* * *
‘Raizen… is participating in the manifestation ceremony?’
Only then did the detail that I hadn’t connected before resurface—distracted as I was by the explanation of Omegas and Alphas.
The manifestation typically occurs three to four months after one’s fourteenth birthday.
Raizen had turned fourteen at the end of last year.
That means…
‘Raizen is about to manifest.’
Before I had the chance to build up any mental barriers, a flood of emotions surged through me.
It was a tangled mess of feelings, too many to even begin sorting out, yet the sensations they carried were so vivid that they left a heavy knot in my stomach.
“Young Master?”
“Huh? Oh, yes…!”
I lightly tapped my cheek with the back of my hand, trying to pull myself together.
My skin felt slightly warm to the touch.
“I… I hadn’t even thought about it. February is just next month…”
“You’ll likely receive word about it soon. And you’ll probably be accompanying him as well.”
“Me too?”
“They wouldn’t leave you behind at the ducal estate, would they? Besides, I’d object to that as well.”
‘Not that I particularly mind staying behind on my own.’
Still, I was somewhat curious to see Raizen’s manifestation ceremony.
Not to mention, the Crown Prince and Karon Luavis—the one Kim Minsoo will transmigrate as in the future—would be there too.
‘Feels like the eye of a storm.’
With all the main characters and key figures of the novel gathering in one place, it was no wonder I felt that way.
Even setting the novel aside, it was a significant event in its own right.
After all, both dukedoms of the empire would have their heirs in attendance, alongside the Crown Prince.
‘The crowd is going to be insane.’
“Professor, is anyone allowed to watch a manifestation ceremony?”
“Typically, only the manifesting individual and their direct blood relatives are permitted entry into the outdoor hall where the ceremony takes place. If a family attends as a group, the head of the household or an elder may join as a guardian. However, since the venue is open-air, it’s impossible to fully control the number of spectators.”
“Oh… then won’t it get quite chaotic?”
“It does get rather crowded. The Shailot Festival also begins four days before the ceremony. But the manifestation ceremony is a grand celebration for the entire empire. Wouldn’t it be better to enjoy it together?”
There were certainly risks involved, but it sounded like too significant an event to simply pass up.
Arthur Sothes also seemed to subtly encourage me to come along.
‘This… is unexpected.’
He knows that Sean is the missing heir of the Marquisate of Kreveta.
If it were Arthur Sothes, I would have expected him to say that hiding Sean’s presence was the wiser course of action.
‘Was I too biased against him?’
Just as I was about to reflect on that, Arthur Sothes spoke again.
“By the way, you remember who Shailot is, correct?”
‘Wait…’
Even now, he was quizzing me on lesson material.
“Yes. He was a saint who appeared in the founding myth, right?”
“That’s correct. You remembered well.”
Arthur Sothes’ gaze softened.
His eyes, usually sharp and ever-watchful, now held a calm expression—something I had never seen from him before.
“In hindsight, perhaps it started back then.”
“Excuse me?”
“The time when I tried to secretly test your divine power. I sincerely apologize for that.”
Arthur Sothes bowed deeply.
The sudden and formal apology left me flustered.
So that’s why he asked if I remembered Shailot?
“It’s… it’s fine! Really!”
I raised my voice to reassure him, but he remained in his bowed position.
‘This is really awkward.’
The people here were truly strange.
Despite not sharing a drop of blood, the Duke and Duchess treated me with sincere care simply because I was their friend’s child.
The professor, though strict and cold, properly apologized for his mistakes.
The servants looked after me as if I were truly one of their own.
‘People are supposed to be selfish, to put themselves first, to protect their own interests.’
The way they treated me completely contradicted everything I had learned from my past life before possessing this body.
And honestly, I hated it.
I kept pushing them away, afraid that if I accepted their warmth and happiness, I’d lose it all—just like before.
But that wasn’t the only reason.
‘Because it felt like my entire past was being denied.’
Not Sean, but me—the real me.
My past wasn’t particularly happy, but I had done my best to endure.
I had compromised, struggled, and made sacrifices to survive.
Yet, here, things I had once thought impossible were simply handed to me as if they were nothing.
It was frustrating.
‘I don’t care anymore.’
I may have taken over Sean’s body, but the one who built these relationships in the ducal estate was me.
