The three attendants had also collapsed from relief and exhaustion. They were unable to sleep for three days straight due to the whole breastfeeding affair.

Esa snored happily while muttering procedures for inventions on the desk where she created the baby bottle. Rea stopped swaying Ronin like some bag of potatoes and dozed off while sitting up on the edge of the bed. Axi was still holding the baby bottle even when she slumbered, her head leaning on Rea’s shoulder.

Ronin had emptied the whole bottle and made a tiny scoff.

‘These three are really incompetent. It’s a wonder how they managed to keep their jobs for so long.’

He did wonder why the Zafeiri would hire commoners with very limited capabilities due to their low Flames and common Heartstones. From the days he spent here, he learned how much the Celestus nobles looked down on the poor.

Perhaps Duchess Akasa was the only exception, and took these three along with the butler Mavretri out of pity. That’s not to say she was without any judgment for commoners, as she did call Mavretri the ‘help’ and does not bother learning the attendants’ names, only calling them ‘Gravel girls’.

It’s still better than Taevas at least, who treats them as just dogs that he can order around. This made Ronin decide to be more amicable and approachable to the commoners and servants once he grows older.

He was cursed to be like them after all. Seen as ‘filth’. And that’s a really good motivation for a future villain.

He had nothing to do but think about the future as an infant that could not even crawl or walk yet. His heart itched to stab Cermin Dryschspiel already. But this gives him time to plan how to do that as well, and gather as much information as he can without Kai’s help._.

As he set all the information he knows neatly in his mind like he was indexing files in a folder, he remembered something from pieces of dialogues he retrieved from his memory.

(I bore two Sapphire sons, what is wrong with this one!?)

“Ronin Zafeiri, third son of the leading House of Sapphire.”

‘Right. I have two elder brothers.’ Ronin narrowed his tiny eyes with pure black irises. ‘But where are they?’

As if on cue, the door creaked open and the baby heard footsteps.

He was stuck on Rea’s arms though, and could not crane his almost non-existent baby neck enough to see who have entered.

But he sensed thoughts and determined the presence of two people.

(I hate this. Why do I have to join him here?)

(I wonder if he looks like me a little bit. Does he take after Father or Mother?)

The voices in his head were high-pitched, the first one being a little more childish than the first. There was no doubt in Ronin’s tiny baby brain that these two were supposed to be his brothers.

Soon, a 10-year-old boy came by his side and gently picked him up from Rea. He has blue skin, black hair, and blue eyes.

His face resembled Duke Taevas… if the duke was younger and can actually smile or show gentleness in his eyes.

“Hello, little Ronin.” The boy smiled at him and spoke softly so as to not wake the sleeping women. “Do not be frightened, do not cry. I am your elder brother, Maellan.”

“Woah, he really is a Coal baby!” The other person beside him exclaimed, to which Meallan immediately shushed him.

“Be quiet, Zeuxis.” Meallan chided too softly. “Do not wake mother or the attendants. They seem very tired and need their rest.”

“Fine, fine.” Zeuxis snorted and rolled his eyes, but lowered his voice.

He seems to be 5 to 6 years old. He poked Ronin’s cheek, to which the Coal baby glared.

He chuckled and remarked, “What an ugly baby.”

‘That must be what your parents thought when you were born.’ Ronin retorted in his head.

“That’s not very nice, Zeuxis. Ronin is our brother. And he’s not ugly, he’s just….. different.” Meallan corrected him, very gently swaying Ronin from side to side.

Zeuxis on the other hand looks a little feminine, and resembles Duchess Akasa from the upper half of his face. But his lips were thinner and he liked to sneer a lot, giving strange malicious energy to him even with his cute, boyish face.

“His black skin looks freakish. I don’t want a Coal brother like him.” He proceeded to poke baby Ronin’s nose hard.

“Zeuxis!” Meallan smacked his hand away before he could permanently break the baby’s nose.

‘You will be the first person I kill, boy.’ Ronin swore in his head.

And so, this was his first meeting with the Zafeiri brothers. They both wore similar sleeping frocks, but Meallan’s was in pristine condition as a newly-ironed school uniform while Zeuxis’ was buttoned wrongly and looked like it had just survived a storm. Even their way of clothing reflected their stark difference from each other.

The eldest brother was the calm and sophisticated type. The second brother was the wild and troublesome type. Ronin wondered what their relevance in his growth as a villain could be. It’s too early to make assumptions.

But there’s no denying that his impression of one weighs MUCH higher than the other. Still, that doesn’t mean that he’ll let his guard down on either of them.

“I wonder when will Father get back home. I miss him, he’s always away these days.” Zeuxis said, pouting.

“He’s looking for a way to turn Ronin back to normal.” His elder brother explained.

“I see….” The second child sneered. “It’s all this little prune’s fault then.”

“Prune?”

“Yeah, he’s a prune because he’s all black and wrinkly.”

‘And you are a little blueberry-headed dolt like your father.’ Ronin childishly thought.

His mentality as a system that lived for many years was still pretty much intact. But it’s hard not to get a little immature when you are a literal baby that can’t do anything and gets swayed endlessly by these people. Why do people like swaying babies anyway???

“Maybe him being a Coal is a blessing in disguise. After all, I have seen nobles like us discriminate over the commoners that we are meant to serve as leaders for.” Maellan smiled at Ronin. “I hope this incident bridges the gap between the two. Wouldn’t it be wonderful to live in a world where a person’s Heartstone does not determine their worth?”

He noticed a bit of sadness in the boy’s tone as he said that. Ronin felt that there must be more to those words. He focused on reading his brother’s thoughts to know more but then—

“Besides, our little Ronin is too adorable to be hated!” Maellan said while nuzzling his forehead with baby Ronin’s.

Ronin: …. ….. … ….

CHOMP!

“Ow! My nose!”

It’s decided. Ronin despised every single person in this household, especially these two brothers of his!