Chapter 5: One Step
Euric didn't leave.
And Eugene who force himself to eat under the watchful eyes of his brother trembled as his stomach urged to vomit the food that entered.
"By the way how's your mana practice?"
Eugene swallowed and hardly replied: "It's good. I'm making a progress."
Euric nodded his head, he knew something so simple as controlling mana is not difficult for his little brother, after all since born Eugene already show his potential in magic but what they didn't expect is that Eugene prefer to be a knight than a magician and for some reason, his little brother hated studying magic other than knowing the method of transferring his mana to his sword to make it impactful and strong.
Being a swordman is not against them.
Shradinza household has been producing offspring of swordsmen and swordswomen for decades and all their ancestors are famous for taking part in every war that happens.
However, despite that reputation the Del Viltaria still surpass them.
Unlike the Shradinza who is good at swordsmanship, the Del Viltaria has been producing the offspring of the strongest magician and is one of the pillars of the empire.
All children of the Del Viltaria are born with high mana but the record was broken when the current duke and duchess of the Del Viltaria gave birth to a son who had lower mana than what a Del Viltaria child should possess, but that child is talented in swordsmanship so it couldn't be said to be a disgrace but rather, another talent.
After all, it's rare for a Del Viltaria to hold a sword.
Now, looking at his little brother, Euric sighed.
It's really a coincidence that his little brother is a genius when it comes to magic and a surprise that Eugene's swordsmanship is also good for someone of his age.
"Are you sure that you will enter the knight department?"
Eugene pouted, "Brother we already talk about this, I won't change my mind, I will become a knight because I'm a Shradinza."
"But your talent in magic is such a waste."
"Hmp, I only want to use mana!"
Euric laughed and gives up the idea of convincing his little brother and said, "Then, during the academic break, I'll help you practice so once you graduate you can pass the knight selection."
Eugene's eyes twinkled, "Really?"
"Of course."
Hearing the same sentence again, Eugene's eyes bend and form a crescent.
He's so happy.
He is so happy that even in this second round of living...good memories won't change and would always happen. Just like how his brother promise to train him so he could become a swordsman.
Too bad that what his brother taught was used in bad deeds.
However, this life will be different.
This time...
He'll use his sword to protect them.
He must recover his former vitality in handling a sword so that along with his plan, his defense won't weaken as he attacks.
After all, moving in the dark is more dangerous than moving in daylight.
Caressing his aching stomach, his lips twitch.
No matter what, warm food is still no good to him.
If this continues, he won't die in a battle but in stomachache.
——Eugene spend his morning with his brother and when the afternoon came, he was alone again because his brother have something to do, and he couldn't bother him that much.
It was also good because when his brother left, he immediately run to the toilet to vomit what should be let out.
Seeing the dirty sink, his expression turned ugly, and vomited for the third time while punching his aching stomach.
"Fuck!"
Curling in pain, he shouted a repeated curse.
"Fuck! Damn, it! This stomach is freaking annoying!"
If he's on earth then medicine could solve his worries but this is Artha, if you want to be healed, you can only go to a priest or tower to find a healer but that would make his parents notice the problem. He doesn't want to be told of being an attention seeker again knowing that he's been pretending to be sick many times just to get his parents' attention.
Now, he seems to regret not knowing how to use magic despite being able to control it...
Like hell...can he take back what he said earlier?
At least learn healing magic!
Such a waste argh!
Washing his mouth, he irritatedly went out of the comfort room and throw himself to bed once again.
His stomach hurt so much that he feels dizzy.
He hopes that next time his brother won't be possessed by some spirit and come to him just for nothing.
Closing his eyes, he raised his hand and tried to control his mana.
A red mist moves slowly, upward...before wrapping his hands and disappearing like dust.
When a small amount was absorbed, Eugene opened his eyes and summoned a familiar sword.
Seeing it brought much more happiness than remembering it so he sat up and caress the sharp blade of Satania before standing up and swinging it without releasing force.
The weight is good but his posture needs to be adjusted.
Trying for a second time, he closes his eyes to remember the feeling before trying another swing to see if his body could get familiar which did a positive result because, unlike the first try which made him a little imbalance, the second one was already a grasp move but that wasn't perfect since it's been a long time since he held a sword.
"Seems like I need to practice."
Glancing at the drawer of his desk where the history books are kept, he sighs.
Planning is nothing if he had no physical force so he will focus first on his swordsmanship before continuing his record.
After all, there are still five years.
He had a lot of time.
There's no need to rush.
He must build a foundation first.
Feeling satisfied, Eugene nodded his head and look at his hand as the sword disappear and turn into mists before vanishing.
He must live.
——The days pass by quickly and when morning comes, Eugene was visited by his eldest brother before going back to the academy.
This time, Euric told his little brother to ignore his father.
Why? Because both argue about the matter of Eugene's rumor circulating around.
