How to Survive as the Second Son of a Mage Family - Chapter 608

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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 (608)

Mr. Laplace doesn’t resemble me in the slightest. He looks like an ordinary human. Unlike Luca, who has a relatively narrow jaw, Mr. Laplace has a wide and thick jaw, and conversely, unlike Luca who has a high nose bridge with some thickness, Mr. Laplace has a low, spread-out nose bridge and brow bone that doesn’t cast deep shadows over his eyes. Luca has somewhat thick lips while Mr. Laplace’s mouth is so thin it looks like a line. I can’t say which is better. But they’re complete opposites.

The only similarity is their pale skin color. Everything else is different. I can’t believe someone with the same face as Luca could come from this person. And as I’ve seen tediously until now, the Luca Laplace I’ve seen since entering this world just looks like Lucas Ascanien. Just dejected to match his environment.

Just like in the second extra chapter, here too people don’t realize that a person has been switched.

“Please sit.”

Mr. Laplace called me into a dim tea room with small lighting. I sat in the chair while pretending to gather my dress skirts. Since I’m grasping at empty air, I don’t know if this is good acting… Just as I was thinking that, Mr. Laplace, who was boiling water, spoke.

“You seem to have become more refined since returning from Germany.”

“You dismiss this as a matter of refinement.”

Reading the coolness in my voice, Mr. Laplace said nothing and closed his mouth.

“That’s how seriously I have something to ask.”

“What is it?”

“First, Count Laplace is doing well in Germany.”

Mr. Laplace placed tea leaves on a strainer and poured water over them. I gazed at his expressionless face and said.

“But now he says he doesn’t want to associate with Lord Noayu anymore.”

Mr. Laplace’s hand stops. With his slightly open mouth unmoving, he asked with only his throat vibrating.

“Pardon?”

I closed my mouth, recalling Rosalie’s rude behavior. Mr. Laplace spoke with an obviously displeased attitude.

“No… There must have been some mistake. How much does Lord Noayu cherish our Luca. Luca is also close friends with Lord Noayu. As you know. Miss Blanchet, I cannot believe such topics until I receive a letter directly from my son.”

“That friend doesn’t speak of it out of consideration for his wife. Don’t you know why?”

“I know, but he’s not that kind of child. Miss Blanchet. I know you have bad feelings about the engagement.”

“Why would that be.”

“There can be various problems in romantic relationships. But that doesn’t mean interfering with friendships, does it? Do you want to cut off all of our son’s friendships too?”

“No. Quite the opposite.”

Rosalie actively used Lucien to torment Laplace. What exactly went so wrong that she tormented him by mobilizing Lucien? I can’t understand. It’s also correct that it’s the opposite in terms of continuing to torment him, but right now ‘Rosalie’ should have come to help Laplace’s wife. Mr. Laplace said.

“Our son has always been weakened since becoming engaged to Miss Blanchet. Now he doesn’t even want to come near Paris. How fed up must he have been to act like that? He doesn’t tell me anything, but isn’t that your fault? And now you want to take away his friend too?”

That friend is also an accomplice. Suppressing a sigh, I asked with blazing eyes.

“What did Luca Laplace go to Germany for?”

Laplace’s wife looked down at me quietly and spoke mechanically.

“One of many informants.”

“For such an informant to distance himself from the Noayu family is tantamount to betraying everything.”

Is that right? Is the Noayu family really that central?

Mr. Laplace doesn’t seem puzzled by my challenge and doesn’t deny it. The Noayu family really is at the center of the Bourbon restoration. Instead, he widened his eyes and shouted.

“So you’re trying to make him betray—!”

“No. Do I seem like someone who wishes for my fiancé’s death?”

“Then you could break off the engagement. You wouldn’t have to worry about Madame Marie’s feelings either.”

Ah, this isn’t easy? I feel somewhat defeated. The relationship between Laplace’s wife and Rosalie prevents me from hearing information.

