The fight between Shirou and Paul, though described as thrilling, actually happened almost in an instant.
From the moment they both used Sword God Style to clash, to the use of their follow-up moves, Paul's Water God Style and North God Style, and Shirou's Crane Wing Triple Strike, it all happened almost at the same time.
Just a flash of sword skills.
The battle quickly came to an end.
Leaving aside Shirou and Paul who were fighting, the other members of the Greyrat family watching the fight, Zenith, Lilia, and Rudeus, didn't even have time to react before they saw Shirou holding a roughly made short sword, briefly projected, against Paul's chest, preventing him from making any extra moves.
"He won... Shirou won."
When Rudeus said this, his heart was filled with complicated feelings.
He really didn't know who to support at this moment, as both Shirou and Paul were family members he cared about a lot, and he didn't want either of them to get hurt.
However, the fight between Shirou and Paul would decide whether Zenith would stay or leave.
Now that Shirou had won, he would be taking Zenith away from this home, which also meant that the warm and happy daily life of the Greyrat family would become a thing of the past, and the breakup of the family was imminent.
Rudeus didn't want this to happen, but he didn't know how to stop it.
Because Paul had indeed made an unforgivable mistake, hooking up with the maid Lilia while Zenith was pregnant, which also led to Lilia unexpectedly getting pregnant.
Such clear cheating, even in this era, could not be easily tolerated.
At least without Zenith's consent, Paul's actions undoubtedly hurt Zenith's feelings, causing her unnecessary pain.
Even if it ended with the breakup of the family, it would be reasonable...
But, would that really be good?
Although Paul was a scumbag full of flaws, with nothing good to find about him from head to toe, he had always been diligent and responsible as the head of the Greyrat family, and sometimes even gave the impression that he was quite like a father.
Rudeus didn't hate, and found it hard to hate, this kind of Paul.
If possible, he would of course want to help Paul, at least to not let the family fall apart so easily.
But what should he do now?
Rudeus looked at the two people on the battlefield who had decided the fight with a complicated expression.
"..."
Looking at the sword blade against his chest, Paul seemed to realize the situation and fell silent for a moment, a bitter look on his face.
And although Shirou had won, it was only a narrow victory, and if Paul hadn't held back and pulled out his second sword earlier, he probably wouldn't have been able to win this fight.
This made Shirou realize even more clearly that his strength was far from enough.
The father and son both had complicated feelings and didn't plan to say anything.
Seeing this, Rudeus realized that to solve the problem, he still had to look at Zenith's attitude, so he immediately turned to look at Zenith, but found that the blonde woman was just standing there silently, and it was hard to tell her true attitude and thoughts from her appearance.
In this situation where everyone was silent, the first person to break the silence was Paul.
He slowly took a step back, as if realizing the situation, put down the sword in his hand, and said with a dejected face: "Well, I lost. As a father, I actually lost to my son in a real fight. I'm afraid someone like me isn't qualified to protect my family, and I've made such a big mistake, making Zenith sad. I'm really hopeless... Shirou, I'm leaving Zenith to you."
Paul had made a decision. He admitted his defeat and was willing to accept the punishment of defeat: Shirou taking Zenith away from the Greyrat family to Zenith's parents' home in the Holy Country of Milis.
This also meant that the Greyrat family would cease to exist in name.
Zenith did not respond to Paul's words. She just silently walked up to Paul, who was kneeling on the ground, looked at this man who had lost all fighting spirit, and silently slapped him.
"Slap!"
A crisp sound rang out.
A maple leaf-shaped red mark appeared on Paul's cheek.
This slap seemed to be severing ties, making the pain and despair on Paul's face even deeper.
"Madam!"
However, just when everything was about to go in the worst direction, Lilia's voice suddenly sounded, "I should be the one to leave this house. As long as I leave, the problem should no longer exist."
Lilia's words were extremely calm. It was as if she had been making up her mind all along, and now she finally said what she wanted to say.
"How can that be?"
Paul said anxiously. He still had some conscience and knew that Lilia would definitely not be able to leave the Greyrat family on her own.
However, before he could continue speaking, a look from Zenith made him unable to raise his head and he lowered his head again, trembling.
