Chapter 7: CH 6

I munched on the bread slowly, lost in my thoughts.

The Royal Academy, where Jeffrey attended, was also where all the nobles’ children and royals attended.

Jeffrey acted like a prince in the Broste’s estate, but at the Academy he would have been treated worse than a stone rolling around his feet.

Under such circumstances, the hypothesis that he caused an accident and decided to return to the estate early was not entirely implausible….

When I turned my head silently, I observed the man sitting in the upper seat.

Brown hair and brown eyes, like my mother. That stubborn man was my father.

If my brother had caused trouble at the academy, my father wouldn’t have quietly brought Jeffrey home.

He would sacrifice his son to the person he offended by immediately beating him up.

However, Jeffrey returned proudly with a pompous face and wide chest as usual, and father was equally calm.

Then…what was it?

“You eat too slow, Arwen.”

It was my mother’s disapproving tone that pulled me out of my quiet thoughts.

I raised my head and faced the three empty plates.

Seeing that, I clicked my tongue inwardly.

What should I have done when you buy silver utensils that are difficult to use? All because you wish to live like high ranking nobles? The meals would be over in 10 minutes.

“I-I’m sorry.”

When I wavered and replied in a timid voice, my father clicked his tongue.

He rose up from his seat in a very posh gesture, wiped his mouth with a napkin, glanced at me, and then turned to leave the dining room.

“What a fool.”

Jeffery grumbled as he glared at me with a bitter expression.

‘Jeffrey, you shouldn’t use such bad words.’ my mother whispered softly in a gentle tone.

Jeffrey was the reason why I hated children.

The currently twelve years old Jeffery had been tormenting me maliciously from when we were young for as long as I could remember.

That child was pure evil.

He had noticed earlier than anyone else that our mother and father did not favour me and he gradually became vicious.

There were a lot of pranks that went too far to be dismissed as children’s playful games.

But my parents glossed over Jeffrey’s mischief so long as he didn’t hurt me.

The bullying abated when he went to the academy at the age of ten, but I was so sick of the smell of moths since I was still stuck with a moth-smelling closet.

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Although my father was an object of fear, he never once touched me. Even though my mother was agitated of me, she was still a proud nobleman.

It was funny that the one who hurted me the most was Jeffrey, who was only twelve years old.

Jeffrey smiled arrogantly and strode out of the dining room. Our mother followed suit after him.

My father had already left the dining room. What remained was one of the maids, who was staring at me with a sullen look.

I had a little bit of food left, but I had to leave the dining room. It was all due to my mother who was worried I would pick up the leftovers.

I had left Shuel in the room anyway, so I had to hurry back.

I walked out of the dining room with hurried steps, and headed straight to my room.

After a short walk, I could see my door.

There were, at most, 10 steps left. However, just shy of five steps left, I encountered a person I really disliked.

“Hey!”

Brown hair could be seen from afar. Golden clothes that were flared out extravagantly. Above all…that voice.

It was Jeffrey.

‘Damn it.’

I let out a small sigh that he couldn’t see.

Jeffrey enjoyed my reactions when he shoved disgusting things at me, such as insects or dead birds.

It wasn’t really scary, but I had to scream and cry my heart out every time to match my image.

I really didn’t want to run into him as much as possible but there was nothing I could do.

Fine. Since you have come, let’s begin again.

Jeffrey was getting closer and closer. Gradually, I could see his proud smirking face and a green object in his hands.

Finally, there were only a few steps left.

I took a deep breath and screamed loudly from the bottom of my stomach.

“Kyaaaaa!”

“Hahahahaha!”

At my scream, Jeffrey laughed and walked faster. The pure joy was extremely evident on his face.

“Idiot! Is this scary?”

Jeffrey, who came closer, held out the object in his hand and grinned wildly.

I narrowed my eyes and glanced at what was on his hand.

Oh, it was a frog. A green frog that was a quarter of the size of my palm.

It was cute to see it croaking with its round eyes. When this is over, I’ll set it free.

With that in mind, I clenched my hand tightly and wore a frightened expression on my face.

“Waa, I’m scared brother. P-please put that away!”

“Hahaha! Idiot. It’s just frogs, why are you afraid?”

This prank was a joke that Jeffrey played a lot since childhood. Thanks to that, I was now immune to most bugs.

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You’d have to bring a centipede or a spider the size of your hand to see me fall backwards from fright.

It was a pretty cute frog…compared to the person holding it.

“Seriously? Are you still afraid of this?”

Jeffrey shoved the hand that was holding the frog onto me while laughing. I shuddered and screamed a couple more times.

At that moment, the frog that was rattled about dreadfully in his hand eventually jumped out and latched onto my cheek.

The frog’s round eyes were visible in front of my nose, and the frog cried out and croaked.

