My morning begins with an Aronia shake.
Every morning, the maid brings Aronia fruit, freshly picked from the field. After adding honey and milk, it became the shake I am drinking right now while I leisurely gazed through the window.
Looking at the vast sea under the warm sun, the scene quickly calmed me down after all the nightmares I had last night.
I am currently in a nursing home on the southern island of Quilz territory. It’s my heaven without my other crazy siblings.
When I finished drinking the shake, I headed to the bathroom. In an antique marble bathtub, petals float in the water.
These are petals that are good for the skin. I took off my gown, and a while later I frowned as I tried to soak my feet in the bath heated by the maid in advance. I could already feel the hotness of the water before I could even touch the water. I wore the gown again and called the maid.
“Girlie! The bath water is too hot!”
The maid arrived quickly to my shout.
Her name is Girlie, and she has been my personal maid since childhood. When Girlie dipped her finger in the bath, she was surprised and shook off her red, ripe finger.
“Oh, that’s true.”
Girlie is quite clumsy.
“Were you trying to kill me? Do you want me to become boiled like chicken?”
“Oh, no. I still like Master.”
“If you didn’t like me, were you going to kill me?”
I am just joking with her. She is stupid and tactless; she wouldn’t dare to think about killing me.
Originally, she should have been kicked out because of her frequent mistakes, but I hired her as my personal maid.
I needed an idiotic and tactless maid rather than a smart and talkative maid.
“Oh! Are you okay?”
Girlie said with a surprised look while sucking her finger to appease the hotness feeling.
“Are you really asking me that? I am fine, you know.”
When Girlie, who didn’t even understand my sarcasm, tried to look around my body, I had to explain that I was okay because I didn’t go into the water. If I were an ordinary nobleman, she would have been beaten hundreds of times.
Then Girlie said it with admiration.
“You’re amazing! How do you know it is hot without even touching it?”
“I know everything.”
“What?”
“Anyway, let me take a bath now.”
After taking a bath, I returned to my room. It is now time for breakfast.
The foods prepared on the table are a sunny side-up egg, baked bread, non-sweet apple jam, and deep-flavored Arakia coffee.
A perfect breakfast that suits my taste. This is a luxury that I didn’t even get to enjoy in my previous life. I am really satisfied with this life.
Knock knock!
While eating leisurely, someone knocked on the door.
“Young master, may I come in?”
It’s the voice of the butler. He is the person who manages this nursing villa; however, he will not come to me unless it’s special.
As soon as I heard the voice, my appetite faded. It’s not that I don’t like him, but I don’t like the news he usually delivers. I put down the fork and stayed still.
“Young master, I have a message from Master.”
When I didn’t answer, butler Don knocked on the door again and said.
“Crap.” I sighed and opened the door.
Red enveloped was held in the hands of the old butler. It was made of quartz wood, the symbol of the Rainberg family.
Butler Don is an old man with a gloomy face. He always lookeded depressed, but the face of the old man who came to give me the letter was exceptionally bright today.
I think I know what the letter is about just by seeing the butler’s expression.
I threw the letter I received randomly and lay on the bed.
Then Girlie, who came to clean the table, kindly picked up the letter and handed it over to me.
“What?”
“You haven’t even read it yet!”
“I know.”
“Do you want me to read it for you?”
“You don’t even know how to read the letters.”
“Cantavia…Quilz… Return…to…the… family right now…?”
“Okay. You know how to read letters. But don’t read it however you want.”
As expected, the contents of the letter were obvious without looking at it. It’s already been four years since I came into this nursing villa.
I haven’t returned home for years.
“There are so many letters in the library telling me to come back!”
“When are you going back?”
“I don’t want to return.”
“Two days ago, Master sent a carriage to pick up the young master. Master will be angry if you just remain here!” Girlie said with her eyes wide open, as if she didn’t understand me.
“I’m still sick.”
“What? You’re fine, right?”
“It’s not my body, but my heart hurts.”
Girlie, who didn’t understand the meaning of my words, handed me the letter regardless.
“This is a letter from Madam. Do you want to read it?”
“Mom?”
This time, I hesitated for a while. Blood is thicker than water.
My memories of my past life have returned, but my mother is still my mother. It’s a family that I love when I think about it. I miss my mom, too. But the house is where my bloody siblings are.
“But I won’t go.”
I will never go back.
* * *
Regardless of my response, my father visited the nursing villa himself. He didn’t bring any attendants with him as if he wanted me to lower my guard against him. However, he alone could take me down.
The Duke Libera Quilz Rainberg, the strongest Duke of the Empire and one of the four pillars. He is also one of the strongest people on the continent, even making his own (reincarnated) children tremble.
He now entered the old age beyond middle ages, but with his dark brown hair and no wrinkles, he looked as if he was still in his thirties.
The moment I opened the door and faced my father’s eyes, I thought that lying would not work.
“Are you okay?”
It was useless to continue pretending to be sick in front of my father. He must have already known that I was faking illness from the time I went to the nursing home.
Nevertheless, seeing all the valuable medicinal herbs he brought made me feel a little sick.
Before the relationship between father and son, he was still the duke of the empire. It was considerate of him to come to my room in person, not waiting for me in the meeting room.
I was slightly startled when the news that my father was coming. But I couldn’t help it, he is still my father.
“I don’t want to go back home.”
