Carl entered the dining room and noticed his family members had already taken their seat. From the atmosphere of the room, Carl knew they had been waiting for him for quite sometime.
"You're rather late, Carl."
Marquis Chase remarked as soon as Carl entered the dining room. The rest of the family members were silent but instead had their eyes focused on Carl. All of them looked very displeased with his punctuality.
"Sorry. I took a bath before coming here." Carl calmly answered.
"That's okay. Come take your seat before the food gets cold." Marquis Chase signalled him to the empty seat beside him and Carl quickly went over and took the seat.
Ever since the marchioness and Jay returned from the capital, the marquis made it mandatory to have a family breakfast every morning. This was something which was not present in the memories of the original Carl.
'Perhaps Carl's accident must have hit the marquis real hard.'
Carl thought to himself. Ever since the explosion, Carl noticed the marquis had been acting quite different from his usual self. It could be guilt of how he had not been paying much attention to his family due to his busy schedule. But this does not bother Carl much. In fact, there was something else which had been bothering him for a while now.
He watched the rest of his family along with the marquis starting to dig their food as soon as he was present on his seat. With a calm and collected mind, Carl scrutinized their features without touching a single food placed in front of him.
Marquis Chase who sat at the centre of the table: He had pitch black hair reminiscence of Carl's and a pair of deep blue eyes. On the left sat Marchioness Melina: Mother of Carl and his younger brother Jay. However, she had honey-coloured hair similar to that of Jay and eyes matching that of her hair. Finally on the side of Melina was Jay who had eyes similar to that of the marquis.
Carl found it odd. From the oldest memories of the original Carl, there was nothing strange about their family. But Carl, ever since he took over the body, found it strange that he was the only one among the family who had red eyes.
Even the original Carl was sceptical about his eyes when he was younger and asked his mother out of curiosity.
Melina, who was not expecting such question from a child, answered him like this.
The original Carl believed in the excuse his mother gave him even when he became older. But the current Carl was not quite convinced.
'There's no way a mother's health can affect the colour of their child's eyes to this extent.'
Carl believed there has to be a different reason other than his mother being sick when Carl was in her belly. He wondered if he should just ask his mother the same question as the original Carl, but the possibility of his mother giving him random excuses in return kept him from doing so.
'Should I just ask the marquis?'
Carl faced toward the marquis with a questioning look on his face. As much as how he wanted to know the reason behind his unique red eyes, there was also the possibility that the marquis will not answer him with honesty just like the marchioness. Carl wondered if it would be faster for him if he just find out the reason himself.
"Is there anything you want to ask me, Carl?"
Carl suddenly realized the marquis had been looking at him for quite sometime. But upon looking closer at the marquis' gaze, Carl could see that the marquis was not looking at his face, but rather his hand. Carl quickly loosen his hand that was tightly grabbing a knife beside his plate and answered the marquis.
"No. Nothing, father."
Carl stared at his hand for a while and started digging into the food that had become quite cold. He frowned a bit when he picked up the cold meat before him, but as soon as he immersed himself into the food, Carl realized the chef who prepared their breakfast had put in quite the effort of balancing their diet. It was very different from the meal he used to have in his own room.
From meat to vegetables, all kinds of flavour flowed into his mouth and made his taste buds feel really satisfied. Carl decided if having meal with his family was going to make him satisfied like this, he would not mind sparing a bit of time every morning just to have this kind of meal.
When the family finished their main course, servants in charge of breakfast put their plates away and brought a bunch of fruits in their stead. Carl promptly dig into them and felt a unique taste in his mouth. They were fruits he never used to have in his previous life.
'Experiencing new flavours every now and then is not bad at all,' Carl thought with a big smile on his face.
"You seem to be doing well now, Carl."
Carl faced toward the marchioness who was looking at him with a gentle smile on her face. He remembered from the memories of the original Carl that the marchioness was very dear to Carl. She was neither strict nor a doting mother, but Carl could feel the tenderness she had for him just from the look of her face.
