The Lustful Villain: Every Milfs and Gilfs are Mine!-Chapter 276. I Hate Having To Prove Something (But If It’s to Destroy Them, I Dig It!)
Since Rex was curious about Nightwing’s household, Diana decided to bring him there. And Rex didn’t expect the Nightwing household to be like that, and he didn’t often come across things that weren’t what he expected.
He had expected something big because the Nightwing name meant a lot to a family that had been doing something important in Aethelgard for a long time. Families like that usually had houses that showed how long they had been doing it, not just how rich they were at the time.
He didn’t expect the size.
The house occupied a prime location at the corner of a city block within the district that bordered the upper residential area. It was a structure constructed in stages over generations, with each phase designed for durability rather than mere aesthetic appeal.
This made it more impressive than anything designed solely to impress, as it carried the weight of genuine history rather than a façade of grandeur.
The gate was made of stone and iron, and the courtyard beyond it looked like a place that was used a lot instead of just being kept up for show.
Rex stared at it for a while.
"Not bad at all... this is probably the biggest house I’ve seen in Aethelgard," he said.
"Well... the Starlight household is similar like this," Diana said, sounding like someone who had seen both and was being honest. "But in different ways."
"I’ll invite you there when the time is right," Diana said with a playful wink.
Rex set that thought aside for now and turned his attention to the gate.
He was watching the gate when it opened, not from the inside but from the outside, with the deliberate force of someone who had come to open it rather than being instructed to do so.
The man who emerged appeared to be around Elaris’s age and was built like someone who had remained physically capable throughout most of their life. He exuded the aura of someone who had not recently ceased to be capable and had no intention of doing so.
’Who the fuck is this old man...?’
He regarded Rex as if he were fully aware of the situation, trying to determine whether the reality matched the image he had in his mind. Just then, Elaris appeared at his left elbow.
"I didn’t expect you to arrive so soon, and it’s great that you’re with Diana as well," Elaris said.
"Rex, I want to introduce you to my husband," she said in the same tone she used when presenting something she was completely at ease with. "Therion."
Therion Morr Nightwing looked at Rex with a judging look and said, "So... You’re the one my grandson hit, eh?"
It wasn’t said as a question.
Rex said, "I am."
"In the middle of the market district," Therion said. "In front of witnesses."
"That’s accurate," Rex said.
Therion looked at him for a little while longer. His face looked like someone who hadn’t yet made up his mind about what to do and was carefully thinking about it before he got to that point in the conversation.
"My grandson’s behavior was a failure of the standard we hold in this household," Therion said.
And surprisingly, the way he said it made it sound like he was stating a fact rather than expressing remorse, as Therion appeared to be someone who could discern the difference between the two. "That failure has effects that go beyond what he intended, and it has forced us to bear the burden."
Rex said, "Well, that incident clearly demonstrates the need for good parenting."
"Yes... my daughter Aurelia is going to get punished for having a son that has such a shallow-thinking little brain."
"We, Nightwings, should’ve stayed out of trouble at any cost!"
"The city talks," Therion said. "Since my grandson’s incident, this city has been talking about the Nightwing household, and it hasn’t been in a good way."
He looked at Rex with a look that was not quite threatening and not quite friendly, but somewhere in between. It was the look of someone who was setting the rules for an engagement.
"I want to understand the measure of the man my grandson decided to mark," Therion said. "And I want to understand it in the way that the Nightwing household understands things."
Rex said, "And how are you going to go about that?"
"By doing it directly," Therion said.
Then he said, in the same matter-of-fact tone, "I’m going to ask you to a contest of magical ability!"
"This is how things are settled in the Nightwing tradition when words aren’t enough. The winner sets the terms of the outcome, and the loser agrees to them."
He kept Rex’s gaze with the look of someone who had done this kind of thing many times before and was watching to see if this person understood what they were being asked.
’This is honestly so fucking stupid, but if I get the win... it’s just going to make this family even more fucked up with the terms I wanted.’
Rex said, "Elaris mentioned this might happen, and honestly, this contest or tradition feels kind of... stupid, maybe?"
"No disrespect intended, though."
Therion looked at his wife.
"She has a habit of preparing the ground," he said, not really blaming her. "And you say it was stupid, but for us, it’s not."
"We’re following our honor because we believe in our strength and abilities."
’One prideful cocky family, huh...? It’s worse than those Starlights, and I take them any day.’
Therion’s mouth moved in a way that looked like it could have been the start of a smile if someone who took longer to smile had made it.
"Come in," he said. "It’s time for me to experience the magical abilities from you that made Diana fall in love with the likes of you."
"W-what!?" Diana was shocked hearing that.
"We know, Diana, we know," Elaris laughed.
...
Elaris explained the tradition in the courtyard, where the four of them had arranged themselves around the low stone bench that occupied its center.
She explained it with the quality of someone who had grown up in the Nightwing household and had absorbed its specific culture the way air was absorbed: completely and without noticing.
For five generations, the Nightwing household had been a family of practitioners in the arts that required both physical and magical capabilities, a phrase coined by the founding generation and retained in the family’s self-description due to the Nightwing value of precision.
The tradition of the contest existed because the household believed that external disputes were best resolved through internal demonstration. If one claimed a position, they needed to demonstrate their ability to occupy it. Similarly, if one claimed an outcome, they had to prove they could achieve it.
The contest was not about winning, exactly, but about demonstrating that the terms you were putting forward had the weight of genuine capability behind them.
The winner received the terms they had stated before the contest.
The loser received the terms the winner had stated.
Before the contest, both sides clearly stated their terms. This ensured that each party understood what they were competing for and what they stood to lose.
After this point, no further discussion was allowed.
’This is just like gambling, but more stupid...’
Rex asked Therion, "What are your terms for this?"
"If I win," Therion said, "you publicly restore the Nightwing household’s standing in Aethelgard."
"The statement must be made before witnesses in the market district, clearly naming Theo’s action as an error of an individual rather than a reflection of the household’s position."
"Like it’ll go off that easily... man, this family is a fraud if you think about it."
"At least face it like a man and hold the one responsible accountable. And not looking for any justification." 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮
’But who am I to say all of that...? I’m just more fucked up.’
Rex raised his right arm. "And what if I win?"
Therion laughed. "That’s a good confidence you have there, young one!"
"For my terms in this contest..." Rex said, "The deal between the Nightwing and Starlight families was about their younger generations."
"The usual hope was that Diana Von Starlight and Theo Morr Nightwing would get married."
Diana, sitting beside Rex, did not move, which was her version of the specific stillness of someone who had known this was coming and was prepared for it.
"I want that expectation formally withdrawn," Rex said. "By the household. In writing. No political alliance through individuals who have not chosen each other."
He turned to Therion.
"Everyone in both families should be free to make their own choices," Rex said. "This freedom should exist without four generations of arrangements dictating the available options."
There was silence between them.
And then Therion stared at his wife.
Elaris was looking at Rex with the same look she had had since they first talked on the street that morning. It was the look that showed she was more interested in the situation than she had expected and didn’t want to stop being interested.
"Those are... the terms you wanted," Therion said.
Rex said, "They are."
"Honestly... I hate having to do something to prove it, but this is the only way I can destroy the family."
"These traditional values and content will be a giant blunder for them all because I’m already strong enough to take them down!" Rex said, an evil smile slowly spreading across his face.
Therion got up.
"It settles," he said. "Come to the training ground."
