Zeldryn sat on the bed while waiting for Hera to arrive.
There was not much he could do.
No phone.
No computer.
No internet.
He did not even dare touch any books yet, afraid that he might fail to understand the writing in this world and create even more suspicion.
In the end, his attention returned to the Mana particles drifting through the air inside the room.
The particles emitted a faint golden-yellow glow. Some shone like tiny fragments of light, while others were nearly transparent and could only be seen when observed carefully.
There were countless numbers of them.
Some floated in place.
Others moved slowly along certain currents.
Several particles crossed paths and even appeared to collide, but they simply passed through one another without changing direction.
The sight reminded Zeldryn of illustrations of atoms he had seen in the modern world.
The difference was that these things were actually floating in front of his eyes.
“So this is Mana?”
Zeldryn raised one hand and tried touching a particle that passed near his face.
His finger went straight through it.
He felt nothing.
No warmth.
No cold.
No pressure or texture of any kind.
The golden-yellow particle continued moving as if Zeldryn’s hand had never been there.
Zeldryn tried again.
This time, he cupped both hands together, attempting to catch several particles at once.
However, when he opened his palms, there was nothing inside.
The Mana had passed through his hands and returned to its original flow.
“So it can’t be touched?”
He then blew at one of the particles drifting in front of him.
It did not move even slightly.
Zeldryn blew harder.
Still nothing changed.
He even slapped the air several times, but every Mana particle continued moving as usual.
“So physical force can’t affect it at all.”
Zeldryn lowered his hands and resumed observing the golden-yellow light filling the room.
He began thinking about why he had suddenly become capable of seeing Mana.
When he first woke up in this world, he had not seen any particles.
Everything only changed after he tried imagining Mana inside his mind.
At the time, after concentrating for quite a while, he managed to create the image of a single Mana particle.
Only one.
It was small and simple, but its shape had felt extremely clear inside his mind.
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Not long after that, he began seeing similar particles in the real world.
Zeldryn narrowed his eyes.
Could it be that after I successfully formed a Mana particle inside my mind, my brain became capable of recognizing the Mana in the real world?
Perhaps Mana had filled the entire room from the very beginning.
His brain and eyes had simply been unable to recognize its existence.
After successfully imagining a Mana particle, something inside him might have changed and allowed him to see Mana directly.
However, Zeldryn quickly shook his head.
That was not necessarily true.
It was only speculation.
He had no evidence.
He also did not know whether other Mana users went through the same process or were capable of seeing Mana from birth.
Perhaps the previous Zeldryn had already possessed this ability.
Perhaps it had appeared because of the injury to his head.
Or maybe Reka’s soul entering this body had caused some kind of change.
There was no way to confirm any of those possibilities.
“The more I think about it, the more questions I get.”
Zeldryn raised his hand again.
He tried tapping a Mana particle that was drifting toward him.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
His movement immediately stopped.
Hera’s voice came from behind the door.
“E-Excuse me, my lord. It is Hera.”
Zeldryn lowered his hand.
“Come in.”
He had already prepared countless questions inside his head.
Questions about this world.
About the Giorry family.
About the territory surrounding the mansion.
About the Mana system.
And about why he had been placed so far away from the main residence.
The bedroom door slowly opened.
However, the moment Hera entered, every question Zeldryn had prepared vanished from his mind.
Hera was not wearing her usual maid uniform.
She wore clothing that was much thinner and more revealing. There did not appear to be enough fabric to properly cover her body.
Hera’s face was red with embarrassment, while both of her hands were tightly clasped in front of her.
Her gaze remained fixed on the floor.
Zeldryn immediately rose from the bed.
“Hera, why are you wearing something like that?”
The question came out instinctively and slightly louder than intended because of his shock.
Hera’s body immediately stiffened.
She became even more nervous. Her breathing grew uneven, while her fingers tightly gripped the fabric of her clothes.
“P-Please do not humiliate me any further, my lord.”
Hera’s voice trembled.
Fear, embarrassment, and confusion were all mixed together.
“W-Weren’t you the one who ordered me to come to your bedroom tonight?”
Zeldryn fell silent.
The words he had spoken in the dining room immediately returned to his mind.
“Call Hera to my bedroom tonight. I have something to discuss with her.”
He also remembered the expression of the servant who had received his order.
The servant had looked angry and seemed to be holding something back, but Zeldryn had not understood why at the time.
Zeldryn’s eyes slowly widened.
Shit.
So that was what her expression meant?
Zeldryn finally understood the misunderstanding.
That servant must have delivered the order to Hera while believing Zeldryn intended to do something terrible again.
Hera herself had also assumed she had been summoned because of the previous Zeldryn’s habits.
Another misunderstanding.
Zeldryn rubbed his face.
“No. That isn’t what I meant.”
Hera continued looking down, not daring to meet his eyes.
“Go back to your room first.”
Hera’s body became even stiffer.
She probably thought she had made another mistake.
Before the misunderstanding could become even worse, Zeldryn immediately continued.
“Fix your clothes. Put on what you normally wear.”
Hera slowly raised her face.
Her eyes were filled with confusion.
“After that, come back here.”
Zeldryn pointed toward the door.
“I did not summon you for something like that.”
Hera remained silent.
“I genuinely have important business with you. There are many things I want to ask.”
The embarrassment was still obvious on Hera’s face.
Her fear had not completely disappeared either.
She did not know whether Zeldryn was telling the truth or merely toying with her.
However, after several seconds, Hera finally lowered her head.
“Y-Yes, my lord.”
Her voice was extremely quiet.
Hera then turned around and walked toward the door.
Her movements appeared stiff because she was still struggling with her embarrassment.
Before leaving, she stopped for a moment as if she wanted to say something.
In the end, however, not a single word left her mouth.
The door slowly closed again.
Click.
Zeldryn was alone inside the room once more.
He stood motionless for several seconds.
After that, his body dropped back onto the bed.
“Another misunderstanding?”
Zeldryn stared at the bedroom ceiling.
“How long is this crap going to keep happening?”
He ruffled his hair in frustration.
“I’m already sick of it.”
Ever since waking up, he had constantly been dealing with problems left behind by the previous owner of this body.
The servants were terrified of him.
Hera was deeply traumatized.
Henry and Aeglo used his name to do whatever they pleased.
Now, simply because he had summoned Hera to his bedroom at night, the entire mansion probably believed he was doing something horrible again.
“You left behind way too much depravity, stupidity, and other terrible shit, you bastard Zeldryn.”
Since morning, he had felt as though he had finally begun improving the servants’ impression of him.
He returned their greetings.
He punished Henry and Aeglo.
He distributed food without making the servants suspicious.
Yet with a single sentence, all of his hard work might have been destroyed.
“I just managed to repair my reputation a little, and now I’ve screwed it up again.”
Zeldryn released a long sigh.
“Haaah.”
He imagined the previous owner of the body standing directly in front of him.
The same face he had now, but wearing an irritating smile.
Zeldryn immediately raised his middle finger toward the ceiling.
“You really were a bastard, original Zeldryn.”