Episode 1.
[You don’t have to hold a pen to write anymore!]
[The New Letter Revolution]
[Typewriter becomes office staple, goes into pre-production until next spring due to heavy demand]
[A slender needle to ward off the wrath of the gods]
[North to install lightning rods across the country on a trial basis]
[Damage from lightning strikes reduced by 8 percent]
.
.
.
[Invention, Dare to be a Revolution]
[The genius inventor the world is watching]
[The mysterious inventor, favored by the North, is the Duke’s mistress…]
* * *
“The Duke.”
“Huh?”
“You say I’m the duke’s mistress?”
“Have you ever met my husband, do you think you can beat him?”
“…….”
What does that have to do with the false rumor of a mistress?
Arpina was not the Duke’s mistress, and she had no intention of becoming one.
Still, her mind reflexively went to the Duchess. A muscular, handsome man she had only glimpsed from afar.
“…You looked fit enough to tear something like me apart with one hand.”
“Fuhahaha!”
The Duke let out a booming laugh, clutching his stomach. His long, loose black hair bounced with each laugh.
After laughing for a while, the Duke finally caught his breath.
“Ah, that’s funny. Do you mind if I tell my husband what you said?”
“I don’t think he’d like it….”
“The man I love isn’t narrow-minded enough to be offended by a joke like that. If he was, do you think I’d want to live with him?”
The Duke looked at the 17-year-old girl in front of him and smiled.
She looked younger than her age, with a docile demeanor and a pretty face that rarely showed emotion.
Her woolly, curly hair was blue as if colored by the dawn light just before sunrise.
But if you looked closely, it was a strange color, with a hint of the violet of the vast expanse, higher than the sky.
Whenever the Duke saw Arpina’s hair, he would say.
“The color of your hair is like the dawn calling to the sun as if you are bringing a new age to the empire.”
Is that so?
Arpina glanced at her hair, which had fallen over my shoulder as if she didn’t understand. Instead, she shrugged off the Duke’s added platitudes.
“Don’t pay too much attention.”
The Duke turned back to the rumors in the newspaper.
“They don’t know who you are, and that’s why they keep starting this nonsense.”
The rumors about his mistress were, of course, false.
But the reason this ridiculous false rumor was even mentioned in the newspapers was because of all that Arpina had done in recent years.
“That’s how great you are.”
The Duke hummed a tune and folded his fingers together as he recited Arpina’s accomplishments.
“You created the technology to stop lightning strikes, a punishment from the gods, and you invented the typewriter, which revolutionized the speed of office work….”
White lanterns replace the scarce sunlight during the long northern nights.
Various provisions for the comfort of people with disabilities.
A circulating stove that was highly thermally efficient.
And a mysterious inventor whose groundbreaking inventions have made his name known throughout the empire and beyond its borders.
Gender unknown.
Age unknown.
A genius of the century whose very existence is in doubt.
“Arpina.”
The Duke looked at the genius inventor of the century. If asked what was the most satisfying of her accomplishments, she dared to say this.
Making Arpina my own was my greatest achievement.
“I see you’re already in your third year.”
“Yes.”
“How old were you when we first met?”
“Eleven.”
“I can’t believe it’s been six years.”
Realizing once again the impermanence of time, the Duke looked at my benefactor with a wistful gaze.
“Have you heard from your family?”
“No.”
Arpina’s good eyes hardened as she answered.
“And they shouldn’t, they shouldn’t do.”
Arpina had no regrets about the family she had abandoned.
She was eleven years old.
When she had looked out the window of the duke’s carriage and seen her family’s mansion slipping away and vowed to tear it down with her own hands.
“…Well, let’s talk about something else, shall we?”
I asked, replacing the uncomfortable topic with the usual, commonplace greeting.
“Are you enjoying the academy? It’s already starting tomorrow.”
“It’s kind of fun, but there are already a lot of students in the dorms.”
“How’s Sonia doing?”
“She just bought me a cake after scamming some money from a bunch of thugs.”
“I’m glad she’s doing well. And you? Have you met anyone you like?”
“Not a chance, I’m a celibate.”
“Would you be mad if I told you that girls who say that usually get married early?”
“…….”
“Or….”
After a broken joke.
“…What did I ask you to do?”
The Duke brought up his real purpose.
“Did you bring it?”
Today is the day before the academy opens.
I called Arpina, who was busy unpacking her dorm room, to check on that ‘favor’.
Arpina moved the box that had been on my lap the whole time onto the table.
The square box was decorated with colorful wrapping paper and ribbons, like a birthday present.
