Cold water slammed directly into his face.
Fainyx jolted awake with a sharp, ragged inhale as the icy liquid completely drenched his face, his silver hair, his clothes, and everything around him.
"..."
"Are you finally awake brat? It is already late afternoon and you are still lying here sleeping like a lazy log,"
a woman's voice laughed mockingly from the doorway.
"Get up already, you little brat, and prepare your clothes on your own."
It was Jaren.
She stood right near the entrance, holding the now-empty wooden bucket, looking exceptionally pleased with her petty actions.
"And do not think you can laze around in bed all day," she added with a cruel grin, tossing the bucket aside.
"This isn't some countryside barn where you can sleep whenever you want, Hahahaha!"
She turned sharply on her heel and left the bedroom, laughing loudly as the heavy door slammed shut behind her.
Fainyx sat frozen in his spot, completely soaked from head to toe.
Cold water dripped steadily from his bangs down onto the mattress. His entire bed was completely wet, and the thick blankets felt incredibly heavy and freezing against his skin.
'...'
'She really does not know when to stop her abuse, does she?'
He closed his eyes for a brief moment and focused his senses on the hallway outside.
He detected absolutely no presence lingering outside his door.
Without chanting a single word or drawing a magic circle, he smoothly released a wave of his mana.
A gentle, warm wave of magical energy spread rapidly through the entire room. The water instantly vanished from his damp clothes, his cold body, the mattress, and the stone floor.
The wet sheets fluffed up beautifully, becoming perfectly dry, soft, and clean, as if nothing bad had happened to them.
He calmly reached out and reorganized his bedding. As he worked to straighten out the sheets, a familiar, painful ache tugged deeply at his chest.
' ...I miss Estrella.'
If she were here right now, she would have scolded him very gently for sleeping too much during the day.
She would have already prepared warm clothes, hot food, and fresh tea for him without even being asked.
His personal chef and his kind gardener from the annex.
They had both left the estate with sad, helpless smiles, saying they had officially completed their work for the young master and would return to their hometowns.
He had willingly let them go because he knew they would only suffer under the main household's staff.
Estrella would never leave my side by choice, but her forced leave made everything in this massive palace feel completely empty.
After changing into a fresh set of dry clothes, his small stomach suddenly gave a loud growl.
'I am incredibly hungry again.'
He stepped out of his bedroom and walked into the grand hallway. As his small feet moved along the corridor, quiet whispers immediately began to follow him from the shadows.
Normally, he would ignore the servants' gossip entirely, but today, he was actually interested in hearing what they were plotting, so he quickly wrapped his ears in a thin layer of mana.
He focused his enhanced hearing directly on the maids and servants who were whispering behind the closed door of the staff room.
"...Did you hear the news? It's about that strange child the Duke brought back from the annex."
"They say he is nothing more than a common orphan."
"And there is clearly something wrong with his head, too."
"I heard he aggressively bullied the head maid this morning. Poor Madam Jaren, she has been serving this noble household forever and didn't deserve that."
Fainyx blinked his violet eyes in sheer disbelief.
'...'
'I bullied her... me?'
'I was clearly the physical victim of her assault, not the other way around though?'
He let out a slow, heavy sigh in his mind.
'Wow. She really flipped the narrative completely. Is this exactly what she meant when she said she had a plan to deal with me?'
He continued walking toward the grand dining room. The exact moment his small body entered the space, the entire atmosphere turned incredibly cold and heavy. His father sat sternly at the head of the table, while Adam and Liam were seated right beside him.
Their sharp, distant gazes landed directly on Fainyx.
He sensed the heavy tension instantly.
' ...It seems the head maid's narrative of lies has already spread directly to the Duke.'
He offered a polite, formal bow to his family.
The Duke spoke first, his deep voice carrying a firm, unyielding tone.
"I heard an official report from the staff this morning. Is it true that you deliberately hurt and threw water on the Head Maid, Jaren?"
Fainyx stiffened up slightly in his spot.
'So this was her malicious plan to get him isolated...'
He glanced over at his older brothers to see their reactions. Adam's face was completely emotionless, but his blue eyes burned with a clear, intense hostility toward him. It seemed he heavily favored the old head maid over a new sibling.
