Chapter 9 (1/2)

Chapter 9 – Beco Keith Claes

In the spring when I turned eight, ing h I say so, I was too small to remember the first time

However, until I turned three I was always told to stay by myself quietly in a s of stillness Then one day, a e to bring me to a beautiful mansion

And so, Ihimself my father, as well asat , I could tell that I wasn’t welco the servants’ rumors, I learned that it was because my father had me with a prostitute mother

In the new fa them mom and dad was not allowed It was like that with my brothers as well, I was always told to address the honorifics, I was often punished I also wasn’t allowed to eat with the family, and instead ate alone in my room

My father and stepreat harm was done, but……My stepbrothers would always relentlessly harassme, and one time they locked me for an entire day alone in the barn

Therefore, in order to avoid my stepbrothers asstill, alone in my own room

However, that happened

The weather was very good on that day There were so a nest in the tree that was visible from theof my room With my whole heart, I wanted to see how the cute birds lookedtheir nest from a much closer distance

Walking softly, I left my room and went towards the tree I was found by my brothers that also happened to be outside My brothers surroundedme “that whore’s child” I curled up into a ball like always, and waited for theet bored It happened at that time One of the brothers noticed the bird on the tree “Oi There’s so a nest Let’s knock the rocks at the birds as they said so The nest that the birds had worked so hard to build was about to be destroyed When the rocks were thrown at the in pain and fear

“……Stop!!”

I shouted And then, so big fell from the sky And, before I noticed, the brothers had fallen down prostrated before me Around them, many chunks of dirt the size of fists were scattered about It seemed that what fell from the sky was this clump of earth Rather, there was also quite a few chunks of earth round Apparently, it seemed as if the brothers were injured somehow by all these clumps of earth What on earth is all this I stood stunned

After that, the brothers were carried back to the house by servants that had seen the situation, and the doctor was called The brothers had bruises all over their bodies, and the worst thing was that they had apparently broken a few bones as well

And so, I learned that the pieces of earth that injured theic that I had used

Fro, beca Except when necessary, I was forbidden to leave my room

My brothers would no longer come close to me If they saw me, they would just shout, “it’s a monster!” and run aith fearful expressions It wasn’t only my brothers, my father, steph not that obvious, my brothers always had fear in their eyes I spent every day staying inroom

I spent time like that for several years One day, I was told that yet another man I didn’t know had come to see me

“After hearing about your powerful ic, Duke Claes has decided to adopt you as his son”

And as such, I was once again taken to a new fah I had lived in this mansion for five years, nobody saw me off at all

When co thein, the difference in luxury was so large that itfroly high-class feel

The man who had become my new adoptive stepfather, was the head of this family, a man named Duke Claes

“hello, you’re Keith, right? Welcome to our Claes family”

As Duke Claes greeted me with a wide sreeted like this Duke Claes immediately introduced me to his family

duchess Claes seemed to be somewhat cold and distant

And then, his only daughter, Katarina Claes Since I had been tormented every day by s If at all possible, I don’t want to get involved with my new sister

On the day that I arrived at Katarina’s fa everyone Since I was brought suddenly froh the bed was unfaht

The next , I ate breakfast with Duke Claes and the fa a meal with someone else It was a more delicious meal than any other I had ever had

So in my chest For some reason, Katarina has coht that I didn’t want to get involved with her…… I never thought that she would come to see me

She said “I’ll guide you around the garden,” so I replied “thank you veryafter hearing my courteous reply

“Keith, because we have becos now, it’s fine to just call er brother as well in the previous fas without the proper honorifics

She even begged “and foryou to call me that!” so I replied “I’ll be in your care, nee-san” After that, Katarina laughed so so happily

And then, ent to the garden together Katarina guided arden, and the weather was excellent

After a while of talking to Katarina, I realized soirl named Katarina Claes is a little different frohters

“I’ether!” She invited me, and also explained about her field passionately Because I had spent most oflike fishi+ng ora field, but it didn’t look like my brothers had such hobbies either I think that most other noble children wouldn’t have these kinds of hobbies

That’s what I was thinking while being surprised by Katarina

“Keith, next I’ll take you to an to walk quickly And then, she took arden

“You can get an a view of the scenery if you climb this tree”

She said so while her eyes see Then, she asked me if I had ever climbed a tree I told her that I hadn’t

“Well then, I’ll just teach you First, start off by watching me climb, ok?”

As she said so, Katarina took her shoes off, then rolled up her dress and began cli the tree

I watched while stunned as Katarina cli up at Katarina fro, I could see as under her dress

Either Katarina did notthe tree s tree Katarina stopped cli smile It was at that tiht under Katarina

Katarina fell on me with a loud thud At the time of impact, I lost my consciousness for a bit

A little bit later, when my consciousness returned, I was in Katarina’s arms

“Keith please don’t die~~” As she was crying, she didn’t notice et her attention, until I greatly raised my voice and let her knoas okay

“Keith!? You’re alive, right!?!” and hugged ly I froze up involuntarily It was the first tied me like this

“Oh no, Keith, does it hurt anywhere??”

Katarina anxiously stared at the frozen me This is the first time that I have been worried about like this I was badly eh there’s no place that’s really sore, since she is so worried about me, I have no idea what I should do

Upon seeing my embarrassedtoo injured to move

“Keith, wait a little bit for et some servants to carry you back”

After saying so, Katarina started running towards the mansion while barefoot and with her dress still rolled up

While watching her back grow s rose inbreakfast

That night, there was a big fuss when duchess Claes suddenly de was resolved

After that, since so about ently as well Of course, Duke Claes also treated me very well

Then, s to ht“keep it a secret from mother, okay?” And when I was praised by the swordsmanshi+p teacher, she was happy forpraised instead

Every day was exciting, fun, and happy…… which caused et

I’ic……

One day after finishi+ng swordsmanshi+p practice, I came with Katarina to the field Katarina was very happy that her crops were growing up successfully

When the story of the field changed to the story about ic, she said those fateful words

“I want to be able to olem!”

An earth goleic where a construct ic into it This is the ic that I used It was a coincidence that I was able to use it It beca a clay doll by myself in my room Since I barely had any contact withmeals and be my friend

It was ic I kne to use, but I had ic, but was still unable to control it properly I’ve also hurt my brothers at the previous faic, I should not use ic blindly until I can control it

However, when I saw Katarina staring at me full of expectations, I decided to use just a little bit of ed er