Chapter 3: A Small Wish

“Academy…”

After the uncomfortable meeting with the Count ended, I returned to my room.

“I’ve never been there in my previous life.”

I had never been to an academy in my previous life.

It wasn’t that I lacked magical talent.
Though I say so myself, I was quite good at handling my fire magic, even among my peers.

Of course, now that I’ve awakened a unique power, I have the ‘Absorption’ unique power instead of the fire magic I originally used.

Nor was I lacking money either.
Although it’s not comparable to a Duke or Marquis families, the Kindred Count family was a family that had existed since the early days of the Empire’s founding and was recognized as a prestigious family.

The reason why I couldn’t even step foot in the academy’s gates in my previous life was simple.

My father refused to let me enter the academy.
Perhaps he thought I might cause trouble at the academy, but more than that, he was probably worried about the damage I would cause to the Kindred Count family’s prestige.

Well… are they both similar?

Anyway.

“That was then… This time, an admission schedule has been set.”

It’s a huge improvement, but the only thing different from the past is that my engagement to Adel remains.

No, is it because of that?
The cancellation of the engagement with the Listonia family is a very big deal for the family.

I think I can roughly understand why I wasn’t sent even after the admission notice came from the academy in the past.

And at this point, a thought suddenly comes to mind.

“Why didn’t the divorce notice come?”

As the admission notice that shouldn’t have come was delivered, the divorce notice that should have come didn’t arrive.

I even wondered if I had really experienced those events, as the events began to completely reverse.

In fact, what if those events were all a dream.

The Count, who was yelling at me, saying I wasn’t his son.

My mother, who looked at me coldly from beside my father.

My younger sister, Rian, who looked at me like a criminal every time we met.

The Kindred Count’s mansion, where I always heard whispers when I passed by.

And… Adel, my former fiancée, who sent a divorce notice the day after I absorbed the illness with my unique power.

Were all those people, and all those events, merely a dream?

“······Even if it’s a dream, nothing will change.”

I thought hard, but soon, I came to the conclusion that it didn’t matter.

Even if what I experienced was all a dream, is there anything that would change now?

I’ve already absorbed Adel’s illness, and I will slowly die from the illness, just like in my previous life.

Whether I experienced those events in the past or not, the way other people look at me won’t change.

What’s the point of having such worries?

“Nothing will change anyway.”

So, this time… wouldn’t it be okay to have this kind of experience once?

Since nothing much will change if an insignificant extra like me enters the academy.

Wouldn’t it be okay to make a ‘real friend’ once, play with ‘real friends’ once, and immerse myself in something once?

That way… if I live like others, normally, wouldn’t I have at least one memory to enjoy before I die?

“I hope so.”

For me, a daily life that was so ordinary for others was something I desperately wanted.

It was my small wish and my modest hope.

As time passed, the day of the academy entrance ceremony approached.

There wasn’t anything particularly special during that time.

“Brother? Are you inside?”

My younger sister, Rian, who never visited me in my previous life, visited a few times, but nothing special happened because I pretended not to be there every time.

I thought there was no need to pretend, but I didn’t want to meet Rian because every time I met her in the past, I heard bitter words that felt like my heart was being torn.

I don’t have any strong feelings against Rian, but wouldn’t it be better for Rian if she didn’t have a reckless older brother like me?

In the past, she seemed to despise me very much and seemed to shudder just by the thought of me being in her family.

I thought it would be good for Rian to leave the house quickly without blocking her bright future.

Besides Rian’s visits, there were a few times when the butler came to deliver meals to me.

But I didn’t eat them and sent them back because I was already used to the food Stella prepared rather than the Kindred Count estate’s head chef’s food.

“The chef will be sad, young master.”
“Why are you suddenly taking care of me like this? I’m fine, so tell the other servants to take care of themselves instead.”
“······Yes. I understand.”

When I was about to send the food back, butler tried to persuade me, saying the chef would be sad, but it was no use.

The chef didn’t like taking care of me and hadn’t sent me any food in the past, so why is the situation changing like this again?

Instead of feeling good about the sudden concern and kindness.

I felt infinitely uncomfortable, maybe because I had rarely received such kind looks and actions until now.

It would be more comfortable if they treated me with indifference and laughed at me like in the past.

“Young master? It’s time to go.”
“Yes, I’ll be right out.”

It seems it’s time to leave for the academy.

When I opened the door and went out of the room, Stella was standing there as always.

“I wanted to go too… I’m sorry.”
“It can’t be helped. The academy’s policy is that servants can’t come with us.”

