The first thing that struck him was how wrong everything felt. The body he inhabited was too small, too weak, too fragile. His hands – no, these hands – were pale and trembling, nothing like the calloused, powerful grip he remembered. When he tried to stand, his legs gave out immediately, sending him crashing into a desk, making all the food and plates fall with him.
Crashh – clatter, clang !
"This is impossible," he muttered, staring at his reflection in the polished metal surface of a nearby tray a servant may have left behind on the desk. The face looking back at him was gaunt and sickly, with hollow cheeks and dark circles under frightened-looking eyes. Dark long hair that wasn't cut for who knows how long fell in limp strands around features that might have been handsome if they weren't so obviously ravaged by illness and fear.
(Prince Elias), his mind offered without being asked, along with a flood of memories that weren't his own. A bastard son, weak and cowardly, slowly poisoned to death in this gods-forsaken border fortress. The memories came in fragments – a distant and cold father who barely acknowledged his existence, cruel half-siblings who saw him as a threat despite his obvious inadequacy, a beloved mother who died too young, and years of living in the shadows of a court that despised him.
"Am I going insane?" he asked himself, but even as he said it, more memories surfaced. His real memories.
A different world, a different life, where he had been something far more than a whining prince. He had been feared. He had been powerful. He had carved out an empire through cunning, ruthlessness, and an absolute refusal to show mercy to his enemies. Four continents had bowed before him. Five seas had known his dominion. The entirety of that world had been his.
Until betrayal came for him.
The memory felt vivid– his own generals surrounding him in his throne room, their faces twisted with hatred and fear. His body had been failing him for months, and in his paranoia, he had trusted no one, commanded everyone, until ultimately even his closest servants turned against him.
"You made us into puppets," his closest advisor had whispered as the blade slid between his ribs. "Now die like the tyrant you are."
He laughed bitterly at the irony. Dead in one world, dying in another.
But wait—if he had truly been reborn, then perhaps...
Tap, tap, tap—
The sound of footsteps in the corridor made him freeze. The door burst open, and a woman rushed in – (Elena,) Elias's memories provided. Green hair streaked with early gray, kind eyes filled with worry, wearing the simple black and white dress of a servant.
"My lord!" she gasped, seeing him collapsed among the scattered food and broken plates. "What happened? You shouldn't be out of bed!"
She hurried toward him; her face showing the same maternal concern he remembered from Elias's fragmented memories. This woman had cared for him since childhood, had been his mother's dearest friend when she was nothing but a lowly maid who caught the king's eye.
As Elena knelt beside him, reaching out to help him up, he made his choice.
Crunch!
Without warning, he bit down hard on his index finger, drawing blood. Elena's eyes widened in shock as crimson drops fell to the floor.
"My lord, what are you—"
Before she could finish, he grabbed her face with his free hand and forced his bleeding finger into her mouth. She tried to pull away, but his grip was surprisingly strong for someone so weak. The poison was still in his system – he could feel it working through his veins, weakening him with each heartbeat. But he was no longer dying from it. Whatever had happened during his transition into this body had somehow stabilized his condition, bought him time he shouldn't have had.
The change was immediate.
Elena's struggles stopped. Her eyes became glassy, unfocused, as if she were looking at him through water. The blood – his blood – worked its innate power even in this new flesh.
[Skill Absolute Dominion is in effect. ]
[Controlled unit : 1]
[ -> Name : Elena Milford ]
[Status : Weakened assassin | Genius killer ]
[Time remaining : 05:33]
When Elias finally spoke, it was with the voice of an emperor, despite the weakness of his vessel.
"You will obey me absolutely," he commanded, his tone brooking no argument. "You will do everything I say without question. You are forbidden from lying to me. Should you break these rules… You will take your own life. Do you understand?"
"Yes... my lord," Elena whispered, her voice hollow and distant.
"Good." He released her face and stepped back, testing his theory further. "Now sit. Like a dog."
Without hesitation, Elena dropped to her hands and knees, sitting back on her heels with her hands resting on the floor before her.
(It worked.) His power had followed him into this world. The absolute domination he had wielded through his blood still flowed in his veins, even if those veins now belonged to a different body. The same was true for the strange status window that appeared after each use of this power—one that only he could see. Like before, the duration of the control depended on the quantity of blood injected.
(Strange, the duration seems off. Did the efficiency go down ? Or is it because I don't completely own this body yet or something is mixed in the blood ?) Elias thought feeling the power of his blood weakened.
Suddenly as he watched Elena, a flow of memories surfaced – not his own, but Elias's : Elena sneaking extra food to a sickly child. Staying up all night when Elias had a fever. Singing lullabies his mother used to sing. And then... the poison. The slow, agonizing death that should have claimed this body.
"Tell me," he said to Elena, his voice sharp as a blade. "Did you poison Prince Elias?"
Elena's face crumpled, tears streaming down her cheeks as the compulsion forced the truth from her lips. "Yes, my lord. I had to."
"Why?"
"My siblings," she sobbed, her voice unwavering despite the tears. "The First Prince took them. My little brother and sister. He said if I didn't slowly poison you, he would hurt them. Kill them. They're only children, my lord."
He stared at her for a long moment, processing this revelation.
(Right, the status window said weakened assassin. Did she hide her true identity from the beginning ? What's her purpose if not assassinating Elias or is there something else I don't know ?)
