**Chapter 2**
—
Bill cried out in shock.
“You, you?!”
It was because Arthur hadn’t stuttered.
But it seemed that had just been his imagination.
“…Whaaat?”
The mute young lord stuttered again.
Bill’s face twisted in rage, confusion—
and various other emotions.
To think he’d come here to relieve stress by tormenting the “mute,” only to be humiliated like this?
His anger surged, and just as he raised his hand—
The “mute” young lord smiled and lifted something.
“…?”
Bill blinked and held his breath.
Because in Arthur’s hand was a human **eyeball**.
“Huh…?”
Bill’s words trailed off as he reached toward his right eye.
But of course, the expected sensation of his eye was no longer there.
Horrified, Bill opened his mouth.
‘N–No way?’
He tried to scream—
But Arthur moved first.
Shedding the clothes he wore, Arthur stuffed them into Bill’s open mouth.
“Mmffhh!”
Bill tried to fight back, but it was futile.
Whatever Arthur had done, his body was heavy as a boulder.
So much so that even though Bill was three years older, he couldn’t overpower him.
In the meantime, Arthur clenched his fist and swung it hard into Bill’s right cheek.
**Whack!**
A crisp sound rang out, but Arthur tilted his head.
‘Too weak. My aim’s off.’
He figured his body still wasn’t in perfect shape.
So he grabbed the necklace around Bill’s neck and yanked it off, wrapping it around his right hand.
‘If I have a focal point, I can make up for my lack of grip strength.’
With that thought, he threw another punch.
This time, a more satisfying sound echoed.
**Whack!**
**Whack!**
**Whack!**
Bill thrashed, but his body still wouldn’t move.
He couldn’t scream.
Feeling true fear now, Bill’s eyes welled with tears.
But those tears only fueled Arthur’s violence.
**Whack! Whack! Whack!**
The punches intensified.
His nose caved in. His two front teeth were knocked out, clattering to the floor.
And the blood—there was no need to mention it.
“Mmffhhhh!”
Eventually, Bill—quick to read the room—stopped crying and began to beg.
His grotesquely disfigured face looked pitiful as he pleaded, but Arthur tilted his head.
‘Is he begging me to stop now?’
When he tormented the old Arthur, no amount of begging ever stopped his fists.
‘No way… Not if you’re a human being. Not unless you have something called a conscience.’
Dismissing it as mere illusion, Arthur resumed punching.
**Thud!**
The fists finally stopped the moment Bill lost consciousness.
Arthur, panting heavily, struck Bill’s cheek one last time.
“Man, I really must not be in great shape. I’m winded from just this much.”
Sweeping back his sweat-drenched bangs, Arthur turned to look.
There lay Bill—horribly mangled from the beating.
Staring down at him, Arthur murmured seriously,
“Looks like I *have* returned to normal… Seeing as I only took out an eye instead of killing him.”
The old Arthur would’ve killed him without hesitation.
But this Arthur had merely removed an eyeball.
That difference was bigger than it seemed.
‘If I had killed him, cleaning up would’ve been impossible. But since he’s still alive, I *can* clean up.’
He’d vented his rage and gained something tangible too.
Considering all the past, this was a huge improvement.
“So this is how easy things become once I’ve got my head back on straight?”
Arthur clicked his tongue and turned his gaze.
There, on the floor, lay Bill’s eyeball.
Picking it up, Arthur pried open the unconscious boy’s eyelid and jammed it back in.
“…!”
Even in unconsciousness, Bill’s body convulsed—clearly still in pain.
Arthur, checking if the eye fit properly, muttered,
“This won’t be enough to cover it up, huh?”
So he began thinking of a way to make the fight look more mutual.
That’s when a thought struck him.
“Come to think of it… Did my bloodline ability return too?”
Arthur stroked his chin.
The hidden ability of House Bayern.
An abnormal gift—*the power to steal the abilities of other bloodlines.*
It was that very ability that had once let him achieve half his revenge.
