In a quite and peaceful room,sunlight creeped out of the only window and landed on a face of a child. It was Evan.His sleep was disrupted by the light,but he didn't open his eye immediately. He gathered his thought and reminded himself of the schedule he had today. There were nothing important.
After a while, he opened his eyes and called Maria,his personal servant. Though calling her a servant was an overestimation considering that she had a slave binding circle drawn on her neck.
Maria entered into his room with a bowl of water for Evan to wash his face. She had two small bumps sticking out of her head which indicated that she was from demon race. When she becomes a mature demon,these bumps will turn into two horns.
Evan washed his face and got down from his bed.Now it was time for his morning routine.
After Evan stepped on his second year,he found out the reason behind not seeing his father after the first day of his reincarnation. As it turns out,the nation which Evan was a part of, was currently at war with another nation. Being a noble from a family of warriors,his father had to join the war with the personal troops of their family.
His mother was also a warrior who was fighting at the war. She fell in love with Evan's father during the war and took a leave to give birth to Evan. After her leave ended,she went to the battlefield again.Claire and Ane left with her too.
After their departure,Evan was given Maria as his personal servant and Sebastian as his caretaker. Maria was an eleven years old child. She was sold by her parents when she was even younger. It really reflected the grim situation of their nation.
Sebastian,on the other hand,was a man in his late years. His face had a visible scar which extended to his left eye, leaving it blinded. He was a knight of the Sterling family. He was on the battlefield before receiving a mortal injury and getting dismissed from the army as a result.
After changing his sleeping clothes, Evan started walking towards the training area. There Sebastian was waiting for him. Evan's family could afford a personal training ground for their descendants as they were decently rich. On his way, many servants greeted him. He only nodded at them to return the greetings.
After reaching the ground, Evan found out that Sebastian was warming up. He looked so energetic as if he never received a mortal wound during the war.
'Are old men in this world this strong?'
Evan only met two old men and both of them had an strong aura surrounding them.
Aside from Evan, there was Orion who was practicing his swordsmanship. Orion had decent talent in it, so his mother hired an instructor for him. When Orion took a glance at Evan, he threw a disdainful look at him. But the next moment,he was hit by his instructor with a cane.
"Don't get distracted during your training young master Orion."
Evan wondered why Orion and his mother disliked him so much. His uncle,William,on the other hand treated him quite well.
"Good morning, sir Sebastian."
"Welcome young master. Let's start with warming up. Run five laps around the ground."
As soon as Evan arrived in the training ground,Sebastian immediately started his training. After finishing warming up and stretching a little,he took a wooden sword from the weapon rack.
He didn't want to go near any weapon, but his grandfather insisted on it. When he tried to learn spear,his grandfather rejected it too. His grandfather wanted him to inherit their swordsmanship legacy.
Reluctantly he was forced to train with sword. Anyway,his training was a lot easier than Orion's.
One hour later, he completed his tasks given by Sebastian. Orion on the other hand was still spending his time with his instructor.
Now he had some time left before breakfast. So he decided to take a stroll around the garden. Everyone in the Sterling family took their breakfast together.
When it was time for the breakfast, he arrived in their massive dinning hall where servants already prepared the table. At the moment, he was the only one who was present in the dining room.
As Evan was absent mindedly pondering upon the reason behind the huge size of the dining room, he heard an affectionate voice
"Is our Evan hungry already? You can begin your breakfast if you want."
It was his grandmother who had just entered into the room.
Evan stood up from his chair and slightly bowed,
"Greetings grandmother. I would like to wait for everyone else so that we can eat together."
"Oww,our little Evan is so considerate."
She picked up Evan, sat on a chair and took him on her lap.
"Grandmother, I am older now."
Clearly he didn't want to sit on her lap.
"Of course you are. You are 5 years old."
She didn't get the hint or choose to ignore it. Instead she started to pull Evan's cheek, and giggle foolishly.
Evan didn't really hated this kind of parental affection. In his previous life, his mother died during his birth and his father who was a factory worker, was always busy with work. Cost of living was very expensive. His father went to work before he woke up and came back when he was asleep. Their neighbours took care of him when he was a child. Although they never treated him badly, he never felt the genuine love of parents.
He was just a little awkward about sitting on her lap. Evan clossed his while his grandmother pinched his cheeks softly. One after another members of Sterling family started to arrive at the room. Everyone were greeting his grandmother.
After a few moment, Evan felt an unfriendly gaze. Evan didn't open his eyes. He assumed it was from either Orion or Rebecca.
Evan still couldn't figure it out why this mother and son disliked him so much. At last when Evan's grandfather arrived, everyone stood up, excluding his grandmother, to pay respect to the family head.
She was holding Evan so he couldn't get up. Only after his grandfather sat down in his respective place that everyone else sat down as well.
"Let's start our meal."
His grandfather took the first bite of the food and following him everyone else started eating.
Evan's grandmother released him and he sat on a chair next to his grandmother.
Rebecca meanwhile was fuming with anger. By sitting close to his grandmother, he was naturally closer to his grandfather,the current patriarch of the family. To her, it was a matter of great honour which was being wasted on Evan. Her son should be the one to enjoy this type of treatment.
Evan, as always, decided to ignore her gaze which was filled with hatred.
After finishing the meal, his grandfather took his leave. When Evan was about to leave, his grandmother spoke,
"Evan,sweety, come to your grandmother's place. I have something important to discuss with you."
"Alright, grandmother. When do I visit you?"
"Anytime you like dear. You don't need any appointment to meet your own grandmother."
She smilled brightly and left the room, leaving Evan behind.
Evan noticed Orion wad looking at him and opening his mouth to say something but Evan just looked away and started to walk away.
According to Evan, nothing good will come by getting involved with this mother and son pair. Meanwhile, Orion was forced to swallow his word as he was ignored completely.