How to ruin the original

Episode 1

There are so many things that don’t happen with effort; it’s just a matter of who realizes it first.

Nigel stopped praying to find his real family at the age of 11, when he was a novice priest. The next year, he made a habit of sneaking out through hidden openings around the orphanage. The year after that, he wore the cheap gemstone necklace he’d been given as a gift more often than the locket he’d been left with as a child. And the year after that, Nigel stopped eavesdropping on the ledger room talk in the narrow passageways hidden behind the cellars.

“Is… that really true, Handel?”

“Yes, Mother Superior. We’ve been back and forth, and I’m pretty sure it’s Nigel.”

Nigel’s legs were starting to tingle, and he was about to leave, but the sudden mention of his name stopped him in his tracks.

“Is Nigel really…”

He didn’t hear the rest of the sentence because the Wudangtang kids were stomping the floor and running wildly.

“I thought I’d kick their asses.”

Nigel returned his attention to the conversation, vowing to put a honey chestnut in the potential candidate’s head.

“But Nigel said…”

Wudangtang!

This time he came running from the other side.

“Uhhhhh!”

At the same time, Nigel could faintly hear Jack’s raucous laughter.

“…Jack, you’ve won the honey chestnut.”

Nigel exited the warehouse fruitlessly, rubbed his tingling leg for a moment, and then went straight for Jack.

Ding.

Soon enough, the bedroom door slowly opened. Alas, it wasn’t Jack.

“Nigel… your steps are scary. Are you mad again?”

“No.”

Nigel stroked the boy’s soft, auburn hair and forced a smile.

“I’m just… scared.”

The corners of Nigel’s mouth turned down at the child’s unrelenting assessment.

Just then, a dark blond boy, a full head taller than the brunette, burst out from behind the door.

“You’re looking for Jack again, aren’t you, Sis? If it’s Jack, he’s in the kitchen looking for leftover muffins!”

“Thanks. Come on, everyone, get in bed, we’re freezing.”

Nigel made his way to the kitchen only after he saw the children tucked into bed. He heard a rustling in the corner of the buttery kitchen. He followed the sound and saw a familiar head.

“Jack.”

The head jerked violently at the word.

“Ahhhhh… what’s up?”

“Remember, no snacks after bath time for a week?”

“Oh, I haven’t eaten yet!”

Jack quickly hid his little hands behind his back.

“You can go cry and pick the crumbs out of your mouth.”

Narrowly escaping punishment with a compromise of two honey chestnuts, Jack was obediently grabbed by Nigel and dragged away.

“By the way, Nigel, how did you know I was hiding in the kitchen like a sneak?”

“I have a way of knowing. You’ll see when you grow up.”

“Nigel, you’re not a grown-up yet.”

Nigel shrugged off Jack’s comment. That didn’t stop Jack from spontaneously chiming in.

“Nigel… do you even know the future?”

Nigel’s face stiffened slightly, but then he broke out into a grin.

“Go back to bed. If you stay up too late, the enemy will get you.”

“Oh, come on. When is it an enemy demon? Even the youngest Benny wouldn’t be scared of it.”

“Of course not.”

At the front of the bedroom, Jack turned around as he entered the room.

“Oh, right, Nigel. Father Handel’s long gone.”

So early, so soon.

Nigel unnecessarily messed with Jack’s cilantro hair.

“My hair!”

“Good night.”

BANG!

Nigel laughed softly, imagining Jack’s face crumpled in a heap behind the door. This was the taste of a child’s teasing. The corners of Nigel’s upturned mouth slowly lowered as he stared at the closed door.

Rustling, Nigel shoved his hands in his pockets. Now he had a job to do.

Tut-tut-tut.

The wooden door to the headmaster’s office looked even more worn today, as if it had taken a couple of good shoves to get it open. Nigel pushed it open, making eye contact with the wooden goddess on top of the door.

Creak.

A creepy sound greeted his ears.

“There you are, Nigel.”

Head Priest Ron and Deputy Head Priest Handel greeted Nigel with smiles. A steaming cup of tea sat on the table in front of them.

“It’s still cold in February, isn’t it? Come on in for a drink.”