Rudeus and Shirou really felt awkward watching this and didn't expect him to be so lacking in authority.
On the other side, after hearing Lilia's words, Zenith turned to look at the red-haired maid, "Are you sure you want to do this? What about the child?"
"I plan to give birth in the Fittoa Territory and then take the child back to my hometown to raise."
"Your hometown is in the south, right?"
"Yes."
"You've used a lot of energy giving birth. You won't be able to handle a long journey, and you might also have to face winter. It's hard to imagine how difficult the journey will be."
"...Maybe, but there's nowhere else to turn to."
Lilia said silently. She herself knew how difficult this would be, but she really had no choice.
The Kingdom of Asura is not a small country in size. On the contrary, the country's area ranks among the top in the world.
And in this era, there are no convenient means of transportation. Most people travel by horseback or use public carriages.
Such a long trip, a newly delivered pregnant woman, plus having to take a child, and Lilia herself has a lingering illness. The probability of the mother and child dying on the road is far greater than the probability of surviving.
Not only that, but they may also encounter bandits on the road, which would make the situation even more dangerous. This world has a slavery system. Even a woman without a penny can earn a lot of money by selling her as a slave.
It can be said that no matter how you look at it, this would be a very bad result.
So, even the weak Paul couldn't help but protest and say, "No, that absolutely won't work. We can't let Lilia..."
"You shut up!"
Zenith's cold voice made Paul lose the courage to resist again. He could only curl up like a child after being sternly scolded by Zenith.
"..."
This man really is a bit too useless.
Rudeus couldn't help but sigh.
And after Zenith sighed, she looked at Paul and then at Shirou, "As expected, just take me away from this house, Shirou..."
"Zenith..."
Shirou clearly didn't want to see this result for Zenith's words.
His purpose for fighting Paul was not to make Zenith leave.
But he can't say what he wants to say now, because often, the real words cannot be conveyed through language...
Helpless, Shirou couldn't help but look at Rudeus. He winked at his younger brother, asking him to say something.
Rudeus also realized that he had to say something here, otherwise, this family that made people feel warm would completely collapse.
However, the current situation has become so bad that no matter what he says, the situation will not change for the better.
After all, only one of Zenith and Lilia can stay now. Either Zenith chooses to leave, or Lilia leaves alone.
Wait, why did the problem become like this?
Isn't the source of all this the cheating done by some scum?
Reminded by Shirou, Rudeus suddenly understood the problem, but he didn't say his point of view right away. Instead, he pretended to be at a loss and said, "Mother, I could have two more younger brothers or sisters in one go. Why is the atmosphere so heavy?"
Rudeus pretended to be a child at this moment.
Only in this way can he interrupt in this heavy atmosphere.
As the saying goes, children can be forgiven for anything they do.
When Zenith heard Rudeus's words, a helpless look appeared on her face, which had already made up her mind, and she said silently, "Because your father did something he shouldn't have with Lilia."
Zenith sighed and answered, her tone containing bottomless anger.
However, the target of anger was not Lilia, because Zenith herself knew very well.
Who really made the biggest mistake.
"But, can Lilia resist father?"
"What do you mean?"
"Maybe father grabbed Lilia's weakness!"
"Eh?"
"Actually, even if he didn't grab her weakness, father could order Lilia around at will, right... Isn't it all father's fault?"
Rudeus's words finally freed the situation from being about who between Zenith and Lilia would leave, making everyone realize what the real problem they were facing was.
Seeing this, Shirou couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and was able to say what he had been wanting to say from the beginning:
"Rudy is right. The person who made the mistake needs to take responsibility for the mistake. Paul, the reason why I fought you just now was so that you could realize that as a husband, as a father, what you should do is not to escape, but to pick up the sword and do what you should do."
"Shirou..."
Hearing Shirou's words, Paul finally realized something.
He slowly got up from the ground, and his gaze swept over the faces of his family members one by one, and finally a relieved smile appeared:
"Yeah, it's clearly all my fault, but I've always been running away from reality, and even forcing Zenith and Lilia to bear the pain that they shouldn't have to bear. What a scumbag I am... I should be the one to take all the responsibility, and I'm willing to accept all the consequences for my mistakes!"
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