Chapter 22 - Because He Did Not Give Up (1)

The morning after he finished concluding his contract with Vlad.

Following the Bayezid Family rule that breakfast, at least, had to be taken with family, Joseph headed to the dining room.

A long, rectangular dining table, and a clean, white tablecloth laid neatly over it.

Yet what sat atop it was rather simple for the breakfast table of a powerful noble house.

"Let us eat."

The Bayezid Family's breakfast began with a prayer before the meal.

Starting with Peter, the Family Head.

Rutiger, the eldest son.

And Joseph, the second son, with his mother Oksana, the count's second wife, shared the table.

Though the whole family was gathered, the only sound to be heard was the clinking of tableware.

"I have brought in holy relics."

"They are full of a priest's blessing."

Count Peter spoke to his eldest son, Rutiger, cutting through the silence that had settled over the table.

"Take them with you on this mission."

"I trust my sword more than someone else's blessing, Father."

"I will not say it twice."

At Rutiger's words, full of confidence as a swordsman, Joseph found himself shrinking despite himself.

Even though Rutiger had not said it with that intention.

"..."

And there was a woman watching Joseph, who had naturally hunched in on himself, with pity in her eyes.

"Joseph, after breakfast, go receive some medicine."

"It is good for your ankle."

"... Thank you, Father."

For his brother, holy relics with which to face danger.

And for him, medicine for an injury.

"..."

Joseph always tried to be bold, but the inferiority complex that had been lodged deep inside him for many years was always tightening around his soul.

A father trying to be considerate of his child.

A mother looking at her shrinking son.

And sons who could not help but be compared endlessly.

Only the cold silence concealed their complicated feelings.

* * *

After the long, silent breakfast ended.

Joseph hurried toward his office.

On the way, his mother told him to at least have a cup of tea before he left, but her embrace was far too warm and comfortable, and once he set foot inside it, it was not a place he could easily escape.

Joseph was a man who could not stop.

Because he had to run all the harder for what he lacked.

Morning sunlight seeped into the white marble corridor.

But it did not illuminate every part of the corridor.

"..."

Whenever he passed through a dark place where the sunlight did not reach, Joseph's expression hardened without him realizing it.

The poisons boiling up from within naturally made his face stiffen.

But when he reached the front of his office.

"Hm?"

Instead of a stiff expression, Joseph wore a puzzled one.

"You stupid bastard!"

Because someone's shout was coming from inside.

"What is this?"

The moment Joseph tilted his head and turned the handle of his office door.

Inside the office, he saw people waiting for him along with the bright morning sunlight.

"You have arrived, Lord Joseph."

"Ugh... You have arrived?"

There were Vlad, in the middle of having his head knocked by Jager, and Got, shrinking like a turtle as he watched the brutal scene.

"Why are you getting hit on the head again?"

The moment he saw them, Joseph felt the strange emotions boiling inside him subside.

Calm.

And confidence.

The people who gave him those things were here.

"Haa..."

As if it were hard even to begin explaining, Jager let out a long sigh and pointed at a box on Joseph's desk.

"This box... Lord Rutiger sent it."

"My brother did?"

Rutiger and Joseph had the same father, but they had been born from different mothers.

Their temperaments were also complete opposites, and they were rivals aiming for the next seat as Count of Bayezid, so even if they shared the same blood, they were not close enough to send gifts to each other.

On top of that, he had not shown any particular reaction during breakfast either.

'What is going on?'

As Joseph tilted his head and read through Rutiger's letter placed atop the box, Vlad's head began to lower more and more along with it.

"... I see."

Only now grasping the situation, Joseph carefully put away the letter Rutiger had sent.

"It appears to be yours."

"Eat plenty."

"... I am sorry."

"Will ten minutes be enough?"

What Rutiger had sent was a box filled with peanuts.

When Joseph asked Jager, his loyal knight nodded.

"I will go make a round and return."

Joseph turned back the way he had come and left the office.

"Who actually does it straight away just because he was told to!"

As the door began to close, someone's roar started to come from inside.

