The carriage came to a stop in front of black metal gates. I got up and entered the mansion grounds where numerous servants greeted me by bowing however, I know that every time I return, they secretly wish that I had died somewhere. To me, them bowing wasn't them greeting or respecting me, it them trying to avoid looking at my face since they'd rather die than see it.
When I opened the door to enter, someone immediately crashed into me. Although it was sudden, Alberu had hugged me as soon as I entered the house. I returned the hug and in the corner of my eyes, I saw someone approach us. It was my adopted dad, 'Marcus Infermel'.
"I've returned dad," I greeted him, still hugging Alberu who wouldn't let go with one hand.
"Indeed you have, with unfortunate news too," he said, holding a letter with a familiar looking signature. It was Owen's. It seems that the king had put Owen in charge of announcing that I am suspected of kidnapping the first prince. Since the news had spread so fast, it seems that he unfortunately picked the right person to be in charge of, it after all; Owen is probably the one that hates me the most... motherfucker.
"I swear on my name that I did not kidnap his highness dad."
"Swear on your name?" came a snobby voice. I turned to look at Royce who was standing by the stairs with his arms crossed. "You don't have any value to your name anyways. Ever since you came here, you've only stained our family name and now you want to use our family name to make us believe your lies?" Royce scoffed, "I always knew you were a criminal, but even then I didn't think you'd dare to kidnap royalty-"
"Then I swear on my sword that I didn't kidnap his highness," I silenced Royce. I am a swordsman in training and the most important thing to a swordsman is of course their sword. Swearing on my sword was as if I was swearing on my life (which I am) since a swordsman without their sword might as well be dead. Even with all the strength and endurance they had achieved from training, they'd soon die in a battle. "Is swearing on my sword enough for you?"
"Tch, you're a useless swordsman anyways. What value do you even have? Even a rat wouldn't be scared of you when you're holding a sword," Royce insulted me.
I pulled out my sword from its sheath with the hand that wasn't hugging Alberu. Royce looked bewildered and shot a fireball towards me however, it was engulfed into a small white fire dragon I had created from my flames.
"Royce, what is the meaning of this?" dad turned to questioned Royce.
"He was about to attack Alberu with his sword! How could I let someone from a prestige family get attacked by trash who was adopted into the family?!" Royce accusingly pointed his finger at me. "His fire dragon too! If it could consume my flames then it must be strong enough for him to go against the first prince! He must've used those abilities Cyrus to kidnap the his highness!"
"First of all, the blade is chipped. Second of all, I witnessed his highness's powers myself, so I know there's no way for me to go against him with my current abilities. Just because you're weak doesn't mean his highness is weak too," I retorted.
"Y-You're lying! I-I have seen his highness's powers myself too!" exclaimed Royce. I could tell he was lying. "I myself can say that my powers can even rival his highness's powers since I've seen it with my own eyes unlike you who's lying!" Yep, he's definitely lying. No way he could be as strong as Theodore.
"There's no way Felix would lie!" Alberu finally let go of me, "I don't believe that he'd do something bad like kidnap the first prince!"
"Alberu, am I your brother or is he?" asked Royce.
"Felix is!" came Alberu's reply before he started hugging me once again. I could feel Royce's anger radiating off of him.
"Father! Please believe me! I am your flesh and blood!" Royce's last resort was to take advantage of his blood.
"Dad, I believe that you won't take someone's side just because they're your flesh and blood instead of asking for proof," I said.
"Proof? Fine then, I'll make the both of you prove that you've witnessed that lad's abilities," dad didn't bother to address Theodore as 'high highness' or 'the first prince'. I heard that he and Theodore were quite close and he use to visit the palace to see Theodore. He was even Theodore's mentor and taught Theodore how to wield swords. Plus, even the title of 'royalty' cannot suppress the Infermel household because of a few reasons and one of them is 'Alberu Infermel', the man my little brother was named after.
"W-What kind of proof father?" I could tell Royce was getting nervous.
"You see, I too have seen Theodore's ability with my own eyes just like you two have claimed since I was his mentor. If you could tell me what creature his ability takes form as, I'll believe you," said dad.
"A mermaid," I answered without any hesitation.
Dad then turned to look at Royce, "what's your answer?"
Royce looked at me with a smirk and an expression full of arrogance as if he's saying, 'I win you fool'. He then turned back to dad and answered with full confidence, "a dragon. His abilities take the form of a dragon to represent Esper."
… He really is an idiot. Even if the royal family are called 'Esper's descendants' and represent our country's symbol: the dragon, it doesn't mean their techniques must take form of a dragon too. Not only that, but who doesn't know that Theodore is not related to the king by blood?
"The right answer is a mermaid. Felix is right and you," dad turned to look at Royce with an angry expression, "were lying to me. If you're going to lie then at least know a little information to make it sound convincing. How could I leave this family in the hands of a fool like you? Accusing others without evidence could lead to trouble too. Even if Alberu was simply playing favouritism towards Felix just now, he's still more reasonable than you!"
Royce clenched his fists before lowering his head, "I will improve father."
Dad sighed and walked away mumbling, "I should just hand my seat to Alberu instead of my first son." We all heard it and of course, I agree with dad. Alberu would make a family head than Royce, he was named after the third head(Alberu Infermel) for a reason after all.
"I'll be going now Alberu. You have lessons now don't you?" I pat Alberu's head before walking away however, I didn't go to my room, I went to the attic.
Inside the attic, a large portrait of a male with yellow hair and amber eyes could be seen. It was the old portrait of the third head, 'Alberu Infermel'. The portrait displayed in the hall with the other paintings of the previous family heads was the one where he had red hair streaks.
'Alberu Infermel'; the third head of the Infermel family was said to be the first person to show signs of awakening the power of Cyrus. He was strong, smart, brave and above all of those qualities that he possessed was his kindness. It was said he was as warm as the sun.
He became the head of the Infermel family at the age of 19 however, he only held that position until he was 21 where he went missing in a war against Floran. After he disappeared, Floran offered Kassiel 500 years of peace and retreated. Alberu's body was never found however, a knight who was with him said that he offered himself to replace a hostage Floran had.
After Alberu's death, his younger sister(dad's mother) who was only 16 took over. She couldn't sit still with her brother's body missing and broke the peace Floran offered herself. After her brother's death, she awakened the power of fire. Before, the Infermel family didn't have any magic. They had only gained power and fame after people saw Alberu's hair turning slightly red. When the Infermel family began to awaken fire abilities, people had though that Alberu's sacrifice made Esper gift the Infermel family the ability of fire.
When Alberu's younger sister went to war herself, no one dared to stop her, scared that Esper would punish them for restricting someone in a family that Esper had gifted power to. Not even the ones baring the title of 'royalty' dare to try and restrict the Infermel's family. The Infermel family had become the most respected family because of Alberu Infermel's sacrifice.
When I was younger, dad told me that he had named my younger brother after the third family head. When Alberu and Royce were born, dad had named the one the doctor said was the first born 'Alberu' however, they had discovered they had mixed up the two of them and it was the second born who received the name 'Alberu'.
I looked away from the portrait. Royce's room was directly under the attic and he should be alone by now. I grabbed a small dagger I found in the attic. Dad wants a family head with the name of 'Alberu'...right?