What. How adorable.

“Kyaaa!”

I screamed again and fell to my feet.

Ah…I need to cry at this point.

“Hngh….P-please get it away…”

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Tears welled up in my eyes as I whined again. The smile on Jeffrey’s face deepened.

“I’m leaving, idiot. Good luck taking care of it yourself! If you ask for help, I’ll kill you!”

Jeffrey exclaimed triumphantly as he turned around without hesitation. I screamed once more, relieved that the situation was finally over.

“Oh, brother! Don’t leave! Hey, this-”

Suddenly, the door of the third room which was near the stairs, opened.

For an instant, I forgot to scream and spaced out.

Wasn’t that my room?

Of course, there were times the maids would enter to clean up, so it was not surprising that the door opened.

Except for the fact that the person who came out of that door was very short and had platinum blonde coloured locks.

‘Shuel?!’

He seemed to hesitate for a moment but soon after opening the door, he ran towards me.

I was speechless as I watched Shuel remove the frog attached to my face with trembling hands without saying a word.

“You, why….”

“What’s this?”

The harsh voice that cut off my words belonged to Jeffrey.

He returned and stared at Shuel, who interrupted his prank, with a ferocious look. I felt as if my blood was drained out of my body.

He must not find out that Shuel was the young master of Sebrirua.

But if I replied that he was a servant…would Shuel be safe today?

“Brother. That kid–”

“You, shut up.”

Jeffrey took a step closer to Shuel and me with a violent expression, and Shuel immediately stepped in front of me.

“S-stop it.”

Jeffrey’s face darkened at the assertive words, but he didn’t immediately resort to violence.

Platinum blonde hair was not common among the commoners.

He asked in a less harsh tone, seemingly wondering if Shuel was a child of another family who came over as a friend.

“Who are you?”

At those words, Shuel hesitated but he soon replied.

“I-I’m a servant.”

“Servant?”

The moment he uttered those words, Jeffrey’s eyes changed.

“How dare a mere servant oppose me?”

Smack-!

A sharp smacking sound rang out. It happened before I could stop it.

Shuel, who was standing in front of me, fell to the ground. The child held his cheek and quivered.

Shuel was helplessly lifted up as Jeffrey grabbed the child by the collar.

He frowned and observed Shuel’s face. After staring intently for a while, Jeffrey opened his mouth.

“You look a lot like the Duke of Sebrirua….”

Jeffrey’s voice was low as he muttered that.

He had a sense of inferiority towards high-ranking nobles.

The fate of a servant that fell into Jeffrey’s hands, who resembled the Duke of Sebrirua, was apparent.

Should I reveal it?

But if that’s the case, he would…

‘I can’t do that.’

I rose up slowly with trembling legs.

There weren’t many windows in the hallway of the floor where I stayed, so there were several candles around since the sun did not shine in.

Fortunately, there was a candlestick near Jeffrey.

As I stumbled and walked towards him, I collapsed, pretending that my legs had suddenly lost their strength.

I knocked over the candlesticks so the wax would be poured onto him.

A candle fell on Jeffrey’s wide silk sleeve, and it immediately caught on fire.

“Ah, w-what!”

The haughty Jeffrey was startled and tossed Shuel away.

He hurriedly rolled on the ground to put out the fire. As it was only a small spark, the fire was extinguished quickly but left behind a charred mark.

“Y-you….!”

Jeffrey’s face flushed red. He glanced at his sleeve, to Shuel and me, then kicked me.

“Do you want to die!”

“Ugh…..”

A small moan escaped when he kicked me with all his might.

Jeffrey grunted, but soon turned around and ran downstairs.

Unlike his usual behaviour, it was strange that he didn’t continue to kick me a couple more times, but I couldn’t afford to worry about it now.

“Shu!”

I immediately ran to Shuel. The child was lying down helplessly like a doll that had fallen off its string.

I felt like I was about to cry from the sight.

I should have covered for Shuel earlier. I shouldn’t have been so foolishly distracted.

If it had been known that I cared about Shuel, Jeffrey would have tried to find a way to ruin him. There might have been a way to protect Shuel and not let him get hurt.

In the end, his safety was important to me.

Guilt was pouring in me. But that wasn’t the important issue now, so I urgently called out the child again.

“Are you okay? Raise your head. Let me see where it hurts. Okay?”

At my voice, Shuel slowly raised his head.

Perhaps he didn’t have time to properly absorb the eye colour-changing potion. His eyes were a faint gray-pink.

His tender skin was already blushing red, and the child’s eyes were welled up with tears.

He became like this from simply opposing Jeffrey.

He was only a seven years old child, but he protected me.

I couldn’t continue speaking and bit my lips, but he smiled brightly even as his cheeks began to swell.

“There’s no frogs anymore!”

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