Chapter 7 - Damn Reincarnation

Ciel

"... So..."

Anisilla struggled to calm herself. But with her son standing before her, his eyes swollen from crying so much, she could not keep her emotions under control. She thumped her chest in frustration, then picked up a fan to cool her flushed face.

"... My son. Cyan. Challenged some little boy from a collateral branch... to a duel, and lost?"

"Yes."

Hezar could not lift his bowed head. He had no desire to look up for no reason and earn an even harsher tongue-lashing from that ill-tempered tigress.

"And that boy hadn't even trained mana?"

"Yes..."

"Impossible."

Anisilla's reaction was exactly the same as Cyan's had been. She looked at her son in disbelief. Cyan sniffled, his gaze lowered.

"Come here."

"... Mother..."

"I said, come here!"

Unable to contain herself any longer, Anisilla shrieked. Cyan hunched his shoulders and trembled, but approached her with hesitant steps nonetheless.

Steadying her ragged breathing, Anisilla abruptly reached out.

"Ow!"

Her hand pressed hard against his solar plexus. The pain had not even subsided yet... Hezar glanced at Cyan in pity, then dropped his head again.

"And in a single blow?"

"M-Mother. It hurts...!"

"Hold still!"

Cyan froze in the middle of backing away. Anisilla pressed repeatedly and mercilessly against her son's solar plexus. Each time, Cyan clenched his teeth and stifled a scream.

Seated farther back, Ciel watched with a sulky expression. She desperately wanted to say something, but even young Ciel knew that opening her mouth now would do her no good.

"Hezar. You can swear that your assessment is accurate, can't you?"

"..."

"I asked whether you can swear to it. That boy. Has he truly never trained mana?"

"I can swear to it."

An oath was not something to offer lightly under any circumstances. But Hezar knew things would become dreadful if he remained silent now, and he was certain of his judgment.

"Lord Gerhard's son, young Master Eugene, has never trained mana. There was not so much as a trace of mana in his body."

"Is that so?"

Gerhard.

Anisilla searched her memory. A name that did not immediately come to mind was a name not worth remembering. So... yes, from the Gidol region. Gerhard was, she believed, the name of that untitled worm tucked away in the backwoods. His family had split off from the main family centuries ago and had never distinguished itself even once since.

"My son."

Anisilla lifted Cyan's shirt. He trembled and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Lost in a single blow... to someone who hasn't even trained mana."

The skin of his stomach had darkened. Anisilla let out a hollow laugh at the deep bruise. She, too, came from a martial family. Her father was Count Caines, who held a post in the military.

"A single blow. No doubt about it. Ciel, how did your brother lose?"

"M-Mother. That's..."

"I wasn't asking you."

Anisilla glared at her son, her eyes wide. Her gaze was so fierce that it was hard to believe she was looking at her own thirteen-year-old child.

"... The moment the duel began, Eugene thrust his spear."

Ciel spoke with her lips pushed out in a pout.

"Cyan was startled and tried to step back, but Eugene's spear was faster."

"How far apart were they?"

"A little far."

"What was your brother doing at that moment?"

"Trying to raise his sword."

It had happened barely an hour ago, not nearly long enough for the memory to be difficult to recall. With every word Ciel spoke, Cyan trembled in apprehension.

"You..."

Having heard the whole story, Anisilla spoke in a trembling voice.

"You fool!"

SMACK!

Cyan's head snapped to the side. He had expected this, and he gritted his teeth to stifle a groan.

"You let a boy your own age...! Who hasn't even trained mana! Strike first?! You couldn't even dodge properly! You let him close the distance! And you took that blow and collapsed, spewing vomit everywhere?!"

Anisilla shrieked as she slapped Cyan's cheeks again and again. His head jerked from side to side with each blow. She was not hitting him with all her strength. There was no mana behind the slaps. Even so, it was excessive punishment to inflict on a young son.

"In front of others... with those lowborn creatures watching! You challenged him yourself, and then lost?! Do you want to see your mother hang herself and die of shame?!"

"I... I'm sorry... I'm sorry, Mother..."

He could suppress his screams, but not his tears. Cyan sniffled and wept. Her son's crying, however, stirred anger rather than pity in Anisilla.

"What right do you have to cry?"

"Sob..."

"Why must you cause trouble for no reason and put your mother in such a difficult position?! Your father will be back soon for the Bloodline Succession Ceremony, and I don't know how I'm supposed to face him...! And Theonis—how am I supposed to face that woman?!"

Gilead Lionheart, head of the Lionheart main family, had left the estate three years earlier to train.

Under such circumstances, authority over the family should normally have fallen to Theonis, his principal wife. Yet in the family head's absence, it was Anisilla, not his principal wife, who held the reins of the main family.

The reason was simple. After giving birth to her son, Eward, Theonis had become unable to bear any more children. Gilead wanted ample provision for the succession and was not satisfied with a single son.

So he took a second wife, and Anisilla gave birth to twins.

["Three is enough."]

Gilead always said that, but Anisilla could not agree. She was the daughter of Count Caines. She had turned down several good marriage prospects to become a concubine, a position she could not even boast of, because she coveted the prestige of the Lionheart name.

"She'll... she'll laugh at me. I know she will."

