KTD Chapter 4 (Part 3)

“There were no servants in the annex. I’ve grown quite good at looking after myself. I told the servants I didn’t need their help,” Berner said as he followed Jaynie into the room. The servants bowed their heads so low it seemed as if they would touch the floor.

Jaynie didn’t bother to ask if that was true. He knew it was a lie.

However, there was something significant in what Berner said:

There were no servants in the annex.

Since when?

There was no need to deliberate. It had to be after the Grand Princess died.

Only one person had the authority to dismiss servants from the ducal estate—the Duke, the master of the castle.

Jaynie felt a surge of his father’s malice.

Until now, he had thought his father treated Berner with the same indifference he had shown Jaynie. But it seemed that wasn’t the case. His father had subjected a child to persistent, petty cruelty.

Why had his father been at the annex on the day Berner awakened his magic?

It was something Jaynie had always wondered.

Now, he felt he knew—whatever the reason, it couldn’t have been good.

His father had always been uncharacteristically emotional about anything related to the Grand Princess. It had always been a side of him Jaynie found deeply unpleasant.

Did Father participate in the abuse directly? Did he lay a hand on Berner himself?

Perhaps that was why Berner hadn’t been able to endure it.

When his father had finally turned away from Jaynie, he had abandoned all expectations of him.

He had thought there was nothing left in his heart for his father. But it seemed he had been wrong. Now, there was something new—contempt.

Regardless of how much Jaynie disliked Berner, he was still just a child.

When the Grand Princess died, Berner had been only thirteen….

“Then it’s an even bigger issue. Father isn’t here anymore, and I am now the master of this estate. If you gave an order, the servants should have gone to Hansen to confirm if they should obey it. Yet, I heard nothing from Hansen. What kind of master would keep servants who arbitrarily disobey their orders?”

“If they followed my requests, will they be expelled from the estate?” Berner asked, his voice laced with hesitation and confusion.

Curious about Berner’s reaction, Jaynie answered with deliberate affirmation.

“Yes.”

“I never gave any orders, and the servants didn’t mistreat me. They simply didn’t want to work for me because they respect and revere you, Lord Jaynie.”

Jaynie remembered hearing this kind of rhetoric before. It was the same tone Berner had used when he rode in the carriage with him to the Imperial Palace, frustrated that Leandro, now a hero, hadn’t visited Jaynie. Berner had told him then, ‘Leandro isn’t too busy to come see you.’

Back then, Berner, still young, wasn’t skilled at indirect speech like the mages of the Magic Tower were.

‘Is this gentle-hearted child truly the same Berner?’

The mage Berner had risen to fame endlessly after joining the Magic Tower. He became both renowned and infamous, an unusual combination.

The mages of the Magic Tower typically cut ties with the secular world to focus solely on their research. They only engaged with the outside world when promised immense research funding, and even then, only if they deemed it worth their time. Their authority was absolute.

These were mages capable of moving mountains and parting seas—the kind found in children’s tales.

Berner, having joined the Magic Tower at a young age, had all the makings of fame. But what truly made him infamous was his eccentricity.

Unlike his peers, he often left the Magic Tower.

He involved himself in worldly affairs, accepted people’s requests, demanded outrageous rewards, and exacted revenge on those who refused to pay.

He had saved countless lives by stopping floods and landslides but had also buried entire mansions and turned dozens of people into insects.

The reputation of the eccentric mage that spread across the Empire was undoubtedly built by Berner. In a short amount of time, he had made himself impossible for Jaynie to ignore.

“You’re saying they disobeyed their orders out of respect for me?”

“They only disliked me because they cherish and love you, Lord Jaynie.”

“Lord Berner…”

The servants groaned in despair.

The capital mansion’s servants weren’t inherently bad people. They had been devoted caretakers of the young master when he first arrived in the capital.

Jaynie realized, to his bewilderment, that they were now impressed by Berner’s selflessness.