'Ah... that actually hurts much more than getting a nosebleed. To think I managed to get hated by one of the named story characters so quickly, ahaha...'
"I asked you a direct question." the Duke said firmly, his eyes narrowing. "Is the report true?"
Fainyx reached down and searched through his pajama pockets.
' ...I forgot to bring my paper and charcoal stick with me.'
He slowly shook his head from side to side to deny the accusation.
"No?"
The Duke's brow furrowed in deep irritation. "There are several servant witnesses who explicitly claim they saw you hit her before breakfast. Are you choosing to lie to me now?"
'Witnesses too? She prepared her trap thoroughly.'
He stayed completely silent, keeping his head lowered. He didn't want to go through the massive hassle of trying to explain what had really happened to him without any paper. He thought quietly while looking down at the floorboards.
Suddenly, Adam stood up from his chair, slamming his hands onto the table.
"Why did you do it?" Adam snapped angrily, his voice echoing through the dining room.
"She has been our primary caretaker since we were toddles! Do you have any idea how much she has sacrificed for this family?!"
Fainyx clenched his small fists tightly at his sides.
It seemed absolutely no one in this room was willing to listen to his side of the story.
Even if he could tell the truth right now, they would probably just claim he fabricated the entire thing to protect himself.
The Duke let out a deep, exhausted exhale.
"I am deeply disappointed in your behavior," the duke said, his voice heavy. "You are officially confined to your bedroom for one full week. You are not permitted to leave your quarters unless you receive explicit permission from me."
Ah...
House arrest.
'It is a very good thing that I hid some bread and fresh fruits under my bed yesterday. It is highly possible that the head maid won't give me any food during this confinement anyway.'
Fainyx offered another formal bow to the table, though his chest felt slightly heavy, not because of the punishment itself, but because of the untouched platters of delicious food sitting on the table.
He was incredibly hungry, but the adults were too focused on the argument to notice his physical state.
'I guess adults are the same... Even in my past life...'
He turned his back on them and left the dining room.
The moment the heavy double doors closed behind him, the dining room fell into a tense, uneasy silence. Liam hesitated in his seat for a brief moment before standing up to look at his father.
"Father... I honestly think there might be a massive misunderstanding here. Fainyx wouldn't do something like that..."
Adam cut in calmly, his tone completely dismissive. "There are multiple witnesses, Liam. How could that possibly be a misunderstanding?"
"She is our nanny," Adam continued, looking down at his younger brother. "You should not doubt her loyalty over a complete stranger."
Liam bit his lower lip in frustration.
"But..."
"Finish eating your food, Liam," Adam said, sitting back down.
Liam obeyed the order silently, but before he left the table at the end of the meal, he quietly slipped a sweet dessert pastry into a small cloth bag.
' I will bring this to his room later,' he thought to himself.
***
Back in his west wing bedroom, Fainyx stopped right by the threshold.
*Rustle Rustle...
He caught the faint sound of movement coming from inside. Someone was currently inside his private quarters.
He instantly cast an invisibility concealment spell, masking his presence completely.
Jaren was standing right near his wooden cabinet, aggressively rummaging through his personal belongings.
"Tsk," she muttered to herself, tossing a tunic aside in annoyance. "The little brat doesn't even own a single piece of jewelry or gold. How am I even supposed to steal something valuable from this place?"
She turned her body toward the large glass window.
Her eyes landed directly on the ceramic flower pot sitting on the sill. She sneered in disgust. "What an ugly, worthless thing."
She reached out her hand and gave the pot a violent shove.
'No—!'
The ceramic pot hit the hard stone floor and shattered into pieces, dirt spilling everywhere. Fainyx rushed forward into the room, breaking his concealment spell out of pure anger.
"Oh?" Jaren laughed loudly when she noticed his sudden appearance. "My apologies, boy. I thought it was just a worthless weed."
She walked right past his small frame, looking thoroughly amused with herself then left.
The bedroom was a complete disaster area, drawers were pulled completely out, and items were scattered all over the carpet.
Fainyx knelt down on the floor beside the broken shards.
He checked the roots, and saw that the kalmia flower was still alive and unharmed.
