Walking inside and past the entrance of the building, I stole a quick glance at my parents together, who were giving me a blatant dirty look with an unmistakable face of contempt.
'I get that I did betray their expectations, but isn't this a bit much for someone they had loved as their son for 14 years?'
"Hey kid, now that I look at it, what did you do with your hair?"
Victor had only just asked a question that should have been something that first came to his mind when he looked at me.
'Hmmm, how should I respond to this...?'
"Is it really that important babe?"
"Well no... but... okay never mind. I don't really care."
And just like that, his mind had been changed in an instant.
'Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
...no matter how I look at this, this is all a bit too obvious isn't it?'
[Host, I believe that a 3rd party is possibly influencing the amount of attention received from your birth parents.]
'Yeh, I figured that out by now.'
First off, there was the fact that my parents hadn't even tried to help the previous Vincent with financial help, or even just some kind of awakening nurture program. They definitely had the money to pull that off.
Secondly, not only my parents but coincidentally also my siblings, who had adored me just fine beforehand, also returned apathy towards me, trying to make my life a living hell without officially being involved.
This could mean that either they didn't have enough power to back their actions, and pussied out for the backlash, or, someone had given them discreet instructions for what to do.
And finally, just now, my old mother had specifically reminded my old father of something, which had quite clearly made him willfully lose interest in my being.
Before, I might have believed that they genuinely were disappointed in me for not awakening, but now that this scene had occurred before me, it made it quite clear that something amiss was going on behind the scenes.
The only question remaining unanswered right now was,
'Who is the one behind this all? And what was the old Vincent's relationship with them?'
For all I know right now, someone far away who Vincent had thrown a punch to in nursery, was only giving back his karma and revenge for what had happened to them.
'Fuck, by now, they had probably already started their "Villain arc".'
Stopping my train of thought, I was called by some maids back to my room, who escorted me like bodyguards surrounding a celebrity.
But just before I left, I turned my head around my shoulder and briefly activated my innate skill.
'[Monarch's Facade].'
"Victor, I have some news that would care to interest you. I will talk more about this at the dinner table."
[No one said that you were going to be invited for dinner.]
'And that is why I said that, so that he becomes curious, and DOES invite me.'
[Oh.]
'My first mission is to consolidate my position in this family. And this had to be my first step towards it.'
"Oh that's right- the dinner table. Today, I'm sure you would have heard the news by now, but someone very important will be coming to eat with us. So we can't afford to have you there and mess up things."
Squinting my eyes at what Victor had just said, I decided to question things further.
"Who is coming?"
From a few seconds before, Victor had begun to feel a creeping sensation of oppression on his body, and, although it was minor, he could tell that something had changed in the boy he had once called his son.
"Tch, that is for us to know, and you to not. Go to your room now."
Interrupting our conversation was Lucy, clearly not wanting to stay in my company with me any longer.
Nevertheless, I continued to stare into his eyes, and for a few seconds, remain in eye contact with him.
"Very well."
Turning my head back forward, I walked with my hands in my pockets, thinking of what to do now.
******
I was back in my room, or should I say Vincent's room, sitting on the bed cross-legged.
'System, how exactly does my innate skill work? Has anything changed since my understanding had increased?'
[Unlike the physical pressure that can be exerted by an awakened soul, your innate skill presents psychological pressure on the affected targets, and the magnitude of the effect also varies depending on the awakened rank of your target.]
[You must have noticed by now, but the increase of understanding not only increases the effect of the illusion on others but it can now influence your body to act exactly how it should have been.]
"I see, so that is why I was feeling kind of bold when talking to Victor and Lucy."
[Yes.]
"Hmm... since I have that out of the way, I need to find a way to talk to Victor, and possibly see what is going on with the new visitor."
Standing up, I booted up my laptop and searched online for anything that I could find about my family.
"Hmmm, let's see... Dracyian~ ...Ah here it is."
It turned out that our family was famous enough to have its own wiki made about it, and on the website, they talked about all of our family members.
"Isn't it a bit funny that I am not even mentioned here?"
[I believe that your presence has too little worth to write about.]
"Ha... how sad. I practically have no reputation to work with here."
[That isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just means you can start from scratch.]
The system was right. My situation could be a lot worse, like, imagine if I was known as some kind of pervert or something before I was reincarnated.
"Haaaa, oh well, I have to work with what I have..."
It was while I was aimlessly scrolling, that I stumbled upon a piece of news that grabbed my interest.
"Ohoh~ what's this, 'The Return of Barrack Dracyian', and the start of the upsurge of the Dracyian family?"