episode_0001

I was reincarnated into a world with magic and divine power.

I wasn’t exactly thrilled.

It’s not like I asked for it, and who would be happy when someone is suddenly thrown from a comfortable life into a strange environment?

I would have been okay if I had overflowing talent or at least heard the reason for coming to this place, but I have zero magical power and zero faith, so I just gained a new life with absolutely nothing.

A rapidly changing environment and relationships.

I spent 17 years adapting to the new environment, overcoming depression and loneliness.

As the saying goes, even mountains and rivers change in ten years, and now I’ve become more or less accustomed to my new life.

Except for a few dissatisfactions.

The arrogance and pretense unique to the nobility.

Obsession with splendor and beauty.

Complicated and confusing etiquette and formalities.

I just couldn’t get used to the things most important to the nobles.

It’s truly awful.

If I were to nitpick, things like etiquette, formalities, arrogance, and pretense were unpleasant, but I couldn’t say I didn’t understand them.

They just take different forms, but they exist everywhere.

However, what torments me to the very end is the obsession with splendor and beauty combined with pretense.

Especially the clothes.

To me, the nobles’ attire was too much.

Seeing men wearing stockings and garter belts, or women tightening their waists madly with corsets, puffing up their skirts with panniers, and walking around like hourglasses, it was like looking at the face of someone addicted to plastic surgery.

Bizarre and creepy, that’s what it is.

You might think I’m feeling such emotions over just one piece of clothing, but when a person’s body narrows like a funnel and then turns into a parasol, wouldn’t it be strange if it didn’t feel bizarre?

“Tsk…”

I clicked my tongue softly, picked up a glass of champagne prepared in the hall, and moved towards a wall where there were few people.

For nobles, social activities are like work, so unless they’re on the verge of dying, they must participate in events held on national holidays.

And today is the anniversary of His Majesty the current Emperor’s accession to the throne.

That’s why I was dragged to the banquet and had to watch the grotesque outfits that I didn’t even want to see.

Under the splendid chandeliers, the hourglass legions that appear without fail today were decked out in colorful clothes and sparkling jewels.

It was so sparkly that I felt like I was going to have a photosensitive seizure without a monitor.

“Haa…”

I sighed.

If I kept looking at the crowded and noisy center, I felt like I would get dizzy and collapse.

I took another sip of champagne and turned my head slightly.

There are fewer people at the edges anyway.

But I belatedly realize that turning my gaze like that is not always a good choice.

A young lady with red hair, who looks to be my age, catches my eye.

A dress covered in frills and lace from shoulder to ankle, a skirt so puffy that it would make a parasol look ordinary, a waist as thin as an hourglass, a chest that was gathered up to the soul, and more than half of it was exposed, jewelry the size of eyeballs.

I don’t know which family she’s from, but judging from the fact that she flaunts the splendor of a peacock all by herself, she must be the child of someone quite noble.

“Tss…”

I inhaled thinly through my mouth like a snake threatening, and then chugged the champagne once more to calm my uneasy heart.

The desire to look beautiful is not a bad thing.

If you’re a living creature, you should naturally decorate yourself beautifully for your mate and prove that you are superior to your opponent.

Just like cicadas chirp loudly to find a mate, peacocks flaunt their colorful feathers, and deer flaunt their large, thick antlers.

But aren’t these all males?

Um…

I don’t fucking know.

I just wish it would all disappear.

Corsets, panniers, and dresses covered in frills and lace.

“…”

I quickly brought the champagne glass to my lips, but nothing flowed into my mouth.

“Aish…”

Staring blankly at the empty glass, I let out a big sigh, turned my gaze away from the peacock young lady, and started walking to get a new champagne.

Before entering the banquet hall, my mother’s firm warning, ‘Don’t drink like a whale,’ came to mind, but I couldn’t help it.

What can I do when it’s stifling and hard to endure sober?

“Young Master, please give me your empty glass.”

“… Thank you.”

As I slowly moved my feet for a new champagne, the butler, who had approached me unnoticed, exchanged the glass with a natural movement like flowing water and stepped back.

I always feel this, but a highly skilled, first-class servant cannot be distinguished from a ninja.

If they think it’s necessary, they come up quickly, finish their work, and disappear like the wind, so what else could they be if not a ninja?

“……”

I sipped the champagne I received from the butler and leaned against the wall again.

I’ll just not look at anything, blend in with the wall, quietly sip champagne, quietly finish the ceremony, and go back.

A truly perfect plan…

“William, what are you doing here?”

Failed as soon as I made it.

I lowered the champagne glass slightly and turned my body in the direction I heard my mother’s voice.

“I was resting for a while because I was dizzy.”

“You’d be dizzy if you drank champagne like that, I saw you scurrying around like a mouse and finishing a glass in less than five minutes.”

“Haha…”

I bit my lip slightly at my mother’s sarcasm and raised my glass again, smiling awkwardly.

Damn it, I’ve already been caught.

Still, it’s fortunate that it was only the first glass.

If I pretend to restrain myself from now on, my mother will probably just let it go without saying much.

“I’m sorry, I think I got a little carried away by the banquet atmosphere, I won’t drink after this.”

“Tsk…”

My mother clicked her tongue loudly, frowned, and covered her mouth with her fan.