"I was told not to eat anything, so I simply did not eat."

"Is that what I meant!"

"I did what I was told!"

"Since when did you listen to me so well!"

Listening to the sounds coming from behind him, Joseph quietly walked away.

"Is it time for the flowers to bloom now?"

Though he was standing in darkness the sunlight could not illuminate, Joseph, unlike before, was able to smile calmly.

* * *

"Starting today, you are a stable hand."

"You will handle my knights' horses and be assigned as a servant under my mother, Countess Oksana."

"Thank you, Lord Joseph!"

Got's wish had come true.

Along with receiving a considerable sum in gold coins, he had been hired as a servant of the Bayezid Family.

"I will work hard!"

"You may go."

Having gained a stable, comfortable, and well-paying job, Got left the office with a beaming smile.

Since Joseph had hired him personally, there probably would not be anyone who would particularly harass him.

But Got, still hungry, looked at the blond boy with a sharp gaze.

'He is not someone who will end here.'

Although he was on the verge of tears now because of the absurd mistake that had happened yesterday, that fellow Vlad was clearly someone who would soar higher.

Looking forward to that time, Got quietly left the office.

"Vlad, as for you..."

Joseph turned his head and looked at Vlad.

There stood Jager, still breathing hard, and Vlad, whose cheeks were bulging as if he had already grabbed and eaten a fistful of peanuts.

Perhaps one of those bulging cheeks had been made by a blow from Jager.

"From now on, Vlad, you are officially Jager's squire."

"Until now, I have closed my eyes even when you behaved rudely out of consideration for you, but that cannot continue from now on."

"Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir."

"All you have is that mouth, and you are good at talking."

"You blockhead."

"... Yes, sir."

"... Jager will explain the details of life in the mansion."

"You may go."

Once Vlad had also left the office, Joseph confessed his honest feelings to his faithful knight.

"As expected, he will not be easy to handle."

"He is unpredictable in everything."

"On top of that, perhaps because he has lived so roughly, he is full of defiance."

"Yes, I imagine so."

Joseph looked at the office door Vlad had just pushed open and said.

"Still, I have to do it."

"If I do not have the achievement of raising a knight of my own, Father will never acknowledge me."

"... Understood."

A knight of his own, raised by Joseph himself.

Although Joseph had an excellent knight named Jager at his side, he was someone Countess Oksana, his mother, had attached to him.

Knight Jager.

A knight who had come along with the enormous dowry Oksana had brought when she married.

A knight raised by House Oscar, Countess Oksana's maiden family, he had naturally been assigned to Joseph when Joseph was born.

For that reason, if one looked only at affiliation, Jager was a knight of the Bayezid Family, but he was a knight loyal only to Joseph and Oksana, so strictly speaking, Jager could not be considered a pure knight of the Bayezid Family.

"I leave him in your hands."

That was why Joseph needed it.

A knight of the Bayezid Family whom he had created, not one given to him by his mother.

"I will do my best."

Vowing before the lord he served that he would succeed, Jager left the office.

"..."

When he stepped out of the office, the blond boy was there, waiting awkwardly.

"Tsk."

One way or another, he was a boy who would require a great deal of care, and also a boy Jager himself would have to raise from now on.

"Follow me."

"Yes."

Joseph had chosen this boy, and Jager would merely follow his lord's decision.

Following one's lord's command.

That was chivalry.

"This is the dining hall."

"The dining hall where the knights eat is separate, and squires use the same dining hall as the servants."

"Yes."

Though it was true that he was a difficult boy to handle, Jager knew well that he would bring results that shone just as brightly.

"This is the training ground."

"It is a place for training the body more than the sword."

"Ask the fellows beside you how to use the equipment."

That was why Jager personally led Vlad around and showed him the Bayezid Family's facilities.

Though he was handling him roughly, the care contained within could not be compared to what other knights poured into their squires.

"This is the room you will use from now on."

"It is a private room, in its own way."

"Oh."

