The Prelude to a Requiem

I only used him because I needed to. Leng was a fairly excellent knight. He was excellent enough to hold off common soldiers—who weren't even knights—on his own, even with a hole in his shoulder.

"Then, make sure you burn it properly and finish the job."

"Young Master. Truly..."

"Leng. Do you perhaps want to retire?"

"A-ah, no, sir!!"

That excellent knight burned down the mansion of Count Verzen, a traitor to the Duchy, with the flames of loyalty. That was the staging I had envisioned. The head of the house, a 4th-grade mage; the only eldest son; the lady of the house; and the household staff who were certainly involved in this affair. They were all to be swallowed by the fire and vanish.

"To the Duchy."

"Y-yes, sir!!!"

Of course, I spared those who had worked unknowingly even if their master was a criminal, and the coachman driving the carriage right now was one of those unknowing people. The evidence and documents proving their attempt to topple the Duchy were obtained all too easily. Through the Count, who screamed for me to spare at least his son. Well, if you were told to commit suicide, why would you choose to attack and force a course that leads to the annihilation of your entire family? From the start, since he had killed my brother, I had intended to kill whichever he cherished more—his wife or his son—right before his eyes.

Anyway, I learned two things in the process. One, it was true that the Count was involved in my brother's murder, but he was not the direct executor. The other was that my mother and father were, as expected, being worked over by this guy and the traitors of the family. To think that the exclusive maid and the exclusive physician my mother kept closest were traitors—it leaves a truly fishy feeling.

"Still, the fortunate thing is that there was an antidote, just as I expected."

Count Verzen was trash in both skill and character, but he was not incompetent. Over several years, he had co-opted vassals and slowly eroded the household staff of the Duchy. The documents showed he had put in a great deal of effort to frame my brother's death as an accidental one, utilizing his patterns of behavior at the Academy to the fullest. And he had prepared an antidote in case I—the second son abandoned by the family—or my brother, who possessed only average talent, suddenly obtained some fortuitous encounter and blossomed in talent. He had been steadily preparing to switch sides or even trade at any moment.

"...If I had inherited the Duchy, would my brother have lived?"

It is already in the past, but it is regrettable. My brother was like that, and my father and mother were also ordinary people without anything exceptional. Even if they were ordinary, they had skills honed through investments made with the family's wealth, but honestly, they were just at a level where you'd think anyone from the commoner class could achieve the same if given that much investment. That was why they wanted to find talent in their children even more. Because they hoped that such things... that being backstabbed by their own vassals would not happen.

"But, no matter how I think about it, I don't feel like this is my fault."

To repeat, Verzen was neither incompetent nor unobservant. If I had shown talent and prominence and aimed for the position of successor to the Duchy, he would not have moved. It means that against me, who was clearly confirmed to have overwhelmingly superior talent and skill like in the original story, he would never have drawn his sword. But that does not make it a reason why he should be allowed to draw his sword against us now. Reality is not a game where someone forces a choice upon you; this is a tragedy that occurred because he chose one of his own myriad options. It is just a story of that magnitude.

"Young Master!"

"Hmm? Why have you returned?"

"Yes? What do you mean..."

"You lot are slow with the news."

"......"

As soon as I returned to the family, two of the four knights I had sent to Bramble's house greeted me. Bramble's family, who had been my brother's coachman, were already dead, and they made excuses that they had been ambushed and lost their comrades. And unfortunately, both of them were traitors. In fact, because I had read the Count's ledger, I didn't hesitate; I swung my arm and lightly struck both men on the chin. The two knights collapsed, losing control of their bodies while remaining conscious, unable to even grasp the situation. I told the private soldiers to bind them and move them to the prison. The two knights who didn't return were likely knights who had been loyal to our family, just like Leng. If I verify it properly and find their deaths regrettable, the family will have to take responsibility for their families for the rest of their lives.

