Reincarnated as Duke’s Heir
Copyright© 2025 by TheSmartOne
Chapter 1: Prologue
Earth – France – Paris
A dimly lit laboratory, sterile white walls, and the faint hum of ventilation filled the air. Scattered across the steel workbenches were beakers, flasks, and intricate chemical apparatus—some familiar, others bordering on the esoteric. A faint acrid scent lingered, the unmistakable byproduct of repeated failed experiments.
At the center of it all, a young man stood motionless, his black curls damp with sweat beneath his protective goggles. His dark eyes fixated on the volatile liquid bubbling inside a conical flask, small tongues of blue and orange flames licking at the surface.
“Come on ... just a little more,” he muttered.
Lukas Moreau was, by all accounts, an unremarkable man. Born and raised in an orphanage, he had no name, no wealth, and no outstanding talent. Only sheer stubbornness had carried him through five grueling years at Paris University, where he pursued his passion—no, obsession—with combustion chemistry.
His thesis? The development of a highly reactive incendiary compound, one potent enough to ignite even the most fire-resistant materials. A breakthrough in controlled burning for deforestation projects, or, in the wrong hands, a potential weapon of mass destruction.
Before him, the concoction swirled—a mixture of chlorine trifluoride (ClF₃), one of the most dangerous oxidizers known to man, and an experimental gel-like napalm substitute.