Chapter: 1 | Episode 1

  In a fa?ade of a shaped—(literally) world where strength thrived and overpowered beings lived, royalty had jewels, peasants had farms and tyrants had consequences, Rudolf was a person who had experienced it all. For he was dying and transferring his soul from one body to another, In a loop that happened every time he hit the ripe age of twenty-one and arrived at the pace where it all ended.

  Adventurers possessed skills and their own customizable systems while knights possessed exquisite strength that allowed them to protect the kingdom and earn a handful of silvariants. The ones at the top possessed nothing but lineage and the prophecy that let them rule.

  Rudolf, though he shuffled between being a peasant, a peasant and a peasant, then a knight and rarely, royalty, never had any changes done to his body, face, personality or name—alongside his skills and strength.

  It was like he was cursed to experience the world in different roles of society while keeping his identity and personality intact.

  His first birth was now blurry and hazy to him due to the sheer number of times he had died and gained new memories. His brain never stuck around to feel “seconds” as he failed to grasp knowledge of his true identity. Now, it seemed like the world was crashing down onto him again as…__

  He sat in the warm room, surrounded by grand chandeliers and dimly lit candles, their soft glow filling the space.

  Then, it happened again—a brief vision, a glimpse of the future fshing through his mind. But like every time before, he could not make sense of it.

  A royal knight entered from the hallway, stepping into the room before bowing. The knight, dressed in fine armor, straightened and gnced at the royal outfit the protagonist had been forced into.

  It was elegant and well-made. but far too tight, making it hard for the protagonist to sit comfortably.

  The knight’s eyes rested on the proponent’s face—not truly magnificent but made to look that way by the efforts of courtiers.

  Without rushing, the protagonist adjusted his expression, fixing his smile before watching as the knight took their position by the firepce across from the couch where he sat. The room was warm, but it did little to ease the weight pressing down on him.

  Goodness, I am left with my thoughts for once… Words shuffled around in his head as he rexed a bit, trying to smoothen his dress and hand-comb his hair as he vaguely knew what was bound to happen. _ “Time to get ready for… that again. The st part is always just—too familiar.” _ He muttered to himself.

  Everything here is just faked. It has all been embedded into my head from the countless repys I’ve gone through. If only this scenario were not a part of ‘real’ life, I could’ve enjoyed—unfortunately for me, this is just NOT that.

  He looked at the guards coming one by one from the hallway towards the room he was in, some stopping to show respect by the nature of bowing as that is the highest form of regard to someone of royalty or at least to someone who is going to be royalty soon.

  The other guards, who were merely commoners but also quite trusted folks in security; half leaned in their esteem to show admiration towards him before they too, stood with the rest.

  The main guest of the show, noticeably the soon-to-be royal that sat on the couch, began to sweat a lot. Not from the heat generated by the firepces nor the candles though, it was instead of his own discomfort, brought by the increased number of ‘guards’ in the room.

  _ “All the damn time…” _ He felt a cold gush of wind come from his right side as he spoke. He turned towards that direction from where that coldness came from as another swipe of the sword that the royal knight held in his arms sent a slight rush of wind in his direction.

  Unknown to the standing gentleman; it raised a shiver inside the seated guest. _ “I’m not sure whom to even trust.” _

  it ends in this pace… but how, is not in my conscience. Almost all of these ‘protectors’ have one thing in common between them. _ “All of them are wearing a fa?ade.” _

  With a change in his expressions, he stood up. Walking across the room at a pace that seemed fierce and intimidating, the floor creaked due to being made from wood; a common practice in the kingdom of Isoskeles.

  _ “Getting out of this room is my best bet in trying to understand my killer.” _ He murmured to himself as he stood before the entrance to the hallway and being consequently stopped by a bulky guard who refused access by blocking the door with their massive great sword.

  As expected, he stopped in his tracks before looking directly at the guarded face of the knight that blocked his path. The proponent’s gaze was menacing and commanding, piercing through the helmet of the knight and reaching their eyes.

  Unable to cope with the gre given by the soon to be royal, the knight retraced their sword and leaned their head downwards before straightening, signaling a sense of pardon.

  _ “That was exactly what I was fearing.” _ The protagonist said as he smoothened his attire and walked across the hallway at a slow and steady pace.

  Being surrounded by all those guards meant I would be open for any betrayal. I have died by the hands of knights before; thus, it is an option. He said to himself as the curtains of the windows pced on each side of the walls of the hallway creaked with motion.

