How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 35

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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How to Survive as the Second Son of a Magic Family (35)

The head butler of Ascanien who had always been by father’s and hyung’s side in Luca’s memories.

Since he wasn’t a mage, deep wrinkles were clearly visible on his face as he aged naturally with his years.

“Good day to you.”

“You’ve changed so much since I last saw you that I hardly recognize you. I’m delighted that you seem to have regained the intelligence you had as a child.”

Not that it matters what others say.

I glanced at the box in his hands and replied.

“You remember my childhood.”

“Yes, you definitely had such intelligent eyes. You can’t imagine how much my heart ached watching you suffer so much due to your constitution as you grew up.”

I didn’t bother to answer.

He nodded as if he understood and slowly looked around.

“Actually, I should have visited your dormitory, but since outsiders cannot enter the school grounds, I had no choice but to meet you like this. Would it be alright if I guide you to a nearby tea house?”

“Yes, let’s go.”

The head butler smiled and extended his arm forward as if guiding the way. I walked beside him, matching his pace.

When we had circled around the school outskirts and approached the back gate, he turned into a winding alley.

After walking uphill for quite a while until I began to feel out of breath, we finally stopped in front of a small door.

Though it was a small door that could barely let one person through, once inside, a triangular space opened up widely.

Through the wide-open windows, we could look down at the capital’s river and the surrounding forest.

“This is a place I used to frequent when I was your age. It’s exactly the same.”

“You were a graduate of this place.”

“That’s right. I attended together with your father. Though I only went up to the Imperial 2nd Education Institute.”

When I smiled in response, he ordered tea and asked about my well-being.

“How is your health? I was very worried as it seemed to worsen day by day.”

“I can’t say it’s fine.”

“Still…”

He met my eyes with a worried expression.

I raised my eyebrows and answered.

“But it’s manageable enough for me to study.”

“Ah, that’s right. We received word from the school last week. Congratulations on making it into the top 10 of your department.”

“Thank you.”

“The young master was truly delighted. His Grace was also quite surprised.”

“I see.”

Just then, the server placed teacups and spoons in front of us.

During the pause in conversation, I brought up the main topic with him.

“What’s the reason for your visit today?”

“Well, there was a request to personally give you medicine once every three days.”

“…”

Once every three days.

That’s excessive greed.

He placed the black wooden box on the table.

“This is hyung’s instruction?”

“Naturally, yes.”

He opened the box’s clasp and handed me the diamond-shaped bottle inside.

“Please take it now with your tea. I heard that the day after tomorrow would be when you’re due to take it again.”

I looked down at the tea placed in front of me.

Richly fragrant Earl Grey milk tea, and in front of it was a bottle of sugar cubes.

As I took the poison bottle, he opened the sugar cube bottle and used small tongs to put a couple of cubes into my cup.

It had always been like this. It was a scene vivid in Luca’s memories too.

I fingered the diamond-shaped bottle and muttered.

“It’s not a request.”

He understood my meaning and nodded.

“It’s an order.”

As if to explain the violence inherent in that word, he immediately continued.

“Since Young Master Adrian works for the Imperial Court, he receives news about Pleroma quickly. He says the recent atmosphere is quite unsettling.”

When I waited silently for him to continue, he spoke again.

“Though it hasn’t been reported yet, there are rumors that Pleroma is developing biochemical weapons in the Northern Empire.”

I almost laughed.

I bit the inside of my lip slightly to calm my expression.

It was transmitted this quickly?

It must have flowed from the Council to the Imperial Court, but I didn’t expect there to be any council members who would seriously feel the gravity of it yet.

“While it’s true that you have Pleroma’s constitution, the people of Ascanien know that you harbor no ill will. But outsiders are different. When Pleroma’s crimes become this serious, your safety could also be endangered.”

The point is that they want to safely protect me from my Pleroma-like constitution.

Seeing that they want to personally administer the medicine, it seems hyung’s paranoia and perfectionism have grown to an alarming degree.

“Young Master Adrian was also worried about this, so he sent me here. The psychological burden of drinking two bottles of medicine per week alone would be too great for you.”

So now… I really have to drink two bottles per week.

‘…Sigh.’

So they’re accelerating the pace of slowly killing me.

Since my core has become stronger than before, I should be able to endure it better than when I first opened my eyes in the basement that first day…

‘He really is insane.’

