So, When Will the Succession Ceremony Begin?

"..."

Mist quietly watched Abel lying on the bed, breathing evenly.

After the fight with Kaizen and Bella ended, Abel ordered treatment for Kaizen, who looked to be in danger, then returned to his room.

[I'm tired...]

Three days without sleep.

Having released that much power in such a state, it was only natural for exhaustion beyond imagination to consume Abel.

[I'm going to sleep. Mist, you get some rest too.]

With those words, Abel surrendered his body to the bed and fell asleep.

"..."

Rest. Rest, huh.

After thinking for a moment, Mist slowly made her way to the head of Abel's bed, using the assassin's characteristic footsteps that made neither a sound nor the slightest trace of her presence.

"..."

Swish.

She carefully moved her left hand.

The duke's order to assist or monitor the illegitimate children.

Because of that order, Mist had been unable to make any direct contact with Abel at all.

But at this moment, Abel's words had created a detour.

The rest Abel had mentioned before falling asleep.

What was rest? The act of escaping work and recharging physically and mentally.

Then what did rest mean for her?

After thinking it over repeatedly, Mist reached one conclusion.

Even the slightest contact would do. Touching her master. That was what rest truly was.

"..."

A cautious, delicate touch.

She moved slowly, pouring into it her wish not to disturb her master's sleep.

Tap.

"Ah..."

At last, as her hand moved so carefully, she felt Abel's warmth.

At that moment, a strangely immense sense of fulfillment began to overflow in her heart.

She knew it well, too.

Though Abel sometimes flinched when she gave him a strange look, the moment she drew even slightly closer, he raised his guard.

But look.

Hhh. Hhh.

Look at how her touch had reached Abel's forehead.

First her fingertips. Then one knuckle. Finally, her entire palm covered Abel's forehead.

When she felt Abel's warmth across her entire palm.

Her impassive face crumbled, and a small smile appeared on Mist's face.

Swish.

A cautious, impossibly delicate touch.

Movements restrained to the utmost so Abel would not wake.

Swish.

All of this was her consideration, meant to avoid disturbing the sleep Abel was taking amid extreme fatigue.

Though sometimes she gazed blankly at her master, wondering if Abel was trying to seduce her.

Though the image of him, after broadcasting a declaration of war throughout the ducal estate, smiling innocently and saying that even he thought it was a well-laid plan, still shimmered before her eyes.

"Mmm..."

Even now, he let out a soft, sleepy whimper at her touch and showed a faintly relaxed smile.

Swish.

Though the bare skin exposed as he tossed and turned, perhaps uncomfortable sleeping in his day clothes, was stirring her.

She was a woman capable of restraining her desires if that was what Abel wanted.

Of course, she still could not make the first move because the restriction was in place.

"..."

Rustle.

"Ah..."

As Mist restrained her desires, she let out a quiet sigh while gazing at the nape of Abel's neck exposed as he tossed and turned.

***

"..."

My consciousness began to awaken slowly.

Feeling the softness of the blankets as I woke, I closed my eyes once more.

"..."

The languid weakness unique to someone who had just woken from sleep dominated my entire body.

Birdsong came from outside the window.

Even though I'd been away in the capital on business, the bed was filled with a pleasant scent, as though the bedding had been washed every day.

The drowsy, warm heat inside the blankets was keeping me from fully waking up.

After spending a little while like that, I turned over and blankly stared at the ceiling of the room the ducal family had given me.

'Should I sleep a little longer...'

No matter how much sleep deprivation training I had undergone in my previous life, this was the first time since my reincarnation that I had gone without sleep to this extent.

In that state, I had fought a battle using my ability and mana, and at the end, I had consumed a vast amount of mana using the only technique I had ever named in order to withstand Kaizen's strike.

'Ah, what a pain...'

Honestly, if I closed my eyes now, I felt I could fall into a deep sleep again.

"...Ungh."

But I resisted the temptation and slowly lifted myself from the bed.

"Yaaawn..."

Perhaps because I had fallen asleep in my day clothes, various parts of my clothes had come loose in my sleep.

After straightening those clothes, I stood up and looked at the clock.

'Noon?'

Both the hour and minute hands pointed to twelve.

I slightly furrowed my brow as I looked at the clock.

Wait, what time had I fought Kaizen and Bella?

I racked my still-sleepy brain for an answer.

I clearly remembered the fight starting in the late afternoon, around four.

