Reincarnated in the Royal Family with a Plunder System-Chapter 40: Beat

Ryan stumbled into the gym, his body moving on instinct, his mind adrift in a memory too vivid to fade.

He and Kaelith had slipped away from the palace’s ever-watchful gaze, ducking behind curtains and vanishing into narrow corridors where the world fell silent. There, love lived in whispers and laughter, in hurried footsteps and hidden corners. They had kissed beneath the hush of candlelight, tangled their fingers in secret, and laughed against each other’s lips when passing maids drew too close.

She had giggled, eyes alight with mischief, as she pushed him away and darted down the hall, daring him to catch her. He always did.

Now, in the sterile light of the gym, he was haunted—not by anything negative, but by something far more unbearable: beauty.

Life’s beauty.

Kaelith—barefoot, breathless—leaning against a sun-warmed pillar, half her face caught in golden light that turned dust into glitter. The way her cheeks hollowed when he touched her, as if even her skin leaned into his affection. The way her eyes fluttered close when he kissed her.

It wasn’t just a moment.

It was a memory carved into sunlight.

Ryan noticed that Seraphina was yet to arrive in the gym. She was not late, he was a bit early. He fell onto the floor and leaned his back against the wall.

He clenched his hand into fists.

He entered a trance.

A snap broke his trance.

"What are you thinking so deeply about?" Seraphina asked, crouching in front of him. "You’re early too."

Ryan looked up and smiled. "Did you bring what I asked for?"

When she’d asked what ability he wanted to plunder next, Ryan had told her something deeply personal—something he’d missed most since arriving on Mugen.

She grinned, then opened her palm to reveal a beautiful insect, shimmering and still.

Ryan’s eyes lit up.

Appraisal.

[Dancing Bug]

[Level: 6]

[Skills: Music Heart, Dance Bone]

"This is perfect!" Ryan exclaimed, standing up. "You really can get anything."

"I still don’t understand why you care about this ability so much," she said. "What is so good about it?"

He touched the bug without hesitation.

Plunder Sucker.

A tingling passed through him as the bug’s essence entered his body.

[Music Heart] (Lv. 1)

The ability to recreate any music one has ever heard.

"Music’s useless," Seraphina muttered. "I still don’t understand..."

"If I miss anything on Earth after appearing here, it’s the music. The songs. With this, I can make those reappear."

The gym door creaked open. Both turned.

Lysandra stood hesitantly at the entrance.

"I... came to watch," she said.

She hesitantly entered the place.

Sera blinked.

"Mom, you look weird. Did something happen?"

She instinctively reached for Ryan’s hand, intending to read his memories.

She would be able to find everything out easily if she did that.

Ryan took a deep breath. "Sorry, that’s my secret."

Music began to breathe out of him.

(Author’s note: play a danceable music while reading the rest of this Chapter)

It started slow, but soon enough, his music became better and better.

Subconsciously, Seraphina found her own legs clapping against the ground.

Ryan walked upto his mother.

She clenched her hand into fists. "Ryan. I truly regret the decisions I made as a youth. If it were today, I would have abandoned the experiment for your safety any day."

Ryan didn’t reply.

But the music became better and better and his own head started nodding to it.

On Earth, his days had been spend in unspoken bitterness. No matter what he said, he had lived a miserable life there. Everything he wanted, he had never gotten any of it.

Childhood romance, teenage love stories, deep friendship, striking stories to tell. Even a beautiful family. Even at the end of his 16th birthday, he had had none of that.

He only had things he fantasized.

Only things he wished happened.

Yet now, here he was.

Kaelith’s image appeared in his head again, filling him with a swell of fulfilment. Years and years of bitterness seemingly vaporized inside him, making him feel incredibly grateful for everything he had.

After so many years in his life, he once again felt the same sort of bliss he felt as a child on Earth.

People said that life was better as a kid—that was because as a kid, you only had easy desires that were easily fulfilled.

When people close in on becoming an adult, their desires become harder and harder to accomplish. And when those desires never get fulfilled, people stop caring about desires and thus—people lose the fulfillment they felt as a kid.

The music became even better.

"Oi, you seem very speechless," Seraphina said.

Ryan looked at the dust floating around in the gym.

At the beams of early evening sunlight.

At Seraphina’s weird look.

At his mother’s concerned look.

His head danced with the beats of the music.

As he did, a trail of tears dripped down his face and he just continued dancing, letting the tears drip down with trembling adam’s apple.

He did not cover his face.

He just let it happen.

"...Ryan?"

"Mom, dance."

She began nodding along to the music’s beat as well. Seraphina subconsciously followed.

Ryan took a deep breath and took his mother’s arm.

He began dancing.

"In the end, I think what you did was something very messed up. Experimenting with your own children in the womb was not nice. It is what monsters do."

Lysandra nodded with bitten lips. Her eyes full with unshed tears.

"You are a mess," he said. "A monster."

She nodded guiltily again. Pale.

"But what can I do?" Ryan asked. "we humans all make mistakes. We learn from it. You are indeed a mess, a monster, but you are my mess. My monster. Seraphina’s monster."

Lysandra’s face began dripping with tears as well as they continued the dance.

They danced—not skillfully, but with meaning. Every movement a line in a letter they never wrote. Both looking at each other with complex feelings. Whatever had happened between them, deep down, they were back to being the close mother and son.

Lysandra’s soul shivered with the music’s beat.

Seraphina just watched from the side—feeling a weird cringe in her heart.

So cringey brother!

Dancing and crying? Your monster? My monster?

How can you handle being so cringey?

How can one spout such cringe with a straight face?

This was Ryan’s true talent.

"Sis, come join us!"

Seraphina felt a shiver down her spine.

She froze.

Horrifying...

But her foot tapped.

Her leg twitched.

And with a soul-crushing sigh, Seraphina entered the fray.

The family danced.

Not gracefully.

Not perfectly.

But honestly.

If they were happy, what did it matter if it was cringey?