"I'm doing great, mother. It's all thanks to the medicine you brought for me from the capital."
"I'm glad to hear that."
The marquis who was watching them chat from the side had a soft smile on his face. He seemed satisfied enough from his looks when he asked Carl, "I've heard you've been immersing yourself into books ever since you woke up, Carl. What have you been looking into?"
"Hmm?"
Carl noticed the gentle doubting tone his younger brother made when the marquis asked him the question, but he dismissed it as though he had not heard him. It was because he knew his younger brother had always looked down on Carl, his older brother who could not handle mana.
"Just some history books to pass time."
Carl answered the marquis without thinking too much about it. He knew his father had sent some of his personal underlings his way to monitor his everyday life. And Carl was also sure his father must have already heard the names of the books he had been reading. But the looks his family gave him when he answered the marquis was not at all what he expected.
Looks of doubt and confusion can be seen on their faces. It was like they were looking at a completely different person than them looking at a member of their family. The dining room went completely quiet. No sound was heard in the room until the marquis broke the silence himself.
"Carl. Are you sure you are reading a history book? Not some books like 'Fundamentals of magic' or 'Secret way to handle mana'?"
"No, father. I realized now reading those isn't going to do me any good. So I picked up some other books that will actually help me with my future."
"Ho?"
Jay was making another one of his disturbing sounds when Carl talked about his future. And this time Carl did not pretend not hearing it and directly faced him with a gentle smile instead, making Jay gasped from shock in the process.
"Jay, is there something you want to ask me too?"
"No, brother. My apologies."
Jay politely answered back. But the look of shock on his face was still present. It was something which was to be expected since it was the first time Carl had confronted him back when he blatantly looked down on Carl.
Jay Silversword. From a young age he was always a genius at handling mana in contrast to the worthless Carl. He got his gift from their mother who was also known to be a genius magician in her prime. This was why every person who knew their family always spoke of Jay as the next head of the marquis territory.
However, the difference in their abilities did not bother Carl at all, at least to the current Carl. But the original Carl was different. Even though he smiled at his younger brother and praised his abilities with honesty, deep inside he was always jealous of Jay. This was the reason why he went to the western woods to train in secret hoping that he might become as good as Jay in handling mana.
'Though he just seems like a sewer rat to me.'
Carl wanted to smirk in front of Jay but he barely held himself back. It was because the body and abilities of Carl was still so lacking in comparison to Jay, who was on a whole different level. There was no assurance that Jay would not beat him to a pulp if Carl accidentally happened to make the wrong move.
"Well, that was a satisfying breakfast." The marquis was the first to get up from his seat and before he left, he faced toward his eldest son. "Carl, if there is anything you need, come to my office."
"I will. Thank you, father."
"Jay, you too. Don't hesitate to come to me anytime."
"I will, father."
As soon as the marquis left the dining room, the marchioness and Jay promptly followed. Carl was the only one left in the room along with several servants in charge of their breakfast. Carl ordered them the moment his family members were out of his sight.
"You can all leave now."
"But young master, we have to clean up this room." One servant said to Carl.
"I won't take much time. You can do your chores after I leave this room."
All the servants obeyed Carl's order and left the room leaving only Carl behind.
"What was that thing I saw?" Carl mumbled to himself, his eyes shaking.
It happened when he was grabbing a knife due to him thinking too much about the Silversword family, he saw something unusual. He saw his hand bleed when he grabbed a knife too tight, but a moment after that, his blood flowed back inside the wound of his hand.
"Will it work if I do it again?"
Carl wanted to know the reason why his hand was healed in an instant. He grabbed the knife placed on top of the table and without hesitation, he firmly cut the palm of his right hand.
"Ha! Haha.."
Almost in an instant, the cut on Carl's hand was healed and all the blood that oozed out from his wound flowed back through the open wound itself. Carl immediately realized then and there that something was off about him.