Chapter 11

Chapter 11. I Found the Culprit (1)

The Awakening Ceremony moved along quickly.

When the Duke declared that I had awakened, the people were astonished, and Mother was delighted.

Once I returned to my room, I was told that I would be tested again, just as before.

After hearing that, I left the room.

The test was important, but before that, I needed to verify something I had learned before I died.

The first person I needed to meet was my sister, Elena de Gresia.

No, before that, I needed to confirm something one more time.

I asked Flora, who was walking ahead of me,

"Do you still see Elena often these days?"

"Of course. Unlike the other young masters, the young lady is always concerned about you, Young Master. She is truly kind."

Her answer left a bitter taste in my mouth.

"Really? What does she usually ask about?"

"Well, she asks whether you have been doing well, what you have been up to lately, whether anything has been hard for you, things like that. Even after the Awakening Ceremony, she asked what kind of ability you had awakened."

On the surface, it sounded like nothing more than an older sister’s concern for a beloved younger brother. In the past, I might even have been grateful for such attention.

But now that I was looking at everything with suspicion, it all sounded different.

"But aren’t you talking too freely about me?"

It seemed some emotion had crept into my voice. Flora’s smiling face stiffened slightly.

"That... ah... I am sorry. I did not think it through."

She must have remembered what had happened when I was still a baby.

I had lived in peace for several years before Awakening Day, but before that, my life had been threatened several times.

Of course, I had actually died a few times as well, but I was the only one who knew that.

I must have let things grow too lax. I thought I needed to change the way I handled things.

Winning people over was important, but if that was all I did, then I would be nothing more than a little child basking in the affection of those around him.

I walked on, thinking about what lay ahead, while Flora led the way with a dejected face.

"Welcome!"

A cute little drawing room. A young girl greeted me with a radiant smile.

It was a refined yet adorable drawing room, fitting for the Duke’s daughter.

"This is your first time coming to my drawing room, isn’t it, Alex?"

Thanks to the arrangements made in advance, the table in the center of the room was already set with delicious-looking refreshments.

Led by my sister’s hand, I sat down in a chair.

Her personal maid poured the tea, and even while the tea was being served, Elena continued talking, gesturing here and there with her hands.

"...I was watching you and Father with my heart pounding, you know. And the moment Father said it was really an awakening, I was so happy!"

Her face was still full of joy even now.

This kind child had supposedly extracted information in order to have me killed?

And she was still just a child. Not some exceptionally clever mastermind, either.

But there had been no other suspect.

Ordinary small talk followed after that. I answered vaguely and waited for a chance to ask my questions.

The opportunity came quickly.

"...Ah! Right. So what kind of ability did you awaken? Have you already checked it? Or are you going to have some kind of separate test?"

At last, the question came.

And it was not an ordinary one.

"Wow, you know a lot about awakening, don’t you?"

When I asked in an innocent tone, Elena’s face turned red.

"No, well..."

After fumbling for words, she quickly stuck out her tongue.

Apparently embarrassed, she hunched down and spoke in a small voice.

"I do not really know that much. Mother told me."

I leaned toward her as well. It would be better if the maids did not hear, so I lowered my voice too.

"The Duchess did?"

"Yes. She told me a lot after seeing that you had awakened, Alex. She said it might help, so she told me to ask what kind of ability you awakened too."

The back of my neck went stiff. I kept asking questions, trying not to let her notice how rigid my voice had become.

"Then all those things you asked Flora about me all this time... they were not your own idea?"

At my words, Elena puffed out her lips.

"No. Mother did tell me to find out, but I wanted to help too!"

I looked at my sister as she argued her case with a flushed face.

There was not the slightest sign of falsehood in her expression.

Unless she was the greatest swindler of the age, or a reincarnator like me, then the young girl before me had simply been used.

By her mother.

"Thank you for looking after me all this time."

Keeping my hardened expression hidden, I thanked her as sincerely as I could.

"No, you do not need to thank me. It is enough if we just stay close like this... Hehehe."

I kept speaking with my head bowed.

"If I had not known, that would be one thing. But now that I do know, I cannot just let it pass. I should thank the Duchess too."

"Honestly, Alex, the way you speak is even stiffer than my older brothers."

Muttering that, Elena opened her mouth again.

"Shall I ask for you? If it is you, Mother would always welcome you."

"I will make an appointment myself. Ah, right. I want to surprise her then. Please keep it a secret that I found out."

"Okay! That sounds fun. I wish I could be there to see it too."

"That will not do. I have my test, and you are busy too, Sister. I will make separate time for the three of us to meet."

Elena nodded with a disappointed look.

After a little more idle conversation, I left her room.

Had she noticed something? Flora looked slightly confused.

But she said nothing.

The next day, I underwent the test.

The place where it was held was the ducal family’s training ground behind the manor, the same place where I had been tested the first time.

"Hah... hah... hah... Is the test over now?"

I sank down onto the ground, gasping for breath.

In front of me, Miguel and the Knight Commander were staring at me with astonished eyes.

At my question, Miguel answered hurriedly.

"Ah... yes. Yes! We checked your endurance and stamina with the running, and we also confirmed your handling of the sword. But your inherited ability is truly remarkable."

Unlike before, I had given it my all during this test.

I had run gritting my teeth, and while running I had 'leveled up' several times. And when I swung the sword, I drew upon memories from the past and showed them the cleanest swings I could manage.

