I Just Want to Live a Normal Life
Thud!!! A brutal fist slammed into the boy’s stomach.
“Kuh… ugh…” The boy clutched his belly and crumpled to the floor with a groan.
“Useless piece of shit. You can’t even manage this?” The voice was ice-cold.
“I-I’m sorry, Father…” The boy could only keep apologizing. There was nothing else he could do.
“Tsk.” His father clicked his tongue, clearly fed up, and strode out of the room. Only when the heavy footsteps had faded into the distance did the boy finally push himself up.
“Hah…”
“Fucking bastard.”
But the boy wasn’t as weak as he seemed. He had simply bent because survival demanded it. Leo Heavenfield—zero talent, zero mana. A body so frail that a light tap might snap it. The kind of genius that appeared once every thousand years, except in all the wrong ways. The reason his father had beaten him just now was exactly that: his pathetic stamina kept him from even following basic sword forms.
“…Whatever. I’m going to bed.”
Clutching his throbbing stomach, the boy sought sleep in the late hours of the night.
------------------------------------------------------
Morning. That damned morning had come again.
I looked around. Luxurious furniture, a perfectly made bed. This was a noble’s quarters, all right. A noble… My father always said only those with talent deserved the title. Yet here I was.
At that moment the door burst open without so much as a knock.
“Leo, are you already awake?”
I turned my head slowly. A middle-aged woman stood in the doorway. Warm smile, gently drooping eyes, soft black hair.
“…Mother?”
She nodded naturally and approached.
“Yes, Leo. You rose early today. How does your body feel?”
“…I’m fine.”
The polite tone still felt foreign on my tongue. Mother placed her hand on my forehead. Her warmth seeped in. It was genuinely… comforting.
“Your fever’s gone at last. You were burning up for days. I was so worried.”
“…Sorry for making you worry.”
Her touch was brief, but it felt like consolation.
The dining table held the extravagant breakfast typical of noble houses. Only three people sat there: me, Mother, and Father—Ricardo Heavenfield. The current head of the Heavenfield family, one of the empire’s prestigious noble lines. Expressionless eyes, few words, an oppressive aura. And my biological father.
“……You’re late to rise.”
“I’m sorry, Father.”
My body answered before my mind could catch up. The brain might not have adjusted yet, but the body had repeated this scene dozens of times and reacted on instinct.
“I hear the fever has broken. You will resume sword training tomorrow.”
“…Yes.”
Incompetent son. That was the brand burned into this body. Mana flow severed, no aptitude for the sword, zero interest in academics. A complete failure in every “noble talent” this world demanded. That was me—Leonardo Heavenfield.
“If you remain this pathetic, you will never inherit the family.”
“That’s enough. The child is still ill…” Mother interjected. Her voice was gentle yet firm. “He’s doing well enough as he is.”
“Well enough?” Father frowned. “The son I expected was not this.”
At those words, this body’s heart flinched. Repression, shame, self-loathing. I set my spoon down and spoke quietly.
“…I’m sorry. I’d like to rest.”
Father offered no reply. Mother simply nodded.
“All right, Leo. You may return to your room.”
Once I closed the door behind me, a sigh escaped on its own.
“…Shit. This is actually insane.”
Not the protagonist, no talent, and only half the parental affection. Therefore—this body’s goal was painfully clear.
Survival.
Just quietly. Without any incidents. Not dying suddenly one day, not being dragged onto the battlefield, not being abandoned by family. Simply living an ordinary life. That was my only objective.
“So… please, please let nothing weird happen.”
I muttered under my breath and threw myself onto the bed. Sunlight poured through the window, but my heart felt clouded, as if wrapped in dark storm clouds.
People treated me with deference. The sole direct descendant of the Heavenfield family, nobility among nobility. Yet that prestige belonged entirely to my parents’ abilities. I was simply “esteemed” by virtue of existing.
