"It wasn't my fault that you chose to leave… a waste of potential. But I am not going to kill you, so quit acting like you are defeated," Bernhard sighed as he wiped the blood off the heirloom blade. Ludwig remained on the ground, looking up at Bernhard. Suddenly, a loud crash echoed nearby.
Abel, clad in heavy plate armor resembling a reinforced Roman general's gear, charged at Bernhard. He held a longsword in its sheath while swinging a halberd toward Bernhard. With swift precision, Bernhard slashed off both of Abel's arms in one quick motion. The arm holding the sheathed longsword tumbled near Ludwig. Ludwig watched in horror as Bernhard stabbed Abel in the chest, then pulled the blade out with a disgusted expression.
Abel reached toward Ludwig with what remained of his arms before falling back, lifeless. Bernhard swung the heirloom through the air, splattering Abel's blood onto Ludwig's face, who wore an expression of hopelessness—the same feeling he had the day he escaped from the Azure family.
"Lorenna's mercenaries would pursue me day and night. According to a note I found on one of them, it said, "kill the younger one, capture the older one.'"
A younger Ludwig was shown fighting a group of mercenaries. His sword, a birthday present from his mother, grew duller by the second. Eventually, it was so dull it served more as a blunt weapon before shattering in half, along with Ludwig's will to fight.
Ludwig wanted to protect Abel because he needed someone who understood him, who saw him as a person, not a prized possession or a valuable asset. There was also another person, a female butler of the same age as Ludwig. During the rough times after the theater incident, she would treat the wounds Lorenna inflicted on him and Abel. One night, Lorenna shot the butler, Julia, in the head in front of them both.
The mercenaries won against Ludwig, both physically and mentally. Just before they laid a finger on him and Abel, they were sliced in half by a single slash.
"Leave those damn kids alone," a voice sighed as a sheathing sound was heard. Ludwig lost consciousness before he could see the man who saved them. Hours later, he awoke to the harsh white lights of a hospital.
"Ya awake?" the voice asked as Ludwig's eyes fluttered open. He saw a man with gold and black eyes: Rin. Unfamiliar with his surroundings, Ludwig instinctively jolted up. "Abel!" he called out, then saw Abel sitting next to his hospital bed, stuffing his face with a sandwich wrapped in parchment paper.
"You must be strong, holding up against a bunch of adults. How old are you?" Rin asked calmly, offering Ludwig the other half of Abel's sandwich, but a nurse stopped him.
"Fourteen…" Ludwig mumbled, looking away. He heard faint laughter from Rin. "What are you, some prodigy?" Ludwig fixed his eyes forward, away from Rin. Rin quickly noticed and asked, "What's your name?"
"Ludwig… Ludwig Azure… and that's my younger brother, Abel Azure," he introduced himself. Another loud laugh was heard. "Azure? This far? Now I understand," Rin chuckled. "I heard the news that a certain family lost two children, and you two must be them!" He laughed further. Abel looked at him in fear, thinking they would be sent back. Instead, they heard, "Ludwig, what is your goal?"
"My goal? I guess I just want to protect my brother. That's how it was since we escaped," he said with slight embarrassment. He then heard a sigh, a sigh tinged with sadness.
"What would you do if he died? The one person your goal was centered around, dead. What would your next goal be then?" Rin asked seriously. Ludwig went silent, unable to answer.
"I know now, Rin. That next goal is to execute the one who killed him," Ludwig thought deeply. Before Bernhard realized it, he saw Ludwig getting up and, in a brief moment, swinging his longsword at him with such force that it knocked him back across the manor corridor.
Due to the force of Ludwig's swing, the blade shattered in two. Ludwig then grabbed the sheathed longsword Abel held onto and unsheathed it, revealing a dull blade.