I still could not reveal the mana I had learned by chance, so I kept it hidden, but even without that, what I showed had been more than enough to astonish the two men.

Was that why?

Unlike before, the Knight Commander, who had remained until the very end, asked me a question in a somewhat more courteous tone.

"Have you ever learned the sword?"

I shook my head.

"Hah, hah. You can ask Flora about that. This was the first time I ever held a sword."

I had been holding a sword for well over two months, but the only one who remembered that was me.

Or rather, only my memories did.

At my answer, Flora nodded.

"I will report this to the Duke at once. Hm, in my opinion, it seems likely that you will continue receiving training from now on."

Unlike before, even the Knight Commander already seemed convinced.

"I will look for a suitable knight to take charge of the young master’s instruction."

Had I worked too hard? Was it because I had swung the sword too well? The Knight Commander said something I had not expected at all.

No, that would be a problem.

It would be troublesome if I had to train under some other knight right now.

"No, I would like to be trained by Sir Miguel, who is standing right there!"

At my hurried outburst, the Knight Commander looked perplexed, and Miguel scratched his head.

"Would that really be all right?"

At Miguel’s awkward question, the Knight Commander turned a puzzled gaze on me.

"May I report that to the Duke?"

"Yes!"

I could not afford to miss this chance.

I could not imagine there being another knight in this ducal house as gullible as that one.

The day after training ended,

just as the Knight Commander had said, it was decided that my training would continue.

The training would begin tomorrow, and today I had to meet the second Duchess.

Duchess Maria de Gresia.

After paying my respects to Mother, I headed for Duchess Maria de Gresia’s room together with Flora.

As I walked down the corridor, I steeled myself. This was already the third repetition.

The pain of death had been painful enough, but the meaningless repetition of the same life was far more exhausting than I had expected.

This time, I had to settle it.

But unlike my hardened resolve, the Duchess’s drawing room, which I reached after crossing the manor, was quiet and beautiful.

"Alex is here. Come in."

The Duchess was seated on the sofa in the middle of the drawing room.

The moment I saw her sitting there with her usual gentle smile, part of the certainty I had built up began to crumble.

My life had been short, but she had always smiled at me.

Aside from Mother, she was the only adult in the ducal family I felt grateful toward.

Pull yourself together!

I steadied my wavering mind once more and bowed my head.

"I offer my greetings to the Duchess."

"I keep telling you to call me Maria. You may even call me Mother."

Her playful voice wrapped around me warmly.

I bit my lip and sat down in the chair opposite the sofa where she was seated.

As always, refreshments had been set out on the table before us.

Once I had taken my seat, Flora and the other maids left the drawing room, and the Duchess rose from her place to pour tea into my cup herself.

It suited her, this fondness she had for personally serving tea to guests she was close to.

'But if it is like this, it would be much easier to have a private conversation, would it not?'

Now that all the maids had left, the only people remaining were the Duchess and me.

'No, surely she would not go that far.'

I shook my head inwardly at the overly hasty thought, then opened my mouth.

"You have done so much for me all this time, and I never properly thanked you for it. It may only be words, but I came to tell you that I am grateful."

"What are you saying? It is not as though I have done anything."

In response to her words, I brought up what I had heard from Elena.

"I heard that you kept looking after me through Sister Elena. I did not know you had been watching over me all this time, but now that I do, I should thank you."

"Ah!"

At my words, the Duchess looked startled.

But the startled look vanished almost immediately. In its place, her original smile returned even more brightly than before.

"You found out? I told Elena to keep it hidden well, because I was afraid things might become awkward. You are not hurt by it, are you?"

The cautious way she asked that made me feel guilty for no reason.

Had I gotten it wrong? Was there something in the middle that I did not know?

The more I spoke with her, the more confused I became.

Perhaps it was because of the Duchess’s whole demeanor.

No matter how I looked at her, all I could see was a Duchess who loved everyone and was loved by everyone in return.

I simply could not imagine the shadowy strategist who wanted me dead in the figure before me.

I have ruined this.

It seemed I had been mistaken. I would have to start over from the beginning.

It could not be her.

Mother liked her. The maids liked her. The manor servants liked her. Even the sons of the first Duchess liked her, and I liked her as well.

Everyone liked the Duchess.

Our Duke as well...

Huh?

Had the Duke liked her too?

I had definitely heard that, at first, he liked her so much that he pushed ahead with the marriage even though her family was no more than a viscount’s house.

But what about now?

I had never heard anything like that.

Did the Duke, true to his reputation as a cold-blooded Duke, simply treat all his wives equally?

Or had his love gone cold?

The moment my thoughts reached that point, I began to feel that something was strange.

The gentle atmosphere flowing through the room began to feel unsettling.

And the Duchess’s smile before my eyes,

seemed somehow out of place.

The more absurd the thought felt, the greater my sense of guilt became, but I could not stop thinking.

And then.

Thump.

Deep inside my body, energy began to stir.

That very force called mana suddenly surged upward.

It passed through my chest, climbed my throat, wrapped around my eyes, and flooded into my head.

The next moment,

CRAAACK!

An explosion rang through my head. A stabbing pain washed over me, then vanished.

"Are you all right? Are you hurting anywhere?"

A worried voice reached me, but it sounded different now. It no longer felt warm as before. It sounded like nothing more than an act.

I raised my head.

The drawing room was the same as before, yet completely different.

Now, the soft air that had filled the room was gone.

A beautiful but cold drawing room.

And at its center, the Duchess looked at me with a rigid smile on her face.