Heir?

A whole year had passed since Ethan was born. He was growing up with the love of his family and even the servants adored him greatly. His grandparents were especially fond of him and he was growing up in their loving embrace and on their shoulders.

During this one year, he got to know more about the world he was in. From what he saw and heard from random gossip, the world he was in seemed to be similar to medieval earth. Society worked in a hierarchy system where the ruling class was, of course, the ruling class. The ordinary people in the empire simply lived an ordinary life as they tried not to offend anyone out of their reach.

The Atrana Kingdom was still a better place to live compared to other Kingdoms as Ethan heard from the maids that a hundred peasants were slaughtered just recently because they denied giving excessive taxes to their Lord.

While they were all dead and their families ruined, the Lord only had to listen to a few bitter words from the king and the gossip from the noble society.

And like everything else, this incident was also forgotten like all others. But Ethan was not going to forget as these small things made the difference between life and death sometimes.

Ethan would often think of the day when Selena tried to poison him. Actually, he would mostly think about what he had heard before the whole poisoning thing.

"I will miss Young Master Shirin when he's gone..." He would ponder on this line in particular.

'Where will he be going? Isn't he just 10? I need answers!' Ethan thought.

The most important thing which Ethan noticed in this period was perhaps what people's faith was in.

Throughout the history of the earth, people's faith and beliefs made an important role in how history played out and this was something Ethan was personally interested in. He wanted to know if humans were so primitive that they needed something to put their faith in.

And he found out that people in this new world also believed in God. He often heard the maids pray in the morning and evening when the bells rang. And from what he observed, it seemed like people worshipped many Gods in this world and even the Gods seem to have some sort of hierarchy as some Gods were less respected than others. But the one common thing in everyone was that they all worshipped the 'Allfather' who was literally the 'All Father'.

People believed that The Allfather was the source of all creation, and that included the other Gods as well.

Unfortunately, that was all Ethan was able to figure out from basic observations such as how the maids and servants would say the names of the God they worshipped while praying and how they all would ask for the blessings of the Allfather while clasping a three-dimensional contraption which was made out of a few geometrical shapes such as a sphere, triangle, hexagon, and a cross.

This particular symbol that represented the "Allfather" came in different sizes and forms. Such as Ethan saw one hung on the wall of the mansion, as a ring or even as a locket.

But what baffled Ethan was that the people in this new world were way too religious compared to earth. It was as if they all knew for a fact that God existed and wasn't just a mere belief, But Ethan could not understand why this was.

While Ethan's mind was the most active in his entire lifetime, people around him were getting increasingly more concerned about his welfare. This was because of a choice Ethan had made after the Selene incident.

"So he doesn't particularly want me dead per se. He just wants to keep me out of commission for some reason. Interesting... It wouldn't be that bad if I'm mentally unstable now, would it? He will have his goal achieved and I will not have to worry about being assassinated at least for a few years. And most importantly, people will not expect anything from me and I can chill as much as I want." This was what Ethan thought after the incident.

He had decided to act as if he was a fool, a mentally unstable kid who lives in his own little world. And so from then on, be reduced acting cutesy and active altogether. He would simply stare at the ceiling, sleep and eat. He basically became incredibly dull.

Ethan was a strange creature, he truly was a fool and lived in his own little world. His act made Aisha cry for countless nights, his siblings and everyone around him were concerned for him but it was as if he did not care what other people thought or felt. Only Aisha's reddened eyes and her devotion to his well-being made his heart shaky.

In the White Family Mansion, Albaer and Aisha's room.

Albaer was on his study desk examining a few documents and Aisha was making handmade clothes for Ethan. Her face was sunken with sadness. Ethan was also in the room, he had gotten some freedom lately as he was able to crawl around and be outside the cradle when he was around someone.

"Dear, why hasn't our son started walking yet? He has become so dull lately, he doesn't react to anything nor he attempts to talk. So is just so.. Silent." Aisha said and broke out in muffled sobs.

Albaer put down the documents in his hands and stood up and sat beside Aisha and took her in his embrace, "Do not worry, I will ask for the Royal Physician to have a look at him. I'm sure that there is nothing wrong. Our son is strong! Have you ever heard him cry? He is simply a bit of a slow learner." He said and patted Aisha's back.

Aisha seemed to have calmed a bit as her sobbing stopped and only some sniffs were left.

"Don't you worry, My Son will become an incredible Duke one day! He is my heir, he is White Family's heir! and he has the blood of the Snowy Mystic in his veins." Albaer said with a smile as he looked at Ethan who was crawling around the huge King-sized bed.

"Now wait a minute... How come I'm the heir when Shirin is the Eldest Son?" Ethan thought as one of the pieces of the puzzle clicked in his mind.