The Regressed Son of a Duke is an Assassin

After the meeting with the chancellor, I headed straight to the dormitory.

As one would expect, I am currently the only one using the Royal Dormitory in its entirety.

There are no royals so leisurely that they would stay at the academy even during the vacations.

As I entered my room, cutting through the silent air, Brian, who had been waiting, greeted me.

“Sir, this…”

He handed me two envelopes, which appeared to be letters.

“Where did you get these?”

I asked about the sender of the letters first.

“One was received from the academy’s official reception, and the other from a cleaner at the Royal Dormitory. Both were meant to be delivered directly to you, sir.”

Holding an envelope in each hand, I compared them against each other.

One was a glossy gold envelope with the emblem of the Ushif Empire’s royal family stamped in the middle.

Without even reading its contents, I could tell it was from the official reception.

The other was a plain white envelope with a black X mark on it, its meaning unclear.

This must be the one from the cleaner.

Even without checking their contents, if asked which letter was more important…

Without a doubt, it’s the letter from the cleaner.

I decided to open the less important gold envelope first.

The moment I saw the contents, my brows furrowed.

“What is it, sir?”

“If you’re curious, read it yourself.”

I passed the paper nonchalantly.

“An invitation?!”

Brian’s eyes widened as he read the contents.

“Sir, isn’t this an invitation to a banquet sent by the empire?”

“A banquet? It’s just a place where people wear ridiculous smiling masks, laugh out loud, and drink trivially.”

It was a place so boring that I would hate to attend, even if asked nicely.

“But, sir, it’s from the royal family, isn’t it? Could it be that the empire has directly invited you…”

-Swish

Suddenly, the invitation slipped out of his hand.

Startled, Brian looked around for a moment, but Kaeram had appeared out of nowhere, sitting on the sofa and checking the invitation.

[An invitation from the royal family… Wow, our master has made it big, hasn’t he?]

Well, it’s hard to say whether this really counts as making it big from my perspective.

Obviously, not just anyone is invited to the royal family’s banquet.

Only the empire’s dignitaries, that is, those the royal family considers important national figures, receive this invitation.

So, Brian’s speculation that the empire has directly invited me isn’t far-fetched.

To be honest, our family is often called regular guests since we receive an invitation every time, but this is the first time my name has been written on it directly.

Usually, it was common for the invitations to come in the name of my father, Duke Vert.

However, since my father is unable to attend, it has been customary for one of his children to go instead…

[Cyan Vert… The fact that your name is written directly means they want you, don’t they?]

I saw it immediately.

It’s not common for an invitation to specifically name an individual instead of the family.

The royal family has sent this invitation wanting not the Vert family, but specifically me, Cyan Vert.

Honestly, it doesn’t make sense.

Why would the royal family want me?

I know I’ve caught the emperor’s attention, but I haven’t done anything notably attention-grabbing in two years.

Why send an invitation in my name now?

I pondered the reason for a moment, resting my chin on my hand.

Meanwhile, Kaeram was reading the invitation aloud.

[…We would like to invite the distinguished guest to our royal summer banquet. Sender: Airen Sevellus?]

I doubted my ears for a moment.

“What?”

I hastily snatched the invitation to check the contents again.

The moment I saw the unwelcome name written at the bottom of the invitation, a sigh escaped my lips without me realizing.

“Ha, I should’ve known…”

It’s not like the royal family to send an invitation in my name.

The sender of a banquet invitation is usually the name of the host.

Meaning, as it’s an invitation from the royal family, it would normally bear the name of the emperor, Dione Sevellus, or the empress, Cassandra Nephelis.

But the sender written on my invitation was none other than the Fifth Princess.

I knew all too well what this meant.

[Phahaha! I thought things had been quiet for a while, but that little princess has sent something quite cute, hasn’t she?]

Seeming to grasp the situation, Kaeram laughed, holding her stomach.

“What do you mean, Lord Kaeram?”

[This is an invitation the little princess sent specifically to you. What do you think it means? Essentially, it’s like a love letter saying she’ll be dressed up prettily on that day, so come see her! Lucky our master, huh? To receive a personal invitation from a princess of this country!]

“So, that’s it! Congratulations, sir!”

Are these two plotting together to tease their master?

As Kaeram explained, this isn’t just an invitation from the royal family, but a personal invitation from the princess to me.

Now that I see it, she wrote it very carefully with her own handwriting.

What on earth is she thinking?

As if dragging me to every class wasn’t enough, now she’s trying to pull me into their banquet?

I may not know what she’s expecting, but now that I know she sent it, my decision is firm.

