Chapter 121: Trip To The Laurent Estate

The night passed, and the morning came as quickly as a breath.

I was woken by the sound of birds chirping outside my window. I stirred beneath my blankets and slowly sat upright, rubbing my tired eyes.

I felt exhausted. I had only managed to sleep properly around 4 AM, and when I looked at the clock on the wall, it was already 8 AM.

Only four hours of sleep.

Getting to sleep had been difficult. Every time I managed to drift off, I would wake up again in the middle of the night. It wasn’t until around 4 AM that I was finally able to sleep for more than two hours without waking up.

The memories had kept replaying in my head throughout the entire night, and they were still there even now. Fortunately, they were bearable at the moment.

What I needed to do was keep myself busy.

If I stayed occupied, maybe I could forget about them.

The room was still dark because of the curtains covering the windows and blocking the morning sunlight from entering.

I looked toward a certain spot in the darkness and frowned.

"Ezio, what are you doing?"

I didn’t get a reply at first, but eventually, Ezio spoke.

"Me? Nothing. I’m just hanging around."

The bastard was standing completely still in the darkness, staring at me like some kind of creep. Since I could see in the dark, I could clearly see the smile on his face.

I swear there was something wrong with this bastard.

"Were you staring at me while I slept?"

Ezio shrugged.

"Nah. I just got here."

"Lies."

Ezio smiled. "Anyway, get up and order the maids to bring breakfast. I’m starving."

I massaged the bridge of my nose.

"Why can’t you just Shadow Step into the kitchen and ask for food? You’re my guardian, so they won’t refuse to give you anything... unless I tell them not to."

"Nah... I ain’t doing all that. They’re your servants, so you do it yourself."

I had already had a terrible night, and this bastard was deliberately trying to piss me off. Out of nowhere, I felt the urge to strangle him.

I shook my head and pointed toward the curtains.

"Open the curtains for me."

Ezio walked toward the couch and lazily sat down.

"Don’t feel like it. You can no longer order me around."

Insufferable bastard.

I really should have abused the authority I had over him during our trip, but I had felt pity for him instead.

I sighed and manipulated the darkness in the room.

Two thin tentacles rose from the floor near the window and stretched toward the curtains before pulling them open from both sides. Sunlight immediately flooded into the room.

I got out of bed and walked toward the mirror.

My hair was loose, with the small braids falling over my shoulders. Aside from that, I could see that my purple eyes looked tired as hell.

Probably because I hadn’t gotten enough sleep.

But whatever.

I activated Shadow Step and teleported directly into the kitchen on the first floor.

The maids were busy talking among themselves as they prepared food while I simply stood there silently, listening to them.

"We saw the young master yesterday, and he seemed like he had grown even more," one of the maids said.

"Right? Even his aura feels different."

Hmm.

Shadow Step was really a convenient ability.

I didn’t announce my presence.

One of the maids eventually turned around. I expected her to jump when she saw me standing so close to her, but she didn’t even react.

The hell?

I frowned.

Was she ignoring me?

The maid began walking in my direction, apparently wanting to reach the other side of the kitchen. I thought she would stop once she realized I was standing in her way, but she continued walking forward as if there was nothing in front of her.

Then she bumped directly into me.

"Eek!"

The maid stumbled backward in fright while I barely moved.

"Ah—ah, young master! Pardon me! I didn’t see you there."

She quickly bowed.

"Good morning, young master!" the other maids greeted me as well, bowing their heads. They also looked surprised by my sudden appearance.

I stood there for a moment, confused, before greeting them back.

"Good morning, everyone. I would like you to prepare breakfast for two people and bring it to my room in an hour."

"As you wish, young master."

The maids bowed before returning to their duties.

However, just before the maid who had bumped into me could return to work, I stopped her.

"Wait. You... what’s your name?"

The maid turned around.

"My name is Jenifer, young master."

"Alright, Jenifer. Care to explain how you didn’t see me standing here?"

At my words, Jenifer’s face became pale.

Before she could even open her mouth, I raised my hand slightly.

"Don’t worry. I’m not angry at you for bumping into me. I just want to know how you didn’t see me."

Jenifer seemed to calm down.

"I’m sorry, young master, for bumping into you again. I thought we were alone in the kitchen and that there was no one else here. Then, when I turned around, I suddenly bumped into you, even though there was clearly no one in front of me."

I listened to her explanation, which almost made me frown, but I didn’t let it show on my face.

She didn’t see me?

How was that possible?

From what I remembered, I didn’t have any invisibility powers, nor had I tried to hide my presence.

I touched my chin.

Strange.

Very strange.

"Alright. Thank you, Jenifer."

The maid bowed and returned to work.

I sank into the shadows and appeared inside my room.

Ezio was still lazily sitting on the couch.

"A strange thing happened just now, Ezio."

"What?"

I opened my closet and took out the clothes I would wear for the day: black pants, a beige shirt, and black shoes.

"My maid bumped into me even though I was standing right in front of her. It was like she couldn’t see me."

Ezio remained silent for a moment before speaking.

"I mean, most of them are unawakened, so it would make sense if they couldn’t notice your presence."

I closed the closet.

"Sure, she wouldn’t be able to notice my presence, but not being able to see me is a completely different matter. She literally walked in my direction as if there was no one standing in front of her. Only after bumping into me did she see me. Isn’t that strange?"

Honestly, I was starting to think the maid had simply been messing with me, but her reaction had seemed too genuine.

"Maybe it has something to do with your power or maybe..." Ezio shrugged. "I don’t know. You’ll figure it out."

He waved his hand before closing his eyes.

"Yeah, right."

I entered the bathroom to take a shower.

A few minutes later, I came out already dressed and smelling good. I tucked my shirt into my pants and stood in front of the mirror as I tied my hair into a ponytail.

Not long after that, the food arrived, and Ezio and I ate together.

Ezio complained that I had only ordered a small amount of food, but I simply ignored him.

It was my way of getting back at him for refusing to open the curtains for me.

I’m that petty.

So what?

You can sue me if you want.

After letting the food digest for a while, I began training. I tested my abilities and experimented with different ways of using them, trying to see if I could create any new techniques.

I could now create more than ten objects at once and maintain them without allowing them to break apart. That meant I could create multiple weapons for myself, and since my mana reserves had doubled, I could maintain them for much longer.

Another thing that had changed after my Story reached the Ascendant rank was the intensity of my darkness.

Its power had increased significantly, meaning that whenever I put just a little too much energy into a katana that couldn’t handle it, the weapon would immediately break apart.

That made sense.

The higher the rank of a Story, the stronger its powers became.

Which meant I had even more reason to obtain that weapon at all costs.

As for techniques, unfortunately, I hadn’t been able to create anything new. Everything I tried either failed or simply didn’t work the way I wanted it to.

That meant techniques were probably more complicated than I had initially assumed, and I would have to figure out exactly what conditions were required to create them.

That would take time.

So, instead, I sparred with Ezio to sharpen my swordsmanship even further.

I couldn’t lie.

I had become quite terrifying with a sword.

After everything I had experienced and all the fighting I had done, my swordsmanship had improved tremendously. I was confident that I wouldn’t struggle too much against the other kids.

Days passed, and eventually, it was time to travel to the Laurent estate.

The journey would take two days by carriage, meaning I would arrive in the afternoon of the second day.

I left the mansion in the care of my servants and climbed into a luxurious black carriage bearing the Laurent family insignia on both sides.

As the carriage began moving, I looked ahead.

It was time to face my new siblings and parents.

And honestly...

I really didn’t like the thought of the latter.