Chapter 196 The Lazy Younger Brother And The Pitiful Older Brother
Christopher felt heavy-hearted. The reason was that Adam had shut himself in his room, sulking, and Christopher had to coax him out and make him study.
If it were the usual Christopher, he would've left Adam alone, even if he was sulking. He knew that their mother, Elizabeth, would eventually come to comfort him. Even if Adam didn't study much, Christopher didn't think their parents or grandfather would disown him.
But the current situation was quite dire. If they provoked Sara any further, Adam would be blown away from the position of successor just by her breath. As a result, if Sara became the successor herself, it wouldn't be a problem, but with that atmosphere, it was hard to expect that. That would inevitably lead to movements to make Christopher the successor.
Fundamentally, Christopher was a lazy person. If he just did what others told him to do, there wouldn't be any trouble, and as long as he did what he was interested in, nobody would get angry. Christopher knew that his family and the servants saw him as the "stupid youngest child." Rather, he had made it that way.
Christopher's principle of action was "I want to do fun things." Everything else was "bothersome," and managing the territory, which his grandfather, father, and eventually Adam would take over, was the most bothersome thing of all.
So, if you say Christopher is lazy, that's not true at all. He's someone who puts in effort to thoroughly enjoy the things he likes. For example, Christopher loves chess, and he enjoys reading chess strategy books and solving chess problems. He even creates his own problems and submits them to newspapers.
Since he's the type who enjoys logical thinking, Christopher actually didn't dislike math. Plus, in order to read chess books, he was fairly proficient in ancient languages and foreign languages.
But he knew that if he showed this off, it wouldn't end well. When Christopher started studying, Adam, who was studying in the same room, was struggling to solve the problems given by their tutor. But the problems written on the blackboard were ones that Christopher could easily solve, and he didn't even feel the need to write them down.
That's when Christopher made a huge mistake. He tried to help his brother by explaining the solutions to the problems from the side, and the tutor praised him for it. The tutor even reported it to Elizabeth, and that night at dinner, Christopher received praise from his parents and grandfather as well.
It would've been okay if he was just praised. However, the adults started comparing him to Adam, praising Christopher while putting down Adam. It's questionable whether the adults truly understood how Adam would feel, being told he was inferior to his 4-year-younger brother. Christopher knew that his brother was deeply hurt, being told he was worse than his younger brother.
Especially their father, Edward, would often say things like, "Among us siblings, the youngest, Arthur, was the smartest," and their grandfather would chime in, saying, "Adam, as the eldest, should learn from Christopher and study harder." Neither of them seemed to care about the look on Adam's face at all.
That night, Christopher went to Adam's room to apologize for hurting him. However, when he tried to knock, he heard their mother's voice coming from inside.
When Christopher slightly opened the door and peeked through the gap, he saw Elizabeth sitting on the sofa, holding 10-year-old Adam on her lap like a child and stroking his back. It seemed like she was comforting Adam, who was on the verge of tears.
"Adam, don't worry about it. Everyone learns at their own pace, and that's only natural."
"But Chris was showing off and lecturing me!"
"You're going to be a Marquis in the future, so it's only natural for Chris to support you. Your father said so, didn't he? Sir Arthur was the smart one, but he strayed from the path of the nobility. He should have been supporting your father, but..."
"Uwaaa... Mother..."
"It's okay. My dear child. You can take your time and do things at your own pace."
Seeing this scene, Christopher's desire to apologize to Adam completely vanished.
'I'm not acting like I'm superior or anything! And yet, he can't even solve such a simple problem at the age of 10. I'm not going to waste my life supporting an idiot like Adam. I want to live life doing only what's fun.'
From that day on, Christopher stopped pointing out Adam's mistakes in front of their tutor. He also avoided showing off his exceptional talent in front of the tutor, so that the adults wouldn't compare him to his siblings.
When the scheduled time came, he would listen to the tutor's lectures, and receive training in sword fighting, horseback riding, and dance. Those around him thought, 'Christopher isn't particularly outstanding, but he's passing.' Christopher's exceptional abilities were soon forgotten. He realized that as long as he didn't stand out, he could do whatever he liked and no one would care.
The tutors kept changing due to Adam's whims, and their mother's attention was mostly focused on her eldest son Adam and Chloe, who was like her own child. Their grandfather was busy as the lord of the territory, and their father wasn't the type to be enthusiastic about raising children.
Christopher wasn't a child who doted on his mother. He didn't dislike his mother, but he wasn't attached to her either. Honestly, he had a dedicated wet nurse from birth, so he felt more affection towards his wet nurse Anna than his mother Elizabeth. Anna was a woman overflowing with maternal love, and she had raised Christopher with deep affection as if he were her own child.
So, Anna found out that Christopher had participated in bullying Sara and was ready to scold him. She even submitted a resignation letter, but Elizabeth intervened and stopped her. This wasn't because Anna thought Christopher was excellent or not, but because as a mother, Elizabeth felt responsible for her child's involvement in bullying and didn't want to let him go.
To be honest, Christopher only joined in on Sara's bullying because Adam and Chloe asked him to. At that time, Sara was just a pretty girl who didn't matter much to him. He thought that if he didn't follow Adam and Chloe, they would say bad things about him instead.
