I Reincarnated Into A Single-Celled Organism!

When I entered the great hall, I was expecting to meet an older man. I was a bit shocked to see that the person sitting at the head was a rather young man, perhaps only a few years older than myself. Although he was sitting on the main seat, Abigail had a place right next to him, and on the other side was the uncle, followed by his three children, the two sons, and the daughter. On Abigail’s side, all she had was Mara, who remained at her side, ready to serve.

They weren’t the only people in the room. There were a dozen guards and another half-dozen men and women who appeared to be no more than spectators. Based on the whispers, I overheard, they were likely those connected to the Capala household, followers and friends of the man in the front. He wasn’t the first to speak though. Instead, it was the old uncle on his side.

“It’s about time you stumbled in,” the uncle snapped. “Sleeping off a long night, were we?”

I raised an eyebrow. “Your night was less engaging, perhaps?”

He made a face and then turned to one in charge. “Young Lord, as you can see, this boy is roguish and rough. He has no place in the Capala household.”

“Is there a problem?” I asked. “I wasn’t aware of any…”

“No problem?” the uncle snapped. “You were seen at the Green Pleasure Palace last night. Do you deny it?”

“Deny it? And, by chance, I wonder who saw me there?” I looked at him with disbelief.

They were all there! Were they going to try to punish me for doing what they felt was acceptable? My question was answered a moment later.

“That’s not important.” The uncle snorted. “My sons are both young, unattached men. If I see fit to enrich them, that is my own business. However, you’re not only engaged to the young lady, but you left the common room to spend personal time with the mistress of the palace. After going up there, you did not come out again the entire night. According to the guards, you only returned home early in the morning. Now, you tell me. Do you think such behavior is becoming of a lord of the house?”

I had to give him credit. He managed to spin things in a very believable way that they could justify going after me. The so-called young lord didn’t show any expression on his face, but Abigail frowned as she looked at me, and Mara was glaring unhappily. The Capala brothers had smug expressions, and Penelope looked upon me with a mocking derision. My mind worked as I wondered how to get out of this. That’s when my old personality took over.

“Well, I don’t deny it,” I smirked. “I went to the Green Pleasure Palace, and it was an enjoyable time. I didn’t realize joining the Capala family meant I couldn’t have fun.”

Abigail’s mouth fell open, and Penelope gasped. The uncle grinned like he had finally caught me.

“You admit it! Infidelity! You are having an affair at the expense of the missus.”

“Infidelity?” I gave him a look like he was stupid. “I’m neither married nor sexually engaged with Miss Abigail at the moment. Furthermore, when I marry Miss Abigail, I’ll be a young lord of the Capala household too. If I’m not mistaken, you are married as well, are you not? Is your wife your one and only? I thought this was a world of strength. What man doesn’t enjoy a mistress or two? Yet, the Capala men are all tamed by their women. That’s very interesting to me.”

The smile was wiped off his face quickly, and the two brothers looked slightly upset. It was the young lord who spoke up before either of them could say anything. I knew about the uncle’s status from a family tree I had found in the library. While their recent events weren’t updated there, they did have all of the family members up to date in a sort of family registry. When I finished speaking, I glanced over at the young lord, which prompted him to speak.

“Of course, men of status attract all kinds of women. Every man has his arrangements with his wife, as you would need to set for yourself. Although I’m betrothed, I too have enjoyed a few mistresses myself.” The young lord looked slightly amused as he spoke. “However, the quality of the woman matters. If a master slept with commoners and whores, this would reflect negatively on the Capala household, and thus it couldn’t be tolerated.”

“If you’re worried about my arrangements with my betrothed, Abigail herself told me that I am welcome to satisfy my desires on her maids. I can’t see how this would be any different.” Abigail’s lips thinned, but when the men looked her way, she gave a single sharp nod before blushing. “As for the mistress of the green, she is neither a mortal nor a whore. As far as women go, I was under the impression she was well sought and globally admired. At least, Uncle here led me to believe such by the way he ogled her last night.”

