"My younger brother is proceeding with an engagement to Archduke Valdrova?"
The second son, Huren Rosnova, reacted as if he couldn't believe it.
Gray hair with brown eyes.
He was the man in charge of intelligence for the Rosnova Family, and the heir apparent.
He had recently gone on a business trip to the Empire as his father Eremvalt's proxy and was on his way back.
"Yes."
The butler who had reported the matter nodded his head.
"Really?"
"That is correct."
"That doesn't make sense? Didn't that bastard misunderstand something?"
"He seems to be fully aware of what that means."
"Hmph, if even hyung-nim understands it, there's no way that bastard wouldn't understand..."
Huren scratched his chin.
With his own head, he couldn't understand this situation.
'In this situation where he must either die or leave, why did that bastard choose to die?'
Is it a means to appeal to Father that he's a man?
However, since it was decided in the Empire, it wasn't something that could be withdrawn once accepted, not refused.
Ferda was the same.
If he belatedly said 'I'll just leave this house,' he would be considered in violation of Imperial law and his head and body would be separated.
"So what is that bastard doing right now?"
"He is scheduled to depart today, so he is probably in the middle of departure preparations.
"Is that so? Then there's a little time left for us brothers to talk."
The butler made a dumbfounded expression inwardly at those words.
The one who had first despised and ostracized him for being a concubine's child with blue eyes was none other than Huren.
It's a joke for him to speak of brothers.
Huren walked down the corridor as if strolling through a garden, hands behind his back.
Arriving in front of Ferda's room, maids who should be attending were waiting in front of that door.
"Why are you standing outside without attending?"
The maids flinched in surprise and bowed their heads, explaining the situation.
"Th-that is, we said we would attend, but he ordered us to stay outside..."
"Absurd. So you're saying you've been waiting outside?"
"Y-yes..."
"Pathetic things. Does he mean to dress himself? That bastard is a noble too, how can he do that?"
Huren threw a fit of irritation, but inwardly he cheered 'Right on!'
'See! When the day actually comes, he doesn't want to do it!'
Huren cleared his throat and flung the door open.
"Ferda! You bastard, not even preparing properly..."
Huren, who was about to get angry, was struck speechless.
The image of Ferda he had drawn in his mind was lying sprawled on the bed, whining that he didn't want to go.
But what Huren was seeing now was,
'He's dressing himself?'
It was Ferda buttoning up his clothes while looking in the mirror.
"How can you barge in without even knocking, hyung-nim?"
Ferda rather created an opening to point out the rudeness.
"I thought you'd be holed up in bed."
"That's impossible. On an important day like today, how could I dawdle?"
"Then why are you keeping the servants waiting outside?"
"It's just that I can dress myself. I won't be receiving a maid's help anymore anyway."
A calm tone.
His gaze fixed on the mirror, checking his own appearance.
Huren blinked at the sight of such a Ferda.
'Is this bastard really the guy I knew?'
What kind of guy was Ferda?
A parasite wearing a human mask who tried to survive smiling obsequiously.
But now?
He is calm and composed like a dignified middle-aged man.
'For a guy like Ferda...'
For the first time, he felt tension from Ferda's appearance.
To smooth over his own feelings, Huren coughed dryly and changed the subject.
"Ahem, yes. I heard you accepted the engagement with Archduke Valdrova."
"Yes."
"If you only read books, you should know what that engagement means?"
"I know well. Isn't it telling me to get lost and not loiter around the family?"
"What are you saying? Even so, would Rosnova send you off without giving a single penny? We'll help enough for you to stand on your own."
Ferda thought.
Money...
Right, they give money.
How much?
Enough to live for 10 years.
The problem is this 10 years is 10 years by commoner standards.
For Ferda, accustomed to noble life, it was a pittance he could squander in three days.
'Well, I offered even that money entirely to my master.'
I didn't offer it gladly.
Because the only magic masters who would accept a late-bloomer disciple were money-grubbers.
He didn't teach properly, but just being able to access information was significant.
