Edited by: bafflinghaze
Neo watched as Rainier drifted through the Odum Archive on a moving ladder. There were several books balanced on the servant’s head as he was pushed from one shelf to another courtesy of the self-automation seal embedded inside the ladder.
The device was the latest gift from Quill.
Technically, Neo had a hand in some of the seal’s development, but not on purpose. One of the experimental seals he was making for the Slave Emblem was scrapped when he accidentally wrote the wrong sigil.
Seal scraps were often stored away rather than burned since there was always the possibility of needing them for a breakthrough.
The latest product the Magic Tower managed to make from his scraps was this ladder that could move at the will of its users. Neo couldn’t comprehend how his bio-mana seals worked in technological innovation, but at least the charm engineers were creating miracles for the lazy.
Neo had moved the ladder to the Archive since he had no need of it in his office. So far, Rainier was the only one who played with it.
He drove the ladder through the massive space with his impeccable memory, gathering all the records Neo requested.
“Young Master, were these the ones you were looking for?”
Rainier grabbed the last book and came back to the table.
Neo had taken refuge in the center of the Archive, surrounded by dozens of records. Stone tablets, papyrus, parchment scrolls, and books from different eras of the Empire lay askew around him.
He made room on the table for the new books. “My thanks,” he murmured as Rainier laid them down.
“What exactly do you need these records for?”
“It’s a personal interest,” Neo said.
“From… your last life?” The pause in Rainier’s sentence spoke of his curiosity.
Neo shook his head, “No. It’s… I want to check something. Just in case.”
He was deflecting.
Thankfully, Rainier didn’t pry any further. Instead, he excused himself to make tea.
Neo was left in the Archives by himself.
He continued reading.
—
The Odum Ducal.
A family who came into existence at the dawn of the Empire.
Loyal, Noble, and Old.
A little more emphasis on the old part.
Despite all the records and history—in spite of making history—the bloodline of the Odum Family had always been teetering on the fine lines of existence and extinction.
It started with the first ancestor.
Long ago, a curse was placed upon them by a mischievous fairy. The uniquely blue-sapphire eyes and raven hair passed down through the children of the Odum bloodline were a part of the curse.
A brand of shame.
But the real harm done was the risk of infertility.
Unlike most noble families, the Odums could have no more than two children per generation. A boy and a girl, an heir and a spare… but only the heir would be gifted the right to pass on the lineage.
This was just the way things were…
—until now.
The reasoning for the family curse no longer held true.
If the curse was genuine and stood by its consequences for a millennium then there would only be two Odum children.
While there were two legitimate Odum children, no one had thought there would be a discovery of an illegitimate one.
The existence of the eldest Odum child, Nazareth Everette Odum, brought about questions no one dared look too closely into.
Neo had read the forbidden records, having gained access to it from his father after promising he wouldn’t show Aurelion and Guinivere anything.
The two of them weren’t of age, yet. They shouldn’t be reading about the family curse until they turn sixteen.
Aurelion was told about the curse during his sixteenth birthday banquet, but Neo wasn’t there to witness his reaction…
Neo remembered reading records of the fertility ceremony.
They weren’t exactly explicit content, but he developed a large headache from the technical jargon that followed.
Basically, conception for the Odum Family was like the national college entrance exam. If you fail, you’re screwed for life and all your ancestors will hate you.
The fertility ceremony wasn’t difficult to perform, but the timing had to be perfect.
Both parties of the marriage needed to consent, the ceremony required seven witnesses, and an Elysium must officiate the marriage.
The day of the ceremony was always held on the second month of summer, on the day when the moon was bright and round, on the sacred grounds of the Ancestral Odum Estate, and the bride and groom must swear their vows at exactly noon when the sun was at its highest.
The Olde Wine from the wine cellar of the Imperial Palace must be drunk by the bride and groom immediately after their vows. Then the bride and groom must extract and tether the strands of their magic core, not a moment after the Olde Wine was drunk.
(The finer parts about the sun and moon were measured by the Royal Astronomists to ensure no flaw in the ceremony).
Finally, the bride and groom must consummate upon the sacred grounds from the moment the sun sets until the first light of dawn.
