SLO Chapter 6

[Foolish Brother]

(Testa Hugaro Deskustos Side)

My name is Testa Hugaro Deskustos, the first son of the Ducal House of Deskustos.

Every day, I strove to improve myself to become the next Duke.

I was a genius, even if I did say so myself. Even so, I never neglected to put my best effort to improve myself.

Because I hated to lose.

I was born with the rare attribute magic [Iron], and I was aware that I was one or even two steps ahead of my peers in terms of swordsmanship and academics.

I was a genius and I put effort to improve myself.

No one could catch up to me.

No one could be better than me.

Or at least, I didn’t want to entertain the thought that someone could be better than me.

If I did—even if the other person was royalty—my heart would go mad with envy.

That was exactly what happened when my little sister and brother were born; I was filled with envy, almost to a painful degree.

They were so cute from birth and I felt nothing but envy toward them.

Thankfully, my little brother grew up to be a sloth.

He always stuffed himself with a lot of food without a care in the world and ended up becoming ugly and fat; I couldn’t stand the sight of him.

How hideous, how repulsive… he continued to fall lower and lower and never showed any intention to improve himself. Someone like that wasn’t worthy of my interest.

He couldn’t compete with me for the position of the next head of our house.

The last time I saw him, that foolish brother of mine seemed to have lost his mind.

He began studying magic despite already being so old, but what I couldn’t understand was that he also began to use face wash, face moisturizer, and milky lotion like a woman every day. What? Did he want to become beautiful?

He also began to dress himself up in fancy clothes.

I couldn’t understand him and my envy toward him had long gone.

He was just an utter fool that couldn’t compete with me.

I had been filled with so much envy when my brother was born, suspecting that our father would choose him as his heir over me for his loveliness.

But now? There was no way he would choose a deranged person as his heir.

In fact, my father lost all interest in that deranged fool after he started doing those strange things.

“Pay him no mind.”

So he said at dinner one day.

But in place of my father, my sister Iris took an interest in him.

She was the sole solace in my heart and, unlike my foolish brother, I dearly loved—no, should I say, lust after her?

How many times had I wished we weren’t related by blood? Every time Iris talked about our foolish brother, my heart went mad with envy.

Iris wasn’t the only one interested in our foolish brother. Our mother also did. She started copying his skincare routines and sunbathing just like he did.

“Mother! Please stop. Why are you doing the same things as that fool?”

I couldn’t stand watching it, so I expressed my disapproval to my mother.

“Well… you may not understand it because you are a man. But allow me to teach you something, Testa. Women are greedy creatures. Our desire for beauty and fine clothing and accessories is insatiable.

“It would do you well to remember that.”

I couldn’t comprehend my mother’s reply.

My foolish brother who acted like a woman and Iris and my mother who copied my foolish brother, I couldn’t understand them… and I didn’t envy those I couldn’t understand.

I was to go to school once I turned 15.

I couldn’t afford to pay any more mind to my foolish, four years younger brother.

Because the first prince and the son of the commander of the kingdom’s first knight order were the same age as me, which meant we would enroll in the same year.

I couldn’t afford to lose to them.

Be it in academics, swordsmanship, or magic.

My daily routine was:

Get up early in the morning and practice swordsmanship.

Have breakfast and study.

Have lunch and learn magic.

Have dinner and review my studies.

Watch my father work in between.

And learn the rope as the next duke.

My father was an arrogant man and he never taught me gently.

But I liked looking at his back.

You could say that he was my goal.

I was a genius and my father recognized me for it.

That fact alone allowed me to spend my days satisfyingly.

But on a certain day… I happened to pick up a reassuring conversation.

After lunch, as I was on my way to the training grounds to practice magic, I heard our knights talking.

“Hey, did you hear?”

“Huh? Hear what?”

“Lord Luc’s attribute magic.”

“Oh, I did. Rare magic, wasn’t it?”

I wasn’t interested, but I kept on listening.

“So I heard. But it’s just some variant of body strengthening, apparently.”

“Well, just the fact that he has attribute magic is amazing in itself.”

“That’s true.”

Listening to the knights, my lips crept up into a smile.

Well, what did I expect from my foolish brother?

His attribute magic was the last remaining thing I had been wary of, but it turned out to be such a disappointment.

Now the position of the next duke would undoubtedly be mine.

I had been wasting my time being wary of that worthless fool.

From now on, I’d best devote myself to improving myself so that I could triumph over those people who would be my rivals at school.

That day, I finished my training in good spirits without a single hint of envy.

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