The World Has Become Kinder to Her

**Side Story: The Requiem of the Foolish Sage**

“Lotus, this is not something you would want, is it? Of course, this isn’t revenge for you. It’s revenge for myself, a way to vent my anger.”

Three years had been more than enough time to enact revenge for his own loss, to drown in the grief of losing Lotus, and to compose a requiem for her, dedicating it to the small grave.

***

Is a memory that never forgets a blessing, or a curse?

“I would have been better off not being born.”

“You were born only to bring turmoil to this household.”

These were the words Theodore heard most often after his hearing developed.

The striking purple eyes and hair of Theodore were colors that hadn’t been seen in the William Marquis family, nor in his maternal family, the Viscounty of Sylin, for three generations. 

To make matters worse, Theodore’s mother, the Marchioness of William, passed away a month after giving birth, unable to recover from the complications. With her gone, no one could explain the unusual colors of the child’s eyes and hair. Not only the Marquis of William but everyone in the household suspected that Theodore was not the Marquis’s legitimate son.

“I heard someone saw the Marchioness with another man.”

“He’s a filthy seed. It would’ve been better if he’d died along with his mother.”

Baseless rumors spread like wildfire. The young Theodore barely survived the mockery and malice of the household, thanks to the pity of Helen, the nanny to the eldest son.

The severe misunderstanding was cleared when Theodore turned five. By chance, it was discovered that the bloodline of his great-great-grandmother, who hailed from the northern natives, bore the same purple eyes and hair.

“I was deeply shocked by your mother’s death, and I made a grave mistake. I am sorry, my boy.”

The Marquis of William apologized with a voice heavy with tears. For the next five years, he showered Theodore with all manner of gifts, as if to make up for lost time.

As the Marquis’s attitude changed, so did that of the relatives and servants. The child, who had once been treated with contempt, was now favored over the eldest son, Damian, receiving far more affection and privileges.

“Your Excellency, your second son, Theodore, is exceptionally bright. He grasps ten things when taught only one.”

It was as if Theodore’s brilliance had been waiting for this moment to shine.

The tutors who taught him spared no praise for his intelligence. The accolades from people flowed in.

“He memorizes entire books after reading them only once!”

“He must have inherited the intellect of the former Marquis, who served as Chancellor.”

“Theodore may be the one to restore the glory of this family.”

Fools.

‘Do they honestly believe what they’re saying?’

Saying that he memorized a book after reading it once meant he also remembered every vile thing he had heard since his hearing developed.

And yet, they thought he would hold affection for this family and the people within it?

How pitiful and foolish they seemed in his eyes.

‘They’re not even worth dealing with.’

As Theodore grew older, he realized that not only were the people in his family foolish, but the entire world was full of stupid and pathetic people. Unlike him, most people couldn’t remember everything they heard just once, nor could they memorize a book after a single reading.

The possibilities they considered were too limited, and their understanding was shallow.

‘How do they even live with those brains? Ah, maybe they make up for their lack of intelligence with emotions or other talents?’

But that wasn’t the case, either.

Most people couldn’t read others’ emotions better than Theodore could, nor did they excel in other talents. With a bit of physical training and a keen analysis of swordsmanship, Theodore was able to reach a level of mastery in wielding a sword.

He memorized and analyzed spellbooks, and soon enough, casting lower-circle magic became easy. The magic rituals that depended heavily on mental strength were even simpler.

‘Of course, I don’t have the perfect conditions to become a successful knight or mage…’

But even with this level of skill, there weren’t many who could overpower Theodore. Even the bearer of the title of the Empire’s greatest swordsman or the master of the Mage Tower didn’t seem so frightening. While the crude swordsmanship and magic he showed publicly were of little use, the high-level rituals he kept hidden—like a predator’s claws—and the forgotten elemental magic were quite effective.

In ancient times, when humans were not blessed by the gods, they were instead loved by nature. Those who could hear the voice of nature or sense its state had high affinity with it and could summon spirits. However, spirits had since become nothing more than a record in history. There were few people left with high natural affinity, and no one remembered the incantations to summon them.

Theodore, too, had been able to hear the sounds of nature since he was a child, but he couldn’t summon spirits right away because he didn’t know how. That changed when he was seventeen, when he found a book in an old bookstore that illuminated his path as a spirit summoner. The book, written in an ancient tongue, contained stories about spirits, including the incantations to summon them.

Most living beings, including humans, possessed one of the four elements—water, fire, earth, and wind—more strongly than the others. Theodore, who had a strong affinity with the earth element, summoned an intermediate earth spirit for the first time. Within a year, he successfully summoned a high-level water spirit. It was at this point that Theodore realized his limitations.

He understood that his natural affinity would not be enough to summon the king of spirits, the Spirit King. But he didn’t despair. The book also mentioned a summoning method that bordered on a loophole.

‘The price for that summoning is the most precious thing to me. I should try it when my life is on the line.’

With his unusual hair and eye color, which had led to suspicions about his parentage, his flawless memory that never forgot anything he saw or heard, his talent for mastering even the most difficult rituals on the first try, and his ability to hear nature and command spirits—was it because he was so different from ordinary people? Did it lead him to see the world differently, think differently, and question things others never would?