We hadn't fought for very long, so I probably hadn't entered my room very late, either.

'Oh, then roughly...'

Since I had fallen asleep as soon as I entered the room, even if I estimated late, it would have been around five.

"So I slept for about twenty hours?"

I really had been tired.

Since I'd experienced all-night military exercises in my previous life, I hadn't thought much of it.

But since this was the first time I'd experienced it after reincarnation, my body seemed to have felt the fatigue more intensely.

"Yaaawn..."

Unable to suppress a yawn rising from deep within my abdomen, I moved to wake myself up.

I went to the bathroom and washed my face, changed out of my wrinkled clothes, then opened the door and stepped out.

Bang.

"Are you awake?"

As I came out of the room, Mist slightly bowed her head and spoke quietly from where she stood at the entrance.

"How is your fatigue...?"

There was unmistakable concern in her voice.

I gave a small laugh at the sight of Mist and waved my hand.

"Ah, I'm feeling better."

"That's a relief."

For her to say something like that.

I couldn't even begin to guess how exhausted I must have looked.

Grin.

As I watched Mist let out a relieved sigh, I stroked my forehead with a playful smile.

"Yeah. It's a relief. I think I recovered so quickly thanks to someone worrying about me."

"..."

It was the first time. I had never seen Mist look this visibly flustered before.

Her pupils contracted in an instant. The tremor in her eyes, which she couldn't control, showed just how flustered she was.

"Lord Abel, surely... You were awake..."

Grin.

"Haha, who knows?"

Whoosh.

Step. Step.

With her voice behind me serving as background music, I walked forward without saying anything else.

My destination was the duke's room in the Nebula ducal residence.

.

.

.

After defeating Kaizen and Bella and heading to meet the duke.

The first thing I felt had changed was the attitude of the ducal family's servants.

Of course, the servants had never been rude to me before.

No, if anything, they had seemed so sincere that I could hardly believe they treated me with such respect despite me being an illegitimate child.

But there was definitely something different from before.

"..."

Look at them now. The moment I entered their field of vision, they immediately stopped what they were doing and bowed politely.

"..."

Well, whatever. I didn't dislike the feeling of being respected.

I was human too, and naturally being treated this way felt good.

But the problem was that everything was taken too far.

Everyone who had been hurrying along stopped in place and bowed the instant I walked by. How could that possibly feel natural?

It wasn't as though this were some story about Moses from my previous life.

The sight of the servants splitting sharply to either side as I passed the place where they had gathered was truly spectacular.

"I should say something to them later."

"What do you mean?"

"Huh? Ah, it just feels like they're treating me way too excessively."

Swish.

Even just now, I had been walking past a maid who bowed politely as soon as I entered her field of vision while she was cleaning a window.

Mist, who had been flustered by my prank moments ago, opened her mouth with an impassive face as though it had never happened.

"Isn't that only natural?"

Mist said,

Thanks to my having broadcast a declaration of war across the entire Nebula ducal residence to all its servants, my popularity had risen.

Of course, if I'd lost to the two illegitimate children after declaring war, I'd have been utterly doomed.

"Besides, they've seen all of Lord Abel's power. If anything, I think this is a restrained reaction."

"..."

Objectively hearing about my actions, maybe it was understandable?

"No, that can't be it. Haah... I've been thinking about it."

The declaration of war I'd made. Yeah, even I thought it had been a well-laid scheme.

But I hadn't anticipated that it would make the other servants look up to me this much.

"The Nebula ducal family is a little... No, it seems pretty crazy."

Wasn't one of the conditions for succeeding as head of the ducal family receiving recognition from its elite assassination group, [Dark Shadow]?

I still hadn't received a definitive answer, but the bizarre conditions for passing the illegitimate children's test were a problem too.

While I was thinking that, I entered the duke's room in the Nebula ducal residence.

"So, when will the succession ceremony begin?"

And the first thing the duke said as soon as he saw me was this, without so much as a preamble.

'Ah, right.'

If a lunatic like this had risen to the duke's seat, there was no way the people who could be called his subordinates would be normal.

At the duke's behavior, which instantly resolved the question in my head, I found myself nodding.

But.

The moment the word "succession ceremony" came up, I felt Mist's gaze fixed intently on the back of my neck.

'No, why?'

Did the succession ceremony hold some major meaning from Mist's perspective?

"So I'll ask you once again: when do you plan to begin the succession ceremony?"

As the duke said that, his eyes held a strange gleam.