* * *

Reincarnation.

A fantastical notion that many believed to exist, but at the same time many did not believe in.

Raon did not believe in rebirth either.

He had been indoctrinated his whole life, and when he broke free from it he was busy with preparations to escape House Robert. As such, he did not even consider such absurd thoughts.

He thought that death was the end.

However…

“Sunshine, look here!”

A beautiful lady, with red eyes and soft golden locks that flowed down over her shoulder, shook the blue-coloured baby rattle.

“There is also a red one!”

She held out a red-coloured one in her left hand as well.

Rattle!

Though he wrinkled his face at the sound of the rattles hitting each other, the blonde lady did not stop her shaking.

“Aboo.”

Raon gave a soft sigh and reached out for the baby rattle.

“Yes! Come this way!”

The blonde lady breamed broadly and shook the baby rattle more excitedly.

There were two things in his field of view. A pair of arms, chubby like sausages, and a lady shaking the baby rattle.

'I still can't get used to this. These arms are my arms, and that lady is my mother…'

The lady's name was Sylvia. Though it was still pretty unbelievable, he had reincarnated into that lady's child whilst retaining the memories of his past life as an assassin.

He had naturally regarded it as a dream at first.

He thought that everything would be over after he got some sleep, but he never seemed to awaken from this strange dream, no matter how much he slept.

And so the days had dubiously passed to become one hundred days, and it was only then that Raon accepted the fact that he had, in fact, reincarnated.

“Sunshine! Over here!”

“woo!”

When he slowly crawled towards the baby rattle, Sylvia stepped back little by little.

“Yes! A little more!”

Raon followed Sylvia as he crawled and reached his hand out towards the rattle.

“Aboo…”

But his body could not endure the weight of his heavy head and started leaning towards the right.

“Oh!”

Sylvia flung the baby rattle away and threw her body towards Raon, embracing him in her arms.

'She's quick.'

Her body was very fast. Though he could not detect aura, it seemed that she had acquainted herself with some appropriate martial arts.

“Were you surprised? It's alright. It's fine.”

Sylvia patted Raon's back.

“Ooh.”

Raon shook his hand. Her patting did not stop although he showed that he was not at all surprised and all right.

“My Sunshine, shall we go see the flowers?”

Sylvia walked over to the window and opened the curtains whilst carrying him. The warm sunlight shone gently, like a soft cotton blanket.

'How can she still call me Sunshine…?'

'Sunshine', as Sylvia called him, was not his actual name. It was a baby bump name.

It was the head of house who had to come and choose his name, but he appeared to be terribly busy and Raon had yet to see a sign of him.

Thus, there was no choice but to be called by the baby bump name 'Sunshine', even after more than a hundred days had passed.

'Whew…'

Raon looked about, still in Sylvia's arms.

The room was wide enough to be able to run around in, the walls had a luxurious secoloured wallpaper, and there was magic lighting hanging from the ceiling that lit up, even at night.

He could not determine much, for his body was a baby's and slept more than twenty hours a day, but one thing was certain.

This was a wealthy family, and one with quite the reputation at that.

'Not bad.'

A rich or powerful family was preferable over a normal one in any case, now that he had been reborn.

'I need to take revenge.'

The horrifying feeling of having his neck chopped off by Derus was still vivid in his mind.

He had thought that all his feelings had been worn away while being raised as an assassin. His memory before death must have been intense, for his rage and thirst for revenge clearly remained.

'But I should not be impatient.'

Raon breathed deeply and calmed his emotions.

He knew nothing about where he was, or what his position was, as he lived exclusively within this room.

It would not be too late to make preparations for revenge after getting a grasp of the situation.

The most important virtue for an assassin was patience, and he had once been the best of the assassins.

He could rein in his feelings and thirst for revenge any time.

'Also…'

He had obtained the 'Ring of Fire' in his past life through some fate, which was said to be the most powerful skill that could be attained by a swordsman one thousand years ago.

If he were to master the 'Ring of Fire', it might be possible for him to kill Derus Robert not by assassination, but even by facing him head-on.

He would have to endure and endure again for that day to come.

'Anyway, I am starting to feel a little sleepy again…'

He felt drowsy in Sylvia's arms, under the warm sunlight.

A baby's body was inconvenient in many ways. He really had not spent a long time thinking, yet he was already falling asleep.

“You sleepy, Sunshine? Let's go to bed, then.”

Sylvia slowed her patting on his back with a smile. It was just as he was dozing off and his neck was falling backwards that…

“Lady Sylvia!”

The door opened without a knock, and Sylvia's maid entered the room.

“The-the head of house is on his way!”

“My father?”

Sylvia widened her eyes in shock at the maid's words.

'Father?'

It appeared that the head of house was not his father, but his grandfather, since she called him father.

“I-I shall have to get ready…”

“It is too late! He is already outside!”

“Oh dear!”

Sylvia and the maids became very flustered, tapping their feet repeatedly.

Clomp.

There was the sound of footsteps outside the half-open door, which sounded stiff enough to make one's body shrink.

'Who is the head of house?'

Raon stealthily opened his eyes and turned his head towards the door.

An old man with red eyes and radiant blonde hair smoothed over his forehead approached. Sylvia and the maid trembled at the sound of his overbearing footsteps.

'Ah…'

The passage of time slowed down the moment he saw the old man's eyes. It almost felt as if his surroundings were blurred by his overbearing presence.

“F-father.”

“Is this the child?”

The old man stopped in front of Sylvia and pointed with his chin, frost in his gaze.

“Oh, yes.”

Sylvia nodded her head heavily and held Raon out to him.

'Ah…'

Raon's round eyes grew wider. As he looked right into his face, he felt as if he had seen him before.

'Blonde with red eyes. An old man with cold features, as if surrounding himself with a sheet of ice… Oh!'

A thunderbolt struck his small head.

Glenn Zieghart, the Destructive King of the North!

The family was referred to as the apex of the continent, and its leader was looking down at him.

A small gasp of surprise escaped his small mouth on its own.

It seemed that he was reborn into the most powerful family in the continent.

____

Chapter end