Vol Chapter 1

Akuyaku Reijo Ni Koi Wo s.h.i.+te

Chapter 01 :Suddenly committing murder is too heavy!

When I woke up, in front of my eyes was a numerous stars flickering in the night sky.

It was my first time seeing a night sky this beautiful ever since I was born– that impression vanished in just a moment.

A heavy stench that I had no idea where is the source  was drifting afloat on my surroundings.

Though I was able to move away by bearing with it, what stroke me next was a pain that ran through my whole body. I groaned in pain while tumbling on the ground but doing so, the pain has just increasingly worsened.

Gritting my teeth, I put up with the pain.

Though it didn’t completely diminished, the pain has calmed a little bit. Regaining my composure and checking the state of my body, it seems the pain didn’t come from wounds but rather from something like bruises.

How did things ended up this way–?

Though being drunk and picking up fights has come to mind, I have no memory of drinking any sake at all. The only thing I clearly remember was going straight home and riding the bus from the nearest station. And–

「Oi. Until when do you plan to ignore me?」

Suddenly hearing that voice, my line of thought was cut off.

Thinking about who it was and inclining my head towards where the voice came from, in that moment I forgot about the pain.

Blonde hair and green eyes, the voice came from a Caucasian boy with a face slightly dyed red. Though it may sound like the person was a bishounen*, the boy was plump or rather have gained enough weight to become a chubby. As he was staring towards me with a cheeky expression, the word “cute” never came to my mind in the slightest.

(TN: pretty boy)

Not just that, his outfit was a s.h.i.+rt with a lot of frills and a red neck tie. Above the white tights he was wearing was a navy blue pants, dressing just like the idiotic n.o.bles that comes straight from comics.

「You are?」

「You?* What’s with that “You*”? How insolent!」

(*TN: Omae = Rude way of saying “You”)

Even his reb.u.t.tal was as expected. My mind was all the more turned into mayhem.

「Well fine, I finally met someone who listens. Let’s ignore the magnanimity.」

The boy whom I’d normally never a.s.sociate myself with said those uncomprehending words, but just as he said he is the only person I can talk to. I cannot afford to drive him away.

「Where is this place?」

With the boy’s question, the thought “that’s what I wanted to know” comes to mind but–

「The outskirts of the slum area.」

What came out of my mouth was a totally different phrase.

「Slums.. No good!*」

(*read: s.h.i.+matta!)

The face of the boy instantly turned pale, albeit it’s a bit dim, I understood as such. This response was just like when someone is lost, however what concerned me the most was where was this slum area.

The answer to that was — the northern outskirts of the capital of Grand Fram Kingdom.

Though I have never heard of such country, for some reason the name suddenly floated in my mind.

Something is strange. My face that had the color of seemingly running out of blood was just the same as the boy.

「Hey, you. I want to go to the main streets. Can you guide me?」

「I can but.. I can’t.」

This time the words that floated in my mind was what my mouth uttered.

I have the knowledge of things that I don’t really know. Though these words have also struck my mind, I don’t even know its meaning.

「What do you mean by you can but can’t!?  If it’s a reward, I can give you!」

With the way the boy was talking as if in a hurry, my train of thought was suspended. For starters, I must find a way to deal with this situation.

「… I’m injured so I can’t move.」

「Injured? I see. Wait a bit.」

Though I thought he will call for help, that expectation was betrayed as the boy started to move from his position. With a serious expression he began to utter words.

「I shall bestow you my healing magic.」

Listening carefully, those were the words that I heard.

「Curing wind, Heal!」

A little bit later after the words of the boy, my whole body was suddenly caressed by the wind.

Just a little bit of wind. Though it’s only a small amount, it’s indeed the wind. Understanding the meaning behind the actions of the boy, I was astonished.

「How is it?」

The boy asked in high spirits. If it’s about whether the injury healed, then there’s no mistake.

I tried to move my body softly.

「Kuh..」

My voice unintentionally leaked out. Though my mind had become calmer, the injury did not dissipate.

「I’m still just a child. When I grow up I will be able to do better.」

He must’ve figured it out from my response. The boy made excuses however there is no mistake, the boy tried to heal my injury with magic.

「The pain has lightened. If it’s just walking then I can do it.」

「I-Is that so? Then guide me.」

Rather than for the boy’s sake, I also wanted to hurry up and get out of this obviously dangerous place, so when I can finally move my body albeit still riddled with pain, I’ll get out of here.

Though it’s indeed painful, it’s not as if I can’t move with it.

More or less, I understood the effect of the magic that the boy used.

「..This way.」

Again, my mind was filled with information of this place on its own albeit I don’t know why, for now I’m grateful for it.

Given that the information was indeed correct, I still can’t help but doubt it.

Anyway, after being able to go to a safer place, I have to ascertain my situation either from the boy or someone more understanding.

That’s right. This place is dangerous both to me and the boy.

With the fear within me spontaneously breaking out, my walking pace became faster.

However those footsteps had to be stopped for some reason.

「You. So you are still alive?」

Said the man who appeared in front of me.

I know this man. My injuries were brought by this man’s violence and not just that, this man have done even worse things to me up till now.

He has also done things that you normally can’t tell other people. No matter how I hate him, an existence where just hating is not enough, that’s just who this person is to me.

「Well, that doesn’t matter. For now, it’s about the brat behind you.」

Sure enough, his curiosity was turned towards the boy behind me.

A boy who obviously came from a rich family from the way he was dressed. For the people who live in this place, a perfectly suitable prey. Even I to a certain extent after sending him off, has thought to take his valuables– No, that’s not me but that’s what was occupying my mind.

「You’ll have to hand this brat over. This prey would just be a waste on you.」

If it’s me, I will just take his belongings at most. However, when it comes this man, he will threaten his home in order to obtain a ransom. Indeed, it would be a waste on me. Why did such thought even entered me, I don’t understand it myself.

「Insolents! Just who do you think am I?」

「h.e.l.l if I know! In this place, as long as you have lots of cash, it doesn’t matter who you are!」

「I am Vincent Widville! I’m a person belonging to Winhir n.o.ble household!」

「What!?」

As long as they’re rich, it doesn’t matter who; though that man said so, it must also had limits.

Winhir household to me or to be exact to the person within me, were a famous aristocratic family that everyone knows. It was one of the famous three aristocratic families that supports this country and those who dare to scowl at the three families has no place in this country.

Though thinking as such would be normal, this man on the other hand was different. With a broad grin in his face, he walked towards the boy. Though I already knew as such, this man is just hopelessly stupid– as for this thought within me, I am in complete agreement.

「If it’s for the lord’s kid, no matter what kind of demand won’t be a problem. I can mess around for all my life.」

「D-Don’t think of doing something stupid!」

「I’m not stupid!」

No matter how you think about it, he IS stupid isn’t he? The stupidity of this man doesn’t matter. The problem is securing my safety. How do the surrounding people see this situation?

They would probably believe that I fooled a kid to deliver it to this man.

Supposing that was the case, I can see the ending of my life. Though it’s a life of anything goes, dying without doing even a single good thing gets on my nerves– no that’s not it.  I don’t want to die like this.

That thought reverberated within my whole body. As for who I currently really am, somehow it doesn’t matter anymore.

「If you behave properly, you won’t experience any pain. As long as they pay the price, you can reunite with your family safe and sound.」

「Is that true?」

It seems as though the boy is also an idiot. Now that you saw the face of the kidnappers, there’s no way that you’ll make it out alive.

Also, if the boy ever comes back to his family, the aristocratic house will use its full strength to deliver retribution. There’s no mistake, if you get caught, you’ll be killed. I can’t think of escaping and even if I manage to escape, I don’t have the funds to fully escape this situation.

There’s no other choice. I have to resolve myself.

「That’s right so, obediently come here.」

「… as I thought, I refuse. Take me to my house immediately and if you do that I will bestow you a sufficient reward.」

「That’s why I said that as long as I get the money, I will send you home right?」

「A-After all..」

This man firstly, planned to finish it with a gentle face so that the boy’s eagerness will be soothed. He didn’t seem conscious of this way at all.

Should I do it? No, I have to do it!

There is another person that stays in my mind and as his consciousness broke through, my body began to move accordingly.

Slowly without being noticed, I sneaked and approached the back of that man. I took out the knife that I was hiding. This was the only weapon I manage to gather in times like this,

the other ones were taken by this man several hours ago.

This time, I definitely must not fail.

The man seized both hands of the boy. Thanks to him squatting, the back of his head was fully exposed right before my eyes. I raised my hand over to strike the nape of that man with my knife.

But the boy whom turned his sight towards me was really an idiot.

Because of the gaze of the boy, the man turned his sight behind and has noticed me.

「You b.a.s.t.a.r.d! What are you trying to do!?」

「uwaaa~!」

While I shouted due to the fear within me breaking out, my hand swung downwards towards the face of the man.

「Gu..guah!」

What remained on my hand was an unpleasant sensation but I have no time to ponder on such thoughts.

Pulling out the knife that struck that man’s mouth, I immediately swung it downwards again.

The knife has struck towards the right eye of the man.

Not yet, I knew because the man was still shrieking.

「Dieeeeeeeeeeee!」

I stroke the knife on his face continuously.

No words came out of the man’s mouth any longer and he slowly fell upfront.

「Haa.. Haa.. Ha..」

My breathing is painful, my heart is thumping so hard that it almost brings pain to my chest.

「Y-You..」

「…Run away.」

「R-Run away you say..」

「Follow me, let’s hurry up and escape!」

「R-right!」

I eagerly ran towards the path that takes to the main street. Though I wanted to throw away the bloodstained knife in my hands, because my hand has stiffened I couldn’t let go of the knife. No matter how I shook my hand, I couldn’t let go of the knife.

「O-oi, wait! Slowdown a little bit.」

The boy shouted behind my back. Because I can’t leave him alone, I loosen down my pace as told by him.

For me the boy was an important source of money. After demanding a reward, I must obtain a sufficient money somehow.

It’s a fund that I must obtain to get away from the capital.

「Did he die?」

「I don’t know.」

「You’ve killed someone huh?」

「If I didn’t do so, I will be the one killed.」

「Is that so.」

And so, the boy once again turned silent. Though I don’t really want to kill a person, it’s better to do so than being killed.

I killed a person. Because of the words of the boy, that thought finally weighed down on me.

Suddenly, my hands began to tremble. The knife that I couldn’t let go before, this time easily slipped out of my hand. The shaking has spread towards my whole body resulting in my foot halting.

「Oi! What’s the matter?」

I can’t even make myself to answer the boy’s question anymore.

「Oi? Are you alright? We have to hurry and escape.」

I know that much. I killed that man but he have comrades. If I don’t get out of the slum area, next time I would be the one killed.

However, no matter what, I can’t move. It’s not as if my body can’t really move. It’s because my consciousness began turning hazy to the point I can’t even hear the voice of the boy anymore.

「….! Hur….! Where….!?」

I can’t even understand him anymore and neither have the strength to think about it.

And so my consciousness was slowly swallowed by darkness.

When I woke up, in front of me was a wood grain ceiling.  It seems for some reason, I was sleeping on a bed.

It was a dream — is what I thought but, I noticed that the ceiling in front of me was not something that’s familiar to me.

I rose my body in panic and glanced around, the surroundings of the bed had a retro feeling in it, with profound furniture in place, a seemingly western-styled room.

Inclining my head towards my right, I noticed another person residing in this room.

Upon noticing, simultaneously I awfully began to feel down.

That person began to approach the bed.

