Two horses were pulling a carriage through a nicely paved road made of stone. It was assembled with many smaller flattened stones which caused it to rock around more than it should. The horses' hooves made loud sounds as the carriage moved toward its destination.
The coachman gave out a yawn before looking out into the distance. There he saw a large villa that clearly belonged to a noble family. The trees that were at the side of the road were so thick that they made this road look like a tunnel made from leaves.
It was clear that these trees were tended to by a professional hand as the tunnel of leaves was quite circular in shape. The morning rays of light pushed through the thick branches and lit up the path that ended at a large gate.
“Halt!”
The man that was on top of the carriage pulled on the horse reins to make them stop before the large entrance gate. The columns that these two gates were connected to had a certain characteristic knightley crest etched into them. They depicted a knight with a sword and shield on a horse that was standing up on its hind legs.
“Good morning to you.”
After the guard got a good look at the carriage he realized that it was one of their own. A similar crest adorned the side which indicated that it was part of the same estate and that the person inside was important enough to ride in it. With a wave of his hand, he called out to the people behind the gate.
“Open the gates.”
Soon he returned to his post while the large gate started being opened from the inside by some servants. There was a certain characteristic sound of old metal that followed the opening which caused the person in the carriage to sign out.
“The gate needs to be oiled...”
It was a young man’s voice that was met by no reply as he was sitting inside of the carriage by himself. Now as it was passing through the entrance to the estate he decided to move the blinds to the side to take a look.
“Not much has changed since I left.”
As the carriage entered through the gates he could see some servants moving around. The sound of the blacksmith caught his ear as it made him recall a certain astray member of his family that he had recently bumped into.
Just as the two had agreed he had not disclosed their small get-together unless there was some kind of dire situation he intended to keep his pledge. Finally, he heard the horses stopping as he finally arrived at his destination.
He looked to the wooden door at the side and hesitated slightly. Soon though he reached out with his hand to open it and stepped outside. The first thing he saw was a familiar face of a beautiful older woman that was slowly moving his way.
“What are you waiting for, why didn’t anyone open the carriage for my Robert!”
It was his mother Francine rushing his way while holding quite the expensive-looking gown. The dress was adorned with various jewels and it was clearly not meant for fast walking.
The life at the knight academy had been quite rough, even more for people like him that were at the bottom of the totem pole. Even in this estate, the servants didn’t take him that seriously as they were assigned to his two older brothers, Reyner and Edwin.
The two had long since finished their squire training and become full-fledged knights. Even without asking, he knew that they wouldn’t be here. Instead, they were probably out in the kingdom trying to earn merits to impress their father.
One of them would be the next head of the Arden estate. From what Robert knew both of them wanted the spot and their father had not yet decided on who it would be. It also didn’t seem that Wentworth Arden would be retiring anytime soon.
His name as the Silver Wolf was widely known throughout the whole empire and it was something hard to live up to. While looking at his mother Robert felt quite nostalgic and recalled the days of hazing at the academy.
Some of the high-born children despised the fact that his father had been able to rise to fame on the merit of his skills alone. He was a rare breed of person that could not be denied and caught the eye of the higher echelons of the aristocrats. The rest was history as his military merit gained him a spot among the other nobles.
Only after spending time at the academy for young knight candidates did Robert realize how much spite existed in those nobles. Without anything to show for themselves but their bloodline, they despised anyone that gained prestige by working hard. Anytime they would lose in a training match to him or any other lesser noble there would be consequences.
Some knights used this pride as something they could latch on to. Becoming a retainer by intentionally losing or working with a higher-born noble as their follower was a ticket out for them.
In hopes of attaining high positions of a knight captain at those higher noble estates, they would perform seedy tasks for their masters. Some of them included ganging up on lesser noble sons like Robert here in hopes of beating some sense into him.
Yet Robert was quite stubborn and prideful as well. Even when they continued to come at him, he didn’t falter. He could only smile to himself while remembering those days that he spent chasing his younger brother and tried to beat some sense into him just like these nobles tried.
Those times were filled with him being pitted against Roland by his own mother. He didn’t want to admit it but back then he was behaving the same as those high-born nobles that wanted to beat the pecking order into him. Only after his brother was gone did he realize that he had been mistaken.
Fate had mysterious ways of working as he found his lost brother Roland at the strangest of places. The rage he felt when he realized that he was doing better than expected with no intention of ever coming back.
“It’s fine mother, just have the servants carry my luggage into my chamber, not like I will be staying for long.”
“Oh, my little Robert is all grown up! Let me take a good look at you.”
Francine Arden placed her well-manicured hands on Robert’s cheeks and took a good look at him. The woman was a lot smaller than her son, who was even slightly taller than Roland. Even then both of them paled in comparison to the bear-like being that their father was.
The woman wasn’t the youngest but with a bit of makeup and some potions, she would be able to pass for a lady in her late twenties. Her hair was braided on the sides and coiled in a way over the ears that it formed ‘horns’ on either side of her head.
Robert didn’t want to comment on this hairstyle as he had always preferred the simple loose long hair to be superior. His mother on the other hand liked to follow the noble trends and was an avid visitor to the aristocratic parties.
He knew that his mother had somewhat of an inferiority complex to his father’s other wife, Tabitha. While she did everything in her might to expand her influence in the noble circles he knew that the high nobles would never really accept her as she was just a daughter of a wealthy merchant that bought his way into nobility.
“I’m fine mother, we should go inside.”
Robert felt a bit uncomfortable as his mother started looking at his face intently. He did not resist as it had been a while since he and his mom had some time to be together.
While there was no one else to greet him here he was happy that he still had his loving mother. Even though she was overprotective to a fault he knew that she just did everything out of love.