'That old man is probably still chasing money and women.'
Ferda recalled those days and snorted.
'This bastard is laughing?'
No matter how much Huren thought, he believed Ferda misunderstood something.
Otherwise, there's no way he could afford to laugh like that.
"No matter how I look at it, you seem to misunderstand something. Do you know why getting engaged to the Violent Dragon means death?"
"Why wouldn't I know? I know well. The first fiancé was torn to death, wasn't he?"
Valdrova's first fiancé was the Empire's Third Prince. And a figure who was like the current Emperor's uncle.
He was famous for his brilliant mind, outstanding appearance, and good reputation.
He was even mentioned as the next Supreme Ruler, but he himself refused it.
Such a Third Prince was beaten to a pulp beyond recognition, not just quartered.
It happened less than a day after going to the Archduke.
Based on that incident, the world interpreted it thus:
-A human who must become Valdrova's fiancé must possess abilities exceeding the Third Prince.
Since then, Valdrova sought a new fiancé again, but no one applied.
Even the Third Prince was near-perfect, so there's no way anyone had the ability to fill that seat.
Still, fiancé selection had to be done, so they picked one noble each year.
The problem was they all ran away or declared they'd strike themselves from the family registry and left, so it came to nothing.
That gradually distorted into a pretext nobles used when kicking out their children.
"Do you believe you can do what the Third Prince couldn't?"
Can I do it?
"I don't know."
Honestly, I had no confidence.
Even Ferda, who proved his abilities by becoming the youngest 8th Circle Archmage no one had ever reached, couldn't say it with certainty.
But Ferda wasn't someone who moved with such certainty.
"Well, isn't it fine to find out as we go?"
Huren thought Ferda was reckless.
Huren looked at him with a fed-up gaze and threatened.
"I don't care what you do, but don't run away."
"..."
"The moment you run, Rosnova Family will send people to cut your throat. Understood?"
Usually, Ferda would have been terrified on that face.
But Ferda stared at Huren without revealing any emotion.
"Hyung-nim."
Huren was momentarily overwhelmed by those eyes.
"Wh-what?"
"You'd better watch your lower half. Every time you see the first sister-in-law, that lecherous gaze, everyone else knows."
Huren's face turned beet red.
"Wh-what?! Yo-you, what is th...!"
"Even if you want to hit me, please endure. Since I must enter the dragon's maw, this younger brother will be going now."
Ferda patted Huren's shoulder and passed by.
Huren just stared blankly at Ferda, who felt not just mature but leisurely.
"It was an honor to serve you, young master."
The butler seeing him off on his final path shed tears.
Ferda looked at those tears quietly.
'Spouting words not even in his heart.'
If meaning were given to those tears, it would be closer to liberation than sorrow.
For a servant, serving a young master with no ability and no use in a noble family was a humiliating thing.
'Did this bastard mess with my food too?'
I didn't know at the time.
Making the floor slippery so I'd fall, or vomiting while eating - I thought it was because of my weak body.
Could I have imagined servants would do such things?
Normally, it would be enough to burn with hatred and vengeance.
'What meaning does that have now.'
But the current Ferda was nothing but peaceful.
The blazing flames vanished, and only peace settled.
Having already finished revenge once, I decided not to linger there anymore.
So Ferda patted the butler's shoulder and encouraged him.
"Right, you've worked hard. Taking care of a guy like me for so long."
"...Excuse me?"
The butler, who had been acting out crying, was so flustered his tears vanished.
"Please take good care of Rosnova Family without me."
"Ah, yes..."
Ferda turned his feet just like that.
He looked too calm for someone going to die.
When Ferda came out of the house, a servant waiting for him greeted him.
"I am Hans, the coachman who will serve you until you reach your destination, young master."
"Coachman?"
"Yes, that's right."
Ferda tilted his head.
"Am I riding in a wagon?"
"Huh? Ah, yes. A wagon. What else would there be besides a wagon."
"Hmm, I see."
"Is there a problem?"
