How did this happen, you ask?
Well… that is what I would like to know.
To return to Arvania, I searched every corner of not only the Central Plains but also the lands beyond its borders, until I finally discovered a way.
It was a secret art passed down since ancient times by an esoteric order in the Western Regions.
An art that transcended dimensions and returned a being to the place where the essence of its existence had originated.
Everyone tried to dissuade me, warning that it was too dangerous, but I insisted on going through with it.
And so, at long last, I returned.
To Arvania, the world of my dreams—the world where I had originally belonged.
The problem was….
When I woke up, I was not in my own body?
‘What the hell? What is this?!’
Evan Verdin, the Third Young Master of the Verdin Marquisate.
Apparently, he had originally lived outside the lord’s castle with his commoner mother. After she died in an unexpected accident, the Marquis took in the young boy who had been left alone and formally recognized him as a member of the family.
‘I am… an illegitimate child???’
I was utterly dumbfounded.
I opened my eyes three days after the boy had been brought to the lord’s castle unconscious.
‘Wait! Then what happened to my martial arts……?’
I hurriedly focused my energy on my dantian.
But.
‘Wh-What?! Is this… real?’
It was completely spotless!
My dantian was utterly empty.
There was truly nothing there.
Not even a wisp of Demonic Qi.
‘Ha… This is f*cked.’
And that was not the end of my problems.
‘Hold on… I am certain I have seen that Marquis somewhere before.’
It felt as though the answer were on the tip of my tongue….
Ah! I remembered.
He was one of the nobles I had once tried to recruit during the struggle for imperial succession.
Unfortunately… I had failed.
He had said something about not wanting to become entangled in central politics.
Indeed, he was highly renowned as one of the ‘Five Swords’ who protected the empire, yet he had always maintained strict political neutrality.
‘But was Marquis Verdin always this young?’
Something felt ominously wrong.
That was when I realized there was yet another problem.
― Excuse me… Marquis? What is today’s date……?
― Marquis? You will call me Father.
― What? Ah, yes… F-Father?
Marquis Verdin, who was known for being cold and indifferent, was awkward but surprisingly considerate and affectionate….
Damn it, that was not the issue!
― Ahem, today is March sixteenth.
― What year is it?
― …The year?
He looked as though he were wondering why I would ask such a thing, but he answered nonetheless.
It was the year 711 of the Imperial Calendar.
‘Th-This is when I was ten years old?!’
That was right.
I had returned to the past.
‘Ha… Hahaha…….’
By that point, all I could do was laugh hollowly.
I had crossed dimensions, only to wake up in someone else’s body.
All the Internal Energy I had accumulated was gone as well.
And as though that were not enough, I had returned to the past…….
It was a complete disaster.
I had been living like this for the past three months.
.
.
.
“Evan? Are you all right?”
“What? Ah…….”
The Marquis’s low, resonant voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
Beside him, Knight Commander Haver wore an anxious expression like a puppy desperate to relieve itself.
“U-Um… Young Master Evan? Were you perhaps injured somewhere…?”
Oh, I see….
So even he realized that he had pushed me rather hard earlier?
Seeing him fidget so nervously brought out my mischievous side.
“Urgh! Actually, my back earlier…….”
“What?!”
Haver recoiled in alarm.
Beside him, the Marquis’s eyes widened with murderous intensity.
WOOOOOM―
“…Haver?”
“I-I apologize! I-I will summon a physician immediately!”
Watching such a massive man panic helplessly was rather entertaining.
“Hehehe… Pwahahaha!”
“…Hmm?”
When I finally failed to suppress my laughter and burst out laughing, the bewildered Haver blinked repeatedly.
Realizing that it had been a joke, the Marquis’s eyebrow twitched before a faint smile crossed his face.
“You little rascal. You should not tease Sir Randolph like that.”
“What?! Young Master Evan! That was cruel! How could you toy with this loyal servant’s devotion in such a manner?!”