Repeat the last part for the second child.
This was the ceremony every Odum Duke needed to perform.
His father performed it, his grandmother performed it, his great-grandmother performed it, his great-great-grandfather also performed it, etc., etc., etc.
Someday, Aurelion would need to perform the ceremony, too.
Neo didn’t know how that would work out considering his little brother was in love with Sutton, but there had to have been a same-sex couple somewhere in their long history, and surrogacy was always an option.
The Odum Family could only silently thank—and pity—their first ancestor for figuring out a solution to their fertility problem.
But then… how the hell did Nazareth come into existence?!
—
“Mummy was magical,” Neo decided.
He pushed the records away and stretched.
If his father managed to break the cycle by simply sleeping with his mother then the only conclusion was his mother’s superior genetics.
I shouldn’t be alive. I shouldn’t be alive. I shouldn’t be alive. I shouldn’t be alive Ishouldn’tbealiveIshouldn’tbealive…
A warm breeze brushed his face as soon as he stood up. Rainier had left the window open to air out the dusty Archive.
Summer was upon them.
The holidays were approaching, and the dreaded production of The Tragedy of Ohmlet was scheduled to perform in two weeks.
Directed by Professor Rickman and played by his class.
With him and Finneas as the leads.
It was a recipe that spelled disaster.
His mind wandered back to everything he’d read so far.
First, there was the whole fairy thing.
Fairies were very much real in this world, but after the Great Void, records of their appearance throughout history dwindled.
Noble houses that survived the Great Void, or rose into prominence when the Empire was formed, tended to carry a fairy’s curse.
Hence why there weren’t many who survived past the Great Void.
As humans, there was nothing to be done about a fairy’s curse. No magician dared to mess with magic from the Wilde. Fairies were children of the Gods, and to challenge them was to challenge a higher being greater than themselves.
For the all-powerful duke families of Rhine, even they had to submit to their family curse.
The fairies had targeted the most important thing to a noble family: their bloodline.
To preserve their family line, no family dared to break from the “traditions” forced onto them, for fear their family’s survival would be tested the moment they stepped out of line.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Ktf defralbc bo ktfatfg bg cba atflg ojwlis kjr ufcelcfis megrfv wfjca ilaaif lc atf ojmf bo bnfgktfiwlcu fnlvfcmf jcv atf cewfgber “mblcmlvfcmfr” atfs reoofgfv bnfg atf sfjgr.
There was once an Odum ancestor known as Gladwyne the Lover, who had a harem of men and women and far too much love to give.
Despite all the… bedroom activity they did with their lovers, no child came of it.
Eventually, Gladwyne chose a partner from their harem and performed the fertility ceremony. They had two children, much to everyone’s relief.
Dea cbcf bo atlr lcobgwjalbc vlv jcsatlcu ab fzqijlc atf jcbwjis bo atflg meggfca ufcfgjalbc.
Rfb’r fzlrafcmf mbcagjvlmafv fnfgsatlcu.
Cegfilbc jcv Xelclnfgf kfgf jigfjvs ybgc yfobgf atfs obecv tlw.
If the curse held true, it wouldn’t have been possible for Guinivere to exist.
Or Aurelion, since Nazareth was a boy.
So logically, the only person who shouldn’t have existed in the first place was Nazareth, who wasn’t the product of a fertility ceremony.
Neo put a hand on one of the records, but he didn’t open it.
He shouldn’t be alive.
There was an error in logic.
There should only be two Odum children.
But Nazareth was born.
And if he was born, then Aurelion shouldn’t exist.
But Aurelion does exist.
If the curse was broken, then there should be more Odum children.
Yet no other Odum children besides the three of them existed.
Neo suddenly paused.
If the curse was indeed a curse, then his younger siblings wouldn’t have existed.
Because him being born had messed up the cycle.
So… so…
“Young Master, are you alright?”
Neo noticed a cup of dandelion tea held in front of him.
“I…” He paused, took the cup, and tossed it back like a shot, “I’m fine.”
“…”
He ignored the gaze Rainier sent him.
—
The Young Master was acting weird.