But what was inside was far from a birthday present.
“I haven’t tested it, but it should work.”
“Another legend is born.”
The Duke grinned as he accepted the box.
* * *
Thunk-.
Thud.
And once more, another clunk.
And then another clunk.
“Hmph….”
The Duke gently touched the heavy, silvery metal in my hand.
It was an object that had never before existed in the Empire, but the Duke was quite familiar with it.
Chuckle.
“I guess geniuses aren’t geniuses for nothing….”
His eyes were sharp as he examined the object.
Arpina had perfected a ‘weapon’ that the Duke had only imagined for so long.
Six years later, the finished weapon was in her hands.
It was perfect, flawless.
The Duke couldn’t believe his eyes. When he asked him to build it, all he had done was draw the exterior of the weapon.
How it would work on the inside.
What kind of parts it would need?
He had a vague idea, but he didn’t have the specifics.
And yet, the 17-year-old student had created it. The Duke was once again awed by Arpina’s genius.
“This weapon will not change the world.
It will be Arpina who makes it.
And the more she casts her glow upon the world, the more the child’s vengeance will be complete.
Then.
“Mother.”
There was a knock on the door.
The Duke placed his weapon in the drawer.
“Come in.”
With a ding, the door opened and her son and daughter stepped inside.
“Mommy, Mommy!”
Her silver-haired, six-year-old daughter, who looked just like the duke, hugged her mother’s legs.
“My brother said he’s finished his papers!”
“Oh, the admission papers?”
The duke held out his hand, “Give it to me.
Her 15-year-old son, who looked just like her husband except for his dark hair and eyes, handed her the papers with a cheerful face.
“…….”
The Duke sighed heavily as he read the document carefully.
“Hey.”
He asked.
“Are you sure this is how you’re going to get in?”
“You’ve already given me the green light, so what’s the point…….”
“It’s just that I can’t believe my eyes.”
“Brother, aren’t you a nobleman now?”
The little girl, who had gone to her brother’s side again, asked with her big, wide eyes. Her silver hair parted like a candy wrapper, waved.
“Wait, you’re not a noble.”
The boy filling out the admission form pressed his lips to his brother’s forehead.
“So if I see you at school, I’m supposed to talk back?”
“del, you’re still talking back to me.”
“Ego, I do.”
“I’m giving you respect instead. Hello, my dear Duke. May I know the name of the beautiful lady?”
She giggled at how princely he sounded, too much like a commoner.
“Good afternoon, my name is Fedeliana.”
“What a beautiful name!”
“And what is your name?”
“My name is…….”
While the children played among themselves, the duke looked over the enrollment form my son had been filling out earlier.
[Name: Del]
And in the space right next to the first name, he wrote.
[Last Name: None].
“……Huh.”
The Duke was stunned to see it again.
“I can’t believe that ungrateful bastard who abandons his family because he’s mad with love was my offspring. I didn’t give birth to him with a sore belly for this.”
“It’s only for a moment, Mother.”
“Call me a mother.”
The duke clung to me and patted his daughter’s head as she innocently asked, “Can I sell my family?
“I heard your sister got into tech.”
Del said.
“Tech is where commoners go, so she’d be more approachable than a noble.”
“But…….”
“Besides, that’s where your sister spent her time.”
“…….”
“What if I’m uncomfortable?”
Del was only fifteen, but he had heard and seen a lot.
And the information he’d gathered most intently was about a certain “sister” who was a third-year senior at the Academy.
“…….”
The Duke stifled a sigh.
There were so many things he wanted to say to his son. Like nagging him about his sanity.
“Well, it’s kind of fun, though.
But I realized that this was going to be a lot of fun, so I stepped back and watched.
“If it’s different later, my mom will laugh at you and comfort you.”
“I’m going to take the bride-to-be to say hello, and you can go decorate the guest room properly. What kind of taste does my sister have?”
“It’s not my place to say, but you’re an asshole.”
“Mom, that’s a bad word! My uncle used to say it to my brother and kick him!”
“Oh, dear.”
The Duke turned to his daughter with a disappointed look on his face. Don’t tell Grandpa and Daddy.
And don’t tell Grandpa and Dad.
“Now you can meet……!
The boy’s heart swelled with anticipation as he wrote his name “Del” on the admission form.
He had only one dream.
“One day, I want to build a tomb for my sister and me in a sunny place…….”
“Mom.”
del looked over at her brother, who was spouting crazy things with a big smile on his face and whispered in a small voice.
“How the hell did you raise him, huh? He’s turned into a total asshole…….”
Is the future of our family okay?
