The storm was gone by the time morning came. Raindrops still hung on the garden bushes like tiny jewels, catching the weak sunlight. The Drakenhart family mansion stood tall and dark against the brightening sky. Its black towers looked grim compared to the colorful city that spread out beyond the walls.
Lucius sat alone in his father's old study. The room smelled of leather books and old wood. On the desk in front of him lay a thick book filled with numbers and lists. He turned the yellowed pages slowly, reading about all the things his family had bought and sold over the years. Wine from the southern valleys. Grain from the northern farms. And other things too—people, bought in secret and kept as property.
The Drakenhart name had always meant wealth and cruelty. Most people saw only the expensive parties and the way his family treated others badly. But Lucius saw something else. He saw power. Money could buy soldiers. It could make enemies disappear. It could help him change his fate and escape the story that was supposed to control his life.
A gentle knock on the door interrupted his thoughts. The heavy wooden door swung open, and Selene walked in. Her long silver hair had been brushed until it shone. Someone had tied it back with a light blue ribbon. She still wore the same white dress from yesterday, but something about her had changed. She didn't pause at the doorway like before. She walked right in, bowed her head politely, and spoke without waiting to be told what to do.
"Master, your breakfast is ready," she said quietly.
Lucius looked at her carefully. One week ago, in the original story of this world, she would have been locked in a cage somewhere in this very house. She would have been crying and praying for someone to save her. Her eyes would have been bright with hope, always looking toward the windows and doors, always planning to escape.
Now her eyes looked down at the floor instead of meeting his. Her voice was softer. She was learning to obey him.
Above her head, numbers appeared that only he could see.
[Obedience: 69% → 70%]
She wasn't completely broken yet. But every day she bent a little more toward giving up her fight.
Lucius closed the account book and set it aside. "Bring the food here," he said.
Selene hesitated for just a moment. In the Drakenhart house, meals were always eaten in the big dining room downstairs. Food was never brought to other rooms like servants' scraps. But she did what he asked anyway. A few minutes later, she came back carrying a silver tray. She set it down carefully on the table next to him. The bread was still warm from the kitchen ovens. Fresh fruit had been covered with golden honey. Dark tea steamed in delicate cups painted with tiny flowers.
Lucius didn't start eating right away. Instead, he watched Selene as she stood quietly beside him. Her hands were folded in front of her. Her head was bowed. The metal collar around her neck caught the light from the window, reminding both of them what she was now.
"You're learning fast," he said.
Her breath caught in her throat. A pink blush spread across her pale cheeks. She seemed more nervous when he praised her than when he gave her orders.
"Thank you, Master," she whispered.
[Loyalty: 52% → 54%]
Lucius bit into the warm bread. It tasted good, but what pleased him more was watching Selene become smaller and more obedient with every passing day. Not the food itself, but the way she was learning to serve him without question.
He leaned back in his chair and looked at her. "Sit down," he said.
She obeyed immediately. But instead of taking one of the other chairs in the room, she lowered herself to the floor beside his feet. She folded her legs neatly under her and kept her head down. Lucius hadn't told her to sit on the floor—she had chosen that herself. It was a small thing, but it showed how she was starting to see herself. Not as an equal who deserved a chair, but as something less.
"Do you still dream about being free?" he asked her again.
Selene went very still. Then she lowered her head even more. "No, Master," she said.
This time, no warning appeared in Lucius's vision telling him she was lying. The system stayed quiet. That silence told him more than any number could.
---
By the time the sun reached the middle of the sky, the whole estate was buzzing with activity. Servants hurried back and forth through the hallways. Guards stood straighter and checked their weapons. Maids rushed to clean the rooms where important guests would be received.
Selene stayed near the doorway of the study, quiet but listening as Lucius got ready for whatever was coming. She watched him straighten his dark coat and check his appearance in the mirror.
"Who's coming to visit us today?" Lucius asked one of the servants who passed by.
"A messenger from the Royal Academy, my lord," the servant answered with a bow. "They say the Council has started choosing people for the Hero's summoning ceremony."
Lucius stopped moving. His hand froze while reaching for some papers on his desk. So the story had reached that point already. Soon, the Hero would be awakened through a sacred ritual. The gods would bless him with holy power and a noble purpose. In every version of this story that Lucius knew, it always began the same way—the Hero would meet Selene and rescue her from the evil villain who had captured her.
Lucius looked over at the girl standing quietly nearby. She wore a collar around her neck. She knelt when he told her to. She was already halfway to being completely under his control.
But not this time. This time, the story would be different.
