Chapter 20
Grenium (1)
After meeting with Seymour, Irina immediately mounted her horse and left Leticia.
She wanted to return to the Ishtar estate in the capital as quickly as possible.
“I haven’t been able to train for days already.”
She had wasted several days lingering in Leticia, waiting to confirm Lucis’s identity and situation.
As a knight, she couldn’t afford to delay her training any further.
Of course, her skill was not at a level where she was restricted by location.
A knight should be able to fight anywhere, with just their body and a sword.
But…
“Still, bathing outside my own home is just…”
The real problem was washing after training.
The time when she stripped off not only her clothes but even her weapons, leaving herself completely defenseless—
Doing that in an unfamiliar place instead of in her own safe and familiar home was a great source of stress for Irina.
Because of that, the past few days in Leticia she had only managed light training and a simple wash. But now it was her limit.
Her stiff body craved proper release and a warm bath.
Clop, clop.
As she surrendered to the steady rhythm and vibration of the horse’s hooves, Irina’s mind drifted back to Seymour and Lucis.
“Was that meeting really worth all the days of training I gave up?”
When she first began her undercover watch in Leticia, Irina had thought of only one thing: rescuing Lucis from Seymour’s clutches.
After all, there was no way that Mausoleum would keep a child with pure intentions.
There was no way that Seymour would ever truly love and cherish a child.
She was certain Seymour Mausoleum had taken Lucis in for military and political purposes.
“But… that wasn’t it.”
Irina knew she wasn’t particularly clever.
But thanks to years of rigorous training, she had honed her senses. She had a knack for grasping people’s thoughts and emotions.
A fleeting glance, the angle of the shoulders, the tilt of a finger—all these told her what words never could.
And from what she saw, Seymour’s gaze and gestures toward Lucis carried nothing but compassion and affection.
“Seymour Mausoleum may be a master at hiding his emotions, but creating feelings he doesn’t have is impossible.”
Seymour genuinely cherished the child. And that deeply unsettled Irina.
Seymour Mausoleum, who seemed to have a heart as cold as ice—cherishing a child?
The thought threw her into chaos.
So much so that she almost wished she could believe Seymour was only acting, pretending just to deceive her.
“In that sense, maybe it’s actually fortunate I agreed to be his teacher.”
At the very least, she could keep an eye on Seymour, to make sure he never harmed Lucis.
Besides, she couldn’t just ignore a child with white dragon blood, left in the hands of the Mausoleum family.
By checking in regularly, she could make sure the child was safe.
“…Haa. No, Irina. You need to reflect on yourself.”
She scolded herself for the way her thoughts kept drifting toward self-justification.
She had, in truth, been blackmailed.
Threatened with the most adorable yet deadly kind of coercion: “If you don’t become my teacher, I’ll make my heart explode.”
“Ugh…”
Just recalling Lucis’s teary face made her heart ache all over again.
This was undeniably her weakness—
Being far too swayed by appearances, especially cute ones.
If some enormous, puppy-like beast were to show up one day, she would surely be eaten alive without even resisting.
“But… how could I make that poor child, who had already fallen in the garden and was sobbing from grief, cry again…?”
Her thoughts tried once more to drift toward rationalization.
Irina tightened her grip on the reins to snap herself out of it.
“Hyah!”
The horse quickened its pace, hooves clattering faster.
What should she teach the boy?
How should she explain all this to the family head?
Her mind whirled as chaotically as the scenery flashing past at speed.
* * *
The carriage procession that left Leticia made quick progress toward the imperial capital.
This was thanks to the well-paved highways, laid down by the cooperation of the Mausoleum family and the imperial household.
With no bumps or jolts, only a smooth vibration, riding the carriage while watching the countryside pass by was almost soporific.
Peaceful fields and villages, occasionally punctuated by guards or adventurers along the road. It was a quiet but oddly comforting journey.
“Now this is what I call a ‘makation.’”
A carriage vacation.
My own invention of a word.
Of course, I wasn’t just sitting idly, dazing out the whole ride.
Between reviewing the list of tasks awaiting me in the capital, playing with Lucis when I could, and continuing to practice making glass beads orbit around the carriage, I stayed busy.
Most of all, I focused on overseeing Marco’s lessons.
And I do mean overseeing.
“…And thus, the Mausoleum family rose to the rank of a high noble, becoming a count’s house. Thanks to those merits, we also built a close relationship with the imperial family…”
It was Alfred, the chief steward, giving a lecture on family history.
Marco sat opposite him, busily taking notes.
I, meanwhile, had Lucis on my lap, listening halfheartedly while gazing out the window.
Until we could invite a proper scholar from the capital to teach mathematics, Alfred was handling the other subjects.
Marco’s math skills had already outstripped what I could teach.
“The last thing I remember is quadratic equations… My math career ended the moment graphs came into the picture.”
So Alfred had taken over the subjects where I lacked knowledge of this world.
“Hurry up and learn, Marco.”
The faster Marco improved, the less work I’d have to do.
In the countryside, my workload wasn’t too heavy, but in the capital it would surely increase.
