“Looks like he got some money. He was robbed of everything except his underwear earlier.”

Felix sat down with a thud, looking displeased. The man smirked.

“What, did that nephew of yours say something annoying when you went to get the money?”

“Yeah. I’ve been too lenient with him, and now he’s crossing the line. He must take after his mother!”

“He looked fine from the outside. I passed by him once before. That gentle and pretty face… I’d like to make him cry. If you send him to my room at night, I could teach him some manners.”

Felix yelled at the man who was chuckling as if it were a joke.

“You don’t understand. How much I’ve had to endure and grow up in this damned environment. Most people would have already dropped dead! I just want to trample on everything!”

Mabel was clearly not the perfect guardian. She couldn’t properly hide her favoritism and enjoyed controlling her children under the pretext of raising them well.

But it wasn’t solely Mabel’s fault that Felix grew up this way and became so twisted. He was born with a hypocritical side.

He couldn’t be honest about everything. He hated his elder brother and felt inferiority, but smiled in front of him pretending to love him. He didn’t follow his mother’s words, but acted obedient in front of her. He pretended to despair over his own achievements without making a single effort.

If he had shown signs of avoiding his brother, if he had rebelled against Mabel, if he had let them know he had no interest in learning magic and growing, his life would have been very different.

At least the Broens were wealthy, and rather than letting a failed son idle, Mabel would have sent him far away to learn something else. He could have pioneered a new path based on that.

But he didn’t. Because it was more comfortable and satisfying that way.

Living a luxurious life, parasitizing his excellent elder brother in the beautiful Broen Castle.

It was perfect. He enjoyed the gazes people sent him.

‘The talented eldest son and the docile, kind second son.’

‘The Broen family is very fortunate.’

That was the case until his elder brother dropped dead from an unknown illness.

The moment the coffin was buried in the ground, the moment he faced his young niece’s reddened eyes, he thought:

Could I become the family head? I was a son who outwardly followed my mother’s words well, and my bloodline was also perfect. There was no reason it couldn’t be me, right?

He imagined the admiring gazes of the people gathered here looking at him. It seemed much better than the looks directed at the kind second son standing next to his elder brother.

Greed washed over him like a tidal wave.

So he ruined his relationship with his niece and did things he shouldn’t have.

Now it was one of two things. Either get rid of his niece and become the family head, or be expelled to a lowly place without becoming the head and live as if dead. Nothing could be recovered.

“Hmm. Is the coming-of-age ceremony the only condition to become the family head?”

The man who was chewing tobacco spat it out into a dish with a ptooey and held out the shuffled cards. Felix Broen took a few, flipped them over to look, and frowned.

“It’s pretty much everything. There is a condition of being a mage, but in the first place, the Broens don’t appoint a successor who isn’t a mage.”

“Oh… then why don’t you just stab the stomach?”

“You mean kill? Damn, I’ve thought about that many times too. But mages don’t die that easily! If they survive and my tail gets caught….”

“No. That’s not what I meant….”

The man with scars all over his face, unlike his long-winded words, leaned back in his chair leisurely.

“I’m saying to try cutting off the flow of mana flowing through the body. Then they won’t be a mage anymore. Right?”

“What?”

Felix instinctively flinched.

His trashy mind and tongue soaked in alcohol no longer had the strength to properly recite spells to offer to God, but even he once had a childhood of turning the pages of magic books.

So somehow, the words to cut off the flow of mana felt more sinister and cruel than the words to kill.

But at that moment, the violet eyes that had been looking at him flashed through his mind.

The irises of a distinct color that shattered the light. The contempt that overflowed and couldn’t be hidden even though he tried to conceal it.

‘I don’t know what you have left, Uncle.’

Yes, even after making this mess, he had nothing left. No love from his parents, no love from his children, no trust from his relatives. If he took off these clothes embroidered with luxurious gold thread, he was just a shabby, naked body.

But Felix didn’t want to realize his own vulgarity, so he quickly erased all facts from his mind and only drew out his anger towards his niece.

His mind, which had been about to wake up clearly for a moment, sank back under the surface, and his vision became blurred.

His mouth, smelling of alcohol, slowly opened.

“Cut off the flow of mana?”

“What, haven’t you heard of it? It’s just a rumor though. A long time ago, a great mage was badly injured. What was the name… Ol, Ol… something. Oliver? It was a woman’s name, but what was it? Ah, well, it’s not important.”

“Don’t waste time on useless things and hurry up!”

