"What are you doing here at night?"
There was no answer.
Several long seconds passed in silence. For a servant, ignoring a young master who was speaking was not merely impolite. In a noble household, such behavior could easily be considered a violation of the hierarchy.
Yet James did not immediately punish something like that. He himself was still trying to adapt to this new world and to his own existence within it.
It would be absurd if someone who had suddenly been transported to another world immediately started shouting about conquering everything. Only a madman or someone with a broken mind would behave that way.
Adjustment took time.
Accepting that his life had completely changed also required time.
Still, the woman gave no reaction at all.
Is she sleeping while standing?
That was the thought that crossed his mind.
"Go inside. The air is getting colder outside. Your friends will have trouble if you get sick."
From her appearance, the servant seemed to be a young woman. Although he had not seen her face yet, the shape of her body was clearly visible from behind. Her hips were not wide, fairly slender, suggesting she was most likely unmarried.
Once again, there was no reply.
This time, James began to regret his decision to walk outside in the middle of the night.
The woman who had been standing silently finally moved.
She turned around slowly.
The moment her face became visible, James's body stiffened.
Her eyes were red and bulging as if they might burst out of their sockets. Pure, unmistakable hatred covered her expression.
A low growl escaped from her throat like that of a wild animal.
Saliva dripped from her lips.
Like a predator that had found its prey.
Without any warning, the woman lunged at him.
James had already stepped back in fear, but it was not enough. Her hands immediately clamped tightly around his neck.
Her grip was so strong that his breathing instantly faltered.
The woman stared at him with irrational hatred, as if he were the person she despised the most in the entire world.
"Die."
"Die."
"Die."
What the hell is this?
Is this woman insane?
Panic flooded James's mind. The worst possibility immediately surfaced in his thoughts.
Was he going to die again?
It had already been painful enough to die in his previous life without ever achieving his wishes. Now he might suffer the same fate before he had even done anything in this world.
"B... bastard...!"
His voice came out hoarse as he forced the words through his throat.
Being strangled by a woman who looked completely possessed was unbearable. If this continued and no one arrived to help him, he would definitely die.
James gathered the last of his courage.
He pushed the woman with all the strength he could muster, ignoring the sharp pain around his neck. The moment her grip loosened slightly, he immediately turned and ran.
His steps were unsteady, but he forced his body to keep moving.
He ran toward the nearest knight.
Speaking was difficult while his breathing was still ragged.
"In the garden... a servant... she tried to kill me."
After those words left his mouth, the tension in his body eased slightly.
The knight who heard him immediately called for the others. Some of them quickly escorted James back into the manor, while several rushed toward the garden in the direction he had pointed.
One knight noticed the clear marks of strangulation on his neck and immediately took him to receive treatment.
Meanwhile, the other knights headed for the garden.
The incident ended quickly.
The servant who had attacked him died at the hands of the knights.
Some time later, the details of the event reached him. From that moment on, James finally believed that ghosts truly existed in this world.
And they could harm humans.
That incident became a memory he would never forget.
From that point forward, he began to seriously study the history of this world, even the small details he had previously ignored. Unfortunately, his knowledge still remained limited.
After all, he was only a young master who was not considered important within a noble family that held the title of Count.
One month had passed since he fled from the residence of the Count's family.
Thanks to his caution, he managed to leave the county territory without being captured.
James had to pay a heavy price to hire a carriage along with temporary guards who accompanied him during the journey. His destination was the southern region of the Empire, a place where the influence of the Dmitry family was not particularly strong.
Escaping the struggle for power was the most reasonable choice.
If he did not leave now, when else would he have the chance to save his life?
His brothers were not kind enough to simply allow him to live. Even if he was considered useless, the blood of the Dmitry family still flowed through his veins.
As long as that blood remained, the right of succession would still belong to him.
It was terrifying how power could turn someone so cruel, even toward their own blood.
Forget it.
I do not have any strong attachment to them.
During the two years he spent in that family, no real relationship had ever formed. Even for the original owner of this body, the situation had not been much different.
He was merely a child born from a concubine.
His mother died not long after giving birth to him.
Since that moment, there had been no one left he could rely on.
His father was a harsh and demanding man.
He never cared about children who were considered weak, especially those who showed no talent like him.
When someone had already been pushed aside from the very beginning, there was not much they could do.
The only fortunate thing he had was the fact that noble families strictly upheld hierarchy.
Servants and knights did not dare violate those rules.
Even if their young master was considered mediocre, the Dmitry family would never tolerate disrespect toward a member of their bloodline.
The knights, staff, and servants understood that iron rule very well.
Even so, the father of this body's original owner was a disgusting man.
He truly abused his position to indulge in worldly pleasures without restraint, as if a god of lust had descended into the world in human form.
What a terrible man.
Ironically, he eventually died at the hands of his own sons.
Perhaps he had never imagined such a death would be waiting for him.
James's train of thought was suddenly interrupted.
A strange sound suddenly echoed inside his head.
"Ding."
What was that?
James hesitated slightly, unsure whether he had simply hallucinated or if the sound was truly real. One thing was certain, the sound did not come from outside the carriage. No matter how poor his hearing might be, he would not mistake the direction of a sound.