As head of the family, I had to oversee everything, not only inheriting the late count’s businesses but also, with Andre, relaunching Richard’s fashion company.
“I’ll be busy for a while.”
Just the thought made the overworked soul inside me scream in protest, but there was no helping it.
I couldn’t waste this life I’d won—this life as a platinum-level handsome man.
“Still, I only need to endure until the protagonist appears. After that, I can enjoy peace.”
That made this “makation” the last rest before the storm.
“Mmm…”
Leaning against me, Lucis began nodding off as he stared outside.
The carriage’s gentle rocking, Alfred’s droning voice, and the warmth between us—it was the perfect recipe for sleep.
“Shh.”
I raised a finger to Alfred and Marco.
Alfred immediately stopped lecturing, and Marco quietly began reviewing his notes.
I softly patted Lucis’s round little belly.
His breathing grew steady, and his head soon drooped to the side.
I guided it onto my arm so his neck wouldn’t ache.
“Mnya…”
Lucis never told me what had happened back in Leticia.
After one night’s rest, he had simply returned to his usual bright self, as if nothing had happened.
But I couldn’t shake the sense that he was forcing himself to be cheerful.
“He’s a thoughtful child.”
Lucis was pure—his emotions and desires written plainly on his face.
And yet, at the same time, he was deeper and more thoughtful than most.
Contradictory, but then, children are always surprising like that.
I gently stroked his small head.
What thoughts and memories filled that little mind?
How did he perceive and interpret the world?
I longed to know, but as someone who had already grown up, I could never enter his world.
“All I can do is help him be happy in his own.”
Through the window, sunlight poured in, warming Lucis’s cheeks.
* * *
After a week-long carriage journey, we finally arrived at the imperial capital—Grenium.
“Wow…!”
Lucis pressed against the window, eyes wide at the sight of the sprawling city.
His small frame barely reached the sill, so I lifted him into my arms, seating him on my forearm. He clutched my collar, bouncing with excitement.
I was just as captivated.
Seeing a city I had once only designed in the game now laid out before me was surreal.
“I did see the Mausoleum territory, but Grenium… Grenium is the true main stage.”
Since seventy percent of the story unfolded here, this city carried deep meaning for me.
The place where the protagonist first opened his eyes, and where Seymour Mausoleum would eventually die—
All of it was Grenium.
“Ah, that alley… That’s the entrance to the black market.”
Familiar landmarks slipped by, and I couldn’t pull my eyes from the view.
The city was so vast it would take two more hours to reach our townhouse, yet I never grew bored.
“Drrrm~.”
Lucis, however, couldn’t endure the monotony and soon dozed off again.
Then I caught sight of a church outside the window.
I had seen several before, but this was the first one I had actually been looking for.
“Stop for a moment.”
At my order, the knight riding nearest called out:
“Stop!”
The command echoed down the line, and soon the entire procession halted.
“Simon, take Shia and the rest ahead to the townhouse. I need to make a brief stop.”
Simon looked puzzled, but when he spotted the church outside, his brows furrowed.
He realized this was connected to my earlier visit to the Mausoleum tomb.
“…Will you be alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“…Never mind. I’ll make sure Lucis has the room next to yours.”
I brushed Lucis’s bangs once more as he slept, then stepped out of the carriage.
Two guards dismounted to accompany me.
Our sudden stop caused congestion on the main road, but seeing the Mausoleum crest—the black dragon scales—no one voiced complaint.
After confirming the procession moved on, I entered the church.
It was nearly empty on a weekday, only two or three worshippers inside.
“Not much different from Earth’s churches.”
The tall, pointed roof, radiant stained glass, wooden pews, and hushed atmosphere.
One difference was that this world did not forbid images of divinity. Small statues of gods stood throughout the building, and even the worshippers carried them.
The quiet murmur of prayer was broken by the loud clank of my escorts’ armor.
Startled, one worshipper turned, spotted me, and edged away.
“Welcome… You’re a noble, aren’t you?”
A deacon, one of the church’s assistants, hurried over.
“Welcome to our church, which venerates the god From. May I ask your purpose…”
But his words slowed as he noticed my hair and eyes.
His face twisted in disbelief, then horror.
“…The Mausoleum count’s family?”
At that, every gaze in the church snapped to me.
“Gasp…!”
“Mausoleum…?”
“Why would the family of demons enter a church…?”
Shock, fear, distrust—above all, revulsion.
The worshippers crossed themselves, whispering prayers under their breath.
Deacons rushed to turn the statues in the church away from me, as if something foul had entered the holy place.
Step. Step.
From deeper within the church, a priest strode toward me.
His face wore a smile, but it was no welcome. It was a mask, thinly veiling anger.
“What business brings the descendants of demons, the clan of betrayal, into our church?”
At that voice, filled with suppressed rage, I was reminded once more—
That I had possessed the body of this world’s villain.
“So this is what Simon meant when he asked if I’d be alright…”
Unlike in my own territory, where the only enemies were branch family members, here in the capital there was not a soul who wasn’t my enemy.
