Chapter 161 Back at the estate. (1/2)

Two horses were pulling a carriage through a nicely paved road made of stone It was assembled with many smaller flattened stones which caused it to rock around more than it should The horses' hooves e ave out a yawn before looking out into the distance There he saw a large villa that clearly belonged to a noble family The trees that were at the side of the road were so thick that they made this road look like a tunnel made from leaves

It was clear that these trees were tended to by a professional hand as the tunnel of leaves was quite circular in shape The h the thick branches and lit up the path that ended at a large gate

“Halt!”

The e pulled on the horse reins to ate The coluates were connected to had a certain characteristic knightley crest etched into theht with a sword and shi+eld on a horse that was standing up on its hind legs

“Good ood look at the carriage he realized that it was one of their own A similar crest adorned the side which indicated that it was part of the sah to ride in it With a wave of his hand, he called out to the people behind the gate

“Open the gates”

Soon he returned to his post while the large gate started being opened from the inside by some servants There was a certain characteristic sound of oldwhich caused the person in the carriage to sign out

“The gate needs to be oiled”

It was a younginside of the carriage by hih the entrance to the estate he decided to move the blinds to the side to take a look

“Not e entered through the gates he could see soht his ear as it made him recall a certain astray member of his family that he had recently bureed he had not disclosed their sether unless there was soe Finally, he heard the horses stopping as he finally arrived at his destination

He looked to the wooden door at the side and hesitated slightly Soon though he reached out with his hand to open it and stepped outside The first thing he saas a fa his way

“What are you waiting for, why didn’t anyone open the carriage forhis hile holding quite the expensive-looking gown The dress was adorned with various jewels and it was clearly not ht acadeh, even more for people like him that were at the bottom of the totem pole Even in this estate, the servants didn’t take hined to his two older brothers, Reyner and Edwin

The two had long since finished their squire training and beco, he knew that they wouldn’t be here Instead, they were probably out in the kingdo to earn merits to impress their father

One of them would be the next head of the Arden estate From what Robert knew both of them wanted the spot and their father had not yet decided on who it would be It also didn’t see anytime soon

His nahout the whole e at his ic and recalled the days of hazing at the acadeh-born children despised the fact that his father had been able to rise to fame on the merit of his skills alone He was a rare breed of person that could not be denied and caught the eye of the higher echelons of the aristocrats The rest was history as histhe other nobles

Only after spending tiht candidates did Robert realize howto show for theained prestige by working hard Anyti match to him or any other lesser noble there would be consequences

So they could latch on to Becoher-born noble as their folloas a ticket out for theht captain at those higher noble estates, they would perfor up on lesser noble sons like Robert here in hopes of beating some sense into him

Yet Robert was quite stubborn and prideful as well Even when they continued to come at him, he didn’t falter He could only s those days that he spent chasing his younger brother and tried to beat some sense into him just like these nobles tried

Those tiainst Roland by his own mother He didn’t want to adh-born nobles that wanted to beat the pecking order into hione did he realize that he had beenas he found his lost brother Roland at the strangest of places The rage he felt when he realized that he was doing better than expected with no intention of ever co back

“It’s fine e into ”

“Oh, ood look at you”

Francine Arden placed her well-ood look at hihtly taller than Roland Even then both of the that their father was

The woest but with a bit of makeup and some potions, she would be able to pass for a lady in her late twenties Her hair was braided on the sides and coiled in a way over the ears that it formed ‘horns’ on either side of her head

Robert didn’t want to comment on this hairstyle as he had always preferred the si hair to be superior His mother on the other hand liked to follow the noble trends and was an avid visitor to the aristocratic parties

He knew that his mother had somewhat of an inferiority complex to his father’s other wife, Tabitha While she did everything in her ht to expand her influence in the noble circles he knew that the high nobles would never really accept her as she was just a daughter of a wealthy ht his way into nobility

“I’o inside”

Robert felt a bit unco at his face intently He did not resist as it had been a while since he and his ether

While there was no one else to greet hi h she was overprotective to a fault he knew that she just did everything out of love

“No need to be shy with your mother, come, my son, tell your mother all about your life in the academy, to think that hts in the academy!”

Robert half-smiled about that notion as there was a certain reason that he had been pushed to the top of his class Lucille De Vere was the real reason that he was able to ascend through the ranks while previously he was being suppressed by the high-born youths

Lucille’s father found out about the little predicaht that was involved with this predicaht responsible for the examination pushed the information down, the De Vere count wasn’t someone that could be fooled easily

Out of fear of this issue ever coe, Robert was given a deal that he couldn’t refuse For his heroic deeds, he was raised up in the rankings to reflect h he somewhat knew that he deserved his spot in the first place, he was only receiving it due to his younger brother's involve there he knew that Lucille would be dead along with hiht Academy took the adventurer that ith them seriously To them, he was just some commoner that did what he was paid for No one would take his word above a noble's so even if he tried to release the truth into the open he would only get thrown into prison for offending someone from the noble cast