Originally, the viscountess was supposed to leave the grand ducal residence as soon as she received the registration documents, but when her conversation with the administrative officer in charge grew long, she left Rian with a servant, which became the source of trouble.

⟨Would you look after him for a while during our conversation?⟩

⟨Yes, madam.⟩

The servants, knowing nothing, took Rian to children of his age who were playing in the garden as their own consideration.

They recognized Rian at first sight.

⟨You’re a Bellington, right? I heard you’re a bastard?⟩

⟨You’re not even a real noble, don’t come near us!⟩

⟨Let’s chase him outside!⟩

⟨Let’s throw this and whoever hits that idiot the most wins today!⟩

The children began throwing dirt and stones at Rian. When Rian fell while running away, they even made him eat cake that had been stepped on.

After tormenting him to their heart’s content, they even threatened him to keep quiet.

⟨Just try telling the adults, a house like yours would be finished if we tell our parents!⟩

So Rian couldn’t say anything. He desperately tried to brush off the dirt and hide his wounds to somehow conceal what had happened to him.

There was no need to do so.

⟨My goodness…….⟩

The viscountess who saw Rian had no choice but to keep quiet even though she noticed something had happened to the child. It was obvious that Bellington, with its declining fortunes, would face retaliation if they protested over a mere bastard being bullied.

The viscountess returned to Bellington with Rian as if fleeing.

⟨……I’m sorry.⟩

The viscountess apologized to Rian in the carriage on the way back. Rian found it so strange that he thought he had heard wrong.

An apology. On the contrary, he was so grateful that the viscountess didn’t ask what had happened.

He thought it was fortunate that she didn’t show disgust when she saw his state.

⟨What? What do you expect me to do? That’s why you shouldn’t have caught people’s attention for no reason!⟩

⟨Be quiet, what are you crying about when you did well! I can’t even handle your mother causing trouble! If we get kicked out because of talk about your origins, we’ll have nowhere to go!⟩

Hadn’t his birth mother and grandparents always blamed Rian, who was the victim, in the same situation?

No one told Rian what that ‘origin’ was that he shouldn’t catch people’s attention with. After hearing someone call him a ‘bastard without a father,’ he had only guessed that it must be his shame.

He couldn’t understand why not having a father was his fault, but Rian had no choice but to accept it.

He came to think it was natural for him to get hurt from being kicked, to have his pride crumble from being called dirty.

So how could the ten gift boxes piled before his eyes be welcome? How could those really be gifts sent with the meaning of ‘apology’?

Rian was convinced that people had sent terrible things to torment him.

“Which one would you like to check first?”

“No! Don’t open them. You can’t!”

“Pardon?”

“There might be bugs, or dead things…… bad things inside.”

Rian finally clung to the butler’s arm, desperately trying to get him away from the gift boxes.

“And I didn’t do anything that day! Nothing at all. So this must have been delivered by mistake. I didn’t have anything to receive apologies for…… Right? So don’t open these.”

Afraid that the butler, who was the only one kind to him, might open the boxes, and thus learn of his despised circumstances.

But such behavior was tantamount to confessing how he had lived his past days.

“It’s alright, young master. These are gifts people sent because they want to look good to you, so what you’re worried about will absolutely not happen.”

The butler’s words had no effect at all. Rather, tears began gushing from Rian’s gray eyes.

“No. I didn’t say anything. Really. You have to tell those people that I didn’t say anything to the grand ducal family members. Please. I really didn’t tell…… I did wrong. I did wrong……”

Fear learned through experience and inflated by imagination rushed over him. It felt like people would come find him and chase him out at any moment.

Then I’ll have nowhere to go. Nowhere at all.

“I, I did wrong. Please forgive me.”

Rian finally knelt on the floor and began begging.

‘Not only was he bullied, but he was even threatened.’

Rian’s fear was justified. The child was a bastard who had just been registered into a humble house, and in conservative north, that meant living as an eternal outsider in society.

But what had the grand ducal house conveyed?

“Young master. You don’t need to worry. Actually, Lady Rania of the grand ducal house learned about what happened to you and directly commanded each house to apologize. If they bother you again, they will receive even greater punishment.”

The butler conveyed the message from the grand ducal house that had arrived with the gifts.

The news that Rania had directly defended Rian and punished the children was already widely known in society. So there would be no one trying to torment Rian like before for the time being.

At least as long as the young lady of Artua showed interest in Bellington’s bastard.

Rian barely swallowed his tears and tried to understand the butler’s words.

“That child, no, that person made those kids apologize?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

The butler explained that Lady Rania was a much higher person than those who tormented him and even their parents, so if they bullied Rian again and got caught, they would receive very severe punishment.

The butler thought Rian would be very happy to understand this.

“……Why?”

But what Rian thought of first was doubt.

“I only saw Lady Rania once, and I was scolded for greeting her improperly because I didn’t know who she was, so why…… is she helping me?”

He couldn’t understand at all why the girl who had mocked him for being stupid would take his side.

“What if I get in trouble later for receiving this? Or I’m scared that the Grand Duke and Lady Rania might make me do something very difficult in return for getting apologies for me, so I don’t want to receive this. I don’t want to receive this. I’m scared.”

“Oh my, young master.”

The butler couldn’t say anything.

He just felt sorry for the child.

“I’m scared……”

This small child, who had been forced to receive an unwanted life and then abandoned, would have to endure much more frustration and unhappiness in the future.

***

Bellington learned of Rian’s existence two months ago. It was the day Viscount Bellington, who had been suffering from a chronic illness, woke up two days after collapsing.

Perhaps sensing that he wouldn’t be able to get up again, he called his son Marvan as soon as he opened his eyes. Then he made his child a priest and confessed.

⟨Marvan. You have a younger brother.⟩

⟨Pardon? Father, what do you mean? A younger brother! Don’t tell me you had a child with another woman?⟩

For Marvan, who had lived as an only son for over thirty years, it was like a bolt from the blue.

⟨Have you gone mad? You made Mother suffer all your life, and now you even had a bastard!⟩

Marvan jumped up from his seat before his father finished saying ‘please take care of the child,’ and ordered the attending butler to keep this matter secret.

But somehow the viscountess learned of the bastard’s existence, and she immediately set out to find the birth mother who was said to be keeping the child.

Very thankfully, the viscount told her exactly where the child was staying. So she learned the birth mother’s identity within a few days, and that day Marvan got drunk and clung to the butler, crying loudly.

⟨To think that my father is worse than a beast who committed adultery with his younger brother’s wife! I can’t even lift my head in front of my wife and child…….⟩

Since news of the registration had already spread everywhere, canceling the registration was impossible. In the end, the best they could do was focus all efforts on eliminating clues that might identify the birth mother.

Marvan burst out in resentment, saying he would never acknowledge that child as his younger brother.

The butler was also on the side of the viscountess, who had only sacrificed for Bellington. How could he give his heart……

He thought there was no way.

⟨What is this, wasn’t he supposed to be with his birth mother?⟩

The commander of Bellington’s knights who brought the child sighed and said ‘at least he improved a lot on the way here.’

⟨The birth mother raised him outside the mansion to hide the child’s existence, but he was left alone and neglected even after his mother died.⟩

⟨That woman died?⟩

⟨Yes. It was suicide, they say.⟩

⟨……What did the House Sult say?⟩

⟨The baron said he doesn’t know the child, so do as you wish. The baroness has had a mental illness since eight years ago and has never left the mansion once.⟩

While assigning a physician to his half-brother who was said to have survived by begging around the neighborhood, Marvan spoke as if making excuses.

⟨Butler, please take some care of him. If anyone saw this state, they’d think we abused him.⟩