The Genius and Calamity of the Villainous Noble: A Brilliant Prodigy Unaware of Their Reincarnation as the Game's Antagonist Defies the Scenario and Dominates with Talent and Hard Work - Chapter 2.2

“No, no, I definitely didn’t make a mistake with the posting time and accidentally upload it yesterday. Nope, not at all.”

It hadn’t been particularly difficult for me to kill my father and my older brother, Eurus, and take my place as the head of House Reinhardt.

The fact that my father, the Duke of Reinhardt, had been conducting research on necromancy was certainly a problem—but not a significant one.

In this world, the lives of commoners hold little to no value.

Even if my father had sacrificed over a thousand commoners for his necromantic experiments, few among the nobility or royalty would have cared.

Of course, there are some who do show concern for commoners. But those people tend to be the kind who willingly distance themselves from positions of power rather than fighting to keep hold of it—so there’s really no need to worry about them.

Necromancy is technically forbidden, so there was some backlash when my father’s research came to light. The king even summoned me for questioning. But in the end, the response was something along the lines of:

“Ah, yeah… Necromancy research is, well… Oh? That golden hair…? You? Hmm… Well, since it’s already taken care of, no punishment necessary!”

And with that, the whole matter was conveniently brushed under the rug with a smile.

“I see… So perhaps you were an accomplice to your father and brother’s forbidden necromantic research?”

“Oh, no, not at all! Perish the thought!”

“That’s good to hear… Even so, no matter how powerful my father was, conducting experiments on that many commoners couldn’t have been done alone. I believe there was a merchant guild aiding him. As a member of the family, I have a responsibility to clean up this mess. Do you have any idea which guild might have supported him? I intend to ensure they are properly… held accountable.”

“N-no… I can’t think of any off the top of my head.”

“I see… That’s unfortunate. Well then, let’s continue to maintain a good relationship between House Reinhardt and your guild, shall we?”

“Y-yes… Of course.”

If there was one troublesome matter that arose from killing my father and seizing his title, it was the need to bring the merchant guilds that had supported him under my control.

But honestly, that wasn’t too much of a challenge.

All I had to do was remind them that they were complicit in his necromantic research and could easily be crushed under that accusation. Most of them fell in line without much resistance.

“Well then, I bid you a pleasant day.”

With a polite smile directed at the head of the Lisa Trading Company, I stood up and exited the reception room.