8 Angel!

After kissing Lorraine on her forehead and patting her stomach, Leonard sighed. Next time he would bring something delicious.

Leonard already planned what kind of ploy he would show to his family. Lenneza is something to be worried about but not that much.

Her changes were not that significant to the story, she'll probably be disgusted by my next act and stop trying to engage in a close relationship.

He went to his room and looked at himself. He's quite the looker, he wasn't ugly nor too handsome. But he was still attractive.

His red hair along with his blue eyes made him look fierce, but since he was a kid it wasn't that properly showing yet.

Leonard wondered what he would look like if he lived healthily this time, in the first run he didn't eat much nor build muscles after all he was a third-rate villain he wasn't supposed to stand out as the protagonist.

Leonard was an avid body lover, he loved to see himself healthy. So this time he would properly eat and build himself a proper lifestyle.

He also imagined a day where Lorraine and he would take a stroll outside, although he also wanted to add Lenneza it would be difficult as she was a heroine, and being friendly to her would deviate the story.

Meanwhile befriending Lorraine and having a close relationship with her would not deviate the story in any way.

So he couldn't help but feel a bit guilty excluding Lenneza, but it couldn't be helped.

Leonard walked outside and strolled around the mansion, ignoring the useless rants from the maids he went directly to his father's study.

He was there to investigate so he used Shadow Arts to its fullest. He wanted to know where the fairy Ruby and fairy tears were being used.

Leonard encountered some difficulties since Lenneza kept an eye on him.

"Leo! Leo! Let's go play~"

"I have other plans"

"What does a 10-year-old boy even plan about?"

"Playing without his klutz of an older sister."

"Urk!"

Lenneza took mental damage, However, Leonard could only inwardly be sorry. He has to investigate and he's not there to play.

So to do this, the next day, he took one of Lenneza's tea invitations that she didn't answer and made a reply by simply copying her writing, and sending her to have a tea party, that way he'll have time.

"What! I don't remember replying to those!"

"Sorry my lady, Jessica Oliver Jones is an influential family in the Empire, so it is rude not to follow your reply of accepting to be in her tea party."

"But I really didn't reply!"

Lenneza cried, she really didn't reply!

However, Leonard couldn't care less, he needed the time he wanted now. He went to investigate every major variable in the family.

Elizabeth, Richard, and possibly the Butler, Leonard briefly remembers how mysterious this Butler is in his past life.

But no matter what, he didn't see anything strange, so he went to the kitchen and stole some cookies then went down to the hidden labyrinth in the middle of the night.

"Psst, Lorraine I'm here."

He entered the locked cell once again by using Shadow Arts. This time he is holding a basket of cookies.

"Bwother! Bwother!"

Lorraine jumped out of bed and ran up to Leonard, Even hugging him but due to her height, she could only hug him up to his waist.

She looked up at Leonard as if she was dreaming, she tried to confirm that the Leonard who visited her wasn't just a dream of hers, now she was sure it isn't a dream at all.

"Yes~ yes~ brother is here."

He lifted Lorraine into his arms, he noticed how light the child was, and he thanked the heavens that he managed to find her on time.

Leonard sat on the bed and sat Lorraine on his lap.

"Lorraine, do you know cookies?"

Lorraine tilted her head, she was unbelievably cute that Leonard had to stop himself from patting Lorraine's head.

"Here, here."

Leonard presented the cookies which Lorraine only tilted her head with confusion, right Lorraine never had cookies.

Leonard taught her that it's food by eating it in front of her.

"nom~" Leonard bit down on the cookie. "Try it, Lorraine."

Leonard presented the cookie, seemingly hand-feeding Lorraine. Lorraine, curious about the cookie, took out a bite and her eyes sparkled.

'A national treasure! She's a natural treasure!'

Leonard's heart almost melted but he kept himself by feeding Lorraine more. She was so eager because she was new to the taste.

Leonard was enjoying the sight of his younger sister eating, but then Lorraine paused and looked at him.

"...?"

Then Lorraine took a piece of the cookie with her tiny hands and tried to feed Leonard as well.

'An Angel!!!!!'

Leonard gladly accepted the cookie, his stress was practically non-existent whenever he was with Lorraine. And he liked that fact.

While he was enjoying his time with Lorraine he looked at her with a rueful smile.

"Lorraine…"

Lorraine looked at Leonard with an expectant gaze.

"Brother has to do some stuff so my visit will be short okay?"

"Mmn…" Lorraine gave a sullen look.

"Don't worry though! Because Lorraine also has a sister."

"Sis…?"

Leonard nodded.

"Her name is Lenneza, hahaha we have a lot of L's in this family, well she looks gorgeous as Lorraine."

Lorraine was immersed in her brother's rambling, she thought that there was more than one Leonard.

"She has white hair and green eyes, her hair is beautiful as your gray hair too."

Leonard patted Lorraine's head. She was excited to meet another person who'll treat her like Leonard would. Leonard could be seen with a gentle smile throughout all the interaction.

"It's quite dead at night, here is some water."

After giving Lorraine cookies he gave her a glass of water, at least his father was kind enough to leave Lorraine a pitcher full of water.

When Leonard said his goodbyes and was about to live, Lorraine grabbed his shirt and tugged on it.

Leonard looked at Lorraine just to discover a pitiful look, Lorraine doesn't want to let go of Leonard simply because he's the only warmth she ever had over these years.

