The Terminally Ill Young Master is the Mad Dog of the Underworld - Chapter 27

Chapter 27: So You Were a Genius Too?

I received the guest in my office adjacent to my bedroom.

“Your Highness Allenvert, it’s been a while.”

The stern-faced maid gave a somewhat insufficient bow. She was none other than the maid serving the Second Lady.

“Oh, you came personally.”

I too, like the maid, crossed my legs somewhat arrogantly and rested both arms on the sofa – a posture typically seen among pretentious executives of third-rate organizations.

“Second Lady Emengarde Grunewald sends her consolation and regret regarding the matter with His Highness Barclava.”

“Consolation and regret, is it?”

I rolled these two words around in my mouth. What remarkably vague and ambiguous terms.

Apology, atonement, sorry… These are all words of the weak. The strong never apologize to the weak.

It would damage their dignity.

“Haha.”

And I’m not young enough to get angry at such absurdity.

If I were, I would have already gone to the head butler, throwing a fit about meeting my father who abandoned my mother and me, only to be dragged out and placed under house arrest.

“Since Second Mother feels regret, I too am troubled. However, I wonder how she raised her son that he dared to utter such horrific words.”

I’m a man who can act calm just as well as I can feign anger.

“Regarding that matter, both the Second Lady and the Second Young Master have severely reprimanded him. He’s currently under house arrest, reflecting on his actions.”

“I see.”

I pointed to the wooden box the maid had brought and asked.

“What’s that?”

“Second Lady has sent a modest gift as a gesture of consolation.”

“Ah, such things could even be excessive. How unfortunate.”

The maid neither smiled nor even furrowed her brow.

It seemed that in this household, learning to control one’s expressions was the first martial art that attendants to nobility had to master.

“Please, open it.”

At the maid’s urging, I opened the wooden box with the mindset of a thief picking a lock.

The lid was heavy. They must have used quality wood.

“Oh.”

As soon as I opened it, the sweet smell of honey and dense mana energy wafted out.

“This is an elixir.”

“It’s honey harvested from beehives found only in the deepest, most treacherous mountains. It not only increases the user’s mana but is also effective for energy recovery and detoxification.”

“Is that so? I’m relieved you didn’t give me some grotesque insects or hard-to-eat mushrooms as an elixir.”

I joked lightly.

“I’m relieved that you like it.”

“Indeed I do. Actually, I have quite the sweet tooth.”

“Ah, is that so?”

“Come to think of it, beautiful flowers would have been nice too.”

“Regarding flower-type elixirs, please understand that most need to be consumed at the place of harvest…”

“But tell me something.”

In the somewhat cordial atmosphere, I casually asked.

“By any chance, was this precious honey harvested from the mountains of the Mountain People?”

“…Yes, it was.”

I didn’t miss the maid’s momentary hesitation.

“Then this must be a tribute from the usurpers who assassinated my maternal grandfather and took his position. How precious a gift you’ve bestowed upon me.”

“!”

Finally, even the maid’s face showed signs of bewilderment.

“Y-Young Master, you’ve recovered your memories?”

Did they hear rumors about my memory loss and try to mock me? Or were they testing me? I responded with a slight smirk.

“Indeed, I recovered them. You can’t hide things by simply trying to conceal them, can you?”

“…”

“What a cunning person. Ah, how cruel. How could you give me this as compensation…?”

I reached for the wooden box and took out a small jar of honey.

“Don’t you think this is too much? Knowing about the insults to my mother and my sibling’s behavior, instead of an apology, you throw this gift at me like charity—”

My voice grew colder than when I had threatened Marco.

“…So it turns out this is nothing more than an object mocking my mother.”

My heart grew as cold as someone walking alone on a winter night in the biting wind.

“Young Master.”

By this point, even the normally stoic maid who had weathered many storms bowed her head, her face turning pale.

“That certainly wasn’t the intention.”

“Are you in a position to know all of your master’s intentions?”

“No, I am not.”

“Then you’re just saying whatever comes to mind to avoid taking responsibility?”

“Young Master.”

“The problem is…”

I pointed at the maid.

“Even those hasty words of yours are utterly pathetic.”

I carefully studied the eyes of the maid who had navigated the political battleground of the duchy’s palace, yet knew nothing of the true fear where real swords and blood reign.

“Am I supposed to dismiss all these coincidences as mere chance and believe that? While you may not be at fault, I’m finding myself quite angry.”

The maid lowered her gaze, unable to bear my stare.

“Do I look that easy to fool?”

“No, you don’t. I apologize.”

The maid seemed unable to grasp how quickly this brief conversation had turned so serious. But then again, these matters were likely beyond her ability to handle.

“…”

I sentenced the maid to a moment of silence that must have felt like an eternity.

“Tell the Second Lady…”

The maid’s shoulders trembled at my quiet words.

“That I graciously accept her gift.”

I spoke condescendingly with a face that showed no gratitude whatsoever.

“And report every word of this conversation without omission.”

“Understood.”

“You may rise.”

The maid’s legs trembled as she struggled to stand.

“If there’s nothing else you need to ask, I shall take my leave.”

“You may go.”

I quietly watched the maid’s unsteady figure as she closed the door and left.

“…”

Peter, who had been watching this conversation without even breathing, carefully approached.

“Y-Young Master.”

“What?”

I smirked at Peter’s dumbfounded face, unsure how to comfort me.

“You still have no talent for words.”

“I apologize.”

“It’s fine. Half of that anger was intentional anyway.”

“What? Really?”

Peter, who had been bewildered, exclaimed

“Ah!”

