Evelyn slowly turned towards Jule. She looked him dead in the eye with her two empty deep blue ones.
"Brother, what have you done now?"
Juke silently wept. 'Why is everyone concerned? Jule Valenti, what have you done for people to think this way?'
"Nothing, Evelyn." Jule wanted to cry. "Can you please wait for me outside?"
"Brother," Evelyn put a stern expression on her childish, puffy face. "If anything happens inside the room, don't hesitate to call for help."
"I wil- I'll be alright, Evelyn." He reassured, mostly to comfort himself rather than the young girl.
"Jule Valenti, don't keep me waiting."
Was that a threat?
"See you brother," Evelyn waved goodbye. After a moment, she added, "Hopefully."
He opened the door slowly, stepping into the room cautiously, and immediately wondered if the chamberlain or duke had cast a spell to temporarily make him blind. However, after a few seconds, he realized that perhaps Alexander preferred his office to be really dark.
Then, a dim light passed through the room. That was Kastel slowly opening the curtains.
"Young master," He greeted, slightly lowering his head into a bow.
Jule nodded, before turning to find Alexander.
The office was a large room - almost as big as his bedchamber. Everywhere he looked, there were piles of papers and stacks of documents piled on top of each other. Amidst the towers of work was a leather couch, and on that couch…
Was a tired, groggy Alexander Valenti. Broken shards of a crystalized substance surrounded him, impaling almost every corner of the office. An icy blue hue emitted from the splinters, offering a soft glow to the room.
Jule silently cried. What was going on in this room?
It seemed that Alexander was using his ice mana manipulation abilities in his office before he came in. As much as he would have been excited to have finally witnessed a magical phenomenon that didn't exist in his past life, Jule shivered regardless. If one of those mana-infused shards were to impale him…
No, let's not think about it.
"What are you looking at."
"You're acting like there's something worth looking at in this room, Duke Valenti." Jule immediately responded without thinking.
Kastel chuckled lightly. "Duke Valenti, now that young master Jule is finally here, you wouldn't want him to leave, right?"
"…Sit down."
Jule sat down. He made sure to put on a show of rolling his eyes and acting as if visiting the Duke was a waste of time. The latter was partly true though - Jule truly did not want to be here.
"Jule, as you know, you are not yet part of the Valenti line of succession."
Yes, yes, of course he knew-
What.
Kastel set down a list of thick, heavy documents in squiggly handwriting only a doctor could possibly transcribe.
"The current line of succession ranges from the main branch of the Valenti duchy to distant relatives then possible, trusted allies-turned-successors."
"However, you young master, are only to be included soon."
Was Jule Valenti that horrible of a person that he was excluded from birth? That didn't seem so wrong though. Perhaps his parents had an intuition that their son was going to be a minor villain when he grew up. Jule tried to imagine the original young master as a responsible head of a noble house…
No matter how much he tried to use his wild imaginations, Jule couldn't ever think of a possibility.
"Why is that?" He frowned still. "Am I not your brother, Duke?"
"That was the order of the late Duke, young master." Kastel interrupted. "Due to certain…complications, it was hard to put you in the line of succession."
"Then, will I be added soon? Isn't that the reason you called me over today?"
An unacknowledged playboy "crown prince", a runaway late queen, and a young master who had yet to be part of his own family's line of succession…
Perhaps the world of COAIS wasn't something Jule truly knew at heart.
'I wonder…' Jule chuckled to himself.
What else is there to know?
"Yes, but before that, we have to consult the temple." Alexander replied.
"When?" Jule tapped his foot against the cold stone floor impatiently. "I've waited long enough."
Alexander wrinkled his forehead and rubbed his temples. He exhaled tiredly, as if annoyed by continuing their conversation. "And here we thought you have finally grown up…I should've known that people don't change that easily."
Oh? Jule's lip twitched into a slight smile. That probably meant his current acting was similar to the original Jule Valenti, right?
Kastel seemed to disagree. He shook his head. "Young master, I thought you said that you have to learn to cherish your family from now on?"
Jule stayed silent, turning his head away and completely ignoring the chamberlain. 'Kastel, please drop the shovel you are using to dig my grave.'
"Tomorrow."