"Head Butler. Call the Knight Commander to the Master's quarters, and seize my mother's exclusive maid. If you let even one slip away, I will consider everyone a traitor and execute the entire family."

"...Yes?"

Fortunately, the commander of the Duchy's knight order and a significant number of knights were recorded in the ledger as individuals who could not be co-opted. Thanks to the fact that, being a Duchy, they had selected people based on skill and treated them well. Since the head of the house, the Duke, lacked skill, this area had been managed well.

"It's an order. Why aren't you moving?"

"Y-y-yes!!"

Perhaps because I had lived my whole life acting incompetent and stupid, even the household members who weren't traitors didn't move properly after being told once. Things like this are tiring.

"Y-Young Master? The Duke said he didn't want to see anyone today..."

"The state of this family. How is it that I meet a traitor with a probability of over fifty percent everywhere I go? The encounter rate is too high."

"Yes?"

The Duchy's exclusive physician. An old man who would give me a rough check-up whenever I acted out, pretending to be weak while faking a lack of talent. But truly, even at that age, a person ruins their life out of greed for money.

"Kuh-uck!!"

I grabbed the old man by the back of his head and slammed him into the door, opening my father's quarters.

"...What, is the matter... Carix."

My father, whose complexion and eyes had turned completely rotten like dead ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠fish, was looking at me from the bed with labored movements. Haa. It’s because we didn't meet often even in normal times that things got twisted like this.

"My brother has passed away; are you trying to follow him?"

"You rascal... now that your father is weak... is this a late-blooming rebellious phase?"

"No. It is a late-blooming, burning filial piety."

I immediately put the antidote I had brought into my father's mouth. He vomited up black, putrid blood several times while coughing up blood.

"Ca-Carix...!! You...!! Cough!!!"

"Master, pull yourself together. What kind of madman would poison a Duke in broad daylight? Hmm... well, there was a lunatic who did poison him, but that is not me."

I shrugged my shoulders, recalling that the exclusive physician lying over there was that very lunatic. After a few minutes of my father coughing up black blood,

"Huff, huff, this... what on earth is this..."

The Duke, his gaze and complexion returned, looked back and forth between the black blood he had spat out and me in confusion.

"The physician received money from Count Verzen and was poisoning you and Mother over time to kill you. What you just took was an antidote."

"There is a spare here, so through the Knight Commander and the Head Butler who will arrive here now, please hire another physician and have them make more antidote. Since I've put out the immediate fire, I will go to feed Mother the antidote as well."

"Carix?"

Father looked at me with a bewildered gaze. But explanations can wait until later, after Father has recovered. Right now, I had to prioritize and move quickly.

"Y-Young Master!? What is this...!!"

"Sever the tendons of this old man's ankles and pull out his molars so he can't commit suicide. He tried to poison Father and Mother. Bring all of the old man's family members in, too."

""Ye-yes!?""

Leaving brief orders to the Knight Commander and the Head Butler who arrived only after my father had finished coughing up blood, I headed straight to my mother.

*****

Three weeks had passed since burning down Count Verzen's estate and preventing the poisoning of the two. There was not a single day in those three weeks where the family didn't bleed. Out of over 400 household members of the Duchy, more than 120 had been turned by Count Verzen. Considering that I caught and purged 120 spies in a mere three weeks, it could be said that I handled the work relatively quickly.

"...To think that nearly thirty percent of the collateral branches and core families were betraying us. How on earth could this be?"

"Think of it as a good thing. There was a need to do a thorough cleaning once, wasn't there? My brother, too, once said that if he became the head of the house, he would definitely cut out the rotten flesh."

While my father was recovering, I proceeded with the work in the form of receiving his orders. Honestly, I had lived my whole life acting incompetent, and since I had no intention of stopping that behavior in the future, things were delayed as I worked following the orders of my father, who was an ordinary person. But steadily and surely, I did not stop the blade, reporting to the Royal Court as well. Even those who wouldn't deserve death if handled according to the law were all sentenced to death by piling on as many charges as possible. It was an action possible because we had a standing as distant relatives of the Royal Family, being a Ducal house. Even so, I couldn't apply the guilt-by-association system exclusive to royalty, so the limit was mostly the collateral head of the house dying and the rest of the family having their titles demoted or being exiled from the capital.