“Then that means half…”

“As I was speaking, I actually got pissed off.”

Such was human nature, and particularly the nature of nobles – once they see someone as beneath them, they don’t hesitate to mock them cruelly.

Of course, the scum of the underworld aren’t much better in terms of their despicable behavior. You could say one side is sinister while the other is vulgar.

And I just realized that I hate sinister behavior slightly more than vulgarity.

“Ah, suddenly I’m really fucking angry.”

I stood up from my seat.

“W-Where are you going?”

“I need to work up a sweat to cool my head. I’ll be back.”

“I’ll accompany you!”

Peter hurriedly followed behind me.

***

“Huff, huff!”

I pushed my body until I tasted blood in my mouth and worried my heart might burst.

“Hiyah!”

The glass of water I drank afterward tasted incredibly sweet.

“Ah, that feels damn refreshing.”

I instructed Peter, who had been watching worriedly.

“Take out that honey.”

“Yes.”

Peter took out the small honey jar.

“I’m going to meditate after eating this, so stand guard.”

“Understood.”

I consumed the elixir ignoring Peter who was putting on quite a serious expression. It was so thick I had to use my finger to scrape the bottom clean. Should have brought a spoon.

“Wow, it’s so sweet it’s making my head spin.”

I wondered what to call that dizzy feeling you get when eating something too sweet. I should ask that doctor Joseph if I see him again. I closed my eyes with that thought.

The essence went down my throat hot and thick, like drinking strong liquor instead of honey.

‘Focus now.’

I circulated my mana through the five organs using the Eternal Ocean Chain Technique, feeling the mana flow between them.

The turbid energy blocking my blood vessels was gradually being washed away by the pure energy of the elixir.

‘This is ridiculous.’

They’re bandits camping out to collect toll fees.

‘Get lost. This isn’t your time to interfere.’

After driving away the mysterious energies that tried to take root in my organs and block my meridians whenever I let my guard down, I calmed my mind.

The Eternal Ocean Chain Technique had the effect of calming both body and mind. This was characteristic of pure and fundamental cultivation methods.

‘Lady Emengarde Grunewald, the Second Lady, was it?’

With a calm and clear mind, I thought about her mockery sent to me this morning.

‘How vicious and sinister.’

How many times had such insults occurred? Probably too many to even record in the diary.

‘Allenvert.’

In the silent darkness, beneath the black sea of consciousness, I recalled the diary I found last night.

‘You hid it because you hated things like this.’

The diary began with entries about Allenvert’s childhood daily life.

The early contents were mostly bright and hopeful.

The boy felt gratitude and concern for the servants who dedicated themselves to him and was affectionate even toward maternal relatives he rarely saw.

He was also a kind child who could understand the hearts of siblings who disliked or envied him.

‘But that butler named Olivier. Could it be the same Olivier I know?’

An unexpected coincidence, but if so, there must have been reasons unknown to me why such a promising young man, the butler’s nephew no less, came to serve me.

‘…You hid it well. How clever.’

Allenvert often expressed both respect and fear toward his father, attachment and trust toward his mother in his diary.

However, after ‘that incident,’ Allenvert probably hadn’t looked at the diary for a long time.

In the latter half, written in a more mature but cramped and rushed handwriting that revealed his anxiety…

Allenvert’s despair filled every page.

‘Frustration with fate. Longing and resentment toward his mother. Love and hate toward his father.’

There were attempts to understand their intentions, and anger that remained despite those efforts.

It was full of backbiting about his siblings and vengeful thoughts toward enemies.

Concerns about maternal relatives he’d briefly met in childhood and who had now gone somewhere he could never meet them were scattered throughout.

…And then there was a final entry by the 16-year-old Allenvert, whose once-burning emotions had all been extinguished.

-Soon my life will fade into time like burnt ashes. I don’t think I’ll live past twenty. I only wish I could become a bird flying over the sea. But my soul rots quietly, trapped in this small cave.

In the midst of terrible emptiness, Allenvert also wrote.

-If someone reads this diary in the distant future, I hope this empty echo will be buried only in your heart. I don’t wish to be mocked even after becoming a ghost.

But Allenvert, your despair will not be wasted. Because I am here to walk the path you couldn’t take.

‘You will not die in vain. You don’t know what death is.’

The sensation of losing everything and ceasing to exist is terrible.

For 17 years I was asleep, but in truth, it was no different from being dead. Karzan’s life ended then, and Karzan’s body had disappeared then.

That’s why I had no intention of dying pathetically again after starting my second life.

‘And Allenvert, you poor boy.’

Are you still curled up somewhere in my heart even now? If so, keep watching. I’m merely an uninvited guest dwelling in your body.

But either way, I won’t do anything to harm you. No, rather, I intend to fulfill the things you dreamed of and wished for in your stead.

If a person’s life ends without ever having blazed even once, there could be nothing more futile.

Allenvert. Remember. Being alive is a good thing.’

I know because I’ve died. Nothing happens in nothingness. Only while alive can one experience both happiness and hatred.

How much time had passed?

Amidst countless thoughts, I suddenly noticed that the movement of my mana had changed.

‘Hm?’

To put it simply, I had somehow reached the 5-star level of the Eternal Ocean Chain Technique.

‘What is this?’

Inwardly cursing, I wondered when I had begun to sympathize with Allenvert.

‘So you were a genius too, weren’t you?’

Now I see it wasn’t just his elf-like face – his affinity with mana was also close to that of an elves.

‘Amazing. Absolutely insane.’

Indeed, the world was this unfair. How could someone like this exist?

———