Because I didn’t give up (1)
The morning after finalizing the contract with Vlad.
Josef walked to the restaurant, following the Bayezid family rule that he should eat breakfast with his family.
A vertically long dining table, neatly laid out with pure white tablecloth.
However, the things on top were simple enough to be the breakfast of a powerful noble family.
“let’s eat.”
The Bayezid family’s breakfast began with a pre-dinner prayer.
Starting with the head of the family, Peter.
Rutger, the eldest son.
A meal with the second son, Josef, and his mother, Oksana, the count’s second wife.
The whole family was gathered together, but all that could be heard was the clinking of dishes.
“Sacred objects were brought in. “They are full of the priest’s blessing.”
Count Peter broke through the silence that fell at the table and spoke to his eldest son, Rutger.
“Take it with you on this mission.”
“I trust my sword rather than someone else’s blessings. father.”
“I won’t say anything.”
Josef was intimidated by Rutger’s confident remarks as a prosecutor.
Even though Rutger didn’t mean it that way.
“······.”
And there was a woman who looked at Josef, who naturally shrank, with sad eyes.
“Joseph, please finish your breakfast and take your medicine. “It’s good medicine for your ankles.”
“······thank you. father.”
For my brother, a sacred object that can stand against threats.
And for yourself, the medicine you need for your wounds.
“······.”
Josef always tried to be bold, but the inferiority complex that had been deeply embedded for a long time was always strangling his soul.
A father who tries to be considerate of his children.
A mother looking at her shrinking son.
And the sons, who cannot help but be constantly compared.
Only the cold silence obscured their complicated feelings.
※※※※
After a long and quiet breakfast.
Josef hurriedly walked towards his office.
On the way, my mother told me to go get a cup of tea, but her embrace was so warm and comfortable that once I entered, I couldn’t easily escape.
Josef was a man who could not be stopped.
Because I had to run as much as I could.
Morning sunlight seeping into the white marble hallway.
But they didn’t light up every corner of the hallway.
“······.”
Every time he passed through a dark place where sunlight did not shine, Josef’s expression became hard without realizing it.
The poison boiling from within was naturally hardening his face.
But when I got to the front of the office.
“huh?”
Josef had a puzzled expression instead of a stiff expression.
“You idiot!”
Because there was someone shouting from inside.
“what?”
The moment Josef tilted his head and turned the doorknob in his office.
Inside the office, he could see people waiting for him under the bright morning sunlight.
“Are you here? “Mr. Josef.”
“Ugh… “Are you here?”
There, there was Vlad, whose head was being held by Xayar for a long time, and Goth, cowering like a turtle as he watched the bloody scene.
“Why am I trapped again?”
As soon as Josef saw them, he felt the strange emotions boiling inside him subside.
Serenity.
And confidence.
The beings who gave them were here.
“ha······.”
Zayar let out a long sigh, as if he was having trouble getting the words out, and pointed to a box on Josef’s desk.
“This box… Rutger sent me.”
“Brother?”
Rutger and Josef had the same father but were born to different mothers.
Their personalities were completely opposite, and they were both aiming to become the next Count Bayezid, so even though they were of the same blood, their relationship was not close enough to send and receive gifts.
Moreover, he didn’t show any particular reaction during breakfast.
‘What’s going on?’
As Josef tilted his head and read Rutger’s letter on the box, Vlad’s head began to lower accordingly.
“······okay.”
Josef, who had finally figured out the situation, carefully saved the letter from Rutger.
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“It’s yours. “Make sure you eat a lot.”
“······sorry.”
“Can it take ten minutes?”
What Rutger sent was a box full of peanuts.
When Josef asked Zayar, his loyal knight nodded.
“I’ll take a spin and come back.”
Josef goes back the way he came and leaves the office.
“Is there anyone who does exactly what they are told to do?”
As the door began to close, someone’s roar began to come from there.
“They told me not to eat anything, so I just didn’t.”
