5th Birthday

In the manor of the head knight of the village of venia, a small boy around the age of 4 to 5 was sleeping in his bed. He had beautiful features and a feminine face which would attract the attention of both men and women. He was of course Claude and today he was being a bit lazy.

It was early in the morning in venia. Today it was raining faintly and because of the gloomy environment even the cattles were extending their sleep.

Suddenly the door of Claude's room was opened by a stunning man.

The man was 6'4 (182.88 cm) with a muscular body which seemed to be trained and tempered everyday. He had sharp facial features with a manly jaw, emerald eyes which were nowhere near as bright and clear as Claude's sapphire eyes, but they had a strange charisma of strength and experience within them. He has dirty blonde hair which is shoulder length and tied in a pony. He was currently in his mid thirties. This man is Ares, Claude's step father and a sword saint.

This man was carrying a short wooden sword and a thick book in his hands. He had cold sharp eyes and expression but when he saw Claude sleeping in a nasty manner, his expression changed and a smile spread across his face. He looked at Claude with such warmth that the onlookers will doubt that this man was really his step father.

Behind him was a beautiful maid in her late twenties. Though she was beautiful anyone who looks at her will recognise her as a person from humble origins.

She was 5'6 (152.4 cm) with dark brown hair and black eyes. Though she looked just fine, someone with keen observation will find signs of malnutrition and lack of sleep. This was Layla, she was the only person in the house who would talk with Claude and truly cared for him except Ares. As she has seen Claude being born in this world and also was the one who saw him grow, she thinks of Claude akin to her own child though she has not even done the deed. She was carrying a tray filled with delicacies.

They both stood in front of Claude's bed and looked at him with warmth and excitement. Layla was the first one who whispered in Claude's ears.

" Young master Claude~" she slowly whispered in his ears.

" Mmm~" the only reply she got from Claude was a small moan.

" Young master Claude, it's already morning."

To her persistence Claude frowned and looked towards her direction. Just when he was about to beg for five more minutes of sleep he saw Ares standing beside her. All his laziness suddenly vanished and abruptly sat straight on his bed in front of Ares.

He looked at Ares in confusion as his step father only came to visit during dawn after completing his duties as a head knight to check on him. He never came to visit him in the morning.

" Father….?"

" Happy Birthday Claude~"

He got an answer to his silent question. In this world birthdays are only celebrated during their 5th, 10th and 15th birthdays. After that usually they get married and will have to celebrate their children's birthday.

His step brother's 5th birthday was celebrated last year. On that day Layla took him to look around the village. Well, it seems like at least they cared about his conscience and decided to send him out with Layla so that they can celebrate his step brother's birthday.

By understanding his situation in the family he expected everyone to forget about his 5th birthday. Though he expected Layla to do something, he never expected his father himself would come to wish him birthday. But it's not like he didn't like it, maybe it somehow made him feel like he also has a real family. Just maybe.

" Thank you, father " He stood up and bowed towards Ares and said it. In noble or wealthy households it was a common courtesy to bow towards the family head when showing gestures such as ' thank you ' and ' sorry '.

" Before you can enjoy your birthday I want to talk about something really important to you." When he said that he looked towards Layla as if to say ' we want to talk in private so please excuse us.'

Layla understood the gesture and left the room after bowing slightly towards me and my father.

When she left the room Ares had a mischievous expression on his face which sent chills down Claude's spine. He took a chair nearby and sat in front of Claude.

" So tell me kid, you know that I am not your biological father, right ?" He asked.

After hearing Ares questions Claude flinched.

' How the f*ck does this man know about this !?'

Seeing the eyes of Ares Claude recognised that their was no point playing dumb but he didn't want to outright admit that.

"..... How do you know ? " He asked after a pause.

" Do you think I am so dumb ? Everyone in this house ignores you like you don't even live with us but I never ignored you."

" I have seen my own son grow and you were nothing like him. You never cried or even asked to meet your mother. You never wandered around the house curiously and always stayed in your room like we weren't the one ignoring you, you were the one avoiding us."

" And some more reasons only lead to one solution: either you are possessed by a demon or you are smart enough to know your own situation. I vote for the latter."

After hearing his long explanation Claude decided to ask some more questions as the cat was already out of the box.

" Then how are you so sure I am not a demon ? "

" Due to certain reasons you don't need to know." He replied clearly, avoiding his question.

" See, you don't have to tell me anything about how you know it or how cunning you are for your age."

" The reason is simple, I don't care. I loved your mother from childhood and when I got a chance to finally make her mine I took. I also took you in and didn't abandon you in some orphanage because I thought of you as my responsibility. I only thought of you as a child I needed to look after. Though I won't say that I don't care about you, in future if I had to choose someone between you and my son I will choose my son." He concluded.

' Hm, interesting. I thought of this man as nothing but a muscle brain but he was a fox disguised as a sheep.' Claude thought.

' He clearly said that he has no intention and reason to abandon me but at the same time he doesn't think of me as more than a responsibility.' Claude concluded.

" Now it's my turn to question you, are you ready ?" He asked just to be sure.

After pondering for a while I agreed.

" What do you think about your real mother and father ?"

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