It’s too early for bed before midnight.

Nigel grabbed a teacup from the cupboard, white with a single blue streak. Fortunately, the tea in the pot was still steaming. Nigel raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of tea that had been steeped so long that the bitterness masked the flavor.

While Nigel’s tea cooled, they talked about the weather and tomorrow’s diet. Finally, the impatient Nigel spoke up.

“If everything’s okay, can I go to bed now?”

They exchanged glances, then nodded slowly.

“Uh, Nigel. As a matter of fact…”

Handel swallowed hard and pulled a stack of papers from his arms.

“Uh… I think I may have found your family, dear.”

Ron said awkwardly.

Nigel looked through the stack of papers and pulled out the most recently dated envelope. The immaculate cream-colored envelope had a delicate tree trunk carved into the bottom and an intricate seal in the center. It was a far cry from the 100s of cheap, off-white envelopes the orphanage used.

“It’s from your family, and I haven’t read it yet because I thought you should see it first.”

Handel said with a smirk.

Nigel broke the seal and read the letter. In beautiful cursive handwriting, the letter listed how much they wanted to meet Nigel. And at the bottom of the letter, the name of the family Nigel had guessed was written next to the seal.

“Nigel, we have arranged for a train ticket to the capital, so you can write back and leave in a few days.”

Handel pulled the train ticket from his arms with a wistful look. Silver. A second-class train ticket. He’d wasted more than enough money to pay for the children’s snacks for the next two days on a subject that never seemed to get enough temple support.

“You’ve been through a lot, Nigel.”

Ron said, his eyes reddened. I glanced over and saw that Handel’s glasses were fogging up as well. How to say this in this atmosphere.

After a short hesitation, Nigel spoke.

“I don’t want to see you.”

“What?”

“But, Nigel. You’re a duke we know from the backwoods, and after all you’ve been through here…”

Handel and Ron narrowed their eyes. Trouble, yes. As an infant, he’d been placed in a boys’ orphanage based on his name alone and raised as a girl among men. He’d shaved his head whenever the temple gave thanks, and he’d even passed the difficult probationary priest’s examination without a backup, because the orphanage couldn’t afford to adopt a girl.

As he grew older, he began to take on more and more responsibilities. The orphanage, which had no temple support, was piled high with work, and Nigel’s days were quickly filled with chores. Ron and Handel always felt sorry for Nigel, who didn’t have anything pretty to wear when he should have been decorating and loving others.

Even when they saved up money to buy him pretty clothes, he would scold them and sell them back to them, and even when they gave him time to play, he would come back with a day’s wages to see where he found work. I thought my troubles would be over when I realized that Nigel was actually a duchess…

“I don’t want to see you.”

Nigel said firmly.

“Then… you’re just going to stay here?”

Nigel is now seventeen, and it’s not long before he becomes an adult. Once he came of age, he would either have to leave the orphanage altogether or become an ordained priest and stay at the orphanage.

“No, no. I’m getting ready to leave.”

“Then you can send your original family to…”

Handel’s courageous words were cut off by Nigel’s unwavering gaze.

“I’m going to the Academy.”

Their eyes widened again. An academy, a high-level educational institution where all members pursued their studies with a certain goal in mind, and in some prestigious academies, a diploma was enough to get a good job. The only problem is, one is admission, and the other is tuition…

“Hey, I got accepted into Sienia a few months ago.”

Nigel pulled a letter envelope with gilded corners from his arms. Ron and Handel quickly read the letter.

[Congratulations, you, Nigel Asse, have been accepted to the Imperial Academy of Sienia].

“Can…”

“Chief acceptance, and they’re waiving tuition.”

Nigel replied meekly to Ron, who just shook his head in disbelief.

Thud—

The letter fell limply to the floor.

“Oh my god…”

“Nigel…”

Sienia was the Empire’s only imperial academy, and it was the top of the list for those who graduated with honors.

“I knew you were special, but I didn’t realize it was this bad…”

“We’ve been giving you too much trouble…”

Just as the mood was beginning to sink, Nigel spoke up again.

“I’ll take the train ticket as a passing gift.”

It was the perfect gift at the perfect time.