The story of a crazy man

After a good night's sleep, I woke up revitalized, I was getting ready to get dressed, but first I contemplated my own body in the mirror, soon I will be 14 years old and my body was slowly becoming that of a woman, it will be more difficult to maintain my male facade.

The Leonora of the game was quite tall, for feminine standards of course, according to the game notes Leonora averaged 1.72, which was quite a lot when the average in Karris was 1.64, but due to the kind of life she had led, she gave the impression of having a slight degree of malnutrition, that's why she was a tall, flat and a bit gloomy girl, in my first lives, that aspect haunted me every time I reached the same age as the Leonora of the game, but currently because in these lives things go very much in my favor, and I can have a better diet and exercise, that's why it's easy for me to reach 1.75 or even 1.77, this height helps me a lot to pass for a man, but I still have very feminine features such as thin hands, a narrow back, and wide hips, plus soon I will have to start taking measures to disguise my voice.

Unfortunately for better or worse, with flat there isn't much change regardless of food, I've just never been particularly gifted, so I don't have much to hide in that regard.

I looked away from the mirror and finished dressing, and left my room.

I had plans for today, but they were for later in the day and I was in no particular hurry,

For now I'll go see Camille, and while I'm at it I'll go see what Irma has done with Roja.

I went to Camille's room, and knocked on the door, she tells me I can come in, and as I enter I find her surrounded by several dozen wrappers, for a moment I wondered what they could be, but there were a couple open and I could tell that in those wrappers were the dresses that Aisha had bought her.

Obviously we couldn't take all the dresses with us that day, so I ordered him to send them to our room in the castle and from there, we sent him to my house, but it's strange that no one had helped him unwrap and put away his clothes.

(Camille) Good morning Mr. Leon, I apologize for the mess, but I'm more than halfway through.

(Leonora) Nobody wanted to help you put your clothes away?

I insist that this is strange, the dresses should have arrived a day before we arrived, although I had not said where Camille would stay until we arrived, and that is why the clothes had not been put away, the moment I said she would stay in a guest room, the servants must have arranged everything for her.

(Camille) No, it's not that, when Aunt Irma... I mean Miss Irma... I mean...

(Leonora) if it's easier for you, you can refer to Irma as aunt all the time, I don't think she will mind, anyway it's the story we have to follow.

(Camille) is fine.

The story we had prepared for Camille was that she is the daughter of Irma's younger sister, and her mother had sent her here due to various family situations, and thanks to all the years of service Irma had dedicated to my father, he had left the order to take care of little Camille.

But there was a fact that a more observant person will end up noticing, and that is the fact that Camille and I look alike, there are people who will simply believe that our features are common in the people of Tarrazzca, but for people who want to investigate further, we had prepared another story where Camille was the illegitimate daughter that my father had with Irma, and to avoid tarnishing the memory of my father, we hid that fact, for now I think that with both stories we can justify the existence of Camille.

(Leonora) But then tell me, why are you doing this by yourself?

(Camille) I asked for it this way, when Aunt Irma gave me this room, she told me that the dresses had already arrived, she offered to do the job, but I told her that I wanted to do it myself.

For a moment I thought she was doing that so as not to disturb anyone, but upon closer inspection, I saw that she had placed a small mirror behind where she was working unwrapping the dresses, it was obvious that she was trying on each dress before putting it away.

The image of her unwrapping a dress, putting it on, and modeling for herself in front of the mirror made me laugh, and at the same time made me angry, I don't think she's ever had so many clothes in her life.

(Leonora) very well, I just stopped by to ask if you need anything, and how you were adjusting to life here.

(Camille) you have already given me many things Mr. Leon, even more than I needed, but I still don't feel comfortable to be here doing nothing, tell me Mr. Leon, isn't there something I could help you with?

There is really little that Camille can help me with now, and I would rather she enjoy her childhood than have her doing anything, but from what I have come to learn about her, she won't be happy until she finds something she feels useful doing, so I think it's best to keep her busy with something.

