A magnificent carriage, adorned with intricate golden carvings, glided gracefully along the winding path that led to Baron Carlo's opulent mansion.
[The Mana signature of Soul Projection is detected on the nearby heroine, it is healing in nature .]
As Ryuk heard the system's voice, he understood that the events of the previous night must be connected to Jenny and also about the residual energy that can heal her everytime she got injured.
A small smile formed on his face as his amber eyes turned towards the window, as, if he wanted he could have removed that healing ability from her but now, he has better ideas.
An hour later, the carriage arrived at Baron Carlo's splendid estate.
In the bustling capital city, noble houses maintained grand mansions to ensure a representative was always available during emergencies. Baron Carlo resided in his barony, while Baroness Carlien oversaw their businesses in the capital city, such as her bakery.
The carriage eventually reached the mansion's wide-open gates, where an elegant woman awaited, flanked by a group of servants who respectfully made way for the carriage.
Ryuk stepped out of the carriage, and Carlien, accompanied by her maids, approached him.
"Welcome, Your Highness,"
She greeted with grace, wearing a delicately designed flowery gown and light makeup.
This time, she did not carry a fan, as nobles often used fans to convey their disapproval or hide facial expressions to others. Here, she stood in front of the Crown Prince himself.
A smile graced Ryuk's face as he acknowledged her, and nodded before moving towards the mansion. This surprised Carlien, who quickly composed herself and followed.
"Your Highness, I hope you find my humble abode to your liking,"
Ryuk paused and looked towards a specific direction.
"I appreciate the garden, especially those beautiful flowers, except for those pesky Moneyworts. I find them rather repulsive,"
He remarked, directing his gaze to a section of the garden where yellow flowers bloomed in rows with their plants no taller than four inches.
Carlien followed his gaze and, upon hearing Ryuk's disapproval, she shot death glares at the gardener, causing his face to turn pale.
Observing the gardener's reaction, Ryuk felt satisfied, thinking about the pawn he would soon acquire, before he continued, "Although I personally find this garden truly beautiful, if it weren't for those Moneyworts."
{A/n: Why is he talking about flowers all of a sudden? and especially that particular one, any guesses }
"I will remove those weeds instantly, Your Highness," the gardener bowed and made his way towards those flowers.
Unperturbed by all these things, Ryuk looked towards Carlien, "Lady Carlien, would you care to engage in conversation amidst this splendid garden setting?"
Carlien, who was busy looking towards the gardener's actions, suddenly came out of her thoughts, "Of course, Your Highness."
They both made their way towards the middle of the garden as servants brought chairs and a table filled with various cakes.
Ryuk took his seat as Carlien followed, "Lady Carlien, to tell you the truth, I really admire your compassion towards humble people. I can see that every one of them is really loyal to you."
Carlien's eyes widened as she heard the praise and swiftly spoke, "Thank you, Your Highness. Though I still have much to learn, I do my best to treat these people with care."
As Ryuk sat in the chair, his enhanced mana allowed him to clearly hear the servants looking downward, their faces forming sweat, which amused him as he thought about the impact on them.
'System, show me their colors.'
━━━━━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
Showing individuals Characterstics
1. White: Pure-hearted
2. Green: Compassionate
3. Yellow: Optimistic
4. Red: Ambitious
5. Black: Malevolent
━━━━━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━━━━━
As that command got processed, Ryuk's eyes reflected the several colors forming on everyone's head in front of smoky flames.
"You, come here."
He looked at one of the maids with a green color floating on her head, making her flinch before coming in front of him as she bowed.
"Tell me about the compassion Lady Carlien holds for her people."
Ryuk looked towards the cake and used a knife and fork to take a bite, while the maid standing there was the victim of the glares Carlien was giving before she, with a trembling voice, said, "M-Madam is really k-kind and treats us like f-family."
Ryuk stopped in his way while eating and looked towards the maid, narrowing his eyes, making Carlien clench her fist, understanding that the maid needed more education.
"Hey you, come here."