Theodore committed several eccentric acts that were entirely unknown to the world. For example, he experimented with whether true friendship and love, as depicted in novels or plays, existed in reality.

“Theodore, you’re different from those guys who are just good at studying or speaking well. You’re someone I can really trust. I feel like I can entrust my back to you.”

That was what Urd, the Viscount’s son, had said as they went out horseback riding in the hills. However, a monster appeared, one that was far too powerful for the two of them to handle. It was a situation no one had anticipated—except for Theodore, who had secretly lured the monster with his rituals.

When Urd, who had decent magical skills, realized the monster was too strong for him to handle alone, he seized the opportunity and fled. Theodore, smirking, used the pre-prepared ritual to buy time, and soon encountered a knight order that happened to be conducting autumn training in the area. They took care of the monster.

Everything had been orchestrated so carefully that everyone believed it was mere coincidence. In the end, Urd, the Viscount’s son, was disgraced for abandoning his friend and fleeing. Even though he graduated from the Academy’s magic department with excellent marks, his reputation made it impossible for him to enter the Mage Tower or the imperial palace.

“I don’t like you. But since I need your affection, I’ll do my best to seduce you.”

Theodore had given a clear warning to a young lady he had targeted for seduction, even though she was already engaged. Yet, perhaps she thought he wasn’t serious and had only been joking.

Theodore had merely been a little kinder to her than others. He had no intention of ruining either his or her life with a simple experiment, so he had even been careful not to engage in any physical contact.

He had only offered affectionate words and gestures that left no trace behind.

“You said you liked me!”  

Human memory conveniently distorts reality. The young lady genuinely believed that Theodore was in love with her, and she began acting as though her engagement had changed.  

‘Would she have thought that way if I had neither my looks, abilities, nor background?’  

No, she would’ve likely cursed at me and slapped my face, calling me insane.  

Affection was proportional to appearance, ability, and status.  

After his brief reflection on love, Theodore calmly but firmly declared in a public setting that he had never held feelings for her. The young lady, now branded as someone who clung to another man while engaged, was disgraced, her engagement broken, and she was ostracized from the capital’s social circles. She retreated to her family’s provincial estate.  

“Have you ever had intercourse with a man?”  

“N-no… This is my first time with anything like this.”  

Besides those incidents, Theodore had devised a plan to delve into the sexual desires that many people were controlled by. He hired two women from fallen noble families for a month, intending to have various kinds of relationships with them to research the matter.  

“I hope that’s true. There are many ways to confirm it, after all. As my intermediary explained, my conditions are simple. If you agree to the deal, you will either spend a month with me alone or together with another woman.”  

“…Yes.”  

“During the contract period, I expect you to avoid relations with anyone else. It’s for the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases. Likewise, I won’t engage with anyone other than the two who have signed the contract.”  

“…Yes.”  

“During our time together, I will engage with you in various ways. You may receive slight injuries, but they will be treated immediately. Both you and I will take contraceptives, so there is no risk of pregnancy. You won’t be disabled or have your life threatened either. These terms are all detailed in this contract created with magic.”  

“…Yes.”  

“I’m the type who doesn’t enjoy being betrayed. If you reveal the terms of this contract to anyone, your tongue will be cut off. As long as you fulfill my demands for a month and keep the confidentiality afterward, you will receive the agreed-upon compensation. Furthermore, you will be protected by the power of the contract’s magic. If I try to harm you despite the contract being honored, my left hand will be restricted as punishment.”  

“…”

“I tend to prefer rules that are in my favor, but since you’ll be the first woman I sleep with, I’ve put minimal safeguards in place. Please read the contract thoroughly before signing. Any questions?”  

As planned, Theodore experienced various acts with the women and gained a thorough understanding of sexual pleasure. He concluded that while pleasurable, it wasn’t something worth staking one’s life on.

Even attempting suicide by drinking poison or slitting his wrists was merely an experiment for Theodore—just another way to test how strong a living creature’s survival instinct could be.  

While conducting these hidden experiments, unnoticed by others, Lotus became a fascinating and refreshing stimulus for him.  

Theodore’s peculiar and deep connection with her began on a rainy day when he was twenty-five, by the banks of the Venus River.

There are days like that—when your heart pounds, your chest feels tight, and you are consumed by the sensation that something is about to happen. It’s a feeling, an intuition, that cannot be explained by reason.  

People who excessively worship logic tend to dismiss such feelings, but Theodore did not.  

Ironically, though he was considered the epitome of rationality, Theodore possessed a sensitivity and affinity with nature far beyond ordinary people.  

The wind howled as if it would strip the leaves from all the trees, and the raindrops drummed against the earth like the beat of a war drum.  

「Why don’t you come outside?」  

It felt as though the water spirits, excited by the rain, were tempting him.  

Following this strange impulse, Theodore left the William Marquis estate. Using magic to temporarily lull the family guards at the gate into a stupor was a trivial task.