The fourth day of the transmigration began with a flurry of activity at the Hawthorne residence.
The corridors were filled with servants rushing about, arranging decorations for Lord Hayes’ birthday.
However, amidst the hustle and bustle, Lucien sat in a corner of the living room with a blank stare that betrayed his inner exhaustion.
He felt alienated from this grand environment.
Worse still, he felt extremely uncomfortable with the adoring and overly warm gazes that everyone who passed him kept giving him.
Deep down, Lucien was well aware that this was not due to his own charm, but rather the effect of the magnetic aura generated by the remnant soul of Luciel Edelweiss.
The child’s soul once craved affection, creating an emotional aura that drew intense affection and attention from those around him.
Lucien could only sigh, hoping this day would pass quickly so he could rest before heading to the academy.
The celebration finally began in the late afternoon.
The entire extended family gathered in the main hall, including Uncle Daniel’s family, who had come from the branch residence.
One by one, family members came forward to offer prayers for the former Duke’s health and long life, followed by the presentation of lavish gifts that sparkled under the crystal chandelier.
Lord Hayes smiled broadly, basking in the warmth of the family surrounding him.
Then it was Lucien’s turn to step forward.
He stood before his grandfather empty-handed.
Uncle Daniel, who was standing near the table of honor, blinked in confusion, thinking his nephew had forgotten to prepare a gift due to his frequent health problems.
However, with a deadpan face, Lucien shifted slightly and said softly, “You guys, come in and bring out the gift.” Shortly after, several servants stepped into the hall with stiff steps, carrying a very large wooden box covered in elegant black velvet.
The previously noisy hall suddenly fell silent.
After the large box was carefully placed on the marble floor in front of Lord Hayes, Lucien looked straight at his grandfather and said in a tone as calm as pool water, “This is my gift to you, Grandpa.
It will be useful until you die.” “Lucien, so you actually prepared a gift for me,” said Lord Hayes, moved.
Everyone in the room was stunned.
Curiosity immediately gripped every pair of eyes that stared at the mysterious box.
Wasting no time, Lord Hayes, overcome with curiosity, rushed forward and pulled back the cloth covering it.
Brak!
When the lid of the box was fully opened, the contents were revealed under the lamplight.
Instantly, several servants and relatives were shocked and horrified, some choking on their own saliva.
Roveniel and Reichardt almost choked on their sips of tea, while Duke Nathaniel immediately froze in fear that his father would have a sudden heart attack when he saw the birthday gift of a luxuriously carved wooden coffin.
“A coffin?!
Lucien…
you…” said Uncle Daniel, surprised by the gift for his father from his nephew.
However, beyond all normal human logic, Lord Hayes’ excessive love for his grandson—and the effect of his incredibly strong magnetic aura—made the grandfather’s reaction the exact opposite of people’s fears.
Lord Hayes’s old eyes sparkled with enthusiasm.
He gazed at the magnificent coffin in awe, then hugged Lucien tightly, expressing his deep appreciation for the gift.
“Lucien, this gift is amazing.
It’s better than any gift I’ve ever received.
They just gave me what I deserved rather than thinking about what I’d need in the future.
I can’t wait to wear it.” “Father, don’t die yet!
It’s your birthday!” Duke Nathaniel cried in panic, trying to pull his father away from his son’s body.
Meanwhile, amidst his grandfather’s tight embrace and the family’s hysterical outbursts of both emotion and horror, Lucien maintained a blank, expressionless face.
Beneath his stoic facade, he actually felt immense relief.
Even though he knew his actions were very presumptuous and unfilial, he believed in his heart that this gift was the most functional and sensible thing he could think of for an old man.
Lucien’s mind then drifted back in time, remembering the events of a few days ago when he was planning all this.
It all started a few days ago, on the first day of his transmigration, during an awkward conversation with Roveniel and Reichardt after breakfast about gifts for their grandfather.
At that moment, an absurd idea about what gift to give his grandfather flashed through his head.
