Flashbacks

Leonard was having cold sweat and his heart was beating like crazy, it felt like it would explode from how crazy it was beating.

Leonard knows how innocent Lorraine is, she could mention at the dinner table about Leonard not being in his room accidentally and it could get him in trouble.

Naturally, Richard was against Lenneza and Leonard being in the infiltration team in the underground city, but due to Lenneza's convincing he yielded.

But after that Richard strictly warned Leonard and Lenneza not to do such a thing again. But if Lorraine ever mentioned that Leonard wasn't in his room…

Leonard could only imagine what kind of punishment Richard would give him and how it would hinder his operations.

But it seems that wouldn't happen, he managed to come up with a good excuse for being up all night on his computer.

He looked at the time on his phone and it states 7:18 AM, Leonard would rather take the entire morning to sleep.

***

Lenneza found it strange that Leonard took all his night to code. Lenneza was not sure whether to doubt him or not, whilst Lenneza still didn't know about Leonard's full personality since she only knew him in his diary.

That doesn't mean there is no room for doubt, then Lenneza remembered.

"Leonard uses speakers, not headsets…"

Lorraine knocked twice, and the room was very quiet. Leonard was into some strange stuff rather than just coding, Lenneza couldn't help but smirk.

"Leo~ you could fool Lori… but not me~"

She then closed her mouth and realized she sounded crazy. So she just continued walking with Lorraine.

They headed towards the dining room. It was a wide room that accommodates a lot of people, considering the number of chairs.

When the door was opened, Richard was there, sitting at the very edge of the table sipping some coffee. When he saw the two girls walk in he placed down his cup of coffee.

"Prepare breakfast."

He looked at a maid on standby. Then he looked at the two girls who sat down next to each other and raised a brow.

"Where's Leo?"

"Oh! Brother s-stayed up all night on his computer!" Lorraine happily replied.

"..."

Richard smiled in reverse as he just witnessed Lorraine talk about his brother. But his reaction was quite bland, he just shrugged and waited for breakfast and ate with the kids.

"Lenneza"

"Y-yes?" Lenneza flinched.

"Tell me later."

Lenneza sighed, Richard caught on way too quickly. Or rather Richard already knows, when Richard was eating, Lenneza swore she saw Richard smirk.

If Lenneza guessed wrong, then Richard already knew something and Richard was just waiting for an opportunity to strike in.

Whilst all of this was happening, Lorraine maintained being oblivious. Which was her usual thing.

***

"achoo!"

Leonard scratched behind his ears and asked himself, 'Is there someone talking about me?'

Leonard woke up later and found out it was already afternoon, he took the whole morning to gain the missing sleep he owed his body.

After waking up he felt haggard, and he felt a strain on his heart. Probably from using magic nonstop or either the number of times he was nervous whilst trying to suppress his heartbeat.

But whatever, Leonard stood up and washed his face. He rang a bell beside his drawer and a maid came in.

"Bring me a light meal."

The maid bowed and left without a word, Leonard opened up his computer like a 21st-century degenerate and started coding. Last week he used all his energy to observe the palace of the Imperial Archives.

Now he has a chance to catch up on what he missed. He checked the coding he placed on a coding app named Java, it was the same as Java on Earth.

"Minecraft could be developed here huh…"

But he shook his head, as the future head, someone will have a use on a social media app rather than a game. So focusing on that is a priority.

In today's world, even though the calendar is from the 1700s it is the same on Earth in the early 21st century. Leonard's phone is a cell phone. It's new compared to the mainstream feature phone that was popular in the Empire about 6 years ago.

So with today's phones, Leonard was planning a few things, According to his tutor in coding. To have the apps he coded to be set up and used it would be wise to release them in the current play store that is widely used in phones.

Previously, there were still two weeks before the trial. But now Leonard had used one whole week and there is still a week left.

Whilst he was coding he didn't neglect his exercise routine, even though he woke up at the wrong time he continued his exercise.

There are now signs of him being healthier, although he is still deciding on his martial art, he doesn't need to worry as there are still two more years before he gets admitted to the Academy.

"too many things to think about…"

Leonard sighed. He leaned back in his chair and started thinking about a few things.

He prioritized the Trial first, after that they would have more freedom, by his plans after the trial he would meet his fiancee. Which would be Yula.

–sigh.

"Yula… you manipulative sadist."

Leonard could only place a hand on his face. Remembering those days made him sick.

The only way for him to cope is by trying to actively change what he thinks so he wouldn't remember it.

In the end, Leonard just turned off his computer, He decided to walk out to cool his head.

The moment he got into the garden, he could feel the mana around a certain place fluctuate to a high degree.

"Lenneza must be practicing magic."

There are two more buildings near the mansion, one that the Knights and mages like Lenneza use. After all, the land the duchy owns is quite large, it would be strange if there are no training grounds but there are barracks for knights.

"Should I pay her a visit?"

Leonard looked in the distance before sighing and walking towards the training grounds of mages.

***

Lenneza conjured a low-grade spell. It was simply a fireball, however, she wasn't satisfied with the outcome. The flame danced on her hands and it illuminated her surroundings with purple light.

"Not enough…"

She aimed the flame towards the dummies that were set up in the distance, the Flames flew like they were shot from a bow, and in a straight line, they hit the target.

—fwuish!

The purple flame scorched the surface of the dummy before ultimately leaving black chars all over the place. Lenneza sighed at the sight of poor dummies before sitting down in a nearby chair and drinking water from a bottle.

She was remembering how Leonard and Yula's first encounter was, that time she was walking on the third floor of the mansion looking down at the garden.

In the gazebo, two figures were sitting, Leonard and his fiancee Yula. Due to rumors, the maid that was with Yula is openly showing her hostility towards Leonard.