"Because of this affair, too much resentment has piled up against the family. Because I was incompetent... I am going to end up handing over a family that isn't even prepared to you."

Father, who had been detoxified by the antidote but was left with aftereffects that made it impossible for him to move without a cane even if he wasn't paralyzed from the waist down, was now planning his retirement. Mother, fortunately, had no physical aftereffects, but she was still bedridden, suffering from a sickness of the heart at the fact that those who helped murder her son were the vassals and limbs she had trusted her whole life.

"Master, do not worry. It is not that resentment has piled up. This is a grudge I must settle with those bastards on behalf of my brother who left first."

In reality, I am already settling it. Within the family, I was proceeding slowly while receiving Father's orders to punish them according to the law, but I was proceeding with additional work using outside personnel through Leng Dust, the knight who had learned my secret. 'I've handled about eighty percent.'

From Count Verzen, there were truly many bastards who had helped murder my brother, and even if they weren't directly involved, they knew and stood by. Those bastards received relatively light sentences, as I mentioned earlier, like title demotion and exile from the capital. But if I handled it like that, they might try to build up strength in their territories and return to the capital someday, or they might add strength to the lines of those intending to stab me in the back in the future. Therefore, I am actively using the assassination group that the Carix of the original story loved to use—not the best in the kingdom, but the largest. Their deaths and screams are a funeral dirge dedicated to my brother, who died because his younger brother, who had intended to ignore the role tied to the original story, couldn't take care of him. I intend to finish it with proper care.

"Carix... you have changed a lot."

"I didn't know my brother would go like that. It wasn't to the point of collapsing like you and Mother, but it was too shocking. So, my brain, which I couldn't use, seems to be working late because of that shock. I am truly ashamed."

"...No. What fault could you have? It is my own inadequacy that I kept you and Deolis under tight control, yet I made a mess of the household affairs like this."

Considering he is a Duke who ranks 3rd or 4th in the kingdom in terms of status alone, I think that just admitting he is an inadequate person makes him an adult who ranks in the top 12 percent. And because he is that kind of father, I had no choice but to make a request, even knowing it was unfilial.

"Master. No. Father."

"...It has been a long time since you called me Father."

"There is something I would like to ask of you."

"I would like to say... anything, but you know that there is not much I can do for you."

"Even so, it is a task that only you can do."

Thinking that I am a fire-attribute filial son making a terrible request to a father who has lost his eldest son, been betrayed by his vassals, and must live on suffering from the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠aftereffects of poison he himself ingested, I opened my mouth.

"Please go down to the territory with Mother. I would like you to take charge of the head of the house's duties in the territory until I graduate from the Academy. And from now on, when I request help, please act without asking for the reason."

"...Why? If you inherit the family as it is, not only will you not have to go to the Academy, but you will be able to wield the authority of a Duke without having to make separate requests. Although there are duties of a noble, now that you have become an only son with Deolis dead, you can fulfill your noble duties in other ways. Above all, wasn't it you who predicted that the Academy's physician would be mixed into the concealment of Deolis's death?"

That is why. That is why I must go to the Academy. Verzen was a collaborator, but he wasn't the bastard who did the killing directly, and some of the Academy's leadership tried to conceal the fact that my brother died. I will find all those bastards and kill them. This will be the prelude to the funeral dirge I am dedicating to my brother with care.

"Father. Grudges should be settled as quickly as possible. Moreover, this is the timing where we are pushing them. Giving them time to calculate and reorganize their stance here is the worst move."

"Is it... because of a desire for revenge?"

"Yes. I will not say it is not. But it is not just for my brother. How ridiculous must they have thought the Valentia Duchy was to conceal the death of a Young Duke at the Academy?"

