How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 586

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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 Noble Family (586)

“So you’re going back to that place again?”

Instead of asking how I planned to lure him out from his mother’s world, Leonard was asking if I was going now.

“I’m just dropping by briefly. I’ll be coming back to this place.”

Leonard silently agreed. Then he finally began to show curiosity about my abilities.

“It’s fascinating. What principle gives you access to the world of the past? From what you’re saying, the past you’ve opened seems as complete as our world, and your age seems to fluctuate as well.”

“I’m curious too. I have no way of knowing either.”

Leonard was being sparing with his words. Faced with an ability that shattered common sense built over long periods through experience and history in the post-magic world, he looked troubled, yet he treated me with a face that didn’t show it. He neither marveled nor burdened me. The fact that he didn’t once ask how such a thing was even possible was complete consideration. Instead, Leonard asked this:

“I can’t cross over to that world too, can I? Only you can go to the past?”

“That’s right. It’s a world that wouldn’t exist without me.”

That world doesn’t flow alone. It’s not independent. A world that depends only on me – is this truly a world? I forcibly opened a possible world that couldn’t be realized, and since only I can intervene there, the lives of the people there are made discontinuous by me. It’s like…

Sometimes it makes me regard everything I perceive as nothing more than fantasy. If I were to be more generous and say I have the ability to turn fantasy into reality, that too makes me feel empty. I organized my thoughts while recalling what Leonard had said to me at my request in Rome.

Leonard doesn’t grasp what the concept of ‘another world’ is and only thinks of it as traveling to the past. Naturally, he understands that the world branches anew from there, but knowing something intellectually and experiencing it are different. I turned off the power in my head and closed my eyes. Since the brain doesn’t shut off until death, I intentionally interfere with the flow of the main thinking areas. I had to avoid drawing up thoughts that surge from areas not yet turned off.

Leonard snapped his fingers to make a sound. When I opened my eyes, he was leaning forward with his hand thrust right in front of my nose.

“Are you going? Go a little later.”

“…I have to go. Don’t stick your face so close.”

“Why?”

“Why do you think? It’s burdensome, so don’t do that. Ah, right. Let’s do a little research. Now, it’s November 1851. What happened around this time?”

“I don’t know exactly, but Mother would have already come of age by then. Unlike me, Mother said she devoted herself to her studies until her university days.”

“So there’s no special schedule besides preparing for final exams?”

“Hmm… That would be right. She said she could study whatever she wanted to her heart’s content.”

“She didn’t go abroad to study?”

“She went to Paris briefly, but it was short. As far as I know, it wasn’t in 1851 either.”

I slowly nodded. Knowing I was really going to leave now, Leonard rested his chin on his hand and made a request.

“Tell me about it when you come back.”

“About what.”

“What you did in my world.”

“I said no. I’ll keep it only in my head.”

“Should I lose sleep thinking about what the young me beyond my control said to you and what he did?”

“Yes.”

Leonard wasn’t flustered by my shameless answer. Instead, he too made a shameless expression and tilted his head while staring right through me.

“You must have something you can’t tell me?”

“Not to that extent.”

“Then why can’t you tell me?”

“…”

As I was pondering what to say, Leonard asked again with a leisurely face as if he had already reeled me in.

“How was it?”

“What?”

“How was it seeing the young me?”

Right, I wondered why he wasn’t asking about this. I answered briefly with an awkward expression.

“It felt unfamiliar.”

“A bit more.”

“You were tall even as a child. Though you still didn’t even reach my chest.”

“Hmm.”

Leonard shook his head carelessly as if obvious facts were enough. I spread both hands and shrugged my shoulders.

“What do you want? I’m not going to tell you.”

“It’s interesting to see you can’t even say what you felt. What thoughts did you have about me that you can’t even tell me?”

Leonard took advantage of the moment when I was at a loss for words to stroke his jawbone with his finger and mutter.

“Is the five-year-old me better than the grown-up me?”

“Who’s better than whom, that’s ridiculous. You’re a really trustworthy and dependable person as a friend. He’s… He’s you too but…”

“But I’m me?”