If Leonard goes, Lorraine would be left with this boring and lonely cell. Lorraine doesn't want that.

Leonard sighed, he thought that he needed to find a way for his sister to walk out the surface, to enjoy the warmth of the sun and the smell of the refreshing spring.

"okay… okay"

Leonard laid his sister down on the bed and topped her with a blanket. Leonard laid down as well and faced Lorraine.

"I'll be here so go on and sleep."

Lorraine doubted those words, he once disappeared. What if she wakes up and he's gone again? And the person who she woke up to is that big bad woman who keeps hitting her?

She shivered but a hand filled with warmth assured her that isn't going to happen, Leonard petted her hair and started singing a lullaby.

Leonard could see the worry and fear in his little sister and of course, as the older brother, he felt the responsibility to take those worries and fears away.

"Don't worry Lorraine, I'll find a way for you to live freely."

Lorraine felt drowsy, even though she resolved herself not to have Leonard out of her sight. She inevitably closed her eyes and went to dreamland, this time at least she has a light called brother in the vast sea of nightmares.

"Ha…"

Leonard wanted to finish this up early, but he needed to get some information first. This world has both modern technology and magical advancements that would put the modern Earth in shame.

If he just randomly accused his father without evidence, he would only suffer the consequences.

"Hmm... What to do... What to do…"

Leonard patted Lorraine's stomach and made sure she was asleep before leaving her in the cell once again, he could also try and make a story in which Lorraine escapes the household by making a hole but a four-year-old child couldn't do that.

Leonard walked out of the hidden basement like a labyrinth and decided to follow the people who most likely will go to the basement.

His father, the head Butler and in his suspicion Elizabeth. Whilst Elizabeth is the least suspicious she is also the most suspicious, where does she get that jewelry from?

Leonard went to his father's study to confirm one thing. He knew at this time that his father had a lot of business running, so they weren't short of cash.

That's what he thought till he met Lorraine, why would they even bother to hide Lorraine if they aren't short of cash?

"where… where… where is it?"

Leonard rummaged through the bookshelf of his father's study. He knew that the ledger would be there.

"Here it is… 1720-1730"

The Imperial calendar started when its founder, Yoseph Winstead died and was considered a tradition. Other than that there are about 3,000 years of history previous to the Imperial founder.

Leonard opened the ledger and tried to find suspicious things in the account; he found nothing from 1720-to 1726 but eventually found something suspicious in 1727.

In the first column of the letter, on March 2nd, 1727 labeled "5 dozen Cleaning detergents" was paid by the family card and not any personal card by the family at 7:22 pm.

It was simply suspicious because where do they need the cleaning detergents when the whole mansion is getting renovated?

At 7:22 pm nonetheless, no matter how advanced technological and magical advancements are, they still can't instantly deliver a bulk of those cleaning detergents.

"Here's more."

On July 17th, 1727 they bought 50 ceramic pots and 12 Jade for "decoration". There are indeed ceramics and Jade in the house but if it got inspected closely one would notice it's fake.

The reason Leonard knows this is because he tried to sell the jades in the first run before, he wasn't given money by his father due to his actions and he needed cash for the plot.

He got humiliated in the pawn shop when the owner took a close look at the jades. He at least got paid by a fourth of their actual market price.

"Truly weird."

Leonard can conclude that at this time of the year they were doing something secluded. And that would be building the basement.

Today is October 6, 1731, it just aligns that four years ago there was activity in the family. And that his sister was four years old.

It's like that basement was solely built for her, but why? It still doesn't answer his question about why would they need Lorraine if they aren't short of money.

Leonard continued to browse, he wanted to know more till he finally saw the problem.

All of the entries in the ledgers are just fillers to justify an unprecedented amount of money spent.

"This is good evidence."

Leonard wanted to take a pic but the book might have illusory magic to it he might get caught if that was the case.

"Hmm…. Quite troublesome."

The things he bought from the system reset from the start. He doesn't have them anymore but he could recreate the actual skills because he always used them repeatedly. Practically he knows the skills like the back of his hand.

"Magic eye…"

He tried to focus mana on his eyes in a concentrated manner. If he failed his concentration he could go blind.

"I needed this a lot back then, if I'm correct it cost me 5,000 points."

He used Mana eyes in the first run, Mana eyes could only be developed by intensive training from mages, the mages used Mana eyes to intercept any circles from being created and to predict when the next attack via magic could go flying.

But that could only be achieved by a small majority of mages, by statistics, it was concluded that only 2.8% of overall mages could only willingly use Mana eyes and about 2.2% could use it instinctively.

However, that percentage was broken by Leonard, who can use mana eyes passively. Which would make him the only one in the world who could do so.

While mana eyes are very convenient, it takes up a lot of mana to activate by the ones who can willingly use them. Leonard bought the Mana eyes in the system as something he could use willingly, this took up a toll on him before he could even use the mana filter technique.

However, he managed to find a way to have it be continuously used even in his slumber. A technique he made was called the Vent Suction technique.

With this technique, he could continuously gather wild mana and by Mana filter technique he could use Nue mana just resting on his skin to continually fuel the use of mana eye making it passive.

Thanks to the Vent Suction technique his mana cycle got better as well, making his mana use completely efficient.

"Ugh…"

Leonard finally finished his creation of the mana eye, But he was completely exhausted. He decided to rest for now before continuing to gather evidence and went back to his room.