(Leonora) for now it is more important that you learn to use your unique magic, but unfortunately there are not many essence magicians in the world, which makes it so valuable, so it would be very difficult to find a tutor to teach you, for now I am gathering texts that talk about essence magic, when they are ready, your duty will be to study and master them.

Hearing those words, Camille's face lit up and she was about to jump for joy, but she restrained herself at the last moment, and did her best to pretend that nothing had happened.

(Camille) Very well Mr. Leon, I promise I will study tirelessly.

Camille clenched her small fists, and her eyes practically glowed from her determination.

Well, that will keep her with a goal in mind, from then on it's just a matter of her not overdoing it with the study.

I said goodbye to Camille and left her room, and set out to look for Irma, she would have appeared the instant I called her, but sometimes I would try to find her, just to see what she was doing when she wasn't with me, so far nothing really interesting, just evaluating the work of others or her own.

I walked through the mansion until I got close to the kitchen, there I could hear Irma's voice and I also thought I heard Roja's voice, without entering, I just went closer to the frame to hear what he was saying.

(Irma) incorrect, once again.

(Diana) Okay ma'am.

(Irma) regrettable, say it again.

(Diana) As I ordered, ma'am.

(Irma) unacceptable, do it again.

(Diana) As you wish, ma'am.

I have no idea what was going on in there, but I'd rather not know, so I'd better get some breakfast.

After breakfast, I spend a moment in my workshop, where I had the inventions of my original life that I was trying to replicate, I really wasn't in the mood to work today, and in this life I don't really think a specific invention is necessary, so I just sat in a chair and bounced a ball against the wall until almost noon, I usually do this to get my ideas flowing, but today I couldn't come up with anything.

I was about to get up and leave when there was a knock at the door, I have an order not to bother me when I am in my workshop, unless it is something important, of course, so I wondered what it could be this time.

I leave the room and a servant informs me that the viscount had sent a letter announcing his visit for today, this is good news, my plans for today were to find out things about Aisha's other suitor, and it is likely that her father has come to talk about just that, so it will save me the work.

I request that lunch be served earlier than usual today, as lunch is always a good time for the viscount to be more talkative than usual, and I go to the main hall to receive the viscount.

Shortly after noon, the viscount arrives in his elegant carriage, and as he gets out, it almost seems as if the carriage has rested since it no longer has to carry the viscount.

As I had already said, the viscount was a rather leafy man, to put it in an elegant way, I understand that in his youth he was in the army, and although Karris has not had a war in more than a century, he has constantly had to repel the attack of the barbarian tribes that invade the frontiers and the various beasts that inhabit this world, I understand that in his youth the viscount was a great soldier, but after more than 3 decades without even touching a sword, and devoting himself fully to his greatest pleasure which was always food, he has left his mark.

The viscount stops before me, so I shake his hand and invite him in. Once in the great hall, I order coffee to be served and we sit facing each other.

(Viscount) thank you for accepting my visit on such short notice.

(Leonora) No problem sir, it is always a pleasure to receive you.

A couple of maids serve the coffee and leave immediately, the viscount in turn takes his cup and meditates for a moment before taking a sip.

(Viscount) I think you should already know the reason for my visit.

(Leonora) I think I can get an idea.

The viscount sighed at length, and set his cup on the table.

(Viscount) You know boy, this kingdom is wrong, there are so many things that should be changed and people don't do it, sometimes out of malice and other times out of simple apathy.

You yourself do not understand how right you are.

(Viscount) among them, marriage of convenience, is one of the customs that I like the least, since I was young I saw family, friends, and even my own parents, how being forced to marry perfect strangers for simple political reasons made them miserable, that's why I joined the army to escape from all that.

The viscount paused for a moment, and raised his head slightly, as if reliving a memory.

(Viscount) but when I tried to flee from my own misery, I only found more misery, maybe for us northerners it is impossible, but the south of the kingdom is bad, very bad, it almost seems like a different place.

(Leonora) there is no reason to go so far away, in the capital itself you can see the misery she is talking about.

(Viscount) yes, you are right, even the heart of the kingdom is rotten and no one seems to notice anything.

The viscount ran his hand through his thick beard, and continued.

(Viscount) was why I left the army, and returned to my homeland, to claim my title as the lord of these lands, around the same time I met Bashira and we fell in love, when I defied my own father and became the lord of Quarel, it was the high point of my life, I had a beautiful wife I loved, a lot of ideas to change the world, and a bright future.

The viscount raised his hand for a moment, almost as if he wanted to reach for something, but abruptly withdrew his hand.

(Viscount) but dreams and good ideas are not enough, for years I wanted to change things, but nobody paid attention to me, for the whole world I was just a madman, a poor devil who did not know how the world works, but I became so obsessed with my dream, that on the way I neglected my wife, and poor Bashira did not deserve that, when I realized my own mistakes maybe it was too late.

The viscount was silent for a moment, and his countenance darkened.

It was at that time that I myself fell victim to apathy, I stopped trying to change the kingdom and settled for Quarel to be an egalitarian and prosperous city, and I concentrated on fixing my relationship with my wife, soon after Aisha was born and I made a promise to myself that I would make sure she would be happy, I would not have a marriage of convenience, she would not have to follow my steps if she did not want to, I would not have to do anything she did not want to do, she would be free.

The viscount was silent again, but for the first time in the conversation his gesture relaxed, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

(Viscount) but one day something happened, a letter arrived at my office, that letter was written by an unbalanced man, a man who did not know how the world works, a madman some would say, that man was your father.

The viscount grinned from ear to ear and continued.

(Viscount) in his letter speaks of a world that did not need magic to function, a world where everyone was equal, a world where everyone could decide their destiny, and that he had heard of me, he had heard that I was also a madman.

He laughed softly and continued.

(Viscount) since that moment we kept in touch, unlike me, who only had ideas, he had solutions and for the first time, I believed that maybe my dream was not something impossible, I began to help him, and all his ideas bore fruit, but the conflict in Tarrazzca became complicated, and he was forced to migrate to Karris, it was then that he told me about you, he came up with the idea of sealing our agreement by committing our children.

(Leonora) Yes, my father told me about it.

The viscount sighed and continued.

(Viscount) at first I was not sure, I had promised that I would let her choose her own destiny, that's why I asked as a condition that you would get to know each other and if at some point I saw that things were not going well, I would cancel the engagement, but to my good fortune you got along well right away, when you were together, I had never seen my little girl so happy, and again I thought that was the high point of my life.

At that moment the viscount's smile disappeared, and his countenance became somber.

(Viscount) but again, things changed, Leon, maybe you don't understand, since we never really saw eye to eye, he and I were always busy, we were always working on the future we believed in, but your father Leon, was the best friend I ever had, he and I were a couple of crazies, and now, he's gone.

Her voice cracked, and she hid her face with her hands for a moment.

(Viscount) they took him away from us, Leon, they took him away from us....

There was a lump in my throat, and I didn't know how to respond; to my luck, the viscount kept talking.

(Leonora) Leon, I have seen you grow up, I know you, I know you are strong and determined, and I don't doubt for a moment that you will succeed where I and your father failed, but there is something else I need to know.

(Leonora) you wish to know sir.

(viscount) Leon, son, you told me that you don't love my daughter, but she is important to you, is that true?

(Leonora) Yes, she is very important to me.

(Viscount) but tell me, can you make her happy?

That's a stupid question, Aisha is my best friend, she not only shares a similar fate to mine being a villain, Aisha was the first person who stood up for me, at a time when I had nothing, and that's why the debt I owe her, is very big.

(Leonora) Yes, I can and I will.

(Viscount) then, I entrust my daughter to you, please make her happy.