A few days ago, he nearly set the West Wing on fire.
Before that, he was experimenting with a poisonous plant that he shouldn’t have touched with his bare hands and needed to be carried back to his bedroom so they could get the antidote before the poison could set in and render him permanently paralyzed for the rest of his life.
He was causing more accidents as the summer holidays drew close, yet Rainier couldn’t understand why.
The Young Master seemed restless. He hardly slept and neglected to eat as often as before.
“I can’t. I think I found a breakthrough,” was the response when Rainier asked him if he needed a tea break.
The Young Master hardly slept anymore and he was rejecting tea breaks.
Was he turning into a plant?!
Rainier thought his life would be easier after knowing his Young Master was mentally an adult who had lived two lifetimes going on three, but why did it feel like everything just became significantly more difficult after the confession?
Rainier was afraid he was working himself to death.
When he took his concerns to the other servants in the manor, however…
“Kid, relax. This is an Odum thing. Remember when His Grace locked himself in his office so he could deactivate those war-grade mana bombs for two weeks straight? You didn’t see anyone losing their heads when an explosion went off, right?” The decorated war hero housekeeper reassured him.
The gardener who was once a shadow guard from the Hangul Kingdom folded his arms, “That’s nothing compared to the time when the Madam and Young Miss went on a hunting trip for a month in the Northern Tundras with just their swords.”
An assassin-turned-maidservant also added, “How about when Young Master Aurelion didn’t eat or sleep for three weeks because he was trying to solve a territory dispute between these two villages? That boy looked like he was on death’s door by the end of it.”
The senior servants patted him on the head and told him to relax, which did nothing for Rainier.
“But he’s been eating less!”
“Rain, have you seen all the tea and cakes you’ve been bringing him? The cart is always empty when you come back with it. And don’t get me started on how much he consumes during meals. I don’t know where it all goes, but Young Master Nazareth is clearly eating fine.”
Rainier wanted to rip out his hair, “I’ve been bringing the tea and cakes because he’s been rejecting tea breaks! And during meals, he eats three plates less!”
All the servants in the break room looked at each other.
Then, one by one, they stared at him like he was stupid.
“Kid, just go,” Eliza the cook shoved the tea cart into his arms and kicked him out, “If you leave them there, he’ll just eat while he works. Like always.” The last part was said quietly out of Rainier’s hearing range.
The young man was being overdramatic.
Young Master Nazareth was simply hyper-fixated on something very important, just like the rest of his family was prone to do at random intervals.
Rainier clearly forgot about this ever since the Eldest Young Master cut his hair.
“I have never seen him so worried about Young Master Nazareth’s eating habits in my life. You think it was the hair?”
All the servants in the breakroom murmured their agreement.
—
Dinner was a quiet affair in the Odum Manor.
Father was talking about something-something-politics-emperor-something-important while Aurelion listened with rapt attention.
Mother sat stone-faced, eating silently. She was using a butter knife to cut a steak because the steak knife would have broken her plate. The way she held the knife was like an ax murderer carving up their victims.
Guinivere was also whole-heartedly focused on her meal. She was using a regular steak knife but had little success trying to cut the meat without breaking her plate. She took a glimpse at her mother, almost enviously, and then tried to trim the fat around the meat.
Neo wordlessly swapped their plates.
The meat his stepmother and sister were currently eating was an invasive species of insects the size of mountain lions. The meat was tough and hard to cut through and required a steady hand to get a clean cut.
Vespera had taken a few of her soldiers to exterminate the invasive insects a week ago and brought some back to… try.
No one besides Guinivere wanted to eat it.
Neo trimmed the fat and sliced the meat into smaller, bite-sized portions with little effort. His hands moved as if he was performing a dissection, mostly because the first thought he had when it came to these insects was the remains he had dissected with Quill.
His stepmother had donated most of the insects to the Magic Tower.
He and Quill had played around with the bodies and extracted what they needed before taking them down to the preservation department.
“Here,” Neo handed the plate back to her.
Guinivere blinked, blue sapphire eyes turning to the plate in surprise. Slowly, she took it back without looking at him, as if she was shy about something.
