1.Jared Murphy’s despair
Minor correction: It was actually his "grandfather" who was with Jared and not his "father". Sorry for the misunderstanding
**
"I sincerely apologize for my daughter's rudeness."
The Duke, Alway, was profusely apologizing to his host and Jared on the porch. This was after their meeting in the Daun household.
After sending them off, Jared and his grandfather settled in the sofa.
"Unlike rumors, his daughter seems to be the energetic kind"
Along with some maids, Jared's grandmother as well as Baron Daun's wife, Marte, came inside the room.
"So you have heard stories about her madam?"
(TLN: I assume that's how the Baron will call his wife from now on. 'Madam' "
"Yes, of course. I would be lying if I said that I'm not interested my grandson's future wife. But really, she has placed a troublesome condition…"
"I agree. I don't know what to do with her. Even becoming a court magician is hard enough, there are only twelve seats available. Even if a seat opened up…"
"And living with her mother also sounds troubling…"
"–You're more concerned about that?!"
He brazenly raised his voice against his grandmother's unexpected concern.
The Baron expressed the same opinion with his grandson, sympathizing him.
"To be honest, I'm concerned between the compatibility of you and that girl."
"I agree. I don't want to believe solely on rumors, but she doesn't listen well to others."
Even accounting for her high noble class, being surrounded with bad rumors was something they wanted to avoid.
His grandfather silently contemplated.
"No the rumors should be fairly suppressed. The Duke is after all, a strict person."
"The Duke has his name to protect. He can't just let any rumor roam about that his daughter is "playing" around with men and women. We can fairly ignore the small rumors as long as they are not scandalous"
At his grandparent's words, Jared inclined his head. It looked like his grandparents had known the Duke for them to be able to make a call like that.
Even for nobility, there was too much of a huge gap between a Baron and a Duke. There must be some sort of connection between them.
"Grandfather, Grandmother, do you perhaps know of the Duke personally?"
In response to Jared's question, his grandfather nodded.
"It's not publicly known, me and Duke Alway already knew each other from far back. We were comrade in arms in the battlefield, and that did only happen once or twice. Me and Duke Alway had a strong connection between us, and we often wrote letters to each other."
"I didn't know about this grandfather. This is the first time you brought it up, this is new information for me."
"If I may add in, Jared wasn't originally supposed to be married to the Duke's daughter."
"Eh?"
His grandfather took a deep breath, while a maid poured tea for them.
"This was after she(Olivia) received advice from her mother. Along with the bad rumors, all of her fiancé were forced to agree upon an absurd condition, and, how should I put it… Olivisama's bad mouth ran afoul against all of her potential fiancés in the past. And now, it is our turn."
There recently may be cases of late marriages, but around their mid-twenties, noblewomen are expected to have a child by then. If not too early, some also bore a child even before they turned twenty. Even for someone like Olivisama, there are a few families willing to accept a daughter in-law with her age.
"And when that troubled the Duke, he came running to our household hoping to force this matter unto us?"
If that were the case, that that would be certainly be troublesome. Jared didn't voice out his displeasure.
He was already tired of living a noble's life. Jared had a small dream of becoming an adventurer with his skill as a magician. But, with the sudden outcome, this denied him completely of that dream.
It wasn't like he wanted to blame someone for it, but he just wasn't content with the situation.
"That's not true. The Duke simply came to consult me about his daughter. He even called out to someone like me for this matter, well, how do I say it… just bear with me."
No doubt families tried to avoid them (The Duke) because of the rumors.
"With that in mind, the Duke took note of you as a potential partner for his daughter after hearing news from an unknown source that some Baron's idiotic son took action by himself and married another woman. Things progressed and it ended up with this arranged marriage. Forgive me."
(TLN: To be clear, (just reading between the lines here) Olivia was supposed to be engaged to Jared's father, but his father married another woman)
"There is no need to apologize grandfather."
"No, my son may have been good with the sword as with all members of the Daun household, but other than that, he was hopeless. He was good when your mother was still alive, but everything fell apart when she died. Not being able to produce any more heirs, he stagnated himself."
"Are you saying that if I were good at the sword, then things would have been different?"
He interjected his words as if they mattered heavily.
