Became the Hated Illegitimate Son of the Duke in Romance Fantasy

16 – Episode 16

The next morning, without fail, Xenia comes to visit.

Unlike yesterday, he looks sober. That’s not to say that it isn’t beautiful.

Because Xenia was attractive as a person.

“Eric, would you like to go for a walk?”

“Yes.”

I couldn’t pronounce it because I chewed glass yesterday.

It would be more accurate to say that the pronunciation leaks because it hurts to be rubbed against the wound rather than not coming out well.

“Um, where are you hurt?”

“It was just that, Roger accidentally bit his tongue.”

“Then I should try to keep the conversation as low as possible today.

Then you better sit here and listen to what I have to say!”

Xenia tells the story of yesterday.

I was a bit sad that I wasn’t here, but I made a new friend.

I thought she would look like an incredibly great and cool person because she’s the crown prince of the empire, but she doesn’t look any different from you, saying the same thing.

If anyone other than me had heard it, she was uttering a story that would keep her mouth shut in astonishment.

At the same time, he also complains about annoying people.

“Yesterday, some fat guy, the heir to the same ducal title as me, took my hand on his own.

I was so offended that I was about to slap you on the cheek, but I remembered your mother’s words and I barely held it in?”

“Then what did you do?”

“I just hit him with the bridge of his nose or his fist.”

That’s not what you put up with.

“Is it okay for him?”

“There’s no problem, he’s like me, he’s flirting about entering the academy, but if we leave it alone, he won’t continue to do that even after he enters the academy!”

“I don’t know what to say, by the way have you done all your work for today?”

At those words, Xenia made a puzzled face.

Then she turned and headed somewhere and started talking to me.

“Right, that’s right! I’m going to go in early today.

Anyway, there’s a lot of overdue studies, is it because you’ve been skipping so much?”

I tried to say hello, but it just stung my lips for no reason, so I just waved.

Xenia smiles and starts walking.

One of her worms was crushed and dead in the place where Xenia had just stood.

.

.

.

.

.

The month passed quickly.

After the banquet, I don’t know if Sensei Louise went to the academy or to her mansion, but she went somewhere and her conversation partner disappeared.

In the end, all I do is re-read the book I already read and chew the cud again.

A week after chewing on the shards of glass, the sores in my mouth seemed to have developed stomatitis. She

Thanks to her, she went to Ella and asked her to get her some cheap Kaoliang wine, and she disinfected her mouth every day.

I think I’m almost healed now.

Touch her purse once with her finger and feel the heaviness of it, feeling relieved.

No matter how much it hurts, there are plenty of things that can be solved with money.

I pack a purse, a pen I’ve used for years, and ink and notes in a light luggage bag.

I’ve been living in this room for years, but aside from my clothes, this was all I had.

“Eric, I think we should go down and get into the carriage.”

“I’ll be leaving soon.”

When I left the room with her bag on my back, Xenia was waiting with her hands behind her back.

Since she had no luggage in her hands, she must have been carried by Ella to her wagon.

“Is that all about luggage?”

“This is enough for me. I’m not going to play, I just need to go.”

“But it’s a dormitory where I’ll stay for three years! I asked for everything in my room to be packed and sent, but is that too much?”

Looking out the window, there was not only a wagon to ride, but another wagon loaded with luggage.

Honestly, when I went to Xenia’s room to play, there seemed to be a lot of stuff in the room, from decorations to dolls.

We went down from the building.

I pass the Duchess’s room, which I don’t have a very good memory for, and the Duke’s room, which makes strange noises every time I call.

And as I went down the big stairs in the middle, the maids were opening the heavy door with a whimper.

When you leave the main building, you will see an open view.

Something I’ve seen along with Xenia over the past few years, something I’ve never seen alone.

Originally, when I asked where the gatekeepers were supposed to open the door, they were standing in front of the carriage.

Then the Duke and Duchess stood leaning against the pillars as if they had come to see Xenia off.

The Duke went up to Xenia, gave her a smile, and stroked her hair.

Then, he takes a necklace from her arms and puts it around Xenia’s neck.

“Xenia, I will stand by your side no matter where you say or what you do.

My one and only lovely child.”

“And Eric. I gave you a castle, so help Xenia.

And if Xenia wants anything you can do, she will help as best she can.”

If Xenia is having a hard time, she comforts her, and if she wants to vent her anger, do it yourself.

I picked you up, fed you, gave you a place to sleep, and gave you something to wear.

I nodded at the duke’s words.