Haver’s belated grumbling was almost endearing.
Ah… Just to add a word in case anyone misunderstands, my tastes are perfectly wholesome and ordinary, so do not get the wrong idea.
In any case, they were genuinely good people.
There were others, however, who were not.
SWISH.
Feeling someone’s gaze, I turned my head.
Through a small window on the third floor of the mansion, I met the eyes of the Marchioness, Clana Verdin, who had been looking down at the training ground.
She had deep purple hair and sharply upturned eyes.
Her vivid yellow irises openly displayed her displeasure.
One glance was enough to tell that she had a thoroughly foul temper.
“…Hmph!”
SNAP―
The moment our eyes met, she turned her head away.
She clearly found me extremely objectionable, but I could not have cared less.
The jealousy and resentment of a stepmother were utterly trivial compared to the intrigues of the imperial palace or the Orthodox-Demonic War.
“Father, your son will take his leave now.”
My lesson in etiquette and refinement was scheduled to begin in thirty minutes.
“Ahem! Very well… The instructors who teach you have spoken quite highly of you.”
The way he cleared his throat suggested that even he felt terribly awkward offering such praise.
According to what I had heard, the Marquis had been an exceedingly cold and indifferent man for the past ten years.
Praise like this would once have been unimaginable….
― Hahaha! But he has completely changed since Young Master Evan arrived! He tries not to show it because he is embarrassed, but he genuinely cares a great deal about you, Young Master.
Haver had once quietly told me as much.
He had said that he was delighted by the change in his lord.
“Indeed! I may be the one teaching him swordsmanship, but the Third Young Master’s talent never ceases to amaze me!”
Haver abruptly joined the conversation the moment the Marquis began praising me.
However, they were not merely empty words. He truly meant them.
Well, that was hardly surprising….
I had already mastered the Imperial Basic Swordsmanship I was currently learning back when I was the Third Prince.
Besides, despite my outward appearance, within me dwelled the ‘Heavenly Demon’ who had stood at the summit of the Hundred Thousand Demonic Practitioners.
A demon sent by heaven, reigning over the myriad demons.
“Young Master Evan is not merely a genius of swordsmanship… He must be a once-in-ten-thousand-years prodigy!”
“Hahaha…….”
At this point, I realized that I needed to restrain my abilities during my swordsmanship training with Haver.
The original owner of this body had been an illegitimate child raised as a commoner, after all.
“Ahem! Swordsmanship is not his only strength. Evan has also distinguished himself in administration, etiquette, horseback riding, imperial history, and every other field.”
Fortunately, the Marquis did not appear particularly suspicious.
On the contrary, he seemed quietly pleased.
Haver grew even more excited.
“Of course! I also heard the maids talking, and they said Young Master Evan is even a genius when it comes to his face!”
“…Heh. Naturally.”
The Marquis finally laughed aloud.
Ugh, please stop already!
“Haha… You flatter me. Your son still has many shortcomings.”
“To think that you are even humble. How perfect.”
…Sigh. I did not know anymore.
Arguing would only make my mouth hurt.
“Then your son truly will be leaving now.”
However, something about his final response felt strangely out of place.
“Very well. Being outstanding is admirable, but… do not overexert yourself. Take things slowly.”
“……What?”
Take things slowly? What was that supposed to mean?
But I truly had to leave now, so I bowed respectfully and hurried away.
* * *
“Ahh~ That feels refreshing!”
After relaxing in hot water and changing into neat clothes, the teacher responsible for my refinement lessons soon arrived.
“Welcome, Lady Muller. Thank you for making the long journey again today.”
“Hehe, it was nothing. More importantly…….”
She trailed off strangely.
Her sharp gaze examined me from head to toe.
And what did she say next…?
“As expected, Young Master Evan’s face is splendid today as well.”
“Ha… Haha… Thank you…….”
Lady Muller.