'...Good'
A massive wave of relief washed over his mind. He quickly reached into his bag and pulled out a spare pot, carefully transferring the soil and the flower into the new pot.
The plant swayed gently against his palm the moment he fed it a thin thread of his mana.
He hugged the ceramic pot briefly against his chest to protect it.
A sharp, biting pain shot through his palm.
"...Tsk."
A sharp ceramic shard had sliced deeply into his hand, and bright red blood began dripping steadily onto the stone floor.
He carefully set the pot down on a safe shelf and began searching through his bag for some bandages. Suddenly, the bedroom door burst open with a loud bang.
"Fainyx! I brought some sweet desserts for you to eat, you can have... !?"
Liam stood frozen on the threshold, his eyes widening in absolute horror as he took in the destroyed state of the bedroom, the scattered dirt, and the blood pooling on the floor.
"Fainyx?! What in the world happened here?! Your hand is bleeding!"
Liam ran forward, his hands shaking as he reached for the boy's arm. "I am going to bring you directly to the family physician right now..."
Fainyx shook his head quickly from side to side, pulling his arm back.
"No? Why do you want to hide it?" Liam hesitated, looking thoroughly confused. "But you are actively bleeding, Fainyx! Who did this to your room? What happened here while we were at breakfast? Is it? ...! Her?"
Fainyx simply looked away from his brother's eyes.
'They won't believe a single thing I say anyway. How could I even begin to explain this massive mess without any proof?'
Liam let out a slow, calming exhale.
"...Alright. I won't tell the others if you don't want me to."
He gently took Fainyx's injured hand, inspecting the cut. "But you have to let me take care of this wound for you, okay?"
Liam rummaged through one of the open drawers and successfully located a basic medical kit.
He quickly returned to Fainyx's side by the bed, sitting down on the floor and carefully beginning to clean the deep cut on the boy's small hand.
The harsh antiseptic stung sharply against the open flesh, but Fainyx did not react to the pain at all.
He sat perfectly still, his expression remaining completely calm and blank.
Liam blinked in total surprise, looking up at his brother. "...You are not even flinching from the medicine?"
Fainyx remained completely motionless.
But inside his mind, he was screaming at the top of his lungs.
'It hurts enough to make me wanna scream...'
Still, outwardly, his face looked completely unbothered and detached, as if he couldn't feel a thing.
Liam stared at him in pure amazement.
'How can a child this small possibly endure this much physical pain without showing a single reaction?'
While carefully wrapping the clean bandages around the boy's palm, Liam spoke up again, his voice soft.
"...What really happened here, Fainyx?"
Fainyx hesitated for a moment.
'Should he tell him the truth? Or was it safer to stay completely silent?'
He lowered his gaze to the bandages, thinking over the situation carefully. After a moment, he finally made up his mind.
He really did not want to continue suffering from that horrible maid's abuse.
When Liam finished securing the tight bandages, Fainyx slowly stood up and searched through the mess on the floor until he located his notebook and pencil.
He sat down and began writing rapidly across the paper. He turned the notebook around and handed the paper directly to Liam.
[ It was the head maid who did this to my room. She also lied to Father about me hitting her this morning. She was the one who hurt me yesterday. ]
Liam froze completely while reading the written lines.
"...Is this the absolute truth, Fainyx?"
Fainyx gave a firm, serious nod.
Liam's brow furrowed into a deep frown. "...Where exactly did she hurt you yesterday, if she was truly the one who attacked you?"
Fainyx pulled the notebook back and wrote down the details.
[ She violently pulled my hair while I was inside my bedroom yesterday. When she finally released me, I lost my balance and hit my face hard against the stone floor. That is when my nose broke. ]
"What?!"
Liam's eyes widened in absolute shock.
"Is that really true? Can I... can I please examine your nose right now?"
Fainyx didn't resist the request at all. He leaned his head slightly closer to his brother to let him see.
At a first glance, his nose looked perfectly normal because the swelling had gone down overnight.
But the moment Liam's fingers gently touched the bridge, he could clearly feel the faint, uneven ridge of a cracked bone beneath the skin.
