Chapter 75: Dwindling Hope

Lily had a confused expression. “House Hyperius? The Marquis house?”

“Yeah, that same one. What do you guys know about it?” Julius asked them.

Derek was the one who answered. “My father told me that House Hyperius lost many of its powerful members in the last monster flood. Unfortunately, that led many other houses to take advantage of it and start poaching many of their assets over the last decade. They retained most of their core holdings because of their Patriarch the Golden Sun, who is regarded as one of the most dangerous Tier 5s in the empire and has a really good chance of reaching Tier 6 in the next several years.”

“I heard the same thing. My father had some deals with House Hyperius over the years but they have slowly dwindled,” Lily added.

“What does House Hyperius have to do with your secrets?” Aubrey asked him.

Julius took a deep breath. “My real name is Julius Von Hyperius,” Julius revealed to them.

Julius expected surprise, but instead, he was met with confusion.

“You’re a son of House Hyperius?” Derek asked.

Julius nodded.

Derek turned to Kyle and Lily, “Did you guys know about House Hyperius having a boy around Julius’s age with his features?”

Kyle spoke up, “There is a boy named Tristan, he is the son of Frederick Von Hyperius, but he goes to Goldencrest. There are also a few other boys and girls but I don’t recall anyone of them having black hair, or being named Julius for that matter.”

Lily asked Julius, “You mentioned that you didn’t have a father anymore, was that true?”

“Yeah, both parents are dead,” Julius assured her.

“Then who was your father if you don’t me asking?”

Julius had to think about it for a little bit. It wasn’t like he had ever known the guy, so his name kind of slipped out of his memory.

“Gregor, the brother of the Patriarch,” Julius finally remembered.

“Gregor Von Hyperius was your father?” Aubrey asked in a disgusted tone.

“Technically yes, but I can’t recall a single conversation I ever had with him. So I don’t really consider him family. Why, do you know him?” Julius asked. Aubrey sounded like she knew of his father if her disgusted tone was any indicator.

“I know of him, I met him with my mother at a fancy get-together with a bunch of other nobles. He was not someone who I expected to be your father. You have my sympathy,” Aubrey said.

Julius was not surprised that his father had quite a negative reputation in the noble circles. From what he could find out his father was a no-good drunk who slept with anyone who had two legs and could breathe.

“So that would mean you are Lukas Hyperius’s nephew and a part of the main line. How did we not know about you?” Derek was perplexed.

Julius told them all about his weird circumstances. About his birth to his commoner mother who died when he was born. To his isolated upbringing and not even meeting his family for most of his life, until he was twelve.

They were all saddened to hear his story. “That is deplorable. Nobles can be awful, greedy people, I freely admit that. But this is totally different. If you were the nephew of the Patriarch why would you be treated like that?” Lily asked.

“Apparently it was all because of my father. When he brought me back to the family the elders were very upset with him and wanted to kill or banish both of us. However, my uncle was able to convince them to let me stay. However, they had a stipulation that included no contact with me until my awakening and seeing if I had any talent,” Julius explained to them.

“And your uncle just went along with it? He allowed them to alienate you for years?” Lily sounded offended on his behalf.

“To be fair, it wasn’t like I was living in squalor. I was living very luxuriously and had anything I wanted other than family. Also, I was an independent kid so it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.”

Lily and the others weren’t convinced. They still thought that it was an awful thing to do to a child.

Julius continued on with his story. Telling them about the night of the attack and what had happened. He tried to include everything he thought was important. He mentioned how it was a plan concocted by some of the elders, Duke Greyson, and Clan Genshen. He was confident that most of them would know who he was talking about.

He finished his story with the incident with the teleportation circle. For a while, they didn’t say anything. They were thinking about what he told them. They knew if what he was saying was true then that would have enormous repercussions.

Julius didn’t quite understand the full consequences himself, but he expected Derek, Lily, and Kyle to understand more than he did.

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“And they don’t know you’re alive?” Edgar wanted to make sure Julius wasn’t being targeted.