━━━━???━━━━

“Why do I have chills?”

I suddenly felt a strange feeling and looked around.

It felt like someone was looking at me when I was the only one here.

‘I have goosebumps for a moment.’

I looked around, saw that no one was there, so I brought a thick blanket and wrapped it around my body.

Hmm, it was probably because of the heating.

‘When Mr. Um returns, I shall ask him to solve it. For free.’

This self-employed person focused on newspaper articles again after pondering about reducing equipment repair costs.

—Thinking about it again, it was questionable.

“What the hell did you do to become Crown Prince already, Sislin?”

He shouldn’t be strong enough yet.

In the original work, the abilities of the other princes were very strong.

Of course, Sislin was also strong, but the other princes had relatives and power within the Imperial Palace.

In order to catch up with them, Sislin ‘built up his abilities explosively and strongly’ in the original story, pressed them down with force and became the crown prince.

The process took quite some time. It wasn’t meant to be this fast..

It was when I was contemplating. In an instant, a light bulb flashed in my mind.

“Aha!”

I think I know why?

“Did his ability improve quickly because he’s happy without ‘vengeance’?”

‘Ah, that sounds pretty plausible!’

If you study with a happy mind, you will do better, and if you exercise happily, you will improve your abilities even more.

‘Looks like that’s the correct answer.’

I let my imagination run wild.

I’m going to erase the image of the Sislin of the original book, which was a devastated obsessive maniac—

A new Sislin.

Sislin, whose skin always glows after a good night’s sleep without thinking about revenge.

Sislin, who eats three well-balanced meals in a timely manner.

Sislin, who happily practices swordsmanship.

Sislin being friendly to everyone.

“Ummm.”

And a Sislin that sometimes puts on phytoncide to manage stress!

(TL/N: fun fact, ‘phytoncides’ are airborne chemicals that plants give off to protect themselves from insects, and an idea of the scent of phytoncide is the scent of the forest.)

I sprinkled phytoncide in the air and smelled the scent with joy.

When I thought of such a neat happy ending,?fufu, I felt so much better.

I was now just an extra on the outskirts of the main story watching the main characters, but I was happy with the feeling that everything was going well.

It was also thanks to what I did well, haha!

“Now, all you need to do is be happy, Heinrich.”

‘It can be a bit tough for Heinrich.’

It was already good to be rich, but truthfully, even if you were a noble and wealthy, if you were framed as a traitor, you would be destroyed in an instant.

‘Heinrich eventually becomes a marquis.’

He would inherit the title of his adoptive father.

If it ends there, it would be the most ideal happy ending for Heinrich.

Palak—

With that in mind, I turned to the next page of the newspaper.

And I was startled.

“..Huh?”

Once again, I ran into an unbelievable headline.

「The wealthy wizard of El Dorado, Heinrich Hyacinth, his power now? ―Receives the title of Grand Duke」

My eyes widened.

‘..Our Heinrich is a grand duke?’

‘Is it okay for a person with so much bullshit to become the Grand Duke?’

━━━━???━━━━

“Congratulations, Grand Duke.”

Viscount Duncan bowed his head politely. Heinrich looked pretty happy.

Five minutes ago, he was awarded the title of ‘Grand Duke’.

“There was a great commotion at dawn, and the owner of the seal changed.. The title of Grand Duke has already been approved and will be conferred as scheduled. Grand Duke Heinrich.”

There was the savagery of the young beast (Heinrich’s expression to the end), but fortunately, the award ceremony was held normally.

—The award ceremony was more normal than expected.

Except that the frightened Derek bit his tongue twice while reading the title documents.

“You have been awarded the title of Grand Duke without spilling a drop of blood.”

Heinrich’s aide, Viscount Duncan, was a man with brown hair and dark black eyes.

So, like the shadow of Heinrich with gorgeous colors, the two got along well.

Heinrich responded arrogantly to Duncan’s words.

“Isn’t it obvious? ..It’s not elegant to set up an army or slaughter a brother or use such barbaric methods.”

“.....”

Wasn’t this clearly a jab to ‘someone’?

Duncan just smiled.

If he agreed here, he would be X-ed for blasphemy against the imperial family.

Of course, his master was insulting the imperial family (or to be more precise, Sislin) as he usually did, but somehow the crown prince seemed familiar with this sort of thing.

“You are wonderful, Grand Duke.”

His beautiful master smiled as if satisfied with his words, raising the corners of his red lips.

In order to become a ‘Grand Duke’, a person who was not originally a member of the imperial family must establish a high military command or make a significant contribution to the prosperity of the empire.

Heinrich did both without shedding a drop of his own blood.

He invented the ‘large-scale teleport magic tool’.

Teleport itself was such a high-level magic that it was only possible to accommodate 5 people or less at the most, but the magic tool this undisputed genius created was different.

It could be used to instantly teleport thousands of elite soldiers to wherever one wanted.

It meant that no matter how hard the opposing country built a fortress, if the coordinates were accurate, they could infiltrate inside at once.

Thanks to this, the defense power of El Dorado became the best.

“Ha.”

Heinrich rolled his eyes.

“I’m tired because I’m a genius. I’m a genius, I have a lot of money, and now I am even a powerful person—”

It was unfortunate, but it was a fact, so Duncan shut up.

‘He isn’t ugly in appearance either.’

Other men’s sense of self-doubt must have increased a bit.

