Chapter 3: 3

Warning! Please note that there’s mentions of abuse in this chapter.

In the years that followed, Edward’s biological parents regularly abused him and neglected to provide him with adequate nutrition. To make the situation worse, something terrible happened the day Edward turned four years old. Leonard’s latest paramour had finally made it to the estate.

Naturally, Emilia was fuming with rage and immediately dismissed the woman before giving up on Leonard who was not present, for good. Instead of forcing her husband out of the Count’s home; she actually left with another man on the next following day.

Incredulous at Emilia’s decision to run away with another man, Leonard stormed back to the mansion and began screaming, punching, and kicking at Edward, demanding to know where his mother had gone and why he, as his father’s child, had not intervened to prevent the elopement. After Edward passed out, it was Marie and the butler, who had been aloof until then, who intervened to prevent him from continuing the assault.

As the next in line for the throne, it was deemed unwise to let Edward pass away before a decision was made by the old Grand Count[1]. Leonard then rushed out with several guards in search of his wife and the man, not wanting Count and Countess Harvin, who was living in a mansion he built for their retirement in the territory to know about Emilia’s elopement. Later on, he died.

Although he was said to have been attacked by bandits, the fact that the Count and Countess had already been informed of Emilia’s elopement and departure from home, as well as the manner in which he was killed so expediently and deftly by bandits of unknown origin, could only suggest he was discarded by the Harvin family.

“Look, Edward. I can see it. That’s our mansion.” The marquis gently jolted me awake and pointed to a large mansion built on a gentle hillside with lofty mountains and dense forests in the background.

I then opened myself after seemingly falling asleep while thinking about my memories.

“It’s pretty…”

“Hahaha, I hope you like it. Feel free to tell me if there’s anything you want.”

“Yes, milord.”

“That’s not right, Edward?”

“Oh… F-father-sama…[2]”

“Hmmm~~ There’s no need to call me formally though. Well, I guess you’ll slowly get there,” my stepfather laughed.

Hmmm. Wait, where was I? Ah, right.

My stepfather and Marie filled me in on some additional details before we left the city where the temple was located. Thanks to the help of my stepfather, the Finley family’s steward, and Marie, I was able to build up enough energy to take the carriage ride.

A group of traveling merchants discovered my father after they heard he had been attacked by bandits, and they reported the incident to the Harvin home. Furthermore, because a piece of my father’s belongings that belonged to the Finley family was discovered at the site, one of the merchants who knew the Finley family well also sent word to the Finley household. Upon hearing the news, my father rushed to the main Harvin’s[3] residence.

But you know, it was all thanks to Marie that I’m still alive like this.

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And also, during my stay at the inn, I couldn’t help hearing gossip about my father. The people there gossiped that the third son of old Marquis Finley, who married into the Harvin’s family, brought nothing but trouble to the Harvins, and now with the Harvin’s young mistress eloping with another man, was really something that shouldn’t have happened to the Count’s family.

Apparently, I was in the midst of things that shouldn’t have happened, and consequently, I evolved into a being that had no place in it. I mean, in the same way that my mother did not want my father, my grandparents saw me as an unwanted child.

It was Marie who sensed this and aid me. It was she who took me out of my room after being covered in wounds caused by my father—patched me up, said sorry a lot, and hid me in a hidden room in the basement located inside the mansion. Although I couldn’t fathom why Marie would act in such a way at the time, I still put my faith in her words.

“I will definitely save you, Edward-sama. Please wait for me,” she said this while crying, before riding her horse to the Finley house with a glimmer of hope.

Marie is amazing!

So, on her way there, she ran into my stepfather, who was also on his way here, and explained the situation to him, asking for his assistance, and escorting him to Harvin’s mansion.

It was exactly five days later since Marie left before they found me. During that time, I barely remembered what I did. However, I did remember traces of food like cookies; long-lasting food, and drinking water while I was in the basement.

My stepfather was caught off guard when he saw the mansion’s seemingly ransacked state and the lack of servants’ presence in the area. Nonetheless, thanks to Marie’s defensive and concealment spells, which she had placed as a precaution at the entrance to the hidden room, I managed to survive without being discovered by the unknown enemies that ransacked the mansion.

Later on, after Marie disarmed the spell at the door’s entrance, my stepfather’s group located me and immediately rushed me to the temple for treatment by the healing mages. While I was being treated, my stepfather took my real father’s remains and informed Count Harvin that he would be adopting me as his son.

My stepfather never mentioned these things to me, but they must have been difficult for him. Even though I’m only four, I have a “memory” of him when he was twenty-one, so I kind of knew what was going on.

After all, his brother is no longer alive, Lady Harvin has eloped, and I, the eldest son, was found dying in a depressing mansion. It seems that my father and the family’s steward pulled all sorts of strings to get me into their house as “peacefully” as possible. And Marie, who went to great lengths to save me, has become my maid at Finley’s house.

I think that all of these must have been ‘true’, based not only on what I’ve been told but also on rumors I’ve heard and what I’ve deduced from my “memory,”. Therefore, I’m sure I couldn’t be that far off from the truth. Nonetheless, he in my thoughts didn’t seem like a different entity. Instead, that man’s “memories” are completely ingrained in me, as if he was me. That’s all.

Hmmm~~ I guess, in his world’s terminology, I’ve been reincarnated as Edward? Anyway, I have Edward’s memories and heart of a four-year-old, while inheriting some but not all of his “memories” of his life until he was twenty-one years old in a different world than this one.

And…That is how I found out. How is it that he, a stranger from another world, knows so much about me?

Well, that’s because this world is identical to the one described in the book he was reading, “The Silver World Where My Beloved Child Fell.”

And in that novel, I, Edward Finley, am one of the protagonist’s enemies, a “villainous son” who murders his own stepbrother, whom he is about to meet for the first time.

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Translator’s Notes
This chapter is a bit lengthy so I’ll try to clarify what’s going on in Edward’s head as he narrates the story. Basically, Edward here is referring to the ‘memory’ as something foreign, while he can recall them, his initial reaction is not really accepting the memories as part of him immediately, but rather acknowledging that it’s there, inside his mind.

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