「It seems you have woken up. I will report it in so I will move out for a bit. Please wait for me right here.」

Brown hair and blue eyes. No matter how you look at her, she’s not j.a.panese. In addition, she was also wearing a maid uniform and had a calming voice.

She left the room as is.

It seems I am still in a dream. If I’m already awake then this is–

Being able to calm myself, I have decided to think of it.

What is this world?– I couldn’t come up with an answer regarding this question.

What is this country called? — Granfram Kingdom, was the certain answer that floated in my mind.

Just who am I — Moriya Ryou was the name that floated in my mind. That’s obvious.

However, inside me, there was another person. There’s no mistake about it.

What should I do from now on. Does that person within me knows?

Where was I born? — The answer is Tokyo.

It just won’t go well at all, As long as I am still “myself” is it not possible to ask for answers? About the other me before I lost consciousness, did the information floating on my head at that time came from him?

Thinking about it, what I’m currently pondering into is useless thought. For now, I must attempt to do everything on my own.

*Where is this house located in this city– What entered into my mind was not an address but a place where there was a worn out person and some obstacles. That place would probably be where I was sleeping. For the time being, there are lots of things in the ground of this place.

(*TN: It’s quite hard to make sense of this : “この街での家はどこだ――頭に浮かんだのは住所ではなく、ボロ家という事さえも差しさわりのある、板を組んだだけのもの。その空間が自分の寝床なのだろう。一応は地面の上に色々な物が敷いてある”)

My way of inquiring my other self was successful.

I tried asking about my parents so to speak in this world. As I thought, there’s no parents. If you also question the other me, the answer would be the same. I have no parents.

Who was the man I killed— The name Dan surfaces in my mind. It’s a man whom I know by the name. Also, that Dan was someone whom I hated a lot. It’s a man that I didn’t know but was hated by the other me.

Why is that– Upon asking my head that, I immediately regretted that decision. A lot of memories began to flood my head. Him throwing abusive language at me was the norm, receiving violence from him was also frequent. It’s not just that. That man called Dan, has also s.e.xually a.s.saulted me before. The me who was also a boy.

That moment, as the feeling of humiliation surfaced on my mind, I began to nurture a wrath against him.

That’s right. It’s me, myself.

Around this time, I began to realize that my body was also small. Though the long hair that stretched was the same color, the skin of my body was seemingly more whitish than usual.

It’s likely that rather than I have turned into a child, I have broken into the body of the other me. Was it possession or reincarnation, I don’t know but for the time being that’s just how it is.

I’m in a different world than the world that I was born into. As for the me on that other world.. Most likely he had already died.

I’ll try pulling the memories before when I was riding a bus. What I can only remember was, riding the bus from the station and entering a bypa.s.sing road and the inside of the bus turning strangely bright. It’s not the light that you will experience upon reincarnating. I can clearly recognize that the strange light that brighten the inside of the bus was coming from something else.

Even if I try to remember what happened next, I can’t recall anything.

Trying to make sense of it from there, maybe I immediately died from a collision accident. I shouldn’t have sat on that seat. Because I’m young, I should’ve continued standing and maybe by doing that I wouldn’t have died.

Thinking about such things for now would be moot.

For now I will think of things that I must ponder my thoughts into.

The other me was suggesting that I should leave the capital immediately. It was due to fear of receiving the revenge of that man’s comrades.

As for this, I am in full agreement. Even I don’t want to die at all.

However the problem is, the current me is an orphan and I have no one to rely into. I only managed to keep on living by eating the food sc.r.a.ps of the slums. In order to escape, I need money and ability among other things.

That’s not it, there’s something I need to think of before that.

Where is this place?

Have I escaped?

Is it possible that I have already been caught by the man whom should never catch me?

I immediately got up my bed and glanced towards the window. I can see a blue sky spreading outside the window. Below me was a beautiful garden and I’m also in the third floor. It would be impossible to escape from the window.

