Months Pass (2)

Fyn was the younger brother of Thion, a potential successor candidate.

Encountering Fyn was unexpected. I tried to avoid the main routes in the mansion, and always left around unusual times; I expected to avoid all my siblings. Still, I knew I had to face them eventually. I remembered he was one of the first people I tried to befriend. If you look at it another way, his rejection of my friendship was the reason I turned to Kasa.

'In that case, I won't hold back.'

As soon as we made eye contact, he began speaking.

"You've been visiting the prisons again, haven't you? Even after being educated by the princess, you couldn't learn. I guess trash will always remain trash."

"..."

"Do you really think father will condone your behavior? At the rate you're going, do you really think you're a worthy candidate for the future head of the house? Or do you think father will gift it to you because you're the son of Miss Alva."

"I don't think I will be gifted the position of successor. "

"Then-"

"Nor do I think I'm suited for it. I believe that position would be better suited for you."

"Me? Don't you mean my brother?"

"Your brother never bothered to confront me, but you have."

"That's just because he was busy."

"Are you not busy?"

"Of course I'm busy, I don't want to spend my time talking to you."

"Yet you still confronted me. Let me ask you another question, do you think you aren't worthy to be a candidate to a successor?"

"Of course not-"

"Then why did you ask me if I meant your brother?"

"Well... that's, that's because my mom says I need to support him in becoming the successor."

"Did your mom tell you why she wanted you to support your older brother?"

"Yes, she said she didn't want my brother and me to fight for the position."

"Since she supported your brother over you, doesn't that mean she thinks your brother is better than you?"

"No... no, she supports my brother because he's older than me."

"My mother supports my younger brother because she believes him to be worthy. I-"

"That's because of your condition!"

"But the underlying reason is my condition causes me to be unworthy, isn't it? Maybe your mother has similar thoughts?"

"... I've had enough of your lies."

"If you ask me, I think it's a shame you don't consider yourself as a successor candidate," I said as I began walking around him.

"Hey wait, where are you going!"

"I think we both have better things to do."

He didn't stop me again. I think I accomplished my goal with that conversation. He's still a child, so I hoped that conversation would plant a seed of doubt in his mind. Hopefully, the seed can grow over time and bud into a flower that causes confrontations with his brother. At the very least, I don't think he will be bothering me for quite some time.

Fortunately, I had no other problems on my walk to the prison.

As I entered the prison, I had begun to hear the voices of the prisoners.

Food truly was the gateway to the heart, well, at least for most of them.

As I passed out the fruits, I began the first step in my plan.

"So I wanted to learn how to fight with my bare hands, and I went to the Adventurer Guild to learn how to fight."

Their reactions were mixed.

"Hahaha, he wants to learn how to fight bare-handed despite being weak."

"So did you train, can you blow away a mountain with one punch?"

"Didn't I teach you how to use a dagger, what happened to that?"

"You should just live in peace since you can't use magic or ki."

I looked down, scratched my head, and gave out a sheepish laugh.

"Actually, they told me I was too weak to be taught anything."

"Of course they didn't teach you anything, you're far too weak."

"Well, couldn't they have taught him something?"

"And risk a Duke's wrath if he gets injured? Why don't you try instead."

Again, the reactions were mixed, some people were sympathetic while others mocked me. However, they were all talking about my request, which was good enough for now. Hopefully, word would spread around and someone would approach me.

After handing out some more fruit and having a few more conversations, I left the prison to finish the last task I had planned out for today. It's something I should've done a long time ago.

When I returned to the mansion, I took the flowers Kasa gave me and went to the abandoned building I lived in a while ago. It was time to finish something I was putting off for a long time- burying the locket. I didn't mean to prolong holding onto it, but it completely slipped my mind the last few months.

The building looked the same as it did in the past. Perhaps it was a bit more decrepit than what I remember. I went to the back of the building and started planting the flowers.

I was surprised at how fresh the flowers were after a few months. Although I had put them in a vase, I had expected them to wilt in a few weeks. When they didn't wilt, I tried to find out more about them. I couldn't find them in the reference book from the Adventurer Guild, so I asked Lucan.

He told me they were flowers that he specifically nurtured to have longevity. Since he puts so much effort into nurturing plants, I thought he would've been mad at Kasa for taking the flowers, but he didn't mind. The only plants he truly cared about were in the interior of the garden. The flowers were there as decoration.

Since he didn't care about the flowers, I kept them with me until I had found a use for them. These flowers would serve as my reason to dig a hole since it would be suspicious if anyone saw me throwing a locket into a newly dug hole.

The flowers also brightened the surroundings near the locket. I thought this was a decent compromise to my original goal.

Once I finished burying the locket, I went back to my room to read a geography book. When it turned dark, I recounted what I had done and whether I accomplished my goals for today.

At the rate I was going, I might be able to finish my preparations in time. However, I couldn't get complacent. After all, my prediction is under the assumption that I wouldn't be interrupted by anyone. Without Kasa nearby, the chances are minimal, with how things have turned out recently, I'm not too sure anymore.