“Is that what I said!”
“I did what I was told!”
“Since when did you listen to me so well!”
Josef quietly walked out while listening to the sound coming from behind him.
“Is it time for flowers to bloom now?”
Although he was standing in the darkness where the sunlight could not illuminate, Josef was able to smile resolutely, unlike before.
※※※※
“You are the stable keeper from today. “He will handle the horses of my knights and will be the servant of my mother, Countess Oksana.”
“thank you! Josef!”
Goth’s wish came true.
He was hired as a servant to Count Bayezid’s family and received a considerable amount of gold coins.
“I will do my best!”
“Go out and have a look.”
Gott, who had a stable, comfortable, and well-paid job, left his office with a smile on his face.
Probably because Josef had hired him directly, there wouldn’t have been anyone bothering him.
However, Goth, who was still hungry, looked at the blonde boy with sharp eyes.
‘I’m not going to end up here.’
Although he was currently crying over the ridiculous mistake that happened yesterday, Vlad was definitely a guy who would fly higher.
Goat quietly left the office, promising to do so.
“Vlad you…”
Josef turned his head and looked at Vlad.
There stood Xayar, who was still fussing, and Vlad, whose cheeks were bulging as if he had just eaten a handful of peanuts.
Perhaps the bulging cheek on one side looked like it had been hit by Zayar.
“From now on, Vlad, you officially become Xayar’s squire. In the meantime, out of consideration for you, I turned a blind eye to your behavior that went against etiquette, but I can’t do that from now on. Do you understand?”
“yes.”
“I just use my mouth and speak well. “What a bastard.”
“······yes.”
“······Xayar will tell you the details of life in the mansion. “Go out.”
As soon as Vlad left the office, Josef confessed his honest feelings to his faithful knight.
“It won’t be easy to deal with either. Unpredictability in everything.”
“Moreover, perhaps because I have lived a rough life, I am full of rebelliousness.”
“Yes, I guess so.”
Josef said as he looked at the door to the office that Vlad had just pushed open.
“But you have to do it. “If I don’t have the track record of being my own knight that I have raised, I will never be recognized by my father.”
“······All right.”
A knight of his own, raised by Josef.
Although there was a great knight named Zayar next to Josef, he was given to him by his mother, Countess Oksana.
Knight Zayar.
An article that came with the huge dowry that Oksana brought with her when she got married.
A knight raised by Countess Oksana’s parents, the Oscar family, he was naturally assigned to Josef upon his birth.
Due to these circumstances, Zayar was a knight of the Bayezid family in terms of affiliation, but he was a knight loyal only to Josef and Oksana, so strictly speaking, Zayar could not be considered a pure knight of the Bayezid family.
“Please take care of me.”
That’s why Josef is needed.
A knight of the Bayezid family that he created himself, not one given to him by his mother.
“I will do my best.”
Xayar stepped out of the office, pledging to succeed in front of his lord.
“······.”
When I went out of the office, there was a blond boy waiting hesitantly.
“Tsk.”
He was a boy that required a lot of work in one way or another, and he was also a boy that he had to raise from now on.
“Follow me.”
“yes.”
Josef chose this guy and he just follows his master’s decision.
Following the lord’s orders.
That is chivalry.
“This is a restaurant. “The knights eat in a separate restaurant, and the servants eat in the same restaurant as the servants.”
“yes.”
Although it was true that he was a difficult guy to deal with, Jayar knew well that he would bring brilliant results.
“This is a training ground. It’s a place to train your body rather than your sword. “Ask the guys next to you how to use the equipment.”
Therefore, Zayar personally took Vlad around and showed him around the facilities of the Bayezid family.
Although it was handled roughly, the care put into it was incomparable to what other knights put into their squire.
“This is the room you will use from now on. “It’s a single room.”
“oh.”
And from his reaction just now, Zayar was confident that Vlad would be able to do well even in the unfamiliar environment of the Bayezid family.