It seems that my mother is feeling uncomfortable, and my words have offended her a lot.

This isn’t it…

“Why is the guy who got carried away by the atmosphere always stuck to the wall like wallpaper? Don’t you have any intention of mingling with people?”

“No… I’m also making various efforts…”

“How well do you blend in with the wall? Have you decided to become a cicada or a sloth, an animal from a faraway foreign country? You’ve been diligently sticking to the wall except when you go to get alcohol, it’s so natural that this mother almost mistook you for wallpaper.”

“I’m sorry……”

I bowed my head deeply and made a sullen expression, but my mother just looked at me with a cold expression.

A chilling feeling traveled down my spine and spread throughout my body.

Today’s mother came with her knives sharpened properly.

I could clearly feel with my skin that this was not a scolding that could be easily brushed off.

“William, how old are you this year?”

“Seventeen.”

“Yes, you’re a whopping seventeen, other people are making connections, finding a partner, and preparing for engagement or marriage, but are you just killing time like this? Or rather, do you have a girlfriend these days? Every time I see you rubbing against the wall like this, I feel so frustrated.”

“I’m also making various efforts…”

“Stop! That damn effort! William, I’m holding back because you’re not the eldest son, but are you really making an effort? You don’t like arranged marriages, you don’t like free love, you don’t meet friends, or rather, you don’t have any friends, and you don’t have any dreams either. Whenever there’s a ceremony or a banquet where people gather, you think about skipping it first, and you don’t go out often, so is this the effort you’re talking about? If you’re really making an effort, shouldn’t you at least go to a blind date that your parents set up for you? William, we’ve been foolishly fooled by the word ‘effort’ only once or twice, how long are you going to get away with this?”

“I, that’s…”

“Why is a child who was so bright when he was young so lethargic now? I still vividly remember the days when you said you would pursue various dreams.”

“……”

My heart was torn apart in an instant by the pouring nagging.

Every word my mother said was filled with the emotion of wanting to tear me to pieces.

However, it hurt even more because this wasn’t just a word to criticize me, but a concern based on affection and facts.

Like a pen that hits harder than anyone else the moment it becomes an anti.

“Well, Mother, I do think I want to change…”

“William…”

The mother, whose emotions suddenly surged at my appearance of trying to make excuses while moving her lips, gently grabbed my right hand with tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

Looking at her faint and pathetic jade-colored eyes, my stomach ached and my heart throbbed.

I’m sorry for being such a moronic son, but I absolutely didn’t want to mingle with those peacocks.

No, even if I wanted to approach them first, my motivation drops sharply the moment I see them…

I feel so wronged.

“……”

But I can’t honestly say that fact because I feel wronged.

As I waited for my mother’s words with an awkward smile, my mother, who had a worried expression, carefully opened her mouth.

“Are you perhaps impotent?”

“Pardon?”

I opened my eyes wide and stared blankly at my mother.

Did I hear strange words from my mother’s mouth?

“William, other children make marriage partners or flirt with servants around your age, but you’re just blankly watching others without doing any of that, so I’m getting worried for no reason…”

“That’s absolutely not true.”

“Then are you perhaps afraid of women?”

“……”

The mother, who had been hitting me with facts in a calm and collected manner, suddenly started to fight with incitement and fabrication.

I was speechless at the absurd and ridiculous leap from my point of view.

As I gently put the cold champagne glass to my head to soothe my complicated mind, the hand of my mother holding my right hand became stronger.

“Shall I ask Caroline to help?”

“Yes?”

My aunt’s name suddenly flowed out of my mother’s mouth.

Why suddenly bring up the person who has been living quietly in a secluded mansion since my uncle passed away a few years ago…

“?!”

Goosebumps rose all over my body.

Because the ‘role’ of a widow living in seclusion came to mind.

I hurriedly shook my head and said with wide eyes.

“I don’t need it, I’m not afraid of women, and there’s nothing wrong with that… thing.”

“I’m that desperate, do you know how frustrating it is to see a son who looks fine on the outside acting like a woman-shy blockhead? Tell me honestly.”

“No, haa…”

I closed my eyes tightly and sighed at my mother’s rather stubborn attitude.

Even if I’m desperate, it didn’t seem right to attach a widow to teach ‘sex education’.

“I really don’t need it, and it’s a nuisance to my aunt too.”

My mother, narrowing her eyes at my answer, brought her face closer and whispered in a small voice.

“It’s not that you’re into men, is it?”

“……”

My shoulders are trembling.

I’m going crazy and jumping up and down because I was asked ‘Are you impotent?’ followed by ‘Are you really gay?’

“Absolutely. No. Mother.”

“If it’s not this or that, please find your partner, the whole family is worried about your marriage.”

I bit my molars tightly and denied the gay suspicion by giving strength to each word, but my mother continued to worry without paying attention.

“I’ll give you good results as soon as possible.”

“Okay… If you really want to show good results, I hope you let me know as soon as possible, I don’t think our patience will be that long.”

Even with the story filled with sincerity, my mother’s gaze towards me was not kind.

My mother, narrowing her eyes, glaring sharply, and leaving a quiet warning, turned around and walked to the center of the splendid and sparkling hall.

“…”

I watched my mother’s back and chugged the champagne.