Neo cocked his head.
“Young Master Aurelion, your water…” a servant suddenly said.
Everyone turned and watched as the water slowly spilled all over the floor. Aurelion held the glass at an odd angle, his eyes on Guinivere’s plate rather than the mess he was making.
Father blinked. He signaled for the servants behind him to wipe the floor and refill the glass.
“Aurelion,” he said carefully.
“…”
Aurelion was shaken from his frozen state and muttered a short apology.
He pretended nothing happened and glared at his own plate like a debt collector unsatisfied by the amount of money their clients paid back.
Neo wondered if the food was not to his liking.
Besides their mother and sister, no one else wanted to eat the insects.
The normal meals were simply fowl and fish with a side of soup and vegetables. There were even going to be honeycakes for dessert.
Aurelion loved honeycakes!
A hint of confusion swept over father’s eyes as Aurelion continued to eat as if nothing happened.
“Leave it alone.”
Beside him, his stepmother spoke.
Father looked at her with intense fervor as she brutally cut another piece of her steak and brought it to her mouth.
The man took a long sip of wine.
Ugh.
Neo kept his line of sight on his food and avoided looking at his parents. This was their equivalent of flirting.
Meanwhile, Aurelion aggressively stabbed a piece of chicken and glared at Guinivere.
The girl smirked victoriously behind her icy composure and pointedly ate a piece of meat her eldest brother had oh-so kindly cut for her.
With two different tensions happening in the room, the servants felt like they were caught between a blizzard and a heatwave.
Young Master Nazareth ate peacefully, seemingly ignoring the two temperatures colliding on the dining table.
The servants in the room remembered a time—not even four months ago—when the evening meals were filled with unsettling tension.
The Young Masters and Young Miss were growing up! The servants couldn’t be more proud.
Neo aggressively ignored everything that was happening in the dining room.
On one side of the table, Aurelion was turning into a glacier big enough to stop global warming and Guinivere kept teasing him with her food for whatever reason.
On the other side, his father and stepmother kept looking into each other’s eyes while they ate.
Family dinners like these have become common in the Odum Manor.
Before, he had seldom participated in mealtime with his parents and siblings. On the rare occasions he did, it was usually to fight Aurelion for their father’s favor or just to mess with Aurelion’s head.
Nazareth used to put a damper on the mood, which further proved to him he wasn’t wanted, so he continued to sit in on those meals when he had bad days so he could spread his misery.
It was an unfortunate cycle of miscommunication.
Perhaps because he wasn’t the product of the fertility ritual, he wasn’t born with the natural ability to fully communicate the way an Odum tended to…
The drama in that life could even rival DownTown Estate.
Oh! But speaking of drama, Neo thought as he repressed his traumas, “Mother, Father.”
“What is it? Do you need more plants?”
His father and stepmother faced him with identical amounts of intensiveness in their non-expressive features.
—
Oh, he called me mother.
Vespera took a sip of wine as the thought came to her.
Meanwhile, Gareth wondered if his eldest son was going to request something of him again. If so, how much would he like and how soon would he be able to get it to him? He was in absolute euphoria when Nazareth came to him requesting access to the Glasshouse.
He loved to provide for his children if only they would just ask. His love and money were free to give, but no one in this household asked him for anything!
His wife only liked to cuddle when she wasn’t training, but he wanted to take her on a date since they haven’t been out for ages.
Unfortunately, they’ve been busy this year and haven’t had the chance to catch a break.
But wait.
He was getting ahead of himself. There was no guarantee his son would ask him for anything—
“I just wanted to know if the two of you would like to come to my class production of the Tragedy of Ohmlet—”
Gareth’s grip on his wine glass loosen.
“Your Grace, the wine…!”
It tipped over at an odd angle. Wine dribbled out in a slow waterfall and spilled all over the floor.
—
“…”
As Aurelion waved some servants over to clean the mess and refill their father’s glass, Neo wordlessly brought out four envelopes from his pocket, “The show is not good, but Professor Rickman handed out tickets—”
“We will come,” his stepmother cut him off, her voice as swift as a knife.
