You Have to Repay Your Savior

He just stopped by to tell them something he couldn’t say at the dinner hall earlier.

Little did he know he would hear such a shocking story at the entrance.

It was unthinkable for little Jerald.

‘You shouldn’t have had me?’

He couldn’t remember how he got back to the prince’s palace after that. Jerald, who came back to his room, was crouched on his bed with a shocked expression.

‘Didn’t mother and father give birth to me because they wanted me?’

It was inevitable for a child who heard words that negated his existence from his mother to be heartbroken. Jerald covered himself in a blanket that day and burst into tears.

Jerald believed his mother loved him, though she occasionally uttered harsh words to him. But he was still a child. Even if she seemed to love his brother more than him, he believed she would love him too. But, but…

‘They should have not given birth to me.’

The last word he heard came as a huge shock to young Jerald. And at dawn, Jerald stopped crying and came to this conclusion.

‘Let’s do what my mother wants.’

All Anisha was worried about was that he dared to desire the position of his brother.

‘I’m sure my mother will continue to love me if I don’t let her worry about me like that.’

There is nothing more terrifying for a child than losing a mother’s love.

To avoid being abandoned by his mother, Jerald obsessively maintained his place under Arthur from then onward.

Just like his mother had wanted. To show that he wasn’t interested in his brother’s position, he intentionally got a few questions wrong on the test, and he pretended to neglect his studies.

He made everything look inferior to his brother. As his mother would have wished.

“You seem to have changed recently.”

Arthur even brought it up.

“Me?”

“Yeah. It feels like you’re trying to distance yourself from me more than before. I don’t think you study as hard as usual.”

Jerald was startled, but tried to pretend.

“It must be your imagination. I haven’t changed.”

Jerald was constantly honing his heart not to hurt Arthur, who knew nothing, not to hate him, who monopolized his mother’s unconditional love without any effort. It was such a desperate effort for a child.

And what was more tragic was the fact that no one recognized his struggle. The pitiful efforts of a child who did not want to be abandoned were his own.

“I love you, Arthur.”

“Mom, what about me?”

“…Of course I love you, too.”

Anisha whispered to Jerald in a friendly voice.

“I love you a lot. Jerald, my son.”

But most tragic of all, Jerald was no longer able to accept his mother’s love.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

As far as the results were concerned, Jerald’s efforts had been quite brilliant.

Only then could Anisha be relieved as Jerald’s grades gradually fell from Arthur’s, and Jerald’s desire for Arthur’s toys was reduced. She finally fell in love with her two sons fairly.

And Jerald spent every day satisfied with this situation. He thought it wouldn’t be bad to be like this.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Time flew by and summer came.

Every summer, the Limburg royal family spent time in the summer palace of Itidian to escape the heat, but this summer was not as hot as expected. Emperor Ferdinand decided to take a few days off at the nearby Garnes Chalet instead of going to Itidian.

“It’s finally tomorrow!”

Arthur asked Jerald in an excited voice.

“Aren’t you looking forward to it, Jerald? I love Garnes so much!”

“I don’t like Garnes.”

“Why?”

“There are a lot of wild animals.”

“Jerald, you have too many useless concerns. Would they leave wild animals there where the imperial family is staying for leisure?”

“But there’s nothing wrong with being careful.”

“Ugh, don’t worry. If it ever gets dangerous, I’ll swing my sword to protect you.”

With that, Arthur suddenly picked up a toy sword and swung it at Jerald.

“Yah! Yap!”

“Agh, Brother! Stop it!”

“Don’t like it? I’ll keep going! Yah!”

“Oh, it’s my turn for a counterattack!”

“Ah!”

Suddenly, the brothers’ swordplay ensued, and the door opened with Empress Anisha appearing. Anisha, who came to her eldest son’s room without much thought, was astonished to see the unexpected sight unfolding in front of her.

“Oh, my God, Arthur!”

Anisha shrieked aloud in alarm, her face paling.

“Stop it, boys. Stop!”

Upon hearing their mother’s scream, the two immediately stopped and looked at Anisha with a puzzled look on their faces. And Anisha ran to Arthur, her face still blue, and asked.

“Arthur, are you all right?”

“What? Yes…”

“Jerald.”

Anisha called out to Jerald with a very frightening look.

“What on earth are you doing!”

“Huh? Well, that is…”

“Mom, we were just playing with our toy swords.”

Arthur quickly defended Jerald, fearing he might get scolded, but at the moment, Anisha heard nothing.

