Fii POV
I am going to tell you about a white mouse.
There are many rooms in Zak’s mansion where I live.
Various halls, library, art gallery, entrance hall, dining room, sun room, countless guest rooms and so on…However, there are not as many people in the mansion compared to ordinary aristocratic mansions. Most things are done with Zak’s magic, so the number of servants is minimal.
Throughout such a mansion, I was told that I could spend my time in any place I wanted, so I explored everywhere. Still, I mostly spent my time in the library and the sunroom because that was where I felt most comfortable.
Then, I noticed that there was a white mouse that was often spying on me from the shadows.
Sometimes I catch it scurrying around inside the mansion out of the corner of my eye. I know that it is not just any mouse.
First of all, it’s not a living thing.
No rodent can enter this mansion. Not only rodents, but all living creatures can only enter with Zak’s permission. On the other hand, even monsters can pass through the barriers if they are “contracted” with us.
Besides, it doesn’t appear when Zak is here. It’s as if it is afraid of being found.
Today, the white one is still quietly watching me from the foot of the chair. He stands up with his hands on the leg of the chair and strokes his beard with his free hand. His size is surprisingly large. If I scoop it up, its torso would be enough to cover my palm. He’s plump and fluffy.
He has eyes that look like the fruit of a crispy red hawthorn.
His mouth twitches as if it were alive, and his body hair and beard are rippling, standing up and rubbing his face with both hands. It’s insanely cute. There may be a lot of attention in the detail and visuals.
After a while, he tries to leave the room at a hobbled pace, showing off his fluffy little butt.
I look back at him…What is it, do you want me to follow you? Intrigued, I stepped out into the corridor as it proceeded for a while, then turned around and pretended to check if I was following him.
The mansion’s maze-like expanse is vast and winding, and when I reached the back room on the top floor, it disappeared into the room as if blending in with the door…It’s like a horror story.
However, there was no sense of fear, and when I pulled the doorknob, it opened without any resistance.
It was dark even in the daytime because all the light-blocking curtains were pulled down, but as soon as I stepped inside, the chandelier lit up, illuminating the entire room. Many large and small portraits in large frames are hung on the entire wall of a large room, and not only that, portraits with no storage space are hung on the wall side.
There is no dust, but they all seem to be old paintings.
And the drawings depicted in the paintings were all Zak. There are many drawings from his childhood. I even feel an obsession with the various painters who must have tried to capture that rare beauty. Over the years, someone had many painters draw Zak.
It may have been hard to find a place to put them, but they have been left quite unattended.
Silver hair, pale violet eyes…
The next thing I knew, the white one was at my feet, standing up and looking at the painting, playing with his beard with both hands.
Somehow, he seemed to be a bit erratic.
Suddenly, I noticed the painting that the white one was looking at.
Strangely, there were two children in the picture.
A boy of about 12 years is with a Zak of about 3 years. White hair, red eyes…
It is a happy and beautiful picture, full of light, in which he is kneeling down and placing a flower crown on the young Zak.
The boy’s face was similar to Zak’s, although the color was different.
—Suddenly, like an illusion, the image changes. No, this is an illusion.
Zak, by the side of the bed, is holding the white hand of someone who is old and thin. His appearance is the same as it is now.
“The only regret I have is to leave you behind…”
“Brother, brother!”
“Please, I hope that you find someone you love and are loved by in return…”
***
When I came to, I found myself standing alone in that room and falling in love with it. There is no white one.
Was that a phantom of the past?
After that, I never saw the little white one again.
King Luciano, three generations before the current Elementia, was a royal with white hair and red eyes and very strong magical powers.
That is why he died prematurely at the young age of 51. His mother died the year after she gave birth to his younger brother, and his father was assassinated by the imperial army.
It is said that he cherished and loved his beautiful younger brother more than anything else. His younger brother who was said to be a throwback ancestor, and was thus far older than him.
However, he was ruthless towards his opponents, and it is well known that the family who helped assassinate his father were gathered in a room in the palace, where he wielded his magic powers to slaughter everyone.
He chose the daughter of the Count as his queen because she was his younger brother’s milk sister (***they had the same nanny).
His hobby was to invite painters to the court and have them paint his brother.
***
Luciano POV
My younger brother was born the same year I turned ten years old.
A short time after, my mother passed away.
She had been a frail woman to begin with, but she must have given birth to two children with strong magic powers, so her strength was exhausted. After giving birth to Frederick, she was in poor health and passed away.
“I love you, Luciano…please take care of that child.”
Those were my mother’s last words.
At that time, my father was suffering from the war with the East and the civil war amongst the nobles at home.
There was no time to grieve for my mother’s death.
My brother was a beautiful child, rarely ever seen, and even I, whose magic power was said to be strong enough to be the highest in the royal family, could not match his immeasurable strength.
My magic was strong, and as I grew up, my hair lost color and turned white, and I had red eyes as well.
However, my younger brother had such strong magical power, yet his eyes were the sweet color of light purple, and his hair was not like my gray hair which had lost its pigmentation, but shining silvery white hair.
With each passing year, he became more beautiful like a god. And yet, sadly, he didn’t seem to have many emotions within him.
But I couldn’t help but love my little brother, and I paid close attention to who I put around him.
I was so worried about him that I remembered that there was an ancient magical tool that would return everything to the one who harms the person wearing it, doing something magical or violent. And there was also supposed to be a ring that turned all poison to nothing.
When I put the ring on his adorable little white finger, it became a small ring as if it was made for him.
When I put on the choker, it also shrank to fit his body.
That finally gave me a little relief.
Those magic tools were designed to be removed only by the person who put it on.
When I turned fifteen, my father was assassinated. It was the “insect in the lion’s body”.
My Shion-kun, had just turned five years old.
I have the right to protect those I care about.
Even if I have to use a lot of magic and wear out my life, I would still protect that innocent child.
My beloved mother and father have passed away.
I won’t allow even god to take any more of my loved ones away from me.
Purge after purge with magical powers that my father could not use.
No one would have expected that the fifteen year old prince would still carry out blood purges.
Whether I spoke or not, I was able to expose what a person had done with the power of past observation.
Evidence or no evidence, it was easy for me to eliminate those I had decided to kill.
But I don’t care how much blood is spilled.
The only thing I’m worried about is that the smell of blood will be hated by my beloved brother.
“Don’t you hate it? Don’t you hate me?”
“No, I love you.”
I used to say this my precious one, “I find you precious,” and “you are very dear to me,” even though I didn’t know what that meant.
“Really…”
You say it’s nice to even see me covered in blood, making the world where you are a little easier to live in.
As much as I wish it weren’t true, I saw things that I shouldn’t have been able to see with the power of past vision.
Can I protect him?
I have to protect him.
I want to protect him.
However, the short years passed through with that thought…the thought remained…I was lost in my thoughts and couldn’t die even though I lost my body…
I was just a little white one who observed through the shadows.
But then that girl appeared…
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
T/N: [Alternate Title: That time my brother got reincarnated as a mouse.] In any case, that’s the end of volume 1! I am planning to proceed with volume 2 as well alongside some other novels, so please continue to enjoy!
|♡| Table of Contents |♡| Support me! |♡|
KizunaTLs 