Something else nagged at him—something about her condition, her weakened state.
"You've been giving me poison through my meals."
"Yes, my lord." The answer came without pause, though her trembling intensified.
"How much poison does the First Prince send you?"
"Enough to kill a man three times over within a month, my lord."
"And how much do you put in my food each day?"
"A third of what he sends, my lord."
His eyes sharpened. "Where does the rest go?"
Elena's trembling became violent, though she remained upright. "I consume it, my lord."
The words hung in the air like a death sentence. "You consume it," he repeated slowly.
"Yes, my lord. Double the amount I give you with every meal."
"Why?"
"To leave no traces. The First Prince has other spies watching. If they found unused poison, they would know I was not following orders. And..." her voice cracked with emotion while remaining truthfully direct, "you should have died weeks ago with the amount he sent. I ate most of it to keep you alive longer."
"I don't understand. Why would you do that ?"
"I… I wanted to die alongside my Lord."
"Why?"
"I couldn't live with what I had done." The words came out in a rush of emotion, though still clear and unwavering.
"But you're still standing. Still coherent." His voice dropped to barely above a whisper. "You don't look affected at all."
"I was trained to withstand such things, my lord."
"Trained by whom?"
"I served your mother before her death. I was assigned as her maid by the king, but I was more than that. I was one of her protectors."
His mind reeled. Elias's mother, Allison—a concubine, a former maid herself—had somehow commanded such loyalty that trained units served her. Maybe the late king had affection for them he couldn't show.
"You were Allison's protector." He couldn't finish the sentence but through those answers everything he thought at first changed.
Elena—gentle, trembling Elena who could barely lift a water pitcher—had been consuming double the lethal dose meant for Elias, slowly destroying herself to give him more time. Her current state, which he had dismissed as the natural constitution of a servant girl, was actually the result of systematic self-sacrifice that should have killed anyone else weeks ago. Elena was undoubtedly an assassin with incredible skills but defective— because she's too emotional.
Something twisted in his chest—an unfamiliar sensation that took him a moment to recognize.
In his past life, he had seen betrayal as a character flaw, a weakness of will. But this... this was different. Elena hadn't betrayed Elias out of greed or ambition or fear for her own life. She had been forced to choose between her siblings she loved and her master she cared for too, and when forced to become a traitor, she had chosen to pay the ultimate price alongside her victim.
Circumstances. Sometimes betrayal came not from people, but from the impossible situations they found themselves in.
He studied Elena's tear-stained face, and for the first time since awakening in this weak body, clarity cut through his rage. This woman wasn't his enemy—she was just another victim, another pawn moved across the board by hands far more sinister than hers. The real enemies weren't here in this crumbling border fortress, poisoning a bastard prince through coerced servants. No, they sat comfortably in their fancy halls in the capital, pulling strings and holding innocent children hostage to get what they wanted. Elias was gone now, and in his place stood someone who had conquered an entire world. The First Prince, who had orchestrated this slow murder. The nobles who had sent Elias to rot in exile. Elena had been forced to choose between two evils—but they had created that choice in the first place, and now they would pay for it.
"Hahaha…. HAHAHHAHA—--"
Suddenly Elias was laughing. Great, booming peals of laughter that echoed off the stone walls of the chamber. He laughed until his sides ached, until tears streamed down his face, until Elena looked up at him with genuine fear.
"Do you know what's funny?" he asked, wiping his eyes. "I'm the Great Malthus Ravenhower who conquered four continents and five seas. I commanded the loyalty of millions. I was the most feared man in existence." His laughter died, replaced by a grin that was equal parts mad and delighted. "And now I'm trapped in the body of a dying bastard prince, surrounded by enemies who want me dead, with nothing but a temporary blood magic trick and a servant who was forced to poison me."
He looked around the sparse chamber – at the broken plates, the simple furniture, the single barred window that showed nothing but gray sky.
"The gods have quite the sense of humor, don't they?" He turned back to Elena, who was still kneeling on the floor. "Very well. If this is the game they want me to play, then I'll play it. But I'll play it my way."
He had learned something valuable in the final moments of his past life. Power without trust was meaningless. Control without loyalty was hollow. He had died because he overused the power of his blood [Absolute Dominion], because his paranoia had made him see enemies in every shadow, he ultimately fell ill because of blood loss and ended up stabbed by his subordinates who gained their clarity back.
But perhaps... Perhaps this time could be different.
The blood magic would fade soon – it always did. But maybe, just maybe, he could build something more lasting. Something real.
"Elena," he said softly, and she looked up at him with those tear-filled eyes. "When my power over you ends, you'll remember everything. You'll remember what I made you do, what I forced you to tell me. And then you'll have a choice."
He knelt down beside her, meeting her gaze.
"You can run. You can try to save your siblings on your own. You can continue poisoning me as the First Prince commanded." His smile was sharp but somehow warmer than before. "Or you can help me destroy everyone who dares to threaten what we care about."
The compulsion was already beginning to fade – he could see awareness creeping back into her eyes. Soon she would be free to choose her own path.
"What will it be, Elena?" he whispered. "Will you trust a monster who promises to protect the innocent? Or will you keep serving the prince who holds children hostage?"
As the last of his blood magic faded away, he waited to see which way his first potential ally would fall.
[New Achievement]
[You have unlocked 'Loyalty']
[You have unlocked 'Synchronisation']