Jared collapsed on the ground, panting heavily, after training with Almeida for the first time in a while. Early summer was fast approaching, and the night breeze was pleasant. He felt like closing his eyes and staying that way.
He had gained some confidence, feeling a little stronger, but he knew he was still no match for Almeida, which was a bit disheartening. However, the fact that he could move with all his might left him feeling refreshed.
He had informed his Master, Almeida, about the incident with Luzer. He had asked her to protect Olivier and the others in case of an emergency.
His Master had accepted Jared’s plea. However, she also seemed worried. She wondered if he could truly fight against someone he owed so much to, someone he had looked up to as a brother.
Jared was grateful for Almeida’s concern, but he was determined to face Luzer. He knew he had to fight to understand Luzer’s motives, driven by his desire for revenge.
More importantly, he had to inform Luzer that his mother was being protected. The rigorous concealment by their limited personnel likely meant Luzer was unaware of this. Jared couldn’t help but feel this was backfiring. If Luzer believed Jared had broken his promise and abandoned his mother, perhaps a misunderstanding could be cleared with the right words.
At the same time, he was filled with anxiety. It had been over a year since he last saw Luzer. Luzer had described that time as having gone through hell.
Experience changes people. Just as Barnabas Kaif, once full of promise, had been consumed by a vengeful fury after experiencing malicious, intentional setbacks, Jared suspected Luzer, too, had changed due to Dolf Ein and his associates. He couldn’t shake the feeling that Luzer was a different person from the one Jared knew.
If so, it was his duty as a junior to stop him before it was too late.
“Come to think of it, it’s been almost two years, hasn’t it…”
It had been about that long since he was sent to the Containment Facility and met Luzer.
When he closed his eyes, the memories were as vivid as if they had happened yesterday.
Engulfed in fatigue, Jared closed his eyes, lost in thought, recalling the past.
Thirteen-year-old Jared Murphy preferred reading books and studying to physical activity.
His father, Johan Daum, was disappointed by his lack of talent with a sword, but Jared didn’t particularly want to wield one himself, so he didn’t dwell on it. While he had felt a lingering sense of guilt in his childhood for disappointing his father, that feeling had long since vanished.
He found magic in the books left behind by his late mother, Liz Murphy. He was aware that he possessed a certain amount of Magic Power, but his mother’s writings warned against untrained individuals practicing magic on their own. Therefore, while he expanded his knowledge, he never felt the urge to put it into practice.
Others might have seen him as an unlikable child, but he didn’t have the sort of childish trait of caring about others’ opinions.
He was content in his small world, surrounded by his beloved grandparents, his uncle and aunt, his stepmother Karina Daum, who had risen from Consort to Main wife after his mother’s death, his younger brother Roik, and his Cousin Yeny.
Although his father had dismissed him, stating he didn’t need to hold a sword, his grandfather was different and taught him the basics. Perhaps his grandfather’s words of praise, calling him talented, were simply a kindness shown to a grandson who had been treated coldly by his father.
Thanks to his stepmother, who showered him with affection like her own child, he was able to attend school and discover the joy of learning.
His younger brother Roik also adored him, calling him “Brother,” which made him utterly fond of him.
On the other hand, his relationships with the rest of his family were so strained that the young Jared questioned if they could even be called family.
His father, for better or worse, was a hands-off parent. He regularly taught swordsmanship to Roik and his other younger brother, Rex, but otherwise, Jared rarely saw him act like a father.
While his father avoided him, there was no real harm, and Jared had grown accustomed to it. He had heard that even his younger brothers felt a lack of attention from their father.
Jared no longer saw his father as a father. He might be family, but that was all. His grandfather and uncle were far more fatherly.
Roik and Rex didn’t always visit their grandfather’s Mansion, and their relationships with him and his uncle were as distant as Jared’s. His father’s Consort, Annette, glared at Jared like he was an enemy and would spout foul insults whenever she spoke. Influenced by their mother, Rex and his older sister, Claire, refused to see Jared as a brother. They considered him a failure, born into a family of swordsmen yet lacking talent, abandoned by his father, and unable to inherit the family estate despite being the eldest son.
What was worse was that Jared, who didn’t care what Annette and her children thought of him, was also incorrigible.
Annette likely found his calm demeanor, unbothered by his lack of swordsmanship or inability to inherit the family estate, infuriating.
However, even if he had possessed swordsmanship talent and could have inherited the family estate, Annette probably would not have looked upon Jared favorably.
Bothered by Annette and her children, Jared spent any free time he had at his grandfather’s Mansion. Some days were spent simply playing with Yeny, who adored him like a brother. Other days, he would argue with Rena, who had a competitive spirit. He would have tea with his grandmother, learn the sword from his grandfather, and join his uncle in fishing, which was his hobby.
Though he sometimes felt lonely without his mother and with only faint memories of her, he considered himself happy with the loved ones who were there and who cherished him.
However, that happiness was destined to be shattered.
As his fourteenth birthday approached, his grandfather began to suggest that he live with him permanently. It was an offer he desperately wished for, but he had no choice but to refuse.
His timid younger brother, Roik, was often ridiculed by Rex, who was a year younger. Sometimes, under the guise of swordsmanship practice, Rex would unilaterally beat Roik with a wooden sword, and Jared felt he had to protect him.
His stepmother Karina, though the Main wife, was kind-hearted and unable to act assertively. Annette, the Consort, tried to do as she pleased, but many of the household members sided with Karina. As retaliation, Annette used her sons to carry out petty harassment.
Even when Johan warned her, she would only offer perfunctory replies. Karina knew her son was being bullied and worried about him.
Rex also did not lay a hand on Roik when Jared was present, and Karina often expressed her gratitude to him. For Karina, whom he considered a second mother, Jared could not leave the Mansion.
One day, after a period of commuting between his family home and his grandfather’s Mansion, a household retainer who usually served as his bodyguard was summoned by Annette. He asked Jared for some time.
Jared, though a child, felt a bodyguard was unnecessary for such a short trip to a nearby Mansion, but apparently, as the eldest son of a Baronial Family, there were appearances to maintain. The bodyguard was a retainer and one of his father’s subordinates, a friendly man.
He was always taken advantage of by Annette. One could call him good-natured, as he would readily do anything asked of him with a smile. Even this man, who usually prioritized Jared, acted differently that day. Seeing him being given an unreasonable demand, Jared, feeling sorry for him, informed him that he would go to his grandfather’s Mansion alone. To his surprise, the man, who would normally never consent to such a thing, agreed.
“I’m truly sorry, young master… truly, I am.”
He bowed repeatedly as he saw Jared off, leaving Jared puzzled. However, the moment he left the Mansion, the doubt vanished.
He remembered he had promised Yeny he would read her a story today and, thinking of his Cousin who must be eagerly awaiting him, he quickened his pace. Suddenly, he was attacked from behind by an assailant.
A sharp pain and heat surged through his head. As he realized he had been struck, he was thrown into something like a carriage and taken away.
Unable to resist, only able to moan, Jared was abducted.
