Sylus didn't know who this kid was, but it was obvious the kid did.
While his mother was busy discussing with the maids at the corner of the room, this random scrawny-looking kid walked up to the bed and just straight-up stared him down.
He was well dressed as well, having the royal attire of a prince. Although, the kid's facial structure was identical to that of a silverback gorilla.
'He can't be my brother, right?' Sylus questioned.
Just then, the ugly, well-dressed kid leaned against the bed.
"Die already… Why are you trying to take everything from me?" whispered the kid.
Sylus was not exactly intimidated by the boy's words. It was more like his defensive mode flared up without control.
Being homeless in his former life, there were times when people would want to kill or beat him up for no reason. And since it happened frequently, Sylus adapted, subconsciously entering a mental state where he defends himself no matter what.
Just like that, his instinct kicked in.
Poke!
He shoved his finger into the kid's eyes.
"Ahhhhhh! My eyes! Mum, my eyes!!!"
The kid screamed as he fell to the ground, hands covering his face, crying.
'Oh? So you are my brother.'
Not long after, his mother came running to the boy's aid.
"Lucas! What are you doing? I told you not to play like that; you could get yourself seriously injured."
She picked him up from the ground, first cleaning his tears so she could check his eyes.
Sylus lay there, watching the scene before him.
And the first thing that played in his mind: 'Is this what a mother does?'
In his defense, he was an orphan. In fact, the most he knew about parents was from stories his homeless friends would tell him once in a while.
They were all abusive… as such, this sight was a tad bit surprising.
"Please look after my son; I'll be right back."
Sylus's mother said to the maids before dragging Lucas out of the room.
'Don't tell me they are going to get a doctor for a simple eye poke? Eh? Did I somehow damage his eyes permanently?' A nervous look played on his face, but he quickly regained his composure.
'He had it coming anyway. My radar is never wrong; that damn kid for sure wanted me dead. I should be careful of him.'
Suddenly—
"Ehehe~ the third prince is so handsome~ he looks closer to the king than the first prince," one of the maids said to the other.
A skill Sylus had picked up over his homeless years: listening without making it obvious.
'They are talking about me.'
"You think? I thought the same thing too. I can tell the third prince will grow up to be a ladies' man," another maid uttered.
'Yeah right, I couldn't even hope to pull a female bug in my past life. Then again, maybe this new body is that good-looking?'
The maids continued.
"Did you also hear? I heard the young prince got the rare star."
"How can you possibly know that? Star blessings are not revealed until they are five years of age."
The tall maid leaned forward with enthusiasm. "I know, duh~ but I overheard the queen saying there were reports of all the stars facing the direction of the mansion after the third prince's birth."
"Are you for real?"
"Yeah, I know what I heard."
'What the hell is a star blessing?' Sylus stylishly looked at the two maids, and there they were, giggling at him like some fangirls.
Ding!
[Star blessing: This is an essential event for people in this world. After the age of five, people under a star are granted abilities and attributes.]
'Like constellations?'
Well, he knew far too little about stars, so he didn't bother trying to understand it.
Waiting two more years to see the star blessing he would get shouldn't be that big of a deal.
…
Four days later.
Sylus was feeling a bit better and could now move from one place to another. His limbs no longer hurt either, which was a major relief.
Although he was still locked up in the room since his mother was worried he hadn't fully recovered.
As always, the two maids were still the ones looking after him. You'd think they'd get tired and just do whatever in disguise of looking after him.
But they were always genuinely happy about it, every single day.
Leaving that aside, Sylus learned more about his family from a few listens here and there.
For example, Martins Von Astrodial was his father's name, and he was the king of the Vadenez kingdom. People also seemed to both love and fear him, a strange thing Sylus could not understand.
One can't do both, right?
His mother's name was Elizabeth Von Astrodial, and she was the second wife of the king.
The king had married before, and that queen gave birth to Lucas Von Astrodial, the first prince, and then Erica Von Astrodial, the second child and first princess of the Astrodial family.
Apparently, the first queen only got married to the king under an agreement. Sylus never really got the full gist of it all, but all he knew was the first queen was in some kind of coma, the result of a fight that happened a long time ago.
Now, Sylus was the only child of his mother, which explained why she was so worried about him after the fall, and also why Lucas had ill intent toward him.
'This family is weird.'
Sylus didn't really care. At the end of the day, he was still three years old; he shouldn't be worrying about the secrets lingering in his family's history, at least not yet.
…Besides, something else had already gotten his attention.
[You have activated the stats display.]
Name: Sylus von Astrodial.
Divinity: Star of Trinity.
Star blessing:
Titles: [The fated prince.]
Karma points:
Divine blessing:
Aspect: [The one chosen].
The runes glowed in front of him.
All he did was ask the system the potential star blessing he could get, and this showed up in front of him.
'Scratch that. This world is the weird one.'