Chapter 9

That Voice (1)

Right. Seymour Mausoleum is a villain anyway. A mastermind hiding in the shadows.

All I need to do is perform a few good deeds before meeting the protagonist, then retire gracefully like washing my hands in golden water.

Why bother trying to live virtuously from now on and suffer for nothing?

Besides…

“You have knowledge and information about the future.”

I possess all knowledge and information.

“Even about the protagonist.”

The powers and abilities the protagonist can acquire, and even the ways to counter them.

“Then you could kill the protagonist too, couldn’t you?”

I can win.

Not just against the protagonist—against anyone.

“Then just live however you want. Say whatever you feel like.”

Ssshh…

It felt as though I heard the hiss of a snake’s tongue brushing against my ear.

“If you just throw away that foolish thought of living kindly, you can say goodbye to all these annoying troubles forever.”

If I just clenched my hand a little tighter—

“Alright. On the count of three, just crush it.”

If I just released a bit of mana—

“One… two…”

I could live comfortably.

I could finally relax.

“B… brother…”

A sudden voice made me turn my head.

In the lake of black mana, there was only one person completely untouched by it.

Simon. My younger brother.

“This… this… this isn’t right…”

Though my mana shouldn’t have affected him at all, he was sweating profusely, cold sweat pouring down endlessly.

“For… for Lucis…”

Pale as a ghost, gasping for breath, Simon still managed to force the words out.

“You said… you wanted to become a father Lucis wouldn’t be ashamed of… that you’d change… wasn’t that it?”

I didn’t understand a word of what he was saying.

That I was changing to become a father Lucis wouldn’t be ashamed of?

Another grand delusion of his, it seemed.

“…”

But his words rippled through my chest like a stone dropped into water.

Lucis.

Just picturing those golden eyes beneath snow-white hair made the turmoil inside me swell.

Lucis? Why? He’s just a tool I gained through a contract, isn’t he?

A tool?

…No.

Lucis is more than that.

Lucis is my child.

The child I designed, the child I gave birth to with my heart.

The child I must take responsibility for.

“Why would he be your child? Get a grip.”

Of course—you wouldn’t understand.

To you, he’s just a tool that happened to fall from the sky.

“Focus. We’re not even talking about Lucis right now. We’re talking about what to do with those branch family bastards—”

Shut up, Seymour.

“…”

I am not you.

Don’t try to control me.

“Heh, heh, heh…”

I’m not a sociopath like you.

I won’t kill people just because it’s the easier path.

Whoosh—!

As I released my grip and stopped controlling the mana, the energy pooled across the floor burst into flames and vanished in an instant.

The mana climbing up my uncle’s body also disappeared.

“Haaaah!”

“Ughhhh…!”

Only then did the branch family members slump forward onto the table, gasping desperately for air.

Many collapsed face-first into the food, but they seemed far too shaken to care.

“…Phew.”

I exhaled long and hard, pressing against my chest.

That voice no longer echoed in my ears, but its vile presence lingered in me like an aftertaste.

“B… brother…”

When I turned, Simon was staring at me, trembling all over.

“…”

I had always thought of him as weak.

Weaker even than our sister Sia, who at least had some backbone.

“I misjudged you.”

The one who saved everyone here today, the one who pulled me out from Seymour’s grasp—was Simon.

“Thank you, Simon.”

“H-huh…?”

“You saved me.”

At my words of gratitude, Simon’s eyes went wide.

I wanted to say more, but even I had reached my mental limit.

“…Now what?”

“Ughh…”

“Ooogh…”

I had no idea how to even begin cleaning up the banquet hall, now reduced to utter chaos.

* * *

Three days later.

I met Andre in the study.

“Here are the materials you requested, my lord.”

“Thanks, Andre.”

“It’s nothing. Please don’t hesitate to call on me anytime.”

The documents I received contained exactly what I had hoped for.

Satisfied, I nodded and asked,

“Andre, how’s the moving preparation going?”

“Almost finished. We’ve sorted the household goods, and the shop is nearly wrapped up too.”

“Good. Make sure it’s organized so you don’t have to go back and forth twice.”

“Yes, my lord!”

Andre was coming with me to the Imperial capital.

He would help me open a tailor shop to showcase modern Earth fashion—ties included.

An hour after sending Andre off, I finished drafting the proclamation.

“Alfred.”

“Yes, my lord.”

Alfred, who had been waiting outside, stepped in at my call.

“You summoned me?”

“Come read this.”

He walked around to my desk and scanned the proclamation I’d written.

“My lord… this is…?”

“A final ultimatum for the branch families.”

At that, Alfred read through it seriously from beginning to end.

For reference—the banquet incident? I simply brazened it out.

No apologies, no excuses. I just acted like it never happened.

