Reincarnated extra refuses to die

Arc 1. Interlude III

"I have... a younger brother?"

The little four year old boy with eyes as dark as the night and hair the same color asked, astounded. He blinked in confusion, looking up at his father, waiting for him to confirm or deny what he just said.

Daniel de la Rosa just kept looking at the documents, reading one and signing it just to go for another the next instant. He took a long while to answer his son.

"More accurately, he's your half-brother. Some wench just came yesterday night and threw him at me claiming he was her deceased sister's child, my child. She said she couldn't take care of him anymore" he stopped a moment just to scoff. "Truly a despicable woman. As if an illegitimate child isn't enough trouble."

"Illegitimate?" the boy asked, tilting his head. He was a smart child, but this word was one he had never heard.

Daniel simply shook his head. "No need for you to know of that yet. As I was saying, this boy that came yesterday night is your new little brother, so make sure to treat him well" he put down his pen, before resting his elbows on his desk and intertwining his fingers. "I swear, if the boy wasn't a carbon copy of me, I would have had that woman killed along with the child for the simple fact of making me lose my time with something as trivial as this."

Mathias simply nodded, already accustomed to his father's way of speaking. He glanced at the floor momentarily, before realizing something important.

"Father, if my little brother had another mother, then..."

"Ah, yes, regarding that, I expect you to calm your mother about this matter. She will not be happy, but as long as she isn't immeasurably hostile towards the boy she can behave however she wants."

"I understand, father" Mathias answered even though he truly didn't understand. His father nodded and dismissed him, and he left, looking for the new little brother he was supposed to treat well.

"Mother hates me."

Mathias turned to look at Lucas. The four year old boy had grown quite a lot in the last three years. Mathias could still remember when he would stumble about the house, barely able to say a few sentences without mistakes. He was an energetic boy, optimistic to a fault, and Mathias liked that a lot.

But he was becoming too perceptive for his own good.

"Of course not, why do you think that?" he asked, turning back to his book, behaving like it wasn't a big deal. They were in the garden, in front of the family's mausoleum, sitting on a bench. Mathias wanted a change of scenery, tired of the stale air of his bedroom. He didn't count with Lucas loitering around.

He could see he was a boy too starved for love. It made him sad.

"Because... she doesn't look at me at all. When I try to talk to her she looks the other way and pretends she doesn't see me. It's like I'm a bother to her."

Mathias sighed, closing his book, already knowing he wouldn't be able to study at all. It's not that it was a secret that Lucas was an illegitimate child, it was just... no one ever saw the need to inform him of that fact. Mathias included. And he didn't want to tell him either. Although he didn't know well when he was still little, now that he was seven years old he could understand how sad it would make him to know the truth of his birth. The stigma of being a bastard was hard to bear.

Not that the current situation wasn't making him sad, but Mathias, at the very least, didn't want to be the one to tell him the truth. It wasn't his role either way.