The Berner standing before him, a soft-hearted child who could inspire even the most stubborn servants, was almost unrecognizable.

‘Malice breeds malice.’

Wasn’t it the years of harsh abuse in the annex that had awakened Berner as an arrogant and violent mage?

“Their duty was to serve you. Disobedient servants must be punished. If you overlook their insubordination now, they will laugh at their master in the future. Because you allowed them to think it was acceptable to disobey the person they serve.”

“I’m sorry, young master…”

Berner’s face went pale, though Jaynie hadn’t scolded him. His extreme reaction—accompanied by the irritating habit of calling him “young master”—made Jaynie’s brow crease.

In the softest tone he could muster, Jaynie said, “Call me by my name. I’m not your master, and I’m explaining that you have the authority to command them.”

Berner shrank back at first, then slowly raised his head as if lifting something heavy.

“…Lord Jaynie?”

“Yes.”

The color returned to Berner’s pale cheeks. Jaynie wasn’t angry with him.

Berner blinked, his clever eyes searching Jaynie’s face. It occurred to Jaynie that he was teaching Berner something, as he had always done. His promise to educate Berner had been sincere.

“I’m sorry, Lord Jaynie. What should I do?”

Jaynie studied the relieved child before him, his emotions tangled.

“Punish them.”

“…I haven’t eaten for three meals between yesterday and today. How about I impose the same punishment on them?”

Berner hesitated before asking his question.

Jaynie had learned the servants hadn’t even bothered to provide Berner with meals. He couldn’t even muster a sigh. Hansen, meanwhile, was glaring daggers at the servants.

“Hansen.”

“Yes, young master. I’ll carry out the punishment as Lord Berner suggested.”

Hansen bowed to both Jaynie and Berner in turn. Berner nodded back awkwardly before speaking cautiously.

“Lord Jaynie? …Are you all right?”

“The servants will surely be grateful for such lenient punishment.”

“Thank you, Lord Berner!”

The servants bowed deeply, their voices trembling with emotion.

Jaynie exchanged a glance with Hansen.

‘Understood, young master.’

Hansen nodded slightly in response.

Berner’s punishment was far too lenient. Hansen would undoubtedly administer something more appropriate.

Once the offending servants had all been escorted out, the corridor grew quiet. Jaynie lingered, lost in thought, instead of heading to his chambers.

Perhaps Berner had awakened his magic because he could no longer endure the Duke’s cruelty.

Jaynie had read enough tales of hardship and adversity leading to the blossoming of talent.

Leandro, too, had become the Empire’s greatest knight after surviving near-death trials.

If this hypothesis were correct, then shouldn’t Jaynie subject Berner to similar hardships? Shouldn’t he push Berner further?

“Lord Jaynie?”

The young Berner called out to him, his cheek still flushed red. Jaynie couldn’t understand why the boy was looking at him with such expectant eyes again.

But Jaynie didn’t want to see that face twisted in disappointment or pain.

He owed Berner a debt.

When he had asked Berner to protect Leandro on his way to the dragon’s lair, Berner had agreed without hesitation.

It had been a transaction, but even so, Jaynie couldn’t shake the feeling of indebtedness. His pride wouldn’t allow him to mistreat someone he owed something to.

Jaynie couldn’t bring himself to hurt Berner.

‘There must be another way.’

Perhaps Jaynie was mistaken. Maybe there was another path.

Or perhaps not. Maybe the hardships Berner had endured were a necessary element of the hero’s journey.

Even so, Jaynie couldn’t send Berner back to the duchy.

He kept thinking, his gaze fixed on Berner.

If Berner didn’t awaken his magic as things stood…

‘Then I’ll find another mage.’

Even if they weren’t as exceptional as Berner, Jaynie needed to start seeking out renowned young mages immediately.

“Lord Jaynie…?”

It was as if Jaynie had pinpointed the root cause of the second problem—the reason the hero party’s mage had failed to awaken his magic.