Despite being born into the sword-proficient Daun household, Jared had no talent for the sword. Although not completely hopeless, his sword skill could only be described as average, but in contrast, his magical aptitude was high. He didn't know whether this was a blessing or a curse.
He still remembered his grandfather's face after learning his grandson had no talent in the sword.
His father was a warrior on the battlefield which earned countless merits to rise up the ranks, he married his mother, a talented magician, to rise and earn the title of Baron. Seeing that his son had no talent for the sword (which was what the Murphy household was well known of), he didn't plan on handing down the family name unto him. Jared knew that his father was planning on handing down unto his other sons.
Instead of growing happily in the presence of his parents, he grew up with his grandparents, which didn't leave him unsatisfied at all.
"You don't need to concern yourself over this. You may not have talent in the sword, but those who have that talent are only good at fighting. It is better this way. People that can wield magic are far more valuable to the kingdom. You can be proud of being a magician."
"That's right. Magic is gift given from the heavens. There are only few endowed with the gift such as yours. Even if they possessed the mana to wield magic, only few that can become true magicians. Having received that power from your talented mother who was a court magician, your talent is unique. Take more pride in yourself."
In the vast continent of Felicia, there were only a few individuals that could use magic. More few are those who would make a name for themselves with the art of magic. Although aiming to be a court magician was common, there was only a few percentage of people that actually succeeded.
Furthermore, there was currently a seat that's open for a court magician in the Kingdom of Wezar (or Wizard). There were only few magicians with capable of being proficient in the trade, so it wasn't unusual if such persons would be approached by nobles when their powers are recognized. Being a noble, having more magicians stick to themselves would mean greater status.
In their case, the Duke also wanted to form relations with him on top of the marriage proposal.
"As I have said it in front of the Duke, I originally thought of passing down the family name unto you and have you become the head of the house. If happened, I would have married you off to Yenny, my granddaughter, but it was an issue when to bring it up to her…"
"So you never thought that he would be engaged to Olivisama in the first place?"
"Umm… That may be surprising as well, but did you really consider of making me head of the household?"
That revelation was as surprising as Jared's sudden engagement to Olivia.
As his father acted independently, Jared wasn't a full blooded member of the Daun household. Jared's mother may be Madam Murphy on official papers, but her origins before becoming a court magician was a commoner. Even for a Baron, it was unprecedented to take in a woman, who the previous head didn't approve.
"He may be my eldest son, but I had no plans on handing down the family name unto him. He did earn his rank as a Baron and I was prepared to face his objections, but to me, it made more sense to hand down the family name to my grandson who was far stronger and capable, than to the father, who was weak and incapable."
"That may make sense…"
(TLN: I'm sure some of you are confused as hell, so I'll answer your question if you have some in the comments)
What his grandfather said made sense. It never occurred to him that Yenny, the person who he was always treated as a younger sister, would have become his fiancé. Looking at his grandson, Jared's grandmother voiced out,
"Are you not satisfied if it's not Yenny?"
"N-No, that's not the case, I always treated her as a sister, so the idea is too brazen"
"That kid had already liked you from a long time and was just waiting for an opportunity. If you wish for it, I could arrange a marriage between you and her elder sister."
"I would have to refuse on that offer."
Yenny Daun was a good kid, but her relationship with her elder sister was unaccounted for. He already knew that her answer would be a huge laughter in front of him and his grandparents.
"Well, if the engagement between you and Olivisama proceeds, Yenny will be left out in the dust."
"I don't think she will mind being your mistress after you and Olivisama gets engage."
"Indeed."
Jared's grandfather laughed at his wife's suggestion. His grandmother also gave of a laugh jokingly albeit subtle. Jared's heart sank as he held his breath upon hearing those words.
"Putting that matter aside, we need to discuss about becoming a court magician."
"Umm, if I may, becoming a court magician is too much for me. Although I could climb to the height which my mother stood on, becoming a court magician in a span of two years will be very difficult. I'm sure you understand grandfather?"
"About that—"
"Are you saying there is more?"
Jared sensed that his grandfather already came up with a plan.
And he was right.
"It's not official, but Jared is already considered as a candidate for the seat of court magician"
"Haaa?!"
Jared still received countless surprises as the day went by.
This is getting spicy. I did all I could to explain the family structure to you guys, but I'm sure you still have questions regarding the structure-marriage thing. Comment down below and I'll try to explain as much as I can.