She held out her hand for the tickets. Neo gave them to her.
Upon inspecting the invitations, she frowned with a hint of dissatisfaction.
“Request for more. We will bring the entire staff.”
“Yes,” Father agreed, “Does the show have enough funding? The production should be lacking due to money. Tobias, get my checkbook. We will make several donations to the Academy immediately.”
Forget about the fact that his father was about to donate a hefty amount of money to the school, Neo wanted to tell him that the production was “lacking” because he and Finneas were cast as the main leads!
And what was this about the entire serving staff?!
If everyone in the manor came, there wouldn’t be enough room for other families to sit!
“Brother, who are you playing?” Guinivere asked, curiously.
Aurelion looked at her with a raised brow, “Obviously the main lead. Have you not seen Brother’s rehearsals?”
“Have you? For someone who knew Brother was playing the lead, I didn’t see you helping him practice his lines.”
“That’s because Brother is capable of doing something as simple as memorizing his lines.”
While that was going on, his father and stepmother started to cancel all their appointments at record speed.
“… Last day before the summer holidays. It will be busy, but I think if we handle the morning schedules and assign others to do the afternoon and evening assignments, then we will have the day off.”
“I will send the soldiers to the mountains for a survival exercise so they won’t bother us,” his stepmother said calmly.
“Eubulous can take care of the office while I’m away, but the others might not agree.”
“If they don’t say yes, we can use other methods of persuasion.”
“Talk first, violence later. The medical expenses take time to process,” his father warned.
Neo felt like he was dreaming.
Or high.
“Dessert, Young Master?” Rainier stepped behind his chair and offered.
“Yes.”
Rainier placed a honeycake in front of him and a cup of tea.
Neo took a sip and watched the chaos unfold around him.
His father and stepmother’s personal servants were now running around trying to keep up with their demands. Appointments were being rescheduled or dropped, and plans were remade. His parents were clearing their schedule for his performance.
“This never happened,” he admitted, his voice pitched low.
He didn’t invite his family to watch his performance back then. He worked as a backstage technician, so it was pointless to invite anyone, anyway.
“Are you talking about… before?” Rainier asked.
Neo nodded, uncertain of what expression to make, “I am pleased.”
The table grew livelier with each second.
“You are… happy?”
The question surprised Neo.
Was he happy?
“I…” he paused.
Rainier lifted his blindfold slightly. Neo saw his eyes peeking out.
The depth of his gaze was filled with interest. There was even a hint of expectation.
Neo wasn’t one to disappoint, but if he was completely honest…
“I don’t know.”
He took a bite of cake.
—
“Rainier.”
It was past midnight when Aurelion intercepted the man in the halls of the West Wing.
Rainier was holding a candle. The hall was dark and he was the only source of light. Aurelion hadn’t bothered to bring a light pearl.
“Young Master Aurelion,” the servant greeted him with his trademark smile.
He had taken off his blindfold for the night. The black marks on his skin were visible for all to see.
Aurelion crossed his arms, “You have not reported on my brother in weeks. Are you going back on the agreement?”
“…”
Rainier didn’t respond.
Aurelion took his silence as an answer. He pinched the bridge of his nose and released a sound of disapproval.
“Brother—no, Nazareth,” he inwardly cursed.
He had grown used to calling Nazareth, brother.
Aurelion continued, “He’s convinced you to change sides.”
The words felt like ash on his tongue. He was re-acknowledging the rivalry between him and Nazareth, willing it back into the narrative. ‘Sides’ hadn’t been on his mind in months, yet he still wanted to confirm one more thing before he could let it all go.
Rainier pursed his lips with a hint of dissatisfaction in his eyes, “I am reinstating my loyalty to Young Master Nazareth,” he stated. “… That was my oath upon becoming his personal servant.”
Aurelion picked at his thumb with his index finger. “Even after he branded your face?”
Rainier’s gaze fell on the piece of black fabric in his pocket. A bitter smile appeared on his lips.
“I will never forget what was done to me. Just as you, Young Master Aurelion, would never forget the attempts on your life—”
“Rainier!”
A long stretch of silence followed.
