Damn Reincarnation

little bit of Eugene’s attention during the Bloodline Continuation Ceremony: Gargith and Dezra. Aside from them, there had also been several people from the collateral family, but they were a bunch of losers not worth remembering.

‘If I have to remember… I do remember a fat bastard.
’

His name was Hansen or something.

“Ah…”

Deacon had been eleven at the time.
Although he had been incomparable to Gargith and Dezra, Eugene had heard that Deacon had achieved a pretty brilliant exploit.
With arrows stuck in his body, he had marched forward without giving up… However, he had gotten swallowed by a slime and ended up being rescued at the end.

‘He is still better than the other losers,’ Eugene thought as he stared at Deacon, whom he had just met in the middle of the hallway.

Deacon didn’t make much of an impression even after seven years.
His body had gotten quite big, yet he still had the face of an eighteen-year-old boy.

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“He, hello…” Deacon stutteringly said his greetings and passed Eugene by as if he was running away.

Eugene kept walking, but he could sense Deacon watching him from behind.
When he glanced back, he could see Deacon staring at him from far away.
Deacon had also stopped walking.

“…Do you have something to say to me?”

“No, no.
I don ’t.” Deacon flinched, then shook his head.
He turned back again and walked away at a fast pace.

“He lacks spirit,” Mer said as she stuck her head out of the cloak.
After she glanced at Deacon, who just kept walking, she hopped toward the door of Eugene’s room.

“I think there are only two people whom you should pay attention to, Hector and Genia.
What do you think, Sir Eugene?”

“Why do I have to pay attention to them?”

“Those two might attack you on the order of the Council of Elder’s Chief,” Mer spoke quietly after she and Eugene entered the room.

“I don’t think the Chief will take matters into his own hands, considering his position.
The Black Lion Knights are the knights who do the Lionhearts’ dirty work in the first place, right? On top of that, he is the Chief. There will be plenty of men who will soil their hands on his behalf.
”

“You may be right,” Eugene apathetically said as he approached a window in his room.

“Just like you said, Hector or Genia may be the Chief’s assassin.
Or Deacon might be the one who tries to stab me in the back, much to everyone’s surprise.”

“Hmm…that little boy who had no spirit?” Mer asked doubtfully.

“The best person to carry out an assassination is the one nobody expects.”

It wasn’t just Deacon.
There were tons of people who would stain their hands on the Chief’s command.
Although Eugene couldn’t tell if one of the Black Lions or another Lionheart participating in this hunt was one such person…

‘…I really don’t think Gargith will be the assassin.’

Maybe Eugene was trusting Gargith prematurely, but he really couldn’t imagine Gargith trying to stab him in the back on the Chief’s order.

‘Maybe Dezra will be the assassin.’ 

Eugene stood beside the window and looked outside.
Dezra and Gargith were standing in the corner of a big gymnasium.
Gargith was focusing on exercising his muscles, still wearing the top that offered an embarrassing view of his chest and armpits.
Of course, the embarrassed one wasn’t Gargith.
A little further away, Dezra was practicing with her spear.

“…They are working hard. Does that man, Gargith, fight using his muscles?” Mer asked. 

“No… I think he used a greatsword if I remember correctly…”

“But why is he only doing strength exercises instead of swinging a greatsword?”

“Umm… I’m not sure…” Eugene turned away with a sour face.
The only people in the gymnasium were Gargith and Dezra.
Deacon had returned to his room, and Eward… Eugene hadn’t seen him after they said their hellos.

“It seems he cooped himself up in his room,” Ciel told Eugene as she let herself in Eugene’s room.

Quietly glaring at Mer, who was rolling around on the soft bed, she continued.
“From what I heard, he also eats in his room.
I thought he became a little bit more sociable when he said hello to you first, but I guess he didn’t change much.”

“I think he’s better than he was when he was in Aroth.”

“I can’t really tell, but I think Father will like it when he sees Eward.” Ciel snorted.
“Wouldn’t it be possible that Eward is participating in this hunt because he wants Father to react? No, maybe that’s what Lady Tanis wants.
It would be awkward for her to say that she wants to go back to the main house now, so she is subtly revealing her desire to return by showing how much Eward has changed.”

“But the Patriarch can’t make it to this hunt.”

“Yes, you are right.
Father is at the palace now… Can I be honest?”

“Since when did you need my permission to talk honestly? ”

“I’m glad Father isn’t at the Black Lion Castle right now.
You may not know this, but do you know how many times Father had to lower his head to other people for Eward? Father consistently participated in the Council of Elders’ regular meeting, asking them to forgive Eward.
”

Since she was seventeen, Ciel had been living in the Black Lion Castle.
That was why she knew how hard Gilead had tried over the past three years.
He often visited the Black Lion castle and attended meetings to defend Eward.

