Aden stood among the eight corpses, blood dripping from his blade onto the silent floor.
Everything matched the book. The timing. The bodies in his room. The Public. The banquet already happening outside.
His stomach dropped like a stone.
If he let this play out, Claire Remes would die tonight in the forest. And he'd be the one they'd drag out as the murderer — the broken ex-heir who snapped and killed the Remes family's precious magic genius. Execution would be clean and quick. House Vasco would disown him even harder. Game over.
He had one shot to break the script.
Save Claire.
But how? He could barely stand. His leg was slashed deep, arm leaking, ribs burning. No aura. No power. Just a cracked core and a cursed book that showed him the future.
Aden's knees buckled. He collapsed hard onto the blood-slick floor, back against the wall, sword clattering beside him.
"Fuck… what now?" he whispered, voice hoarse. "I don't have the strength for this. I'm not even the heir anymore."
He stared at the blank Blades of Deception on the desk. No new words. No instructions. Just silence.
Think. Escape the fate. Save the girl. Save himself.
Nothing clever came. No brilliant plan. Only one stupid, desperate choice.
He had to do it anyway.
Aden ripped off his blood-soaked shirt, wincing as the fabric tore across fresh cuts. He grabbed the deep red Vasco robe hanging nearby — the one with the black sword emblem — and shrugged it on. The fabric stuck to his wounds immediately.
No time to bandage. No time to think.
He limped to the tall tower window, shoved it open. Cold night air hit his face. Below, the academy grounds sprawled under moonlight, distant music and laughter floating from the banquet hall like nothing was wrong.
Aden didn't hesitate.
He jumped.
Wind rushed past as he fell two stories. He landed hard in a crouch, grandfather's footwork technique kicking in on pure instinct — light, silent, efficient. Pain flared up his injured leg, but he pushed through it.
He sprinted toward the academy walls, leaped using the same smooth steps, clearing the high stone barrier in one fluid bound. A guard on night duty glanced over, saw the red Vasco robe, and quickly looked away. Nobody wanted trouble with House Vasco tonight.
Aden didn't stop. He plunged straight into the dark forest bordering the academy, branches whipping his face, breath ragged.
Save Claire. Change the future. That's all that mattered.
He was halfway through the thick trees when a man stepped out from the shadows just ahead.
Their eyes locked for a single heartbeat.
A calm, cold voice echoed directly inside Aden's mind — sound transmission.
"I'm sorry… I had to break off our agreement."
Aden froze mid-stride, sword half-raised. The man was already gone, melting back into the darkness like smoke.
What the hell was that? Who was he? What agreement?
No time. No answers.
Aden gritted his teeth and kept running deeper into the forest, blood trailing behind him, heart pounding.
Claire's life. His life. Both on the line tonight.
He wasn't going to die.