Leonard asked calmly with mischief in his eyes. I reflexively pulled up one corner of my mouth and swallowed. He smiled in circles and quietly threw his winning move.

“Did you like him enough to want to make him your nephew?”

This is ridiculous. It was so ridiculous that I felt something surge up inside me. To think there’s someone who could ask so composedly and shamelessly about his five-year-old self like this – it must be competitive spirit born from such thoughts. I hit the armrest as if starting an engine. Leonard’s leisurely gaze went there and then returned to my eyes. Since running away like this to avoid answering wasn’t my style, I looked into that bastard’s eyes with a half-smiling face and spoke as if chewing and crushing the words.

“Yes.”

The white text of the extra chapter slides across my vision. Soon my sight turned black.

* * *

I opened my eyes in the room. The table was just as I had seen it before, with the wine glass gone and only the wine left behind. Then I immediately opened the wardrobe. I put on the neatest and most expensive-looking clothes I had while also rearranging my hair in my own way. Then I checked the time and hurriedly left the room.

Would the anatomy and physiology theory class be over by now? Is it too early? I quickly locked the room door and turned around. Then I spotted two German seniors coming back up the stairs.

“What is it?”

They hesitated then began running down the stairs. I knew the reason and looked at those bastards pitifully, then chased after them.

“Senior!”

There was no answer. They were running desperately even though I hadn’t done anything, and I could guess the reason. They must have come to see if I had collapsed or not.

Since they had drugged me. Then, why were they fine even though they also drank the wine?

Well…

I grabbed both of them by the neck and pushed them against the wall.

“Gah…!”

I snatched the bag from the senior who had brought out the wine glass and whispered in his ear.

“Thanks to you coming back to see if I was sleeping, I secured evidence too. Thank you.”

“What, wait, evidence? What—”

What I mean is that I know about your scheme. I wondered whether to switch glasses or not, then just drank it. There must have been drugs applied inside that glass. The reason you hurriedly brought alcohol saying we should hold a brotherhood ceremony was because you planned to knock me out with that alcohol from the start. For that, you watched me the entire time I was drinking, and for that, you predetermined the time to part with the staff. For that, even after getting dressed, you had no intention of leaving my room. If I had shown signs of drowsiness around then, they wouldn’t have left but waited longer in the room, then tormented me when I lost consciousness.

They didn’t put poison in the wine. So they didn’t arouse my suspicion and everyone drank the same alcohol. I knew but drank it using divine power. It was a strategy for Hildegard Wittelsbach.

More than that, I was moved that these amateurs didn’t use the methods that only amateurs use. The eyes of the two seniors, who turned their heads to look at me with trembling bodies, shook remarkably and only looked pitiful. Since I intended to say what I had to say, I brought my face close and whispered.

“But how were you planning to see if I had fallen asleep?”

If I had successfully succumbed to the drugs, I would have been in the room. I pushed them harder and turned their pockets inside out. Nothing in the overcoat. While holding one by the neck, I turned the other’s body and put my hand inside his jacket. There was something caught in the inner pocket. I took out what looked like a tin key made today, kissed it like a trophy ceremony, and spoke sarcastically.

“I didn’t know which of you two would have it when I reached for it, but luck is on my side.”

“That, no, that—”

“Is anyone there!”

I was holding them when I slowly turned my head. Only my voice echoed loudly in the clearing in front of the dormitory. I caught my breath while checking the flow of mana. Then I shouted toward the entrance of the building on the opposite side.

“Please take these people away.”

“…”

As I kept looking in that direction, someone dressed as the Prince’s attendant came out of the building and approached me. He watched me carefully while roughly grabbing the two students and headed toward the main building.

Soon news that I had discovered the location of the attendant sent to monitor me would reach the Prince’s ears. I took the bag containing the wine glass and walked toward the administrative office.

When I found out where the anatomy and physiology classroom was, the lecture happened to be wrapping up. Several of his attendants were going in and out of the classroom.

