After my spar with Father ended.
“You have worked hard, Young Master.”
“Ah, Head Butler.”
My personal maid, Lina, stood behind the Head Butler.
She handed me a water bottle.
“You must be thirsty, Young Master.”
“Thanks.”
I pressed the cold bottle against my burning face.
My entire body had grown red with heat.
It was a sign that my Mana Chain had been overloaded.
I wet my throat, then poured the remaining water over my head.
My overheated body cooled rapidly, sending wisps of white steam rising into the air.
Had the fight lasted any longer, I might have collapsed again.
It was only this mild because Father had finished me in a single blow.
‘Though beating the shit out of your son when he was nearly assassinated not long ago is insane in the first place.’
I shook off the remaining water.
My head whipped fiercely from side to side.
“Let’s head back too. I’m hungry.”
“Understood, Young Master. Please follow me.”
I walked after Head Butler Alfred.
In my previous life, we had barely ever crossed paths.
Yet in this life, he had already escorted me three times.
It made me keenly aware of how much things had changed.
Being escorted by Alfred was never a trivial matter.
Head Butler Alfred was Father’s closest confidant.
His loyalty to Father ran so deep that, even after serving as the Knight Commander, he had chosen to work as a butler upon retirement.
And now he was personally escorting one of the young masters.
It made me realize just how much my position had changed.
The butlers and maids lowered their heads the moment they encountered me.
Some of them even looked at me with genuine goodwill.
We were merely returning to the detached residence, yet it was no different from being under the most trustworthy and dependable protection in the entire territory.
Click. Click.
The sound of heels echoed through the corridor.
A woman walked toward us in an elegant red dress, her body adorned with dazzling jewels.
Her back was perfectly straight, and every step she took was dignified and graceful.
‘Lilian de Kareid.’
The eldest daughter of House Kareid and the mistress of House Fenrir.
She was also the aunt of Rick, the bastard I had recently crushed.
The Grand Duchess of House Fenrir was approaching.
‘And……the culprit who ordered the assassination.’
Judging by her direction, we would soon cross paths.
“Young Master, perhaps we should take another route.”
“Young Master, why not follow Lina’s suggestion and go around?”
“No. Let’s keep going.”
Because.
“It looks like she’s already noticed us.”
Why else would the furrow between her brows be deep enough to resemble a canyon?
Eventually, my party and Grand Duchess Lilian came face-to-face.
“……Tsk!”
Had she expected me to tuck my tail between my legs and avoid her?
Upon seeing me, she clicked her tongue almost too quietly to hear.
Of course, there was not a single person here who failed to hear it.
“Greetings, Your Grace.”
Given my temper, I wanted to grind her to pieces on the spot.
But not yet.
Even after the extensive investigation, no evidence had been found connecting her to the assassination.
Not yet.
“Regrettably, I have not been well. I have had much to worry about lately. You nearly suffered a terrible accident not long ago, did you not? The investigation is still ongoing, so I fear I shall remain anxious until the culprit is caught.”
Ha!
An ‘accident.’
Apparently, people called assassination attempts accidents these days.
At first glance, one might easily mistake her words for concern.
Had they not known that she was the one who ordered the assassination.
Her reason was obvious.
The strongest inherited the family.
That was House Fenrir’s tradition.
All noble families were like that to some extent, but in our house, the brothers were placed in much more direct competition.
And the only son she had given birth to was the second, Vladimir.
Johan, the eldest son born to the former Grand Duchess, was traveling from battlefield to battlefield, accumulating experience and fame.
She must not have wanted to regard the third son of a commoner as another rival.
Even so, she had crossed the line.
Hell, even if she had not, I was still fucking pissed.
“How is Rick these days? I heard he remains unconscious.”
TWITCH.
“Insolent! Rick is a noble, while you are of lowborn blood. How dare you speak so arrogantly?!”
Blood, was it?
“Then House Fenrir must be lowborn as well.”
“What nonsense!”
Under the sacred laws of the Empire, every noble was required to enlist one child of their own blood in the army.
Everyone knew that much.
They also knew that countless illegitimate children were dragged into the army.
What mattered was the phrase ‘noble child.’
In accordance with the law’s purpose of demonstrating noblesse oblige, only children recognized as nobles could fulfill the military obligation.
In other words, illegitimate children also had to be acknowledged as nobles before they could be sent to the army in another child’s place.
Then what were the requirements for that acknowledgment?
The noble had to personally acknowledge the child as their own.
They also had to bring that child into their castle.
I met both conditions.
Therefore, insulting me as lowborn was, in principle, the same as insulting House Fenrir.
“Wh-what nonsense!”
Of course she thought it was bullshit.
Countless illegitimate children were forcibly dragged away without ever being treated as true children.
But our family happened to be rather peculiar.
They had actually placed me among the candidates for successor.
“You insignificant wretch! How dare you act so insolently?!”
Step. Step.
“My apologies, Your Grace, but you must stop.”
The Grand Duchess glared at Alfred as he blocked her path.
“If you continue, I will no longer be able to overlook this.”
“Overlook what? What are you talking about?!”
“I am referring to your insult against House Fenrir, calling its blood lowborn.”