He immediately withdrew his hand, his face turning pale from the shock.
"...She actually did this to you..."
A faint, intense ripple of ambient mana suddenly spread from Liam's body, filling the quiet bedroom. Fainyx sensed the magical fluctuation instantly.
'As expected of a named character,'
Fainyx thought to himself.
'He can already manifest his raw mana under emotional stress at this young age...'
Liam looked back at him, his eyes burning.
"Why didn't you tell anyone about this abuse earlier during breakfast?"
Fainyx scribbled a quick response.
[ I fully intended to say it during breakfast. But I forgot to bring my writing paper with me to the table. ]
Liam's gaze turned incredibly complicated and full of guilt. '
Why didn't any of us try to defend him...? He is just a small kid...'
It wasn't even physically possible for someone this small, fragile, and weak-bodied to attack a grown, adult maid.
His young expression hardened with pure, unbridled anger as the full reality of the situation clicked in his mind.
"I am going to tell Father about this immediately," Liam said firmly, standing up from the floor.
"And I will inform the head butler to come look at the state of your room. Stay right here, Fainyx."
Then he turned around and left the bedroom quickly, his footsteps echoing down the hall.
***
Inside the Duke's private office, the Duke of Valencrest sat behind his massive desk, his silver quill paused mid-air over a document. A sudden, heavy knock echoed through the room.
"Enter."
The heavy door opened, and Liam stepped inside the office. His posture was perfectly straight, but his facial expression looked incredibly tense, far more rigid and serious than usual.
The Duke noticed the change immediately.
"What is the matter, Liam?" he asked calmly, setting his quill down on the desk. "You look deeply troubled."
Liam took a slow breath, stepping forward before offering a bow that was far deeper than required by standard noble etiquette.
"Father," he said, his voice firm yet strained with emotion. "I need to report something of utmost importance. It concerns my brother, Fainyx."
The Duke frowned slightly at the mention of the name. "...Go on."
Liam lifted his head, his blue eyes sharp and unyielding. "I went to visit Fainyx's bedroom right after breakfast concluded," he began to explain.
"The physical condition of his quarters was completely abnormal. The drawers were pulled completely out of the dressers, furniture was disturbed, and several personal items were broken on the floor... as if someone had deliberately searched through his belongings."
The Duke's brows knit together in confusion. "Searched?" he repeated slowly. "By whom?"
Liam didn't hesitate for a single second. "The head maid, Jaren."
An absolute silence fell over the office.
The Duke leaned back slowly in his grand chair, his large fingers steepled together under his chin.
"That is an exceptionally serious accusation to make against a senior staff member," the lord said carefully. "Do you possess any physical proof?"
Liam gave a firm nod. "I personally witnessed her leaving his room just before I entered. And more importantly, Father... Fainyx was severely injured."
The Duke's eyes sharpened into a cold glare. "Injured how?"
Liam clenched his fists tightly at his sides. "He had a deep, bleeding cut on his hand caused by broken pottery. And his nose..."
He paused, his jaw tightening with pure anger. "His nose is fractured, Father."
The Duke stood up abruptly from his chair, his towering frame casting a long shadow.
"...Fractured?"
"Yes," Liam said, meeting his father's gaze without flinching. "I confirmed the injury myself. The bone in his nose is clearly cracked. This injury did not come from a simple accident, and based on the state of the bruising, that injury happened yesterday before the dinner incident."
The Duke's powerful mana began to stir faintly in the air, a heavy pressure filling the private office.
"And what explanation did Fainyx offer you regarding this?" he asked, his voice dangerously low.
Liam reached into his pocket and placed the folded sheet of paper directly onto the mahogany desk. "He wrote this description down himself because he didn't have his paper at breakfast."
The Duke unfolded the paper and read the neat handwriting.
[ It was the head maid who did this to my room. She lied to Father about me hitting her this morning. She pulled my hair violently in my room yesterday. When she let go, I hit the floor and broke my nose. ]
The Duke's physical grip tightened around the paper until the edges creaked. "...He claims she assaulted him first inside his own quarters," the Duke said slowly.
"Yes," Liam replied firmly. "And Father... there is far more to this."
The Duke looked up from the note. "What else?"
