Chapter 03
When I smile at them, my adorable little brother and sister smile back while letting out the most darling, cooing babbles.
When I gently reach my hand out, their tiny fingers wrap around my index finger. Their cheeks are so squishy. Their hair is so fluffy. Pillowy little feet and pudgy little hands.
What is this?! Are they angels?! They are definitely angels. I understand completely.
While shrieking like a maniac on the inside, I maintain a serene, gentle smile on the outside.
My stepmother despises me? What’s that? Like I care.
Whether she hates me or loathes my very existence, I will never lose heart! Day in and day out, I spend my time doting on my precious siblings to no end. Heck, I’ll even throw my full effort into looking out for my stepmother’s well-being too.
Thank you, oh thank you, for bringing these angels into the world!!
If I could show my true colors, Iād grab her delicate hands and shake them up and down frantically to show my gratitude.
Though I’d never actually do it since it’s an instant ticket to getting thrown out. At worst, they’d think I’d lost my mind…
While I would love to watch over my beloved My Angels 24/7, 365 days a year, I unfortunately have things to do.
All to avoid the future that is bound to come!!
Unchanged as always, I throw myself into my studies and training, building up my education, honing my refinement, and spending my days aiming for the top. After all, my social status is the eldest son and heir of a ducal house. I am in an environment where I can receive the highest caliber of instruction from veteran masters of the sword, scholars, and artists…
The rest depends entirely on how much blood, sweat, and tears I am willing to shed to master it all and make it my own.
And then, there’s one more thing. How many allies can I secure?
No matter how excellent my base stats are, and no matter how much effort I pile up, there are things that cannot be achieved alone. This is even truer in this world where unfair cheat codes like “Traits” exist. That is precisely why I put my heart and soul into scouting exceptionally talented personnel.
Let people laugh at me for relying on others; I couldn’t care less. If it’s for the sake of what’s precious to me, being laughed at is absolutely nothing.
All for the sake of My Angels!!
That alone is the conviction and the creed of Kaiser von Luxembourg.
The day those children, who used to be so small and helpless, spoke for the very first time. The day they called me “Nii-ni” in their lisping, toddler voices, I honestly thought I was going to burst a blood vessel and spray a nosebleed.
O nasal membrane of mine, you did a magnificent job holding the line!!
The time they started toddling forward, realized they weren’t holding onto anything, blinked in utter confusion, and then burst into tears. The time I held out my hands and they walked straight toward meāand no one else.
I can recall every single memory with vivid clarity.
Ah, why are there no cameras in this world?! How deeply I’ve regretted the fact that I can only press the shutter of my heart… If I had known it would come to this, I should have learned how to build a camera in my past life!
As those days piled up, another major turning point in my life arrived.
Father’s death. The premature passing of the Duke threw everyone around us into an uproar, and people began stirring with excitement. In more ways than one.
With Father dead, the biggest issue at hand became the succession of the ducal title.
Right after the funeral concluded, without showing the slightest hint of mourning for the deceased, my relatives brought up the inheritance issue right in front of His Majesty. Standing before the glittering throne, Iām pretty sure the gaze I leveled at them was chillingly cold, without any attempt to mask it.
The “Powerless” me is unfit for the title.
In the first place, it’s highly doubtful whether the blood of the Duke even flows in the veins of someone “Powerless” like me.
To put it plainly, that was the gist of their argument. The moment my father, the Duke, died and they no longer had anything to fear, they started clamoring loudly. That’s all it was.
So what?
The ones making such a foolish racket are the ones who are genuinely incompetent. Thinking about how perfectly the word “Powerless” actually fits them, a smile crept onto my face. Seeing that smile, laced as it was with open mockery, several of them gasped and were struck completely speechless.
At this time, I was 15 years old. Standing on the cusp of adulthood at 16, I wasāif I do say so myselfābeautiful. It was a beauty that perfectly embodied the “incomparably handsome man” everyone had predicted I would become since childhood.
