"Breath.... Just breathe...."
Those were the first thoughts that returned to me as the weight of my my new body settled in.
I gasped like a drowning man, air flooding my lungs. The scent of flowers, unfamiliar herbs, and something like polished stone filled my rose. My skin felt to light, like i was made of paper. My chest rose and fell quickly.
I was alive again.
"...Where...?"
I tried to move but everything felt too small. My fingers were tiny, my legs stubby. I couldn't evenlift my head properly without it wobbling.
Then it hit me.
This wasn't my body.
Not the one i knew.
I had been stabbed. I died. I remembered that pain all top clearly.
I was reborn
The room was large, decorated with golden curtains and marble walls. A warm light streamed through arched window. I saw maids, nobles in ropes, and a tall man with black hair and emerald eyes – stoic and proud – standing near a woman who looked exhausted but radiant. She cradled me.
They were smiling. Whispering my name.
"He shall be named... Alein."
That's what they called me.
Alein Valtherion von Lunstein.
The fifth prince of this strange kingdom.
---
But then... I saw it
Ashadow standing in the corner of the room. Not attached to anything. Not cast by light. It had no face–just a silhouette, tall and formless, like a person made of black mist.
And worse?
No one else saw it.
Not the king.
Not the queen.
Not the doctor.
Not even the maids.
It stood there motionless, its head tilted slightly, as if watching me.
Its presence wasn't cold or hostile. But it felt ....wrong.
Like a missing piece that wasn't supposed to be here.
"Why i can see this?"
I tried to cry kr scream – but i was just a baby. My mouth made tiny wails instead.
The strange shadowmoved onle once when i blinked – like a glitch, sliding closer, then stopping. As if curious. Watching me with unseen eyes.
---
As the days passed in the royal nursery, I learned something even more bizarre.
That thing—only I could see it.
No matter where I went, it was always nearby. Watching. Waiting. Sometimes whispering things I couldn't understand yet.
At night, it hovered above me, pointing toward the Monster Forest far beyond the castle walls. At times, it pressed a hand to my chest—and I felt my body warm, healing faster than it should.
That's when I realized…
It wasn't just me who had been reborn.
Something else came with me.
And this world?
This wasn't just a second chance.
It was a world from that otome game. The one my sister played over and over. The noble routes, the villainess, the heroine…
But none of them ever mentioned a fifth prince.
I wasn't supposed to exist.
---
"If I'm a piece that shouldn't be on the board… then I'll decide my own fate."
I'll become stronger t protect myself. Change what I can. And if that thing… whatever it is… is tied to my rebirth—
Then I'll face it, too.
---
Years passed.
The nursery became a glided cage, amd the castle– a beautiful prison.
I learn to walk by age two. I spoke clearly before three. Iwas faster, sharper, stronger thanost children my age. But the moment the tested me...
Nothing
No magic flared. No aura awakened.
My results on the mana appraisal stone were flat—no glow, no color, no response.
"An empty vessel."
"A prince born without gift."
"A disappointment."
Those words echoed behind closed doors, whispered by knights and nobles who thought I couldn't hear.
I did.
---
My brothers each shone in their own way:
Allcrine, the golden prodigy, praised in every hall.
Nolliem, cunning and composed, already speaking with foreign envoys.
Hyarus, loud and rough, but born with the Iron Hand—a feared ability in close combat.
Edrin, gentle and wise, with a rare tactical instinct even as a child.
And then…
There was me. Alein von Lunstein, the fifth prince. The failure.
---
Every lesson became a wall I had to climb.
Sword practice? I was smaller. Slower.
Magic theory? I wasn't even allowed to join the class.
Etiquette training? They paired me with servant children.
I didn't complain. I smiled. I obeyed.
But every day, I trained in secret—fists clenched, bloodied, breathless—until my body could no longer move.
And that's when it would happen.
When I pushed myself to the brink of collapse, the warmth would return. That invisible hand.
It pressed softly into my chest, and the pain… vanished.
The bruises faded. The cuts closed.
Self-Healing.
That was my power. Not flashy. Not visible. But something no sword or magic could easily defeat.
"If i can't win by being strong... I'll win by never breaking."
---
But the world didn't care about hidden strengths.
They cared about titles. Magic. Results.
By the time I turned six, the noble court gave me a new name:
"The useless Prince."
And yet, I laughed. I played the fool. I let them call me that.
Because while they looked away—while they turned their backs—I saw everything.
The shadow still followed me.
Only now, it whispered in a language I could almost understand.
It showed me glimpses of a world I remembered from before.
The game world. The routes. The villainess. The Saint.
All the pieces were falling into place.
But I?
I was the piece that didn't belong.
---
"Then let them ignore me."
"Let them scorn me."
"Because one day… when it matters most… I'll be the piece that decides the board."
Chapter 1 end.