"She has also been lying about feeding him," Liam continued, his voice shaking with anger.
"He has not eaten a single bite of food since yesterday afternoon because she refused to bring him his trays."
The Duke's expression darkened significantly, becoming terrifyingly cold.
"That maid reported to me that the boy simply refused to eat with the family, and she explicitly said she brought his meals directly to his room."
"That is a complete falsehood," Liam said sharply. "Father, think about it logically. Fainyx is nothing more than a child. A very small one. He is weak-bodied, frail, and... mute. Do you truly believe a toddler could overpower a grown, adult maid?"
The Duke closed his eyes briefly, a wave of cold realization hitting his mind. The vivid image of the small boy standing silently at breakfast, his head bowed, his body looking so thin and fragile under his clothes, flashed clearly through his memory.
"...No," the lord admitted quietly, his voice hollow.
Liam pressed on, determined to clear his brother's name.
"There were multiple 'witnesses' to the incident because she carefully prepared the staff beforehand. She completely controls the servant narrative in the west wing, and everyone believed her words simply because she has been serving this household for years."
The Duke opened his eyes, a terrifying, cold fury settling deep into his features.
"And I," the Duke said, his voice sounding as heavy as lead, "believed her lies without ever hearing his side of the story."
Liam lowered his head slightly. "...Father."
The Duke turned his back away from the desk, walking over to stare out the tall glass window at the grounds.
"I punished him," he continued quietly. "I confined him to his room under house arrest when he was already being actively abused by the staff."
A sharp, pained exhale left his lips.
"...It seems I have failed him once again."
Liam looked up in surprise, caught off guard by the raw trace of vulnerability in his father's deep voice.
The Duke turned back around, his eyes flashing with lethal intent.
"This insolence will not go unanswered," he said firmly.
"Summon the head butler to this office immediately. Keep it quiet. I want a full, unrestricted investigation into the servant movements, the kitchen logs, the room access records, everything."
"Yes, Father."
"And Liam," the Duke added, his harsh tone softening just a fraction as he looked at his second son. "Thank you for reporting this situation to me."
Liam hesitated for a brief second by the door. "...May I go visit Fainyx again later today?"
The Duke gave a firm nod. "Of course. And ensure that he eats properly. Have the kitchen prepare a proper meal for him to eat immediately."
"I will do that."
As Liam turned around to leave the office, the Duke picked up the sheet of paper once more, his eyes locking onto the handwriting.
'A small, silent, and defenseless child... injured and starving, and I chose to punish him...'
"Jaren," the lord murmured under his breath, his voice sounding as cold as forged steel. "If this report is true..."
The entire office filled with a suffocating, crushing pressure as his mana flared out of control.
"...you will deeply regret ever laying a hand on my son."
***
After Liam left the bedroom, Fainyx stared at the empty doorway, feeling entirely stunned by the interaction. It was his very first time seeing Liam get so genuinely angry.
In the original storyline of the game, Liam was a character who rarely showed any anger or dropped his bright smile.
A small, dry chuckle escaped his lips.
'To think that someone in this world is actually worried about my safety.'
A faint, unfamiliar warmth spread quietly through his chest. He turned around and poured a little bit of his mana into the new flower pot resting beside him. The kalmia plant looked a bit weak from being thrown to the floor.
'...What did I even do in this life to deserve this kind of drama...' he murmured softly to himself.
Then...
*Gurgle~
"..."
'Ah... I am incredibly hungry.'
He blinked his eyes, rubbing his stomach. 'Oh... right. I still haven't eaten a single thing today.'
It seemed highly obvious that the maid Jaren wouldn't be bringing him any food trays during his confinement. Well it might be impossible for her to be safe after Liam reported this.
So he bent down beside his mattress and carefully pulled out the stale bread and small fruits he had hidden under his bed frame yesterday.
He ate the food quietly in the center of the room. It wasn't nearly enough to make him full, but it was just enough to ease the sharp hunger pangs in his stomach.
Once he finished eating, he glanced out the large glass window at the view..
The outer garden down below looked absolutely massive.
'Maybe... I could go hide down there for a while and read some of my books in peace.'
