Getting By in a Western Fantasy World with Magic Tricks

(If you have a moment, could you add my new novel, No Reading the Duke's Mind!, to your favorites? I beg you QAQ)

Loin Theens, the youngest "Black Rose Duke" in the Norman Empire and the first heir to the magical Theens family.

In this era of rising steam technology and declining magical civilization, Loin couldn't use magic. With the help of the former head of the family, and by using his naturally black hair and eyes to deceive everyone, he pretended to be gifted. As natural disasters grew more frequent and the royal capital tightened its grip, he barely managed to preserve the family's glory, which was strong in appearance but weak underneath.

However, his father's death caused Loin to become fixated on a mistaken idea. He recklessly took a forbidden drug, hoping to make a breakthrough in his talent.

Luckily, he received the memories of himself from a parallel world. Though his awakened magic took a strange form, at least that version of himself was hailed as the greatest magician of the 30th century... Wait! A mag... a magician?!

[Please perform a flawless magic trick.]

--What counts as a "flawless performance"?

[Not one audience member notices the trick.]

Under the circumstances, someone who wanted to examine him under a microscope was especially annoying.

Joelrick: "I'm only pursuing the nature of the world and the truth of all things."

Loin: "And how's that going?"

Joelrick stole a kiss while he was off guard. "I found it."

The recipient: cool on the outside, snarky on the inside, and focused on his career x The attacker: perceptive, a master of science, and trying to seduce his beloved, but never managing to reel him in

Theme: Turning inferior circumstances into an advantage through intelligence.