Ill-Fated Bond
Rain fell in a steady drizzle.
On a night where thick darkness had settled,
moonlight quietly pushed its way between the raindrops and illuminated the ruined domain.
Collapsed debris lay everywhere.
The embers left here and there were slowly dying as the rain struck them, but they had not yet gone out completely.
I lay collapsed in the middle of it all, a wretched sight.
With my back against the rubble, I was breathing breaths that grew fainter and fainter.
Two swords had pierced my chest, and one had run through my stomach.
It was then.
When I heard the sound of splashing footsteps, I squeezed out the last of my strength and barely raised my head.
A woman entered my blurred vision.
Her dress, embroidered with silver thread and pearls, was torn in places, and red blood was seeping through the gaps.
Her rain-soaked hair was disheveled, and yet she was still beautiful.
And then.
The moment my hazy vision gradually cleared and I saw her face, I woke from the dream.
***
“...”
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was the ceiling.
I lay there blankly for a while before slowly raising myself up.
Soon, the mirror placed beside me came into view, and I saw my reflection in it.
Seventeen.
It was me from back then.
Yes.
Quite literally, me from that time.
I had returned to those days.
Had I gone back to the past?
Or had everything I had experienced until now been a dream?
If not that, then reincarnation, the kind you only saw in novels?
I didn’t know.
Because I was certain I had died.
Maybe even this wasn’t reality.
Why... couldn’t it have just ended there?
My head throbbed,
and I was about to press my fingers to my temple.
Then someone knocked on the door.
“Young Master. There is one hour left until the Geld family’s party.”
“...”
“Young Master? Are you awake?”
“I’m awake. I’ll be out in a little while.”
After answering, I held my head again.
The place I was in now was Albarest, the royal capital and capital city of the Kingdom of Elstragard.
It was not the finest lodging where the upper class stayed,
but it was not exactly cheap either.
Today was the day when nobles came up to the capital each year to make their regular reports.
This was probably
the first time I had come up to take care of the task my father had always handled.
The report itself was nothing significant.
Troop numbers,
agricultural output,
taxes, and the like—the task was complete once the documents containing such matters were submitted in person to the council hall with authentication.
This was a system that had been passed down since the previous dynasty.
Originally, it had been a device for controlling the nobles,
but now its meaning had changed somewhat.
Around this time of year, countless parties were held in the royal capital.
The nobles who came up to the capital usually stayed for nearly two months and attended various parties.
In other words, this was the real purpose, more so than the regular report.
That was precisely why the meaning had changed.
Since I had decided to attend the Geld family’s party,
I could not skip it.
If I were to be absent for no good reason, unfavorable rumors could circulate about our family.
I let out a sigh and got my party clothes ready.
When I opened the door, the knight waiting outside shrugged and smiled leisurely.
“Shall we go?”
Miles.
It’s been a while.
Together with Miles, I went down from the inn and climbed into the carriage.
“Father?”
“The family head completed the financial report and returned ahead of us.”
“Is that so?”
“He said that you should stay here for about two months, study, make connections, and then return.”
“So that means it’s up to me whether I attend the parties. Let’s go.”
A short while later, the mansion we arrived at was not exceptionally large.
However, the mere fact that one possessed a mansion of this size in the capital
was enough to reveal the power that noble held.
Several carriages were already lined up in front of the mansion.
I waited my turn as well, and when it came,
Miles presented the token.
“Confirmed. Welcome, Lord Reion of the Signal family.”
I got down from the carriage,
and as I entered, a splendid garden first caught my eye.
It was not broad,
but it was a garden that clearly showed careful tending.
“I’ll go leave the carriage with the coachman.”
“Do that.”
I headed straight toward the party hall.
When I showed the token to the soldier guarding the entrance,
he silently opened the way.
As I stepped inside, a gorgeously decorated party hall unfolded before my eyes.
A few nobles had already gathered and were exchanging light conversation,
but the party had not yet begun in earnest.
Most were either young like me,
or nobles whose names were not yet widely known.
People like us generally had to arrive before the party began.
That way, there would be fewer pointless remarks,
and fewer unnecessary glares.
To commoners, nobles might look like pathetic people who did nothing but enjoy parties every day.
But for nobles, parties were not entertainment.
They were battlefields.
I quietly went to a corner and picked up a dessert.
A short while later, music rang out, announcing the start of the party.
Then, as if they had been waiting for it, nobles began entering one by one,
and most of their families were names I had heard before.
Once they arrived, the party hall quickly grew noisy,
and everyone began moving busily to build their connections.
But even after two hours passed, I still stood quietly in a corner.
Normally, I should have approached nobles from families of a similar level,
and those around my age, to strike up a conversation first.
After making myself familiar a few times like that,
there would be occasions when a noble from a renowned family approached first and opened a conversation.
Small bonds.
Small connections.
This world worked by building those things one by one.
On top of that, there were unwritten rules here.
One must never approach and speak first to a renowned family.
That was considered arrogant behavior.
Even if you exchanged greetings today,
the moment you acted familiar first at the next party, that connection would be severed then and there.
So in the end, there was only one method.
Keep showing your face,
keep stamping your presence.
Little by little,
truly, little by little, grow closer.
No, it was more accurate to say that you had to receive permission.
What a damned hassle.
As expected, these parties didn’t suit me.
The original me—or the me from my previous life—had wandered around anxiously, trying somehow to talk to someone.
Of course, even now, that was what I ought to do.
But the me of now
did not have the mental room to care that far.
No matter how much I thought about it,
I could neither accept nor understand this situation of having returned to my childhood.
