The cold rain blurred my vision.
The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as my lungs fought for air.
I remembered the screech of tires, the blinding headlights, the sickening impact
and then, nothing.
So this is how I die? I thought bitterly, staring up at the fractured night sky.
But when I opened my eyes again, I wasn't lying on the wet asphalt.
I was lying on a bed softer than clouds, wrapped in silk sheets.
The ceiling above me shimmered with carved golden constellations, glowing faintly as if they were real.
My heart thudded in confusion. This… wasn't the hospital.
This wasn't anywhere I had ever been.
I sat up abruptly, gasping when I saw my own reflection in the polished bronze mirror across the room.
It wasn't my face.
The boy in the mirror had pale skin, dark hair falling like silk strands, and delicate features that looked fragile yet strangely alluring. His eyes, though clouded with fatigue, held an unusual depth like he carried more secrets than his body could bear.
I stumbled toward the mirror, raising my hands.
Slender. Elegant. White as porcelain.
Not mine.
Memories that weren't mine crashed into my head all at once.
A name.
A house.
A life.
Erian Thalos.
The "useless" young master of House Thalos, a minor noble clan of the Azure Empire.
My chest tightened, my breath uneven.
So… I had died, and been reborn in someone else's body?
No, this wasn't a dream. The pain in my skull from those invasive memories was far too sharp, too real.
I clutched my temple, trying to steady myself.
The fragments of Erian's life poured into me like shards of glass:
Neglect. Ridicule. Loneliness.
A father who called him worthless.
A step-sister who smiled sweetly in public yet poisoned him in secret.
A reputation as the weakest, most shameful son of House Thalos.
And now… that shameful son was me.
The heavy door slammed open before I could process further.
A gust of cold air rushed into the room, carrying the faint scent of steel.
A tall figure strode in.
He looked like he had walked out of the night sky itself, silver hair glinting in the dim light, long and flowing like threads of moonlight. His icy blue eyes locked on me instantly, sharp enough to pierce through bone. His presence was suffocating, regal, untouchable.
For a moment, I forgot to breathe.
"The useless young master finally wakes," he said, his voice low, cold, and cutting.
"Don't think that your return from the brink of death will change anything."
His words struck like a blade, cruel and dismissive.
Yet strangely… my heart skipped a beat.
Because in those frozen eyes, beneath the pride and cruelty, I saw something else.
A loneliness. A pain that mirrored my own.
I clenched the sheets beneath my hands, forcing myself to steady my voice.
"Who… are you?"
The man's lips curved into a humorless smile.
"You don't even remember the Crown Prince of this empire? Pathetic."
Crown Prince.
So this was him, Aster Caelum.
The name surfaced from Erian's memories.
The Azure Empire's heir. The most talented swordsman of his generation.
Feared by his enemies, admired by the court…
And utterly unreachable, like the stars themselves.
Yet here he was, standing at my bedside, looking at me with disdain.
Why was the Crown Prince here?
And more importantly
What role did I have to play in his story?
I opened my mouth, but before I could speak, he stepped closer.
The air between us seemed to thrum, heavy with unspoken tension.
"You survived once," Aster said coldly, his gaze burning into mine.
"Don't waste the chance you've been given. Or next time" His voice dropped into a whisper, cruel and intimate.
"I won't save you."
His cloak brushed the floor as he turned and left, leaving the room colder than before.
I sat frozen, my heart pounding against my ribs.
Saved me?
So it was him… this Crown Prince… who had dragged me back from death?
I pressed my trembling hand against my chest, staring at the door where he had disappeared.
A stranger's body.
A stranger's life.
A crown prince whose eyes carried the same loneliness as mine.
This was no ordinary rebirth.
This was the beginning of something far more dangerous.
And I had just stepped into a fate written in starlight.