Besides, after often hearing the hysterical screams of servants in the manor before, he was quite certain that his hearing was still normal.
"Ding."
Once again the short sound rang out.
No. Thinking about it again, it did not resemble the ringing of a bell. The sound was closer to something mechanical, like a brief notification tone when receiving a message on a phone or another electronic device in his previous world.
James could never forget the precious memories from his first life.
Even the sound of vehicle horns sometimes surfaced in his imagination whenever he saw horse-drawn carriages passing by.
His brain seemed conditioned to connect things he saw in this world with memories from his previous life whenever he noticed similarities.
Simply put, every time he saw a carriage passing in front of him, he often imagined the car he once owned in his previous world.
Although their shapes were different and their mechanisms were not the same, their basic function remained similar.
Both were means of transportation.
A vehicle that carried someone toward their destination as quickly and comfortably as possible.
That similarity in function caused his mind to automatically connect it with old memories.
The same thing happened with this sound.
The mechanical tone felt extremely familiar.
It reminded him of a phone notification.
"Ding."
Once again.
But this time it sounded louder.
The sound echoed directly inside his head and carried a vibration that felt slightly painful. Its frequency was high enough to make his head throb.
Even so, the pain was still tolerable.
"Hello Host."
System?
The voice sounded strange. It was a mixture of a woman's voice and a man's voice.
Androgynous.
James was quite skilled at distinguishing someone's gender simply by listening to their voice. His experiences in his previous life had taught him that skill.
His former ambitions had demanded that he observe and understand people carefully.
Among the elite, dislike was rarely shown openly through actions when they faced each other. Instead, such feelings were often hidden within the tone of someone's voice.
Even a simple sentence like, "Thank you for the tea."
If spoken with discomfort or concealed displeasure, a professional could still notice the difference.
That was how James had learned many things about human behavior in his previous world.
Although his ability did not reach an expert level, he was confident enough to distinguish between male and female voices, no matter how well someone tried to hide it.
The appearance of the system surprised him.
But at the same time, he also felt excited.
Golden finger.
That term immediately appeared in his mind.
A remarkable advantage for transmigrators.
Although he had never been an avid novel reader, after discovering his illness in his previous life, he began reading far more than before. Especially novels that could entertain him during the final days of his life.
Systems like this often appeared in stories like those.
He slowly drew in a breath before responding to the voice.
"Ah... System."
"...?"
"Explain your primary function."
James went straight to the point without wasting time.
Even though he felt pleased, he would not show it excessively. The disciplined lifestyle he had followed for many years had trained him to control his expressions.
The mechanical voice inside his head answered immediately.
"Very well, Host. However, before that, please activate the system using your voice command. Say 'Activate'."
"Activate."
"Congratulations Host for successfully binding with the Family System. To begin building a family, please choose the type of family bloodline you wish to use."
"Bloodline?"
James frowned slightly. What exactly did this bloodline mean?
"Explain further."
"Very well Host. The system will provide several bloodline options. After the Host chooses one, the Host and all of the Host's descendants will inherit the power of that bloodline."
"Is that so?"
"Of course, Host."
James still felt doubtful about the brief explanation.
If his descendants would inherit that power, then the inheritance must occur through blood.
But if it truly worked through blood, then he himself would need to possess the power of that bloodline first.
So how would the system accomplish that?
Would his body become some kind of experimental subject?
This world was far too dangerous.
Because of that, James tended to be pessimistic about anything that appeared overly beneficial to him.
What if all of this was merely deception?
Such thoughts emerged because he was currently too weak to protect himself.
Let alone protect anyone else.
Although the system's voice sounded mechanical, the way it answered felt surprisingly human.
James finally decided to clarify everything more clearly.
"System. You said that if I choose a certain bloodline, then when I have descendants, they will inherit the power of that bloodline. Is that correct?"
"Correct, Host."
"Then how can my descendants inherit that power if I myself am only an ordinary human without any special abilities?"
"The system understands the Host's confusion. After the Host chooses the desired bloodline, the system will randomly grant the Host the first reward."
"The reward will be a power that restructures the Host's blood and bones down to the DNA level. This process will transform the Host's bloodline into the selected bloodline."
James fell silent for a moment.
"Of course, this process is different from typical bloodline reconstruction found in fiction. The change to the Host's DNA will be permanent."
"In addition, various legendary powers from the selected bloodline will be embedded within the Host's body. As a result, the Host's descendants will also inherit those powers."
"Alright. I understand."
He let out a slow breath.
"Please proceed to the next stage."
"Understood, Host."
In general, I already understand the idea.
To be honest, I feel quite pleased with the information the system provided. Gaining power this easily would be difficult to refuse, especially in a dangerous world like this.
Threats could appear at any time.
The doubts that had briefly surfaced in his mind slowly faded away.
Right now, the important thing was moving forward to the next stage the system had mentioned.
Choosing a bloodline.
Hopefully the result would not disappoint him.
"Very well, Host."
"Please choose your family bloodline."
So that was how it worked.