“No need to be shy with your mother, come, my son, tell your mother all about your life in the academy, to think that my son would be one of the top apprentice knights in the academy!”
Robert half-smiled about that notion as there was a certain reason that he had been pushed to the top of his class. Lucille De Vere was the real reason that he was able to ascend through the ranks while previously he was being suppressed by the high-born youths.
Lucille’s father found out about the little predicament and was more than glad to support the only knight that was involved with this predicament. Even though Percival and the knight responsible for the examination pushed the information down, the De Vere count wasn’t someone that could be fooled easily.
Out of fear of this issue ever coming out to light which would lower the academy's prestige, Robert was given a deal that he couldn’t refuse. For his heroic deeds, he was raised up in the rankings to reflect more of his own true skills.
Even though he somewhat knew that he deserved his spot in the first place, he was only receiving it due to his younger brother's involvement. Without Roland being there he knew that Lucille would be dead along with him.
Luckily for Roland, no one from the Knight Academy took the adventurer that was with them seriously. To them, he was just some commoner that did what he was paid for. No one would take his word above a noble's so even if he tried to release the truth into the open he would only get thrown into prison for offending someone from the noble cast.
“Is Father …”
While wandering through the mansion corridor he gave the question to his mother that was just constantly talking.
“Your father is … “
Francine stopped for a moment as she wasn’t sure what to say. Even though Robert didn’t show it, his mother knew that he wanted nothing more than to be praised by his father. regretfully the man in question was far too busy. As a high-ranking member of the kingdom’s military, he was mostly indisposed.
“Is that so… The border skirmishes have been slowly building up…”
Robert mumbled to himself even though he knew that his father was busy, as his son he wanted to be praised by someone that he aspired to be. The Arden Patriarch was the perfect goal for him, someone of lower status that gained fame and prestige by his own merits.
“I’m sure your father is proud of you, let us not talk about him.”
Robert’s mother clapped her hands and a few maids appeared before her.
“Prepare some tea and snacks for me, don’t make me and my son wait!”
“Yes, Madame.”
The two girls bowed with their heads while Robert and Francine continued their slow walk through the corridor. On the walls, he could see some family paintings that depicted the old members of the Arden bloodline. There were many faces that he wasn’t familiar with but they all kind of looked similar to the man of the house.
At the end of this corridor, there was a large painting. On it, Robert could see a large family consisting of himself and all his siblings. Even on it, he could see status being involved as his mother was sidetracked to the first wife.
The person to the side at most was his half-brother Roland, the only one below him in status. Only recently did he realize how badly he had treated him. He was acting just like those weak high nobles that couldn’t win over him with pure skill.
Only now he realized that the circumstances of someone’s birth were not something that should define a person. This was not something that most nobles agreed on, not even his own mother. While looking at the picture his eyes trailed to his brother that he had found once more.
“That child… he was always a strange one.”
“Strange, Mother?”
Francine noticed where Robert was looking as she started to talk.
“Yes, he always had those dead eyes… never acted like a child his age…”
While he wanted to stop his mother from belittling his brother he did have to agree that Roland was a peculiar person. Even in their younger days, he seemed fine with getting beaten up by him, Robert could also not remember ever seeing his younger brother crying. He could only attribute it to his high intelligence which pushed him into becoming a mage and then a Runesmith.
“But let us not talk about the dead, I’m sure the tea is ready now.”
Francine stopped in front of a large closed door and looked to the attendant on the side. Before the person could open the door for the lady a strange sound was heard by them on the inside. It sounded as if something hit the floor and then started quickly running towards this exit.
“Brother Roland is not dead!”
The door was slammed open by a certain young lady. Robert was surprised to see this young girl that was wearing a long dress. It seemed that the getup was unfinished as some threads were standing out and her corset was hanging out from the back.
“Lucienne, that’s now how a proper lady is supposed to conduct yourself, you were supposed to wait here for me and your brother, why are you dressed like that!”
“Please forgive us Madam the young lady just doesn’t want to be still…”
Two older ladies dressed in maid uniforms waddled over to where the group of three nobles was. Robert could see that they were out of breath and by the way the room looked he knew the reason. The problem was his younger sister. She had far too much energy as even now she was trying to run away from the two maids that wanted to dress her up as a proper young lady.
“Lucienne, stop this instant.”
“Not until you take it back! Brother is still out there! You believe me don’t you!”
She quickly hid behind Robert who was just standing there without knowing what to do. He knew that she was right but he could not tell his young ten year old sister that Roland was out in some town working as a Runesmith.
“I think you should listen to your mother, Lucienne.”
After reaching the age of ten and receiving her mage class he was sent to the magic academy for an aptitude test. After receiving good results she was to remain there to get a proper education. She was too young to attend classes yet and was getting tutored by a costly magic teacher. From what he knew, his sister was quite a ball of energy and she was giving the magic tutor quite the headache.
“I don’t need these dresses, I’m going to become a powerful mage!”
Soon she was forced from behind Robert as the maids started chasing her through the room. A little smile crept on his face as his mother joined into the fray and tried to catch the little young lady.
While normally he would agree with his mother when it came to Lucienne he wasn’t that sure. With the aptitude for magic, the world was her oyster. She didn’t need to be stuck in this bubble that the aristocrats created for themselves. After seeing his younger brother that looked happier than ever he realized that there was more to this world than met the eye.
With that in mind he entered the loud room and closed the door behind himself. He wasn’t sure what the future would bring but as long as he had his family by his side, he would be happy.
Still the words that his brother told him lingered in his mind. Someone was responsible for the attack on his half-sibling and he would need to figure out who before this secret of his came out to light...
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