The carriage ride home felt like an eternity.

I almost regretted not accepting Julius's offer to get cleaned up at the palace. Almost. In the end, home was where it was best, especially since, at this point, it wasn't burnt down to a crisp.

I jumped out of the carriage and strolled towards the mansion's front entrance. Bright lights illuminated my way.

The two guards stared at me but didn't say anything about my bloodied attire. I overheard one whisper to the other as I passed through the opened doors. "I win the bet. I told you he'd pull some prank at the ball."

"Psh… It's too early to tell. Wait till we hear what the prank was first," the other whispered.

Tsk.

Even my disheveled appearance didn't raise alarms within the household. Instead, they thought it was one of my usual pranks.

I needed to do something about this.

"If you wish to know," I said and looked back at the two guards. "A mage exploded the heads of two men in front of me. That's why I look like this."

"Wh-what? Oh." One of the two men stumbled on their words.

"Ah, we're sorry. We meant no offense, young master Luca," the other man said.

By their expressions, I could tell they thought I was continuing to pull some elaborate joke.

I sighed. Oh well. They'll find out tomorrow morning.

I continued walking inside across the quartz floors towards the long staircase leading up to my room. My steps echoed through the large area.

Or perhaps not. My brother and Princess Evelyn might keep the assassination attempt under wraps to avoid unnecessary alarm.

"Young master Luca, you came home earlier than expected." Remlend greeted me at the top of the stairs. His eyes looked me up and down. "I can have your bath ready in a bit."

What good timing he has.

"Yes. Please do." I wanted to run my hands through my hair but felt disgusted again at how filthy it was. "I'm going to come up and douse off my face at least while you get it ready."

Remlend didn't ask me any questions the entire walk back to my room.

I watched him set up the bath through my mirror's reflection while I washed off the gunk on my face and hair. It had dried and was even more annoying to get off.

"You're not curious why I came home early and look like this?" I asked.

Remlend gazed at me through the mirror's reflection and gave his ordinary smile.

"When I took this job, I was informed that I might see quite a few unusual things take place at the Frey Household and that I ought to ignore any oddities and treat them as ordinary events."

He turned his face back to the now full tub and placed a stone ball embedded with an orange mana stone inside to heat the water. "This job pays extremely well, so I avoid being too curious."

I nodded in approval.

This fellow understood how the world worked rather well.

"Remlend, what did you do before coming to work here?" I asked.

He had served me for quite a while, and yet I had no recollection of him and how his fate went. But then again, he did have a rather forgettable face.

"I worked at a few other wealthy households. I had obtained this job on those referrals," he explained.

"Do you have any siblings? And are your parents nearby?" I splashed more water on my face to get the blood dried on my eyebrows and ears off.

"…"

I wiped my eyes and looked up at Remlend's reflection.

"Sorry, is that a sore subject?" I asked.

His expression didn't betray any emotion I could pick up on, but the short silence was unusual.

"I don't. I used to have two siblings and parents, but they have passed on."

"Oh." I did pick a sore subject, even if his expression looked unchanged.

"It was a long time ago, so it's alright." Remlend smiled.

"Your bath should be ready now." Remlend pulled the heat-stone from the water with a pair of tongs. "I'll leave you be."

"Thank you," I said.

The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Remlend bowed and pulled the bathroom doors closed behind him.

I wondered how his family died and when. And if his family was dead, did he have anyone he cared about? Was there anyone and anything that drove his motivation?

My eyebrows furrowed.

There was something about Remlend that was odd. He was too good at his job and yet had zero presence. He had mentioned that this job paid well, and while it did, there were undoubtedly better prospects for someone like him than serving the Frey Household, which was surrounded by shady gossip.

I need to look into him.

[ Perception : +1 ]

[ Perception : 41 ]

I gazed at the blue screen.

Is that perhaps a hint?

My Intelligence had increased on Round 5 when I realized what Bob, Bob the Second, and Gavin Graves had in store for me.

So perhaps there's a pattern to these notifications?

I watched the hot water change color slightly after I dunked my whole body underwater and came back up. It didn't change by much, though.

I suppose most of the blood was on my clothes and face, which I had already gotten off.

Nonetheless, I grabbed the soap and scrubbed every inch of my body to ensure no speck of blood remained on me.

I had underestimated having come back to this period of time. I was naive. I had an overly rosy memory of my younger years within the Frey Household and had forgotten that danger was always present, even during this somewhat peaceful period.

I slapped some shampoo on my hair and got to work getting every bit of gunk out.

I need a proper plan from now on.

Yes, I was weak and, according to the System, not that intelligent. But I still knew the future. Sure, my memory wasn't perfect, but something was better than nothing. I possessed knowledge that no one else had. That had to count for something.

Had I planned ahead earlier, I would have realized the danger at the ball the first time around. I knew Gavin Graves spelled trouble. And I knew the crown princess would die soon. I even knew or suspected which families would undermine the Frey Household.

I summoned my stats for a quick review.

[ Strength : 4

Dexterity : 35

Perception : 41

Intelligence : 15

Charisma : 7

Mana : 2 ]

"Hey System, my Intelligence has come up by +1 again."

There wasn't a notification for it to clue me in on what I had done.

[ Indeed it has. 15 is still relatively unimpressive, but I am most certainly happy if you're happy with this. ]

This damned blue screen…

I imagined the stats moving, and the screen changed.

[ Player: Luca Frey

Age: 19

Title: Observant Ex-NPC

Round: 6

Level: 7 ]

"And my level has gone up by a point!" I smiled brightly.

[ Of course, you had finally managed to obtain a skill, and you have made some improvements. ]

"Will it go up if I obtain more skills?"

[ You can obtain new skills or improve on existing skills. ]

A new screen appeared without me summoning it.

[ Skills: 1 ]

[ Character Check : Level 1 ]

[ As you can see, you are presently merely at Level 1. If you improve this skill, you'll be able to observe more details about other characters. Currently, you can use it only once daily and see only one piece of information about other characters. Nor will you have a choice in what appears. It will be at random. ]

"And to improve it, do I need to continue to improve my Perception?"

[ Correct! Luca, I think those 4 points of Intelligence have done you some good! ]

My hands rolled into fists within the water. This System was rather annoying. I wish it had a physical form so I could smack it once or twice.

Then again, as annoying as it was, it was thanks to this System that I obtained this chance to save my family, friends, and kingdom.

But I couldn't just keep going like this. If I wanted to save everyone, I needed some sort of plan.

***

I laid down the two dozen parchment papers before me and gazed at what had taken me well into the dead of the night to write down. I rubbed my tired, bloodshot eyes.

I had written out every single major event and notable piece of information that would take place in the next seven years. There were many dates of deaths, names of those I either knew or suspected to be behind the evil doings, and opportunities I could take advantage of.

My memory wasn't perfect, however. I guessed many of the dates on when certain things would take place.

"Ah damn it. And I'll have to account for all my butterfly effects and how I'll change the future."

I rubbed my temples. I was getting a headache imagining how the future would change.

I pulled the parchment papers together in a stack and looked around my bedroom for a safe place to store them. I couldn't have anyone discover them, but I needed to be able to access them.

My memory was decent for now, but I suspected the more I went through this new timeline, the more I'd forget. Memories were faulty and easily erasable.

My eyes stopped on a large bookshelf on one end of my room. The books on it were probably decorative or were placed there with the hope that I might pick one up. A wide grin spread across my face.

It was known within the Frey Household that I did not enjoy studying at this point. Not that I ever found it enjoyable in the future either, but it meant that these books would make for a great temporary spot to hide my notes regarding the future.

I stood up and pulled down two dozen books. I placed parchment paper between each book's last page and hardcover. This method kept each of them slim without the book appearing modified.

I placed the books back onto the shelf and admired my handiwork.

A colossal yawn forced itself out.

I looked over at the decorative clock and realized I would not get much sleep before the morning sun came through the curtains.

Oh well.

I lay down in bed and closed my eyes. I looked forward to waking up to a new day rather than reliving the same day all over again.

Hopefully, tomorrow is a gloomy and cloudy day, so I can see my favorite information broker. I have far too many requests stockpiled for her.