The clown fiesta that was Ken's life seemed like it would continue for a bit longer.

Ken's shiny grey hair was akin to a bird's nest as he sat up on his mattress. A soft moan of pleasure escaped his lips while he stretched his stiff limbs. He drowsily scanned the room with lidded, golden eyes before he yawned, then moved to get off the bed.

"A pleasant morning, Your Highness." a lovely young maid with light-brown hair and a button nose greeted him from the side as she bent her waist in a ninety-degree bow.

"Mhm... yes, good morning," Ken replied, still a bit groggy as he wiped away the lint from his eyes. "Is there something I have to do today...?"

He held onto a faint hope but quickly found it shattering into a million pieces when he heard the answer he'd expected.

The maid shook her head. "There's nothing in particular. His Majesty wishes for you to remain here and rest."

Ken closed his eyes and exhaled as his shoulders drooped. While his body fell back — his butt once again resting itself on the soft mattress — he heaved a long, long sigh.

"I see..."

'Shit... it's been a month since I've been confined here!'

Now that he could move around, he didn't like how he was still locked in a well-guarded room with servants waiting on him hand and foot. He really wanted to go out and take a long walk using his own two legs.

'Well, I guess they're Reivan's legs, not mine...'

But that was beside the point. His situation was too similar to his previous life! And although he didn't have to suffer through endless agony anymore, he also didn't have his sister by his side.

Ken bit his lip in frustration — he didn't think the trade-off was worth it at all.

'It's all because of the "Mysterious Assailant" that stole my memories...'

The "Mysterious Assailant" that didn't exist, that is.

Because of the nonexistent assailant, the powers that be had been scouring the city relentlessly for the past month. In fact, Ken had heard that they were still continuing, and planned to continue the hunt.

"Your Highness...?" The maid tilted her pretty little head as she hesitantly walked up to him. "Will you not be having breakfast?"

"..." He sat there blankly for a moment before nodding in defeat. "I'll have some."

Ken wasn't really in the mood to eat at first, but the food they served him was top-notch. Better than anything he's ever had on earth. Even though he held thoughts of going on a hunger strike until they let him out, the food was a bit too good. He didn't really last all that long before the mouthwatering aroma got to him.

'No, why is it so good? What the hell!' He even felt like his sense of smell was more potent than usual. 'Was I always such a glutton...?'

While reflecting on himself, Ken stood up and walked over to the table, where his steaming breakfast lay in waiting.

----------------------------------------

"Hooo..." Ken let out a strange groan as he leaned back on his posh chair, having just polished off his plate. His hands instinctively rubbed his bloated stomach while he sighed in bliss.

Knock Knock

'Hm, a visitor...?'

After he hastily wiped his mouth, Ken turned his head toward the door — where a handsome man wearing regal attire and a golden crown on his head walked with measured steps across the carpet-strewn floor.

"Good morning, Rein." Rodin — Reivan's father — waved at Ken with a tired smile on his face.

'Oh, shit!'

Ken jumped to his feet, his back ramrod straight as he forced the corners of his lips upward. He ignored the sweat running down the side of his face while he greeted back, "Good morning, uhm... Father."

A trace of anguish flashed past Rodin's eyes as he gazed upon his son. "You don't need to act in such a stiff manner around me..."

"I see..." Ken nodded while grinning wryly. He made a show of relaxing his muscles, but he was still visibly guarded.

Genuinely relaxing was easier said than done.

Ken didn't have very good memories when it came to fathers; and Rodin was a bit too similar to Koutarou — Ken's father — after all.

Both of them were men of power — whose whims could influence numerous lives. And both of them felt different when you stood in front of them. One would immediately be able to set them apart from the common man.

Ken would bet any amount of money that even if you dressed them down and randomly plopped them in the middle of a crowd, you still wouldn't lose sight of them.

'Well... I guess their ages are quite a bit different.'

Koutarou was a middle-aged man while Rodin didn't look a day past thirty. The King in front of Ken — who was mentally twenty-three years old — felt more like an older brother than a father.

'On that note, why does he look so young...?' Ken was inwardly baffled. For a moment, he was overwhelmingly curious about the guy's skin-care routine, but then he realized that since Reivan was apparently ten years old, it wasn't too strange to have a father in their late twenties.

He was snapped out of his thoughts when Rodin sighed softly before sitting down on the chair opposite Ken's. The young King gestured for Ken to sit down before looking at him appraisingly.

Ken sat down and slightly fidgeted under the man's gaze. He couldn't help but ask, "Is there something on my face... Father?"

Rodin's eyes widened, realizing he'd stared too blatantly before he chuckled as he shook his head. "That's not it. It just feels new to me."

"What do you mean...?"

"The way you look at me." The King smiled sadly. "I'm not used to my son looking at me like I'm a stranger."

