Days turned into a week. The estate was a pressure cooker of silent resentment. The Duke avoided Victor. His brothers whispered poison in every corner, turning servants and guards against him with stories of betrayal. Victor was an outcast in his own home.
He didn't care. He spent his time in the library, devouring books on history, politics, and human nature. His mind was a sponge, soaking up information, cross-referencing it with the memories of the original Victor. He was building a map of the world, a map of all the players and their weaknesses.
He was also training his [Dominion of Desire]. He would walk through the markets, through the servant's quarters, just listening. He learned the baker's secret dream of opening his own shop. He learned the head maid's quiet bitterness over a lost love. He learned the guard captain's deep-seated fear of growing old and useless.
Knowledge was power. And Victor was getting very, very powerful.
One afternoon, a summons came from his mother. It was different this time. It wasn't a private lesson. It was a command to join her for a ride in the royal forest.
He found her in the stables, dressed not in a silk gown, but in practical riding leathers that clung to her like a second skin. Her silver hair was braided back, revealing the elegant line of her neck. She was holding the reins of a massive black stallion, a beast that looked like it was carved from night.
"You ride?" she asked, her violet eyes appraising him.
The original Victor could ride, but poorly. Victor, however, had the memories.
"I can manage," he replied.
She smiled, that same dangerous, beautiful smile. "Good. We have much to discuss."
They rode out of the estate, the guards following at a respectful distance. The forest was ancient, the trees towering over them like giants. The air was cool and smelled of pine and damp earth.
They rode in silence for a long time, just the sound of their horses' hooves on the dirt path. Victor was content to wait. He knew she had brought him here for a reason.
"You have made enemies," she said finally, her voice calm. "Your brothers, their friends, half the court. They see you as a threat, a snake in their garden."
"Good," Victor replied. "Let them underestimate me. It makes them easier to handle."
She let out a soft laugh. "Confident. I like that. But confidence without power is just arrogance. You need resources. Allies. Weapons."
She pulled her horse to a stop in a small clearing. In the center of the clearing was a ruined stone altar, covered in moss and vines.
"Do you know what this place is?" she asked.
Victor looked at it, his new memories stirring. "It's an old shrine. To the forgotten gods."
"Very good," she said, dismounting. "This forest is more than just trees and animals. It is a hunting ground. And not just for deer and boar."
She walked to the altar and ran her hand over the cold stone. "There are things in this world that are older than the noble families, older than the gods people pray to. Creatures of power, of desire. They are drawn to places like this."
She turned to look at him, her eyes burning with an inner fire. "Your next lesson is not about theory. It is about practice. It is time for you to make your first real conquest."
Victor felt a thrill of excitement mixed with a healthy dose of fear. "What do you want me to do?"
"Listen," she commanded, her voice dropping to a whisper. "Use your gift. Feel the desires of this place. What is here, hiding in the shadows? What does it want?"
Victor closed his eyes and pushed his [Dominion of Desire] outwards, focusing on the clearing. At first, there was nothing. Just the forest, the wind, the animals.
But then, he felt it. A faint whisper on the edge of his senses. A feeling of deep, profound loneliness. A hunger that was centuries old. A desire for… connection. For warmth. For someone to see it, to acknowledge its existence.
"There's something here," Victor said, his voice low. "It's… lonely. It's been forgotten."
"Describe it," Liliana pressed, her eyes intense.
"It's… female. Powerful, but not in a physical way. It's… ethereal. Like a memory of a feeling. It feeds on something, but it's starving."
Liliana's smile widened. "Excellent. It is a Dryad. A spirit of the forest. She was bound to this altar long ago by a forgotten mage, and she has been trapped here ever since, feeding on the scraps of emotion from the creatures of the woods."
She pointed to a small, withered sapling growing near the altar. "That is her heartwood. Her life is tied to it. It is dying. And so is she."
"What do you want me to do?" Victor asked again, his mind already racing.
"She is lonely, Victor," his mother said, her voice a hypnotic purr. "She desires companionship. She desires warmth. Show her what she desires. Give it to her. Make her yours."
This was it. His first real test. Not a nobleman with a fragile ego, but a creature of pure magic and ancient desire.
Victor walked towards the withered sapling, his heart pounding. He knelt down in front of it, ignoring the dampness of the ground seeping through his trousers.
He didn't speak. He just focused on his own feelings, on the warmth of his own life force, and he pushed it towards the sapling, not with magic, but with his [Dominion of Desire]. He projected feelings of comfort, of companionship, of understanding. He showed her an image of himself, not as a conqueror, but as a kindred spirit. Someone who knew what it was like to be trapped, to be misunderstood.
For a long moment, nothing happened. Then, a soft light began to emanate from the sapling. It grew brighter and brighter, until Victor had to shield his eyes. When the light faded, a woman was standing where the sapling had been.
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, and that was saying something, considering his mother. Her skin was like pale green bark, her hair was a cascade of leaves and vines, and her eyes were the color of deep forest moss. She was naked, her body slender and ethereal. She looked at Victor with a mixture of awe and hesitation.
"You… you see me," she whispered, her voice like the rustling of leaves.
"I see you," Victor replied, his voice gentle.
She took a step towards him, then another, until she was standing right in front of him. She reached out and touched his cheek, her fingers cool and smooth.
"You are warm," she breathed, a single tear of sap tracing a path down her cheek. "I have been so cold for so long."
Victor took her hand in his. It was like holding a bird's wing, delicate and fragile.
"What is your name?" he asked.
"I… I have forgotten," she whispered.
"Then I will give you a new one," Victor said, looking into her moss-green eyes. "I will call you Sylva."
Sylva. A simple name, but it made her smile, a radiant, hopeful smile that could have made flowers bloom.
"Victor," his mother's voice cut through the moment. "Do not forget the second part of the lesson. A conquest is not complete until it is bound."
Victor looked over at his mother. She was watching them with an intense, predatory gaze, like a lioness watching her cub make its first kill.
He knew what she meant. He had to claim her. Not just with words, but with a bond that could not be broken.
He turned back to Sylva and looked into her eyes. "Sylva," he said, his voice soft but firm. "You are mine now. I will be your warmth. I will be your companion. You will never be lonely again. In return, you will be mine. Your power, your loyalty, your heart. They belong to me."
As he spoke, he felt the system screen flicker in his vision.
[ **New Quest: The Spirit's Oath** ]
[ **Objective:** Solidify your bond with the Dryad, Sylva. Make her your first true follower. ]
[ **Rewards:** Skill: [Nature's Touch], Ally: Forest Spirit, ??? ]
[ **Failure:** The spirit fades, and you prove to your mother that you are all talk and no action. ]
Sylva looked at him, her moss-green eyes wide with a mixture of fear and hope. She was a creature of ancient magic, a being of pure desire. And she was his for the taking.
He leaned in and kissed her.
It was a gentle kiss, at first. Her lips were cool and soft, like a petal after a rain. But as he deepened the kiss, pouring his own warmth, his own desire into her, he felt her respond. Her body, which had been cool and ethereal, began to warm against his. Her arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer, and she kissed him back with a desperation born of centuries of loneliness.
He felt a surge of power flow from her into him, a raw, untamed energy of the forest itself. He felt her mind, her soul, open up to him, and he saw her memories, her loneliness, her desperate hope.
When they finally broke apart, she was looking at him with an expression of utter devotion.
"I am