“I won’t go.”

I casually threw the invitation onto the desk.

There’s no point in going when it will just lead to annoying situations.

Ignoring Kaeram’s nagging, I opened the second envelope, which was far more important.

A letter written on a black background in a code that was unknown.

The sender was… the leader of the Mist, Silica.

I decoded the cipher in my head as I read the letter.

For now, the leader is not at the academy.

She is currently away dealing with personal business, and even I don’t know her exact location.

Now, she has sent me the new target for Mist.

Nephelis, a prominent family in the Ushif Empire, where Cassandra, the current Empress, comes from.

This means the target is a member of that family.

Although I haven’t confirmed the name yet, mentioning the Nephelis family means they are targeting someone significant, a big fish…

Considering past experiences, I felt like I already knew who the target was.

So, they mean to say this is all they’ll provide in writing?

Anyway, it sounds like I’ll have to be away from here for a while.

I’ve seen my sister, and there’s no reason to stay holed up in the academy any longer.

Might as well go somewhere far from the imperial palace…

“Hm?”

Suddenly, a memory from my past life flashed through my mind.

Empress, Duke of Nephelis, assassination.

There seemed to be an important event related to the words I just mentioned?

As I tried to recall more, I checked the bottom of the letter where the location and date were written.

So, it connects like this.

I haven’t heard it from the leader yet, but the target is clear.

The assassination of Drenian Nephelis, the brother-in-law of the Emperor and the brother of Empress Cassandra.

It was an event that shocked not just the empire but the entire continent in my past life.

Back then, being merely at the bottom of the hierarchy, I was just holed up in the dorm, swinging a wooden sword, so I had no direct involvement.

To think that I would be directly involved in a mission that had such a significant impact in my past life,

the feeling was more startling than nostalgic.

-Whoosh-

I conjured a small flame in my hand and burned the letter on the spot.

Instead, I picked up the princess’s invitation that I had thrown away without care and sealed it again properly.

Although I hadn’t intended it, having an invitation to the imperial palace under my current identity would serve as a good excuse to go.

There’s no reason not to use it.

But…

My gaze naturally drifted to Brian and Kaeram, and to our little one who was sound asleep in the room.

What should I do about them?

Kaeram could be put in my pocket, and Brian could go as a knight protector, but Nana is the problem.

Leaving her alone could lead to issues that might not be manageable.

It’s not like I can lock her in a cave to sleep for two weeks,

Should I take her to the capital and leave her with other members of Mist?

Putting the mission aside, I was seriously contemplating what to do with Nana, which was a moment worth shaking my head at.

Come to think of it, hasn’t she been asleep for quite a long time?

“Hasn’t it been time for Nana to wake up? When did she start sleeping?”

“She went to sleep at the usual time, but it seems she’s waking up later today. I’ll check on her.”

Nana usually takes a 5-hour nap after lunch as part of her daily routine.

However, now the sun had already set and it was well past 6 PM.

Usually, before dinner was even ready, she’d be whining, “Papa, I’m hungry!” but today, it seems she might have been dreaming of a dessert paradise.

-Clunk

“Papa, I’m hungry!”

Just as I thought it, as if summoning a genie, Nana opened the door and came out.

“Alright, food is ready, so wash your hands quickly and come to the table…”

…?

Me, Brian, Kaeram.

Excluding Nana, the six eyes in the room were violently shaking.

I would bet these eyes were now doubting if they were seeing something wrong.

“Um, sir? What exactly is happening with Nana right now?”

How would I know? I would have to have raised a dragonkin to understand.

She was in a completely bare state.

It’s not that she wasn’t wearing clothes.

It seems like the clothes she had on became too small and came off.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Papa?”

She rubbed her sleepy eyes and tilted her head in confusion.

[What are you staring at so intently for? Take your eyes off!]

Finally, Kaeram grabbed mine and Brian’s heads and forced them down.

[Hey, kiddo! Why did you come out naked?]

“Huh? I don’t know. When I woke up, there were no clothes that fit.”

Nana said, swaying her tail, which seemed to have grown twice as long as before.

I knew her species grew fast, but is it okay to grow this unexpectedly?

Just to clarify, in the past two years, Nana has shown an incredible growth rate.

Roughly equivalent to a 6-year-old human?

She has been growing every day, and just when it seemed to slow down recently, the little one, who until yesterday was not even half my height, grew to reach my chest in just one day?

She looked almost like a new female student just entering the academy.

“……?”

Nana was sparkling her clear, innocent eyes as if wondering what the problem was.

(To be continued)