"I'm home, I've returned... so to speak."
"Neighhhh!"
When Rest returned to the stable after finishing the cleanup at the training ground, two horses greeted him with a whinny.
He stroked the horses' heads as they nuzzled against him, then looked around the stable.
"Oh... there's a care package today too. I always feel bad about this."
A cloth bundle had been tucked into a corner of the stable, out of sight.
He unwrapped it and found bread, cheese, dried meat, and a healing ointment inside.
These were care packages secretly left for Rest by one of the servants working at the mansion.
Rest's mother had once been a maid employed at the mansion.
She had been seduced by the master, Lucas Eberun, and was ultimately cast out of the estate after becoming pregnant with his child... but among the veteran servants, there were those who had been acquainted with Rest's mother.
The servants who had been close to her sympathized with Rest's situation and looked out for him in various ways.
They couldn't openly shield him from the abuse in front of the master, but... they would do this—secretly offering him food when no one was watching.
(My mom had good colleagues... well, I guess she wasn't so blessed when it came to her employer.)
"Tasty..."
He brought the bread to his mouth and bit into the cheese.
Everything had a plain taste, but compared to the leftover scraps served as his breakfast, it was like night and day.
As he ate, he gazed toward the mansion through the stable window.
Lamp light spilled from the mansion's windows—it looked so warm inside.
A far cry from this dark, drafty stable with cold wind whistling through every gap.
(Those people probably couldn't care less if I froze to death...)
Setting aside the stepmother who had been cheated on and his half-brother Cedric, how could his own father, Lucas, treat Rest so coldly?
He was his own flesh and blood—a child he had fathered by force—yet he showed no intention of taking any responsibility whatsoever.
(Are newly ennobled nobles really that important? He's nothing but an "honorary" viscount who doesn't even have a domain. He's barely any different from a commoner.)
Rest cursed under his breath... but if he ever said these words to his father's face, the man would fly into a furious rage and beat him senseless.
The House Eberun was a noble house, but its title could not be inherited.
An honorary noble title was a temporary rank tied to a specific position—once one vacated the post, the title was revoked and they returned to being commoners.
Lucas was a court magician—a mage directly serving the king—and had been granted the rank of "honorary viscount" by virtue of holding that position.
They strutted about claiming to be nobility, but in truth, they were hardly any different from commoners.
(But if Cedric could receive the honorary viscount title, the family would be recognized as a legitimate noble house...)
Though the honorary noble title was temporary, if it was held for three consecutive generations, the family would be recognized as a proper hereditary noble house.
The House Eberun had produced court magicians for two generations running and held the honorary viscount title.
If Cedric, the third generation, could similarly become a court magician and earn the honorary viscount title, the family would be granted a heritable "viscount" title and become true nobility in both name and substance.
(That must be why they pamper Cedric, who was born with exceptional magical talent, and let him do whatever he wants... It's so absurd. Truly.)
If they truly considered him an important heir, they should be educating him to be even more upright in his conduct.
Once he officially became a viscount, he would have far more opportunities to appear in high society—and if his manners and etiquette were still lacking, he would only bring shame upon himself.
(...Well, it's not like any of that matters to me. I couldn't care less where Cedric embarrasses himself. I'll just focus on honing my magical skills.)
Once he turned fifteen—the age of adulthood—he would leave the mansion and work hard to make something of himself.
Until then, he would hone his magical skills and grow as strong as he could.
"...Maybe I'll head into the forest again tonight."
Rest lived at the Eberun honorary viscount family mansion, located on the outskirts of the royal capital.
Nearby was a forest inhabited by monsters, and Rest ventured there on a daily basis.
The purpose, of course, was to hunt monsters and train his magic.
Someday, he would leave home and make something of himself on his own.
And for that purpose, he was secretly and patiently sharpening his fangs, hidden from his family.