"Oh..." Ken averted his eyes from the man's intense gaze. "I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize, son. None of this is your fault. You're the victim." Rodin reached forward and stroked Ken's ashen-colored hair. "We are all victims here."

The two spent a few moments of silence, with Ken closing his eyes to feel the king's gentle touch. Although not as intense as the connection he felt with Vianna, Ken also felt warmth spreading to his heart. there was no doubt that this man in front of him had been a good father to Reivan.

'This... is a good family. That Reivan was really lucky. Well, except for the part when I butted into his life, that is.'

Ken's heart clenched at the crushing guilt he felt for the boy's family. At the very back of his mind, he was actually guilty about troubling this lovely family. Even though he didn't know why he ended up here in the first place, he still felt partly responsible.

And after all, he knew exactly how they felt, in that he wouldn't know what to do with himself if Kyouka suddenly vanished.

'Kyouka...'

"Hmm. Perhaps that's enough brooding over bad things." Rodin commanded a change of subject, hoping to clear the somber mood in the room. He then began fondly recounting tales of Reivan's exploits.

Ken scratched his nose as he nodded along, inwardly marveling at Reivan's actions and the maturity he seemed to have shown.

'Was he really that smart or is this just a case of a parent doting on their child...?' he wondered. Then an absurd thought crossed his mind. 'Maybe Reivan was a reincarnated person from Earth?'

But he shook off the idea just as soon as he formed it.

'As if.'

Lightning didn't strike twice, as they say. If this body was already involved with a reincarnation, then it was a bit too farfetched to think it'd get involved with a transmigration incident as well.

Ken continued to listen to Rodin boast smugly about Reivan. The seconds turned into minutes, and the minutes turned into hours. Soon, it was already time for lunch.

Rodin, who'd evidently run out of stories to tell sat there silently, his gloomy eyes gazing at his son. A thousand words could not express his sorrow as he asked, "Can you really not remember anything...? Anything at all."

"I..." Feeling the pain in his voice, Ken thought of lying a little, just to give the good man some hope. But he didn't need the shitty taste in his mouth to tell him how unpleasant he felt about that. As such, Ken shook his head. "I really can't. I'm sorry."

"No." Rodin shook his head, his face serious and his voice stern. "No, I'm sorry. I didn't pay enough attention, on top of being too powerless to prevent this. I'm a failure of a father. And I am sorry you were unfortunate enough to have me as one."

The glimpse of eternity is shaking!

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

The man's self-deprecating words lit a fire under Ken.

Ken wanted to tell the man that he was a great father — that he was proud to call him as such. He wanted to tell his father that if he could grow up to be half as remarkable as him, then that would be the achievement of a lifetime.

Ken yearned to express to his father the immense admiration and respect he held within his heart. He longed to convey the pride he felt in being able to call such an extraordinary man his own father. Words seemed inadequate to capture the depth of his feelings, but he knew he had to try.

Sadly, it was already too late.

By the time Ken looked up to say something, Rodin had already shut the door behind him as he left. Alone, and with a heart filled with words he failed to convey, Ken closed his eyes and prayed.

'I'm so sorry.'

He prayed for everything to become right again.

----------------------------------------

Time quickly passed. Spring became summer, then summer became fall before becoming winter. The snow that blanketed the lands would melt, giving way for spring to once again arrive.

Before he knew it, Ken had already spent five years as Reivan Aizenwald. It all happened so fast that Ken idly thought he was dreaming.

Just as he'd expected, the country's search for the culprit of his memory loss didn't bear any fruit. This caused quite a stir, seeing how much trust everyone apparently placed in the knight order.

But this stir only lasted for about a year.

After that, things cooled down and a bit of normalcy returned to everybody's lives. There was a palpable tension amongst the people working for the government though, and apparently, quite a few traitors were rooted out in search of the "Mysterious Assailant".

Now, as for their fates... Ken could make a few guesses, but he wasn't a hundred percent sure.

As the scent of ink filled the air, Ken put his pen down and inspected the words for a story he'd just written. His eyes moved from left to right then left again for a couple of cycles, but his face soon twisted into a scowl. "Oh shit... a typo. Fuck...!"

After angrily crumpling up the page and tossing it — and missing — into a nearby wastepaper basket, he took out a new one from his desk drawer before sighing.

'Son of a bitch! This is the sixth time... Will I even finish my manuscript in time...?'

Feeling a headache coming, Ken massaged his temples with his left hand while the right one started writing, sounds of his quill scratching the paper echoed throughout the room.

In this fantasy world he'd suddenly found himself in, this was his life now. Writing stories inspired by web novels he'd read while on Earth.

After the hubbub cooled down a bit, Ken had asked if he could have access to a library or something, hoping to find a way back home. Reivan's family had smiled approvingly at that, saying that a person's essence didn't change even without their memories, since the original owner of the body had liked to do the same.

