Maellan was thrown to the ground by that impact.
"How dare you?" Duke Taevas first asked in a leveled tone.
Maellan made the smart choice not to answer and add to his anger. He just sat there on the ground with his bruise cheek, which also had a light scratch from Duke Taeva's ring grazing him.
Ronin did not feel any sympathy or anger at his brother being treated like this, just watching everything with his bored, black eyes.
In fact, he has the same interest in this as someone watching a drama on TV. All that's missing was popcorn.
"How dare you humiliate me like that in front of the inspectors, bringing such an amazing performance and then ruining it with your nonsense?" Duke Taevas scolded with his saliva raining down.
"I always thought you read far too many books, and they have rattled up your brain! Giving you all these fantasies of becoming a doctor through lightning!"
"You don't know how lucky you are, Maellan." The duke ran a hand over his own face.
"You don't know how lucky you are! Born as a noble, born with powers beyond the average, useless person... You were born with everything! And you could have had everything!"
"You were supposed to study at the Spire of Warriors!" Duke Taevas kicked a nearby ornamental tree in the yard.
"Become a soldier, rise up the ranks to be knighted even! Yet you waste it all away for what!? For some science that has not been studied yet!???"
"I always knew you intellectuals are the worst. Always gaining knowledge that will bring you to your own destruction, always not thinking about the practical matters in life! Don't you see!? When you are a soldier....." Duke Taevas rambled.
"You could go to lands that nobody can even step foot on! You can find treasures, gain riches beyond compare, get the most comfortable life one can imagine! Better than any paradise here in the Celestus realm!"
"But that's not what I want, Father---"
"SILENCE! You don't know yet what you want, you are far too young to decide that!"
The loud shouting drew the attention of other people in the household, but they did not dare interfere.
Like Ronin, they just watched inside the house, by the windows, whispering and gossiping with each other.
Someone suddenly smacked the back of Ronin's head.
"What in the nine heaven's is going on, little prune? What's with all the shouting?"
Great. The second son, Zeuxis, was also here to watch the spectacle.
Ronin glared at this bastard brother of his that was just like their bastard father. A brute.
"Maellan is getting shouted at by Father? What a rare sight!" The now 7-year-old Zeuxis grinned with malicious delight. " And he seems to have even taken a beating! The most favored son, the pride and joy..... What could he have possibly done to encure Father's wrath, eh?"
"Incur, not encure." Ronin corrected with his baby voice.
"Silence, prune. Go read your textbooks and hide in the shadows. No one would be able to see you there, you'd merge well there to the point that you're invisible due to your black skin! Hahaha!"
Zeuxis laughed like it was the most hilarious joke ever.
'It was probably the best he could come up with that small blueberry-sized brain of his.' Ronin thought.
Ronin just rolled his eyes at him, and paid attention to what Maellan will do now. His eldest brother was standing up, and there's an unreadable expression on his face.
"Father, the inspectors already told you. It is my path to take, it is my choice. Not yours." Maellan said. "I'm sorry if I'm not able to complete your own fantasies of becoming a knight because you failed your Triannum test for the Academy, and can only study at your local Schoola....."
"But that is not my burden to carry."
"You....." Duke Taevas was beyond his usual anger.
He was livid. Those words spoken by Maellan were enough to have him summon his sword by reflex. He realized this, but did not try to calm himself down.
Instead, he slammed that sword on a tree near Maellan as some kind of intimidation tactic!
But the eldest brother was unfazed.
And so, Duke Taevas slammed his fist on him once more!
Maellan did not fight back nor summoned his Spear of Levin to protect himself. After all, he may have answered back earlier, but he did so as calmly as he could. He just delivered the truth and did not insult his Father with any words.
"He's beating him up to death! Hahahaha! Amazing, amazing!" Zeuxis clapped and cheered.
Ronin scoffed. Zeuxis had always been jealous of Maellan because unlike him, he did not receive his Father's features. His powers that were slowly manifesting also leaned closer to Clairo Mage like his Mother rather than Hero Mage.
And so, he was often overshadowed by Maellan and not given the same attention. Not to mention that his Father was already always away from looking for a cure to Ronin's curse.
It's already been 3 years, and all his searching was fruitless.
And what's worse was that he had announced that they will be having a third child while Duchess Akasa was still pregnant. The nobles who were visiting for tea parties often asked him where this third young master was.
He was getting desperate now, so he resolved to---
"What is going on here!? Taevas, what are you doing to your own son!?"
Duchess Akasa passed by Zeuxis and Ronin at the door they were peeking on, and hurriedly went to the yard...
With her large, swollen belly.
Yes, she was pregnant again. It was the only solution they can think of to save themselves from shame whenever people ask them about their third child.
They were supposed to replace Ronin with this child, to make it seem that this was the third young master instead of the fourth. Ronin only remembered this fact even when 9 months already passed because he does not really care about this family drama at all.
This just serves as his origin story. An excuse, a motivation for his character being a villain. He was too busy reading books and planning Cermin Drychspiel's death.
"Taevas, stop! Stop it, I say!" The pregnant Duchess Akasa pulled at her enraged husband's arm to stop him from delivering blow after blow to their eldest.
"Leave me be, woman! I'm disciplining your brat here! His head had gone too big, and it's all because of you!" He pushed her aside.
Duchess Akasa was still trying her best to stop him, when she suddenly howled in pain, holding her stomach.
This caused Duke Taevas to stop hitting Maellan...
Because water soon flowed from Duchess Akasa's dress, along with some blood.
'Uh-oh. What perfect timing.' Ronin thought dreadfully. 'Another Zafeiri in this chaotic household.'