He really didn't want to think about the massive storm that would happen after Liam reported everything to the Duke.
And for now, it seemed like no other maids or servants were actively watching his door.
He thought deeply about his beginner magic books. He had actually successfully created a small experimental spell while he was living back in the annex, a spatial storage box.
It wasn't completely perfect yet, but it was sturdy enough to store small, inanimate objects out of sight.
He had created it back in the annex, which was exactly why no servant had realized he had taken the beginner magic book from the shelves.
If possible, if he managed to complete this complex spell in the future, he could even hide his own body inside the space. He could change the dimensions so living things could survive there, though right now, it was still incomplete, so he could only use it to store a few books and his flower pot.
He took his new flower pot and carefully stored it inside the invisible storage box, along with his strategy books and one extra piece of bread.
If that horrible maid entered his room again while he was gone, she would definitely destroy his things.
Then, he quietly slipped out of his disheveled bedroom, closing the door without a sound.
As he walked carefully through the long marble halls, he made sure to hide behind the thick pillars whenever a servant passed by.
He had absolutely zero desire to be seen by anyone. Hide, then move, then hide again behind a curtain, and then sprint forward when the path ahead was completely clear.
After a few minutes of careful maneuvering, he finally reached the glass doors leading out to the grand garden.
It was his very first time coming down to this specific garden. He felt a small wave of nervousness hitting his chest.
Someone important might be walking around the paths... but he gathered his courage and stepped straight inside the greenery.
The place was undeniably beautiful.
There were massive bushes completely covered in vibrant red roses, and exotic flowers of colors he had never even seen on Earth.
The garden grounds were vast enough to run through freely, and the green grass looked incredibly soft and clean enough to sit on.
He walked toward the center of the path and suddenly saw a large stone statue.
It was a statue of a veiled woman wearing an elegant crown of wild flowers, her stone eyes covered completely with a carved cloth. He immediately recognized the figure from his memories of the game lore.
' ...The Goddess of Love and Fertility, Hymoria.'
She was the main deity of this fantasy world, and the specific goddess who granted the main quests to the protagonist, Orion. She would constantly appear in Orion's dreams, granting him powerful blessings and appointing him as her chosen apostle to slay the demon lords and save humanity.
There were several other gods in this world, but she was the only one who remained deeply interested in the fates of humans.
She deeply pitied them because of the constant demon threat. A few years after Orion and his friends graduate from the academy, the demons would wage a massive war against humanity.
The already powerful protagonist would then be tasked with defeating the resurrected Demon King, who was revived by a dark cult known as the Black Blood.
...And in the very end of the game, Orion successfully defeated the Demon King, earning his perfect happy ending.
Fainyx stared at the stone statue in absolute silence.
'...'
'That plot has absolutely nothing to do with my life, though.'
While reminiscing about the game events, he noticed a thick cluster of tall trees situated much deeper in the garden.
It looked almost like a miniature forest. He figured that absolutely no one would bother to find him if he hid inside that dense cover.
He turned and walked straight into the trees.
After walking for a some time, he discovered a small, open field. It was much smaller than the secret clearing he had used back at the annex, but it was still perfectly spacious and hidden.
The grass was beautifully clean and soft against his boots, so he sat down.
Then, he extended his sharp mana senses, checking the immediate area for any hidden presence nearby.
There was absolutely nothing.
Satisfied with his safety, he lay flat on his back against the soft grass and looked up at the blue sky through the canopy. He let out a soft, relaxed sigh.
"So peaceful."
"I truly wish this peace would last forever..."
He had absolutely zero desire to return to his messy bedroom for now, and he didn't want to face his disappointed father or his hostile brother Adam either.
He gently touched the bridge of his nose with a finger and winced from the sharp pain. He didn't possess a recovery healing spell yet, and besides... this physical injury was the ultimate evidence against Jaren's lies.
He could probably figure out a way to heal it with raw mana, but he actively chose not to do so.
"Ah... I just want to become a cloud..."
He opened his invisible storage box, retrieving his new flower pot and his beginner magic book. Then, he lay down and began reading the text quietly in the shade.
Before long... his eyes grew increasingly heavy, and his eyelids slowly closed. He fell into a peaceful, deep sleep in the quiet field.
