「 𝚃𝚘 𝚂𝚞𝚛𝚟𝚒𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙲𝚛𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎 」

≫ᴛʜᴇ ᴄʀᴀᴅʟᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪ ʟᴀʏ ɪɴ.≪

"I am only your heir, never your son." Arvan lifts his head up, looking straight into his father's dark gaze. "That will be your last word, insolent child." Roderic spat as he walks away from the gallows. "Let's leave, Hilde." The cold emperor said to his beloved son, Hilde was not able to do anything as he covered his eyes to prevent from watching his half-brother's last moments on the rope.

»»-------¤-------««

Cho Ji-tae. Age 19.

"That's it?!"

He was too disappointed when the latest chapter of his favourite novel ended the life of his favourite character. Praised by the End was a web novel he started reading when he just enrolled for college, the same one he is still studying at, the story is about the 2nd prince of the demon nation, Trosairene, he was a half-blood demon by the name of Hilderith Fafnir-Eser Trosairene, he was the illegitimate child of Roderic Steele-Eser Trosairene and an angel. Although Hilde was the main character of said story, his favourite character was the crown prince of Trosairene, Arvandus Zelroth-Eser Trosairene, the 2nd villain of the story, He had never sided or liked any villains in the books he's read and he really liked Hilde when he first read the story but Arvan was somewhat... relatable to him. He won't go in too much detail about himself, but what he liked about Arvan is how he wasn't letting his father walk all over him yet never hurt Hilde in his pursuit of revenge through terrible and despicable ways.

It was disappointing to see Arvan being easily captured as Roderic used Hilde as bait. But hey, he could have escaped prison, find a way to win the trial, or easily fake his execution, but Arvan didn't, it was never explained in the novel on why Arvan didn't do so, which made him feel so frustrated. It's probably because the author just wanted to shine the light on the main villain, trying to remember that bastard's name was already frustrating him. He immediately turned off his phone as he looked over at his alarm clock. 2:18 A.M. He should be asleep as he had a presentation to work on tomorrow. He threw himself onto the soft mattress of his bed as he slowly let his eyelids close by itself.

"Live on, my child."

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Ji-tae woke up as he tried stretching out his arms, he tried getting up, but it failed to no avail. Weird. Is his muscle cramped, or maybe he's still drowsy to get up properly? He tried lifting his own body up again but to no avail once again. "Gah-" He shut his mouth properly, he intended to groan but it came out as a squeaky voice. He looked around, he was somewhere unknown. "Ahh!" He screamed, it came out as a baby's voice. A baby's voice?! "Your majesty, you're awake already!" A female's voice spoke as Ji-tae heard footsteps. He lifted his hand in front of his eyes, it was covered behind a soft silk mitten. This is it. Cho Ji-tae has finally lost his mind. "Good morning, your majesty." The same voice hummed as she finally revealed himself. "It seems like you just knew that your father is here, your highness." The woman spoke as she picked up Ji-tae in her arms. 'Don't worry, Cho Ji-tae, this is just a lucid dream, you'll wake up in seconds and you'll go back to your same old daily routine.' He thought to himself, a man walked up to both of them.

"This is my child?"

His vision was weirdly clear for a newborn baby, he read somewhere that babies' vision doesn't clear up until at least they're 3 months old, or maybe because he's just dreaming this moment, because isn't possible for him to be seeing the 2nd character he hates the most in front of him. Roderic Steele-Eser Trosairene. He must be insane at this point.

"What did that lowlife named him?"

"Zelroth, sire."

"Huh. Not bad. I'll give him the name first of Arvandus."

Oh god. Now he's Arvan? Either this has to be the best day of his life or the worst. He watches as Roderic left the room, his lucid dream continued on for a day, as he went through the daily routine of his beloved character as an infant, it was odd and might not be accurate since the novel never disclosed too much information about Arvan's childhood. Finally, night was slowly approaching, although Arvan was a strong person in the novel, his infant body still needed rest. He was put to bed in the small yet still luxurious cradle prepared for him. Finally, Ji-tae could finally go back to his dull life as a college student.

Except that he did not.

He woke up as Arvan again. He wailed as he was confused onto why and what happened to him. Although he loved Arvan, he didn't want to be him! "What's wrong, your majesty?" Arvan's nanny spoke as she picked up the small infant and started comforting him by patting his back. Arvan's nanny, Lady Lovisa Lindquist was both Arvan and Hilde's nanny so they both loved her as their mother but Hilde's previous nanny decided to kill Lovisa and took over her role as both princes' nanny, which cause her to mistreat Arvan and Hilde every single day.

He gripped onto Lovisa's spring gown tight as he continued wailing.

This must be a dream.

It has to be.

He'll wake up again.

And he did.

But once again.

He was not Cho Ji-tae anymore.

He is Arvandus Zelroth-Eser Trosairene, the Crown Prince of Trosairene.

The one destined to die to shine the way for Hilde.

END OF CHAPTER ONE.