Chapter 85: I'm not
I woke up to the sound of heavy breathing, the rhythmic panting of someone nearby. Alongside it, the distinct swish of a sword slicing through the air reached my ears. Opening my eyes I saw myself surrounded by countless crimson roses.
It was a garden. In the distance, I saw a mansion, and after a few seconds of staring at it, I recognized it. It was the Grace mansion, the same one I had seen in Iske's first memory.
Turning my eyes to the side, I saw the source of the noise, it was a boy diligently training with a wooden sword in hands. It was Iske, he was a bit older compared to the last memory.
The boy stood amidst the garden of roses, repeating the same movements with the sword, a simple horizontal slash, nothing too sophisticated. Despite its simplicity, it was evident that the boy had been practicing for a while.
His body was coated in sweat, and he panted heavily, his arms visibly trembling from exertion.
How long has he been doing this?
I approached the small Iske, and like the last time, he couldn't see me at all. Without option I just kept watching him training for minutes, that quickly turned into hours. After a long time, he stopped.
He let go of his weapon and fell onto the bed of roses, gasping for breath. I could feel his emotions, for some reason, the boy was feeling a lot of emotions laying down in that garden. Emotions that resemble a lot those I felt when he was with his mother.
He was in peace at that moment, but something broke that peace he was feeling, when he heard someone approaching.
It was a boy, slightly older than Iske, carrying golden eyes, sensing his presence, Iske sat on the ground.
"What are you doing?" The boy asked.
"Training," Iske answered.
He looked around for a few seconds and then asked, "Here?"
"I like this place"
The boy nodded, and revealed what he came here to tell, "Father is looking for you"
I immediately noticed Iske's reaction with the mention of his father, his body became stiff, and his eyes slightly widened, he instantly got up and asked with a serious tone:
"You know what he wants?"
The boy hesitated before answering, "It's probably about your progress"
Hearing that Iske lowered his head and nodded, on the surface he seemed sad, but I could feel something even greater than the sadness in him, it was the frustration he had with himself.
"Thanks for telling me"
Iske passed by the boy who tried stretching his arm to stop him, but retreated, then he opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out, so he just gave up and followed Iske towards the mansion.
Entering the mansion I felt the countless eyes of the servants following Iske, and none of them with good intentions to the boy. The whole atmosphere changed once he entered, the servants started gossiping, whispering behind his back.
Iske pretended that he didn't see it, and pretended that he didn't care at all.
But I could feel, he does care, and it hurts.
He made his way towards his father's office pretty quickly, he couldn't stand being in the presence of the servants for too long. Reaching his father's office, he stopped in front of the door and stared at it for a while.
"I can't enter with you," The boy said.
Iske nodded, "You don't need to"
He feigned confidence in front of the boy, but I could feel his anxiousness and fear. But still, he opened the door and entered the office.
The entire office was in disarray, a complete and utter mess. It was also shrouded in darkness, as the curtains prevented even a single ray of light from going through the windows and illuminating the room.
There was only a single source of light in the room, a lamp that was illuminating a desk filled with countless papers and many other items around.
And it was also illuminating a man, sitting on a chair, looking deep into Iske. Most of his face was concealed by the darkness, but I could see his bright golden eyes.
"Father" Iske says, lowering his head a bit.
The man didn't even bothered to greet Iske, he jumped straight to questions, "I heard you're having problems with your training recently"
Iske's body stiffed, and he answered, "I'm feeling a bit difficult to learn the Grace Style, but nothing…"
The man interrupted Iske, "Forget it, you won't be able to learn it anyway"
Those words hurt Iske more than a sword ever could, and I felt it all.
"Please father, I can, just give me some…"
Once again he was interrupted, "Just give up, don't waste your time, you don't have what's necessary for it"
It's quite revolting to watch this as a third person, I suppose no child should hear such things from their father.
For some reason I felt sad, and it was not coming from Iske, it was coming from myself. I feel sympathy towards him, it was something that I don't usually feel, but I guess it's because I understand what he's going through.
I guess we are not that different, Iske Grace.
I watched as young Iske grew quiet, too embarrassed to say anything more, overwhelmed by feelings of neglect and disregard.
Then his father said, "You can leave now, and tell Jacob that I'm looking for him"
Iske only nodded with his head down and left the office, on the corridor, the boy was waiting for him, but he was not alone, he was accompanied by someone, it was Iske's older brother.
Jacob, now older and almost reaching adulthood, opened a smile as soon as he saw Iske. However, that smile faded once he noticed Iske's expression
"Hey, are you fine?" Jacob said kneeling to be at the same height as Iske.
Iske nodded saying, "I'm fine"
Jacob sighed as he looked between the office's door and Iske, then he glanced at the boy, "Evan, can you let me talk with him?"
The boy, Evan nodded and left, then Iske took the opportunity and said, "Father wants to talk with you"
"That can wait," Jacob answered and started walking through the corridor.
Iske followed him and said, "It must be important"
"It must be, but you are more"
Those words made Iske stop, Jacob sensed that and stopped as well, looking back to his younger brother and asking, "What?"
"Father wouldn't call you for no reason, it must be really important, just leave me and go"
Jacob answered him with a gentle voice, "I already told you, you are more important"
'I'm not'
For the first time, I heard Iske's thoughts.
'I'm not important'
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone