A guest room. That"s where he was sent after the conversation he had with Helena. It had ended much more quickly than he thought, but the woman could not continue to maintain her calm and decided to put an end to it. She had also refused to give Hector her son"s room with a simple head movement when Lise asked her the question.After that, the young maid accompanied Hector to show him where the baths were and brought him a meal.
And since he had taken a bath with a sense of guilt and gone back to the room to eat, he had not been visited by Erwin or any of the maids. Since Helena and her last daughter had gone to see the family"s father in the hospital, the house had been plunged into a stony silence that made the atmosphere even more oppressive.
"It starts well…" whispered the reincarnated man as he stared at his empty plate.
[You"re the one who decided to be honest.] replied a hoa.r.s.e voice.
[As if it was my goal to hurt this woman… I couldn"t lie for the rest of my life in this world, I wasn"t reincarnated for that.] explained the young man as he got up from his chair before looking out his bedroom window. [I just want to be proud of the way I live so I don"t regret my choices in the future.]
[Yes, it was probably the best thing to do, but you didn"t do it the right way. Even if this woman is strong, she"s still a mother and a simple woman. You could be honest while being tactful… Instead of just saying that his son had suffered a lot.]
Hector opened the window in front of which he stood, then, he put half of his head outside to enjoy the cool late afternoon breeze. From there, one could observe the splendor of the city, most of the buildings had "pink" roofs because of their tiles which reminded him of a city he had heard about through a book in his world. Remembering this, he decided to rename the city of Elees as "Pink City".
[How do you think I can fix the problem? I have no idea how to appease a mother"s sorrow].
[I can help if you ever want to use magic to make it easier for you, however, there must be some semblance of feeling so that behind me I can amplify it, but knowing you, you will first want to try it in a more conventional way.] continued Balam whose voice tone had become calmer.
[Yes, at least tried. I"ve never really been good with people, I"m not particularly communicative or talkative, so people tended to just tell me mundane stuff, so I don"t promise anything.]
[I think you underestimate yourself.] said the demon. [And besides, I"m going to be able to help you since I have access to a lot of Krein"s memories. If we ever fail to solve this problem, it will be difficult to get help from the family for later, when we want to start building our empire.] the demon remained silent for a few moments, while he was probably watching for Hector"s reactions. [Solving this problem isn"t as complicated as you think it is, you just have to, as with any feeling, give time for forgiveness and acceptance to blossom in their hearts. The trick is to force gently this acceptance so that they will finally accept the inevitability more quickly.]
Hector and Balam discussed for another half hour the problems they had and perhaps would encounter while talking about their future empire. Balam was mostly evasive about the reasons that made him want to rule this world, while Hector had not yet thought enough about it and did not yet know enough about this world to know what he really wanted to do.
It was after almost an hour that someone knocked on the door before it opened, revealing Lise"s small silhouette. She looked like a shy and fragile girl, but her eyes showed a glow that proved it was the opposite; she walked into the room and looked for something with her eyes.
"Krei- I apologize, I"ve been too busy and I forgot your plate." said Lise with a fleeting look; she took the cutlery and walked towards the door with a quick step.
"Lise." Hector began with a serious tone. "When you look at me, who do you see?"
"W-What...?" she replied with incomprehension; then she looked down. "I see Krein… but… it"s just the outside, if inside you"re not him anymore, you"re not even half him. That your body remains the same as him… this only makes it even more disturbing…" she explained in a flickering voice.
"Okay…" replied Hector, realizing how cruel the girl could be in her words.
"So, you"re really not Krein? Is he really dead?"
"I"m sorry…"
Without being able to say anything else, the maid left Hector alone in the room as quickly as possible with tears running from her eyes. Anger and sadness inside her pupils.
Hector was lost. In his home world, he was not used to dealing with problems such as those he was facing at the moment; he was much more used to problems concerning survival and war.
In other words, this kind of thing was new to him; in just two days, he had moved from a chaotic and post-apocalyptic world to a world where he had to solve a family and sentimental problem.
However, he had decided to trust the demon who was accompanying him. The presence of the demon greatly helped him to remain sane. Hector did as Balam had advised him, he noted the various possible problems that the situation presented:
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— The Weiler family could disinherit him and decide to send him to live elsewhere.
— A family member may want revenge and could, therefore, attack Hector.
— Other families can learn the news in one way or another and decide to take advantage of it to put pressure on him and/or his family.
— The Town Hall might hear the new and the administration might decide not to accept him as a son of the Weiler family.
╚═════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Hector had a choice to take, however, this decision was not easy to take, the ease would have been to choose to be disinherited to unlock himself from the family"s grip as quickly as possible, but given the choices he had already made, he decided to choose the difficulty again. To be accepted. But as Balam explained to the young man, there was not only the family to seduce, but also the maids, Erwin, and perhaps even Gregory.
After dinner, which he spent alone in the room again under Helena"s command, he went to bed thinking that he would probably have to try to charm some people in the house to get his purpose, even if he wasn"t happy about it. He could try without using this method, but the percentage of success was very low. Because of this, it took until the Moon reached its zenith for Hector to finally fall asleep.
The next morning, everything went normally; he had breakfast, took time to take a bath, brushed his teeth and did nothing but wait in his room while reading a book, it was probably the only thing he had kept from the original host: his education, and as a result, he could read a language he didn"t even know.
It was after lunch that a maid came to get him; it was Amy, a young woman as tall as Hector, with blond hair and blue-gray eyes, a cold appearance and little speech. She was not wearing her maid"s clothes and was dressed in civilian clothing, a one-piece dress that highlighted her shapes. She entered the room, then walked towards him and pulled him by the arm.
"We"re going to the hospital, as planned. Erwin will take us there by cart." she said as she went down the stairs forcing Hector to go at the same speed as her.
"As planned?"
"Didn"t Lise warn you?" Amy took a pause and shrugged her shoulders. "At the same time, it"s not surprising."
"Why?" he asked, thinking he already knew the answer.
"She loved Krein, but she never had the courage to tell him."
"I see… but… in these cases, she can only blame herself. I"m not responsible for her lack of courage."
"It"s cruelly violent and true what you say." she replied with a barely visible smile. "However, in the eyes of those who loved Krein, you are the one who took his life, and that will not change. Just don"t say that in front of her or Mrs. Weiler, none of them deserve such harsh words."
They both went down to the ground floor and greeted Helena who was reading the newspaper of the day on one of the tables in the living room, she could not bring herself to look at Hector and kept her eyes fixed on the t.i.tle of the newspaper: "Vaine, devastated city. Jerico behind the attack?"
Amy and Hector went outside as the sky was threatening to rain. A little further down the road, Erwin was already waiting for them sitting in front of a two-horse-drawn cart. He greeted Hector with a nostalgic smile on his face and turned towards his horses, whose backs he stroked.
Hector got into the cart first and helped Amy, who was having trouble joining him because of her dress, she thanked him and sat on the benches in the vehicle. As soon as the horses began to advance, raindrops were heard on the tarpaulin that covered the wagon. Amy turned to Hector with a slight smile and an almost mocking look.
"That"s crazy, just the day you get out, it rain. You bring us the rain, that awesome!"
"Good irony, not bad, but you could have done better. Anyway, I see what kind of woman you are now." Hector replied in an amused tone.
"You already see me as a woman and not as a maid, I have nothing to complain about." she continued, shaking her hand from left to right.
"Could I ask you a question?" he asked as the rain and the sound of hooves began to cover the sounds of their discussions.
"Don"t ask me a question to ask me a question. Ask your question directly, I hate to beat around the bush."
"Well… well. Why are you acting so friendly with me? Since I arrived, you"re the only one who"s been talking to me without a fleeting or angry look. I"m not Krein…"
"Yes, I understand your point of view." she began, she had a sweet smile. "But I think I should explain to you who Krein was. This boy was only kind and caring to those he loved, to the rest of the people, he behaved like an a.s.shole and didn"t care if he hurt other peoples. His selfishness finally pushed him to the brink of death. I can"t blame you for giving him the final blow." she explained that her words had provoked a strong reaction in Erwin. "Yes, I know, Erwin, he was your childhood friend, but in the meantime, you don"t know how he put pressure on my family and Lise"s family, to force the two of us to become maids so that later on he could f.u.c.k us. The worst part about it"s that he made Lise fall in love with him and not just in a good way." she paused and watched the rainfall. "I am not happy about her death, but I am relieved that other women are no longer at risk of undergoing his manipulation and childishness for the sake of his ego and pleasure."
The young woman"s arguments were harsh and scathing, but it was no less true. Everything had become calm now and the only sound remaining was the sound of wind and rain. What Hector had just learned had surprised him, Balam had not spoken to him once of that, as if he was trying to hide these facts as if he was ashamed of them.
Erwin breathed as if he already knew everything Amy had said. He scratched his head and coughed before speaking.
"I know that Amy, but I can"t ignore what he did for me and Ca.s.sandre." he added with a nostalgic look. "If it hadn"t been there that day, my sister and I would have starved to death. He took us under his wing and did everything possible to get us to integrate the staff of his house. He did the same with many beggars and even if it was very likely that he did it for his own benefit, I can"t forget all these acts of kindness. All the donations he made so that my village could be rebuilt and the help he gave so that I could join the academy I cannot forget them either. You can"t spit on the existence of a person who was deeply loved, Amy. It"s not only a lack of respect for him, but it"s also a lack of respect for all the people who loved him."
