The Extra Villain's Second Chance: A Hero's System
Chapter 57 - 56 - Mother and Son Relationship... is it?

Chapter 57: Chapter 56 - Mother and Son Relationship... is it?

He had previously just nodded when Madam Fleur had dubbed him the landless noble, but he could not actually be called that because he had not inherited a title.

According to the general noble view, the eldest son was a very potential heir—no need to argue about it, but that was only if the king approved.

In other words, the decision was up to the King Vladislav.

The problem was that Vladislav would only approve the heir who had the most potential to benefit the kingdom—someone with greater potential for growth in power.

From the outsider’s point of view, it was clear who the potential strongman between Lev and Boris was.

There was no way King Vladislav would choose Lev himself who had turned into a cripple. Moreover, the results of his coming-of-age ceremony had already been a hot topic among the nobles.

The option to show off his skills still existed, but Lev would not choose that option—it was impossible because there were cunning snakes within the royal palace itself.

The only option was to get rid of Boris.

’How do I get rid of Boris? Do I have to kill him?’

If only Lev himself who was still remained, then King Vladislav would have no choice but to appoint him as the heir to Andrei’s title of Duke.

’Should I see if Boris still has a strong grudge against me? Maybe that’s the right reason to get rid of him.’

Contrary to what he had decided, Irini’s next story made him change what he had planned.

As Lev was lost in his evil thoughts of getting rid of his brother, Irini began to tell him something interesting.

"Do you know why I’ve been such a money-grubber?"

"How would I know?"

’If I had to guess, aren’t you doing it to give yourself and Boris comfort and happiness? What else can money do but that, after all?!’

"Do you think I did it for fun?"

"That’s right."

"... Right. In other words, you could also say that, but not for momentary comfort. It’s more like preparing for what’s to come."

"What do you mean?"

Irini then told Lev everything. She had known from the beginning that Andrei liked to kidnap people.

She didn’t know that Andrei hid his victims in the dungeon under the mansion, but she used to see mysterious horse-drawn carriages coming to the mansion once or twice a month.

"Then, did you already know that he was somehow related to the demon?"

"I don’t know. However, sometimes I have that kind of thought."

She didn’t know that Andrei was related to demons, but somehow she liked to feel goosebumps all over her body when she saw Andrei’s eyes, and when her hand was held by Andrei’s right arm, her body would tremble with fear, that was her explanation.

Therefore, Irini brings out the trait of looking crazy about luxury and money intentionally. Because she wanted to accumulate a lot of money before asking for a separate life/escape.

"Then, why did you tell me all that?"

There was nothing important in Irini’s story, really.

In Lev’s perspective, whether she was really crazy about money or not was not important.

"Maybe you’ve forgotten, but I was once close to telling you everything. However, seeing as you were so proud of your status as his eldest son, I chose to ignore you so that Andrei wouldn’t suspect that his illegal activities were known to me."

Lev frowned when he heard Irini’s explanation.

He tried to rewind his memory a bit, but he found nothing.

Given his nature back then, it seemed natural that she would not dare to tell him.

"However, that’s not why I wanted to talk to you."

Irini told Lev that she had already told Boris that Andrei was the guilty one.

"Don’t worry that Boris will hold a grudge against you. Moreover, he also saw your trial yesterday."

Unintentionally, it seemed like the option to kill Boris on the grounds that he still held a grudge against him was gone.

"Then?"

"You can take our family’s peerage."

Lev found it a little hard to believe what he was hearing.

From all the pleasantries Irini had thrown around earlier, she had finally nudged the subject of inheriting the peerage.

He thought that she would try to persuade him to let Boris take Andrei’s title, but who would have thought that she would withdraw Boris from the inheritance competition.

In the end, she said that she had accumulated enough money to live happily with Boris. "In order for you to believe my words, I will take Boris away. After all, you wouldn’t want me around, do you?!"

After Irini said that, she was leaving. She stood up and stepped out of the dining room.

Not that Irini was going to be homeless after leaving this mansion.

Irini still had parents who were also nobles.

In other words, the residence that Irini was going to was Lev’s own grandfather’s residence.

They weren’t big nobles who could live in the capital, so they almost never got involved with the Razanov family’s affairs.

After Irini’s departure, Lev fell into contemplation.

The relationship with the remaining people he could call his parents... the relationship with his little brother who was either still hostile or already at peace... and the relationship with his older sister who was still a mystery... all those thoughts ran through Lev’s brain.

Before Irini had even stepped out of the mansion, Lev had already asked about the management of the family funds and other details related to money matters within the Razanov family.

Lev was currently inside Andrei’s former private office.

He sat leaning back in a chair.

In front of him was a large cube-shaped safe. Maybe four times the size of a human head? The safe was made entirely of iron and infused with magic. Only by inserting the right key into the keyhole could one open it.

Lev got the secret safe from Irini.

After Andrei’s death and Lev’s arrest, Irini said that she wanted to prove that Andrei was the guilty one, so she took the safe from Andrei’s other secret room, which she happened to know about.

Irini certainly didn’t bring the safe here by herself, she was assisted by her private servants.

’Did she collect all that to use as evidence to free me?’

The question was, why didn’t she give the safe to the person tasked with investigating Andrei’s death?

According to Irini’s words, she didn’t give the safe because she sensed something strange about the leader of the investigation into Andrei’s death.

Lev knew the person Irini was referring to was Wyatt.

Lev felt a little amazed and wondered about Irini’s ability to detect demonic energy.

"If you’re awake, please use your magic storage!"

Lev spoke to Astaroth. He could not see Astaroth with his naked eyes if Astaroth was inside the black lotus crest, but Lev could feel whether Astaroth was really unconscious or awake—asleep or awake.

Ever since Astaroth stayed inside him, he felt that there was some Dark Mana that was set aside to form a small spherical membrane inside him.

He did not feel that it was literally inside him, it was just a figure of speech to make it easier for him to understand.

Astaroth actually came out from inside the black lotus crest on his chest when he heard Lev call out to him.

"Hoam! How was your night? Did anything happen as I suspected?"

Astaroth nudged his elbow into Lev’s face. He seemed to be having fun teasing Lev. The more Lev did not respond, the more the goofy grin on Astaroth’s face increased.

"I’ve heard that the people of these plains—especially humans, are the ones with the highest breeding lust, unlike us demons who lust for chaos and violence. Not breeding."

"Yes. I respect you for not peeking at what happened last night. But, as I said earlier, I want to take something from your magic storage?!"

"Tch! You’re no fun at all." Astaroth clucked his tongue after Lev smiled ignoring him.

Astaroth immediately used his magic storage and Lev took something from there. What Lev took was Andrei’s magic pouch.

’Let’s take a look. Is there a suitable key to open this safe?’

It turned out that he was right. It didn’t take long to pull out a large piece of key from inside Andrei’s magic pouch.

Other than the key to the safe, Lev accidentally found what he had been looking for all this time inside this mansion.

A legacy of the Razanov family... a Grimoire.

A small smile appeared on Lev’s lips.

Unfortunately, this was not the right time to indulge in the pleasure of finding what he had been looking for all this time.

Lev put the Grimoire in his hand back into the magic pouch and put Andrei’s magic pouch back into Astaroth’s magic storage.

Clack!

Lev inserted the key into the keyhole in Andrei’s storage safe. A clack sound signaled the opening of the safe.

When Lev opened the safe, he saw that there were a lot of papers inside.

Lev was sure they were Andrei’s secret documents.