***
Liam rushed straight to the grand kitchen earlier, aggressively ordering the chefs to prepare a simple, hot meal immediately. The moment the tray was ready, he grabbed it and hurried excitedly back to the west wing, running straight to Fainyx's bedroom.
"Fainyx! Everything is going to be okay now, I... "
He stopped dead in his tracks.
The bedroom was still in absolute shambles, with clothes and drawers scattered across the floor.
And Fainyx... was completely nowhere to be seen.
"...Fainyx?" Liam called out, his voice shaking.
There was absolutely no response.
He searched the entire room quickly, checking inside the wardrobe and under the bed frame, but found nothing.
A massive wave of panic rose in his chest. He set the food tray down on the desk and ran as fast as his legs could carry him back to the Duke's private office.
He burst through the double doors without knocking.
The Duke and the head butler were speaking seriously about the investigation when they turned their heads toward him in surprise.
"Liam?" the Duke asked, his brow furrowing. "What is the matter now?"
Liam struggled heavily to catch his breath, his chest heaving. "...He is missing, Father."
An absolute silence fell over the office.
"...Fainyx is completely gone from his room."
The Duke's expression immediately turned incredibly cold and sharp, his aura flaring.
"...Is this report true?"
"Yes! The room is empty!"
The Duke turned his cold eyes directly to the head butler. "Mobilize the elite knights and all available servants immediately. Search every square inch of the entire estate."
The butler bowed with a deadly serious expression and left the office at once to execute the order. The Duke looked back down at Liam, a flicker of genuine worry finally becoming visible in his sharp eyes.
"...Where exactly does he usually go when he leaves his room?"
Liam lowered his head in shame, his voice dropping. "...I don't know, Father. He... he never leaves his room whenever I visited him... He has never gone outside since we arrived."
A heavy silence filled the office as the gravity of the situation set in.
Then, the heavy door opened once again, and Adam entered the room, looking confused by the tension. "...What exactly happened here?"
Liam spoke up immediately, his voice laced with panic. "Fainyx is completely missing!"
A flash of immediate irritation and hatred crossed Adam's face. "...Why is he not staying inside his room under confinement? Did he break his punishment?"
The Duke spoke up, his deep voice cutting through Adam's words like ice. "The head maid, Jaren, completely destroyed his quarters and severely injured him yesterday before breakfast."
Adam's brow furrowed in deep confusion. "...That is completely impossible, Father. He must be lying to you. How could Head Maid Jaren possibly do something so heinous? Didn't he hit her first this morning? Maybe the boy destroyed the bedroom himself to frame her."
"That is completely false!" Liam shouted angrily, turning to glare at his older brother.
Adam stared back at him, completely surprised by his younger brother's sudden outburst.
"I personally saw her leaving his room without a single scratch or injury on her body this morning!" Liam continued fiercely, his eyes burning with tears of frustration.
"When I entered the room right after her, the entire place was destroyed, and he was the one sitting on the floor bleeding!"
Adam froze completely in his spot. "...What did you just say?"
"His hands were deeply cut by shards, and he has been walking around with a fractured nose since yesterday afternoon! He is incredibly pale, thin, and weak, Adam! How could a frail toddler like him possibly hurt a grown, adult woman?! Think about the situation logically, big brother!"
Liam turned back to face the Duke, his voice desperate. "...We need a professional physician right now, Father! He is nothing more than an injured kid wandering around alone!"
The Duke slowly nodded his head, his face grim. "I will personally call for Physician Michael to come to the estate immediately. But first... we must successfully locate his whereabouts."
Several long hours passed by.
The late afternoon arrived, painting the sky in deep shades of orange and purple.
The elite knights and servants searched everywhere across the estate, the long halls, the outer annex, the open training grounds, and every single corner of the mansion wings.
But Fainyx was completely nowhere to be found. The entire ducal estate fell into absolute chaos as the search widened.
Meanwhile...
Deep inside the quiet, hidden forest garden, Fainyx slept peacefully on the soft green grass, his breathing steady and calm.
He was completely, utterly unaware that the entire household was desperately searching for him in a panic.