After the two had given their opinion on the deceased, no more words were spoken by any of the members of the cart. It took about ten minutes to reach the hospital, the horses had to move slower because of the rain to prevent them from slipping on the cobblestones of the road. Once they arrived at their destination, they all got out of the vehicle. Erwin took the horses to a small stable to shelter them from the heavy rain and turned towards Amy and Hector.
"I"ll wait for you here, I"ll watch the horses, take your time, I"m in no hurry." he said, taking off his jacket, which was completely soaked.
"All right, we"ll take as much time as we can then!" Amy replied with a big smile as she rushed to the hospital entrance.
The hospital reminded Hector of the old hospices that existed in the medieval times of his world, but here everything was cleaner and tidier. And above all, the carers were not nuns, but real nurses.
Amy told him the way to go for his medical examination. Arriving at the destination, two nurses were waiting for him, they were surprised to see that the young man was so sharp despite the injuries he had suffered, but this was due to the mental resistance that Hector had acquired during his life.
They started to check him out, he had no signs of any side effects from Selena"s magic or any respiratory problems, but the wound looked slightly infected, but it was nothing serious, a week of herbal treatment would normally solve the problem. He had a few bruises left on his body and his shoulder, which had been dislocated from the beginning, finally took his place without the young man making the slightest grimace.
It"s after taking his measurements. All these measurements, that he finished the medical examination and left the room with red cheeks and the desire to be invisible while Balam laughed at him.
"You"re above average, isn"t that great?" teased the young woman with a large smile.
"Please, let"s stop talking about this right now, I"ve rarely been so uncomfortable. Really… They couldn"t let me do it alone?"
"Yes, they could, but I guess they didn"t want to, ahahah!" when she saw Hector"s reaction, her eyebrows lifted. "Women here don"t get to see a lot of men, you know, you can"t blame them for that, can you? Right?"
"My name is Amy and I like irony." he replied by rolling his eyes.
The young woman laughed again before asking a nurse to guide them to Davis" room. The place was a real labyrinth, corridors ran through the complex without Amy or Hector being able to remember where they came from. It was after a few minutes" walks that they arrived in front of Davis" room.
As Hector entered the room, he saw a man lying down with bandages on his face, on one arm and on his chest, while one of his legs was suspended in the air. When Davis saw the two guests arrive in his room, he smiled, before his two eyes settled on what was left of his son. He a.n.a.lyzed Hector quickly before closing his eyes and asked Amy to close the door. The atmosphere changed quickly, Hector did not feel uncomfortable, but he knew he was not welcome.
"Amy, has Helena managed to recover from the news?"
"No, I think it"s still too early, even for her it"s a big shock." explained the young woman as she put her hair back in place. "She loses her son, her city, her husband is seriously injured, her first daughter still hasn"t decided to talk to her again and some of her dreams have vanished, no one can recover from all this so quickly. Lise is very affected too, I"m afraid it will take a long time for them to accept the situation."
"Yes, it"s normal…" Davis muttered. "Hector, I vaguely know who you are, when my wife came to see me yesterday, she told me about you. Thank you for your honesty."
"Nice to meet you. I"m sorry about all this… I thought being honest was the best thing to do, I couldn"t lie about what I am."
"Really? So, what are you?"
The man"s question froze Hector. A simple question, however, but one that had no answer. He didn"t know what to say to Davis who was staring at him, seeing that his interlocutor was silent, the man spoke again.
"You don"t have to answer me." he said calmly. "It wasn"t a trick question, I just wanted to know if there was only one person in my life who could finally answer that question. But more importantly, your energy is very disturbing… you don"t seem to be a madman, so that means you"ve seen death many times… don"t you?"
"I think you can say that… from where I come from, it was killed or be killed." Hector replied as he walked towards Davis.
"I see." he replied as his eyes became a little sadder. "I can"t blame you… I was the one who failed in my son"s education and it was also I who had the opportunity to help him and couldn"t do it…"
"Sir, you saved hundreds of other people-" tried to intervene Amy.
"Yes, Amy, I can save hundreds of people, but I can"t save my own son." replied the man in an angry voice. "I"m sorry to be like this… We"ll talk again together in due course, Hector… when my wife and I are ready."
The young man didn"t think his honesty would destroy the Weiler family so much, he finally began to regret his choice soon after he got back in the cart. It was not so simple to deal with this kind of problem and he had made a big mistake about how he should act. But now he had to face his choices.
After returning home, he had a discussion with Helena that seemed to have a much more serious and calm face than before, but her red eyes showed that the choice she was about to make still hurt her.
She told him that Rose, her first daughter, had been made aware of what was happening and that she would travel here in some time to meet Hector and explain herself with him; as for her other son, Octave, he would soon return from an excursion that had been planned by the academy.
Then after a short moment of silence, she told him in a sad voice that she could not live with her son"s ghost for another day and gave him the address of a small residence in the middle of the town. A small residence that was once used by the Maids and still belongs to the Weiler.
He was going to have to live there the next day.