But I didn’t think they had such a bad relationship. If so, she wouldn’t have readily allowed Rosalie to go to this house in her own form. Yes, normally they would have gotten along without revealing their true selves to each other. However, Mr. Laplace is indignant at the thought that his son might distance himself from Lucien Noayu. That shows how central the Noayu family is to French power, I understand well. Did Rohan devour them, or did he form an alliance? That’s what I’m curious about.

“So you intend to just watch what has already happened?”

Tell me what you can do right now for friendship with the Noayu family. Tell me about the Noayu family.

“What should I do? Meet my son and scold him saying you’re thinking wrong right now?”

This isn’t it. This isn’t it. If it comes out this way, I’m in trouble. There are no people around, and it’s a very good environment. I moved my hand to my waist, grasped my wand, and stood up from my seat. Without placing the wand on the table, I opened my mouth.

—Narrow…

“Son. How dare you try to deceive your mother!”

With the roar, yellow magical power covers my vision. A thunderous sound explodes and scatters just 1m diagonally in front. I held the wand like holding a tennis racket and struck away the magical power. I caught the rolling teacup and placed it on the table. While raising one corner of my mouth and thinking. Son? I almost turned off the cognitive disruption magic I’d been rolling around in one corner of my mind and revealed my true form. Dagger-like magical power clumped together and flew at me.

“Did you forget that I’m a mage too?”

“No.”

I quietly gave an answer that wouldn’t be heard. When meeting people, checking status windows is basic. I struck away his aggressive charge and stepped back. A resonant sound came from the middle-aged man’s characteristic resonating chamber.

[When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place! “Then why do you appear before me wearing that child’s face? Where did you learn such magic?”]

When I pushed away the magical power, my body hit the cupboard from the recoil. Glass cups shook violently behind me. Annoying. I lowered my body to the side, dodged the magical power that stuck into the wall like a nail, and ran while thinking about his magical formula. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars you have set in place—this is a verse from Psalms, but rather than having a great flow, it’s content praising Yahweh. Is he implementing a traditional magical formula that borrows power from Yahweh, or did he attach his own formula to words? It doesn’t seem like the power was amplified, so if it’s the latter, why use such verses now? Is it a way to prohibit interpretation by the opponent?

Or because I’m his mother? No, why would a mother fight with her child? Did he realize I’m not the true son? The manor’s servants are nowhere to be seen, and instead only furniture collapses around us. I almost tripped over a furniture leg, spun in the air to land, spun the wand once in my hand to make it a staff, and blocked the front. Then I turned my left wrist to the left, released my right hand, and pushed the staff forward. A barrier emanated from me as I gripped the staff with both hands again like holding a spear.

[What is mankind that you are mindful of them.]

This is the very next verse from what he recited earlier. It becomes more and more puzzling.

[Human beings that you care for them!]

I split his attack in half and deployed a magical formula without incantation. Weaker than usual, but still sufficient to endure.

But why would he chant spells when I don’t feel his power being amplified right now? Instead, the magical formula mainly scattered only my senses. Mother’s magical formula avoided the front and struck my ear from the side. Trying to penetrate my ear—if my body barrier had been inadequate, this would be the worst attack method for me, the best for him. I can’t keep going like this. I swung the staff like a flagpole in the opposite direction to reduce resistance and kicked off the ground. Instead of Mr. Laplace who tried to block my front, I looked down at him and wrapped magical power around the chandelier. The non-viscous magical power broke immediately. I stepped on Mr. Laplace’s back as he reflexively ducked and landed behind him. When my staff went under Mr. Laplace’s jaw, I wrapped one arm around his waist and turned my body. Then I lightly knocked him down. The flow of magical power is strange.

“Aha.”

I frowned and pressed the head of my staff against the chest of Mr. Laplace lying on the floor. My magical power mingled with his barrier. A peculiar occurrence. For some reason, Mr. Laplace widened his eyes and gasped, but it didn’t seem to be simply from defeat.

“Everything you’ve recited so far has been defensive formulas. Did you expect to lose to me?”

“Huh…”

“I also had no confidence in losing to Mother. But I didn’t want to win either.”

“That’s right, my good son.”

I’m not your son. However, you are an elder, and I needed to respect such an elder. That’s what I was taught. There’s still no reason to withdraw that teaching.