Ryuk called that same gardener who had just come after getting rid of those yellow flowers.
"Y-yes, Your Highness."
The gardener swiftly bowed with a red smoke hovering above his head as he heard ryuk's words ,"Tell me about Lady Carlien's benevolence"
The gardener seized the opportunity to earn favor with Lady Carlien. "Your Highness, I'm just a commoner and may not have the right words to express Madam's benevolence. But, with all the humble people here, I can assure you that she is merciful and kind, like a goddess. Please forgive me if I overstep my bounds, but words fail me."
Tears welled up in the gardener's eyes as he spoke, and a sense of shared understanding spread among the servants, causing them to nod in agreement remembering about the 'benevolence ' they had received at the hands of Lady Carlien.
"Well said. By the way, Lady Carlien, I heard this cake is your specialty."
Carlien, who was basking in her praise and satisfaction from this servant's pleasantries, came out after hearing Ryuk's words as she noticed a cake that was widely known as her specialty, "Your Highness, I am not deserving of such praise."
Seeing her face, Ryuk continued with a 'disappointed' look, "But this cake does not taste like how Lady herself prepares it."
"W-what, forgive me, Your Highness, I will prepare another one right now. Forgive my etiquette."
Carlien's eyes widened as she glared towards the chefs standing at the end of the line, making them all sweat before standing and apologizing.
As a noble, leaving one's guest was considered a lack of etiquette, but she still, after hearing Ryuk's praise, couldn't hold herself and left with maids accompanying her.
Ryuk, looking at her disappearing back, felt satisfied as he had removed all the merciful people around Jenny. So, neither would a maid tend to her wounds nor a chef who would give her bread out of sympathy.
As the chain reaction will spread after Carlien's today's education, he knew all these green ones would understand the reality of high society and keep their sympathy to themselves.
'System, create an isolated space around a 5-meter area.'
WHOOSH!
As he spoke, a black dome-like area spread around the place, including the gardener and him in the center, making the man shocked as he noticed a complete black space around him.
"Y-your H-Highness!"
The man was shocked, not knowing his mistake, even though he was ambitious and didn't understand what was happening but at the end of the day, there existed a line between nobles and commoners. So, he knew that even if he was killed here, no one would care.
Ryuk's hands covered in dark black smoke, and suddenly it devoured the man standing in shock, looking around him.
From the outside, everything looked normal – Ryuk was eating, the gardener was standing, and all appeared super normal. But inside...
"AAaaaGggggHHhhh!"
.
.
.
.
[ Deactivating Space]
The black dome started to dissipate, revealing Ryuk who was cleaning his hands with tissue paper, while a man stood there with sweat and tear stains, having heard Ryuk's instructions before bowing and leaving the place.
Ryuk waited for some time, minutes passing by, before he heard a voice that made his eyes turn cold and his face devoid of any emotions.
"R-Ryuk!"
All the servants present trembled, noticing a slave addressing the Crown Prince like this, but no one tried to stop her, feeling the weight of two amber eyes on them, lowering their gazes in fear.
"Haa.....haaa.....I-i mean Your Highness, My name is Jenn—"
Jenny gasped as she approached Ryuk, who was coldly looking at her, realizing her mistake as she corrected herself.
"Why would I care about a slaves name,"
Ryuk caressed the handle of a teacup, ignoring the girl who didn't understand what had just happened, but suddenly thought of something and spoke,
"Y-your h-highness, I am really suffering here. Please save me. Lady Carlien didn't like how she looks."
Hearing her words, Ryuk couldn't help but feel amused at the girl's shamelessness, remembering how in the previous life, he had also said the same thing, making this girl accept things on the surface but fueling her hatred within.
His hands stopped touching the cup as he glared at the girl with a killing intent, making her stammer and fall to the ground, remembering some dreadful memories, "Don't cross your line, SLAVE "
The girl kept looking at him with inexplicable emotions, her mind not understanding the sudden change in Ryuk's attitude, before hearing again.
