I felt the urge to grab Siegfried by the collar and shout, “He’s going to kill you, you fool!”
But instead, I forced out a small sigh to calm myself. Siegfried frowned and looked at me with concern.
“At any rate, now that we’re finally together again, why don’t we talk about something a little more cheerful?”
Tap. Tap.
We were interrupted when I heard something tapping at the window—it was a familiar sound. I stood up, opened it, and just as I expected, the visitor flew in and perched gracefully on the back of the sofa.
“It looks like you’re being summoned,” I said.
The bird was one of the hawks trained by the palace staff, most likely sent by the prime minister.
Siegfried let out an exaggerated sigh. “Oh, I can’t wait to see which petty noble dispute I’m being dragged into mediating this time.”
He untied the message from the hawk’s leg, read it quickly, then tucked it into his breast pocket with an exasperated expression before standing. “Please come to the capital soon, Kreis.”
“I’d only be useless to you right now,” I said.
“Well, that proposal you submitted got a lot of praise. And if it’s approved, you’d be appointed to oversee it, which means you’d have to come to the capital anyway.”
Ever since Siegfried’s reign began, the kingdom of Claan had become more open to public suggestions on everything from legal reform to flood prevention measures. The proposal Kreis had submitted was one of many. This particular one addressed countermeasures for recurring epidemics. And if it were approved, it had the potential to save many people from unnecessary suffering.
But of course last time, Kreis had died before anyone could actually move forward with it.
“I’ll do my best to be of service to Your Majesty when that time comes,” I said, shifting into more formal speech again, signaling the end of our leisure time together. Siegfried stood up a little straighter and then nodded solemnly.
“I’ll look forward to it.”
“Goodbye, then.”
I watched Siegfried disappear into the sky alongside the hawk, then turned back to face the Louboutin estate behind me.
“This is my battlefield now,” I muttered to myself.
“Well then, what’s your next move?”
“First I need to improve my standing in this house,” I said. I felt my body trembling, but it wasn’t from fear. It was something like adrenaline before a real battle. Or at least that was what I told myself.
The line between myself and the original Kreis was vague, especially since I’d lived Kreis’s life once already. The fear I had of my father, the despair of those hellish days I spent here...all of it was etched into my memory as if it really had happened to me.
And yet now that I’d regained my memories from my past life, I could at least take a step back and look at things more objectively. I had knowledge Kreis had lacked. That was why I thought I could do it this time. Everything Kreis had been unable to do, I would.
Suddenly I felt someone watching me, and I looked up. A figure stood in the second floor window, staring down at me.
It was Gilles, Kreis’s young brother. The moment our eyes met, I felt my blood boil.
His shrill voice echoed through my mind. “Ahh, finally this world will have peace!”
He was adorable, enough to make anyone want to protect him, and had an endearing personality. His soft, angelic golden hair and eyes were the spitting image of his mother, a dancer who’d once captivated any man who laid eyes on her.
He was my innocent, merciful protagonist. But of course I knew now that wasn’t the truth at all. He’d strayed from the path of the story I’d written. The affection and attachment I’d once felt for him while writing had been turned into hatred by Kreis’s memories.
Kreis, you’re furious, aren’t you? I understand. And I’ll make sure that man experiences the very pain and despair you did.
“Just wait. I’ll twist that perfect face of yours into one of despair,” I muttered.
“Now that’s a great villain line!” Professor said.
I couldn’t help but let out a chuckle. I couldn’t deny it. I was about to bring down this story’s main character, which made me the villain, without a doubt.
“Just you wait, Gilles.”
The old Kreis would’ve immediately looked away. But I wasn’t him. I met Gilles’s gaze and smiled at him.
“You might want to hold off on anything too dramatic right from the start,” Professor said.
“Thanks for the warning.”
Gilles’s eyes widened as he stood in the window. His lips twisted like he was about to curse at me.
Hey, now. You’re already starting to show your true colors, huh? I wanted to sneer at him.
That was the man who had killed Kreis and Siegfried, all in the name of justice. But really, he’d only done it to serve himself. And this time I wouldn’t let him.
“Lord Kreis.” A voice suddenly called out my name, pulling my attention from the window. It was my father’s faithful butler, who emerged from the front door of the estate. “Lord Albert has requested your presence.”
Albert von Louboutin was the head of the household and Kreis’s father. He always made a show of calling for Kreis every time Siegfried visited, even though he normally never gave his son the time of day.
“It’s best not to keep His Lordship waiting,” the butler urged.
“I’ll be right there.”
I saw the butler’s cheek twitch ever so slightly, but he maintained his composure, just as I would expect from him.
Sisz, the butler, was different from the rest of the household staff in that he’d never openly abused Kreis. But there was no way he didn’t know what went on here. Yet he did nothing, which meant on some level he also had ill intentions. Albert was the only master he served. Anything Albert didn’t value, Sisz didn’t bother to protect.
His sunken, aged eyes watched me cautiously. He was probably puzzled by the change in my tone. The old Kreis always used formal, polite speech even with the servants.
I knew exactly what he was thinking, but I ignored him, just like he’d ignored Kreis’s silent pleas for help. I had no reason to explain myself to him.
I began walking in silence. Sisz walked ahead of me to lead the way, but I could sense his hesitation in his unusual gait.
He paused before we reached the door to the study. “Lord Albert, I’ve brought Lord Kreis.”
“Come in.”
I stepped into the room before Sisz motioned me inside. I would guess that was the first time Kreis had ever done such a thing. The memories from my first life here had seeped into me, so I knew Kreis had always been afraid to enter this room. Each time he’d been summoned here was usually for a lecture or some kind of unreasonable demand. He didn’t have a single positive memory of this place.
“You wanted to see me?” I asked.
Albert didn’t even look up from the papers spread across his desk. “I hear His Majesty paid another visit.”
“That’s right.”
Albert didn’t resemble Kreis at all, with his dark brown hair and sharp eyes. He kept a beard because of his intense inferiority complex about how plain his appearance was; basically, he wanted to project some kind of authority.
He always made a show of being busy as he looked through his documents, but considering that he dumped most of his work on Kreis, I wanted to ask him what exactly he was working on. When it came down to it, everything about him was just an act.
“Hmph. You have the face of a doll. Why don’t you use it to seduce His Majesty? Then those looks of yours wouldn’t be such a waste.”
Albert wasn’t originally of the Louboutin marquess house. That was the house of Kreis’s mother, whose looks Kreis had inherited. Albert’s father was a merchant, and had been a commoner at birth. So his loathing of Kreis’s good looks was likely due to that inferiority complex of his.
“What did you two talk about?”