The results of the Royal Academy entrance exam were out.
The eldest son of House Eberun, the honorary viscounts... Cedric Eberun's result was failure.
"That's impossible! This result can't be right! There must be some mistake!"
"Our son is the greatest genius of this age!? Failing a mere entrance exam—there's no way that should be possible!"
"............"
Upon hearing the news of his failure, Cedric's parents... Lucas and Lisa flew into a frenzy, screaming at the top of their lungs.
Beside his parents, Cedric sat with a pale face, looking like a condemned criminal awaiting execution.
"It's alright, Cedric dear! Your father and I will go protest to the academy right away!"
"Mm. It is utterly unacceptable for mere academy instructors to insult our son! We must deal with this decisively!"
The Eberun couple, worked up as they were, headed off to the Royal Academy by carriage.
Cedric saw them off while trembling violently.
"............"
"............"
The couple returned in the evening.
Their shoulders slumped, looking utterly dejected.
Seeing the two of them like that... many of the servants guessed the outcome of their protest and kept their distance to avoid getting caught in the storm.
"Father, Mother... so, how did it go?"
"You idiot!"
"............!?"
Lucas punched Cedric's cheek as he crept out to the front door to timidly ask how it went.
Cedric hit the floor on his backside and stared blankly up at his father's face.
"Your written exam score was a mere forty points!? On top of that, you used a wide-area spell with low individual power in the practical exam and even talked back to the proctor, losing even more points!? What an utter disgrace you've made of yourself!"
"Ah, ah… ah…"
Cedric rubbed his struck cheek, breathing out in a daze.
Having all the details known to his father was a shock, but more than that, he was shaken by the fact that this was the first time in his life his father had ever hit him.
Since he was young, Cedric had been known as a prodigy and had grown up spoiled by both his parents.
Even back when he had endangered the sisters of House Rosemary, he had never been struck.
"I'm disappointed in you… I believed in you, and yet to think you'd produce such a pathetic result…"
"Ah, you…"
His wife Lisa clung to her husband.
"W-what's going to happen to Cedric now? He's not going to end up like that good-for-nothing, is he?"
"Mother…"
"I refuse! I won't become the mother of a good-for-nothing like that maid! I'm supposed to be a viscount's wife. Cedric was supposed to make that happen for me…!"
Lisa wasn't really looking at Cedric.
Rather than worrying about her struck son, she seemed more concerned about her own standing.
His wife clinging to him only made Lucas angrier, and he scratched his head viciously before spitting out his words.
"…The exam isn't just this year. You can repeat and take it again next year."
"Th-then…"
"However, the passing standard for a second attempt is set higher than usual. No matter how well you do on the practical exam, if your written score is low, you'll be cut without mercy."
"S-Stock…!"
"Even if you somehow pass, you'll be branded with the label of someone who scraped through after being held back a year. Nobles place great importance on honor, so being looked down upon is inevitable. You won't even be in the same class as the daughter of House Rosemary… My plans will be ruined!"
"I-I-It's not my fault!? I'm nothing like that maid… I didn't give birth to some good-for-nothing child!"
Lisa shrieked in a shrill, piercing voice and jabbed a finger at the dumbfounded Cedric.
"This child failed because your parenting was terrible! I bear no responsibility whatsoever!"
"Don't be absurd! You were the one who kept saying 'Cedric is so gifted, he doesn't need to study that hard,' and gave him free rein to run around playing!"
"Y-You were the one calling Cedric a genius, weren't you!? As a court magician, when you said that, I felt reassured! Don't you dare pin this on me!"
"Damn it! If Cedric doesn't become a court magician, the plan to make him a true noble is…! Maybe we'd be better off adopting some talented child from elsewhere…"
"P-Please… Don't abandon me! Father! Mother!"
Cedric clung to the two of them, and their angry shouts rose once more.
The family argument dragged on until late into the night, and the servants, treating the whole matter as a sacred fire best left untouched, kept their distance even further than before.
In the end, Cedric was ordered to absolutely pass next year's exam, locked in his room with the door keyed, and forced to study.
"Damn it… Damn it, damn it, damn it! This is all, every last bit of it, his fault!"
Bound to his desk as though in chains, Cedric let out a scream of bitter resentment.
"Everything was going perfectly when he was still in the mansion… Rest! The next time I see you, I'm going to kill you for sure!"
House Eberun.
They had been walking toward a glorious future, yet much like stumbling into a pitfall on the road, their happiness was shattered to pieces.
Perhaps their comfortable life had been built all along on Rest's sacrifice.
It was one week after all of this that a messenger was dispatched from House Rosemary to House Eberun.