Chapter 3: The Adopted Prince

One Year Later...

The Imperial Palace—

Snow slowly covered the magnificent gardens.

A seven-year-old boy stood alone, repeatedly swinging a wooden sword.

Slash!

Slash!

Slash!

Not once...

Not twice...

More than five thousand swings every single day.

The palace guards watched from afar.

"His Highness hasn't stopped since sunrise."

"Is he trying to become the next Royal Guard?"

"No..."

"He's trying to surpass one."

The little boy was none other than...

Aiden Ravenhart.

Or rather...

Kael Draven.

One year had passed since he arrived in this world.

During that year...

He had learned one important truth.

This world was nothing like Earth.

There was no magic.

No mana.

No spells.

Only one's body...

Skill...

Experience...

And an unbreakable will.

The stronger your body...

The stronger your sword.

That simple.

Yet...

This world was far more dangerous than Earth.

The continent was divided into many kingdoms.

Small kingdoms.

Medium kingdoms.

Great kingdoms.

But among all of them...

Only two Human Empires stood at the absolute peak.

The first—

The Aurelius Empire.

The empire that had adopted Aiden.

Ruled by...

Emperor Alexander Aurelius.

The second—

The Blackthorn Empire.

The Aurelius Empire's greatest rival.

For over two hundred years...

The two empires had stared at each other across the border.

Countless battles had been fought.

Yet...

Neither side dared begin a full-scale war.

Because everyone understood one terrifying fact.

If the two strongest human empires fought with everything they had...

Both would collapse.

And the balance of the entire continent...

Would disappear.

Beyond the human lands...

There were places even soldiers feared.

The Beast Kingdom.

A land where countless beast races lived.

Wolf Beasts.

Lion Beasts.

Tiger Beasts.

Bird Beasts.

Snake Beasts.

Some were peaceful.

Some hated humans.

Fortunately...

The Beast Kingdom maintained its own borders.

Neither side wished for a pointless war.

And then...

There was a place everyone feared.

The Labyrinth.

Ancient...

Endless...

Dark.

No one knew who had built it.

No one knew how deep it went.

Only one thing was certain.

The deeper one entered...

The stronger the Demons became.

Every few years...

Demons emerged from the Labyrinth and attacked nearby lands.

Thousands of soldiers died just to push them back.

Even the two great empires treated the Labyrinth as humanity's greatest threat.

During this past year...

Aiden had also become something he had never expected.

The Emperor had kept his promise.

In front of every noble...

Every general...

Every minister...

He had declared,

"From today onward, Aiden Ravenhart is my adopted son."

"He shall be known as the Empire's Youngest Prince."

Some nobles objected.

"A commoner's son cannot become a prince!"

"This is against tradition!"

But the Emperor only asked one question.

"Who among you gave your life to save mine?"

Silence.

No one answered.

Because everyone knew.

Without Damian Ravenhart...

There would be no Emperor.

No Crown Prince.

Perhaps...

No Empire.

From that day onward...

No one dared question Aiden's position again.

Life inside the palace also changed.

The Crown Prince, Arthur Aurelius, treated Aiden like his real younger brother.

Every morning...

Arthur dragged him to training.

Every afternoon...

They studied history together.

Every evening...

They ate with the Imperial Family.

Sometimes they argued.

Sometimes they laughed.

But never once...

Did Arthur look down on him.

The Emperor had two Empresses.

The First Empress, Arthur's mother, was calm, intelligent, and respected throughout the Empire.

The Second Empress had no children of her own.

To everyone's surprise...

She loved Aiden dearly.

She often smiled while fixing his messy hair.

"You've trained enough today."

"Come eat before you collapse."

Even Kael...

Who had lived an entire previous life...

Couldn't remember the last time he had experienced such warmth.

Yet...

Every night...

After everyone had fallen asleep...

Aiden climbed onto the palace roof.

He looked toward the endless stars.

Those stars reminded him of Earth.

Of Mars.

Of the Carbon Combat Suit.

Of the comrades who never returned.

He slowly clenched his fists.

"This world doesn't have science..."

"But I do."

"This world has stronger bodies..."

"But I have knowledge from the future."

"One day..."

"I'll combine both."

At that moment...

A cold wind swept across the palace.

Far away...

Beyond the northern mountains...

Inside the deepest floor of the Labyrinth...

A pair of crimson eyes slowly opened.

A deep voice echoed through the darkness.

"The child has arrived..."

"The one who will change this world's fate..."

The darkness trembled.

And for the first time in hundreds of years...

The Demons...

Began to move.

To be Continued...

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***