"......No way."
His father — Lucas Eberun — muttered in a daze.
His eyes were wide open in disbelief, trembling lips stitching together words one at a time.
"No way, there's no way a good-for-nothing like you could..."
"Oh my, so you're calling yourself a good-for-nothing now? Saying that right to the heir of a marquis's house?"
"No, that's... but..."
"Just look into it. The engagement paperwork is already completed. You'll have your answer soon enough."
"......"
Perhaps he had noticed that there was no falsehood in Rest's demeanor.
Lucas slid off the sofa as though his legs had given out and collapsed onto the floor.
"No... no... no... no..."
In the corner of the room, Lisa sat on the ground, muttering the same word over and over like a broken toy.
Her eyes were not looking at the scene before her — she seemed to have retreated from reality altogether.
(Their reaction is even worse than I expected... Do they really find it that hard to believe that I'm marrying both of them?)
Or perhaps it was simply the final blow.
Cedric — their beloved son, the child they had been so proud of — had failed the Royal Academy's entrance exam.
And Rest, the son they had mocked as a good-for-nothing, had passed the exam and was now set to enroll at the very academy where Cedric was supposed to have gone.
On top of that, the Rosemary marquis sisters they had been scheming to secure were now in Rest's hands.
Everything they had ever wanted from the child they treated like a dog had been taken away from them.
This reversal must have completely broken their spirits.
(...This is as far as it goes.)
Rest let out a small sigh.
The sense of achievement wasn't quite what he had expected... but still, he felt refreshed, as if shaking off the accumulated grime that had clung to his body for years.
At last, his ties with House Eberun had come to an end.
He had cleared his mother's lingering resentment at being looked down upon and settled the score for the four years of abuse he had endured.
(Considering what they've done, it doesn't feel like enough revenge... but oh well. I'll let them off with this much.)
It wasn't that he wanted revenge, and he didn't have the hobby of kicking people when they were down.
He would end things here.
"Just so we're clear... you've already transferred your parental rights, and I come of age this year. I don't need your permission."
"..."
"...It can't be... it can't..."
"So there's no reason for us to have anything more to do with each other. I wish you all the best."
Rest would no longer inherit House Eberun, but that didn't mean the path to Cedric being granted a viscount's title was closed off.
There was still the option of Cedric retaking the Royal Academy entrance exam next year to aim for court magician, or earning merit through other means and being rewarded with a title.
(Though... whatever path he chooses, it's none of my concern anymore.)
"Well then, I'll be taking my leave."
"I'll see you out, Lord Rest."
The butler who had been waiting in the room took over from Lucas and led Rest onward.
Passing through the door the butler held open, he walked down the corridor toward the entrance.
"...You've become quite splendid, Lord Rest."
The butler spoke without turning around.
"She too... Chiffon would surely be rejoicing from beyond the grave."
Chiffon was the name of his late mother.
This butler had been a colleague of his mother, and because of that connection, he had always treated Rest kindly.
"When she was forced upon the lord, made to bear a child, and then cast out... many of the servants worried for her. In front of the lord, we could do nothing, but..."
"...It's fine. You gave me meals and medicine, didn't you?"
"...That was only to ease our own guilt. We couldn't stop you from being oppressed."
The butler laced his voice with sorrow as he continued.
"You're welcome to hate us. Please, be happy at the marquis's household..."
"...You're being far too dramatic, truly. Rather than that, tell me about what's happened since I left the estate."
Rest chatted idly with the butler, and before departing House Eberun, he asked that anyone who ever needed anything should come to him, and that the same message be passed along to the servants who had looked after him.
And he never once returned to the estate that had been, for him, nothing more than a birdcage.