Reincarnated into Two Bodies

Chapter 16: Dark Card

“Lady Carine?”

“Uwah?!”

I whipped around, nearly dropping the book in my hands. It was Leila, again, appearing out of nowhere like a ghost.

“It is time to rest, My Lady”

“W-what? Already?” I said, my hands still on an open book.

Around me were several books with most of them I already skimmed through. 

I had plowed through seven of these books in that measly hour, and what did I learn? Nothing! Well, nothing about my actual powers.

Most of the things I learned were things about how to identify Aetherian Symbols to determine Talents, the rarity of Talents, and various uses of each Talents. Without a Talent Appraisal Scroll, all this knowledge would be as useful as a chess piece in checkers. 

Deciding that reading more probably wouldn’t help, I stood up, brushing off the dust from my skirt.

“Sorry for the mess, I’ll clean it up.”

“There is no need, My Lady. The maids will handle it. You should rest as per your mother’s orders.”

“A-ah, thanks, Leila.”

I reluctantly gave the book in my hand to Leila, which she deftly returned to the shelf. Without saying a word, we headed for the door.

“Ah, before we leave, Lady Carine. Would you like a bath?”

My steps stalled. My mind went blank.

“A bath?”

…

Seeing Leila’s figure should have been thrilling, but from Carine’s eyes, it was just... ordinary. Sure, she was a beauty and all, and part of me still found it stimulating, but it was nothing like the reaction I used to have.

“My Lady?” Leila’s voice interrupted my thoughts. “Am I being too rough with the cloth?”

“Hm?” I glanced back at her. “No, it’s fine. Please continue.”

“Very well.” Leila nodded and resumed washing my back.

I decided to let go of my overthinking and simply enjoy the rare luxury of being pampered.

The warm water, the soft scent, and the gentle feeling of being washed made me feel so comfortable that I almost fell asleep, though I managed to stay awake.

As I let Leila do her work, my mind focuses back on my earlier re

And that… was my memory of Feyt when I was 9-years-old.

I hadn’t even thought about socializing with people outside of my family. Guessing that this was the perfect moment to meet my friend for the “first” time in a while.

“Alright, I’ll come.”

“Good!” Mom clapped her hands. “Now, those two…”

Mom took a step to the side as she looked back, revealing the living room. Sis was being pulled by the arm by a muscular man with dark hair. That muscular man was my Dad—Rayn.

His build was crazy big, I felt like I was staring at a walking tower of muscles! The worst part of the scene before me was Sis, she was actually standing her ground against his pull!

“Come on–! Fray–!” Dad said in between breaths. “Don’t be a damn–! shut-in–!”

“Don’t wanna!~ I already go out enough at my job!!”

The two were locked in a stalemate, and I commend the floorboards for accommodating these two gorillas. 

Mom held her head as she sighed. “We’ll leave those two here for a bit. We’ll head there first, Feyt.”

“Come on, Feyt! Let’s go!” Mom took me by the arm.

“R-right…”

As we stepped outside, Mom held my arm firmly as we walked, guiding me down the familiar path to the village center.

We continued in silence, the only sounds coming from our surroundings and Mom’s occasional humming. Eventually, the pub came into view, its wooden sign swaying gently in the breeze. 

I half-expected to hear the usual clamor of voices and clinking glasses, but instead, it was eerily quiet. Probably because it was early noon?

Mom pushed open the door, and we stepped inside. The pub was empty, save for a woman behind the counter. With long, dark green hair tied back, she was polishing a glass, her expression as intense as I remembered.

She was Ricent’s mother—Sis and I called her Aunt Diane—known for her no-nonsense attitude and strict demeanor, a stark contrast to Mom’s bubbly personality.

“Hello there!” Mom greeted her energetically, waving a hand. “Is the booze ready?”

Aunt Diane set down the glass and gave a glaring side-eye. “The first thing that comes into your mind is always booze, huh? And can you tone down your voice?”

“Hm? Not like there’s anyone here, though?”

I stared at her, dumbfounded.

“Excuse me, but I have to ask rude customers to leave.”

“Haha, calm down! Calm down!” Mom waved her hands. “That was a joke!”

Aunt Diane picked up another glass and began cleaning, then she sighed. “Tch, I can’t believe someone like you could actually get married,” she whispered to herself, I heard it though.

Aunt Diane looked down at me. “Feyt, if you’re looking for Ricent, he’s upstairs.” 

“Oh, may I?” I pointed at the stairs.

“Sure,” she nodded. “Don’t need to worry about your mother, I’ll make sure she won’t cause any trouble.”

“O-okay! I’ll go upstairs! See you, Mom!”

“Buh-bye! Have fun!” She waved as I walked up the stairs of the pub. “Now, pull out your strongest stuff!”

“Hey! Don’t just pull them out of the shelves! Can you even afford those?!”

…

In front of me was a wooden door. I gently knocked on it and a voice responded.

“Coming!”

The door opened to reveal a teenage boy slightly taller than me. His brown hair had been lengthened to around shoulder length, and his facial features had become more manly.

Seeing his face, I realized I felt a sense of comfort like I could hang around him all day if I wanted to.

“Ahh! Feyt! You’re here!”

“Hi, Ricent.”

Ricent stepped aside, allowing me to enter his room. It was surprisingly tidy, I didn’t remember it ever being in this condition. Usually, it was chaos.

Also, the room was quite spacious, definitely bigger than mine. The window also uses actual glass instead of just wooden shutters back in my room. Honestly, I was jealous.

I watched as Ricent pulled out something from his desk. It was a deck of cards bundled together by a small thread.

“Hey, hey! Look! Mom bought me a new stack of cards yesterday! Wanna play?!”

“Cards?”

I was admittedly excited, I was quite fond of card games back in my past life. 

“Sure! Let’s play! What are we playing?”

“We’re playing !!”

“?! That sounds cool! How do I play that?!”

“Haha! Don’t worry, I’ll teach you the rules! I see people in the pub play it all the time!”

Without wasting any time, Ricent sat on the floor and I followed suit. He unbundled the cards and began shuffling them.

He placed the shuffled deck between us and began explaining the rules.

After hearing Ricent’s scuffed-up explanation, I understood the rules of the game clearly. To put it simply:

Dark Card was Old Maid.

It was frickin’ Old Maid.

Sure, they called the game Dark Card, but that made it worse in my opinion.

Putting my disappointment aside, I decided to just go ahead and play the game.

“What’s up, Feyt? You look disappointed,” Ricent asked, raising an eyebrow.

“...It’s nothing…” I reluctantly picked up my cards.