“No matter how much you play, you can’t ever point a sword at your brother!”

“Mom, to be precise, I was the one who pointed the sword first.”

“Quiet, Arthur! Regardless of the circumstances, a younger brother should never dare to point a sword at his older brother!”

Anisha criticized Jerald without listening to Arthur properly.

“Apologize to your brother at once, Jerald.”

“…”

“Now!”

Jerald didn’t want to apologize. It wasn’t because he was mad at his brother or thought he was wrong. It was just a game. Even in such a situation, the fact that his mother was so nervous about him potentially taking his brother’s place disgusted Jerald.

Jerald remained silent, and the more he did, the crazier Anisha seemed.

“Jerald, can’t you apologize immediately?”

“Are you that scared?”

“What?”

“Are you so scared that I might take my brother’s position!”

“You, you…”

Anisha’s face, which had been pale, was now turning completely white. She looked as if she’d lose her mind at any moment, as if the thing she feared most had become a reality.

“You… how could you say such a thing…”

“Mother, you are always like that.”

Jerald spoke to Anisha in a voice of resentment.

“Arthur is always first, Arthur has to be better than me.”

“…”

“I didn’t like it, but I understood. Because I knew what you were afraid of. But…!”

“Shut up!”

Without even thinking about listening to Jerald’s words that followed, Anisha simply screamed.

“How dare you utter such impure words.”

“Mother, I…!”

“Enough. I don’t even want to see your face today.”

Looking at Jerald as if he was an insect, Anisha backed away from him. Her attitude stung Jerald like an arrow piercing his heart.

“Mother…”

“Stay in your room till we leave tomorrow.”

After that, Anisha coolly turned and left the room. There was a cold silence in the room where only the two were left, and Arthur looked at Jerald’s face with no idea what to do.

And Jerald, with a deeply wounded face, was speechless in shock.

“I’ll go, Brother.”

“Huh? R, right now?”

“I’m going.”

“Stay here, Jerald. It’s all right.”

“No, I want to go.”

After saying that, Jerald ran out of Arthur’s room. Arthur hurriedly pursued Jerald, but it was not enough to catch up.

Jerald ran all the way to his palace and his room.

“Don’t let anyone in.”

Having issued a stern warning, Jerald slammed the door shut. He slumped down, leaning against the door, staring at the ground silently for a long time.

At some point, tears started to fall from his large eyes, dropping like tiny pebbles.

“Heuk…”

Sometimes, he harbored such hopes. Perhaps his mother didn’t understand her mistakes. So, if he pointed them out like this, his enlightened mother would realize what she had done wrong.

“It was my mistake…”

With a distressed murmur, Jerald buried his face in his knees. Soon his knees began to dampen quickly. After sobbing without making a sound for a long time, exhausted Jerald fell asleep as he lay there.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

The next day, the four family members were divided into two groups in a carriage. The emperor and empress rode in one carriage, and the crown prince and the second prince rode in one carriage.

“…Are you okay?”

Arthur asked carefully a long time after the carriage had departed. Jerald’s face was swollen from a full night of tears and sleep yesterday, but with the efforts of his maids, his face was restored to some extent.

Jerald nodded after a brief silence. Arthur was constantly on pins and needles around Jerald.

“Don’t take Mother’s words yesterday too seriously.”

“Yes.”

Jerald replied in a rather cold voice.

“I’m not going to take it to heart.”

But Arthur realized that Jerald had already suffered a deep emotional wound and felt sorry for him. Pondering what words of comfort to offer, Arthur chose to stay silent and instead changed the subject.

“Jerald, did you know?”

“What?”

“In the Garnes Forest, there is a mythical creature.”

“…Mythical creature?”

“Yeah. They say it appears sometimes when the weather is good.”

“What? That’s nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense! It’s even written in books!”

“Brother, that’s ridiculous. Where in the world is there such a thing?”

“Huh, seems like you don’t know much.”

Arthur was boastful, poking a finger in front of Jerald’s face.

“Just wait and see. I will definitely show you the mythical creature right before your eyes.”

“Wanna bet?”

“That’s a good idea! The loser fulfills the winner’s wish!”

“Okay!”

As if there was no time for the gloom, Jerald quickly restored to his original brightness upon a few conversations with Arthur. Anyway, the two were truly close brothers, and no matter what anyone said, Arthur was the most precious brother to Jerald.

And perhaps that was a tragedy, if you could call it one.