And from that reaction just now, Jager became certain that Vlad would manage well even in the unfamiliar environment of the Bayezid Family.

"This is nice."

"Is it?"

It was a small room that could barely fit a single bed, but Vlad was smiling as if even that made him grateful.

"It is not a dirt floor, and it even has a bed."

"This much is a palace."

"I had briefly forgotten that you were from the back alleys because of that shocking incident earlier."

They had been children from well-bred families, but the moment they came here as squires, the boys had to start from the very bottom.

Even with healthy bodies, many could not adapt to the suddenly changed environment or treatment.

But to Vlad, who had lived like a weed, an environment like this was no different from heaven.

'Hm.'

There would be no problem adapting.

As long as they prevented him from making mistakes.

"Follow me."

Following behind Jager, Vlad tried his best to learn the atmosphere of this place.

Although he had been overwhelmed by Rutiger's presence yesterday and committed a stupid mistake, for someone from the back alleys like Vlad, quick wits were directly tied to survival.

'Hm?'

Through Vlad's eyes, someone moving with the maids came into view.

It was a noblewoman with green hair neatly pinned up.

"That is Madam Oksana."

"She is Lord Joseph's mother."

"Show proper respect as you were taught earlier."

"Yes."

Because he had lived in the back alleys, where people hurled curses at each other whenever they met face to face, this sort of situation was the most bewildering thing for Vlad.

Showing proper respect.

Dealing with nobles.

Bowing his head.

All of them were unfamiliar things.

But from now on, he had to fit himself to the rules of this place.

Since it was a place he would have to rely on for seven years anyway, Vlad thought adapting as quickly as possible would be best.

"..."

Though he had only learned it in a single day, Vlad remembered as much as he could and bowed his head politely.

But Oksana's procession, which he had thought would simply pass by, gradually drew closer to Jager and Vlad.

At the sight, Vlad swallowed without realizing it.

"Jager."

"My loyal knight."

"Good morning."

"Have you been well?"

When Jager lifted his head and offered his greeting, Vlad, who had been watching for his cue, quickly raised his head as well.

"Is this the child?"

"That is correct."

"He is the one Lord Joseph brought personally."

"I see."

Rough men, prostitutes who sold smiles, swindlers who only looked for openings.

For Vlad, who had only dealt with people like that, the noblewoman Oksana was a type of person he was experiencing for the first time in his life.

"Thank you."

"I heard from Joseph."

"They say you saved my child from danger."

"It was... only what I had to do."

If Vlad had turned his head just a little to the side, he probably would have seen Jager watching him anxiously.

"I should reward you."

"You did something far greater than you think."

"Thank you..."

Vlad had been about to bow his head and say thank you, but he froze when Oksana suddenly approached and stroked his head.

"It is a lovely color."

"It suits your blue eyes well too."

"..."

Vlad wanted to say something, anything, but he was simply frozen stiff, his eyes darting around.

Oksana had a scent.

It was a nostalgic scent.

"Your shoulders are broad for how thin you are."

"You will look good if you put on some weight."

All this time, Vlad had lived beside prostitutes.

He had immunity to women, and he had the smoothness to deal with them.

But now.

At this moment, he could not utter a single word, as if he had been struck mute, and only lowered his gaze.

Because the look in Oksana's eyes as she looked at Vlad was something none of the women he had ever met had shown him.

"I will have a set of clothes made for you soon."

"I have a good eye, so it should fit you well."

"Thank you."

She was now looking at Vlad with a mother's eyes.

Inside that gaze he had seen so long ago that he could no longer even remember it, the boy who had been like a hedgehog was floundering, not knowing what to do.

It was the first time in his life he had met someone he must not raise his spines against.

"Do your best, Sir Jager."

"Yes, Madam Oksana."

That was why he could only nod his head and say thank you.

Even after she left, Vlad stood frozen for a long while, then his eyes met Jager's, who had been just as tense as he was.

"... Did I do well?"

"... Well enough."

At the awkward feeling rising from deep in his chest, the boy pointlessly looked this way and that and scratched the back of his head.