The moment I turned to the voice, the mana surrounding the book moved onto my body, locking my arms and legs to my body. I let my guard down! I was having a good time worrying about nothing. Making the deal with Orfield had made my stupid brain stupider.

  With just a simple deal, I had already gotten so relaxed, I was so paranoid the entire time I was in the palace even if nothing was happening, but once again, I had been paranoid with my thoughts, not my actions. It was another showing of all talk no actions.

  For now, I need to get whatever is tied around me. I exerted my strength and tried to break it off with the mana circling around my entire body.

  “Trying to break out? Yeah, seriously, who the fuck are you?”

  Just because I’m breaking out I’m fake? I stared at the girl, gritting my teeth. Then after a few seconds, I realized I was getting mad for what reason exactly. Wait, wait, this is why I suck at pressuring situations, I panic too fast. I need to calm down. First, who is she?

  From what I currently know, the palace has the main palace in the middle and the mansions at the back. For a person to break into my mansion and openly show herself and even talk to me like this. Adding her height and her age being younger than me, it was obvious that she is my younger sister.

  Now, for the words she had said so far. There were two lines that had more significance than anything. For her to already know I’m a fake just because I was in the library, or no, maybe it’s even just because I picked up a book about basic swordsmanship. Another one was just because I was trying to break out.

  The latter made a lot of sense after a split second of thinking. After I get out of this situation, I need to set in my mind that the original body was so smart and sly that he could literally be the crown prince despite his personality and having absolutely no one on his side.

  My little sister being in front of me is not exactly that bad of a thing, for her to know me so much on just those things, even if they may be basic, still says something. The way that I act all serious and things in front of Orfield and him saying nothing. No, wait, Orfield had never met until that day. Shit, I got stuck!

  “What do you want?”

  “Not even calling me by my name?” She rolled her eyes and turned around, walking to the chairs and desk. “Just tell me who you are.” Despite our distance I could still directly hear her voice through my ears. It was magic.

  At that moment, I was contemplating the most useless things twisted and twisted until nothing even mattered. She knows me. So I can just tell her right. Wait, I should reply fast to show I’m not weak. Wait, but if she knows me already, can’t I just think about it for a while? Wait, no, what? What? No, but what do I actually say?

  While thinking about what to answer I stared blankly at the floor with my body still. The girl in front of me, sitting on a chair with her legs crossed looks like a little doll placed as a display. She sighed, “Oh well, I’m glad that piece of shit died. But… don’t you seem unfitting to be a crowned prince? I’m surprised Father hasn’t killed you yet. That cold-blooded bastard. No, you were cold too, you two are just the same. Oh, wait, you're different now. Eh.” She brushed her shoulder.

  After that, she released the magic tying me and my heart had calmed down. She looked around 12, other than her magic, she shouldn’t be that harmful. I took the book off the shelf and walked to her slowly, while twisting my empty hand.

  “Acting like everything was part of your plan? By the way, you reacted earlier, I know you’re not someone crafted to be royalty… well… this royalty.”

  “Okay, fine, what do you want from me? Based on your current actions, it’s not like your here to kill me.”

  “The one I hated is already dead, why would I kill an innocent man? I’m not you. Oh wait, you’re not him.” She said with a smirk.

  “Can you stop insulting the original? I don’t even know him.”

  “Hmmm… so it wasn’t soul transfer. Guess he really is dead. You know, I guess it makes sense. After feeling his first failure, that arrogant, egotistical, narcissistic bastard would have definitely killed himself just cause he felt like it. So you’re from another world. How was it there?”

  Before I could sit down in front of her I paused with my hand on the chair. How could she know that? How could a child so young know so much? Should I just ask, she’s already showing so much comfort, there should be no harm. Though, it’s stupid to think every person I encounter is someone I could make an ally with, it’s his little sister, and nothing could go wrong.

  Yeah, everything could go wrong, but who cares?

  “How could a young child like you know so much?”

  “If you’re not hailed as a genius in your world, you’re not fit to be royalty.”

  “Wow… is that the basic requirement to be the offspring of a King?”

  “Yes.”

  “How blatant, I love it.” I pulled the chair and saw mana randomly floating to my direction. As I tried to sit down, the chair slipped from my hand and I fell to the floor.”