Of course, the books he could peruse were somewhat limited.

Ken thought that it was a matter of fact.

If it weren't for the fact that he couldn't seem to activate Reivan's many special abilities, nor did he inherit the boy's talent, Ken would have probably continued on the path Reivan was treading on to become a Princely Knight.

'Or maybe a Knight Prince sounds better? Oh, a Knight Lord sounds cool too...'

In any case, he'd seen magic and stuff get thrown around here and there, so giving a child access to books that taught him how to do that would be foolish, to say the least. That said, Ken hoped he'd get permission for those eventually.

Even though his efforts bore no fruit, Ken's disappointment was short-lived. Seeing as he couldn't study the good stuff, his expectations were low from the start.

But in his search, he'd discovered this new world's literature. That's when Ken decided to while away his time by writing when he wasn't helping his father go through paperwork. They probably wouldn't let him read about magic and whatnot until he was much older anyway.

And luckily, Reivan's family didn't seem to expect Ken to do any work for the country other than some clerical things like going over the validity of proposals and approving some things.

For a while, Ken wondered if that was really okay, seeing as there were only two princes. But then he just shrugged it off as some kind of tradition where only the oldest prince gets trained as a royal to prevent a power struggle for the throne.

Or maybe he missed some kind of ritual?

All in all, Ken had the time, resources, and ideas to write some books. So he'd gone ahead with it, finding massive success in a short time, despite writing under a pseudonym.

Over the years, his pen name "Mirror Sword" became a household name that basically everyone knew of.

King Rodin was also quite happy about the children's books Ken had casually written during his downtime.

Despite his success, Ken felt a bit guilty about plagiarizing so much stuff.

'I mean, I added a few of my own takes on it, so it's not completely an act of plagiarism... right?' He inwardly asked his question to no one in particular.

While taking a trip down memory lane, Ken finally managed to finish his manuscript; he'd written it so many times, he didn't even need to be mentally present anymore. And thankfully, there were no more typos this time.

After carefully stowing it in a metallic safe, Ken stretched his aching back, causing him to moan in pleasure. Now that his work was finished, he could finally take that bath he'd been holding off on for the past few days. And then he'd sleep like a dead person.

But it seemed fate had other thoughts for him as the door to his room burst open and a handsome young man with black hair and eyes walked into the room.

"Rein! Let's hit the town!" Hector beamed as zoomed over and put his arm around Ken's shoulders. "You've been stuck here for days. C'mon and hit on some girls with me!"

'Ugh... I thought I locked the door... wait, did he break it?'

While inwardly annoyed that he'd have to have his door fixed again, Ken sighed. "At least wait for me to take a shower..."

"Hm?" Hector cocked a brow before leaning over and taking a sniff at Ken's hair, causing him to theatrically wretch as he turned his head to the side. "Ugh. You don't just need a shower. Man, you need a bath, a thorough scrub-down, and then another bath to smell like a decent person again."

"Fuck off." After Ken playfully shoved off his snickering friend, he headed over to the white-tiled bathroom to take a long bath. He'd originally planned to just take a short shower before heading off to bed, but now, he wanted to have that bastard wait for a while.

As he went about his usual routine, Ken smirked while reminiscing about his only friend. Hector had apparently been friends with Reivan, but Ken had also hit it off with the boy; which wasn't all that hard with Hector's carefree and sociable personality.

It was too bad that Hector's sister, Helen, didn't seem to like Ken very much.

Ken quickly discovered that the pretty little girl's physical abilities were monstrous. Which wasn't an issue by itself, but the recurring expressions of disappointment on her face whenever he struggled to match her got on his nerves a little. Nevertheless, he persisted and exerted his utmost effort to keep pace with her relentless energy.

However, after a few months of their playful encounters, the girl abruptly ceased visiting him altogether. Time passed, stretching into four long years without a single glimpse of her. Their once vibrant connection had faded into a distant memory, leaving Ken with a lingering sense of longing and unanswered questions.

But that didn't really bother Ken that much. Or rather, that was how it was supposed to be, but he felt an odd sting in his chest every time he thought about it.

Warning!

You MUST resist!

'Geez. Go away...'

Ken inwardly grumbled, shaking off the repetitive messages. Even after five years, these things were still annoying.

After he was briefed on all of Reivan's abilities, Ken came to realize that these screens were produced by the special ability called [Supreme Insight]. Unfortunately, the transmigration may have messed it up like the rest of the abilities, because Ken couldn't activate any of them no matter what he tried — and the insight skill now only produced these relentless screens telling him that he had to resist something.

'If someone made a light novel out of my current state, it would probably get shit on. Who the fuck gets weaker after getting isekai'd to a fantasy world!? You're supposed to get cool new cheat skills! And maybe even a harem!'