It was too vivid to be called a dream.
It had hurt too much, and it had been too clear.
In the end, there was only one explanation.
Some utterly incomprehensible phenomenon
that had occurred after death.
Just then, I heard people murmuring.
I set my thoughts aside for a moment and raised my head.
And the instant I saw the person entering the party hall, I almost lost my senses again.
“It’s Aileen Belmardian.”
“Wow... That’s her? The one from the rumors?”
“She’s even more than the rumors.”
“They said she’s only seventeen, right? She already has that kind of aura?”
“Give it a few more years, and she’ll become the greatest beauty in the kingdom.”
It was not only the men.
The women, too, could not hide their admiration.
“Oh my, Belmardian has always been famous for silver hair, hasn’t it? But she really is so pretty.”
“I know. I’m so jealous.”
“Tch. Well... she is pretty.”
Of course, there were no few gazes mixed with jealousy as well.
“Hmph. Girls like that fade quickly once they get older.”
“That’s right. Flowers that bloom too brilliantly in youth are always the first to wither.”
“If anything, I think Lady Deli is more elegant.”
“Oh my, you flatter me.”
But those looks had no meaning whatsoever.
Because she truly was beautiful enough that it was hard to believe she was seventeen.
In fact, rather than the young lady of the Geld family who had hosted the party,
Aileen, who had just entered, looked far more like the protagonist.
Was that why?
The head of the Geld family and his daughter approached her directly with bright smiles the moment she entered and offered their greetings.
Of course, it was not only because of that striking appearance.
The Belmardian family.
That marquis family was one of the most powerful houses in the kingdom.
With such a solid background as well, her presence could only shine even more strongly.
But it was not merely her beauty or the power of her family.
A genius.
In truth, most things she touched led to astonishing results.
However.
There was a reason Aileen was truly frightening.
Her ability to thoroughly hide her emotions.
No matter how angry she was, no matter how sad, she could smile as if nothing had happened.
In any situation, she never let her true thoughts be seen.
In the future, many people would be deceived by that perfect smile.
No one would ever know her true feelings.
“Hey. Don’t tell me you’re looking at her?”
The sudden words from beside me startled me slightly.
And when I turned my head,
I knew immediately who it was.
So she was here too.
Marsha Lin.
A girl with a cute appearance, she was the young lady of the Lin family, whose domain was close to ours.
We had seen each other often since childhood,
and naturally, we had become tangled together like childhood friends.
The mood between the two families had not been bad either.
My father and Marsha’s father would jokingly bring up the idea of marrying the two of us someday,
and back then, I would blush for no reason whenever I heard such words.
Back in those days,
I had certainly liked Marsha.
“You’re still a man after all, huh?”
But Marsha had not been particularly interested in me.
It was understandable.
The original me had been passive,
had no charm, and my looks were utterly ordinary.
Well, nothing has changed, though.
Could a guy who spent that long marriage living in the same mansion, unable to properly meet her eyes even once,
and never sharing a single meal with her, really change just because time had passed?
“She’s pretty.”
I spoke calmly.
Marsha’s expression stiffened for an instant, and then she whipped her head around.
“What did you say?”
Deliberately not looking at her,
I took a glass of wine from a servant passing by.
“Why? Does she not look that way to you?”
At my words, Marsha glanced around for a moment.
The gazes of several nobles nearby had briefly turned this way.
“She’s very pretty.”
I gave a small nod.
At that, Marsha’s expression twisted subtly.
The reason Marsha, who did not like me, kept approaching me was simple.
Because I was convenient.
If there was something she wanted, I somehow got it for her,
and I did annoying errands without complaint.
Marsha had grown used to those reactions from me.
When she was not chosen,
when her mood was ruined,
she would eventually come to me and complain.
She probably did it to soothe herself,
and to confirm her own worth as well.
So my attitude now must have felt unfamiliar to her.
“Haa. Hey, I’m hungry, so go bring me some food.”
In truth, there was also a reason Marsha could act so boldly.
Our side owed a debt to the Lin family,
so although it was not overt, there was certainly a subtle hierarchy between us.
“You have hands too.”
I replied indifferently.
“And my head is a bit complicated right now, so I’d rather you not talk to me.”
Just as I was about to turn away, not wanting to deal with her any longer,
Marsha yanked hard on my arm.
“Hey! What do you think you’re doing?”
Her voice rose.
“I’m about to get seriously upset, you know?”
There was unmistakable anger on her face as she bit her lip tightly.
But strangely,
what my eyes saw first was the anxiety beneath it.
Marsha was not an especially bad girl.
That was why the old me had accepted all of this even while knowing it.
As always, this time too.
“...What do you want to eat?”
As soon as those words fell, Marsha’s expression quickly relaxed.
As if it were only natural,
her face regained its confidence.
“Anything.”
I roughly placed a few dishes on a plate and brought it to her.
The people around us were watching as well.
As if Marsha did not dislike those gazes, she accepted the plate with an even more triumphant look.
“Good job.”
“Marsha.”
“What?”
“Is there no one you like?”
“Not really?”
Marsha shrugged.
“You know my standards are high.”
Even knowing that I liked her, she said things like that.
And in the end, later on, she really did marry a handsome man.
The problem was that he was the kind of guy who constantly caused trouble with women.
“I see.”
I set down my glass and said,
“I hope you find a good man this time.”
With those words, I turned away.
And just like that, I left the party hall.
Marsha, left behind at my back,
could not say anything for a long while and only stared blankly at my retreating figure.