Jarius looked up at the sky, the faint breeze cooling the heat from his training.
"Guess I should head to Father's office. I don't want to make him angry and cause trouble for Mister Sebastian."
He wiped the sweat from his brow, slipped on his shirt, and placed the dummy sword neatly back on its rack.
As he began walking toward the manor, hands tucked loosely in his pockets, his thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Back to another life.
Back when he was Miyamura Junpei.
A sudden flash of memory surfaced.
"Junpei! Let's go drink!"
He smiled faintly at the recollection. Seiji and Kazuma, his two loud, persistent friends, never took no for an answer.
He could almost hear their laughter again, see the neon lights of the city blurring past that night.
And then, the sound of screeching tires.
The violent jolt.
The blinding light.
That was all he could remember before waking up in this world.
Born again.
But not without loss.
His mother in this world hadn't survived for long.
She had fallen ill soon after giving birth to him, her body frail, movement difficult, voice faint.
Even so, she had been beautiful. Ethereal. The kind of beauty that felt almost unearthly.
But when Jarius turned three, she was gone.
Since then, whispers followed him through the halls of the Razin manor.
"A cursed child."
"Bad luck."
"Ever since he was born, misfortune follows."
He had heard them all.
And learned to stay silent.
But Jarius knew.
He wasn't a child in mind, even if his body had been.
He understood what truly happened.
His mother hadn't died from childbirth.
She had already been frail the moment she came to live in this estate, ever since his father married her.
According to Sebastian, she had once been full of life.
A cheerful, gentle woman, kind to everyone, loved by all who met her.
But a year after moving into the Razin manor, her health began to fail.
Some said it was homesickness. Others whispered about her delicate constitution.
Yet Jarius, even as an infant, had seen what others did not.
She wasn't weak because of birth.
She was being poisoned.
A slow, silent toxin, one that withered the body little by little, draining vitality until nothing remained.
He remembered the helpless frustration of that tiny body, the inability to speak or move freely.
He could only watch as her smile faded day by day.
At that time, all he could do was cry. To stop his mother in this world to eat that poison.
When his mother grew weaker, just as he neared his first year, they took him away from her.
"For the child's safety," they said.
"To prevent the curse from spreading."
That was the excuse. The lie.
He had wanted to stay by her side.
And he had seen her smile… even through the pain… as they tore them apart.
He knew who it was.
That maid. The one assigned to her care.
A woman who worked under the first wife's branch.
Polite on the surface. Always smiling.
The one who delivered her meals. Who insisted on feeding her when no one else was around.
It was her.
The poison hadn't come from some assassin.
It came from within this house.
And now, that woman, was retiring peacefully. Returning to her hometown with a pension, praised for her long service.
Jarius's eyes narrowed slightly.
He remembered her face.
He remembered the scent of the poison.
And he remembered his mother's smile… fading, day by day.
And soon, I'll be thirteen.
A full thirteen on my birthday.
When that day comes, I'll have the right to attend official functions.
The right to walk freely.
The right to act.
So don't worry.
I'll investigate everything. Thoroughly.
And if it turns out.
If it truly turns out that she was helping Father's first wife…
Feeding poison to my mother little by little...
Then let her enjoy her pension.
Let her return to her hometown.
Rest easy, while she still can.
Because the moment I gain the freedom to move.
To speak, to act without restraint.
I'll make sure my mother's slow suffering is avenged.
Every person involved...
Every accomplice who stood by and did nothing...
They will pay.
In full.
Anyone else might think this is ridiculous.
Childish, even.
But they don't know.
They don't understand my suffering.
I was happy, truly happy, when I was reborn.
Back in Japan, I was an orphan. Alone.
But when she gave birth to me… even with her fragile body, she smiled.
For nearly a year, before they separated us, she was my entire world.
She sang me lullabies.
She stroked my hair when I cried.
She whispered stories of magic and distant kingdoms.
And even when I couldn't speak, she still talked to me as if I could.
That smile…
That gentle, radiant smile…
It made me love her more than anything else in this life.
I wanted to see it again.
Just once more.
But they ruined it.
They ruined everything.
They destroyed the one thing I called precious.
They took an innocent life.
And for that.
I will make sure every ounce of knowledge I gain…
Every spell I master…
Every sword technique, every assassination method I study in secret.
All of it will serve one purpose.
Retribution.
( End Of Chapter )