  The coldness of the air outside mingled with the warm freshness inside, invading the warm space inside the hallway of the pace by barging through the windows on the sides that were pced in an ideal pattern of ten meters.

  The size would have been equal to that of a framed door—just except for the framed and door part with the obvious difference of being covered in gss with a tinted shadow to make sure only the mosaic light was visible from the outside.

  The st part was due to safety and privacy reasons.

  As some of the cold winds burgled their way into the pace, making way towards the hallways of the said castle—a few candles wiped their light as our chief guest of the show kept his pace towards his known destination. I need to check the time right now, yet I have got no idea how to other than…

  An idea clicked in his mind as he increased his speed with the newly found purpose. Pacing through the hallways in a newly gained precision as if he knew every nook of the pace. I have been dying for Lithuania knows how many human lifetimes. He reiterated his own words as he struggled to find the right words-

  Every damn time… Every damn time I tried to genuinely enjoy and live life; I was forced to visit this castle. Just to die here from unknown causes and by an unknown suspect.

  The Icey feeling of the wind behind him reached his back as the windows from before stopped their movement alongside the unsettling noises that had freaked him out.

  The other times, I died before reaching this castle voluntarily or involuntarily. I’ve died in so many ways that I made different books documenting the painfulness of each one. Unfortunately, it seems that time seems to stop when I die and rewind back to my previous age—just in a different body than before. Different person but with the same name every time. He said to himself before being pushed outwards and falling on his back since he had accidentally collided with someone.

  _ “Hey, Rudolf!” _ The princess shrieked as Rudolf flinched before hastily wiping off the dust from his backside and standing up with the support from the princess.

  _ “Hey, princess…” _ Lithuania, why her? She is the st person I’d want to see before dying. Like, who sees their to-be-wife before dying?!—_ “Hah, you know, you have the right to call me Medaine!” _ She toed to tip his head using her index finger (bended).

  _ “Well… what is the early visit for? We are to be wed ter tomorrow anyway, or could you not suffer the wait…?” _ The princess said in a sweet tone with a glimmer of something else as Rudolf caught a shiver in his spine from looking back. Signaling a premonition of sorts that he should not head back, what exactly—was out of his knowledge.

  _ “I—uh, thought that visiting you before the wedding was… needed, to make sure my wife was feeling alright… Mind if I come in?” _ Rudolf said to the princess as she smiled and stepped aside, allowing him entrance to her chambers. Her room was one of the only ones with a radiating grandfather clock. Daddy’s girl benefits, she is kind of sweet too though so it’s pusible. (Alongside of course, being the natural hot princess.)

  Rudolf sat down on the comfortable bed as the bed sank a bit under his weight, soon sinking a bit more as princess Medaine sat next to him. _ “So, you want to do anything?” _ She said as she rested her head on his left shoulder, both staring at the same direction. Although she was staring at the decorated wall across the bed, Rudolf was staring at the clock, waiting for it to hit midnight and for him to turn twenty-one, officially. This bed is nailing our weight nicely, like I am about to nail my own coffin… quite pleasant in this slight moment.

  _ “Mind if I…” _ The princess murmured as she fidgeted the hem of her dress with her fingers before continuing, _ “Never mind.” _ Isoskeles kingdom, one of the three major nations of the triangute situated at the far west of the globe. It is divided into different sections but this specific part is ruled by the house of Dustians.

  _ “I wonder what he’s thinking right now…” _

  _ “Is he about to initiate something… or do I need to make the first move?” _ The princess thought to herself as she analyzed the shelves and took short glimpses at Rudolf.

  _Tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock_

  That sound was the only thing repying in his mind, cycling over and over as the final hour approached. The princess pulled her head back as she smoothened her hair and scoffed before brushing off strands of her hair that fell on Rudolf’s shoulder.

  She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before controlling her blinks. She stared at him for a while before thinking to herself, _ “Why is he looking at the wall so attentively?” _ She turned towards the ordinary block of concrete before noticing that his gaze was on the grandfather clock pced in the middle of the id-back wall.

  __The clock chimed loudly as it hit the new hour. The twelfth hour began as it marked the end of the previous day. __

  And—the end of our protagonist’s life as he felt a shiver run down his spine. In the coldness of the room, he suddenly began to sweat profusely. _ “Medaine… could you open the windows?” _ He said to the princess as it seemed like he was in pain, suffering from something far greater than just normal sweating.