He hadn’t confirmed yet whether it had returned.
‘Or rather, I hadn’t had the *chance*. The best way to check is to ingest another bloodline.’
Coincidentally, the now-unconscious Bill happened to possess such a gift.
‘The Dormund family is famous for producing top-tier spirit mages, right?’
Arthur’s lips curled into a grin.
He scooped up a handful of Bill’s freely flowing blood in his palm.
Once it gathered into a thick pool, he slurped it down in one gulp.
“…!”
The metallic taste sliding down his throat made his head spin.
But Arthur withstood it and closed his eyes.
At that moment, the blessed bloodline of House Bayern awakened, *savagely devouring* the blood of Dormund.
‘Oh… so the *bloodline* ability did return.’
Arthur opened his eyes.
And there it was—something he hadn’t seen before: a spirit hiding in the flowerpot by the window.
“Hello?”
\[…]
“My name is Arthur. What’s yours?”
The spirit didn’t respond.
Usually, seeing spirits meant he could communicate with them, so this was odd.
‘Did something go wrong?’
He rubbed his chin and shrugged.
‘Whatever… The important thing is that the Bayern bloodline has awakened. And that I just stole Bill Dormund’s spirit magic.’
Spirit magic was excellent for healing.
Especially the healing powers of water spirits—far superior even to high priests.
He was confident this would be enough to repair his current, damaged body.
“Wow… My luck really *has* turned around since coming to my senses. Everything’s going so smoothly.”
Nodding to himself, Arthur stood before a mirror.
‘Now for a convincing cleanup. But that won’t be hard either.’
Staring into his reflection, Arthur clenched his fist.
Then struck his own right cheek.
**Whack!**
A dull thud echoed. Blood trickled out.
Touching his bloodied face, Arthur muttered,
“Hmm… For it to look like a fair fight, I’ll need to hit myself more.”
—
“Bill!!!”
A sudden uproar erupted in the once-tranquil House of Bayern.
“Young master!”
At the center of it were Arthur Bayern, the mute young heir of House Bayern, and the third son of House Dormund.
“What in the world…?”
As soon as she heard what happened, Kana Dormund rushed over, only to be left speechless at the scene inside the room.
It was a bloodbath.
Soaked in red to the point where the original white marble was unrecognizable.
And on that floor lay her son—collapsed, foam at his mouth.
“Waaahhh!”
Next to him, Arthur Bayern sobbed uncontrollably!
Furious, Kana shouted,
“What happened here, young lord?!”
“Waaahhhh!”
“I asked what happened!!!”
But Arthur, drenched in blood like Bill, offered no explanation.
He just kept crying.
Just as Kana lost her temper and approached him—
The current Duchess of Bayern stormed into the room.
“Arthur?!”
“Mommyyy!”
Startled by Yonel Bayern’s entrance, Kana instinctively stepped back.
“My son! What happened?! Why is your face like this?”
“W–Well…”
Only then did Arthur respond to Yonel.
“B–Big Brother hit meee…”
His words were hard to understand because of his stretched, slurred pronunciation.
But Yonel somehow made it out and asked again,
“You’re saying Bill Dormund hit you?”
“Yesss…”
“Why? Did he hit you first?”
“Yes… I tried to hold it in but ended up hitting him back…”
Everyone in the room glanced at the unconscious Bill, piecing the story together.
“…He hit *my* son?”
Yonel muttered, and Kana flinched.
But quickly recovering, she shouted,
“Duchess! It’s hard to call this a mere fight between boys!”
Bill was the youngest and most doted-on in House Dormund.
He was always lagging behind his brothers, often neglected—so Kana was particularly protective.
Seeing her baby like this, bleeding and unconscious, it was natural she’d be upset.
But Yonel’s unusually cold tone made Kana quickly back down.
“Then tell me. If not a simple fight, what was it?”
“T–That…”
“What, did Bill and my son duel to the death or something?”