Stella also wanted to go to the academy with me, but it was impossible because the academy was a dormitory system and didn’t allow servants.

Stella knew that, and I knew that, so all I could do was comfort Stella, who was sad that she couldn’t come along.

“Don’t be careless when I’m not around, okay?”
“I’m not a child, and I’m old enough to do everything on my own now.”
“I’m glad to hear that then.”

Judging by the playful tone, she seemed to have calmed down a little bit, judging by her joking tone.

When she first heard that the servants couldn’t come, she was sulky and didn’t talk to me all day.

Well, she went back to normal as if nothing had happened after a day.

“Brother?”
“I greet the young lady.”
“Rian?”

Perhaps because we had been talking for too long, the second most uncomfortable person in our Count’s mansion came.

For reference, the first uncomfortable person was the Count.

“You were in your room… I couldn’t find you, so I thought you weren’t there.”
“You came to see me? I guess I didn’t notice because I was sleeping.”

My conscience hurt a little when I tried to lie, but I couldn’t just say that I was deliberately pretending not to be there because I was uncomfortable seeing her.

“Really…? It’s a relief. I thought you were deliberately avoiding me.”

“···”

My conscience hurt again.

How many lies am I telling?

“I’m glad you’re not avoiding me… I had something I wanted to ask you.”
“You have something to ask?”
“Yes.”

I was relieved for a moment, thinking that the reason she was looking for me was a healthy one, but soon, I was troubled by the present, which was different from the past.

What did she want to ask me?

Since in the past, Rian didn’t even talk to me and hated the very idea of being in the same space as me, I couldn’t even guess what kind of question she would ask.

And finally, the question that came out of Rian’s mouth was a simpler question than I thought.

“Brother… are you not feeling well or anything?”
“Unwell? I’m fine…”
“Really? That’s a relief…”

Rian was very relieved to hear that I was fine.

Why did people start asking about my health all of a sudden after the regression?

The Count suddenly asked about my health the other day, and this time it was my sister, whom I rarely talked to, who worried about my health.

Of course, I didn’t tell the Count or Rian that I was going to die.

There would be no change even if I told them, and I didn’t want them to give me useless pity.

‘I don’t think they would even have sympathy…’

If I die, wouldn’t it be fortunate if they were just happy about it?

“······Are you going to the academy today, brother?”
“Yes.”
“······Have a safe trip.”
“Thank you, Rian.”

I felt like it ended lamely, I couldn’t pay much attention because I had to quickly get on the carriage to go to the academy.

As I walked through the Count’s mansion to get on the carriage to the academy, there was another difference from the usual, just like Rian’s sudden kindness: the servants no longer whispered about me.

It’s been a while since I saw the servants quietly working like robots, as if they had been caught talking nonsense once.

“Why are they doing this all of a sudden?”
“I don’t know. Some say the first young master himself wanted to go.”
“What kind of accident is he planning to cause at the academy to want to go?”

When one servant slandered Rian with a slightly raised voice, another servant quickly told him to be quiet.

“Hey, lower your voice! Don’t you know that the servant who slandered the first young master was secluded in the back room?”
“I’m glad you know.”
“Hee-eek!”

At the same time, a cold and chilly voice was heard from behind the maid who told them to lower their voices.

“Young lady…?”
“You wouldn’t be trying to insult the first son of this Kindred Count family, would you?”
“Of course not…! We would never do that.”
“Good, go away.”

The two servants who were chattering hurried away, barely escaping with their lives.

“See, I told you to lower your voice…”
“You’re right, you really have to watch your mouth.”

Rian, who was quietly watching them, sighed deeply.

“Huu…”

She doesn’t even know what she did today.

She hated being in the same room as her brother until yesterday, but she’s changed like this in just one day.

That’s how shocking the scenes she saw in her dream were.

Her brother’s efforts, which she tried to reform but no one recognized.

Her brother, who died from illness and no one cared, so he didn’t even know he was dying.

It was so difficult and painful to look at the path her brother had walked from his point of view.

That was the reason why she suddenly asked about his health when she saw her brother.

She didn’t want her brother to die alone and lonely, like in her dream.

She could think that it was just a dream.

She could say that she was overreacting just because she had such a dream once.

However, maybe it was because the dream was so vivid.

To Rian, the dream felt like it had actually happened.

The herself in the dream, who was cold to her brother, was so similar to the self she was yesterday.

So she was worried.

She was worried that the relationship between her and her brother was already too late.

That they could never go back to the close siblings they used to be.

And… that her brother would die without a sound, just like in her dream.

Rian had to be tormented by her anxiety.