My father’s delighted expression was crumpled instantly.
“Tell me the reason.”
I hesitated to answer. Then my father looked at me.
“Is it because of your siblings?”
He hit the nail on the head.
When I did not answer, father looked out the window and sighed deeply. It was a sigh of regret. Perhaps, father thought that the reason was “an inferiority complex.”
But if it was such a trivial reason, I wouldn’t bother running away here. I couldn’t tell him the real reason.
‘All of your children are evil people who drove the earth to the brink of extinction! And I’m a person on Earth.’ How should I say this?
As the awkward silence continued, my father approached me and held my hand. My father had a caring habit. When I was young, he used to hold my hand and use his ‘Spirit’ power often. It was like that even now. Warm energy enveloped me as if it was encouraging me.
“It’s already been four years. There was even a rumor that I had abandoned you.”
When I looked at my father’s eyes, I lowered my head without realizing it.
“Son, you spent a long time alone. Please know that it was not indifference that I didn’t bother you for the past years. I just wanted you to realize the duties and honor of the nobility yourself.”
As I recall the memories of my previous life at the age of 10, my previous life did not run away from the enemy. Knowing this, I didn’t feel so good.
My father held my hand tightly and continued to talk.
“Your father was a commoner. However, I survived thousands of battlefield with my life on the line, and finally overcame all these difficulties and rose to the position of a duke. That’s why I’m aware of my obligations. We are not the ones standing above. Think about the weight you carry.
If Rainberg collapses, who will stop the Ain’s people invasion? Thousands of lives will be at stakes again. Nobles who only know honor do not know the preciousness of life, does not deserve to be at the top. You are already 14 years old. It will soon be your Coming of Age Ceremony, but now you’really…”
Noblesse oblige. Did he prepare this speech before coming here?
Father was really determined to persuade me. Benefits comes with obligations. I know this already as a modern person.
However, there are demons in this world. Any greediness shown, the peace of this kingdom will collapse. Let alone duty, as far as I know, there are other three demons I am currently facing. Those are my siblings.
“Father, I…”
I remembered the events of four years ago before I ran away here.
* * *
Since the Artemis Ritual, we have received great attention from the public again, as we did when us quadruplets were born.
Back then we were just ten-year-old children. We were neither genius of swordsmanship nor magic. My siblings were children who hunted a mammoth and a crocodile Neron River, which are said to be difficult to hunt even if several experienced hunters stick together.
I remember that this incident, which cannot be explained by common sense, caused quite a stir in the whole Empire.
The Rainberg family was in a hurry to hide the rumors, but words without feet quickly spread throughout the empire, leaving no one uninformed. People like to talk talked about the Artemis Ritual, they even named us quadruplets ‘Blessed Children of the Moon’.
Rumors subsided over time, but they never hid their worshipping towards us.
The first person to stand out was my older brother. An incident occurred during our swordsmanship class.
The Rainberg family was not famous for its swords, and swordsmanship was nothing more than learning as a liberal arts subject for nobles.
At the age of ten, we were learning how to swing a wooden sword, and my older brother, like me, was a child being overwhelmed just by swinging a sword.
However, during our first swordsmanship class after the Artemis Ritual, he suddenly beat the instructor who was teaching him.
The reason was that the instructor teaching the swordsmanship was sloppy.
The Blue Wolf Knights, the No. 1 Knights of the Rainberg Ducal Family, who were training at the training ground at that time, witnessed an instructor screaming in front of a sword wielded by a child.
“Uh, hey…”
I stood foolishly and watched the absurd situation, far from common sense, happening. A small beat up the heavy knights.
The knights failed to overpower the young child. Rather, they couldn’t even avoid the sword, and they all fainted after being hit on the head.
The knights made excuses later, “I couldn’t fight back because he is the first young master.” Later, Blue Wolf Knights began to attack him sincerely.
No matter how powerful the Rainberg family was, we were not a family for swords. But it does not mean that the Knights were weak.
Most of the middle-aged knights were war heroes who gained merit in the worst Great War decades ago, and their practical swordsmanship was refined and inherited, making them strong knights comparable to other swordsmanship masters.
However, my older brother, who had been wielding a wooden sword so far, overwhelmed them.
Can the wooden sword wielded by an ordinary 10-year-old kid break an apple?
The wooden sword wielded by a 10-year-old man hit the head of each trained knights.
I couldn’t see his movements. His footwork that took down the knights were faster than the lion.
The child, who eventually knocked out all the knights at the training ground, did not even flinch.
“The knights in this world are very weak.”
At that moment, my suspicion since the Artemis Ritual incident was true.
Is he not going to hide his identity? How can he express his existence so openly?
Like me, he also remembered his past life.
“You.”
In an instant, the child, who destroyed the Rainberg family’s pride, the Blue Wolf Knights, suddenly glanced at me and began to running towards me with a sword.
This is was the start.
The start of my journey to survival.
* * *
On this day, I broke my ribs, cracked both legs and lost one molar. Vicious wounds were engraved on my young body.
My first brother remembered his past life like me, and I realized that his past life was “Murim’s Ruler.”
What made me certain he had reincarnated was when I used my ability.
“Heavenly Sky Eye, Activate.”
My ability from my previous life followed me in this life. One of the only abilities evaluated as being able to confront those who invaded the Earth, Heavenly Sky Eye, also called the Eyes of God.