But Leonard, whose job is to be a third-rate villain at the time ignored, or for his job, was unaware. He openly showed his insecurities and was openly rude towards Yula, making demands and whatnot.

By memory Lenneza could tell that Leonard was acting genuinely, his emotions were scattered at that time. The time of the talk on the first iteration was when they were twelve.

But now it was moved way too early, just 10 years old. Maybe it was because Richard had nothing to worry about. But that doesn't mean it's a good thing.

When Leonard finished acting his script back on the first iteration, in the garden Yula had such a degrading gaze towards Leonard. This got worse later on, in terms of mental damage Yula was number 1 out of all the heroines.

There is also a time when Leonard broke down in front of Lenneza in the first iteration, and at that time, she couldn't help but feel guilt. That time when he broke down was probably not acting.

—knock knock.

The knock was loud as if it wanted to garner attention, so Lenneza couldn't help but place her gaze towards the door on which Leonard was leaning.

"Hello Sister"

Leonard gave a soft ambiguous smile, only God knows what emotion he is displaying by this smile. Lenneza couldn't help but stare, she looked at the Leonard today and the Leonard from the first iteration.

Then a flashback washed over her. Leonard was on all fours and his head was down. He was full of sweat and he was breathing heavily and abruptly, he was hyperventilating.

Then he raised his head, his eyes were bloodshot and devoid of life. His jaws were clenched the moment he saw Lenneza.

"What fuck are you looking at?! Do you think I'm pitiful? Ha?!"

His voice was cracking and it was full of energy, Lenneza back then looked at Leonard with contempt.

Perhaps Lenneza was staring too much that Leonard shook her shoulders. She was snapped back to her current reality.

"Hey, you kept looking at me, what's wrong?"

Leonard looked at her with furrowed brows, when Lenneza realized she was being reminded of the past she shook her head.

"No I just thought of your head, it looked like red grass."

"Do you want me to slap you?"

"Hahaha~ not really, so why is my cute little brother going to the magic training Center?"

"To train magic obviously." Leonard sneered.

"Aww don't be salty~"

Leonard just sighed, he came here to ask for a spar. But now he wants a bonding time.

"Hey, sister." Leonard looked at Lenneza with a mysterious look in his eyes. "Why won't we have a battle of a mage?"

Lenneza's brows jumped, why would Leonard want a battle of the mage? Well, then again they're at the magic training Center.

"Hmm… let's go to the amphitheater"

"All right."

Leonard and Lenneza walked side by side and walked towards the amphitheater, it's not far since every training center has one of its arenas anyways.

"Why did Leo want to have a battle of a mage with me?"

Battle of a mage, it's quite simple, it's on the name there's no need to explain. Battle of a mage is a simple battle of spells, with no physical interaction at all.

It's a battle of knowledge and wits. One has to battle with their magic alone, one might think it's quite a simple, straightforward battle. But in this Battle of a mage, you're not going to move from your place, unless it's by magic.

"Nothing much, I just wish to have this time to know how much Sister has grown."

"... Really?"

"No, I just want to fight you."

Lenneza looked at Leonard weirdly, and Leonard just laughed.

"C'mon sister, I just wanted to have a good fight with you, besides even if I lose I'd learn a thing or two," Leonard spoke all jolly.

"right."

Lenneza nodded, Battle of a mage isn't that complicated, one attack and one either defend or counter, the more the fight goes on the more you know your enemy. You can learn a few things from this battle.

Once the two entered their location, Lenneza and Leonard went in place, a few meters apart from the two Leonard looked forward.

"Ready?"

Lenneza nodded.

First, none decided to move, they tried to read each other before ultimately moving.

The first to move was Leonard, a Low-grade spell, fireball, it was colored blue, something that Lenneza didn't expect.

This was countered with a low-grade spell, blazing wind, which is a strong gust of wind, combined with dust it would make the enemy voluntarily close their eyes.

Leonard was surprised albeit momentarily, his next move was a low-grade spell, tremor, an earth elemental spell.

The battle went on for a few hours, both were good at circulating their mana so it lasted longer because they were efficient in using many of their spells.

Their battle wouldn't stop until 2 hours later.

"Huff… huff… okay sister you win."

Lenneza smiled as Leonard suddenly placed his hands on his knees, both were sweaty as they rapidly used their spells on each other.

Lenneza was feeling smug about her win, however, when Leonard who was bent over and relying on his knees for support looked at Lenneza, it overlapped with the image of Leonard who was broken down, and Lenneza's good mood was broken.

"Sister, why are your expressions sour? I didn't hold back, you know?"

"Ah… no, it's nothing."

Leonard could tell that it was not just nothing, so he tried to think of a topic before ultimately sitting down.

"Sister— no, Lenneza."

"..! Y-yes?"

Leonard has always called Lenneza sister, whilst it is the formal way of calling someone family, it was also rather distant. So when Leonard called Lenneza by her name she couldn't help but twitch at the sudden call.

Leonard wasn't bothered by this and looked at her seriously.

"What do you think of my soon-to-be fiance?"

"... The Hereon?"

Leonard nodded.

"Hmm…"

Lenneza looked down and sat beside Leonard. She has made her decision to help the kidnapped kids so Yula could avoid being engaged to Leonard. That was her plan. However, instead of stopping it, the other party continued with their attack.

"Well, as long as she knows her place you can get engaged I guess."

Leonard looked at Lenneza, his emotions were unknown as his expression was quite blank. This made Lenneza a bit uneasy.

"Don't worry Lenneza…" Leonard gave an abrupt pause then smiled quite devilishly. "I'll make sure she knows her place."

For the first time, Lenneza felt chills down her spine.