In his spacious room, Lucien pondered hard about how to get the item, considering he had no money at all.
However, after he casually searched the locked desk drawer in his room, he found a small wooden box filled with a pile of gold coins and high-denomination currency notes.
There was no doubt that this body belonged to a beloved child of a high-ranking noble family; as evidenced by the fact that his pocket money alone was enough to buy a small house on the outskirts of town.
Feeling that his financial problems were resolved, he immediately formulated a detailed plan to carry out his mission the following day.
The next morning, on the second day, Lucien launched his secret mission.
He deliberately slipped out through his upstairs bedroom window.
In order to avoid the strict supervision of the servant’s, with the remaining strength of his frail body, he crawled up the trunk of a large tree near the window and slowly climbed down its branches until he reached the ground safely.
He then walked to the nearby city center.
Although the morning weather was pleasant, his weak physique left him feeling exhausted after just a few steps.
Despite this, he forced himself to continue hurrying towards his destination.
Throughout the journey, the eyes of passersby on the streets were fixed intently on him.
In fact, he had tried to appear as simple as possible by wearing a hooded robe to cover his overly striking physical features: snow-white hair, deathly pale skin, and a pair of glowing red eyes.
After briefly asking a local about his destination, Lucien finally stood in front of a magnificent building with an elegant sign—the finest high-end coffin shop in the entire capital.
Gazing at the shop window filled with carefully selected wood, he muttered under his breath: “Even if I were the one who died, there would be no need to bother buying a coffin.
Whether my body was burned, steamed, buried, or even thrown into a ravine would be fine, because I would no longer feel anything.” His arrival at the shop was greeted very warmly by the shop assistant.
As Lucien began to inquire about the catalog of the best coffins, his body suddenly stiffened with exhaustion, triggering his sensitive throat, causing him to cough violently, producing fresh blood on his handkerchief.
The combination of Lucien’s magnetic aura and the blood-coughing incident created a major misunderstanding in the old shopkeeper’s mind.
The shopkeeper immediately assumed that the pale-faced teenager was ordering a coffin “for himself,” as he was certain he would not live long in this world.
A small tension arose again as Lucien began selecting the size of the coffin.
He ordered one slightly larger than his current stature to fit Grandpa Hayes.
However, the shop owner swallowed dramatically and said with pity, “Oh my…
did this poor teenager deliberately order an adult-sized coffin because he knew he would die after growing up, or was he just hoping to survive long enough to die as an adult?” Due to the overwhelming feeling of pity and the strange urge from Lucien’s magnetic aura that bound the shop owner’s heart, the transaction to purchase the luxurious carved coffin was made completely free as a form of final respect for the “poor young man”.
When Lucien returned to the Hawthorne residence, the house was in a state of chaos as his room was found empty without a trace.
All the servants, knight guards, and even his family members were in a panic, combing every corner of the estate, suspecting that Lucien had been kidnapped by an enemy faction or had fainted in the bushes in the back garden.
However, when Lucien suddenly reappeared from the front gate with his usual unbothered, guiltless steps, they immediately bombarded him with a barrage of panicked questions.
“Where have you been?!” “We were so worried!” Unlike most people who like to create a mysterious atmosphere to give a sweet surprise, Lucien at that time only answered with a flat face without the slightest enthusiasm: “I went to buy a birthday present for Grandpa.” “What gift did you buy?
Didn’t we discuss yesterday that we would prepare it together?” asked Roveniel.
“It’s a secret, you’ll find out later.” It was this flat answer that actually triggered his family’s wild imagination, making them even more horrified and assuming that Lucien was planning something incredibly emotional and sacrificial—when in fact, the object was a carved wooden coffin.
Back in the present day, in the hall of the Hawthorne residence, Lucien’s reverie was shattered when he found himself still being held tightly by Grandpa Hayes, who was crying with joy.
Lucien could only close his eyes in resignation as he lay in his grandfather’s embrace.