The Life I Refuse To Waste [Slow Burn | Isekai | Remastered ]

Zeldryn sat on the bed while waiting for Hera to arrive. There was not much he could do in the meantime. He had no phone, no computer, and no internet, and he did not even dare touch any books yet because he was afraid he might fail to understand the writing in this world and create even more suspicion.

In the end, his attention returned to the Mana particles drifting through the air inside the room. They emitted a faint golden-yellow glow, with some shining like tiny fragments of light while others were nearly transparent and could only be seen when observed carefully. Countless particles filled the room, some floating almost motionlessly while others moved slowly along invisible currents.

Several particles crossed paths and even appeared to collide, but instead of affecting one another, they simply passed through without changing direction.

The sight reminded Zeldryn of illustrations of atoms he had seen in the modern world. The difference was that these things were actually floating right in front of his eyes.

"So this is Mana?"

Zeldryn raised one hand and tried touching a particle that passed near his face. His finger went straight through it without the slightest sensation. There was no warmth, cold, pressure, or texture of any kind, and the golden-yellow particle continued moving as though his hand had never been there.

He tried again, this time cupping both hands together in an attempt to catch several particles at once. However, when he opened his palms, there was nothing inside. The Mana had simply passed through his hands and continued along its original flow.

"So it can't be touched?"

Zeldryn then blew at one of the particles drifting in front of him. It did not move even slightly. He blew harder, but nothing changed, and even after slapping the air several times, every Mana particle continued moving as usual.

"So physical force can't affect it at all."

He lowered his hands and resumed observing the golden-yellow light filling the room. Before long, his thoughts shifted toward a different question.

Why had he suddenly become capable of seeing Mana?

When he first woke up in this world, he had not seen any particles at all. Everything had changed only after he tried imagining Mana inside his mind. At the time, after concentrating for quite a while, he had managed to form the image of a single Mana particle. It had been only one, small and simple, but its shape had felt extremely clear inside his mind.

Not long afterward, he began seeing similar particles in the real world.

Zeldryn narrowed his eyes.

'Could it be that after I successfully formed a Mana particle inside my mind, my brain became capable of recognizing the Mana in the real world?' Zeldryn thought.

Perhaps Mana had filled the entire room from the very beginning. His brain and eyes had simply been incapable of recognizing its existence, and successfully imagining a Mana particle might have changed something within him that allowed him to perceive it directly.

However, Zeldryn quickly shook his head.

That was not necessarily true. It was only speculation, and he had no evidence to support it.

He also did not know whether other Mana users went through the same process or were capable of seeing Mana from birth. Perhaps the previous Zeldryn had already possessed this ability. Perhaps it had appeared because of the injury to his head, or maybe Reka's soul entering this body had caused some kind of change.

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There was no way to confirm any of those possibilities.

"The more I think about it, the more questions I get."

Zeldryn raised his hand again and tried tapping a Mana particle drifting toward him, but before his finger could reach it, three knocks came from the bedroom door.

Knock. Knock. Knock.

His movement immediately stopped.

"E-excuse me, my lord. It is Hera."

Zeldryn lowered his hand.

"Come in."

He had already prepared countless questions inside his head. He wanted to ask about this world, the Giorry family, the territory surrounding the mansion, the Mana system, and why he had been placed so far away from the main residence.

The bedroom door slowly opened.

However, the moment Hera stepped inside, every question Zeldryn had prepared vanished from his mind.

She was not wearing her usual maid uniform. Instead, Hera wore clothing that was much thinner and more revealing, with barely enough fabric to properly cover her body. Her face was flushed with embarrassment, both hands were tightly clasped in front of her, and her gaze remained fixed on the floor.

Zeldryn immediately rose from the bed.

"Hera, why are you wearing something like that?"

The question came out instinctively and slightly louder than he intended because of his shock.

Hera's body immediately stiffened. Her breathing grew uneven, and her fingers tightened around the fabric of her clothes.

"P-please do not humiliate me any further, my lord," Hera said, her voice trembling with fear, embarrassment, and confusion. "W-weren't you the one who ordered me to come to your bedroom tonight?"

Zeldryn fell silent.

The words he had spoken in the dining room immediately returned to his mind.

"Call Hera to my bedroom tonight. I have something to discuss with her."

He also remembered the expression of the servant who had received that order. She had looked angry and seemed to be holding something back, but Zeldryn had not understood why at the time.

His eyes slowly widened.

'Shit,' Zeldryn thought. 'So that was what her expression meant?'

Zeldryn finally understood the misunderstanding. The servant must have delivered the order to Hera while believing that he intended to do something terrible again, and Hera herself had apparently made the same assumption because of the previous Zeldryn's habits.

Another misunderstanding.

Zeldryn rubbed his face.

"No. That isn't what I meant."

Hera continued looking down, not daring to meet his eyes.

"Go back to your room first."

Her body became even stiffer, most likely because she thought she had made another mistake.

Before the misunderstanding could become even worse, Zeldryn immediately continued.

"Fix your clothes. Put on what you normally wear."

Hera slowly raised her face, her eyes filled with confusion.

"After that, come back here." Zeldryn pointed toward the door. "I did not summon you for something like that."

Hera remained silent.

"I genuinely have important business with you. There are many things I want to ask."

The embarrassment was still obvious on Hera's face, and her fear had not completely disappeared either. She had no way of knowing whether Zeldryn was telling the truth or merely toying with her.

However, after several seconds, Hera finally lowered her head.

"Y-yes, my lord."

Her voice was extremely quiet.

Hera turned around and walked toward the door, her movements stiff as she continued struggling with her embarrassment. Before leaving, she stopped for a moment as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, not a single word left her mouth.

The door slowly closed behind her with a quiet click.

Zeldryn was alone inside the room once more. He remained motionless for several seconds before dropping back onto the bed.

"Another misunderstanding?"

He stared at the bedroom ceiling.

"How long is this crap going to keep happening?"

Zeldryn ruffled his hair in frustration.

"I'm already sick of it."

Ever since waking up, he had constantly been dealing with problems left behind by the previous owner of this body. The servants were terrified of him, Hera was deeply traumatized, and Henry and Aeglo had used his name to do whatever they pleased.

Now, simply because he had summoned Hera to his bedroom at night, the entire mansion probably believed he was doing something horrible again.

"You left behind way too much depravity, stupidity, and other terrible shit, you bastard Zeldryn."

Since morning, he had felt as though he had finally begun improving the servants' impression of him. He had returned their greetings, punished Henry and Aeglo, and distributed food without making the servants suspicious.

Yet with a single sentence, all of that work might have been ruined.

"I just managed to repair my reputation a little, and now I've screwed it up again."

Zeldryn released a long sigh and imagined the previous owner of the body standing directly in front of him, wearing the same face he now possessed but with an irritating smile.

He immediately raised his middle finger toward the ceiling.

"You really were a bastard, original Zeldryn."

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