Since telling the adults that I wanted an audience with Hildegard Wittelsbach wouldn’t work, I paced the hallway with a pleasant smile. I kept wandering around the area. The passing students just looked at me with surprised, stiff faces. There’s no particular reason. This too, like with Luca, was probably because they couldn’t believe I was wandering the streets with proper posture and proper expression. Only after all the students had left the classroom did I see Hildegard Wittelsbach’s face. Seeing me unexpectedly, he tried to pass by with no expression, completely indifferent. When he tried to pass by my side, I quickly said.

“Let’s have a drink, Count Wittelsbach.”

The Prince stopped in place and turned his head. Even for someone as calm as him, this was apparently a new proposal from someone who had been threatened by him today, as one corner of his mouth curled up with faint interest. He glanced at my hands and nodded slightly.

“The alcohol?”

“I don’t have any.”

That’s not proper etiquette. I gestured to my hands that held no wine bottle and continued.

“To explain, I’m on my way after already drinking drugged alcohol.”

Hildegard Wittelsbach still only turned his head and looked at me impassively. I spoke to him in a low voice.

“You must have already heard about it.”

“…”

“So I couldn’t bring you anything. Having experienced it myself, I became convinced that Count Wittelsbach naturally wouldn’t just eat food that someone gives you either.”

Hildegard Wittelsbach nodded like his own child, then smiled politely and extended his hand to me.

“Come.”

The place we went to with an escort that wasn’t an escort was a carriage heading to the royal residence in Würzburg. I suppressed my bewildered feelings and calmly got in.

Prince Hildegard just enjoyed his leisure while looking out the window, and treated me in the same state even after arriving at the residence. He invited me to his room and ordered a servant to bring wine.

When the servant poured wine in front of me, the Prince sitting comfortably on the sofa with a smile gestured with his hand to offer it.

“Nothing at all.”

I smiled and raised my glass to his. He said cheers and took a sip of his drink.

The ‘subtle approach’ I used with Leonard Wittelsbach is impossible with Hildegard Wittelsbach. Leonard Wittelsbach maintains the same attitude toward ordinary friends as well. What separates these two situations is the difference in the magnitude of feelings they have for me. So this time, I need to approach differently.

How?

I’ll go with a direct approach. Hiding many things from Hildegard Wittelsbach and scratching around cautiously will only strengthen his surveillance network without achieving a direct confrontation. So it’s best for me to directly request a meeting with the Prince.

But here’s the problem.

How much should I reveal to Hildegard Wittelsbach?

The answer is simple. Just as I was prepared when I requested a duel from Hildegard Wittelsbach, I’ll push forward with only one consistent strategy. I’ll reveal everything.

Hildegard Wittelsbach’s eyes, which are boring into me, contain indifference. Since I’m the one who arranged this meeting, he’s expecting me to take some action and waits with a bored expression.

Now, think about it. How does Hildegard Wittelsbach view me?

“You think everything that makes me who I am changed overnight.”

“My mouth hurts.”

“You think it doesn’t make sense that a non-mage who always got beaten suddenly won a fight against three mages overnight.”

“Do you think that’s worth answering?”

“You must have already heard that those who fought me had prepared drugged alcohol. As you can see from me sitting here, you know that nothing happened even though I drank the drugged alcohol.”

The Prince took a sip of wine.

“Count Wittelsbach.”

I continued speaking resolutely. The Prince watches me as I speak.

“You must have established several theories for my transformation, and the first would have been that I went crazy from an accident. But that became somewhat insufficient evidence when I defeated three seniors at once. It’s strange to suddenly become good at fighting just because you went crazy.”

“Remarkable deduction.”

“Please forgive my rudeness. If I may speculate, you immediately thought of another hypothesis. Perhaps I actually knew how to fight back but had been enduring without doing so until now. However, you couldn’t think of a proper reason to endure. So you had no choice but to recall the most rational hypothesis that first crossed your mind.”

“…”

“That I’m a mage who infiltrated the school to plot against a prince of a nation. I had been acting as a timid Frenchman until today when I finally stopped acting. Or perhaps you found me out. But… the question of how such a person could openly beat up seniors in public would still remain. Therefore, Your Highness plans to summon me to the kingdom’s interrogation room with proper evidence if you have even the slightest doubt while watching me.”