“Hyung is truly thoughtful.”

“Indeed he is.”

He smiled gently and gestured as if recommending something, nodding his head.

Naturally, if I were to stubbornly flee from here or refuse in this situation, it would be the end.

It would be a worthwhile method if I wanted to die as quickly and simply as possible.

I pushed the poison bottle’s cap off with my finger and poured the liquid into the tea.

The black liquid fell onto the pale gray surface and quickly sank heavily. I stirred once lightly with the teaspoon and brought the rim of the teacup to my lips as nonchalantly as possible.

Thanks to being diluted in the milk tea, my throat didn’t immediately burn, but that was only momentary.

Soon, a stinging pain spread from my tongue to my esophagus.

I felt like I could tell exactly where my stomach was located.

I felt as if all the blood in my body was being sucked downward to avoid the poison. My vision suddenly turned bright red, then black, and despite having my eyes open, I couldn’t see anything.

Curses rose to the tip of my throat.

I smiled and put down the cup.

“You’ve become much more composed.”

I nodded silently.

“When you were little, you used to cry a lot. Saying it didn’t taste good.”

“Did I?”

According to Luca’s memories, we probably didn’t need to go back to childhood for that.

Later it wasn’t because of the taste but because of self-loathing, but there’s no reason he would know that, nor does he need to.

As I just kept smiling, he laughed, creating wrinkles around his eyes.

“In the past, you couldn’t look people straight in the eye, so I’m glad you’ve improved so much.”

“I couldn’t… cough. I couldn’t bring shame to hyung’s name, so I made an effort. There were often times when bad things were said about hyung because of me.”

So much for maintaining dignity while I’m just coughing.

But the other party doesn’t seem to mind at all.

Even in Luca’s memories, coughing to the point of almost vomiting after taking medicine was routine.

Recalling those memories and the experience from a month ago, I should be feeling the poison’s effects more strongly now that it suddenly entered my system, but the fact that I can endure and stop at this level shows that my physical condition has improved significantly compared to before.

“I see. Since students tend to be quite young…”

He drooped his eyebrows and shook his head.

“Hyung is the person who has kept me alive until this age, so even if I can’t live a normal life, I didn’t want to create situations that would tarnish hyung’s name.”

“So that’s why you’ve been making such efforts. That’s an admirable resolve. I’m sure His Grace and the young master will be pleased as well.”

“Actually, it’s still quite difficult. Since His Grace is like family, it reminds me of home and puts my mind at ease, so my efforts seem to be paying off.”

“I’m glad you find me comfortable to be around.”

I replied with a smile and checked my watch.

“It’s already time for one class to end. I should get going soon.”

“Of course. I’ll escort you to the main gate.”

I silently left the shop with him, passed through the winding alleys, circled around the school outskirts, and arrived at the main gate.

“I’ve already informed the school about the class you missed, so you don’t need to worry.”

“Yes.”

“I’ll see you in three days, young master.”

I nodded and entered the school through the main gate.

In this cold weather, I began to break out in a cold sweat. Perhaps I already had been.

I walked quickly into the nearest building and leaned against the wall.

Perhaps because the tension was releasing, what I should have experienced earlier was now hitting me all at once.

Personally, it wasn’t unbearable, but my focus and gait might look somewhat strange to others.

Should I use purification here?

No, unless there’s a problem with the outer layer, magic cast on oneself requires separate learning.

Besides, this was beyond what purification could handle, and using magic in a place other than the dormitory carried too much risk.

“….”

While I was sitting on the threshold of the building’s rear entrance and resting, something was moving around in front of me before climbing up to my neck.

It was a familiar ball of fur.

“Lucas! Narke said to go to Lucas.”

“Mmm.”

I tried to answer with sincerity but failed.

Fortunately, Fai didn’t mind my poor response.

Fai picked up a plant root that had been placed on the ground and thrust it in front of me.

“Eat this!”

“…Isn’t this what you were carrying in your mouth…?”

“Narke said to ask if you think this is the time to be picky when Lucas says that. And it’s clean!”

She even foresaw something like this? I let out a hollow laugh.

When I picked up the root Fai brought me, my fingertips felt refreshed as if they had been dipped in holy water blessed with divine power.

The feeling wasn’t bad, so I put it in my mouth, chewed roughly, and swallowed.

“…!”

The pain in my throat disappeared immediately.

