Note : finally a chapter with a proper name , previous ch has weird name like 1 ch1, etc
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The afternoon light dripped lazily over the cracked rooftops of Velar. Smoke curled in thin ribbons above the city — half from chimneys, half from factories
Reinhart leaned against the window of the vintage motorcar, watching the scenery crawl by. Catherine sat beside him, clutching a small paper bag from one of the shops they'd stopped at. The faint scent of new parchment and disinfectant lingered inside — their so-called "necessities" for the academy.
Catherine peeked at him from the corner of her eye. "You look tired, my lord."
He didn't turn. "I was just thinking about something ".
"anyway , what do you think about my family ? " he continued
" my lord I am from commoner origin therefore i don't much about your esteemed family except some few bits like , your mother died when you were young and she was from a merchant family , your sister is a student at the academy and there is little information about you available to us commoners "
Reinhart tilted his head toward her, pretending to be offended. " do the people don't even know about their future lord , huh , I am gonna make sure those peasants remember who their lord is when i rise to power "
She sighed, smiling despite herself. "Yes, my lord. i will make sure that all people in the territory know your name and sing your praises "
their talks continued and the mood of car brighten up
Outside, the streets slowly gave way to open roads. The air changed — less smoke, more damp earth. The sound of the motorcar was steady, rhythmic, almost hypnotic.
The driver up front hummed an old tune, the kind soldiers used to sing on long marches. Beside him sat one of the palace bodyguards, a tall man with a serious face that hadn't smiled since the invention of the wheel.
Reinhart studied them through the rear mirror. The driver's cap was slightly crooked; the guard's uniform looked two sizes too tight.
"Driver," Reinhart called out suddenly.
"Yes, my lord?"
"Out of curiosity, how fast can this machine go ?"
The man stiffened. " 90 km per hours , my lord "
"alright ." Reinhart rested his chin on his hand. "but , is this the latest model available in market ? "
" No my lord , there are other new models but few of them specialise in speed but the highest I heard was 100 km per hour " replied driver
Reinhart turned his gaze to the bodyguard who was sitting quietly in the corner and asked him " hey mr bodyguard , what if someone were to attack me ? "
The guard coughed quietly. "We are trained for that, my lord."
Reinhart arched an eyebrow. "Oh? Tell me, how would you react if someone did attack us right now?"
"Neutralize the threat immediately."
"Excellent. And if it's a beautiful woman?"
"…Neutralize the threat carefully, my lord."
Reinhart gave him a knowing look and said " ah , a fellow man of culture I see "
Guard smiled but quickly composed himself
Then reinhart shifted his gaze to Catherine
She was leaning closer to the window, watching the blur of colors.
Then reinhart asked her " hey Catherine, how many face packs did you bought from the shop , again? "
She shifted her face to face reinhart and said " my lord , I bought 20 face pack but still i don't understand why you asked me to buy these things meant for women ? "
Reinhart said casually " to preserve my beautiful skin and to stay handsome, you just won't understand this "
Actually in his previous life , when he was young , he used to be handsome and even had the chance to have female friends but he rejected them all as he was too shy then and considered getting a female friend a symbol of shame and weakness
So As he grew up , he got acne and he didn't maintained himself because of which he grew up to be average looking and because of this same reason got no female friends ( partly because he considered that all female just see looks and money before becoming friend with a man )
This resulted him to care about his skin and looks more , as he was in a different league now after transmigration
Here if he wanted a beautiful noble family girl then he must be handsome or have a upper hand in background, because of which he was absolutely fixated on improving his appearance which was already considered handsome by all but not by reinhart
Outside the road had narrowed again, Reinhart stared out of the window, meanwhile Catherine was doing the same too but only reinhart noticed that this street was too quite
" Is this street always this empty" Reinhart asked
Catherine replied quickly " No my lord maybe people went to city square or are just sleeping because it is the after... "
reinhart tilted his head slightly towards the car window because he heard a faint sound drifted through the wind: a shout, muffled and strange, so faint that for a moment he thought it was nothing.
He looked outside in between the conversation
Catherine noticed his sudden stillness. "My lord? What is it?"
He didn't answer immediately, he saw a figure, tall and thin, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and glasses that caught the sun. The man waved his arms, shouting words Reinhart couldn't hear over the hum of the engine.
" Who screams like a madman in broad daylight? " Reinhart thought
Then, in a blink, Reinhart realized the movement of the man's hand wasn't random. He was tossing something towards them
The driver also noticed this and twisted the wheel sharply, tires screeching against the road . Reinhart's hands gripped the edge of the seat. The bodyguard tried to get out
Catherine remained oblivious to the danger,
Reinhart's heart sank. It's too late. The object spun through the air in slow motion — a suitcase .
Everything was happening too slow in Reinhart eyes. He tried to move but his body betrayed him
A loud boom echoed and time seemed to fracture for reinhart
He couldn't move, couldn't even breathe properly. His mind froze on the sudden, awful scene
Then two hands with the scent of lemon came from his behind and covered his eyes with them
With that his vision went black
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Can you please give me a review on this ch as it helps me a lot