The Prince looked at me expressionlessly. Soon he smiled faintly. With eyes that seemed to say he’d seen quite the audacious fellow. The coldness underlying his gaze made my skin stiffen. I struggled to overcome the chilling pressure rising from my toes and spoke firmly.

“So today I came to make a proposal. From today, get to know me.”

Then Hildegard Wittelsbach straightened his body that had been leaning back, placed his elbow on his leg, rested his chin on his hand, and smiled.

“Hahaha… What interesting words these are… I’m truly curious.”

“I don’t want to deceive you for various reasons. You’re not someone who would be deceived anyway. So, 30 days.”

I looked into his rock-like eyes and spoke firmly once more.

“I’ll tell you everything in 30 days. Until then, it’s too early to arrest me.”

Hildegard Wittelsbach looked at me quietly, then slowly folded his fingers.

“First. Why 30 days? Second. What’s the reason for making this proposal?”

“I cannot tell you that either.”

I put down my glass and spoke to him with proper posture. The Prince, who only matches my eye level when resting his chin on his hand, looks at me with observing eyes, seeing right through me.

“Instead, do as you wish for 30 days. That’s why I came. Count Wittelsbach, and Your Highness the Prince. Under the premise that you leave me alone for 30 days, I will comply with everything Your Highness says during those 30 days.”

“Agreed deception.”

“If you wish to call it that, please do so.”

“Interesting.”

The Prince closed his eyes and opened them. The sky-blue pupils revealed as his eyelids parted are eerie. It would be interesting. Even now, he could do anything to me. Yet here I was, proposing to give him the right to receive my obedience for 30 days, asking him to investigate me directly before disposing of me. From his perspective, it could only be words spoken with incredible audacity.

Nevertheless, Hildegard Wittelsbach watched me for a long time without blinking once, then spoke gently.

“Then wouldn’t I need a device to control you for those 30 days? I have no guarantee that you won’t commit acts harmful to the kingdom while reassuring me.”

“…”

“30 days is enough time for anything to happen.”

Hildegard Wittelsbach stood up and took out a box from the desk used for official work. He took out a medicine bottle and held it out.

“Drink this.”

I looked into his eyes.

“If after drinking this, you still want to pursue something for 30 days and still intend to demand agreed silence from me during that period…”

Hildegard Wittelsbach’s face remained impassive. He finished his words with an emotionless expression.

“I’ll gladly comply with your proposal.”

I slowly swept my tongue inside my mouth. The phrase “after drinking” means there’s a high possibility I’ll lose my original goal when I drink this medicine.

“But if after drinking this, your solemn resolve and goals disappear and you lose your reason, we’ll pretend this conversation never happened. You’ll be free. I plan to show you no interest, just as I did until yesterday.”

“What is it?”

“Because you would have become someone who doesn’t require such attention.”

The Prince answered as if stating a fact as natural as the sun rising in the east and setting in the west.

I grabbed the bottle without hesitation and poured it into my mouth. The moment it touched my skin, my vision flashed as if my head would burn up. Drugs? No. It’s not drugs. It’s a complete magical potion, and sometime, though not such a raw drug…

The Wittelsbach in front of me roughly swept his short hair back with his hand while observing my face. I felt fear at my heart pounding as if it would burst. This was fear. At the same time, my vision blurred and returned. I wanted to look at Wittelsbach’s face, yet the unknown emotion rushing over me was so frightening I couldn’t face him. What kind of emotion is this? I don’t know. Everything is mixed together. What is it for? Exactly for situations like now. Is it for reforming political prisoners who aren’t very compliant? For making enemy soldiers talk in preparation for impending war? Or for forcibly instilling the will to live? Manipulating cores and nervous systems instead of Arcane Mages? This didn’t exist in 1898. It wouldn’t have passed advanced safety reviews. What a barbaric era.