My pitch-black hair, loosely tied near the nape of my neck and draped over my shoulder past my chest. A complexion like white porcelain, paired with features in flawless, symmetrical alignment. Thin lips, framed by long, melancholic eyelashes. The eyes bordered by those jet-black lashes shone with a bewitching, radiant gold, earning a reputation for looking exactly like a full moon floating in the dead of night.
Regrettably, I wasn’t blessed with a heavily muscled, burly physique, but my well-proportioned frame suited my naturally androgynous appearance well.
To be frank, my looks are at a level where it’s honestly bizarre that I’m not a capture target. No, seriously.
I’m not being a narcissist, okay! This is strictly an objective analysis, I am not a self-obsessed type of person!
…Who exactly am I making excuses to?
In reality, the evaluation I most frequently receive is that while I have a calm and elegant aura, I possess a mysterious, dangerously alluring sex appeal. Leaving women aside, I really wish the occasional dude would stop blushing when looking at me… Seriously, spare me…
Also, while “mysterious” sounds nice and high-class if you translate it as “enigmatic,” if you translate it as “suspicious” or “eccentric,” the nuance becomes a whole lot more awkward real fast.
Be that as it may, it seems that every single one of my expressions and gestures draws an immense amount of attention. Silencing the adults with nothing but a cold smirk, I stepped forward toward the throne, keeping my movements thoroughly graceful.
“Your Majesty, may I be permitted to speak?”
I bowed, requesting permission to address the floor. I focused my awareness from head to toe, ensuring that every single movement showcased the sheer difference in class between myself and the raucous “fools” making a scene.
“It appears that everyone gathered here harbors doubts regarding my parentage. Furthermore, you assert that someone ‘Powerless’ like myself is unworthy of the ducal title.”
“Hear, hear!” clamored the bystanders.
Shut the hell up, I didn’t ask for your opinions right now.
Ah, by the way, the person speaking is me. Just so you know, I strictly use polite speech and the formal pronoun “Watashi” when I’m in public!!
“That I am the biological child carrying the bloodline of the ducal house is something my late father explicitly stated in public, and I myself firmly believe that I am the child born between my parents. However, it is also an undeniable fact that I am ‘Powerless.’ …………Therefore, I have a proposal.”
Every single eye in the room locked onto me at once.
“My younger brother, Garnest, is still only six years old. I propose that I serve as the Acting Duke for the next ten years until he reaches adulthood, and upon his coming of age, the ducal title shall be passed on to Garnest.”
A low murmur rippled through the grand hall. I locked my gaze onto the “Powerless” fools around me, wearing a smile that was deliberate to the point of being venomous.
“Surely, no one here intends to question the parentage of my younger brother as well?”
In the first place, for people of inferior rank to even question the lineage of the Duke’s eldest son is the height of insolence.
The only reason they dared to do it to me was because I had lost the backing of my parents, and they completely underestimated me as a “Powerless” young brat. They wouldn’t have the guts to try and disparage my brother on this stage, given that he possesses a “Trait” and has the backing of my stepmother and her powerful maternal family.
They probably wanted to line their own pockets by dragging me down, the absolute idiots!
Even if, by some wild stretch of the imagination, I wasn’t of the ducal bloodline… There is already another legitimate male heir right there, so any idiot should realize there was never going to be a turn for the likes of you!
“Stepmotherāno, Duchess Luxembourg. What say you? Do you have any objections?”
When I directed the question to her, she could only nod awkwardly in sheer daze.
And just like that, it was officially decided that I would surrender the title. Well, a lot happened after that, like well-meaning people around me telling me to reconsider, but we’ll skip over those details.
My current standing:
Kaiser von Luxembourg.
Eldest son of the ducal house and Acting Duke. Big brother to the arrogant, narcissistic capture target and the villainous, spoiled princessānow formally rebranded as My Sweet Angels.
To be perfectly frank, everything except that last part is completely irrelevant.
