On the Helderria Continent, almost all kingdoms had a monarchical system. One of them was the Kingdom of Amaranthia.
In such a system, there was one noble who was usually assigned to guard the border area; the noble was usually titled Marquess.
I belonged to the Ralstone family, a noble house with that title. Their territory lay in the southernmost region of Amaranthia.
If using a map of the continent as a whole, where the shape of the continent was almost the same as the shape of a whole sandwich when viewed from above, then the Ralstone family's territory was almost at the southern tip of the continent.
The only reason it wasn't the southernmost was the existence of a mysterious region known as the Eldermere Forest.
If you remember correctly, that region was the place that Simon had mentioned before I was killed.
The Ralstone family ruled over Ironhaven.
I was walking alone in the center of Ironhaven City at night.
Buildings that had a European architectural style were lined up neatly along the right and left sides of this city's main street.
I noticed the condition of several people who were busy doing various activities.
There were people preparing water for the inn they were taking care of, some people fetching wood from the warehouse behind the house to use as fuel, and there were many others doing a variety of other activities.
In essence, they all looked lively, which filled me with both relief and a pang of sorrow as I remembered the devastation from the demon invasion.
The Kingdom of Amaranthia was the most populous kingdom on this continent; almost half of the continent's population lived in this kingdom.
That was why, even though Ironhaven was only a small city at the kingdom's southern tip, its population still reached more than a hundred thousand.
Drizzle~ Drizzle~
'It looks like it's going to rain.'
I looked up at the night sky.
A few drops of water began to fall from the sky, signaling that it was going to rain soon.
[You used the Recalled Memory skill.]
I used the skill to remember what date it was today, the day I had just transmigrated to this world.
[20th day, 1st month, and year 1490 H.R.]
The holographic notification message told me what today's date was.
This region of the city of Ironhaven was in the tropics, which meant there were only two seasons: the rainy season and the dry season. Since it was still the first month, it was normal for it to rain frequently.
Some people who had been casually walking in the middle of the street or lounging in front of their yards started running inside.
They started to notice me because I was the only person still casually walking on the side of the main street, especially when my face was exposed to the lights on the side of the street.
'It seems like they're talking about me.'
[You used the Omni-Perception skill.]
The Omni-Perception skill successfully increased my sense of hearing.
"Is that Young Master Kieran?"
"It seems so."
"Why is he walking alone at night?"
"Don't you know that the Second Young Master of the Marquess Ralstone family is an alcoholic?"
"So, the reason why he was walking alone in the middle of this almost rainy night is because he was drunk?"
"It looks like it. Just look at the color of his flushed face."
"Ugh! I dare not stare for a long time because of his horrible expression."
"You mean his slit eyes, poker face, and creepy smile! You're absolutely right about that."
People continued to talk amongst themselves.
Some were commenting on my appearance, while others started talking about the previous behavior of the owner of this body of mine.
As for appearance, the name and appearance of this body of mine were the same as the name and appearance of my earthly self, so it wasn't too difficult for me to adapt.
When people said that my appearance was scary, I could ignore them easily thanks to that fact.
As for the habits of the previous owner of this body of mine, I could only frown slightly, feeling a combination of embarrassment and frustration at the reputation now attached to me.
This body of Kieran's that I had entered did have quite a sad past.
According to the information I got through the memories that had entered my mind, the previous owner of this body only moved according to the orders of the people near him.
When he was given the order by his mother to practice swordplay, he would practice swordplay.
When he was told to read a book and memorize its contents, he would stay up late to fulfill the order.
To top it off, even if his older brother asked him to fall into the pleasure of alcohol, he would still comply.
What was the right word to describe the nature of the previous owner of this body? Was it naive? Innocent? Or just plain stupid!
If not, I didn't think the previous owner of this body would have fallen into his older brother's scheme in the conflict over the inheritance of the noble title.
Platter~
Heavy rain began to fall.
My clothes started to get soaked. But I kept walking casually.
People who saw me probably thought I was crazy because…
"Pfftt~ Hahaha~" I'm now laughing maniacally by myself.
I felt like laughing when I realized that I had gotten a chance to change the sad future that was going to happen to me.
Now, it's not the past of the previous owner of this body that occupies my mind, but rather a restless, nervous anticipation as I consider the step-by-step process of what I need to do in the future.
'Ten years...'
'I seem to have gone back ten years in time.'
With ten years of time, I thought I had enough time to change the sad fate that would happen to me.
'I think changing the miserable fate that will befall me is not satisfactory enough.'
What if I did more than what you could call playing it safe?
You would probably cringe when you saw me close my mouth to laugh out loud.
I laughed, especially when imagining all the possibilities I could do in the future, including the possibility of me taking all of Simon's potential harems.
'If you don't want them, how about I take them?!'
In The Villain's Harem itself, Simon never actually touched his harem.
There were only tug-of-war scenes like those in children's anime or harem shounen throughout the novel.
From opening to ending, there were not even any excessive skinship scenes, let alone adult intimate scenes.
'Fhwuuu~ let's stop here first.' I took a breath and broke away from my crazy laughing habit. The crazy laughing habit I had was mainly so that I could release stress. 'I should cut down on this bad habit.'
"Mama, is that person crying?"
"No, it's not. It's probably just rainwater. Let's go inside and sleep!"
The voices of a mother and daughter were heard from inside one of the houses.
'Looks like it's about time I returned to the Ralstone family's castle.'
I was sure the honey trap set for me had already been tidied up by the trap maker himself.