“You…” The uncle started from his chair, a furious expression on his face.

“Either way,” I spoke with a casual and flippant voice. “If it’s the opinion of the Capala family that the Green Palace of Pleasure is a place of ill-repute and the mistress of the green is no more than a whore, I will take that into consideration and use those words the next time someone offers to take me.”

The Green Pleasure Palace seemed to have a fair amount of political backing and wasn’t so easy to offend. I kind of guessed that after learning that Lady Gisselle was the mysterious Lady Sci. She wouldn’t become the mistress of the green unless the entire organization had a powerful background.

By everyone’s looks, I appeared to be right. My words caused all the men in the room to instinctively tense. Some of the spectators even glared at the uncle, who appeared slightly green himself. Even the young lord looked slightly embarrassed, as he was the one who originally mentioned the word whore.

“No one is suggesting that Mistress Sci is anything but an eloquent lady!” Brandon immediately defended the woman, possibly still crushing on her from the previous night.

“Then, I can’t imagine that there were any problems with me entering her quarters last night, correct?” I smiled.

“This…” The uncle looked like he wanted to say more, but he didn’t have any arguments at hand. “This is only a minor issue anyway. The main issue comes to how you can help the Capala family. If we allow a useless lech to be a young lord, we’d be the laughingstock of every paragon family!”

“A useless lech? I only joined the family a week ago.” I shook my head. “I was studying for the herbalist exam, and I took it yesterday.”

“Exactly, you chose a position that is difficult to obtain to buy yourself time.” The uncle’s vicious grin returned to his face. “Now that the results are in, you’re going to have no place to hide.”

I frowned. “Have you seen the results?”

“Master Bai said he is sending someone to bring them now,” Penelope spoke proudly. “I think the results should speak for themselves.”

I wasn’t sure if they were timing it on purpose, but there was a light knock and Pierre poked his head in. “My lady, there is a guest-”

Before he could say any more, the door burst open, and a familiar old man barged in. “What is the meaning of this?”

He had several parchments of paper in his hand, but he was squeezing them so tightly that they were a crumpled mess. He looked to be furious.

“Master Li?” Abigail blinked in surprise. “What’s the matter?”

“Grandmaster Bai informed me of what you’re all doing here. Who is the bastard who took the exam?” He was practically spitting with anger, his eyes looking around the room until they fell on me. “Is it you?”

Abigail tried to say something, but the young lord held up his hand. “Master Li, I’m Young Lord Capala from the capital Capala branch. I understand that you’ve been hired to handle the identification and sale of the herbs we grow, correct?”

This was the same old man I had encountered when I tried to sell the endangered plants. Thankfully, I had been hiding my face back then, as he didn’t recognize me. He would be the one I’d end up working under. When the Young Lord Capala spoke up, the man jumped a little, and then pulled back his temper, taking a breath and speaking with more respect in his voice.

“My apologies, my lord, I didn’t mean to cause an outburst. I was not informed that you were here. It’s just, that I received these test results, taken by a young master of the Capala family, and I’ve come to express my outrage. I will not work with him under any circumstances! If you wish for him to work in my store, I quit!”

“Was his score that bad?” Penelope snickered.

“Master Li, we were merely testing my fiancée’s knowledge,” Abigail stated. “We didn’t make any set plans. If he’s not suitable for the herbalist position, then we won’t force the issue.”

Master Li narrowed his eyes. “Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do here. Are you trying to trick me? That man could never be a herbalist!”

The two brothers chuckled and the uncle looked delighted. Penelope’s smug expression grew.

“So, I take it he failed the exam?” the Young Lord asked.

“Failed?” Master Li blinked. “Failure, I wouldn’t care. Don’t act like you don’t know. He perfectly passed the botanist exam! You are grooming my replacement!”