Friedrich Glade despised his son.
Though Sigmund was his heir and the only remnant left of his late wife, the boy had been the one to steal her from him. Helene had died shortly after giving birth, and while Friedrich knew it was unfair to blame the child, feelings could not be dictated by reason.
Convictions might be shaped through experience, but the heart remained stubborn.
Yet when Sigmund died, Friedrich realized that he had lost his wife all over again.
"…."
On the surface, the boy's death appeared to be the work of the Thunderbird, or so Vanitas Astrea had phrased it. But for Friedrich, the explanation was insufficient.
Vanitas Astrea, a Great Power capable of dismantling three fellow Great Powers at once, would not have struggled to keep a Thunderbird from getting near his son.
And more than that, there was the greater inconsistency.
Thunderbirds, born of pure mana, feasted only on mana.
Sigmund was a Crusader, not a knight.
