Kael moved through the halls of the Blackthorn estate like a ghost — silent, unnoticed, and ignored.
Servants bustled past him, too preoccupied to spare a glance. Noble brats laughed in distant chambers. The guards at the gate stood lazily at their posts, unaware that in just two days, this entire place would be a smoldering ruin.
Two days. That's all the time he had to change everything.
He spent the morning retracing what he could remember of the novel. In the original story, the Blackthorn estate was raided by a group of bandits hired by a rival noble. The bandits killed most of the staff, kidnapped the young heir, and vanished into the woods. The event was meant to serve as a grim lesson early in the book — that the world was cruel and justice came too late.
But now that Kael was here, that lesson didn't sit right. Not anymore.
He slipped into the kitchen and snatched a half-stale loaf of bread. His stomach growled — whatever magic brought him into this world hadn't come with full health bars.
As he chewed, he scanned the guard schedule hanging on a wooden board. Same as the book: the night of the attack, half the guards would be drunk, the others conveniently "reassigned."
He needed allies. Someone who wouldn't ignore him when he raised the alarm.
His first thought was Seren, the youngest daughter of the Blackthorn family. She wasn't important in the original story, but Aiden remembered a brief mention of her hiding in the cellar during the attack — and surviving. Maybe she'd listen. Maybe she could help.
He found her in the greenhouse, kneeling by a row of wilting roses. Her hands were dirt-stained, her expression distant.
Kael hesitated. What was he even supposed to say? "Hey, I'm a background character who read this book and you're all going to die unless you trust me?" That'd get him thrown in the dungeon.
Instead, he crouched nearby and spoke quietly. "You don't know me, but… you need to be careful in the next few days. I think something bad's going to happen."
Seren glanced at him, frowning. "You're Kael, right? The kitchen boy?"
He nodded. "Yes, but—"
"Why are you warning me?"
He paused, then said the only thing that felt true. "Because no one else will."
Seren studied him. Then, to his surprise, she gave the faintest nod. "Tell me what you know."
Hope flickered in Kael's chest.
This was the first ripple.
The first crack in the script.
He didn't know how far he could push before the world pushed back — but for now, he'd started something.
And in two days, when the fire came, he wouldn't just survive.
He'd be ready.