House Artin’s Regret

House Artin of the Britannia Empire.

As one of the three great ducal houses in the Britannia Empire, this place had always been a center of wealth, honor, and power.

Furthermore, this place, known for giving birth to a hero with special powers who would prevent the end of the world, the so-called [Chosen One], should have been a place that received the reverence of countless people.

But now, a dark atmosphere hung over House Artin.

This wasn’t a recent development; House Artin had been engulfed in a gloomy atmosphere for a long time already.

“Ah, ah… Theodore…”

A woman was desperately longing for someone, searching like a madwoman.

With her long golden hair tinged with blue, a beautiful figure visible even beneath her dress, and a beautiful face with a somewhat sorrowful air, she exuded a charm that could still stir the hearts of many men despite having reached her early forties, though she appeared to be only in her early thirties.

However, no man would dare harbor such thoughts about her.

Her status was that of the Duchess of House Artin.

“Sob, Theodore… Mommy is sorry… please…”

But she was spending her time endlessly, shedding tears while calling Theodore’s name.

It had already been 11 years since her son Theodore disappeared.

What made her even sadder was that she didn’t even know exactly when he had disappeared 11 years ago.

The margin of error stretched from at least three weeks to over a month, and neither she nor anyone in the mansion remembered the exact date he disappeared.

The reason was simple.

Everyone in House Artin, including her, had been so indifferent to their son Theodore.

On June 15th, 21 years ago.

On that day, she gave birth to twins.

And because there had been a prophecy that she would give birth to the Chosen One, a hero born to save the world from the apocalypse, the whole world had paid attention to the twins born in House Artin.

“I heard the boy born this time is a twin?”

“If only one of them had been a girl, it would have been easier to distinguish.”

“Right? Who among the two is the Chosen One? We can’t tell who is the hero who will save the world.”

“According to the prophecy, he will possess special powers that no one else in this world can have, right? It must be the one with such abilities.”

Theodore and William.

People showed interest in which of the twin brothers would be the Chosen One.

And in the year William turned two, he demonstrated the power to control objects without directly touching them, a power known as telekinesis.

“Goodness gracious.”

“Not magic, but the power to simply control objects?”

“This is a miracle!”

People were excited about this ability William possessed, and they were greatly enthusiastic about William, who had shown special abilities since he was a baby.

Everyone thought he was the Chosen One, and House Artin was no different.

“William, you are our pride!”

The Duke of Artin, Elliot, was proud of William, the glory of the family, and despite Theodore being the elder twin with higher succession rights, he designated William as the heir and showered him with all his affection.

And in this situation, the Duchess of Artin, Ceres, also followed her husband Elliot’s actions and showed favoritism only to William.

“William, Mom loves you more than anything in the world.”

In the midst of such one-sided favoritism toward William, Theodore’s existence was naturally forgotten.

Even the servants and maids working in House Artin naturally ignored him and treated him as if he didn’t exist.

In retrospect, it was absurdly ridiculous, but at that time, she had never shown any affection to Theodore. No, she had never even considered his existence important in the first place.

She would praise William excessively for even small achievements and often overlooked his lies even when she knew he was lying.

But no matter how hard Theodore tried, she never praised him, and she didn’t even know what he ate.

As she later found out, the servants and maids didn’t properly provide him with meals, and they didn’t even clean his room properly, so he had to clean it himself.

The reason they didn’t know he had disappeared was ridiculously simple.

The servants and maids didn’t bring him food, and he always went into the kitchen to cook his own meals with leftover ingredients or filled his stomach with what the Artin family had left over from their meals.

The servants and maids didn’t do anything for Theodore, whom the Duke and Duchess of Artin ignored, and they didn’t even know he had disappeared.

“Haah.”

Thinking of those times, Ceres let out a sigh. She truly had no memories of doing anything together with Theodore.

Even when the family all went out for walks together, she only took William with her, never Theodore.

She wasn’t even interested in why Theodore didn’t join them.

William was the only one she was proud of, and focusing all her love on him, the hero who would save the world, seemed only natural to her at the time.

No, not just her, but everyone in House Artin thought that way.

To that extent, the glory of the [Chosen One] who would save the world had blinded their eyes.

‘I wonder if there’s any new information?’

House Artin had gone to the lengths of searching the entire Britannia Empire to find Theodore’s whereabouts.

However, not even knowing exactly when he disappeared, it was extremely difficult to determine Theodore’s appearance.

There were many people with black hair and blue eyes, and they couldn’t know what kind of clothes Theodore usually wore.

His physical appearance would have matched that of a 10-year-old at the time, but the problem was that even the Duke and Duchess of Artin couldn’t remember his exact features.

When Ceres belatedly realized this fact, she was horrified.

She couldn’t properly remember what her son looked like, and she felt a chill run down her spine when she realized that, except for when he was a baby, they didn’t even have photos taken together.

‘How could I not even properly remember my son’s appearance?’

Even she couldn’t comprehend her past self when she thought about it now.

The same was true for Elliot; after focusing on the search using the ducal house’s resources for three years, he eventually seemed to believe that Theodore had died. While he still dedicated some resources to the search, he had begun to focus on his duties again.

And as the Duke and Duchess of Artin regained their senses, they gradually began to see the attitude of William, the heir of House Artin.

“Ah, Mom.”

The door opened, and William entered with a swaggering gait.

“…What is it this time?”

Ceres asked in a tired voice toward her son who had suddenly appeared in her room.

“Reina was being insolent, so I taught her a lesson, and now she’s crying and making a fuss. Isn’t it too much to defy me, the [Chosen One]? The hero who will save the world’s fate? I’m so annoyed I could die hearing that girl cry.”

Reina was the late-born sister to William and the missing Theodore.

Now 14 years old, she had been only 3 when Theodore disappeared, and after realizing their mistake, the Duke and Duchess of Artin began to give affection to Reina as fairly as possible, no longer showing favoritism only to William.

However, the problem was that William had already grown into an uncontrollable ruffian.

At the academy, he was already involved in rumors with numerous female students, and he abused his reputation as the [Chosen One] by accusing those who defied him of plotting to bring about the world’s destruction, saying that everyone would die if he didn’t save the world, so they shouldn’t irritate him. His arrogant behavior had earned him the resentment of many.

But with the background of House Artin and the reputation of being the [Chosen One] firmly positioned behind him, no one could blame him.

“What… what did you do to Reina?”

“Oh, Mom. What did I do? I just gave her a little knock on the head. Am I some kind of thug? Would I beat my little sister?”

Ceres felt a headache coming on as she listened to his swaggering attitude.

She was now witnessing the results of improper upbringing right before her eyes.

William had already become a ruffian beyond the control of even the Duke and Duchess of Artin, the result of their indulgent upbringing, letting him get away with lies they knew he was telling, and allowing him to grow up with the reputation of being the [Chosen One] since childhood.