Finally, I was able to use the magic Rosalia taught me. I had also improved with the sword after all of Kaiser’s training. It was worth practicing in secret. I must be good enough to be the next lord now. Surely Father would recognize me. When that happened, all this painstaking effort would have been worth it.
One day, my father had adopted Firis, and suddenly all of his attention turned toward her, but things would be different now that I was better. With that hope in my chest, I knocked on the door to my father’s room.
“It’s me, Weiss. May I have a minute?”
“What is it?” he asked. “I’m about to go to the store to pick out a dress for Firis for the magic academy, so I don’t have time for you.”
My heart ached from hearing such a cold response. Firis this, Firis that. Ever since he adopted her, everything was about her. Before, Father had called me his successor. He’d said he was proud of me.
“My apologies, Father. But there is something I really wanted to show you… Shadow, come forth!” My shadow took the form of another me and bowed just like I did. “Look. I can finally use level-two dark magic.”
This was intermediate-level magic. Most people couldn’t use magic like this by fifteen. It was high-level even for students of the magic academy in the capital.
I acquired this power through blood, sweat, and tears. I was certain that Father would praise me for this like he used to.
Sadly, my expectations were shattered.
“Hmph, is that all you can do?”
“What do you mean? Pardon me, but only a few people my age can wield magic like this. Rosalia even said that I could call myself a full-fledged mage now!”
Father’s cold expression didn’t change. Why? I’d worked so hard. Rosalia said that I was a genius for being able to use level-two magic at my age. I wanted to surprise my father so badly that I asked her to keep all of this a secret from him, yet he still refused to acknowledge me?!
“The words of that maid you plucked off the street mean nothing to me. Firis can use all four elements at the second level. Weiss, you need not learn magic. I want you to study clerical work so that you can support your sister when she becomes the next lord. Were you more talented, I had hoped that you and Firis would bear children, but there’s no point. She is an attractive girl, so I’m certain she will find a talented man in the capital regardless.”
“Firis is to become the next lord…?”
His words were enough to make everything that supported me crumble. I had been raised since childhood to be the next lord of this territory. I worked hard day and night to that end, but my sister who came out of nowhere was going to take everything away from me?
What was the point in everything I did? Where were the words my father had once spoken to me? He’d said he was proud of me. That I would be his successor. What happened to all of that?
I couldn’t even recall how I found my way back to my room after that. I knew Rosalia said something to me, but it was all so irritating.
I went to sleep as if fleeing from reality, and the next day, I was met with the news that Father had died in an incident when he went out shopping.
The entire house flew into panic at the sudden news of his death, and I was announced to be the temporary new lord. I didn’t know what would’ve happened had Firis been home at the time, but she was at school in the capital, so process of elimination meant I was selected instead. Despite that, I decided to do my best so as not to dishonor my father’s name. I would be lying if I said I also didn’t want to prove him wrong in the afterlife.
My job as the lord was varied, and every day brought new struggles with it. The people in the mansion must have underestimated me, as the man in charge of accounting ran off with my money. I tried to do something about the famine ravaging my territory, but it seemed like I just made things worse. Everything I did resulted in people getting angry with me.
I was trying my best, but nothing went right. Every time, my father’s last words to me ran through my head: “Firis is the best fit to be the next lord.”
Eventually, I found myself not caring about anything.
Rosalia attempted to encourage me, but she just annoyed me. Kaiser scolded me, but he was just as frustrating. Eventually, Barbaro taught me the joys of drinking. Drinking allowed me to forget the pain. The only time I felt like it was okay for me to be alive was when I was drunk.
Eventually, I left everything in his hands and fled into the bottle. It was no wonder I was stabbed by one of my own subjects and found myself on the verge of death.
“This was the life of Weiss Hamilton, the boy who went unloved by his parents and accomplished nothing. Hilarious, right?”
In the depths of darkness, I saw a man in front of me with the same face as my own, only he wore a sarcastic smile. No, that wasn’t quite right. He didn’t have the same face as me—I had the same face as him. He was the real Weiss.