But the realization didn’t bring any satisfaction. Jaynie had resented Berner for a long time, envying the Grand Princess’s choice to care for him instead of her own son.

Now, he knew what that envied child had endured.

And yet, his mind was calculating—Would it really be okay not to send him back to the duchy?

His heart raced unsteadily. A familiar headache began to creep in.

If Leandro were here by my side now, I wouldn’t feel this anxious.

Even now, after coming this far, Jaynie couldn’t free himself from thoughts of Leandro.

* * *

Berner woke up late and rang the bell. A servant brought a basin of water for him to wash his face and assisted him in changing clothes. The servant assigned to his room was now a stranger, someone new, but they were courteous and never ignored his calls.

When Berner went to the tea room overlooking the garden, he found Jaynie already there, sipping tea. The sunlit room was just large enough to comfortably fit about six people. Decorated with flowers and plants, it blended seamlessly with the garden outside.

Jaynie was the only lifeless element in the room. Yet, he was strikingly beautiful.

Berner thought his beauty was the kind that felt fragile, like an old sculpture or a cracked ornament—unstable yet captivating.

With permission, Berner sat across from him. His own portion of tea and pastries was served.

“Have you eaten?” Jaynie asked.

“This is fine,” Berner replied, motioning to the tea and pastries.

Ignoring him, Jaynie summoned the butler. Upon receiving instructions, the servants brought out a serving cart filled with breakfast dishes. They first placed items that required no heating on the table, while dishes that needed warming would follow shortly.

Berner understood how the estate operated. The kitchen must already be bustling to fulfill Jaynie’s command without delay.

“This is more than enough,” Berner said.

“You need to grow taller.”

“I’m already almost as tall as you, Lord Jaynie.”

“Who told you to compare yourself? And you will grow taller.”

The two ate in silence after that.

Jaynie nibbled at a single cookie, more like a bird pecking at food, before abandoning it entirely to focus on his tea. In truth, what he drank wasn’t just tea but something closer to tea diluted with alcohol. Lost in thought, he stared blankly while sipping. When Berner finished his plate, Jaynie noticed and instructed the chef to bring another serving.

“Thank you.”

Berner gave a small smile and bowed his head.

He was a clever child. The tutors who had once taught him claimed he was neither outstanding nor well-behaved, but Berner didn’t believe all of their criticisms. He was perceptive enough to see the truth behind words.

He knew that Jaynie, who seemed to look after him, didn’t truly care about him. Not unlike his mother.

But it didn’t matter.

Even when Berner had believed that Jaynie deeply hated him, he had never left the mansion.

His childhood had been warm and happy. His mother, though she occasionally regarded him with the curiosity one might show a strange creature, gave him the affection he needed.

Berner had always loved her.

Jaynie no longer asked, “What about magic?”

Had he lost interest in Berner’s progress? That didn’t seem to be the case. Jaynie still assigned him tasks, and when Berner completed them, he could visit Jaynie in the study to discuss them.

Jaynie simply no longer pressured him.

Berner wanted to use magic. Yet his will was always so faint that it failed to influence the world’s laws.

Magic was composed of three elements: mana, formulas, and the caster’s will—a force strong enough to reshape the world according to their desires.

Berner, by nature, lacked a strong will. From birth to this day, there had never been anything he desperately wanted.

The future Archmage Berner, who would bend the world’s laws through sheer willpower, would one day emerge.

But his destructive magic would always be fueled by malice. Yet even now, Berner couldn’t muster such malice—not even toward the tutor who had beaten him.

Nothing had yet stirred such a storm within him. At least, not yet.

Meanwhile, Jaynie began searching for new mages.

Berner became the true “Lord Berner” of the capital mansion.

And then, Leandro returned from school.

[To the Butler,
I am writing to inform you of the instructions given by the young master.
Enclosed is the report card.
Sincerely,
Rian.]