The Grand Duchess let out a startled gasp.
“As Young Master Pietro said, insulting him is an insult against the family. Until now, I have overlooked your words on the assumption that you did not truly mean them. I cannot overlook any more.”
Pressure radiated from him.
Everyone knew Alfred valued House Fenrir more than his own life.
If someone insulted the ducal house, he was the sort of man who might stab them even if that person were the Emperor.
The Grand Duchess’s face filled with anger and confusion.
But what could she do?
She had no choice but to step back.
“Then we shall be going, Grand Duchess.”
“I’ll pray for Rick to wake up!”
The Grand Duchess merely glared at me with an icy gaze.
That was when it happened.
“Oh! Look who it is!”
CLANK, CLANK.
A man approached in black armor and a red cloak.
He had a cruel, vile face that resembled a lone wolf.
Vladimir von Fenrir.
He was walking toward me.
“Hey, little brother! I heard the rumors! You’re living in Fenrir Castle now!”
Vladimir—or Vlad, for short.
He was the second son of House Fenrir and the Grand Duchess’s only biological child.
He had an enormous build and considerable strength, earning him a reputation as the son who most resembled Father.
To me, he was merely a son of a bitch who had taken the lead in tormenting me.
It seemed he had come drooling at the news of my arrival.
If Rick had been the enforcer, this bastard had been the boss.
Whenever Rick beat me, Vlad would sit nearby and watch while cackling.
Whenever I was about to collapse because I could no longer endure it, he always said something.
‘You and I are of different stock. If you want to resent someone, resent your mother. Your lowborn mother who gave birth to you with lowborn blood.’
And that was not all.
Even in front of Mother, he openly called her a whore and spat at her.
Thinking about it now, he truly was a son of a bitch.
Perhaps both the advantage and disadvantage of returning to the past was that I kept confronting grudges I had forgotten.
Seeing him sneer at me with one corner of his lips raised allowed those old emotions to consume my mind.
What should I do?
I wanted to kill him.
“Young Master.”
At Lina’s quiet voice, I clenched my teeth.
‘Right. This isn’t the time to deal with him.’
I had not yet regained all my former abilities, and I had no justification to strike him now.
Even between brothers competing against one another, acting without justification could give others an excuse to tear me apart later.
“Right, Brother. I hope we’ll get along from now on.”
A vein bulged on Vlad’s forehead.
His face gradually turned red.
He was angry.
A man he had always called lowborn was now acting as though they shared the same blood.
It was understandable that he would be furious.
“Bwahahaha! Brother? Did you just call me your brother?!”
I stared directly into Vlad’s eyes as he burst into laughter, refusing to yield even an inch.
Rage gradually filled his pupils.
“Have you lost your mind?!”
CRASH—!
Vlad charged with the overwhelming force of a bull in an arena.
Despite his appearance, he moved quickly and closed the distance in an instant.
With his massive body and speed combined, a direct hit would have reduced me to pulp.
Only a single step remained between us.
But you know something?
The bull’s role in the arena is to die to the matador.
CRACKLE.
Mana overflowed.
My senses ran wild, creating the illusion that even time itself had slowed.
I leisurely moved to Vlad’s side.
He really did look like a mindless brute.
I raised my hand sharply into the air.
SMACK—!
The slap struck his cheek perfectly.
Vlad lost his balance and smashed into the wall with all the momentum of his charge.
“Aaah!”
Even after hearing the Grand Duchess scream, I put on a sympathetic smile and pretended not to know what had happened.
A groan escaped Vlad’s mouth.
“Oh dear. It seems my elder brother tripped.”
He stared blankly into the air before shaking his head and regaining his senses.
“You bastard! I’ll kill you!”
“That is enough.”
Alfred stepped forward again.
“Head Butler! Did you not see that bastard slap me?!”
“I did not.”
There was no chance he had missed it.
It was one thing for Vlad, who had only entered the realm of Sword Expert.
But there was no possibility that Alfred, who had reached the peak of Sword Expert with six-Star mana, had failed to see it.
However.
“Even if the Third Young Master did attack you, you were the one who struck first without issuing a formal challenge.”
That was what Alfred disliked.
“Are you saying I should simply stand there and let him hit me?!”
“Pietro’s Coming-of-Age Ceremony will take place in three months.”
Vlad huffed, breathing heavily through his rage.
Alfred continued in a calm voice.
“Would it not be better to duel one another fairly at that time?”
Vlad glared at me with rage-filled eyes.
“You had better train as though your life depends on it, Pietro. Otherwise, you’ll die by my hand.”
“I’ll look forward to it, Brother.”
I could hear him grinding his teeth.
“Let us go.”
I smiled while watching them disappear into the distance.
“I’ll pulverize him until there isn’t a bone left to gather.”
Alfred’s and Lina’s expressions stiffened, apparently having heard my muttering.
“Young Master, you should also restrain yourself.”
“Yes, Young Master. What you did just now was far too dangerous.”
“Well, what else can I do?”
He was an obstacle I would eventually have to smash through anyway.
If I was going to break him, I had to break him completely.
“The strong take everything. That’s the spirit of Fenrir.”
I was merely cutting away the weak in accordance with the family motto.