Ryan heard the horse galloping for two days on his way back. He had to rest, so it took him some time, but since he was the first to return, he could arrive before those behind him.
The guards were alarmed when he entered the city's enormous walls.
"Ninth Prince, what has happened? Where is the rest of the group?" asked the guard captain.
"They're coming behind. I have to hurry, so I came before everyone else," he said.
"Oh, t- wait!" As the captain prepared to say something else, he could only hear the horse galloping again, entering the city, so he had to swallow his words.
'He's always so strange,' he thought.
When he arrived at the castle, Captain Garner, the current commander, greeted him.
"Ninth Prince, are you alone?" he asked, in shock.
"Yes." Ryan dismounted and handed his horse to one of the guards. "I wanted to gallop for a while, so I decided to come first."
Garner put his hand to his head and shook it. "Ninth Prince... I understand the castle feels like a prison, but can you stop doing such dangerous things?"
Ryan patted him on the shoulder and smiled. "I don't think so. I must be made for dangerous things. Don't worry, I'm fine for now." And he started walking toward the castle.
"For now, because you were lucky. But if the bastards or even a Kazak suddenly appeared, what would you do? You'd be dead right now," Garner replied, looking seriously concerned.
"Haha, we can't think about what could have happened, but what we had to do," Ryan replied, looking around the castle.
There was something strange—too much decoration.
Of course, the castle was always beautifully decorated and extremely clean, but he had memories of someone who had lived here for 20 years, so he could notice changes. And right now, he could see many.
"What's going on? Something big?" he asked before Garner could answer.
Garner sighed. 'Forget it. I'll have to be more careful later,' he thought.
Then he cleared his throat to speak. "The King has summoned all the Princes and Dukes. He has an important announcement to make. They were just waiting for you and the Third Prince to arrive, as everyone else is already at the castle," he explained.
Ryan stopped short and looked at him. "What exactly is it? Have you heard any rumors?" he whispered, so only he could hear.
Garner smiled. To think that he would ask him that question in that way was unreal, until a few days ago. 'The Ninth Prince has changed. He seems much friendlier,' he thought.
But Garner was going to disappoint him this time. "I really have no idea. The King has kept it a complete secret. But the First Prince might know," he replied.
"Did he come too?" His eyes widened when Garner nodded.
"Everyone. Including those in the east-north."
Ryan nodded and continued walking, but this time he was pensive.
'I don't remember anything like this in the novel. What's going on now? What are they preparing for?'
His actions 50 years ago had indeed drastically changed history, but he had not realized the magnitude of it until now.
Having lived in Arcelia, on the eastern continent, he did not expect this change to reach Evigheden, on the western continent.
As he thought, he realized that he could be facing the first major change caused by his arrival in this world, and he was nervous to find out what it was.
In the worst case, it was a change that would sentence him to death. In the best case... it could be the beginning of his rise.
He stayed in his room for a few hours before leaving and heading to his older brother's room.
Walking through the castle is always tedious. In addition to being unnecessarily large, it has corridors that lead nowhere, as the King loves jokes and often plays pranks on his employees.
This includes the old Ryan, who would get lost looking for his favorite library, as the King often moved it around.
Fortunately, his older brother's room never changed location: down the hallway of rooms on the fourth floor, straight ahead until you reach the stairs to the fifth floor, up the stairs, then turn right.
He didn't need to count doors because on the right side of that floor, there was only one door leading to a giant room belonging to the First Prince.
When he arrived, he knocked on the door.
"Do you need to knock on the door in your own house?" asked a relatively hoarse voice from the other side.
'I think so, big brother,' Ryan thought, but he didn't say that. He went in.
The fact that it was the only room without guards had always bothered him, but his brother liked his privacy, so he kept the guards quite far away from him.
As he entered, a man was standing, drinking tea by the huge window in his room overlooking the entire city.
He wore his all-black combat armor with silver trim. His sword still hung from his waist.
He was handsome, with chiseled features. Even though he was pretty old (40 years old), he looked much younger.
But his always dangerous gaze softened when he saw him enter and smiled at him.
"Little brother, it's been quite a while since the last time. You've changed for the better, huh?" he said, looking at his upright posture. "The last time I saw you, you were so scared that you shrugged your shoulders."
Ryan had chosen to see him because he knew that if he saw him under different circumstances, he might doubt his brother's authenticity. Perhaps he could use some forbidden abilities to probe his soul, which would be dangerous for his identity.
So, as soon as he saw him, he was kind to him.
"Big brother, I didn't expect to see you so soon," he said, smiling and approaching, carefully looking at his attire.
"Why are you still wearing your battle attire? Father will be angry with you." He said. "I can help you choose what to wear tomorrow, you know I'm good at that..."
Albert shook his head and poured him some tea, gesturing for him to drink.
After Ryan took the first sip, Albert spoke.
"Father is preparing to announce the start of the Battle for the Throne. A war between the entire family, princes, dukes, and marquises seeking that glorious throne," he said.
With that, Ryan had already fulfilled his initial intention to come.
The problem was that this wasn't supposed to happen. 'It wasn't like this in the novel,' he thought.
"I don't intend to be part of it," Albert declared, and continued. "So I'm not going to pay homage to the nobility. As soon as this stupid invocation ends, I'm returning to the South with our mother. That's where I belong."