“I don’t forgive him,” Rainier admitted, after the atmosphere cooled, “But you’ve seen the changes.”
Aurelion clenched his fist in response.
He knew.
He understood what the servant was talking about.
Ever since the spring holiday, Nazareth had changed.
And that was good.
Aurelion had never known what it was like to have a big brother.
It was wonderful.
Nazareth was everything he had wished for from the beginning.
His big brother loathed him.
And the wish was finally coming true.
Before, it was better to imagine Nazareth as a distant relative who hated him, than the brother by blood who might have loved him with time.
But then Nazareth cut his hair.
And it was suddenly so easy to forget this was the same person who continuously tried to kill him.
“…”
It was so hard to live every day, afraid it was all a dream, and the older brother in front of him was nothing but an illusion.
They never talk about the whys.
During tea or coffee breaks, or in the library or the Glasshouse. They never talk about the past.
It was like both of them were trying to forget that brewing hatred between them.
Aurelion didn’t let himself hope.
He didn’t want to think Nazareth was atoning.
Why did his older brother hate him to the point of trying to kill him?
Why didn’t his older brother want to be family?
Why was Aurelion despised for simply wanting his older brother to love him?
Why, why, why…
“You are dismissed for the night,” Aurelion said, “Don’t bother with your reports anymore. You can serve my brother with a clear conscience.”
The servant appeared almost relieved. There was a bit of surprise mixed in as well, but he appeared mostly satisfied with his orders. He bowed deeply. “Of course, Young Master Aurelion.”
Rainier left, taking with him the candle he was holding.
Aurelion stood in the dark hallway by himself.
It’s said your deepest fears come to haunt you in the dark.
And for Aurelion, his own brother terrified him.
He had only known dredges of that fear since the day his father brought home a demon wearing his big brother’s skin. Those red vermillion eyes haunted the West Wing. They watched Aurelion—stared at him as if he was nothing but a helpless bird.
But then the hair left the demon’s eyes—cut and pulled back like a curse removed. Suddenly, his older brother appeared.
No longer was he a raging storm of fire and madness.
Aurelion wanted the bask in the warm flame created by his older brother.
He was foolish to trust so easily, but the inner child he long buried cried out in triumph.
Alas, alas, alas…
The agreement between him and Rainier had broken.
Aurelion didn’t have to guard against his brother anymore.
Could he trust Nazareth this time around? Could he trust his brother wouldn’t try and kill him anymore?
Aurelion bit his lips too hard and tasted iron in his mouth. The hallway was growing unusually cold despite it being a warm night.
There was a quiver of breath.
Then an ugly noise.
A sniffle.
Tears welled up behind his eyes and fell, staining his cheeks as they trickled down one by one, clinging to his chin and dropping to the floor.
Aurelion slid down against a wall and tucked his legs under his chin.
He buried his face into his knees and let out a wretched sob.
Under the cover of darkness, Aurelion cried for the first time in years.
—
Step 37. Have an existential crisis, a nice family dinner, and… well, your brother’s having an emotional breakdown and it may or may not be your fault. Do you want to fix it?
Thank you for the chapter ❤️❤️❤️! And poor Aurelion!
AURELION NOOOOO
ah hahah the title is so cute! its great that the topic of his birth was mentioned again! and oh no your brother is crying!
Awww bbbyyyyy nuuuuu
no crying!!! if you cry I cry
Awn, I love this novel, I have so much fun, always, always happy when you post an update.
Also, I’m intrigued, also awwwwwnnn bay lion don’t cry baby, all will be fine.
Poor Guy. I can understand having horrible trust issues. When I finally feel I can trust someone I honestly start crying.
not the DownTown Estate ahahahahaha
Thank you for the chapter!
poor baby aurelion 🙁
Thank you for the chapter!!!
Every single Odum is way too cute. They must be protected at all costs. Thank you for the chapter.
The play will be talked about for years.
❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ I’m excited to see how they’ll react to the play hahahaha
Thank you for the chapter!
Lioneee ಥ_ಥ now, now, cry it out all. Things will het better.
He just wanted a loving older brother, yaa I hope they get a clean closure soon