Chapter 19: Have I Plucked Out the Death Flag?

Carter felt that his son was becoming a man.

Sitting on the center seat of the dining table, he recalled all of the pleasant surprises he encountered today.

It was supposed to just be a private meeting between him and Prince Kane over the affairs of the Holy Knight Order. However, it just so happened that Prince Kane’s daughter had been training in the Holy Knight Order recently, and as a doting father, Prince Kane made an on-the-spot decision to grant his daughter a short break. He brought her here with him, thus bringing about this coincidental meeting.

Carter had never imagined that this coincidence would bring about an unintended but pleasant development.

2 replies – 2 weeks ago

Nora Xeclyde was a household name in the Saint Mesit Theocracy’s circle of nobles. A pure bloodline and an excellent upbringing meant that she held great potential in her. She was still young, but everyone knew better than to underestimate this young princess.

If one really had to point out of a flaw in Nora Xeclyde, it would be her overly perfect character. Her impeccability made it hard for anyone else, aside from family members, to get close. Even Kane, as her father, had lamented on several occasions that his daughter seemed to be becoming more distant, as if she was putting on a mask of her perfection to conceal her true self.

But for the first time, this independent and loftily high flower of nobility actually took the initiative to link arms with a peer, even showing reluctance to part from him. Carter would have never believed this to be possible had he not seen it with his own eyes.

And what was even more unbelievable was that this person was his own son!

1 reply – 2 weeks ago

O’ great Sia, what in the world is going on here?

Carter felt deeply perplexed about this matter. He took a few good looks at his son, assessing the boy from head-to-toe after Kane had left, but he was unable to discern anything. Since he couldn’t determine what had brought about such a reaction from Nora, in the end, he could only attribute it to Roel’s recent diligence.

3 replies – 6 days ago

Indeed, ever since the previous heart-to-heart conversation they had, the little boy had undergone great changes. Even when hosting the guests earlier, his bearing was on point, keeping a polite front yet not unnaturally so.

Still, Roel would have to put in a lot of hard work in order to get on the good side of that young princess!

Eyy, it’ll be a tough road ahead, my son!

It never even crossed Carter’s mind that the situation was the complete opposite of what he was thinking of, that the roles of who was trying to get closer to who were completely reversed!

In any case, his impression of Roel did improve a lot due to this matter.

As a father, Carter was constantly thinking about how he could pave the route ahead for Roel, so that his son, who possessed nearly no supernatural abilities at all, could live an easier life in this world. In that regard, building up connections was of utmost importance, especially with the other major noble houses.

The Xeclydes, as the strongest faction and royal family of the Theocracy, was naturally the number one noble house to get close to. Carter’s initial thought was to formally hand over his ties with Kane to Roel, somewhat similar to an extension of friendship across generations, but it seemed like there was no need for that now.

Instead, Nora’s intimate attitude toward Roel sent Carter’s thoughts spinning off elsewhere; he began to review his plan once more. Perhaps he should change the Ascart House’s stance and build closer ties with the royal family.

With the protection of the royal family and the authority the Ascart House commanded, Roel should at least be able to live a safe and peaceful life, even if he possessed no power at all. Looking at the current relationship of those two children, there was a good chance that they would continue growing closer, perhaps even…

4 replies – 2 weeks ago

No, it was still too early to be thinking that far ahead now.

1 reply – 2 weeks ago

Carter looked again at the black-haired boy, who was busy feeding Alicia at the dining room table, and shook his head inconspicuously.

His son had his own life to live, and more often than not, plans couldn’t keep up with changes. There was no point in thinking so much now.

Moreover, Carter wasn’t too fond of arranged marriages between nobles; he himself had courted and married the woman he loved. Roel was the crystallization of the love between him and his wife, which was also a reason why he doted on him so much.

Taking one more look at the tender sight of his son feeding his younger adopted sister, Carter felt his mood buoying to a new high. He even ate an additional portion of lamb steak with gusto.

It was perhaps a good thing that he was oblivious to the thoughts running through his son’s mind at the moment.

—————————————-

Did I mess things up?

Ever since Nora’s departure, Roel had been asking himself this question over and over again for the rest of the day.

As a transmigrator who knew of the tragic fate that awaited him, Roel had set a very clear final goal for himself: To pluck out all his death flags and live a peaceful life .

In order to achieve this goal, Roel had managed to analyze a few side goals that he needed to achieve, and these included preventing the decline of the Ascart House, treating Alicia kindly, and avoiding getting involved with the other key characters in the common route.

But today, he met the greatest crisis in his plans.

Not only did he fail to put distance between himself and the other key figures, he even got eyed by the most despairly difficult capture target of them all to deal with, Nora Xeclyde!

C-c-calm down! At times like this, I need to stay calm and think it through. It isn’t the end yet!

It was not as if he didn’t consider the possibility that he could avoid the death flag by getting on good terms with Nora Xeclyde, but one consideration he had was that this event could very well be part of the storyline too. What if he had unknowingly triggered this death flag through this?

There were too many details missing from his knowledge.

However, as he thought more about it, he felt that he might have been thinking too much.

It was a real world that he was currently living in, not the same game world that he knew of in his previous life. Brains were functioning perfectly normally, for most people at least, and love and hatred wouldn’t just pop out of nowhere for no reason. The greatest evidence to that was the reconciliation of the relationship between him and Alicia. If he was really forced to play along with the storyline, Alicia would have hated him no matter what he tried to do.

Perhaps he was getting ahead of himself, thinking that this simple meeting with Nora would lead to his villainous bad end. Besides, his relationship with Nora was likely to have already been different from that of the original Roel.

The original Roel most likely dumped a truckload of earnest compliments on Nora in order to get on her good side, which, in turn, would not have triggered the lie-detecting crimson pendant and caught her attention.

From this perspective, he was indeed doing what the original Roel never would have. So, the possibility of him meeting the same ending as the storyline should have lessened… probably.

Just like that, Roel tried his best to cheer himself up, but this resulted in him being a little inattentive about what was happening right in front of him. Those glowing eyes that were usually focused on Alicia were nowhere to be seen.

And this was vividly felt by Alicia.

Noticing the peculiarity with her brother, Alicia lowered her head helplessly as she gripped the hems of her dress tightly.

Big brother Roel must still be thinking about Her Highness.

1 reply – 2 weeks ago

Alicia recalled the golden-haired girl she had met earlier in the day, her graceful disposition, her incomparable beauty, and her esteemed standing. All of those imprinted an image of her as an impeccable princess in the minds of others. A single smile from her was enough to make others swoon.

3 replies – 6 days ago

And such a person took the initiative to hug Roel.

No matter how elaborately I have dressed myself up, even when the effects of Demon Dew have yet to fade, Lord Brother doesn’t look at me anymore. I am the one sitting before him, but the only one on his mind is Her Highness.

I can’t win against her. Lord Brother might treasure me, but he won’t choose me against a real gem.

As these thoughts dominated her mind, Alicia lowered her head even further as the indignance triggered by her low self-esteem made her eyes redden. She bit her lips in an attempt to conceal her emotions, but she couldn’t stop a whimper from escaping from her lips.

“Alicia? What’s wrong?”