[Lifespan Remaining: 30 days, 23 hours, 50 minutes.]
Noct instantly swung his legs over the bed, deciding to test whether the change had any effect on his actual physical body.
Combined with being strengthened inside the Spiral Pool as well as Ambrosia’s lifeforce effect, surely he was stronger now.
“Young Master…?” Noelle said curiously.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
Noct dropped onto the floor, placing both his palms on the carpet, stretched his legs behind him, and braced himself.
‘Come on, just one push-up…’
Noct lowered his chest toward the floor, stopped before touching it, and pushed right back up.
His arm trembled in the process, but the whole action already taught him what he needed to know.
He greedily tried for another, only to fall flat on the floor, panting heavily.
‘It’s really working!
If that was before, just barely holding a plank would’ve sent me to the floor in a nanosecond.
I really am stronger.’
A small laugh escaped him, but that was when he noticed Noelle wasn’t laughing.
She was kneeling beside him, one hand hovering near his shoulder.
“Noelle?”
“You really aren’t hurting…?”
“Well other than my arm, everything feels fine.”
She stared at him for a moment, only for her hand to suddenly come up to her mouth, as if suppressing tears.
“I’m sorry, Young Master…”
“What are you apologizing for?”
Noelle shook her head, wiping at her eyes with her sleeve.
“You kept saying there was something you could do. That you could win, that the Ambrosia would help…”
“And you didn’t believe me?”
“I wanted to. B—but I couldn’t help but feel that it was just the whims—”
“Of a dead man,” Noct finished her sentence for her.
“I can’t really blame you for that, can I?”
Noelle quickly pulled out a handkerchief to wipe at her eyes.
“Every time you got better, something else happened. And tomorrow…”
‘Right…tomorrow, huh?’
According to the game, it was pretty much prophesized that Noct de Arcadia would succumb to his curse on his eighteenth birthday.
Nobody questioned it, because it was the diagnosis of the top physician within the kingdom.
And normally, he would be right.
“I’m not dying tomorrow, Noelle.”
A silence passed by the two of them before the young maid nodded, eyes finally squinting into a trusting smile.
“I believe you, Young Master.”
It was the first time she had said it without sounding as though she was simply humoring him, that she was just doing her job as his personal maid.
“Well, now onto our next problem,” Noct muttered under his breath, taking a seat at the wheelchair by the bedside that he no longer needed.
Noelle nodded, understanding what he was trying to say.
“What are you planning to do now, Young Master?”
The question was one that buried itself in the back of Noct’s mind.
He had spent so long thinking about how to survive that he’d given little thought to what would come afterward.
“My life is still on a timer, approximately thirty days.” Noct shook his head.
“It might sound generous compared to what I had before, but unless I find more mana, I’ll simply die a month from now instead.”
“Which means?”
“I still need House Arcadia. Its influence, its information, and every resource I can extract from it.”
Noelle frowned, heading towards Noct.
“Are you finally planning to compete with the other candidates for the seat of Duke? Young Mistress Stella has already warned you how dangerous that would be…”
“No. I have no interest in fighting them over the position.”
Remaining the family’s forgotten youngest might allow him to avoid their attention, but it would also leave him with no authority, allies, and only getting whatever scraps the others allowed him to possess.
He had spent seventeen years at their mercy, relying on whatever they threw his way.
Continuing to depend upon them would be idiotic.
“But House Arcadia, as it currently stands, will only hinder me. Its resources are divided between a collection of self-interested fools, and none of them will willingly give me what I need.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Consolidate it all. Under my control.”
“Through diplomacy?”
“Through manipulation. Make someone here think they’re in power and make someone there feel like they’re the center of the universe.”
Noelle tilted her head as she grabbed onto the handles of his wheelchair.
“How are you planning to do that?”
Noct looked outside the window at the preparations currently happening for his birthday.
“Well, the first thing I have to do now—”
“…Is to cheat my own death.”
***
The wooden door creaked open.
Faust de Arcadia stepped into the chamber, his usually immaculate black hair slightly disheveled.
From the tension in his shoulders, one might have thought he was approaching the guillotine rather than his mother’s desk.
The entire room was filled head-to-toe in a red motif: crimson couches, wine colored tapestries, and even a dark wooden bedframe that had a burgundy sheen when shone beneath the light.
Faust bowed toward the figure seated with her back turned toward him.
And after a moment of silence, she finally asked without turning around.
“Well? Have you figured out why the hell he’s back so soon?”
“Not yet…”
“I asked everyone ranging from his attendants to even his knights,” Faust straightened.
“Everyone gave me the same answer; that he’s back to attend Noct’s eighteenth birthday.”
“BULLSHIT!”
She slammed her hand into the desk, causing Faust to flinch.
Vivienne turned around, and upon realizing that she had startled her son, calmed down somewhat.
“That was…unbecoming of me,” she simply sighed.
“My reputation might’ve taken a hit, but it’s a small price to pay for my mistake. Damn it…I shouldn’t have underestimated that brat.”
“Mother, why even worry?” Faust asked out of curiosity.
“He’s going to die tomorrow anyways. Father is going to leave for the North again, and you’ll be back in control soon. What’s the problem?”
His words were like honey to her ears.
The First Lady broke into a smile as she casually poured more wine into a cup.
“Yes, you’re right dear. Well, we’ll proceed with the plan as usual then.”
“Finalize the guest list and make sure to invite enough spectators so that Stella won’t be able to move easily, I got it.” Faust replied smugly.
“Precisely.”
With another bow, Faust quickly left the room to escape the wrath of his mother.
And almost as soon as the doors closed…the First Lady crashed out.
Papers went flying as various objects were knocked off the table.
Her eyes became unfocused as she downed her glass in one fell swoop.
“Why…why is it that every child I bear insists upon disappointing me?” she muttered to herself.
“Faust, I gave you ONE mission, to get rid of that lowly brat, and you went ahead and ruined everything…!”
“No matter…” the First Lady leaned back into her chair, picking up a picture of herself and a slightly taller and more muscular boy.
“I still have you, my precious Alistair…”
“Soon, the dog will follow her bitch to the heavens, and no one will be here to stop me from taking control of Arcadia…”
“Whatever Ophelia tried to do…whatever she planned after her death. Whatever those two children have…”
“I’m going to tear it all down.”