“What can they do? Seymour’s always been a mad dog anyway.”

I’d suffered so much thanks to Seymour’s past reputation. Might as well take advantage of it for once.

As a result, these past few days had been blissfully quiet—no pesky branch family members bothering me.

Of course, that didn’t mean their plotting had stopped, so this time I decided to go on the offensive.

“Well?”

After finishing the proclamation, Alfred stroked his chin, murmuring with admiration.

“I can’t find fault with it. But… is what you’ve written here really true?”

“Of course. Would I lie when dealing with those slippery snakes?”

In short, the proclamation was my self-promotion.

How the ‘tie’ I unveiled at the funeral had fascinated nobles.

How, after the funeral, countless nobles had swarmed the county’s tailor shops asking about it.

How many nobles had even offered bribes to unrelated tailors, begging them to reveal the creator’s name.

(Andre had investigated all this for me.)

It also detailed how much the Mausoleum family’s fashion enterprises could grow thanks to the tie’s existence.

“At least threefold, even by conservative estimates.”

The tie was a revolutionary invention.

Back on Earth, ties had been an icon of modern fashion, alongside stockings.

“This is the value of the idea bank I carry.”

And my ideas—my knowledge of modern Earth—were not limited to fashion.

If their businesses grew with my help, they’d realize that trying to seize my enterprises outright would earn them less than cooperating.

“Of course, I can’t hand out ideas to everyone.”

I wasn’t some genius entrepreneur—just a struggling artist.

But since all family businesses were tied under a single noble house, even a few thriving companies would generate shared profit.

Most importantly, I had a treasure that could maximize that shared profit.

Lucis.

The child of a dragon-bearing family.

A business under the banner of a house where legends lived.

The mere crest alone would dazzle countless people.

“For now, I’m hiding Lucis’ existence because of the funeral, but in the capital I won’t hold back.”

Thus, the proclamation basically told them to stop their foolishness and fall in line.

After finishing, Alfred nodded in admiration.

“I never knew you were so knowledgeable in economics, my lord.”

He was impressed by terms like shared profit and professional management.

But on Earth, even high schoolers knew those words. I just shrugged.

“So this is what they call the ‘genius from another world’ effect.”

Still, Alfred had long served the late Count, who, while vile in character, had been highly competent.

For him to nod in approval meant I’d passed the bar.

“Good. Now post this in the hall where everyone can see it.”

“As you command.”

Alfred carefully took the proclamation but paused to ask,

“My lord, do you intend to embrace all the branch families?”

At that, I smiled faintly.

“It’s not about embracing them. I’m giving them one last chance to be taken in.”

This proclamation was my final mercy.

Those who accepted it would become my people, no questions asked.

Not all who wander are lost—likewise, not everyone straying after losing the late Count’s guidance was guilty.

The family’s businesses needed them too, to run smoothly.

But those who still resisted after this…

“I have no reason to carry such people.”

I hoped the branch families would make the wise choice.

Because I had no desire to spill the blood of kin.

* * *

As Alfred pinned the proclamation to the hall wall, he found himself thinking—

“When did the young master become so dignified?”

He had served the Mausoleum family for decades, watching Seymour grow since childhood.

“I used to worry so much about him.”

The late Count had never been a good father.

True to the Mausoleum line, which grew more brutal with each generation, he never hesitated to strike his own child.

Especially his firstborn, Seymour, who bore the brunt of it.

“I should have stopped him back then…”

If Seymour made a mistake, he was beaten for it.

If he didn’t, he was beaten so he’d keep it that way.

Even on normal days, it was declared the family’s duty to soothe the head’s mood.

Every day, the late Count would abuse and torment Seymour.

The family’s resident physicians ensured no scars remained, but it was obvious Seymour’s heart was rotting.

“And yet, none of us intervened.”

Alfred was no exception.

He’d been too focused on helping the Count expand the family’s glory, ignoring the decay of the next heir.

“When Seymour finally tried to harm Simon, the whole house was thrown into chaos.”

Only then did the cold-blooded Count realize he had created a monster.

Yet even after that, the abuse continued—under the pretense of “instilling loyalty,” terrified that the monster he’d created might devour him.

“When the late Count suddenly passed, many were worried…”

Some branch members even opposed Seymour’s succession—not out of greed, but purely out of fear that such a monster could not become head.

But now?

“To think the young master could smile like that.”

The way Seymour smiled when with Lucis—a warm expression he had never once shown before.

“And how well he gets along with the second young master and the young lady too.”

Every day filled Alfred with pride. And all the more, he felt grateful for Lucis.

“They say a man changes when he sees his child.”

Indeed, the old saying was flawless.

Which made Lucis all the more precious in his eyes.

“I should buy a camera or something…”

So that he could preserve the childhood of their adorable, noble baby dragon forever.