There had been a time when I thought love was burdensome.
It was a story from my childhood. Back then, I received all of my parents’ love and expectations.
No, to be a little more precise, perhaps I should call it ‘worry.’
Father once said to me,
“Son, do you know what happens to a lesser noble who fails to inherit the title?”
In my childish innocence, I answered confidently.
“I don’t know. Won’t Hyung support me?”
Aron Hyung was taciturn, but he had a strong sense of responsibility. Back then, the possibility that my brother might abandon me had never even crossed my mind.
But the world was always crueler than a child’s innocence.
“You’ll end up living on sufferance.”
It was a concept I had never heard of before.
One might wonder whether he truly needed to go that far when speaking to a son staring back with innocent eyes, but once Father made up his mind, he showed no mercy.
“For the first few years, it’ll be fine. You can stay in the territory and handle various odd jobs. But your brother will have married by then, and once he begins building a family…… he’ll have all sorts of things to worry about. For example, a useless younger brother whose very existence has become an annoyance.”
My very existence would be an annoyance.
The expression was so terrifying that my mouth fell open.
To be honest, I did not really…