The man laughed at Felix Broen, who was now bending over and sticking his head out. No matter how great the bloodline, when you look at the bottom, they’re all the same.

“Anyway, that mage had a cherished disciple, and apparently put a lot of effort into teaching them. They say there was nothing the mage didn’t teach or give to the disciple because of how much they cherished them. But that disciple apparently had a very sensitive temperament.”

Felix rubbed his roughly grown beard and impatiently tapped his feet.

“Even though they studied day and night as if a day was ten years, they couldn’t even follow in their master’s footsteps, so at some point, they began to avoid going outside. They say the disciple heard auditory hallucinations of people mocking them behind their back.”

“M-maybe it was actually the case.”

“No. That disciple was already a well-regarded mage. But no matter how much time passed, they couldn’t even follow their master’s footsteps, and as the auditory hallucinations continued, they slowly went crazy with a persecution complex. So….”

“So?”

“They stabbed their master’s thigh deeply with a dagger while walking in front of them.”

The man scratched the tip of his nose and placed a card down. But Felix couldn’t even analyze it and just had his mouth gaping open.

“You’re not going to play the game? You didn’t come here without money, did you?”

The man smiled broadly at Felix, who hurriedly poured out all the gold coins in his bosom.

“What’s the next story? That’s the end. I don’t know since I’m not a mage, but isn’t a mage’s pure mind and body both important? They say that master, whose body was damaged and had problems with the flow of mana, gave up everything and disappeared into the deep darkness created by the trees with a limp.”

So, there are a lot of hopeless trash here, right? How about picking anyone and stabbing that wicked nephew mage somewhere?

A devilish whisper struck his ears.

“Even if he doesn’t die, as long as he’s not a mage, that’s enough. Right? It’s easy to frame him. They couldn’t catch you last time either. Right? Even if you get caught, well, you didn’t kill him.”

Felix unknowingly nodded his head.

The man holding the cards laughed again, haha. With a cheerful gesture, he placed another card on the table.

It hadn’t been long since Jade talked with Jenassen, but rumors doubting their relationship spread very easily.

The fact that it was the time when Jade was distributing invitations for the coming-of-age ceremony definitely played a big role, and Jenassen’s constant visits seemed to be of great help.

So today was another such visit, but there was a difference. Jade was looking at Jenassen with a dull gaze.

“He hit you…?”

“Me? No way.”

“But why does he look so discouraged then?”

Jenassen was standing in the corner of the room with drooping shoulders, and Axel coldly glanced at him and said one thing.

“Do I have to endure this misunderstanding?”

“No, no you don’t!”

“Then sit down comfortably.”

“Yes!”

The large knight hurriedly fumbled and dragged a chair to sit down.

“……”

“I’m telling you we only sparred.”

“With wooden swords…?”

“No, with bare hands.”

So he hit him anyway, whether there was an ulterior motive or not.

Jade shook his head and spoke to Jenassen.

“Thank you for your help.”

“No… please don’t thank me….”

“Shouldn’t you be thanking me for coming all the way here despite this harsh cold treatment and persecution? I even wore a black robe as you asked and came without anyone knowing. I even pretended to be escorting Sir Jenassen.”

Axel spoke as if it was the most annoying thing in the world.

“Yes, thank you so much. By the way, Sir Jenassen, do you go to parties often?”

“You… mean me? No. I don’t go often. I’m not in the capital very much either….”

“Still, it’ll be useful when you do go. I’ll have clothes tailored for you. Ready-made ones and custom-fitted ones.”

“Uh, um, excuse me?”

Jenassen trembled as if having a seizure and turned his gaze towards Axel, shouting.

“I don’t need it!”

“Why are you saying that while looking at Sir Leon?”

“I said I don’t need it!”

Axel leisurely rubbed and polished the surface of the desk with his fingers.

The straight protruding bones on the back of his hand, his long fingers with distinct joints were rough like a knight’s hands, but their shape was also very elegant. But today, for some reason, they just looked threatening.

“Clothes. Well, if you want them, Jade… Anyway, Sir Jenassen. We haven’t set the next sparring date, have we?”

“I’ve had enough now. I really have had enough. Sir Ives will also need a sparring partner. Isn’t that right? It’s unfair for me to monopolize Sir Leon!”

Jenassen now looked like he was about to cry.

No matter how you looked at it, it was clear that he had spent a very long time at the training grounds this morning. Although his jawline was rather smooth for a knight, when his strong-featured face became teary-eyed, it was very burdensome to see.

Jade finally got up and grabbed Axel’s hand that was rubbing the desk.