"No, nothing. I just thought it felt familiar."
"Ah, I see. ...Huh?"
No matter how much he thought, the coachman couldn't understand what he was saying.
"Then we'll depart!"
-Purring!
The sound of horse hooves heard along with the horse's snort.
The wagon started rolling.
'It's really been a long time, this.'
In Ferda's last memory, wagons had disappeared.
No, precisely, the concept of wagon became ambiguous and settled as an item for the middle class.
'Because something called a mana automobile took that empty seat.'
At first, there was backlash because tradition disappeared.
But before long, with control and spatial convenience on a different dimension from wagons, it settled as a noble's item.
'Then sky carriages came out too, and various things increased.'
All of them were items forged under the name of magical engineering.
'It was a story unrelated to me though.'
For Ferda who ran only looking at revenge, it was a field of magic with no particular emotion.
'Magic...'
Ferda reached the 9th Circle no one else achieved and tried using Wish Magic.
But the current he was not a 9th Circle Archmage.
'Weak and only underestimated Ferda.'
Naturally, he was far from magic now.
He awakened to magic as he left the house, but the driving force was only anger and vengeance.
The current Ferda had no boiling anger or knife-like vengeance.
It was natural he hadn't bloomed.
'I don't want to do that anymore either.'
Looking back, the magic Ferda used was like a drug.
At first it feels good, but the threshold rises and it becomes uncontrollable, that kind of drug.
When I was crazy, everything was refreshing and felt good, but now it's a terrible memory I don't want to experience again.
Ferda liked this bitter peace now.
'But that doesn't mean I want to live without using magic either...'
Without magic, there were many inconveniences.
For example, dressing alone.
At 3rd Circle, simple dressing becomes possible by using magic.
At 4th Circle, one can understand the structure of complex formal wear and command magic to dress oneself.
'To have no trouble living alone, I need to reach at least 4th Circle.'
Reciting 4th Circle like a neighbor's dog would make anyone who hears it dumbfounded.
But the immediately felt emotion is indeed blocked.
Since I already reached the 9th Circle realm once, but the path Ferda knew was not it.
What does Ferda without anger and vengeance need to awaken magic?
"M-My Lord...!"
As soon as he questioned himself, the frightened coachman's voice was heard.
That alone told him.
"W-we've arrived!"
The place the wagon stopped was the middle of a forest, and a single signpost stood in front of the open road ahead.
-Beyond this is the Archduke's domain, entry beyond this point is strictly forbidden.
This is as far as the wagon can go.
"Good work."
Ferda got off the wagon, and the coachman unloaded the luggage he brought and waited beside him.
"Then go on back."
"Still, I must wait for the person coming to escort..."
Stubbornness that won't work.
He was definitely ordered to monitor whether I run away.
"Soon a dragon will come here."
"Dr-dragon, you say?"
"Probably not the dragon itself, but a subordinate who inherited the blood, a spawn. But to people like you, it's no different from a dragon."
Cold sweat flowed down the coachman's forehead and his Adam's apple bobbed.
Ferda gestured with his chin toward the horse.
"Even if you endure seeing a dragon, those beasts won't endure. If the horses rampage and you can't return home, won't only you suffer?"
"Aah...!"
"So report that you delivered me safely and go back. If you die, it's all for nothing, right?"
"Ah, I understand."
The coachman didn't insist anymore.
He took down one large bag placed on the back of the wagon.
"Then I'll be going now!! Be healthy, my lord!"
The guy who said he'd protect didn't even look back, turned the wagon and left.
So fast the wagon's rear swayed.
Ferda sat using the hard bag as a chair and waited.
"Archduke's territory..."
After a while, wind suddenly started blowing.
Ferda raised his head and looked at the dark forest.
There stood a girl.
A silver-haired young maid in maid attire.
Don't be fooled by appearances.
She is a Dragon Spawn.
"Are you Ferda Rosnova-nim?"
She asked politely.
"Yeah."
"I will guide you to the castle. This way."