Artus Trevonir, Trevonir family residence, 5806 U.C.
----------------------------------------
Six years have passed since my reincarnation. Recently, a tense atmosphere fell on the Trevonir family. I suspect that my father grew crazy. It's all because my sister's results aren't extraordinary. They aren't bad or anything, in my opinion, they're incredibly good, but because of my success, he thinks that his genes are supreme. Every child he makes is supposed to be a genius beyond all geniuses. At least, he likes to brag about his superior blood.
Aya is a regular child, although in my eyes she shows a lot of promise and I want to take care of her. But, she isn't a reincarnation, there is no possible way for her to achieve my level in her five-year-long life. Though I can't say that to my parents. And now my father suspects that my mother cheated on him.
Aya was thrown away. Well, almost thrown away. Due to my intervention, she can at least stay in the house. That man wanted her to leave the town to not bring him any shame. Truly detestable.
I had a lot of fun spending time with Aya, she has great potential and I dote on her, so I couldn’t just let her go. She’d probably ended up as a slave or dead. I forced my father to calm down and let her stay. If he disowns her, he can forget about me becoming his heir. In the face of losing his future prospects, he’d to accept. But, that didn’t change his treatment of her.
Basically, she is invisible to the whole household. Only my mother and I interact with her. She was sheltered before, but now it’s on an even greater level. As for my mother, she is being abused by him. Whenever he sees her without a grain of consideration for Aya or my feelings, he'll beat the hell out of her.
For the time being, I turn a blind eye to this display, but seeing Aya cry makes my chest tighten up. I’m internally conflicted as to if I should even involve myself. My previous life taught me a harsh lesson to look only for myself. In an advanced society, empathy is called a weakness. Due to this weakness of mine, I was used as everyone around me saw fit. In time I started to cover myself in a shell. It was tough, but after a sufficient amount of time, I thought that I could finally ignore human suffering when I saw one. But this trial proved me wrong. I’ve grown attached to Aya. There’s a strong urge inside of me pushing me to sacrifice my own comfort to ease my little sister’s sorrow.
“Please, dad, stop hurting mom.”
“Don’t you dare call me your father!”
Whack
Father punched Aya in her abdomen with full force sending her flying. She crashed into a wall and lost consciousness. Retreating, he shot an angry glance at me while passing by. I didn’t even flinch. I just stood there petrified. What is this rage dwelling inside of me? Seeing my mother crying with Aya in her hands, blood dripping from my sister's mouth. This view is too much. They didn’t do anything to deserve it.
Feelings I haven’t felt for so long started coming to the surface again. Is it because in these few years I’ve been happy, I’ve forgotten how cruel life can be? I buried these kinds of emotions long ago, so then why? Why do I feel them again now? I should just cast them away, shouldn’t I?
My goal was to indulge myself in various experiments and live as an outcast somewhere far away from civilization. But, I can feel that I’m slowly losing that desire. Being alone doesn’t sound so appealing anymore.
In those six years, I had more fun than ever before. Can I just forget about everything like that? An image of Aya smiling after she got a simple math problem right pops into my head. It was my own fault for getting close to her. I reluctantly walk towards them and kneel opposite my silently crying mother.
Using elemental particles I increase Aya's natural regeneration rate. Her life wasn’t in danger, but full recovery would take around 2 weeks. With my current capabilities, I can shorten that time to 6 hours or so. I won’t be able to do anything else in the meantime. All my strength is required to sustain control over accelerated particles inside Aya’s body.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“I’m sorry mother.”
I leave the room entrusting Aya to her. She doesn’t know about my intervention. My resolve is still lacking, but I know I can’t discard them. Especially Aya, I want to see her smile again. How can I prevent awful things from happening?
I head straight to the ceiling, thinking about my options. I managed to set up a small laboratory there over the past two years. I call it a laboratory, but so far I have used it mainly for my training.
I don’t have access to a lot of materials needed for actual research. So, I’ve been practicing controlling elemental particles and making small experiments with them. That trick I used on Aya is a result of such experimentation. I was wondering if I could merge particles into human cells. And to my surprise, it’s possible, although very difficult to master.
After putting some thought into the current situation I think the safest and the easiest solution is to take them and run away, but there is also something else I can try. Murder my father. It won’t hang on my mind too much, but I don’t know about the others. He’s still her husband and Aya’s father after all. Although the way he’s displaying himself right now can’t be considered loving and caring.
The deed may cause some unnecessary commotion, but after cooling off a little, I think I'll be chosen as the next family head, not that it matters to me. I plan to ditch this place sometime anyway. The question is how will it affect these two? I want to help them, but I might make things even worse. Thinking about this only makes my head hurt. Dealing with people is so complicated. I can build a quantum computer from scratch, yet I can’t solve the common abusive husband problem. That’s why I was alone in my previous life. Do I want to end up the same way now, though?
----------------------------------------
Four months have passed since then and I still haven't come to a conclusion. Those incidents have been happening frequently, but due to my interventions, nothing serious occurred. I noticed that Father is growing more and more irritated day by day by my behavior. I already have behind me a few lectures about weaklings and their purpose in society with additional lessons about handling an unfaithful wife. I partially agree with it but seeing as it refers to my close relatives it really tickles my nerves. He truly wants me to become a beast of a man. I’ve seen this before, a sick person with unreal ambitions. It never ends well. Wherever you go humans are always the same.
These are my thoughts while on my way to the father’s office. A maid called me saying something along the lines 'House Master has an important assignment for Young Master, please show your presence in the office’. He rarely calls me, so I’m concerned it’s another special lesson. It’s a kind of lecture he gives me to prepare me for someday taking up his status as a Head of the Family. In short, he tries to brainwash me with his ridiculous beliefs. Knocking and shortly after getting a response opening the door, I see my father sitting behind his desk.
“It’s a great day today, don’t you think?”
“True, the sky is clear.”
“A great day for your final test before going to the academy. If you pass, I'll let you go make a name for yourself in the capital.”
I raise an eyebrow at that statement. I knew it would happen someday, but I was sure he would prolong my departure as much as possible just to be sure he has me under his wraps all the time.
The law of this kingdom states that every noble has to go through an education system, but it doesn’t specify the exact age at which children must go to school. Only that they have to apply by the age of ten. So, I should have three years left before I have to go there. Well, it doesn’t seem to be the case anymore. A lot of nobles send their heirs earlier, especially the poorer ones, to make some new ties, and because it’s less expensive than hiring private tutors. Classes are set by age, so kids who didn’t learn basics at home have a hard time at the academy.
“What kind of test?”
“Come with me.”
He said, without even looking at me, and left the office. We continued to walk along the hallway in silence. Then we arrived at the stairs to the basement. I was wondering what was going on. What kind of test does he have in mind? To my surprise, the test wasn’t going to be held here, in the basement. Instead, we walk through a heavy door sealed by four locks. It was a dungeon. I didn’t even know we had one here, but as it turns out, we did. I suddenly got a bad premonition. And then, arriving at a third door on the left from the entrance, father unlocked the wooden door, and I saw. I saw something I didn’t want to see. A woman covered in bruises. She was immobilized due to the shackles on her hands and legs. But what struck me the most is the fact that I knew that woman.
“Kill her! It’s your test.”