The night had already fallen over House Valen.
Beyond the tall wooden windows, the estate was almost completely silent. Only the faint sound of the wind moving through the trees and the occasional footsteps of a servant crossing the distant corridor could be heard.
Rin sat alone in his room. The only light came from a single candle placed on the wooden table beside him.
Its small flame trembled every time the cold wind slipped through the cracks around the window.
Rin stared at it for a long time. Everything about this place felt wrong.
The old wooden furniture. The heavy curtains. The candlelight. The clothes hanging beside the bed.
The sounds outside. There was nothing from his own world here. Nothing familiar.
And yet this was where everything had begun.
This was Aelion's time. His life. His past. Rin lowered his gaze toward his hands.
They were Aelion's hands. His body was Aelion's body but his mind was still Rin's.
