SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

Mayla, Aubrelle, and Cynthia gave Trafalgar their full attention.

Three pairs of eyes were fixed on him.

Well, two pairs of eyes and one bird.

Mayla watched from across the table, the playfulness from a few breaths ago gone from her face. Aubrelle’s unfocused red gaze rested in his direction, the scar around her eyes catching the warm light while Pipin perched near her hand with its crimson stare trained on him. Cynthia sat a little straighter than before, shoulders tense, her cup forgotten between both hands.

Trafalgar exhaled through his nose.

”It started with the war, and the aftermath.” he said.

Nobody interrupted.

”You know about the war, obviously. Mayla was informed during most of it. Aubrelle was present, since my family fought beside hers against House Thal’zar.” Trafalgar’s attention shifted to Cynthia. ”I imagine you heard about it too.”

Cynthia nodded. ”Yes. I read about it. Everyone was paying attention during those days. People were reading newspapers whenever new reports came out, and there was information going around by word of mouth too, though that was less reliable.”

”Right,” Trafalgar said. ”Well, my trip to Aurevane is connected to all of that. I’m telling you this because I trust you. I kept part of it to myself for a while.” His gaze moved briefly to Mayla and Aubrelle. ”Even you two don’t know everything.”

Mayla’s fingers tightened slightly around her cup.

Aubrelle’s face did not change much, but Pipin’s head tilted toward Trafalgar, catching the shift in her attention for her.

Trafalgar continued.

”As you know, the current patriarch of House Thal’zar is Darian du Thal’zar.”

Aubrelle answered first. ”Yes. He was chosen as successor after his father, despite not being the most impressive candidate and despite others standing ahead of him in the succession line.”

”That happened because I had a hand in it,” Trafalgar said.

Mayla’s expression changed.

Cynthia blinked.

Aubrelle did not look surprised.

Trafalgar noticed all three reactions and kept going without dressing the truth in prettier clothes. ”His older brother was going to be chosen as head of the family. I had to prevent that. I needed to place a piece of my own there.”

The word piece was cold enough to make Cynthia’s lips part slightly.

Mayla did not panic. That was Mayla. She could be startled, hurt, amused, warm, playful, but when the air became dangerous, she did not lose her head. Instead, she looked at Trafalgar carefully, connecting the lines before anyone else spoke.

”So you control House Thal’zar?” she asked. ”Or at least its patriarch. Darian should be under the supervision of House Morgain and House Sylvanel after the war, but if you were the one who placed him there, they do not know the full truth.”

”That’s correct,” Trafalgar said.

Cynthia’s grip tightened around her cup.

Trafalgar glanced at Aubrelle. ”Aubrelle was with me when I gave the order.”

Cynthia turned toward Aubrelle at once.

Aubrelle’s unfocused red gaze remained calm, though her fingers brushed Pipin’s feathers once.

Trafalgar said it plainly.

”Kill Lucien du Thal’zar.”

The words struck the room with a grim neatness. No shouting. No dramatic force. That almost made them worse. He had said them the same way he had probably said them that day: as an instruction, not a threat.

Cynthia swallowed. ”But… why would you do something like that?”

”That is what I was getting to,” Trafalgar replied. ”There is a serious problem coming. If we are unlucky, it could arrive within a decade. If we are lucky, maybe we get a century of peace. You probably know the old history. The Primordials drove the Void Creatures into another dimension.”

Cynthia nodded, but her face had already begun to pale.

Trafalgar watched her carefully. ”That seal is weakening. Eventually, it will break.”

The room tightened.

Mayla’s breath slowed, her concern no longer hidden. Aubrelle’s hand stilled over Pipin’s back. Cynthia stared at Trafalgar as if the words had pushed the walls of the apartment far away from her.

This was not academy politics. This was not noble families snapping at each other over territory, pride, inheritance, or old insults. This was the sort of truth people outside the great houses were never meant to touch until it crushed them.

Cynthia had grown up without a family name to shield her, without private tutors whispering ugly truths behind guarded doors, without adults teaching her which wars were public and which ones were hidden under polite words. She knew hardship. She knew survival. But this was different. This was the world behind the world, and she had stepped into it because she wanted to stand beside Trafalgar.

Trafalgar noticed her discomfort.

”Cynthia,” he said, voice quieter. ”Are you all right? Do you want me to continue?”

Cynthia opened her mouth, but no answer came out fast enough.

Mayla rose from her chair and moved behind Cynthia, wrapping her arms gently around her shoulders. Cynthia stiffened at the contact first, more from surprise than rejection. Mayla only held her there, warm and steady.

”It is normal to feel overwhelmed,” Mayla said softly near her ear. ”Trafalgar is revealing things most people never hear. But remember why he is doing it. He is trying to be honest with us. He does not want to hide the danger from anyone here.”

Cynthia’s breathing steadied little by little.

She lowered her gaze to the table, took one longer breath, and nodded.

”I want to hear it,” she said. ”I need to.”

Trafalgar waited until she looked at him again before continuing.

”That is why I started moving before the seal breaks,” he said. ”I need people under me. Not only friends. Not only allies who can walk away when the situation becomes inconvenient. People I can trust, pressure, protect, or use when necessary. Darian was one of those moves.”

Cynthia’s brows drew together. ”So Lucien died because you needed Darian in that position.”

”Yes,” Trafalgar said. There was no cruelty in his tone.

”Lucien was the wrong person to have there. Darian was useful, and I could reach him. I do not think he is stupid enough to mistake what happened for kindness, but he understands the result. His house survived because of the path that followed.”

Mayla’s arms remained around Cynthia, but her attention stayed on Trafalgar. Aubrelle listened without flinching, perhaps because she had already watched this part of him appear before.