  Before the princess could stand up to carry out her to-be husband’s request, Rudolf stood up himself and made his way towards the windows. Hastily opening all of them and letting the coolness of the outside air enter. As he stuck out his head outside the window, a loud groan was heard downstairs. He turned his gaze downwards from his view as he saw the pool of horror piling up.

  Dead guards being thrown out the window downstairs, the same room he was rested in prior to coming here. He knew that time was nearing for him to die. Around a dozen supposedly fearless knights y limp and lifeless on the main ground courtyard of the pace after being thrown out from the room via the window. _ “What is going on? I can feel a commotion happening downstairs.” _ The princess looked at Rudolf in a state of worry and confusion as he gulped and opened the door, leaning outwards to gnce at the empty halls that were soon going to be defiled.

  Whoever the perpetrator of the killing was, they were powerful enough to have wiped out the entire guard band. _ “I… I am scared…” _ The princess said as she muffled and wrapped her arms around Rudolf, staring at the hallway that was slowly becoming dimmer and more ominous. A slender figure appeared at the end of the hallway.

  _Click, click, click_

  The sound of footsteps increased as the figure appeared closer with each sound. Their speed slow and calcuting as it gave Rudolf enough time to finally think of a pn. _ “I can’t avoid death.” _ Rudolf said to himself as he thought of ways to instead, find out why he is being killed or… who—is killing him. He’s been poisoned, stabbed, thrown into a pit of alligators situated at the dungeon of the pace and even after all that, he has been unable to find out or get a single clue about the motive for his death or the person who initiated all that.

  _ “For Lithuania!” _ The figure said as it charged at Rudolf and the princess, running at them as the speed of their pace extinguished the candles lighting up the hallway. Rudolf immediately leaned back and shut the door close, barricading it with every piece of furniture he could find before hurrying over the window. They were on the third floor of the pace, jumping without support would not have been ideal for them, but in this situation; they did not have a choice anymore.

  _ “I-I’ll go get a rope.” _ She said as she shook and silently sobbed uncontrolbly, _ “I… had it with me for—reasons.” _ Rudolf took the rope from her and threw the other end of it outside the window.

  _ “You go first.” _ He said as he forced the princess to take the rope and climb down. _ “W-what about you Ru…?” _ She questioned him with concern and panic as the door was met with a knock.

  _Knock, thud_

  _ “Prince of Lithuania, I’ve finally found you.” _ The figure said as they looked at Rudolf throw the hole in the door. They started to effortlessly move the furniture away from the said door as Rudolf assured the princess, he would be okay. (not)

  _ “Please… be okay.” _ She muttered to herself as she hastily climbed down as Rudolf supported her climb by holding the rope with his hands, taking her weight on the rope and therefore managing to successfully nd her on the courtyard as she looked up at him before running outside and presumably, informing the higher order of knights.

  Rudolf watched her go as he felt a gush of red liquid flood out of his mouth and a sharp pain in his chest. His vision blurred as he turned around and his legs finally gave off, already fatigued from supporting the escape of the princess.

  _ “I must say, you were weaker than I thought, didn’t even try to resist.” _ The figure said as they crouched and grabbed his chin, forcing him to look at him as he took his final breaths.

  _ “W-who… are you?” _ Rudolf said as he coughed and bled, his right hand covering his stabbed wound and hiding the torn part of his outfit.

  The figure ughed before releasing his chin, _ “I suppose I could do you a final wish—you may recognize me by my face. Not like you would take revenge in the next life.” _ They lifted their devil mask as they revealed their face. Bright green eyes, a tiny mole under each of them.

  The lips and the depth of her eyes seemed intoxicating, for Rudolf—even in death. _ “I don’t… recognize you.” _ Rudolf said as his panting stopped and he y limp against the wall where the window was pced.

  _ “Welcome, visitor.” _ A voice spoke to him as he woke up, surrounded by bright lights in a full-white room. His clothes were off-white, and the floors and walls of the room must have been a shade of industrial white as well although he could not touch or feel them. _ “What must be your name?” _ The voice asked as Rudolf tried to speak but could not raise a sound.

  _ “Ah—Rudolf, eh? Prince of Lithuania…” _ The voice seemed annoyed but rather enthusiastic of him.

  _ “Your time has not come yet; you cannot enter the sacred realm. However, you are awarded another—” _ the voice stopped in its talk as it seemed to have directed its conversation towards something else, or someone… else.

  _ “My sincere apologies, we cannot converse in this meaningless string of memory that will be erased as soon as you reborn—” _ the voice stopped again and retraced its words, _ “Swapped.” _

  _ “good luck—ouroboruse.” _