"Lady Carlien, it is your fault for being such a generous woman,"
Ryuk looked towards a woman followed by maids holding trays, her face displaying a frown and visible anger, having heard how this mere slave complained to the Crown Prince against her.
"I-i Apologize, Your Highness, for my lack of foresight," hearing Ryuk's words, she gritted her teeth, making the maids around her drenched in sweat, knowing the outcome that the slave was about to face.
Ryuk shook his head and continued looking down at the girl whose face was devoid of color before narrowing his eyes, "Not at all, Lady Carlien, you helped her. It is she who took your kindness for granted. What can one expect from a slave?"
« -20 »
Ryuk's eyes lit up, seeing that negative reaction, fueling his greed to get more, as he continued, "But I know Lady Carlien will never punish this girl due to her kind heart. That's why I can solve Lady Carlien's problem of feeling pain seeing this girl's injuries."
Carlien, who was lost in thoughts about how to deal with this girl, heard Ryuk's words. First, she felt a sense of disbelief at the girl's ingratitude, then surprise at Ryuk's words.
She inquired, "Forgive me, Your Highness, I don't understand—"
Her eyes suddenly widened as she saw a jar of high-quality healing potions before Ryuk said, "You can educate her as much as you want, heal her, act as her guardian, give her punishment as a father, and then heal her like a mother. After all, I know it must be disheartening for Lady to see her in pain."
He manipulated whole situation according to the way he wanted, due to arising a sense of justice in Carlien's heart about being a parent, he avoided Jenny's death and gave her healing potion because of the points he needed to get in future.
Leveling points needed to have his influence for girls pain, that's why he had given this fake potion to always get the points whenever after education this girl will drink from veil.
Jenny's POV
The gardener came and allowed me to meet with Ryuk. Due to Carlien's orders, I was not allowed to come any nearer.
"R-Ryuk!"
As I noticed his blank gaze, understanding dawned on me.
'Stupid, he doesn't know who you are.'
"I-i mean Your Highness, my name is Jenn—"
"Why would I care about a slave's name?"
But before I could finish, I heard his cold words as he didn't even look at me.
What's with him?
Didn't he act all good before?
Maybe he doesn't see me as a pitiful girl, but instead, a barbaric girl who called him by his name.
Yes, that must be it.
I adjusted my tone and started to plead with him, "Y-your h-highness, I am really suffering here. Please save me. Lady Carlien didn't like how she looks."
Suddenly, he stopped and looked towards me with those same amber eyes, with that icy glare just like that time. It sent shivers down my spine, and I stumbled backward, haunted by painful memories.
"Don't cross your line, SLAVE."
'How dare he!'
I can't help but lose my emotions.
'What's with him?'
Can't he just help me like he did before?
I couldn't comprehend the sudden transformation in Ryuk's demeanor.
Was it all an act to maintain his image in front of people?
"Lady Carlien, it is your fault for being such a generous woman."
I trembled as I noticed Carlien's arrival.
If I don't leave today, she will definitely beat me again, but if Ryuk really doesn't help, then...
"Not at all, Lady Carlien, you helped her. It is she who took your kindness for granted. What can one expect from a slave?"
badump
My heart skipped a beat hearing his words.
'I-i just wanted , I felt conflicted hearing his words. Maybe I will just apologize to him if he takes me from here.
I just need to act more pitiful.
After I heard his next words, I was sure he took pity on me.
'Guess from next time I have to control my mouth in front of nobles.'
"Forgive me, Your Highness. I don't understand—"
As I heard Carlien's words, I couldn't help but want to curse that woman.
Didn't Ryuk just say he would not let her hurt me?
"You can educate her as much as you want, heal her, act as her guardian, give her pun..."
'?!?'
'W-why?!'
I turned towards Ryuk, not understanding why he did this, 'No, no, no, It just a dream, Please, no'
I saw Carlien's eyes looking at me and it was enough to understand what was about to happen with me.
Is this really how my life will be?.
Ryuk changed, he become cruel.
Tears streamed down my eyes at hating all this.....
to be continued ~~
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