Familiar chemical reactions generate heat in my body. I couldn’t bring myself to look at the person in front of me because the respect I didn’t possess made my heart pound as if it would burst. This was creating unusual fear. Yet the desperation I felt for the first time wouldn’t let me take my eyes off his face. This is the original version of the 10-stage emotion control drug made by Wittelsbach. Strictly speaking, it’s not a drug that makes you fall in love. It’s a drug that makes several emotions uncontrollable. That’s the improved version, and this is the original drug. Different in nature…

Good. I can give it a rough name now. This is a drug that makes you loyal. It makes people respect. It makes them obsess and bow their heads at his feet. Makes them unable to dare rebel. Right now, if I let go of my consciousness, I could dedicate everything to this Prince. The Prince’s cold gaze, which doesn’t even feel interest, turns toward my face. So he’s thoroughly fulfilling his duty for security and feels no particular fun, joy, or guilt. It’s businesslike. With the feelings of a general who served the Emperor loyally all his life but would soon hand over his rank insignia, I showed bewilderment on my face. Just the fact that he wouldn’t give me a satisfied smile made it seem like all the principles of the world were wrong. I should immediately leave to build achievements to please the Emperor.

In this situation, the option to betray him could never arise.

“Who developed this drug?”

The Prince watched me with indifferent eyes without answering. It must be the work of Prince Hildegard, who has put great effort into advancing magical medicine. If this drug had been maintained for long and used frequently, Prussia would have obtained it by any means long ago. With just this, they could have conquered the world. However, the Prince discontinued this inhumane drug from the moment he became king and Prussia became the leader of the Empire, and even after, thus ending its lineage. So I had fallen into the long journey of Hildegard Wittelsbach establishing his own governing ethics. A sage king is not born but made. This is what twenty-year-old Hildegard Wittelsbach’s scale and sword look like when he stops at nothing. I don’t intend to hastily call it wrong. But it was impressive. I began to anticipate what Leonard Wittelsbach, who didn’t grow up under Hildegard Wittelsbach’s hand, might look like.

Like adrenaline surging, my vision stretched toward one place seeking a target. The Prince pushed a new drug toward me. An antidote. He pushed another one forward. A familiar mind-body stabilizing elixir. How kind.

Crown Prince Leonard Wittelsbach is not someone who would come to grant the unreasonable request for the King’s blood based on trust alone—what the King said must be true. And that statement applies to his own attitude as well. The King is not someone who can grant others’ unreasonable requests based on trust, nor is he in a position to do so. The result is this unhesitating drug.

He’s telling me to choose for myself without forcing anything on me. His businesslike eyes didn’t expect much from me, and to that extent, he had no intention of causing me pain. Hildegard’s Laplace isn’t worth that. Only the minimal security need to attach the kingdom’s loose surveillance for the time being remains.

I opened my mouth with difficulty once more.

“Are you telling me to live 30 days in this state?”

“In about 5 minutes, that transitional vision will return to normal. But you can speak.”

“I suppose it’s a drug that shouldn’t allow speech?”

“You should be immersed in confusion for 5 minutes.”

The Prince pushed the antidote toward me.

“Drink.”

I desperately want to reach for it. Not because I want to escape the drug’s effects, but because it’s his words. Hildegard Wittelsbach spoke low once more.

“It’s an order.”

“I refuse, Count Wittelsbach. If you really want to order me…”

I smiled crookedly like him, ignoring my burning eyes, and said.

“Shouldn’t you also be prepared to be called Your Highness the Prince?”

Finally, a light of surprise rises in the Prince’s eyes. For a moment, feeling interest, he twisted up the corner of his mouth.

“You have quite a temper.”

“…”

“30 days later. Until then, I can knowingly let myself be deceived by you. So regarding how you overnight changed personality, learned fighting skills, and became able to use divine power…”

Hildegard Wittelsbach slowly tapped the back of his clasped hands and said.

“What excuse are you planning to make? Is there a reason I shouldn’t consider you a spy from an enemy nation?”

Looking at him, I silently raised the corners of my mouth slightly. Then I answered as agreed.

“I don’t know either, Your Highness. I was hit by a carriage and lost my memory. When I came to, I was like this.”

Hildegard Wittelsbach smiles the same smile as me. I continued quietly.

“It seems I’ll have to go look for my memories.”

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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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