Chapter 153: Brothers

Chapter 153: Brothers

Adam and Aki, as the older brothers of Lily and Bran, always watched over everything. Compared to their cousin, their inner selves were even more confused.

As the eldest son, Adam received more attention from a young age. As his younger siblings were born, this attention was gradually shared, but the eldest son naturally claimed more.

He was the first to have a longsword, armor, and so on, and so on. Then his younger brother Aki inherited these, followed by his younger sister Lily who had no choice but to pick up these even more worn-out toys, and finally, it was Bran’s turn.

He refused to accept it. Things started to become different when they reached him. He just stayed silent, not crying out like Aki or making a big fuss like Lily. He simply refused with his silence, ignoring the pile of junk placed in front of him.

Until the youngest sister, Xirui, that little thing, joyfully pounced on that pile of junk.

He didn’t like Bran. He had never liked him. He hated the way Bran looked at him, at all the children, at all the people, with eyes that saw an idiot. Only the clueless Lily foolishly protected him. So he didn’t like Lily either, this sister who only grew in strength, not in brains.

But, they were still blood brothers after all. He could only reluctantly protect Bran, but more often he chose to avoid him. Even though he knew it was his responsibility. Ever since they were little, their parents taught him to take care of his younger sister, to take care of his younger brother, and he had promised.

But apart from Aki, it seemed no one else needed him. The experience of being chased and hit by his sister in front of many companions was too painful, but even more infuriating was Bran’s disregard—complete disregard. If you blocked his path, he would go around you; if you stood in the doorway, he turned and went back; if you cornered him, he would just stand there silently, without panic, without needing words, until you couldn’t hold out and started backing down.

Father made a Wooden Sword for Bran alone, spending a whole night for this idiot. A brand-new Wooden Sword. He didn’t care; he had once owned brand-new things too. Yet, after Bran moved to the Mountain Villa, he sneaked into Bran’s room in the Castle, wanting to take that Wooden Sword, but the Wooden Sword was no longer there.

After Bran went to the Everspring Riverbank, he searched through the Mountain Villa again. Bran didn’t take many things with him; all sorts of weapons and armor were neatly arranged there, except there was no Wooden Sword. Bran handed the Mountain Villa over to Lily, which made him a bit jealous. All this should have been given to their parents for safekeeping, or to him, because he was the eldest son of this family.

He was the eldest son. Many things had to start with him. Items needed to be distributed starting from him, then in order after that. And he was usually the one in charge of the distribution.

Fair or unfair, it was all in his control. Being fair would naturally earn praise from their parents; being unfair only resulted in advice to be more yielding. A little unfairness, no one would say he was wrong. The adults just smiled and watched, mostly encouraging. Individual differences were just like that; the order of birth gave him a natural priority.

Bran broke all of this. Silently, he gained many things he, Adam, longed to have, and then so did Lily.

Did Bran ever care about him? Maybe.

Before and after his and Aki’s Trial, he felt Bran’s concern for the first time, and he was truly moved back then.

Only gradually did he come to understand. Bran wasn’t caring about them; he was just afraid of making their parents sad. Bran didn’t care about them at all; he just wanted them alive.

Yes, alive is enough…

Just like he had never cared about Bran, even once wishing that idiot would die…

…

Aki was used to following behind his older brother. It had been like that since they were little. His brother took him to play, protected him, even took the blame for him when they made mistakes.

They ate together, lived together, inseparable. If there was something good to eat, his brother would let him have it; if he was bullied, his brother would stand up for him. This made his personality tend towards weakness. Maybe that was why he was always bullied by Lily.

Lily always got better treatment than him. She was their parents’ first daughter.

He always felt that when their parents’ gazes fell on him, it was just sliding past on the way. At the dinner table, their parents’ eyes would first land on his older brother, then slide past him and land on his younger sister…

What would he do then? Shrinking his neck, or pouting, he couldn’t quite remember anymore.

Conflicts between the siblings were constant, often over a mouthful of food, and then arguments would happen, even escalating into fights. The situation slowly changed. Lily became harder and harder to deal with, and Bran also got pulled into it.

This younger sister was always like that, fighting not just for herself but also for Bran, yet in the end, the one who always got hurt was him—Aki.

Bran was always silent, as if indifferent to everything around him.

His older brother would always give him an extra piece of meat, an extra spoonful of soup. Lily would always shout about it being unfair, then scoop an even bigger spoonful from his plate and dump it onto Bran’s plate. Then Bran would quickly lower his head and eat it all up cleanly.

Finally, Bran’s plate was clean, and his plate was clean too. Only then would his older brother and younger sister sit down, huffing angrily, and start eating their own plates. Seeing the clean plates in front of those two, Lily would continue to share her portion with Bran; and his older brother would share with him too.

He thought his older brother caused all of this. If it had been fairer back then, and he had properly given Lily some too, maybe it wouldn’t have been like that? From his perspective, Lily and Bran weren’t close. Who could possibly be close to Bran back then?

Maybe that was when closeness and distance gradually formed between the siblings.

After Bran became a Wizard, everyone could see his favoritism towards Lily, only Lily herself was slow to realize it. Just like how she protected Bran, never considering that idiot might react. So Bran didn’t pay attention to Lily’s reactions either.

He saw Lily sneak into Bran’s room to steal things more than once. He expected arguments to happen, but they never did. Bran’s room always had all sorts of novel items. He wanted to steal too but never succeeded. After a few times, he understood.

He watched with jealousy as his younger sister first stole, then snatched, and finally, Bran handed the entire Mountain Villa over to her.

He could see Adam’s disappointment. The Mountain Villa held too many things people dreamed of having. He felt a bit sorry for his older brother. Adam had protected him since childhood, and he had always been a burden, unable to help with anything.

Since he was little, he had never competed for anything, nor had he ever won anything. Now, he didn’t want to compete even more. Bran must have been the same. Although he didn’t say anything, everyone knew Bran wouldn’t come back, at least not return as the master.