112 – Bastard
He was born crying.
The world of a young child is extremely narrow. Before learning accumulates and the foundation of perception expands, there was only one person in his world. Mother.
In a narrow, shabby, and dusty room, his mother, who was coughing dryly, was breastfeeding him. His mother, who brought him weaning food from the world beyond the door.
Thanks to his ignorance, the young Envers was able to immerse himself in the peaceful happiness of the boundless love his mother provided. She was the only person in this world who truly cared for him.
As he grew older and the world began to fill his head one by one, a strange modifier was attached to the warmest three letters of all.
A mother who is ignored even by a mere attendant.
⋯⋯⋯⋯.
—- —-
His mother taught Envers with the books that the attendants threw away. Blue, the color of your eyes is blue. Like the sky, a wide and blue blue. From such words.
That this is the Redburn Duchy, and that he was born of his seed.
That nobles are of high rank, and that the Duke in particular is a great lineage respected everywhere in this world. So you too must become a great man befitting your blood.
How to wash clothes and how to do laundry.
That apple peels are good for removing oil and water stains.
Learning time with his mother was enjoyable. The world expanded and he learned new concepts. Status, power, authority, bloodline⋯⋯.
Although he had never seen his father’s face since he was born, Envers had vague expectations. The half that made me, my father. What kind of person is he, and in what way will he love me?
Like in the storybook, will I too become a great nobleman and live a life leading people?
⋯⋯⋯⋯.
The young Envers also had this question. If the Redburn Duke is such a noble person, then his wife, his mother, must also be noble.
Why is the attire of the passing attendant more luxurious than his mother’s?
Why do they look down on their mother with their eyes while showing respect? Why do they pretend not to hear even though they heard it clearly and open their eyes wide?
At the time, it was a question that he had no way of solving.
—- —-
The year Envers turned ten.
The attendant finally said it was time to meet his father.
The first time Envers saw his father was in a large bedroom with red lights and pink smoke. Naked women were lying on the large bed with their eyes open.
His kept father shaking his hips in front of his young son.
It was a disgusting and frightening scene rather than obscene. No one felt pleasure or joy, and they were all just wriggling together with expressions like hardened wax.
No love, no lust. It was like a snake pit rubbing its body in a mess.
When asked what he was doing, his father replied briefly amidst the crackling sound of water. Mating. This was a farm where young animals were born. As if people were livestock.
“Take him away and educate him.”
That was the end of the short sentence. Envers was grabbed by both arms and dragged away somewhere.
Only then did Envers realize that there was no need to give more love and affection than giving food to chickens and chicks? It’s just a bug.
To his father, the Redburn Duke, Envers and his mother were the same.
His mother must have been shaken like a broken doll on that bed, and she must have made him. It made me feel sick to think so. Something, many things felt wrong.
The mansion where Envers, who was dragged by the attendant, arrived was a mansion where boys who looked like him gathered. He instinctively knew that they were his brothers.
This was the house of illegible children.
—- —-
From Noble mtl dot com
[Redburn Secret Documents: Fable Induction Plan]It is conducted with children in their developmental stage whose thought processes have not yet been established.
1) By instilling unforgettable trauma, control the direction of their growth, and
2) By conducting brainwashing education that induces emotions,
The goal is to artificially induce specific effects by inducing fables with certain effects.
The target fables are as follows: Specialized abilities/lethality against black magicians, succubi, and wizards. The higher the lethality, the higher the priority.
—- —-
What followed was a series of education and training. The instructors repeatedly taught the reasons why they had to devote their lives to the Redburn Duke, and rewarded children with good attitudes and punished those with bad attitudes.
They learned how to use daggers and rapiers, and how to deal with wizards. They were also encouraged to harbor blind hatred for wizards.
The Redburn Duke was kind and good, and wanted to give his sons a comfortable life and happiness, but he had to resist because the evil wizards were plotting to destroy his family.
The reason why you have to suffer from training is because of the wizards, and when you grow up and kill all the bad wizards, you will be able to live the luxurious life you deserve.
“Wizards, bad wizards, die⋯⋯ die!”
“Shout louder! Is that all you have to say to those who harm our Redburn dukedom!”
“Die! It’s all your fault, wizards die!!”
Envers also followed the boys, but there was doubt in the corner of his mind.
After such a hard training, the boys were rewarded according to their grades. The boy with the highest score received a sweet snack, while Envers, who was in the middle, received dry bread.
Crispy, hard, and only slightly savory.
Envers was so envious of the sweet cookies that the top-ranked boys were eating, and he was so curious about what they tasted like that he once approached the first-ranked boy and spoke to him.
“Can’t you give me a bite?”
“…”
The first-ranked boy frowned and looked up with red eyes and replied.
“I don’t talk to worthless trash below the fifth rank. Even if we share the same blood, our purity is different, so I guess you were born with a weak aristocranic bloodline. Don’t talk to me and get out of here , you commoner.”
The first-ranked boy’s name was Roderus, and he had been a bully since he was a child.
—- —-
Pester, pester.
“I’m a Redburn too, why am I a commoner?”
“You can’t even swing a sword properly, commoner.”
“I’m Envers. Isn’t this good enough?”
“I’m Roderus. You’re aiming wrong because you’re holding the handle like that, commoner.”