“Is it good?”
“okay?”
It was a small room that could barely fit a bed, but Vlad was smiling and appreciative of even that.
“It’s not even a dirt floor, it even has a bed. “This is a palace.”
“Because of the shocking incident earlier, I forgot for a moment that you were from the back alley.”
Although they were children of well-bred families, the boys had to start from the bottom from the moment they came here as servants.
Even though they had healthy bodies, there were many who were unable to adapt to the suddenly changed environment or treatment.
However, for Vlad, who had lived like a weed, this environment was like heaven.
‘hmm.’
There will be no problem adapting.
If only it prevented me from making mistakes.
“Follow me.”
Vlad was following behind Xayar, trying his best to familiarize himself with the atmosphere of the place.
Although Rutger’s momentum forced him to commit a foolish act yesterday, for someone from the back alleys like Vlad, quick thinking was directly related to survival.
‘hmm?’
Through Vlad’s eyes, he saw someone moving with the maids.
It was a noble lady with neatly styled green hair.
“This is Oksana. You are Joseph’s mother. “Be polite as you learned earlier.”
“yes.”
This situation was the most embarrassing for Vlad, as he lived in a back alley where people would swear at each other every time they saw each other.
Be polite.
Treat nobility.
Bow your head.
These were things that not everyone was familiar with.
However, from now on, you will have to adapt yourself to the rules of this place.
Since this was a place he would have to rely on for seven years anyway, Vlad thought it would be best to adapt as quickly as possible.
“······.”
Although he learned it in just one day, Vlad remembers it as best as he can and bows his head politely.
However, Oksana’s procession, which I thought was just passing by, was gradually approaching Zayar and Vlad.
Vlad swallowed his saliva without realizing it.
“Zayar. My faithful knight. Good morning.”
“Are you at peace?”
When Xayar raised his head and said hello, Vlad, who had been watching, also quickly raised his head.
“Is it this kid?”
“That’s right. “This is the guy that Joseph brought here himself.”
“okay.”
Rough men, prostitutes who sell laughter, and con artists who only look for loopholes.
For Vlad, who had only ever dealt with such people, Oksana, a noblewoman, was a type of person he had never experienced before.
“Thank you. I heard it from Josef. “You saved my child from danger, right?”
“It was just something I had to do.”
Perhaps, if Vlad had turned his head just a little bit, he would have seen Xayar looking at him anxiously.
“I guess I should give you a reward. “You have done something greater than you thought.”
“Thank you…”
Vlad was about to bow his head and say thank you, but he froze when he saw Oksana suddenly approaching him and stroking his head.
“That’s a nice color. “It goes well with blue eyes.”
“······.”
Vlad wanted to say something, but he just rolled his eyes and remained rigid.
Oksana had a scent.
It was a nostalgic scent.
“You have broad shoulders compared to how thin you are. “It would be nice to see it fleshed out a bit.”
In the meantime, Vlad has been living next to prostitutes.
He was immune to women and had the skills to deal with them.
but now.
For now, he was just looking down, unable to utter a single word, like a mute who had been fed up with honey.
The look in Oksana’s eyes as she looked at Vlad was something that no other woman had ever seen before.
“I’ll make you a set of clothes soon. “I have good eyesight, so it will be a good fit.”
“thank you.”
She was now looking at Vlad with motherly eyes.
The hedgehog-like boy was wandering around, not knowing what to do, in those eyes that he had seen so long ago that he couldn’t even remember.
This was the first time in my life that I had to avoid raising thorns.
“take care. “Lord Xayar.”
“yes. Oksana.”
So I just nodded and said thank you.
Vlad, who had been frozen for a while after she left, made eye contact with Xayar, who was just as nervous as he was.
“······Did I do well?”
“······That’s enough.”
Feeling an awkward feeling rising from deep in his chest, the boy turned his gaze here and there and scratched the back of his head.