The Duchess also gives thanks to Xenia, just like the Duke.

Then they put them in a wagon.

“Aren’t you picking up Eric, Mother?”

“Eric still has something to say, he should go and get on first.”

She comes to me.

Then, in her arms, she handed over a small dagger in a scabbard.

After staring at her dagger for a while, not knowing why, the woman opened her mouth.

“Take it.”

Only then did I accept the sword.

It was small, but when I held it up, it was much heavier than I thought.

“Do you know why I am giving this to you?”

“I don’t know.”

“The world is wide and there are so many people.

There are quite a few insane people among them.

And unfortunately, Xenia’s appearance is beautiful even if you look at it objectively, not her mother.”

The Duchess quickly drew her dagger from the scabbard she was holding and pointed the blade at me.

And then she turns her dagger a full turn so that the handle points towards me.

“And what’s better than a blade to drive those people away?”

I took the dagger and put it back in the scabbard.

And roughly, I hide the dagger inside my coat.

“Even if I say I’m sorry, you’ll just listen with one ear.

While hitting you, harassing you, cursing you, it seems like I said it over a thousand times.

So let’s pretend this is a bribe, take care of Xenia, huh.”

I did not answer the woman’s words, she nodded roughly.

But that doesn’t mean her palms don’t come flying.

Because everyone around you is watching.

“You look exactly like Elena.

No matter how much I messed with it, I didn’t give up.

I didn’t even know that bastard would do this.”

Then the woman hugged me and whispered in my ear.

“If anything happens to Xenia, she just slit her throat with it.”

But even after saying that, the woman is still expressionless.

I said goodbye and went to her carriage.

The wooden stairs that were in good shape until just now have been removed.

Suddenly, an old thought came to my mind.

Even then there were no wooden stairs.

I don’t care if it’s easy to go up now.

“Eric, what did you and your mother talk about?”

“Just go through hardships in the future, stories like that.”

“Really? Well, these days, the atmosphere isn’t as grim as it used to be.”

It’s not that the atmosphere wasn’t harsh, it’s because you grew up.

Because young children tend to be sensitive to small emotions.

Or maybe I’ve become indifferent.

The carriage begins to depart.

Looking outside, I see a field I saw before, the same field I saw when I first entered this place.

The images of fat farmers hoeing and farming.

Children are playing on the hill.

Still peaceful atmosphere.

How nice it would have been if I had landed in a place like this.

Just looking at the children, I don’t see them worrying about what to eat.

I don’t see people with yellowish faces typical of beaten, starved, or diseased humans.

Xenia spread her stories about her academy, excited by herself.

I answer with a moderate sludge.

“And Eric, you know what?

They say commoners and nobles are equal in the academy?”

“That’s bullsh*t.”

“Uh..Um?”

“Ah.”

As I answered without filtering in my head for a moment, my inner feelings came out.

“It’s just words.

Why even God says all humans are equal.

That doesn’t mean there aren’t emperors, kings, or nobles. Something like that.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

Xenia got up from the seat across from her, and she sat close to me.

“Come to think of it, what are you going to learn?”

“Well, what about you?”

“Well, maybe I should learn things that will help me manage the estate.”

Coming to think of it, I never thought about what to learn.

“By the way, what about you?”

“I’m just going to study. Even if I learn swordsmanship and magic, what will I use it for?”

“… Swordsmanship is a bit of a waste.”

“Why?”

“For some reason, it would be very cool if you were the leader of the knights of the House of Breslau!”

If I became the knight commander, I wouldn’t be stabbed in the back by a subordinate.

It will look like the parachute you put up.

Even his status is low, so even stabbing him won’t hurt him.

……

……

……

Like that, the wagon rolled for almost three days.

She had talked about this and that with Xenia, but she hadn’t had any meaningful conversations.

It’s just nonsense and jokes.

At night, she goes to a suitable inn to sleep and wash herself.

The world I knew was all about the slums and the mansions of dukes, so I didn’t know the road would be comfortable.

Perhaps the dukehouse, which only had a bathtub and baskets, was rather old-fashioned, and there was also a place with a shower.

A carriage enters the capital of the empire and stops in front of the large gates of the academy.

Since we left just in time for the opening ceremony, we wondered what to do if we were late, but unexpectedly we arrived early in the morning.

And a huge crowd was walking in the middle of the main gate.

Everyone, I am an aristocrat, wearing gorgeous and beautiful clothes like proud people.

Xenia held out her hand to me, and I took her hand and headed for her front door.