Finished with his shower, Ken wiped himself off with a fresh towel and went back into the previous room to change his clothes. Hector was still there, but that didn't matter; the guy didn't care about other dudes' junks.

Once he was done, the two friends headed out in search of a good time.

----------------------------------------

Ken and Hector caught up with what the other had been up to lately as they walked along the busy streets of Aizen's capital.

Tantalizing aromas wafting over from the various street stalls, the clattering of hooves as carriages went by, and the heat from thousands of people being so close to each other...

It could be said that this was Aizen's true form.

Peaceful. Serene. And booming with opportunity.

As well as gorgeous women.

Even though they were just casually walking through town, Ken had already caught numerous beauties at the edge of his vision. Naturally, he received a prompt elbow nudge from his friend every time.

However, a street as crowded as this one wasn't the best place to go flirting with dames. They had to move to a more suitable area, like a park or the central plaza. Ken and Hector weren't worried about the opportunities wasted on this street though. Aizen was abundant with beauty. They would have no trouble finding more.

"By the way!" Hector voiced loudly over the sea of people's noise. "Where's your uncle?"

Ken cocked an eyebrow before he smirked. "I dunno. He hasn't visited me in over a week!"

"Huh... well that's strange..." Hector muttered to himself as his face filled with confusion.

Nodding along, Ken agreed. Ever since he'd "lost his memories" his Uncle Viktor had spent an incredible amount of time with him.

Of course, Ken did so with his other family members as well. In fact, over the years, he'd gotten so close to his new family — his parents, his brother, and his sister-in-law — that Ken felt like they were family from the bottom of his heart.

But Viktor was particularly enthusiastic about doing so; saying that "the pack has to stick together in times of trouble!".

'Heh. Cute bastard...' Ken couldn't help but smirk at the thought.

There was a saying in Ken's old world that went something along the lines of "Speak of the devil, and he shall appear."

"What's strange?" Thick arms wrapped around their shoulders, pulling them toward the speaker.

Ken's eyes widened, immediately recognizing the voice's owner. "Uncle? What're you doing here?"

Viktor chuckled under the cover of his thick hood. "I heard you boys were out and about again, so I came along!"

"Uh, you 'heard about it'...?" Hector seemed both puzzled and horrified. "F-from who, exactly...?"

"You don't need to know!" The disguised warbeast man shrugged off the question as he pushed the two adolescent young men forward. "C'mon! I wanna see how well you do."

Now it was Ken's turn to chuckle, his steps were quick as he moved to the front of the group. "Watch and learn, old-timer."

His friend's boastful tone seemed to snap him out of his daze, Hector hastened his steps as well. "Yeah!"

Viktor stroked his chin while he chortled, following behind them. "But you boys gotta be careful. You're both from big-name families, so you can't just be making bastards all over the place. You always gotta use protection, even if they say it's their safe day..."

"What're you talking about...?" Ken shook his head, an exasperated smile on his face. "We obviously don't go that far."

"Huh?" All of a sudden, Hector stopped in place, forcing Viktor to halt just before bumping into him. For a few moments, the young man's eyes were as wide as saucers while his jaw slackened. Once he broke out of his stupor, he muttered, his face was a painting that expressed pure disbelief. "You don't...?"

Understanding the implications of his friend's words, Ken stiffened as he also stopped in place. "You do...?"

"Well, I mean..." Hector scratched his cheek while averting his gaze. "What else am I supposed to do...? Isn't that what picking up girls is all about? I'm pretty sure that's what they expected too..."

'What the hell...?'

Ken's brow twitched. "So... whenever we split up with our own girls..."

"Yeah..." Hector cleared his throat, his cheeks burning crimson. "Wait, what do you do with them when we split up?"

"W-well, I... uh." Ken looked away. "Naturally, I also..."

"Stop lying." Hector grinned impishly. Even though his face was still red, he teasingly nudged his friend while needling him for answers. "Tell me."

"Ugh." Ken grimaced in frustration at being seen through immediately. "Fuck off..."

Viktor — who was there from the very beginning — guffawed while patting his stomach. "C'mon! Tell us!"

"Not you too..."

"Hahaha! There's no harm in—" Viktor's joyous face froze before it fell off, the face of a warrior replacing it. He turned his head toward the castle in the distance, his eyes boring holes at it.

Sensing the older man's strange mood, the two young men stayed silent, their breaths remained held as they stared at Viktor.

'Wh-what the hell is happening...?'

Just as his curiosity was about to cause him to involuntarily ask what was wrong, his uncle suddenly started barking orders into the air.

"Protect the prince!" Viktor's voice was thick with urgency as armor covered his body instantly. A katana appeared in his hand before he flew off, leaving the shattered ground and a sonic boom behind him.