In the following days, Dominic first returned to the Duke's manor and let himself have a general understanding of the things.
"It looks like this lad position in the family is somewhat problematic."
From the memories, he could tell that Dominic status in Duke Manor was not so good. First of all, the reason being the Spencer family was one of the top families on this plane. Despite it being such, Dominic had yet to show any signs of a superior bloodline.
One of them being an early awakening.
Despite being of the age of twelve, Dominic had yet to awaken his connection to the mana.
Such a child in the family was a disgrace to the Duke.
To such an extent, the Duke liked to pretend he didn't have a son named Dominic.
Dominic essentially lived an invisible existence.
"Strange... As such, who would he must have offended for them to want to kill him?" To get rid of the chains of revenge binding his soul, he first needed to investigate and find the person responsible for this lad death.
But before that, he needed to get rid of this problem concerning his lack of connection to the mana.
Dominic jumped off his bed, making his way to the wardrobe. Getting rid of the layer of mud covering it, he managed to find a suitable dress. Getting out of the bloodied clothes, he wore a set of neat clothes and made his way out.
He directly headed to the Manor's library. Getting a pile of books in his hands, he walked back.
The servants working in the manor gave him strange looks. They couldn't help but feel that the Duke's youngest son looked somewhat different today.
Let it be his squared back shoulders, cold eyes or unexpected appearance at the library... Everything seemed odd. But they were servants in the end. Besides kids, that age tended to have spontaneous nature.
So they didn't think much of it.
"Dominic, you are finally back. Wait, when since you get the hobby of reading?" A youth of ten or twelve was walking down the hallways when he spotted him. In a familiar manner, he approached Dominic.
"Steven." Dominic recognized him as the Viscount bastard. He was someone who had a close relationship with Dominic. In fact, he was the only of the few who would actually talk with him.
"The Mage Academy Entrance starts within a month, I need to properly prepare," Dominic replied as he continued on his way back to his room.
Steven, following along, was surprised. "What's up with you? Didn't you always say you never wanted to go down that path? Besides, do you even know how to read?"
"I will teach myself." Dominic offhandedly replied.
"Good with you but where have you been all this week? You told me you went off to Lilly's house. Then you suddenly disappeared. You really had me worry."
With Steven's words, patches of memories surfaced in his mind. Like the pieces of an incomplete puzzle, they connected and form a coherent picture.
Since he had just possessed the body, his soul would take time to fully assimilate the original's memories. They were all in his mind but Dominic needed to actively go through them to find the useful thing.
In particular, the memories from the day he was beaten and abandoned in the forest were hazy and unclear.
Maybe it was the trauma that had made the original body block them out.
Maybe those memories were too close to the original body, that before the complete possession, they wouldn't be released to Dominic.
"Lilly..." Of course, she was the one that had directed Dominic to the edge of the forest. It was where Dominic had been kidnapped and beaten.
"Why are you behaving so strangely, Dominic, I don't know why you had this sudden ambition. But you know how your father is... I don't want to hurt you. But he won't let you join the academy."
"That's for us to see," Dominic said before slowly engaging Steven into a conversation that made him say spill everything about Lilly.
In any case, Steven was just a kid. While Dominic was someone who had lived off for more than two hundred years. It was an easy matter to manipulate him to wherever he wanted.
By the time, Steven left, Dominic got a better understanding of Duke Erwin's family.