Sami is really reliable because, in just a day, he [Sami] already gathered some information that could give him ideas, and while at that, Euric also reported his discoveries to his father who got angry and asked him to go back to the academy as he will be the one dealing with those people who tried to ruin their family's harmony.
Of course, Euric refuses because he wanted to be the one to deal with them but the Marquis rejected Euric, knowing his son's ruthless move.
"Why I can't?"
The Marquis look solemn.
"There are still fights between factions and it would be bad to cause trouble. For now, we will ignore these families but once the current crown prince was overthrown and the second prince rises to power, we can add their crime at once for execution."
Euric knew but he don't want to wrong his little brother anymore.
"It will take a lot of time!"
"Patience is all you need Euric!"
"But father, do you know what impact they have done? Because of them, Eugene becomes emotionally unstable, are you gonna sit still until he acted crazy again before moving?"
Marquis Aison's face turns ugly.
"We must watch our hands and feet."
Now, it was Eric's turn to get angry: "Yes, you can also watch your son go crazy."
After saying that, Euric leaves his father's office in anger and suddenly realized the means of power. What's the use if you can't even protect or avenge your own son? Even after having a family, you still care most about the household's reputation not knowing that it wasn't other people's opinion that would destroy the Shradinza, but the cold shoulder of the blood-related parents that would destroy a family.
Really, how cruel could it be?
When parents prioritize interest and can't even defend their own child?
Laughing, he gritted his teeth.
Damn it.
——Eugene had no idea about the rift between his eldest brother and father.
He couldn't step out of the west wing to see off his eldest brother so he just order Vincent to give the pendant he prepared to his elder brother so that he could show how grateful he is.
After all, his eldest brother is the only person who manages to understand him.
And the next day, he decided to go out of the room to practice swordsmanship in the garden without telling Vincent so when Vincent visit his young master, he saw no one in the room and panicked, thinking that his young master broke the punishment and leave the west wing.
However, he felt ashamed right after.
When he saw Eugene in the west garden practicing his sword.
He did it again.
Negative thoughts came first.
He wanted his young master to trust him but it's he who can't manage to trust his young master despite changes.
People's prejudice affected him.
Because those are experienced by him so he's not used to the sudden change of behavior of his young master. Nonetheless, he admit his mistake this time and wanted to make up for it but it's not that simple to show sincerity.
Watching the thin back of Eugene wielding a sword.
Vincent frowned.
Just... Is his young master already reached that level?
How come his swordsmanship looks clean? not like a newbie.
He rarely sees his young master practice swordsmanship because the eldest master is staying in the academy and Eugene only practice if Euric is there to guide him. So seeing his young master's talent made his heart beat faster.
As expected of Shradinza's blood.
One is born a genius and the other is born talented.
Gulping, Vincent lowered his gaze.
He is not good with swords but he is a magician of a high level, however, he would sometimes feel the attractiveness of swords, especially when combined with mana.
If only...
He could wield a sword.
——Eugene continue his routine and decided to create an effective schedule for himself.
In the days of his prohibition, he manages to bring back his former vitality in handling a sword. Aside from that he also finalized his plan and hope that there won't be a problem when he counterattacked and rewrite the fate of other people.
For one week, Eugene hasn't heard much about his father.
But Vincent is talking to him about his mother and everything is connected with Eullian which made him overthink, knowing that whenever his little brother fell ill, his mother would have a drop in mood and it was him who will get the silent treatment.
But to his surprise, his mother asked about him.
Vincent even put on a smile, probably thinking that he was happy.
But no.
He's worried.
Eugene knew his mother's character, after all whenever he bullied his little brother his mother would always come to him and slap him.
Accused of being ungrateful.
In the past whenever a confrontation happen between him and his mother, he would always cry and get mad, but now that he transmigrated back, he could only scratch his head and let out an awkward smile.
He's not the same perso---
LIES.
Eugene stopped and close his eyes.
"Young master?"
Vincent tilted his head and throw a questioning look.
You are still me.
I am still you.
Don't think that you can erase your filth.
"Stop!"
Eugene held his head when a voice sounded from nowhere as if he was starting to hallucinate. He had no idea what was happening but hearing his own voice sounding inside his head made him fearful. He wanted to deny his guess but when more than one word are said, he started to get irritated and wanted to throw some things.
"Young master?"
Vincent held back.
Seeing his young master with red eyes, Vincent thought that Eugene doesn't want to hear what he believed as lies, knowing that the marchioness rarely care about this second child.
"Out! Get out for now!"
Eugene bit his lips to prevent himself from letting out a scream, enduring the headache he was feeling.
"Young master you misunder---"
"I know! I said stop! I want to rest Vincent, I'm tired!"
Vincent swallowed and decided to leave.
"Then, please call me if you need something."
Seeing Vincent leave, Eugene couldn't help and scream, but that scream sounded like cries which made Vincent, who stood by the door tremble.
His young master's relationship with the marchioness is probably not too good as he imagined.
But he also wondered what made the marchioness think about his young master.