And that… was real.
I looked up at Arthur Sothes and spoke.
“I accept your apology, Professor. But honestly, I was curious too. The books said divine power purifies everything in its vicinity and that saints are highly sensitive to dark energy… but I never experienced that myself.”
Now that I thought about it, when I realized he had secretly brought dark energy near me to test my divine power, I had been pretty terrified.
Raizen had sensed it, but I hadn’t.
“That’s…”
Arthur Sothes straightened and hesitated before continuing.
“I believe it’s a matter of perception.”
‘Young Master Shane’s divine power seems to require clear recognition of a target for it to take effect.’
He had said something similar while testing my power.
Indeed, when I consciously thought about purifying the dark energy inside the glass orb, my power activated.
“So if I think, ‘I want to know if there’s dark energy here,’ it should work?”
“Precisely. There are no existing records on such a case, but given the circumstances, it’s a reasonable hypothesis.”
Was it just my imagination, or did his eyes just sparkle?
“Ahem, I may have gotten a little excited.”
“Oh, no, it’s fine.”
“By the way, speaking of which, regarding divine power—just as before, you should continue working with Young Master Raizen. If you have any questions, discuss them with me.”
That was unexpected.
I had assumed Arthur Sothes would personally oversee my training in divine power, yet he said nothing about that.
“More than anything, Young Master Raizen’s matter is the priority. And it wouldn’t be right for you to push yourself too hard either.”
“…I see.”
Still a bit dazed, I nodded.
Arthur Sothes gave me a small smile before adding that Raizen was already aware and had requested to tell me himself.
‘So he apologized first to set up this conversation.’
For some reason, my chest felt warm and oddly ticklish.
“Thank you, Professor…”
I had a feeling that if I didn’t say it now, I’d regret it later.
∗ ∗ ∗
It hadn’t been long since Raizen realized that sleep was supposed to be restful.
Until recently, every night had been plagued with nightmares, making falling asleep feel like willingly stepping into the jaws of death.
But lately, a strange dream had begun to fill his nights.
‘Here again.’
Staring at the unfamiliar space that stretched before him, Raizen thought to himself.
‘This makes three times now.’
This strange dream…
At first, he thought it was the beginning of a new nightmare.
But it didn’t take long for him to realize that this dream was something entirely different.
For one, the feelings it evoked weren’t the same as discomfort or fear.
It wasn’t quite an emotion yet—more like a sensation.
It was as if warm water was trickling gently through his heart, or like tiny beads bouncing lightly, one by one.
Whatever it was, he was certain that this dream was connected to the lingering, poignant feeling he had been waking up with for some time now.
Raizen slowly shifted his gaze, taking in his surroundings. T
his was the third time, yet the only way to describe this place was unfamiliar.
At a glance, it seemed like a place where people lived—after all, he could hear the voices of children playing nearby.
The sound was close, yet there was no one here.
Gray walls surrounded him, with no doors in sight, and no ceiling overhead.
‘A space not easily noticed…’
It was a little too small to be called an open lot.
It felt more like the very end of a dead-end alley.
But everything around him—the walls, the surroundings—was completely foreign to him.
Which, in hindsight, made sense.
The walls in his line of sight were made of cement.
Raizen wanted to uncover the truth about this place, but aside from moving his gaze around, there was nothing he could do.
There was one peculiar thing about this dream—it was as if he himself didn’t exist within this strange space.
He felt like he was trapped, unable to move, forced to peer inside a box from the outside.
Then, he heard footsteps approaching.
‘Someone’s coming.’
The sound grew closer, and soon, a boy entered his field of vision.
Judging by his physique, he seemed two or three years older than Raizen.
He wore a short-sleeved collared shirt and black cotton pants, looking for all the world like someone who had stepped outside in his pajamas.
[Still not here…]
A quiet murmur escaped the boy’s lips, and Raizen instinctively frowned.
For some reason, that voice unsettled him.
It was both unfamiliar and eerily familiar, yet he couldn’t place it.
That alone might have been frustrating enough, but his discomfort felt deeper—more instinctive.
‘Who the hell are you?’
Three times now.
The same place.
The same boy, waiting for someone.
His face was obscured, as if someone had deliberately scribbled over it in black ink.
* * *