"Yes?"
The crystal shards surrounding Alexander slowly began to disperse into small, luminescent blue flakes, floating around in the air before fading away. For a moment, the duke's ice cold blue eyes seemed to soften into something warmer.
"Tomorrow…"
"If all goes well at the temple, you will become the first successor of the Valenti duchy by tomorrow noon."
.
.
.
"You should prepare to leave by dawn tomorrow." Alexander said. "A carriage should arrive a few hours earlier. There will be plenty of time for you to get ready."
"It's alright to feel a little nervous, young master. His Grace will be accompanying you."
Did that meant his house arrest was finally over? Or was leaving the mansion to visit the temple only an urgent matter?
Once Jule was back in his own temporary bedchamber, he wheezed aloud, imitating the sound of a deflating balloon.
Evelyn immediately rushed over, her tiny arms around his shoulder in an attempt to support him. "Brother!"
"Brother is alright Evelyn…"
Haley shook her head like one would do to a child. "Now, now, young master, what's wrong?"
Bianca sighed, leaning against the handle of her broomstick. "Isn't it obvious? His Grace probably-"
"His Grace didn't do anything to me…" Jule mumbled.
"Then why are you so down, hm?" Haley chided.
Jule made a face. "I'm not."
Evelyn frowned, her deep blue eyes filled with concern. She pursed her lips. "It's because brother has to go to the temple, right?"
"The temple?" Haley tilted her head. "Young master, what will you be doing there?"
"Young master is probably going to receive a blessing or something," Bianca said. "What else would he be doing? Though I understand why you wouldn't want to…the temple is a bit far,"
Evelyn crossed her arms angrily. "The duke is so unreasonable, I can't believe…I really cannot…"
"Evelyn, dear," He pressed the space between her eyebrows. "If you keep worrying about me like this…"
"You'll age faster." Haley mouthed.
Time passed quickly before he knew it. Jule stayed up all night long, anxiously waiting for dawn. When the first rays of sunlight passed through the thin curtains, he leaped out of his bed and pulled it open. Jule hissed as his eyes made contact with the bright beams, squinting at the morning sky.
Just as Alexander said, a white carriage with an icicle insignia - the emblem of house Valenti - had already been parked in the front gates of the estate.
"Young master." A small knock on the door woke him out of his thoughts. "His Grace is already waiting at the carriage."
The clothes he wore today were much simpler than the attire young masters usually preferred. It was a lightweight linen garment in a dusty shade of white with delicate silver embroideries.
Perhaps it was because he had been a young master in his past life, but the treatment that came with being in the body of a member of a ducal house wasn't too foreign to him. Though there was a short period where he wasn't one, Jule found that it was harder to adapt when his circumstances changed from wealth and luxury to poverty.
'On second thought,' Jule hummed to himself. 'It's only been a week, but I'm adapting pretty well.'
If it were anyone with lingering attachments, it would have been harder for them to get used to the world of a novel, no matter how well they might think they know it. However, in Jule's case, he never felt happier. Even if there was a hidden guilt of unintentionally possessing Jule Valenti's body and enjoying all the luxuries of the ducal household for granted, a part of him felt that he enjoyed it more than the state he was in in his past life.
Jule's heart thudded loudly in his chest as he headed to the mansion's wide entrance. After all, it was today that he was finally going outside the duchy. Behind him, Haley and Bianca walked quietly, their eyes tearing up as they tried to suppress tired yawns.
At last, Jule finally set foot outside for the first time since he transmigrated into this world.
Immediately, a heavy, cold gust of wind blew his way. Jule nearly stumbled out of surprise. His legs began to shiver and his teeth started to chatter loudly, sounding like an endless cycle of scattering steel shells.
"Young master!" Haley came to his side, her face as red from the cold. "Are you alright?"
Jule laughed awkwardly. "Aha, I'm fine…it has been a while since I left the mansion."
Alexander was already waiting restlessly in the carriage, his hand resting on his chin boredly as he waited for Jule to climb on. From quickly observing the young duke's tense mood, he decided that he shouldn't ponder any longer and got on.
It was only when the doors of the carriage closed and he was left alone with Alexander did he realize that for a while, it would only be the two of them.