  This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

  “Hahaha! Well, that’s my greeting to you, otherworlder, see you on second brother’s birthday.” She stood up and before I could even see her leave, she was already gone. “Okay, if children are that scary, what about adults? What the fuck! I don’t wanna see my father ever again. Wait, did she just say, the second brother? Oh, I don’t wanna see that guy either!” I said everything out loud, only realizing right after that she could have heard me.

  While looking outside, she immediately popped back in and said, “Oh, I’m Missy by the way, your younger sister, and one of the people who hates you the most! In the whole wide world!” She stretched her hand out and then immediately disappeared again.

  My jaw dropped in silence. I was utterly speechless. There was nothing more in the entire universe that could ever make me feel like I was an ant in some garbage. Knowing Earth was just one planet out of infinite planets, and I was a single human out of 8 billion feels better than being played by a child.

  A genius? Am I even fit to be the main character of my story? No, I’m not. So that’s not gonna make me go into depression again. No one is a main character, everyone’s just people playing in God’s palm. That’s it, that’s all there is to it.

  Once I was able to regain my sanity, I sat back down and laid my book on the table. “I don’t know when my other sibling’s birthday is, but I feel a bit itchy about it. Anyway!”

  I opened the first page of the book and ate everything inside whole. The first thing I noticed after cultivating was that my focus had increased immensely to the point that I felt I was a different person. Maybe it was the original body rubbing off of me, or maybe it really is because of cultivation. Whatever the reason was, I read the book with no pauses, not once, until I heard something outside.

  There were crackling noises of wooden wheels, heels of horses, and metal tapping on the ground. A second later, it stopped, the metal got louder, and each tap resembled a step.

  After Missy was able to sneak inside the mansion without me noticing, I was able to figure out how to heighten my hearing. “What’s happening outside?” I stood up, closing my book.

  I peeked off the second floor’s railings and saw armed guards holding flags outside. I’m not being arrested, am I? I thought, and sweat began to fall from my forehead. I was wearing clothes that resembled those of a hobo, well, on royal family standards. Before being seen, I hid myself back at the library, I had to find a way to change immediately.

  “Or…”

  Increasing my hearing was simple; cultivation was something I didn’t understand, but it wasn’t hard to figure things out. The cause of that simplicity was the book of cultivation. I held it high, kissing it multiple times and placing it down. I never wanted to read the book that much, simply because I felt that learning magic was a little bit more fun, learning swordsmanship, weapons, or other things that don’t require a person to sit in one place for eternity.

  I had already browsed through the book before, and I found out that the things in the book were actually all about cultivation. The person who made this book, however sad his life was, is clearly still naive. The book recorded a mix of physical and internal cultivation, and in the section on physical was where I found the way to enhance my hearing.

  “Now… there should be one for voices. I also want to fly… though… yeah, I might not be able to do that, yet or ever, I don’t fucking left his goddamn cave. Actually you know what.”

  I quickly flipped through the book, and in an instant, I was relieved. At the end of the capabilities section was a way to fly, using the accumulated qi and weaving a thick and sturdy floor, enough to carry the weight of a person. “Okay, now back to voice transmission.”

  Increasing one's hearing can be done by using the main source of cultivation, mana. By infusing your qi into the mana outside of your body, connecting them loosely could create a connection with you and your surroundings. The focus this took was immense to the point I actually only had the entrance wired, and nothing else.

  Talking to another person secretly and speaking loudly from afar uses the same principle. By talking directly to your qi, spreading it to the outside, and releasing it to the direction you wanted,

  “What is the purpose of your visit, royal knights?”

  “It’s the prince.”

  “What? Where is he?”

  “Sound magic.”

  The knights mumbled to themselves. Of course, I could hear them, even if having two strings of mana was already taxing to my head. It felt like I was being ripped apart into two ends. While massaging my temple, a man gave me a proper response.

  “We are here to pick you up for the Second Prince’s Coming of Age Ceremony.”

  “Go. Come back in an hour. I have something to attend to first.”

  “What is he scheming again.”

  “Shh, don’t be too loud.”

  “How will he even hear us whispering?”

  I could totally hear them whispering.