Only two days passed between Jamie's birth and the death of his mother, Lady Maria Silver.
On the first day, sorrow blanketed the province during the funeral of the beloved noblewoman, and on the following day, a subdued celebration was held for the birth of the new heir.
But no one smiled. The people's love for Maria was too great to be erased by the birth of a child, even one descended from the Silver family.
---
Over the following eleven years, a series of disasters and calamities swept through the province:
A failed assassination attempt on the Viscount's eldest son, which instead resulted in the death of the third son.
The eldest daughter's marriage to the son of the vile Marquis, Moreno Al, a marriage that did not last long; after a few months, she killed him with her own hands and fled, leaving behind an eternal stain of shame on the family's name.
As a result of the repeated scandals, the Silver family's rank fell from a viscountcy to a mere crumbling barony.
The eldest son joined the war fronts, seeking glory to restore the family's honor.
The middle son fled to the academy, escaping the household's scandals, intending to build a new name after his face was disfigured in a mysterious incident.
As for the Baron father, he fell into a chronic illness, becoming unable to manage the province, leaving power in the hands of:
His greedy uncle.
Three major gangs.
And a group of corrupt nobles who divided up the province's wealth among themselves — gold, iron, and fertile farmland.
---
Amid this chaos, Jamie grew up, the child who was thought to be nothing more than a weak figurehead for the Silver lineage.
But he was not what everyone assumed...
In truth, he was Diablo, the great Demon King, embodied in a fragile human body.
Since the age of three, he had suffered from a rare and serious illness: Mana Vein Entanglement, a disease resembling a magical disability, which halted his growth, isolated him from training, and cut off his soul from its powers.
But he did not weaken...
Instead, he spent his years confined to his room, silently treating himself, extracting demonic mana from the sorrow, anger, and negative energy that the barony was drowning in.
As for the people, they wove rumors around him:
"A recluse."
"Mentally unstable."
"Cursed."
"He's the cause of all the calamities."
"If he hadn't been born, the province wouldn't have declined."
But Jamie... didn't care.
He had completed his treatment.
Regulated his energy.
And purified the demonic mana within him.
On a cold morning, Jamie left his room for the first time since he was five years old.
He stood beneath a gray sky, the servants watching him warily, and he let out a faint smile and said:
"It's time to launch."
---
The situation in the province was worse than ever.
To carry out his plan, he had to become a powerful noble, both politically and in practice, despite his young age.
He had to crush his uncle, the gangs, and the nobles who had usurped his inheritance.
Just three months after leaving his room, Jamie began training with the sword.
He reshaped his veins to accommodate both a swordsman's aura and a mage's mana together.
For it was time to act...
And when the Demon King moves, nothing remains the same.