When Sara fell into the pond, Christopher felt a pang of anxiety for the first time. He thought about quickly telling an adult. But at that moment, Christopher imagined what would happen if Sara had already died.
Probably, the kids would blame each other and try to shift the responsibility. If that happened, the blame might fall on him instead of Adam or Chloe, who were spoiled by their mother. It would be a shame for the Marquis family, so it wouldn't be made public. But, he might be sent away to the countryside, away from Anna.
'If I just stay quiet, maybe it'll be settled as an accident...'
At that moment, Christopher became a coward. He was happy that Sara was saved, but he was afraid that when Sara regained consciousness, she would tell the adults about their actions.
However, Sara, who woke up contrary to expectations, left for their territory without saying a word to anyone, not even to those who had bullied her.
And so, Christopher was left in the capital, unable to muster the courage to confess to Sara, and too cowardly to speak up to Adam or Chloe. Even when Sara asked him "Do you have any intention of apologizing?" last night, he just played dumb and acted like his usual foolish self. But it was already at its limit.
'It's amazing that Sara forgave me, a coward like me, without even retaliating.'
That's a misunderstanding. Sara didn't forgive him, and she even left with a subtle grudge. In fact, there's still a possibility that she might take revenge.
'And Sara's actions are really interesting, aren't they?'
That's a fact. Fundamentally, Sara always puts her all into doing what she thinks is interesting, so it's only natural.
'I want to do something interesting with Sara. That means I can't let Adam succeed the lordship. Being a lord is such a hassle.'
In short, Sara and Christopher are eerily similar cousins.
* * *
Christopher knocked on Adam's door and realized that Adam was crying inside.
'That guy's still crying over something like that at his age. I guess even Mother won't come this time.'
Since there was no response to his knock, Christopher entered Adam's room on his own.
"Adam, Mother won't come even if you cry."
"Why not?"
"Because Mother was also made to cry by Sara. No, I mean, it was Chloe who made her cry."
"What's going on?"
"Chloe pointed out the truth to her, and she went back to her room crying. I guess Father is comforting her now."
"Ugh, even Chloe is on Sara's side now?"
"Not enemies or allies or anything, you know?"
"You're one too!"
Adam jumped out of bed, his face red with anger, and shouted at Christopher.
"Hey, Adam, you'd better shape up or you'll really get disinherited!"
"Shut up! I'm the eldest son, after all!"
"There's no law in Avalon that says only the eldest son can inherit the title. The current lord decides who to pass it to. And if things go badly, even Father could get disinherited!"
"So you think you'll become the Marquis or something?"
"If it's going to be anyone, Grandfather would probably pass it to Sara. We can't compete with her in terms of ability or wealth. Father owes Sara 10,000 Dallas, you know."
"She's just a commoner, and a woman at that!"
"But it's a fact that she's Uncle Arthur's daughter, and if Grandfather adopts her, that's that. And as for the title, Sara can just marry someone who'll listen to her and pass it to him. If the guy does something stupid, they can just get a divorce and find another husband, no big deal."
"Then I'll marry her!"
Christopher let out a deep sigh.
"Adam... you really are disappointing. If we're going to disinherit you and pass it to Sara, why would we make you her husband? That's not going to happen!"
"So should I marry Sara then?"
"... Do you seriously think Sara would become your wife?"
"Why not? If she becomes my wife, she'll be the future Lady Marquis Grandchester, won't she?"
"It doesn't matter if Adam is gone, Sara can become the lady of Grandchester on her own if she wants to. She could even become the queen of this country if she wanted to. The reason she's not aiming for that seat is why neither Adam nor Father has been disinherited. You'd better realize how precarious your position is! If you have time to cry and whine, you should do something else instead."
"What else?"
Adam, who had been sulking in bed, got out and asked Christopher.
"You need to study to fix that pitiful head of yours. If you don't hurry, you'll really fail to get into the Academy."
"So what if I fail? I can just go to a different school."
"Are you kidding me? Chloe said, 'You can't hide the fact that you failed the Academy entrance exams twice.' Because of that, Chloe is embarrassed and the ladies of the nobility are looking down on her. If you get disinherited, no noble lady will want to marry you."
"What...!?"
'It's not like having no bride is the biggest problem or anything...'
"Is that what you're saying, Chris? Are you okay with this?"
"I'm not against studying. I checked the past test questions, and I think I can get into the Academy if I study hard enough."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
"Why did you hide it?"
"When I taught you how to solve the problem, you would cry on mother's lap."
"I wasn't crying!"
"Hmm."
Christopher gave Adam a cold stare.
"Fine, do what you want. I'll study with Sara and take the Academy entrance exams next year. You can just go to a different school and stay single for the rest of your life if you want."
"Wait, I'm coming too. It's not good if no one wants to marry me, after all."
Christopher's gaze grew colder, but Adam was the type who didn't read the atmosphere. Not being able to read the atmosphere was a good indication that he had a decent head on his shoulders.
In this way, Christopher managed to drag Adam to the study session.
Please bookmark this series and rate ☆☆☆☆☆ on here!
Donate me
Support Me with USDC
(ERC20)
Support Me with XLM
(Stellar Lumens)