It was absurd. Food appeared if I merely breathed, someone dressed me, hot water was drawn for my bath. At first it had felt intoxicating, then guilt-ridden, and finally hollow.
“Why me?”
I asked myself that endlessly. Surely there had been a better candidate—someone who could achieve something in this world, someone who could live a meaningful life. Unfortunately, the role had fallen to me. I didn’t know why.
I had no grand ambitions like “saving the world” or “conquering the empire.” I lacked both the talent and the will for such things. There was only one thing I wanted.
Just… to live quietly here, without anything happening. Not getting caught up in anyone’s fights, not meddling in noble politics, not earning a name for myself on the battlefield—simply ordinary. As inconspicuous as possible. Continuing this small life in silence.
“Young Master Leo, will you be reading quietly again today?”
A maid asked with a smile.
“Yeah. Could you make sure I’m not disturbed? I’ve been into heavy topics lately, like The Fall of the Ancient Empire.”
I answered that way and turned a page. In truth, the words weren’t even registering.
“…Seriously, why did it have to be me?”
---------------------------
The Heavenfield family. An old northern noble house of the continent, renowned for achievements in both martial prowess and magic. This world existed under a single imperial system. On the surface an emperor ruled everything, but in reality the intricate web of interests, alliances, factions, and shadowy struggles among noble families quietly gnawed at the nation’s heart.
And one of the families gripping that heart was the one I belonged to.
It was a terrifying fact. All I wanted was to live normally, yet my skin crawled with the realization that this place would never allow it.
“Still no reaction this time, I see.”
Mother—Emilia Heavenfield—gazed down at the crystal plate set before me at breakfast and spoke softly. The shining plate carried a simple diagnostic spell that would glow in response to mana. Of course, it remained completely dark for me.
“It’s all right, Mother. That’s how it’s always been.”
I forced a smile, but even I could hear the bitterness leaking into my voice.
The mana examinations that began when I was three have only grown clearer with each passing year. I have no talent. Not a single speck of mana flows through me. This body is—decisively defective in this world.
Mother smiled through her pain and stroked my hair.
“You might simply be… a little special. Even without magic, you can live in your own way.”
That warmth melted a corner of my heart, yet it also cut like a blade. No matter how much she comforted me, a noble’s child without magic was little more than a useless being in this empire. Especially in a militaristic house like Heavenfield.
At that moment, heavy bootsteps accompanied an oppressive presence into the room.
“It seems you have time to wallow because magic eludes you.”
“Prepare yourself for the upcoming banquet. At your age, it’s time to show your face to the outside world.”
“…But—”
“The more lacking one is, the more one must bow and scrape. That is noble society.”
The words stabbed my heart again. I realized it once more: this family expected nothing from me. No—they had already given up.
And in such a family, I must somehow survive.
The empire was currently swirling in chaos. Outwardly it preached peace and prosperity, but beneath the surface embers burned. Barbarian tribes stirred at the borders, imperial princes flashed hidden blades behind polite smiles as they checked one another, and rumors spread that rebel forces were spreading like wildfire.
Worse, mana flows were twisting somewhere. This world was sustained by mana—magic, technology, even farming and logistics all depended on it. Yet in recent years reports of unstable mana had come in from across the continent. Scholars whispered of “fissures,” “distortions,” and “erosion.” The emperor remained silent, but certain princes were already eyeing the cracks to expand their power.
In the midst of all that, Heavenfield stood as one of the empire’s major factions—leader of the hardliners, backed by military and intelligence strength. This house was a monstrous entity equipped with both shadow and brute force, capable of suppressing rebellions, carrying out assassinations, or igniting them at will.
Therefore the conclusion was simple.
I must survive. Without drawing attention. Quietly. Ordinarily. Yes, my goal is one: to live safely, without incident, for a long time.
If that was all, I believed I could endure in this world somehow.
Yet in one corner of my heart, a ominous premonition grew like a thorn—that even such a modest wish might be too much to ask.