Incident ~ Chapter 4

Sunshine painted the Astra House's Twilight Manor in a wonderful shade of bright blue. A servant working away at the Florana Garden behind the building wiped away a bead of sweat as he finished his masterpiece. It was a midsummer's day in the Astra Fiefdom, clear skies with not a cloud in sight, a nice ambient breeze cooling off those working in the fields. Summer was the time where they would need to maintain their crops as best as they could for the harvest would come not long from now in autumn. All was well for the common populous, for they had no insight to the happenings in the shadows. 

...

Roel covered Ariana with a blanket as she had passed out onto his bed. While the weather outside the mansion was steaming, the temperature and climate inside were regulated to a precise degree. Roel guessed they were using some sort of magic tool to regulate the temperature within such a large manor. While he had only been reincarnated for about half a day, he had observed everything around him in utmost detail. 

The design of this entire room resembles something out of the Victorian Period back on earth. The lighting is handled through what I'm guessing are spheres of mana enclosed in some sort of glass substance. They automatically turn off once the sun rises so I wonder if there is some kind of time limitation or whether it's programmed.

Since the second he woke up, he was running through these details. Coming up with different guesses and then trying to see which one fits best. All he needed to do was work up something that seemed convincing enough, just a rough idea so to speak. The details are something that can be easily learned afterward. While Roel was lost in his own thoughts, he heard a light knock on the door which caused him to flinch, accompannied by a cute voice. 

"Roel-sama, are you awake?"

"Y-yes I'm awake. What's the matter?"

Roel's started panicking when he heard the maid knocking. Despite his heartbeat shooting up into space from the jumpscare he got, he attempted to sound composed.  

"I came to tell you that your bath has been prepared. Please go down and wash up while I clean your room."

"W-wait! I'm u-uh...a little busy right now!"

"Roel-sama?"

There's no way I can let her come inside my room! Ariana doesn't even have her clothes on!! Fuck, what do I do?

Roel's head was spinning from the unexpected variable. He absolutely no matter what couldn't let the maid inside the room. If Ariana had her clothes on he could atleast play it off as her just taking a nap, it would still be odd but they wouldn't think much of it. But she's completely naked! 

"Ugh..."

Groaning out of frustration he realised the only thing he could do is either try and somehow get Ariana out of here, or get the maid to leave. After mulling about it for a couple seconds, he realised that getting Ariana out of here was probably the best way to avoid suspicion. Understanding what he needed to do, he had to stall for a little time to get Ariana out of here. 

"I just woke up so I'll get down to the bath in 10 minutes. Come back then."

"Understood Roel-sama"

Hearing the fading footsteps out in the coridor, Roel made his way to where Ariana was sleeping. He took off the blanket she had ontop of her and tried to avoid looking at sensitive spots. It wouldn't be good if he got hard again. After a bit of light shaking, Ariana's eyes fluttered open. 

"Mmrgh? Hmm? Roel?...." 

"Mother we need to get you back to your own room."

"Huh? My room......Ah-"

Ariana was confused by the distressed looking Roel and it took her brain some time to catch up to what he was saying. When she finally caught sight of her naked body, she remembered the act she and Roel had done. Her face instantly reddened out of embarrassment, but she didn't regret a single thing. A moment later, her heated expression changed as she realised the position the both of them were in.

"W-wait, Roel....the maid...did the maid's see?!"

"Don't worry she didn't come in, I made an excuse, but we don't have a lot of time."

"T-then...how am I supposed to get back? There's no way they wouldn't see me." 

Ariana's expression got more and more panicked. The circle of nobility wasn't one of debating truthfully out in the open, it was all about gossiping and dragging individuals down in the shadows. While the chances were highly unlikely, there was a chance that one of the servants in the Twilight Manor would sell this information for compensation. The news that the matriarch of the esteemed Astra house had slept with her own son would not only put a stain on their family, they would be dealt a trial of death. Even forgetting the reprocussions for herself, Roel would likely be issued the same trial. Duke Frenca was highly unlikely to intervine seeing as his wife had been unfaithful and the backstabbing betrayal of Roel, his own son, would sting doubly so. Thankfully for her, Roel had come up with a solution, though it had conditions too. 

"[Hypnosis Wave]"

"Huh....." Ariana's eyes went blank while Roel began giving his orders. 

"You are to never speak of my powers to anyone I do not approve of. Unless your life is in danger, do not ever tell anyone about what I'm about to do."

"Yes Darling." 

"Where is your room?"

"The third room at the east side of the mansion, the very last one."

"We're going to go now, don't let go of me until I say so."

"Huh...Y-yes darling."

I guess it's time to test my second blessing....

Roel stepped forward and wrapped his arm around Ariana, firmly holding onto her. Ariana flinched as she felt his hands grabbing onto her but obediently complied. After making sure she was secure, Roel closed his eyes and began to activate his second blessing, [Reality Resonance]. [Reality Resonance] was an ability that was in theory infinite. It had no limit to the things it could do. The entire concept was based around having a clear mental image of the task or ability you want done. If you wanted to create fire, you would have to clearly imagine an image of a flame, and then [Reality Resonance] would take that concept and turn it into an ability to control fire. As long as you had a defined understanding of what you wanted to do, you could do it. What Roel was attempting right now though, almost felt like trying to run before you could walk.

Golden particles of mana started swirling around the pair of them, warping the space in the bedroom. Ariana didn't understand what was happening. Space was one area of magic that was very sparsely explored. The reason why? It was nearly impossible to tamper with. While there were many theories in circulation, none of them could be factually proven because no one had a way to interact with the very fabric of space. Ariana could now understand why Roel had ordered her to not divulge such a great secret. As more and more of the golden mana condensed around them, the area around them distorted to a greater level before collapsing on itself. Their vision went dark and they felt weightless, almost as if in zero gravity, before their surroundings started warping back. This time however, they were in Ariana's bedroom. 

While the teleportation might have felt like an eternity for both of them, in reality it was only a couple seconds. Roel looked up to see a rose pink ceiling with a luxurious crystal chandelier hanging from it. The huge king size bed was right below the shining art piece. While he wanted to explore around Ariana's bedroom to see if there were any secrets, that would need to wait for another time. He quickly made sure Ariana was okay before turning around and warping back to his bedroom. It was just as rough as the first time, likely due to the lack of practice. A couple seconds after Roel walked into the room, he heard a knock on the door. 

Perfect timing eh?

"Roel-sama, are you ready yet? The bath is getting cold."

"Yes I'm ready. Lead me to the bath."

Roel opened the door with an exhausted smile but his expression became confused as he looked out. He turned his head side to side before looking down to see an adorable cat-eared maid looking up at him. 

Fluffy.....