Fwoooooosh.
Instantly, an eerie blue flame flared to life within his hands, causing Renrae to softly exclaim in wonder.
“Aiyo, i-it actually worked—”
“What was that, young master?”
Renrae flinched at the butler’s puzzled inquiry and quickly extinguished the flame he’d summoned.
“A-Ah, n-nothing!” Renrae blurted out, forgetting his “elegant manners” for a moment to reveal a faint look of panic barely masking the bright-eyed eagerness that had flooded his astounded mind just a second ago upon testing out one of his hypotheses.
The butler blinked at him, seemingly looking for something on Renrae’s—Siknae’s—face, before the elderly man’s lips suddenly curved into a gentle smile.
Renrae blinked back at him, confused as to why the butler had suddenly adopted this indescribably soft look that practically oozed with relief and fondness. Yeah, so people fell for Siknae’s face all the time, but Renrae had figured that the guy’s servants must’ve at least suspected something about Siknae’s true nature after being around him all the time, since Renrae had noticed within the last week or so that the servants were very polite but not overly endearing to him, which was a clear contrast to how everyone else treated Siknae. Either Siknae had ordered his servants not to fawn over him so religiously, or they had decided themselves to keep a distance from the enigma that was the young master of the illustrious Aen ducal family. Renrae suspected the latter, seeing as how Siknae seemed to be the type to enjoy the attention and use it to suit his own purposes.
So what was this now, the butler was actually smiling at him so warmly? Had Renrae been mistaken about the nature of the relationship between Siknae and his servants?
“Young master, I’m glad to see you so happy, but you must refrain from training while having your meal. It’s not good for your digestion.”
…Eh?
Renrae couldn’t hide the look of faint stupefaction on his face. On the first day that he’d been Siknae, the butler hadn’t spoken a word to him unless he spoke to him first, barring the time when he’d woken up to the butler trying to wake him for breakfast since he’d uncharacteristically “slept in.” As the week had gone on, however, the butler and some of the other servants had slowly started to relax around him.
Was Renrae…not disguising himself as Siknae well enough? What was he doing wrong?
“U-Uhh—I mean, thank you, Fortev. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Renrae hurriedly stuffed a slice of duck meat into his mouth, before promptly choking on the spice-laden dish. The butler immediately stepped forward, worriedly patting his back and urging him to chew slowly.
Renrae felt a little embarrassed, but he couldn’t help it. He was used to eating very bland foods, since his stomach got easily upset after eating heavy dishes. It was a consequence of his childhood days of basically…getting kicked one too many times in the ribs. Anyway.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“Young master, I’ve noticed you don’t seem to enjoy spice in your foods anymore—”
“R-Rb!” Efcgjf mtbxfv bea, fsfr kjafglcu ogbw atf utjrais jwbeca bo mbeutlcu atja tjv obiibkfv tlw cfjgis vslcu bc j tjio-mtfkfv qlfmf bo vemx. “R-Rb cffv, P wfjc, P ilxf—”
Ktf yeaifg ogbkcfv, jcv obg atf olgra alwf rlcmf Efcgjf tjv wfa tlw, Mbgafn rafqqfv bea bo ilcf ab ufcais jvwbclrt tlw.
“Young master, you do not need to fret. I speak for the entire household when I say it makes us unhappy that you cannot enjoy your food to the fullest. It’s no trouble for the chef to cook new dishes, so it is fine if your tastes have changed. Please tell us what you would like to eat.”
Renrae barely stopped his mouth from opening. Really…what was going on today?
“I—”
Renrae cleared his throat, feeling his face heat up for some reason. He sheepishly replaced the napkin he’d hastily snagged from the table to cover his mouth when he’d had his coughing fit and slowly took his time to mull over his words.
It wasn’t…that big of a deal, right? People’s tastes did change, and anyway, if Renrae kept going on like this, it might turn out really bad for him. Siknae’s body didn’t actually reject spicy foods the way Renrae’s body would’ve, but there was still a psychological barrier in Renrae’s mind that made it hard for him to swallow the stuff down.
Renrae had no intention of starving himself if it wasn’t necessary.