The combination of long eyelashes, silver hair, and eyebrows was as beautiful as a creature born with a lot of love from God.

It was a famous anecdote that a young baron, revered for being quite handsome, fell from a balcony in awe when he saw Heinrichi’s face (one might not believe it, but it was a true story).

There was even a strangely masculine line, which made women’s hearts flutter.

—But.

Even such a perfect man had a fatal flaw.

“Heinrich Hyacinth!”

Heinrich’s face hardened at the voice that comfortably called his name.

The only flaw was his character.

Even the nickname was—

‘Vivantum’ (‘sociopath’ in modern language).

(TL/N: as far as my knowledge and google goes, I don’t think ‘???’ or ‘Vivantum’ is an actual term in real life. But if by chance you know something, do let me know in the comments!)

“.....”

Duncan heard his master curse with his eyes only. Obviously, he was saying ‘f*ck’.

“Heinrich, I heard you received your title today?”

Marquis Vimotes followed Heinrich into the hallway.

He was accompanied by a young maid.

He was a close friend of Heinrich’s adoptive father, Marquis Hyacinth, and had often ignored Heinrich.

“Are you a monster born of a courtesan?”

Marquis Vimotes seemed to have been quite annoyed by his close friend’s chosen adoptee.

“I just heard about it.”

He was still the same, still strangely disrespectful to Heinrich.

Heinrich looked at him with his beautiful eyes, and asked briefly.

“What are you doing?”

His voice was cool.

“You heard that I became the Grand Duke..”

His red lips were arrogantly sweet.

Heinrich grabbed the back of the old marquis’ head and lowered it.

And then, he dared to raise his fine eyebrows.

“Yet you didn’t bow down right away.”

“....!!!”

Oh, what a scoundrel, this crazy bastard.

Marquis Vimotes struggled in embarrassment at the force, and shifted his eyes to appeal to Duncan, who at least seemed ‘sane’.

He meant, ‘Please stop your master.’

But Duncan answered without a blink of an eye.

“Please be respectful to His Excellency the Grand Duke, Marquis.”

Usually, if a person was a close friend of your father, no matter how great you became, you would not immediately trample on that person arrogantly, but Heinrich was different.

His unpredictable wretchedness terrified his opponents.

Heinrich whispered as he rolled his eyes.

“If you lift your head comfortably in front of me again.. I will erase that ugly face.”

“..I apologize, Your Excellency.”

When Marquis Vimotes answered, trembling with insult and fear, Heinrich released his head.

Having to tell him all these things one by one filled him with annoyance.

It was then.

“Grand Duke, Your Excellency—”

A thin voice was heard from below.

The voice of a young maid, who had been watching the situation, trembled.

Heinrich wondered if she had just turned 10-years-old.

He quickly responded with soft eyes.

“Yes?”

The maid said while clenching her little hands together.

“I’m sorry, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask you.. M-May I dare ask?”

“Ask.”

Willingly, Heinrich replied.

Even though permission was dropped, the maid did not open her mouth easily. The child was afraid. Of something.

Then, Marquis Vimotes glared.

“.....”

―Perhaps it wasn’t the maid’s curiosity.

‘Someone’ must have forced her to ask something troublesome.

Sure enough.

A question that fit exactly what he expected has popped up.

“I have heard rumors that the Grand Duke kidnapped a child and used him as a magic test object.. It’s true, isn’t it?”

‘Well,’ Heinrich smiled and patted his chin.

There were all sorts of rumors about this beautiful, broken-hearted Vivantum, and that was one of them.

Capturing young children and using them as test subjects.

Hence, children were afraid when they saw Heinrich.

However, there were those who admired the arrogant man with a dazzlingly beautiful appearance.

—Like this girl now.

The little maid had a fearful face, but she was blushing slightly.

“I heard you make dolls for children, using living children as materials.. It’s all false rumors, right? You aren’t that scary?”

Heinrich’s eyes narrowed.

“Well~?”

The 10-year-old girl was very surprised.

‘Why doesn’t he deny it..?’

Her young maid’s face expressed the thoughts of ‘no way’, and her complexion turned white.

As Heinrich looked at her frightened face, his beautiful eyes curved very slowly. Just like a playful boy.

Right then.

Hwak!?As if to devour, Heinrich teased the girl by bringing his face close.

“Hello?”

“....!! Heuk.”

Seeing the girl cry, Heinrich burst out into a mischievous laugh.

Then, he grabbed the jaw of the startled marquis who stood next to her and met his eyes.

“I don’t have to make a ‘doll’ out of a child’s skin.”

Gulp—

Fear filled the eyes of Marquis Vimotes.

When he made eye contact with him, the crazy Vivantum used a friendly tone as if he was answering the maid.

His beautiful eyes gleamed and twisted.

“After all, it’s a doll, so ‘adult skin’ is also worth using.”

“....!!!”

The marquis’s purple lips trembled.

When Heinrich let go of his jaw, Marquis Vimotes collapsed in his place, completely horrified.

“..Tsk, everyone is weak.”

Heinrich, who lived up to the nickname of ‘Vivantum’, left the hallway leisurely.

Very elegant, relaxed despite having made a mess of everything.

━━━━???━━━━

—The rumors were not completely nonsense.

Half right, half wrong.

Because Heinrich was making his own ‘Annette’.

Entering his own office, Heinrich knelt in front of the statue of a girl.