Chapter 5-2:
Oscar
MY FIRST MEMORY WAS MY MOTHER LEADING me by the hand to the orphanage.
“Your real father is a noble,” she told me, looking at me with grief. “Have pride in that as you live.”
Thinking back, I realized that my mother had given birth to me while she was still young but was unable to pressure the noble into marriage when he impregnated her. It was tough for a woman to make it in the world alone, so she entrusted her child to the orphanage and was left free to marry another man. In short, my very existence was a nuisance to her.
But that didn’t matter. I mean, it did, but it wasn’t like I couldn’t empathize with her situation. I felt like her mistake had been the parting words that she said to me. I was still a kid, so I took her words seriously. I believed that I was actually of higher rank and that my father, a nobleman, would pick me up from the orphanage one day.
“I’m different from you guys,” I said. “I’m actually a noble.”
I deluded myself into that mindset and held a meaningless sense of condescending elitism over other kids. I mocked and looked down on them. If I had been truly incompetent through and through, I would’ve just been a pitiful and awkward child. But I was decently smart and blessed with some strength—both allowed me to accomplish tasks without exerting much effort.
These only fueled my fantasies further. When I saw how the girls and nuns behaved around me, I realized I was handsome. A gentle tone was all it took for almost all of my requests to be granted.
I got carried away and began to assume that I might have been the illegitimate son of the king. In truth, I was probably just a cheeky brat. I rarely listened to the orders of the director and the other kids.
My time at the orphanage was enjoyable, but it all changed when she arrived.
When I heard that the duke’s daughter was coming in search of a squire, I thought that there was no need for me to become one. I was going to be a noble one day anyway. The director was aware of my deluded desires and didn’t select me as a candidate at first. She likely didn’t want troublesome kids to enter the home of a duke.
She selected more obedient kids, but the duke’s daughter wasn’t interested in any of them. No, Lady Serena required those who held real talent and skill deep within them. Isabel, Alice, Emma, Richard, and Lewis might have had problems, but they all had unique capabilities.
I felt honored that I’d been selected; in fact, being chosen was much more than I deserved. Of course, I could only think so now. I’d had no such thoughts during my initial meeting with Lady Serena.
“Whether one be a child of a noble or a commoner, I shall hammer into them that they’re all equally worthless under me,” she said.
Those were the first words that she spoke to me, and I had a bad feeling about the future. She mercilessly stomped on the feeling of superiority that I clung to. It all came from the daughter of a duke, no less. My fears soon rang true—hellish days of training awaited us at the duke’s manor. I was physically battered, but my mental state suffered far more.
“Oh? And you claim to have the blood of a noble?” Lady Serena taunted. “Are you sure you haven’t mistaken it for the blood of a pig? If you truly had noble blood in you, your mother wouldn’t have thrown you aside. It would be such a waste.”
She continued to insult and berate me, her words turning into sharp knives that tried to gouge my heart out. During my first year, I hated her.
“Why does she abuse us so horribly?” I asked. “Is she allowed to act all high and mighty just because she’s a noble? The value of a person shouldn’t be decided on their birth.”
I hated her so much that my values began to shift. I had misunderstood her. Lady Serena’s goal was to destroy us physically and mentally so that she could rebuild us into new people. Hence, it was imperative for us to endure such strict training—the mere memory of those days made me sick. And it worked. My assumption that nobles were automatically better than the rest disappeared before I knew it.
I finally realized that, as Lady Serena had said, rank and social status didn’t matter. She demonstrated that as well. Ever since she subjugated the serpent, she went around the kingdom and fought monsters, performing feats that increased her fame. We displayed our power as though mocking the incompetent nobles who only sat back on expensive chairs and did nothing. Everyone knew of us.
Armed with her excellent achievements, Lady Serena entered Rosewood Academy. I knew what her goals were. She wanted to seize complete control over the academy and grasp the real power of this kingdom. Her aim was to win over the noble children who gathered within the academy walls and unite them under her so that she could make her own faction in the future. If she controlled the third years while she was in her first, and the first years when she moved up to her third, she could theoretically control five graduating classes—this would greatly increase her influence in the future.
Currently, she was engaged to the crown prince, but if she was successful with her plan, she wouldn’t need to rely on him for rank; she could manipulate the nation as she pleased. When she initially entered the academy, she laid low and gauged her situation. However, just the other day, she finally gave us an order.
“You all may do as you please,” she commanded.
All of us squires knew the meaning of her words—we were being tested. She practically told us that there was no need for her to give detailed instructions anymore. We had the capacity to think for ourselves and act accordingly. We’d heard her say as much ad nauseam during our training, and we were used to it. So we acted swiftly.