He waved his hand to dismiss the servant, then turned back to Selene. She was looking at him with curiosity in her purple eyes. She probably sensed that the news was important, but she would never dare to ask him about it.
"Get yourself ready," Lucius told her. "Tomorrow you're leaving this house with me."
Selene's eyes went wide with surprise. She hadn't been allowed to leave the mansion since the day she was brought here as a prisoner. Fear flickered across her face for just a moment before she pushed it down and replaced it with the obedient expression she was learning to wear.
"As Master commands," she said, bowing her head.
[Corruption: 14% → 16%]
Lucius smiled, but it wasn't a kind smile. Every step forward bent her will a little more. The system was slowly reshaping her from the brave heroine she was supposed to be into something else entirely. Instead of being a companion for the Hero, she was becoming a servant made just for him.
After the messenger left, Lucius spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about what would come next. He walked through the halls of his family's mansion, looking at the paintings of his ancestors on the walls. They all had the same dark hair and cold eyes that he saw when he looked in the mirror. They had all been villains in their own time, just as he was supposed to be.
But Lucius had something they didn't have—he knew how the story was supposed to end. He knew that the Hero would come looking for Selene. He knew about the battles that were supposed to happen, the friends the Hero would make, and the way everything was supposed to play out.
Unless he changed it first.
That evening, Selene served him dinner in his private rooms instead of the dining hall. She moved quietly around the table, refilling his wine glass and bringing him different courses. Every movement was careful and practiced. She was learning to anticipate what he wanted before he even asked for it.
"Tell me," Lucius said as she placed a plate of roasted meat in front of him, "what do you remember about your life before you came here?"
Selene's hands trembled slightly as she set down the plate. She had been trying not to think about her old life. "I remember... my village, Master. The people there. My friends."
"And do you miss them?"
She was quiet for a long moment. When she finally answered, her voice was barely a whisper. "Sometimes, Master."
[Corruption: 16% → 18%]
"That's natural," Lucius said, cutting into his meat. "But those feelings will fade. In time, you'll find that this life suits you better."
Selene said nothing, but Lucius could see the conflict in her eyes. Part of her still wanted to fight back, to remember who she used to be. But that part was getting smaller every day.
After dinner, he gave her new instructions for tomorrow. "We'll be traveling to the capital city. You'll need to pack light—only what you can carry in a small bag. And you'll need to remember how to act around other people."
"How should I act, Master?"
"Like what you are," he said simply. "My property. My servant. Nothing more and nothing less."
She nodded, but he could see her hands shaking slightly. Going back out into the world meant other people would see her wearing a collar. They would see her bowing and calling him Master. Some part of her was still ashamed of what she had become.
But that shame would fade too, in time.
---
That night, Lucius stood at his window looking out over the city. Lights twinkled in the distance where people were living their normal lives. They had no idea that their world was about to change. The Hero would be summoned soon. The great war between good and evil was supposed to begin.
But Lucius had already made his first move in changing that story. Selene was supposed to be the Hero's companion, his source of strength and hope. Instead, she was learning to kneel at the feet of his enemy.
A soft knock at his door interrupted his thoughts. "Come in," he called.
Selene entered, carrying a cup of warm milk on a silver tray. It was another small service she had started doing without being asked—bringing him something to help him sleep.
"Your milk, Master," she said, setting it down on the table beside his bed.
"Good," he said. "Are you ready for tomorrow?"
"Yes, Master. I've packed as you instructed."
He turned to look at her. In the soft light from the fireplace, she looked very young and fragile. But he could see the changes in her too. The way she held herself. The way she looked at him with a mixture of fear and something that might have been the beginning of devotion.
"Get some rest," he told her. "Tomorrow will be a long day."
She bowed and started to leave, but Lucius called her back. "Selene."
"Yes, Master?"
"Do you trust me?"
The question seemed to surprise her. She stood very still for a moment, thinking. Finally, she nodded. "Yes, Master. I trust you."
[Loyalty: 54% → 57%]
It might not have been completely true yet, but it wasn't completely false either. And that was enough for now.
After she left, Lucius lay in his bed thinking about the path ahead. The Hero would come looking for his destined companion. But when he arrived, he would find that his greatest ally had already been claimed by his greatest enemy.
The game was changing, and Lucius intended to win it.
Tomorrow, they would take the first real step toward reshaping this world's destiny. And Selene would be at his side, not as a prisoner, but as something far more dangerous—a willing servant who was learning to love her chains.
The numbers floating above her head told the story better than any words could. Each day, she slipped a little further from the light. Each day, she became a little more his.
And the Hero would never see it coming.