“Your Grace!”
“Lower your voice. You’re scaring my son.”
Kana winced and lowered her head.
Even if House Bayern was in decline, it was still a duchy.
In front of its duchess, Kana was merely a count’s wife.
“Sebastian. Take Bill to a physician.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Lady Kana… We’ll speak later. In private.”
With swift, commanding presence, Yonel restored order and waited until the room had emptied.
Then she turned to her son, softening her expression.
“My lovely boy. Did you really fight with Bill?”
Arthur stopped crying and nodded.
“Yes…”
“Why did you fight?”
“He hit meee…”
Yonel nodded slowly.
“That’s true, isn’t it?”
“Yes…”
“……”
Yonel paused. Arthur felt a flash of worry.
Before returning to the past, at this point in time, Yonel had only seen him as a frail, vulnerable child.
If that child suddenly plucked out another boy’s eye, wouldn’t that seem strange?
But what Yonel said next was wholly unexpected.
“Well done, my son. Better to be the one hitting than the one being hit.”
“…?”
“You’ve got spirit. You fought and *won* against someone three years older.”
Arthur blinked in surprise, then burst into a smile.
“Hehehe…”
“You’ll grow up to be a fine knight, I’m sure of it.”
Comforted by his mother’s warmth, Arthur smiled again.
Her tender smile mirrored his.
“Get treated here in your room. If anything hurts, make sure to say so.”
“Mommy, where are you going?”
“I’ll go see Bill. I need to tell him never to come near you again.”
Arthur nodded, and Yonel switched places with the doctors who entered.
As they began tending to his wounds, Arthur mused to himself:
‘That wrapped up nicely. Huh… So even prejudices have their uses.’
If not for the assumption that Arthur was “handicapped,” none of this would’ve been brushed over.
Even though he’d bloodied his own face for show, Bill’s state was far worse.
But if it was the mute heir who’d done that to him, well—that changed things.
Because nobles, so obsessed with pride, would rather say their son got beaten by a “mute” than admit what really happened.
Arthur winced from the throbbing in his cheek.
He’d torn the inside of his mouth while spilling blood for effect.
“Young master, are you in pain?”
“…Just a lil’…”
“Oh dear. Your mouth’s torn inside. Let me take a look.”
“Ahhh…”
As the physician examined him, he casually offered praise.
“But still, young master, you’re amazing. You’re so small, yet you fought and beat young master Bill.”
Arthur grinned.
“I’m stronggg.”
“Indeed! Much stronger than Bill, clearly. He won’t dare enter your room again!”
The other physicians nodded in agreement.
“I can’t exactly *praise* a fight, but… still, a man should have some fire in him, shouldn’t he?”
“Absolutely. You did well, young master!”
Arthur nodded along.
“That’s whyyy… I plucked ittt! The eyeballll!”
“…You plucked *what*, now?”
“The eyeballll!”
The doctors exchanged puzzled glances.
Arthur seemed eager to say something, but his slurred speech made it difficult to decipher.
They didn’t dwell on it.
After all, Arthur Bayern sometimes said strange, incomprehensible things.
So they just hummed in response and continued treating his wounds.
That’s when a shrill scream rang throughout the mansion—
“Biiiill—!! W–Why is your eye, your *eye*, gone?!”
Startled, the physicians turned toward the door.
One of them, almost involuntarily, looked back.
“Hehe!”
There sat Arthur, giggling innocently.
Staring at him, the physician recalled what Arthur had said earlier.
‘Wait… That “eyeballll”… was he really talking about—? Nah.’
After a moment of doubt, the doctor chuckled.
There’s no way someone could pluck out another person’s eye and then smile so innocently.
If anyone could do that, they’d have to be truly insane.
And Arthur Bayern wasn’t insane.
He was—
‘A fool, yes—but the kindest young noble in the world.’
That was Arthur Bayern, the sole heir of House Bayern.