Moving towards the exit door, a sound coming from someone entered my ears. As if in the right timing, I suddenly heard a woman’s voice.

「Ariel-sama! You must not go! You must not approach that room!」

I don’t have to listen carefully because it clearly entered my ears. Knowing the meaning behind those words, I immediately came to my bed in a hurry.

Just as I returned to my bed, the door roughly opened at the same time. Slowly turning my head towards the door, what was there was the same blonde and green eyes of the boy on the slum area, except this time it’s a girl.

The girl was not chubby at all, she also had an almond shaped eyes that gives an impression. Overall, she had a lovely face.

That girl who approached me with a cheeky glare began to gaze at my direction.

The words that came from the girl as she opened her mouth was.

「Fuun~ I see, so you are the pet that my older brother brought with him.」

It’s the most impolite word.

I take back all my previous remarks. She’s not cute at all, she’s just an impudent young girl, is what I thought but my curiosity was inclined towards a word that the girl said.

「Older brother has brought with him?」

「That’s right. The filthy boy that “that” older brother of mine have brought with him.」

Though filthy was a bit excessive, I’m not in the position to voice out complaints.

「By “brought” you meant?」

「You who fell unconscious on that slum, was brought up by “that” older brother of mine on his back and was saved by him.」

「He.. on his back.」

Though I’m concerned as to why she press the word “that” every time, the fact that the boy carried me here was certain.

「That’s right.」

「Which means, this house is?」

「Oh my, haven’t you heard me? This place is the mansion of Winhirr Marquis.」

For some reason, while puffing her chest, the girl declared as such. Thinking that it was strangely cute, I couldn’t help but smile.

Being brought to that boy’s house, perhaps I could rest with ease now.

「What are you smiling at?」

The girl asked me whom had smile floating in his face.

「I’m thinking that I’m saved.」

「…..」

The girl whom I answered to, began to look at me in displeasure.

「Is there something wrong?」

「You way of speaking. How impertinent for something like a pet.」

「Saying pet..」

「I am a person of n.o.bility you know? Your way of speaking does not fit your company!」

「That… I apologize for being rude.」

This is my carelessness. This girl is a n.o.ble and I’m a commoner, and it’s likely that I belong to the lowest cla.s.s as person who lived on the slums.

For this world to have a different cla.s.s system to my former world, it must be a rough world.

「Oh my, it seems you can properly speak.」

「Just merely a bit.」

「Well, as long as you are properly disciplined around those parts, then it’s good.」

Discipline.

For this girls it seems I am just a pet to the very end.

「But before that, your attire. You hair was unkempt, in addition somehow… you smell.」

「Do I smell bad?」

「You do.  It’s a very unpleasant smell.」

「I apologize.」

To be blunt, as expected those hurts my feelings but as for the girl, it seems she doesn’t seem to mind my feelings in the slightest.

「Rizu」

「Yes!」

As the girl called, the appearance of the attendant behind her was that of a woman. It’s probably her female attendant.

「Make this thing clean, Brush his body, tidy up his hair, give him a suitable appearance becoming of a pet of my older brother who was a legitimate child of the Winhirr household. 」

「Yes. Certainly.」

Was the pet treatment already decided?

「Well then, when you’ve become tidy, I’ll meet you again.」

「……」

「I will meet you again.」

「…. I will wait in antic.i.p.ation.」

「Yes. Well then, excuse me.」

It seems it was the right answer. The girl with the aloofly composed expression left the room.

What remained was me and the female attendant.

「This way.」

The female attendant had an unconcerned look or rather as it subsided I was told to follow her direction.

It seems I am not very welcome. I don’t really mind at all. It’s not as if I’ll be here for long.

Only to let the pressing danger pa.s.s. The next hurdle would be to obtain a reward and possess a fund that would be enough to leave the capital.

I wonder what I should do to obtain such. There’s too much to think of and it feels like my head is being punctured.

But even so I must properly think of it. The me now isn’t capable of anything but thinking about it after all.