She was the lady of the Muller Viscounty, which bordered the Verdin Marquisate.
At the Marquis’s request, she traveled all the way to our lord’s castle to oversee my lessons in etiquette and refinement.
For reference, she was an extreme believer in the supremacy of physical beauty.
“To be honest, someone born with gifts like yours does not truly need to take lessons like these. After all, good looks are the culmination of refinement.”
“Ah… Yes…….”
What could I possibly say to that?
She truly put me in just as awkward a position as the Marquis and Haver did.
“In truth, your accomplishments as a noble are already flawless, Young Master Evan.”
“…You flatter me.”
She said that I carried myself with such natural dignity that it seemed as though I had been born a noble from the very beginning.
Flinch.
‘Damn… Did I perform too well?’
For a moment, I grew nervous that I might attract unwanted suspicion, but fortunately, my concern proved groundless.
“Hohoho! The more I look at you, Young Master, the more convinced I become that good looks truly are the culmination of refinement.”
“Hahaha… What will we be studying today?”
When I laughed awkwardly and subtly changed the subject, Lady Muller smiled and took something from her bag.
They were several photographic portraits taken with a magical device.
“Today, we will spend some time learning briefly about these people.”
However, the people in the portraits were already familiar to me.
“They are… members of the imperial family.”
Complicated emotions slowly stirred within me.
Still, I struggled not to let them show and spoke calmly.
“My goodness! That is correct! Do you already know all of them?”
“No. I do not know them in detail.”
Of course I knew them.
I had been one of them.
…….
My troubled gaze settled on one of the eight figures—a boy with curly blond hair and blue eyes.
The face of ‘Evan Verdin,’ which I now wore, was sculpted and handsome but appeared cold and sharp. The boy in the portrait, however, was a beautiful child whose clear, innocent features seemed gentle and warm.
That boy was my former self.
The Third Prince, ‘Allen J. Asron.’
‘This is just…….’
I felt as though I were going insane.
I had never imagined that I would one day look at a portrait of myself while inhabiting another person’s body.
I tried to maintain my composure, but I could do nothing about the complicated heaviness filling one corner of my heart.
SWISH.
My gaze then moved to the Emperor’s portrait.
A murderous urge stirred from the deepest depths of my heart.
That son of a bitch.
The bastard deserved to have his limbs torn apart before being beaten to death…!
No matter how many times I reconsidered it, there was no doubt that the Emperor had been involved in the dark magic used against me that day.
I wanted nothing more than to storm into the imperial palace and deal with him immediately, but that was obviously impossible in my current state.
“My, my. You seem rather tense today, unlike usual. Could it be that you feel threatened because every member of the imperial family is so handsome?”
“Uh… Yes… I suppose…….”
Sure.
Let us go with that for now.
Lady Muller began the lesson, pointing to each portrait in turn.
Emperor Varkan K. Asron.
The Empress and the two Imperial Consorts.
Their three sons and two daughters.
Lady Muller enthusiastically explained one thing after another, but my mind was elsewhere, and I heard none of it.
‘Damn, I need to meet my past self eventually…….’
It was a problem I had been considering throughout the three months since I awakened in this body.
I did not know why I had awakened as the illegitimate son of a Marquis instead of returning to my original body, nor did I know why I had been sent into the past….
But perhaps spending time with my past self would reveal some kind of clue?
‘And if I become close to my past self, it will be easier to investigate the Emperor and whatever sordid secret that bastard is hiding.’
However, the road to meeting the Third Prince remained long and distant.
Finding a pretext that would allow me to remain by his side would be even harder.
Then what should I do for the time being?
I needed ‘power.’
‘If I am weak… I cannot accomplish anything.’
It was an immutable truth I had learned after being battered around by life time and time again.
That was why, ever since awakening as Evan Verdin, I had secretly continued my training every night.
Physical conditioning, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art….
And the ‘power’ I had unexpectedly obtained.
My training continued without exception that night as well.