Honestly, I don't care about the prestige of the family. If they admit now that the Academy cooperated in the concealment and throw the criminals before us with their own hands, I am willing to stop here. But the criminals wouldn't do that, would they? So, I will make them experience the same thing, to the point where they will want to beg me to stop and commit suicide.

"Since they were the ones who made my brother spill his blood first, if I inherit the family without asking for that responsibility as the Young Duke who follows in my brother's footsteps, how will the world see the Duchy?"

"......"

I will not be a villain for the protagonist of the original story; I will become evil itself.

"Father. Please give me four years. I know you are worried because I have been an inadequate son until now, but..."

"Once, you."

When I was hiding such choices and petitioning him, he began to speak, cutting off my words with a heavy voice that seemed to have regained the dignity of a head of the house, not an ailing father.

"Seeing you open your mouth faster than others and being able to hold a conversation, I expected that your brain would be extraordinary and your talent would be very outstanding. I pushed you with such expectations."

It was a voice filled with many emotions. Expectation, anxiety, regret, and guilt and remorse. It was a voice filled with so much that I truly couldn't feel it all.

"Even when I heard the tutors say you had no talent, I didn't believe it. Because no matter how I thought about it, it seemed like you, young as you were, understood something and were moving. I felt fear at times, seeing you line up the block toys I bought for you to play with by size and hold them squarely, as if you were training."

Ah. The block toys. That was when I was about three years old. I couldn't lift anything like dumbbells, and I didn't have a grip trainer. I was just playing around while adjusting my body with toys. To think ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he had already seen that back then.

"There were also reports from knights that you sometimes climbed trees and played alone like a monkey."

Ah. Um. I was exercising alone when there was no one around, but the knights saw that? But come to think of it, they are knights who possess the fantasy element of mana. They could certainly have been monitoring me with much higher visual acuity, even if I couldn't see them. I had thought my parents would have given up on me, who had absolutely no talent, but it seems I had thought too shallowly.

"Even while hearing such reports, seeing you always showing only the appearance of having no talent, I also thought. Perhaps you... in order to protect your brother's position at that young age, are deliberately acting incompetent."

"Father. It's not like that..."

"No. Your actions and judgment were correct. Deolis did not have outstanding talent, but he was a steady child who possessed the character not lacking to become the head of the house and could work hard endlessly. If you had not hidden those talents and revealed them, covering the eyes of this inadequate father, I would certainly not have been able to love your brother Deolis this much."

Seeing my father, his face flushed, unable to even blink as he shed tears, I am bewildered. It's not that. I just wanted to escape from the role that was set for me. I had just intended to leave everything to my brother and stay still in the background. It is just... I feel sorry. That Father thinks so highly of my irresponsible actions. That because of that, I have ended up thinking of my brother so dearly. That he is ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠trying so hard to keep suppressing the pain of that loss. I just... think it is a pity.

"Your mother does not know. If I tell her you are going to the Academy, she might collapse even more."

"......"

"So, please make one promise to me."

"Yes."

"You must return alive. I won't go as far as to say you must absolutely not get hurt, but you must absolutely not follow the same path as your brother."

I don't know when Father's hand, which grabbed mine after placing it on the table, became this small. Come to think of it, I had made Father and Mother not expect anything from me, and I had also come not to expect anything from my parents. I thought that was natural. Because I thought what the two wanted was a talented son, not a psychopath who knew everything and avoided responsibility.

"Will you... make that promise?"

"Absolutely. I will finish my brother's revenge perfectly. And I will safely inherit the family."

"I will believe you. I will... believe you."

At the sight of the head of the house crying while saying he would believe me, I felt a clichéd sense of guilt once again.

'I will... act to the best of my ability.'

Even if I could understand the tears he shed while trusting and worrying about me through the memories of my previous life, the human named 'Carix' could not truly empathize with them after all.