“You cried saying we shouldn’t withdraw from the marriage.”

Mr. Laplace seemed moved. His irises don’t touch any surface of his eyes. He spoke in a floating voice.

“You really have changed.”

‘Really’? Then I could be certain he had heard the words ‘going round and round.’ Mr. Laplace seemed to have thought the day would come when I would change. I slid the staff ornament along his jaw and sat beside him. Then I brushed aside Mr. Laplace’s disheveled hair so it wouldn’t poke his eyes and asked.

“Did I cry? Did you see it directly, Mother?”

Eerie eyes rolled toward me with a thud.

“You should call me Mom.”

I didn’t speak. You should call me Mom… Who? I looked at the unfamiliar middle-aged man and said.

“I refuse. Mother. Since when have you been raising me?”

“Naturally since you were born.”

His breathing quickens for some reason. I felt those eyes and lungs seemed distant. I don’t want to speak carelessly about feeling bad, but it was a gaze anyone would find hard to meet. I wondered if there were any holes in his memory. Why? I wanted to catch evidence that Laplace was someone wrongly fitted into this world. I asked without showing it.

“Right. Are you certain? What happened when I was five years old?”

Mr. Laplace burst into giggles and said.

“What more happened? You couldn’t eat meat until you turned five. You also hit your head on a stone and got stitches. Your father was worried that… you might not be able to study well.”

“Isn’t there more?”

Then Mr. Laplace’s lips stopped. He stared blankly at the ceiling and whispered.

“I remember when I was having a hard time, you would somehow try to help and massage my shoulders with those small hands.”

I cast my gaze into the air. This is troubling. How can it not be troubling? The more I get entangled in Laplace’s life, the more suffocated I feel.

Mother Laplace’s memories seem complete. Is this evidence that Laplace really existed in this world? I asked him many more things for a long time. Mr. Laplace’s memories seem intact. He could answer everything I asked about without omission. I gave up and asked about ‘going round and round’ which he would also know about.

“Is there something you heard about today?”

Mr. Laplace just breathes through his mouth and looks at me quietly. I quietly pressed him.

“Please tell me, Mother.”

“What happened to you?”

“I don’t know. I’m also in a position where I know nothing…”

Mr. Laplace doesn’t comfort, wonder about, or guard against me. He asked kindly.

“Do you want to know?”

“Mother wants to know.”

I said that and tilted my head.

“I want to know too.”

That way I can build a ladder up to the heart of the cult.

Perhaps because the commotion seems to have ended to some degree, I can see servants wondering whether to come down to the first floor or not. Mr. Laplace said.

“They said you are the one who goes round and round, so we must serve you without fail.”

Serve… I almost grimaced at the word choice but listened silently. Mr. Laplace raised his hand and caressed my cheek. I closed my eyes and slowly opened them. Then I could see Mr. Laplace’s madly bloodshot whites. Goosebumps rose all over at the face smiling happily with burst blood vessels in his eyes. Strength entered Mr. Laplace’s hand. I grabbed his wrist and moved my lips. Mr. Laplace said.

“You are higher than even that person. But that person is trying to marry you to that girl to lower you! You shouldn’t be bound to the surface!”

Wait, wait… From beginning to end, I can’t understand what he’s talking about at all. Confusion dominated my mind. I spread my hand to mean stop for a moment and asked.

“Didn’t that person say it? That person said you go round and round and then tried to make me marry?”

“Yes. And then did that…”

Mr. Laplace suddenly widened his eyes and stared into space. I see Rosalie overlapping in him, who paused briefly when saying ‘going round and round.’ I asked Mr. Laplace.

“Why is that?”

“No, I’m certain. He said the revered one would come.”

“‘Would come,’ you say. Haha… That’s ridiculous. Then, was I there that day?”

This is the most crucial question for me. When that declaration was made that day about ‘the one who turns and returns coming,’ was Laplace present? Or was he inserted later? Even knowing that Mother Laplace has memories of her son Laplace, I ask once more. Laplace pulled himself halfway up and drew my shoulder toward him. I met him at a midpoint and looked at Laplace with concern.

