The Storybook

Three years passed in a blink of an eye. There was no contact from Shirin at this time. He was supposed to be doing training for a few years but it wasn't specified for how many. So Ethan did not know how he was doing there in the capital.

Ethan was now four years old he was continuing his facade of being a dull child. He started walking at the age of three when he was supposed to much sooner. He also said his first words but never talked much afterward.

Ethan did not want to create an image of himself as a completely mentally disabled child but as an incapable dull child who has no significant ability to speak of and who is certainly not fit for any kind of responsibility.

He decided on this for two reasons, the first one being that it would be much inconvenient pretending to be a complete fool as he needed as much knowledge of this new world as possible. And for that, he at least needed to read a lot of books. The second reason is that he already knew Alier's intentions and knew why Alier wanted to kill him.

When Ethan heard what the maid said after Shirin left and knowing what Albaer had said something about him being the heir; Ethan immediately understood what the deal was.

Shirin who was the eldest probably had no ambition to become the family head somewhere along the line in the future and he was also selected to join the 'King's Sword' by joining he could no longer associate himself with the White Family openly let alone become its head.

Naenna was the second child of Albaer but Ethan had realized that similar to the medieval Earth... Women unfortunately weren't looked at favorably to be in authoritative positions such as the Family head.

That only left Luceryc as the possible option who was Alier's son. That was until Aisha once again became pregnant and successfully gave birth to Ethan.

Naturally, Albaer would want his own son to inherit his position and that's why Ethan had become the thorn in Alier's ambition.

But Albaer would have no choice but to consider Luceryc if... let's say, Ethan was not suitable for the position in any way possible. And that's why Alier had attempted to poison Ethan under everyone's noses to kill his potential in the early stages. This would allow Luceryc to at least have a chance.

"Oh, I don't know about that guy.... He doesn't seem any more capable than the dumb me, to be honest." Ethan thought as he ate a banana.

He had grown a lot in those three years. He had silky snow-white hair which was neatly kept, his eyes were of perfect size... Not too big nor too small and looked like pearls with a distinct sharpness to them which made Ethan look clever. His skin was fair and very smooth, almost like a women's. He had a small, thin and pointy nose with a very handsome face.

Shirin and Ethan both had a different types of charm. While Shirin looked calm and fierce at the same time with his mature demeanor and strong body. Ethan on the other hand looked rather innocent and frail and the way he behaved was clumsy at best.

Although it was hard to say if that was part of his acting or if he was just being himself.

Four years is a long period and Ethan got to learn many things about the new world and one of them was the realization that magic and things that could only be considered fantasy on earth existed in this new world.

Almost for two years he had no idea that this was the case as no one around him used nor mentioned it which made it obvious that magic was not something that was common.

One day he happened to be with Albaer and one of the mages under Albaer showed up for some Business and used a minor spell and that's when Ethan's eyes went wide with surprise as this was the first time he was shocked at this degree in his entire two lives combined.

"Now I see why being sheltered is bad... I would have never realized if I didn't insist on being with Father." Ethan had thought back then in bafflement.

Ethan felt even more of a need to grow up as fast as possible and read some books as the fact that this was an 'Isekai' world opened up various possibilities.

"Before I died I remember I had thought if I might get hit by Truck-Kun and after reincarnating I completely forgot that this might be a world of fantasy... Damn, I'm sure getting too lazy nowadays." Ethan thought and got up after gobbling up a dozen bananas. He didn't even bother to clean the remains from over his mouth and just started walking around the mansion hoping to explore it.

But then halfway through he turned back as it was just such a bother to go out anyways. And someone would just pick him up and bring him back to his room if he was seen.

Ethan was just planning to take a nap but he spotted a thick book in his room.

"A book? Where have I seen it..." Ethan stared at the book in silence and after a few moments finally remembered.

"Oh right! Grandma came last night with it... she was reading it to me but I fell asleep and didn't pay much attention to it." Ethan said under his breath while scratching the back of his head.

He picked up the heavy book up which didn't have many pages but they were very thick. The book itself was very thick and heavy.

The cover of the book was rather strange to be a kid's storybook as there was a scary-looking monster thingy with two red horns on a black, misty wisp-like creature. You might as well call it the depiction of the Devil.

There were words written on the bottom of the book in the Atranainese Language.

Ethan had already figured out this language from what his mother tried to teach him and from observations so he was able to read what was written.

"Tale Of The Disgraced God" Ethan read out loud. When he flipped the cover page, what he saw put a smile on his face. "Authored by The Church... How interesting."