“Alright,” Renrae finally sighed, acquiescing to the butler’s request. “I’d just like some porridge please.”
The butler hid his surprise well. “Porridge, young master? Would that be all?”
Renrae gave a cute little smile that made Siknae’s fair features sparkle even more brightly in the candlelight. “Yes. I’m actually not all that hungry today.”
The butler bowed slightly. “Very well then. I will let the chef know. Please wait for a bit.”
As soon as the butler had closed the dining hall door, Renrae slumped in his seat, exhausted from having to put up a front all day long.
How much longer until Siknae’s father comes back…
Originally, Renrae was supposed to have attended Veill Academy’s orientation alongside everyone else, and then stay at the dorms for the rest of that first week to get acclimated to the climate just like the other noble children who had enrolled. However, Renrae couldn’t leave the manor until his father came back from wherever he’d gone off to, so all he could do was wait.
In the meantime, the other kids are at the academy, choosing their books for their first day of class, meeting old friends, making new acquaintances…
Renrae pouted.
Dratted dragons’ nests, I want to be there…
Something came to mind at that moment that made Renrae’s face brighten up. Actually, even if Renrae couldn’t be at the academy when everyone else was there, he still had discovered something amazing. For the first time in his life, Renrae felt like his luck truly had changed for the better. This dream was second only to the dream of him becoming Koi’tte’s boyfriend.
Peeking at the door to make sure that the butler wasn’t about to barge in and tell him off for doing this, Renrae raised his hands to stare at the unfamiliar lines creasing his palms and the smooth skin of his wrist. These weren’t his hands, and this wasn’t his body, but it might as well be for the best, because Renrae’s original body lacked the mana channels necessary to channel mana. He’d been born an anomaly, and that anomaly had cost him a future he’d desperately wanted.
However, Siknae was different.
Renrae thought about the glyph he’d memorized a long time ago.
As a child, Renrae had been fascinated by the sorcery arts. He’d studied tomes and tomes of it, and he’d even amassed enough spells to create his own ratty version of a grimoire. Of course, it’d been useless to little ol’ him, though he wouldn’t come to terms with that fact until he got a bit older. The thing was…
Although Renrae had little potential to become a knight, he did have potential to become something else, if only his fate hadn’t been so completely warped the moment he was born. It was truly unfortunate because not only was it something amazing that he cherished and admired, but he had the inborn passion for it yet nothing to show for it. Nevertheless, maybe whatever deities were out there had finally pitied him enough to give him a chance. It was a temporary change, of course, and not something Renrae could hold on to for long, but while he was in Siknae’s body…
He could do sorcery.
And Renrae, with those years of booklore and knowledge neatly recorded in his head, and his knack for visualizing results with uncanny accuracy like the great sorcerers of old, could utilize that to the fullest.
Swoosh.
An invisible wind began roaming about his body, and Renrae directed it to wrap around himself. He wanted to try and see if he could float. It was the first step towards mastering the art of flying.
To be honest, the real Siknae couldn’t have done this. Sure, he could certainly cast the incantation using his grimoire, but that was a cheat meant to help lower-level and mid-level sorcerers control their mana and reinforce their mental skills. It took years of dedication and diligence to get to the level that Renrae was showcasing, where a sorcerer could just clearly picture the glyph and structure the mana in their head before casting it without a medium.
Renrae, after a couple of days looking through the Aen family’s library to refresh his memory on all the important glyphs and incantations relevant to his studies, could easily begin casting spells that only high-level sorcerers could do.
To say that he felt incredibly smug and content right now would be a serious understatement.
Renrae started to laugh uncontrollably, doubling over in the air as the wind he’d summoned continued to whirl around him in a tight vortex.
“This…feels amazing!”
Crash!
“Y-Young master!”
Renrae’s eyes widened at the sight of Fortev standing below him in the dining hall with the remains of the dropped meal on the floor, his wrinkled face shocked and concerned. Renrae had a moment to think that Fortev went overboard again, having brought two different bowls of porridge and a plain tomato soup, before everything went to hell.