I still had no strength, but I had the mental clarity to walk. Fai stood in front of me, examining my face from various angles.

“Are you okay?!”

“I’m okay.”

Do animals smile too? For some reason, I felt like I saw a smiling face on Fai.

I looked at Fai, who was now making an expression as if about to start chattering, and burst into the same kind of laughter.

“Narke used to do this for people often in the Papal States too! I carried a lot of these.”

“I see.”

“Let’s go now!”

“Alright.”

I dusted myself off, got up, and arrived at the classroom.

I saw several faces that looked curious about why I had suddenly been called away. They were all friends from the group.

Unfortunately, there was nothing I could tell them.

I gave Narke a grateful look and headed straight to the infirmary with just my notebook.

‘The more classes I skip, the better.’

I hadn’t expected to skip them this way, but I wouldn’t miss this opportunity to lie down and organize my thoughts.

The more prescription records accumulated, the happier hyung would be, so it was killing two birds with one stone.

To summarize, hyung wants me to die quickly.

In a situation where he doesn’t know I use magic, giving me more medicine simply means telling me to die early.

Seeing how he immediately put his plan into action as soon as he found the perfect excuse of ‘Pleroma’s new experiment,’ hyung must still be haunted by the specter of midterm exams.

He probably never expected me to actually improve my grades, so it must have been a tremendous shock.

His words about improving my grades were just thrown out to confirm my situation once more and make me despair, knowing I couldn’t achieve it.

But with just one word, I jumped from dead last in the entire school to 10th place, so I must be a complete thorn in his side.

“You’re struggling.”

Even as my skin turned pale and my fingertips began to tremble finely from fear and terror that weren’t my own, I found myself sneering.

Whether hyung slowly kills me or not, my plan won’t change.

Ding—!

〈 Chapter 4. Constant Drops Wear Away the Stone (2) 〉

Proposal 2: Achieve [Impression] score of 5 (0/1) (167 hours 59 minutes 55 seconds)

* Route 1 — 〈 Chapter 4 Special Reward 〉

* Route 2 — 〈 Chapter 5. Don’t Praise the Day Before Evening Comes 〉

* * *

On the day of the strategy meeting, one student asked anxiously while biting his nails.

“What are we going to do now, Lucas? The council is acting like that, do you have a solution?”

“There is a way.”

“….”

That wasn’t my answer.

Elias spoke with a sly expression.

“Hand it over to the media.”

“Th-the media?”

“Oh.”

“Hey, why didn’t we think of that before.”

In the original work too, the council sent responses that were almost like automated replies, and Elias turned to the media.

But barriers set up directly by the Security Bureau, and not just one or two but nearly ten of them, failing to function properly?

Anyone could see it was the Imperial Court’s fault.

‘And the media is Imperial Court-friendly.’

Without magical support from the Imperial Court—the government, this country’s media couldn’t even function.

So Elias’s tip would definitely be ignored.

“Wait, I don’t think the media will be any different from the Security Bureau or the council.”

“I think so too.”

“Yeah. I think so too.”

“?”

The students looked at Elias with disbelief at his response.

“Originally, high-ranking people don’t understand when you speak kindly to them. But what if their career is on the line?”

“Career?”

“If you stake a chief editor’s journalistic life on it, they can’t not report it. Don’t worry, guys. It’s guaranteed to be published.”

When it seemed unlikely that the media would publish the article, Elias found the media company chief editor’s weakness and blackmailed him.

The result was a success.

It made a big splash as the main article in the Imperial Newspaper, and numerous other media outlets competed to report the story.

By stirring up public anger and hastily pushing the council agenda through, the intended purpose was perfectly achieved.

Thanks to the strengthened barriers, Pleroma could have gone on a rampage, but since government mages were deployed, it effectively dealt a blow to Pleroma.

But from a reputation standpoint?

“That seems a bit dangerous, Eli.”

“…Really? What do you think?”

Elias smiled with an expression that said ‘let’s hear it’ and leaned back fully against his chair.

Thanks to Elias’s contribution in the novel, countless people in the Empire became safer and Pleroma’s rampage was put in check, but he didn’t receive the treatment and evaluation he deserved.

Because of a collaboration between the media and the Imperial Court, Elias’s contributions were never made known.

If I maintain the existing method, I’ll end up making enemies of both the Imperial Court and the media.

And naturally, I can’t let that happen.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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