“Yes. As it turns and turns, what was forgotten is revealed and what should be there is filled. What was initially empty gets filled as it revolves! That’s how the world becomes complex, and more complex…”

“You speak as if I’m problematically increasing entropy. At this rate, the universe will stop.”

“That’s not it. Don’t you know what it means to turn and return? Time remains neither past, present, nor future, with something continuously being added upon it. You are Elohim. Even if you’re not the most exalted, you have the right to participate in the heavenly council. You can perform many things in His will on His behalf.”

I opened my mouth and let go of the hand holding him. Having known many religious people, I understand this situation well. This isn’t a religious person. When things spiral toward catastrophe like this, even the religion he believed in can’t pull him out. This isn’t because I’m truly Elohim—God, sometimes the Lord—but simply because something has gone terribly wrong with this person’s faith. This spreading collectively and becoming troublesome must have been what happened about ten days ago.

“Turning and returning. Didn’t you also turn and return to become such a wonderful son? While we’re unaware, the world is turning and returning, becoming more refined. In the way we desire!”

“It’s not just me turning, but the whole world turning and returning too?”

I had to give up on getting an answer. If I’m wrong, he’ll refute me with that fanatical mind. I asked while looking into his eyes, relying on the few remaining lights.

“These are words Marie Noailles spoke to you, aren’t they? Rather than the world restarting as it turns and returns, is it being updated in real-time here? So I thought that if any element were added, it would be reflected in a newly started world, but Mother, do you see it as elements continuously being added to one world? Then what happens to memories? You should have considered such blind spots. Please answer me.”

He rolls his eyes, examining every part of my face. I continued speaking.

“Could you tell me more about what the turning and returning has to do with me? The claim that I’m the revered one seems unrelated to the turning and returning.”

“…”

He cannot answer. He himself got stuck trying to respond. I let out a hollow laugh. Look, you yourself kept saying it turns and returns. But how can you not explain the relationship between your son and the turning and returning? At the very least, shouldn’t you say that because I turn and return, making the world turn with me—which never happened—I’m the revered one? Was he brainwashed? But why would that be necessary? Even I can’t clearly say what connection my coming here has with ‘turning and returning.’ My entering an extra chapter is just coming to the past. Rather than turning and returning. However, those words are suspicious, so I merely speculate that ‘they seem to have anticipated my intervention.’ As expected, they don’t seem to simply call my entry from 1898 into the 1851 extra chapter ‘turning and returning.’ There’s something else.

But that’s my position as an outsider, and they should know. Why should I be praised for being one who turns and returns?

“Our good son, you always listen well to what Mother says.”

Does this look like listening to you right now? I remained silent while surveying the first floor of the manor that had become a mess. Laplace embraced me and patted my back.

“Even though you ran away because you hated us so much…”

What kind of bullshit is this now… I think I understand, but I have no patience left. I smiled at those words and placed my hand on Laplace’s head.

—Enter through the narrow entrance.

Laplace’s eyes relaxed so easily. Ah, I really don’t understand what these French people are saying, going round and round, and I just want to cast mental manipulation magic on Paris and shake everyone’s brains out completely. I know it’s nonsense. If I want to bid farewell to the world, I could do that. It would be so nice if everyone were like Leonard.

I looked down at my fingertips. The joints are creaking.

The longer I stay here, the more clearly I realize why I consider Leonard my closest friend above all others. I didn’t want to realize even that reason, but they bring me enlightenment through their tremendous inner distortion. So the reason I’m thinking this now is…

“Rosalie.”

I muttered while grabbing the back of my neck. My body began to stiffen rigidly. Where is she? My eyes sweep across the large, thin window. She must have approached the vicinity of the manor. Really, it’s not that I didn’t calculate this possibility, but actually experiencing it… I don’t know what emotion surged at the last moment. My head falls to one side without my eyes closing. Someone brushes down my eyelids with their hand. The sensation remained intact. He put his hand on my back and rose from his seat. Like an ascetic, he dragged his disheveled robe on the floor and lifted me up without any effort.

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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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