"I can't change destiny, huh."
He muttered the words aloud, feeling the weight of them settle over him. Dark energy seeped from the pages and unspoken confirmation of his worst fears.
"So now what?"
So if he tried to change anything, he'd be screwed. "if I did nothing, I'd still be doomed to exile and disgrace."
"Brilliant. Just brilliant." He looked out the window, scowling.
His initial plan to play nice and stay out of trouble had clearly been a joke. The book wasn't giving him a choice.
"Fine."
"If I couldn't change my fate, then I would change everyone else's." "This character didn't die in the original story. Ryan just vanished. And if disappearing meant I get a fresh start, then that was exactly what I'll gofor then. But first, 'food'."
With renewed determination and annoying hunger, Ryan devoured the finest meal's he had ever tasted. Meat so tender it melted in his mouth. Drinks that tasted like pure luxury.
"Maybe being an aristocrat had some perks after all."
His moment of indulgence was interrupted by his mother, Duchess Mamosa Astraus. She watched him curiously.
"You look pleased," she noted.
His father, Duke Astasial Astraus , chuckled as he sipped his wine. "Tomorrow's banquet is an important event for him."
Ryan, swirling his glass, nodded. "I'm looking forward to it, more or less."
The Duchess beamed.
"My son is growing up so fast. He'll have all the young ladies swooning."
The Duke, however, had other concerns.
"He already has a fiance, remember? Princess Elianor. If she gets jealous, it could be a problem. Hahaha"
Ryan blinked and had a dumb expression. "Who?"
Then suddenly memories flooded back of Ryans lifetime in an instant. Princess Elianor van Mohonasca. Third Princess of the Mohonasca Empire. Cold, reserved, and mysterious. The kind of woman that had countless admirers, but zero interest in any of them.
He held back a bitter laugh. Than soon after finishing his meal, Ryan Austrius went to his chambers.
"Only my parents think that I am perfect. They are good people, too good. And thanks to the impending scandal at the banquet, they would be exiled. But why?"
"The book insisted I couldn't change my own fate, but it never said anything about changing theirs. Everyone assumed in the novel that his scandal at the banquet was what doomed them. But the truth was different. My father would be accused of treason, a political conspiracy among the nobility."
Laying down on his bed he pondered for a while and then came an idea in his mind.
"I have a plan."
"It wasn't the best plan, but when my choices were a find the real culprit or get exiled and die as a beggar, I'd learn to make do."
He needed a way to either uncover the mastermind behind his family's downfall or frame someone else.
"But the problem was, the crime he was supposed to commit, insulting the princess, wasn't just about slipping poison into her drink. Ordinary poison wouldn't work anyway." He thought to himself.
"The third princess was a magical genius who could probably sniff out toxins with a single breath. No, I need something special."
"Damn it, my memories of this mansion contained exactly zero references to hidden stockpiles of rare poisons. That meant finding another source, one that didn't involve me getting shanked in a back alley preferably." he spoke out loud with visible irritation on his face.
Than going through his past memories of the novel, he recalled a place from the novel, a hub of criminals and cutthroats who dealt in the kind of merchandise he was looking for.
"The Black Market, Pandamonium."