't deny that they used you for their revenge, but I needed to admit they indeed protected you from the Griffith Family. At the very least, this is my analysis about Valerie's entire plan, and I believe I'm 80-90% correct."

"Everything was my fault. If I were not adamant about having Ray marry into the household, you would experience a good childhood… You can blame me for what happened to you."

Reading this put Theo on an emotional roller coaster.. He leaned back on his chair and covered his eyes, saying with a tired tone. "What am I supposed to feel?"