Anisilla gnawed at her fingernails, picturing Theonis's face. Thoroughly frightened by his mother's agitated behavior, Cyan stammered out a reply.

"I-I'll duel him again. So you won't have to suffer any shame, Mother, I'll try once more..."

"Again?"

Anisilla's voice rose to a piercing pitch.

"You've already lost! What do you mean, you'll duel him again?! Don't do anything foolish. Keep quiet until the Bloodline Succession Ceremony begins!"

"But..."

"Hezar!"

Anisilla shouted without letting her son finish. Hezar's shoulders twitched, his head still deeply bowed.

"Yes."

"I want to kill you."

Anisilla's fists shook.

"But... I can't. Nor should I...! You are... a knight my husband favors. There can have been nothing wrong with your instruction. Isn't that right?"

"..."

"Your instruction was sound, but my... son...! Failed to learn properly, and lost to that country bumpkin's brat."

"... I apologize."

He could neither agree nor disagree. At times like this, it was better to beg forgiveness than simply keep his mouth shut.

"... Take Cyan out."

"Mother..."

"Go and train him. Make sure he never disgraces me again."

Hezar nodded and withdrew. Though Cyan looked ready to cry, he obeyed Anisilla's command without protest.

"Ciel. Stay a moment."

"... Yes."

Ciel's face fell as she tried to slip out with them. She sat quietly back down, stealing glances at Anisilla's face.

"... That boy. His name was Eugene, wasn't it?"

"Yes."

"Did you challenge him to a duel as well?"

"No, I didn't."

"Why not?"

"Cyan lost in a single blow. I wouldn't have won even if I'd fought him."

Ciel answered in a quiet mumble. She had told the truth, but inwardly she feared that her answer might make her mother even angrier.

"You did well."

But Anisilla did not erupt in rage as she had before. Instead, she regarded her daughter calmly.

"If you'd come back defeated too... I truly would have hanged myself out of shame."

"Please don't say that, Mother."

Ciel put on a tearful face. Of course, she knew her mother would never take her own life under any circumstances. But she had learned from an early age that acting sweet like this improved her mother's mood.

"... Eugene. What was he like?"

"I'm not sure what you mean."

"His looks, or the impression he gave you."

"His face... hmm... He's better-looking than Cyan. And he felt a little strange..."

"Strange? In what way?"

"When he argued with Cyan, he was really childish and annoying, but when he talked to Hezar, he seemed really grown-up."

Anisilla considered this for a moment. He was thirteen, so she could understand what Ciel meant by childish and annoying. But he had seemed like an adult when dealing with Hezar?

"He was... going on about honor and things. He even said showing mercy in a duel was an insult to your opponent. When Eugene said that, Hezar apologized."

"... Apologized?"

"Yes. He said he'd spoken out of turn."

Remembering that moment, Ciel grinned without realizing it. She soon remembered that this was no time to smile and changed her expression, but Anisilla did not call attention to it.

'... Spoken out of turn...?'

She would have to summon Hezar again later and hear what had happened. Nodding slightly, Anisilla spoke.

"Are you angry that Eugene hit your brother?"

"... Yes."

That was a lie. It wasn't that she disliked her brother, but watching him go from showing off to bawling had been funny.

"Don't go trying to avenge your brother."

Anisilla knew what her daughter was thinking. Born twins, the two had been inseparable since early childhood, and Ciel had always trailed after her brother, playing mischievous pranks. She was a child who put her own amusement before her affection for her brother.

"... Your brother will be busy training under Hezar for a while."

"I'll join him."

"Of course you should. But don't get too absorbed in it. Eugene... try to make friends with that boy."

"Why?"

"The more friends you have, the better."

Anisilla's eyes turned cold. That boy had defeated her son and brought shame upon her. Yet it was astonishing to hear that he had beaten her son despite never having trained mana.

"... Eugene. He's already strong enough to beat your brother, isn't he? So you're better off being friends with him."

"Is that how it works?"

"Yes."

Anisilla cooled her seething emotions. In truth, she wanted to turn him into a cripple who could never move his body again. But she could not.

Centuries ago, members of the Lionheart family had slaughtered one another over the position of family head. The conflict had somehow been brought under control, but violence among family members had been taboo ever since. Indeed, the current head, Gilead, had said that three children were enough precisely because he feared that producing more heirs to the main family might lead to siblings killing one another.

Anisilla herself had no desire to break a centuries-old taboo over something like this.

'If that boy is harmed, I'll be the prime suspect.'

The Bloodline Succession Ceremony was itself a tradition in which the main family openly oppressed the collateral branches. Even so, there was a line that had to be observed. Assigning an inept personal attendant, lodging them in an unused annex, and finding fault over trifles to torment them did not cross that line, however excessive it became.

But if she crossed it...

The guardians of the family constitution would intervene.

The very thought sent a shiver of dread through her. Anisilla did not want to become entangled with the guardians of the family constitution over a humiliation like this...

"All right, Mother."

After considering it for a moment, Ciel smiled brightly and nodded.

"I'll make friends with Eugene. That's what you want, right?"

She did not find the idea objectionable in the slightest.

Ciel was curious about that enigmatic relative of hers.