Renrae’s concentration only buckled for one second, but it was enough for the spell to go awry. Rather than risk the wind turning into an uncontrollable cyclone that might hurt Fortev and the rest of the servants in the manor, Renrae cut off his mana flow without thinking. The wind abruptly vanished, and Renrae only had one second to realize what a bad, bad idea that had been before his body was falling through the air from where he’d been floating close to the ceiling.
This dining hall was huge. The ceiling must’ve been at least two stories from the ground. If Renrae had gotten accustomed to using sorcery fast enough, he could’ve quickly cast the wind spell again, but a week was still a week, and Renrae was no superhuman despite being a prodigy.
Too frazzled to focus enough to use his mana to save himself, Renrae broke an arm instead when he crashed onto the marble floors.
Fortev scolded him for the next week non-stop, though what truly agonized Renrae was that he ended up missing the first day of classes. The first day! When everyone gets to meet their professor for the first time, and begins the groundwork for new spells and discussion, and all the fun things that normal kids who don’t have to fight for their lives in the scums of the cities or the backyards of villages or all alone up on a mountain get to do.
Renrae felt incredibly bitter about the whole ordeal, especially since healing spells were a whole different area of sorcery that had a high potential of backfiring with horrific results if he messed them up, so even he didn’t dare attempt them without guidance. He thought and waited and bemoaned his life for hours upon hours until the opportunity presented itself.
Siknae’s bastard of a father came back two days later. Renrae learned how to cast a high-level illusion spell in record time and was out the door within the day. He’d packed his bags with one hand, slipped out of the manor half-dressed, and hurried away to the capital as fast as his feet could carry him.
That was, until Renrae remembered his new identity as Siknae Aen, the young master of the kingdom’s only ducal family. Well, he didn’t exactly remember it so much as had the reality drop-kick itself onto his head when a group of enthusiastic hooligans tried to kidnap him for ransom.
That was, Renrae honestly thought, the start of his first mistake in a whole slew of irreversible slip-ups that he began to make from that moment onward. Because the crown prince, His Royal Highness of the everlasting kingdom of Vae, the cold-hearted Kaikoi Valmoun himself, was also his first witness.
yamyam has something to say:
Pffft haha sChEdUlE??? What’s that?? XD Let’s just say I put the “rad” in sporadic—*winces hard enough to dislocate a shoulder* okay I’ll stop torturing you guys with my delirium—
Awww you guys are way too sweet to me ｡：ﾟ(｡ﾉω＼｡)ﾟ･｡ it seems like y’all are determined to kill me with kindness so right back atcha ( ﾉToT)ﾉ♡. * ・ ｡ﾟ Sorry, I know this chapter might be a bit of a drag, but I gotta set the groundwork for the magic system just in case I need to explore it later on (haha doubtful cuz, umm, plot?? What’s a plot? Can it be eaten?) so bear with me~ the ML will show up reaaaaaaaaallll soon, and that’s all I can say ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Thanks for the update ❤️
eeeeee thank YOU for reading Cloud-san~~ (>ᗜ<)ﾉ♡. * ・ ｡ﾟ
Yes. Yes we are trying to kill you with kindness. We will smother you with it until you drown. Don’t worry, it feels nice and fluffy （＾-＾）
Yes plots can be eaten. It looks appetizing, t astes nice at first, but as you chew at it more you’ll find that it gets tougher and tougher. Don’t worry, you’ll eventually be able to swallow it.
Thanks for the chapter.
mmm yumm drowning has never sounded so delectable…this cotton candy sweetness shall be returned ten-fold in this story (hopefully)~
umm actually now I’m worried my plotless maniac of a story will end up choking you guys dead so p-plz survive till the end Turnip-san (◕_◕) It’ll be like chowing down on half-solidified concrete but maybe just use a drill and/or hammer to reduce it to rubble?? Might be more digestible…(then again, it’s *half* solidified…idk what to do about that…)
thanks for the chapter <3
awww thanks for reading Moon-san~~ (>ᗜ<)ﾉ♡. * ・ ｡ﾟ
🤣 That’s so amazing. Dropping from the the air only to miss the first day of class. On top of that he forgot that he is a noble and sneaked out. 🤣🤣🤣