“Originally, Eward should have been disowned.
Being disowned is a given, considering how he tried to learn black magic despite being the first son of the main family.
The only reason Eward didn’t get disowned was that Father begged and begged to stop it from happening, saying he couldn’t abandon his first son.”

That was why Ciel hated Eward.

“He was the one who put Father in such a spot… but Lady Tanis blamed Father instead, right? It’s so absurd that it’s not even funny.
What did Father do wrong? Is it Father’s fault that Eward is a wuss?” Ciel furiously asked.

“Umm… He is not totally blameless,” Eugene answered.

Ciel scowled at Eugene.

“I mean… It’s true that the Patriarch was away from the main house a lot when you guys were children.”

“You’re right, but Cyan and I didn’t become idiots like Eward.
Mother raised us well.
The only reason why Eward became a fool is that Lady Tanis raised him wrong.”

“Ummm….
To be honest, I don’t think you and Cyan would have become the mature adults you are today if I hadn’t come to live in the main house.
”

“Speak for Cyan, not me!”

“Yeah, yeah…”

“Anyhow, I can’t tolerate this.
Along with Eward, Lady Tanis should also humbly apologize to the Patriarch if they really want to return to the main house.”

“Then, can they come back if they apologize?”

“Why would I stop them?”

“Lady Ancilla may hate it.”

“Ha!” Ciel snorted, shaking her head.
“Do you think Lady Tanis will be a match to Mother just because she returned to the main house? The servants in the house are loyal to Mother, they already consider Mother as the sole mistress of the Lionheart clan.
You don’t know this, but it has been this way for a long time.
They treated Lady Tanis as their master only because she is the first mistress. Mother is considered to be better than Lady Tanis when it comes to managing clan affairs.”

“I don’t really know…” Eugene trailed off. 

“You don’t know the situation.
No matter what kind of method Lady Tanis uses, she will never be respected in the same way she used to be.
That also applies to the hunt that will take place two days from now.
The current situation will never change no matter what Eward does in the hunt.” Ciel’s eyes narrowed.
“He’s still Eward.
Of course, I’m not lowering my guard.
This is why Cyan is still training without returning to the main house.
I’m going to do overwhelmingly better than Eward.
”

“You are at an advantage.
You must have hunted demonic beasts several times in this place, right?”

“I haven’t gotten deep into the forest yet, though…” Ciel murmured.

Her shoulders twitched as she suddenly realized something.
She had a powerful advantage—experience.
There were no demonic beasts in other areas; not in Aroth, the Nahama Dessert, or the Samar Rainforest.

“Hehe.” Ciel grinned as she stared at Eugene.“You must have met many monsters, but you haven’t met demonic beasts, right? Do you know this? Monsters and demonic beasts look similar, but they are entirely different creatures.
Monsters become violent because they are affected by demonic energy.
Meanwhile, demonic beasts are born from demonic…”

“Pfft…” Mer tried to hold her laughter.

“…That is why their existence alone is ominous.
Even a low-ranking demonic beast has a magical ability, unlike monsters…” Ciel ignored Mer and continued.

“Hehe…” Mer was having a really hard time holding her laughter.

“…What I’m saying is… It will be dangerous for you to roam around alone. The Black Lions are accompanying you, but since you are the main family’s son, you have to be able to hunt alone and get achievements. Don’t worry too much.
Unlike you, your sister here has a lot of experience in hunting demonic beasts, so if we stick together…” 

“Ha… Hahaha!” Mer finally broke into laughter.

“Why are you keep laughing?” Ciel turned to Mer, crumpling her face.
Burying her face in a pillow, Mer was lying and pounding on the bed with her legs.

“It’s…not…nothing,” Mer answered, half crying. She knew Eugene was the reincarnation of Hamel, so she naturally found Ciel’s boasting unbearably funny.
An expert in hunting demonic beasts? There wasn’t a better expert than Eugene in the whole continent.

‘…What is up with her?’

Since Ciel had no way of knowing that, she had no idea why Mer was laughing at her.

Although he wasn’t being obvious as Mer, Eugene was desperately holding in his laughter.

“What is up with you too?!” Ciel shouted after seeing Eugene’s annoyingly twitching cheeks.

“No…nothing… Yes… You are cute, very cute.
Yeah, I’m counting on you, Ciel.
I don’t know much when it comes to demonic beasts, I will trust you, who knows about demonic beasts…better…better than…better than me…”

“Why are you laughing?!” 

Ciel could feel that she was being mocked, and she had no idea why.