The reason why Envers followed Roderus, who was so rude to him, was simple. Roderus was the only one who could keep a conversation going.
The other upper-ranked brothers often swung their fists and said, “Don’t bother me!”
The lower-ranked brothers gathered among themselves, looking at Envers, who was in the middle, with jealous eyes and ostracizing him. With his good grades, he plays with them.
Roderos was harsh, but he always answered when he spoke.
“But isn’t it more comfortable to hold it like this?”
“…Do as you’re told, you stupid commoner!!”
If you pretended to be clumsy, a waterfall of tips would come out.
Sometimes, when he was in a really good mood. He would give away a piece of the cookie he received as a good deed. Like the day he won first place in a row.
Whether Roderus’s teaching was effective or not, Envers, who had been slow to learn, was able to rise to the 3rd or 4th place.
“Roderos.”
“I’m one year older than you, so use a title. Call me Lord Roderus.”
“Brother Roderus.”
“Stupid commoner.”
During that time, there may have been a loose affection between the two called brotherhood. They got along quite well.While competing, they became mirrors reflecting each other’s shortcomings.
When Roderus caught a severe cold and fell to the bottom of the rankings, Envers baked cookies and shared them with him.
On moonlit nights, they sat side by side and sketched out their futures.
“I will become my father’s right-hand man, the Duke of Redburn. I will revive our family and make my name known throughout the continent.”
“Then can I be your left-hand man?”
“As if you could. You’re a commoner. You will be my right-hand man’s right-hand man.”
“Then Roderus-hyung will have two right-hand men!”
If they had been in a normal household, they would have become close brothers.
However, a harsh winter soon descended upon the house of the illegitimate children. For the Duke, it was a season of harvest. One morning, the instructor made the following announcement:
“You will take a final exam. You will all fight each other. The one who comes in first place in the battle will become the glorious adjutant of the Duke of Redburn, and the rest of you incompetent losers will…”
The instructor’s trailing words left much to the imagination.
The competition intensified, and jealousy turned into hatred. The boys, who had been taught that their only purpose in life was to serve the House of Redburn, did not want to become “incompetent losers.”
Was Roderus the same? Or was there another reason?
One day, he spoke quietly to Envers.
“I’ve figured out how to use magic. I’m only telling you. But it’s a one-time use, so only use it at a critical moment.”
Roderus taught him a crude way to draw out magic. It was a flavored method, but Envers trusted him.
Envers thought, If I make it to the finals, I could tie with Roderus and neither of us would be chosen. If they really have to choose just one person, then I don’t mind yielding.
Because he had promised to make me his right-hand man’s right-hand man.
“Ugh, aaagh…!!”
In the long-awaited final exam, Envers collapsed, coughing up blood from mishandling his magic.
—- —-
I don’t know what happened to Roderus after that. Envers only knew about himself.
After a period of recuperation, Envers realized that his body had been damaged. His sense of feeling and using magic had become distorted. The family doctor who examined him diagnosed him as “a boy who will never achieve attunement or fulfillment.”
Envers’ talent had been severely damaged.
He was labeled as a “failed cull.” A cripple who had ruined his body by drawing out magic that he had not properly learned or understood, all because of his desire to win.
The contemptuous gaze that had been directed at his mother was now directed at Envers as well.
But that was okay. It was okay. If he worked hard, he could at least become a guard for the family. He could also devote himself to studying and using his mind.
So, even if he was ignored, it would be fine as long as he could live with his mother. Hadn’t they already spent a year apart?
After being discharged, Envers went to find his mother. However, the room where his mother had been staying was empty. When he caught a passing servant and asked, he was told that she had been thrown out.
They said that the mother of a failed cull was not worthy of being treated well.
“……”
It felt like he had been standing there like a dead man for a day.
The other brothers who had failed had disappeared somewhere, and when he asked someone about them, they would only answer mechanically, “They are working for the family.”
When he asked where his mother had gone, they would only brush him off, saying that they didn’t know anything from the moment she stepped out of the main gate of the family mansion.
They had no intention of going to any trouble for a failed cull.
In that case.
In that case, if I somehow become strong enough to rise to the level of a fable, to the level of apotheosis. If I become so damn “useful,” then I will be able to bring my mother back.
Everyone who had looked down on Envers would see him again, and he would be able to ask Roderus-hyung… why did you have to do that?
When he came of age, he applied to the academy and was accepted.He wielded the sword, spear, dagger, and halberd without discrimination. He moved his body until he passed out from exhaustion, staying up all night. He didn’t care whether the crazy wizard who had entered the academy was causing a commotion or not.
Since his only goal was to become stronger, he didn’t pay attention to anything else.
However, on nights when the beautiful moon rose, he would often look up at the sky and reminisce about the past. Roderus, who had shared cookies while looking at the same moon. His older brother.
“….”
Hatred, longing, sadness, betrayal, all sorts of emotions were mixed together in a jumble.
Would he have become the right-hand man of Duke Redburn, wielding a rapier for the sake of his family? Was there any meaning to the lie that had deceived him?
I wonder if he’s doing well.
—- —-
“No…?!”
One morning, when Roderus Redburn woke up from an uneasy dream, he realized that he had transformed into a delicate girl in his bed.