Duke of the North Refuses the Villain Route

Chapter 4-Flames

Rhett leaned back on his office chair, hand going for the crick on his neck. Stacks of paper lay on top of his table, all containing information and images of various people. He had finally finished reviewing the information about the people assigned to care for Aleron. What he found made him more furious than he already was.

Half of the people had sick family members and were being paid an exuberant amount of money aside from the generous salary they were already receiving. Rhett could guess that they were either forced or threatened to accept the money and most of them did the bare minimum in caring for Aleron.

The other half of the people were formerly connected to two of the vassal families that firmly supported Roran's position as heir. The nanny was one of them, and the information Herard brought forth witnesses of her abuse of Aleron the last few months. There were even reports of these people taking turns to go out of the castle to report to their "true masters."

From the information that assimilated with his mind, he found that these two particular families did not support Roran out of loyalty. They believed that they could control the Valtoria heir into doing their bidding, seeing as the late Grand Duchess passed and the Grand Duke had been on the verge of death. They did not even try to hide their blatant treatment of Aleron. It was as if they believed Roran would not care enough to punish them for it. If it was the real Roran, then maybe. But it was too bad for them that Rhett currently inhabited his body.

What to do with this?

He was the Grand Duke, but the official succession ceremony was a month away. It meant he could not deal with the staff as he saw fit as of that moment. It would only make people think that he was arrogant and was overindulging in his power and authority before he was officially titled. It was also ill-advised to cause a large commotion so soon after the late Grand Duke's passing.

He would not have usually cared. But it was important for his succession ceremony to not have any flaws. He had to bear with it for now.

He had to build up his power too.

With that thought, his hand went to his chest. The two balls of mana still circled his heart, now having grown to the size of a baseball. In his mind, he reached for the more familiar flame of the two.

He was in a different body, but since the power traveled with him, then maybe he could still use it. Having done it thousands of times in his world, he managed to come in contact with the mana of the flame. It flared up, flowing from his chest down his arm and into his hand. White flames appeared on his palm and covered his entire hand. Rhett smiled as he admired the familiar fire that had accompanied him for over a decade.

Hellfire was the name of his ability. It gave him the power to control flames that would never go out until he ordered it too. It was the reason he got nicknamed Demon King by everyone in the world. He was immensely grateful that whoever brought him here also included in his most powerful ability.

It turned into a ball, shaped into a whip, and a small tornado of fire before letting it settle back to its natural appearance. His new body had no problems utilizing his previous power. However, the output and power behind it were still far from the level he had reached before he was brought here. He theorized that his current body was not strong enough to manifest the complete level of Hellfire. He would need to find some way to strengthen his body as soon as possible.

Next, he reached for the second ball. Like what he did with the first ball, he came in contact with the second flame. But unlike the first flame, it did not flow anywhere. It remained in its ball, not moving at all. He tried pulling at it and failed. He tried to coax it gently, but the result was the same.