"Mom..." Reivan groaned as he rolled around in bed with his eyes shut, instinctively looking for his mother's pleasant warmth. When he still couldn't find it after feeling around for a while, he was forced to open his eyes.

Only to see that she was not there.

'When did she leave...?'

Hiss!

Even though he wasn't particularly expecting an answer, he received one from his trusty friend — the not-so-small black serpent, Zouros.

"Oh, hey there buddy." Reivan reached out to stroke the snake's head as he drowsily looked around.

According to the hissing that only he could understand, his mother had left before dawn, quite excited about something. Reivan had a bit of a bad feeling about that, but his empty stomach made it hard to muster up the willpower to care. Luckily, the approximate position of the sun told him it was just about time for breakfast.

"Let's go get something to eat."

Zouros answered back with an elated hiss of agreement.

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

As he shoveled food into his mouth, Reivan furiously wrote some things down on a piece of paper.

Even that wasn't enough though. He even used [Formless Will] to help write on multiple pages, filling the air around him with the scritching and scratching of pens against paper.

Beside him, Zouros finished swallowing an entire roasted chicken before slithering back into Reivan's body by turning into a stream of black mist, leaving only a faint hiss of satisfaction behind.

"Done!"

A big smile crossed his face as he gathered up all the documents he'd worked hard on over breakfast. After briefly scanning over each one, trying to catch any mistakes or errors, Reivan ended up being amazed at his beautiful handwriting.

'Damn. I could make a living just penning stuff for people. Guess all those years writing books in the fragment of eternity wasn't useless after all. I still wouldn't go through that shit again though.'

From the side, a maid — who had also been the one to procure the pens and papers he'd used — handed him a small metal clip to hold the bundle together.

"Thank you." Reivan smiled at the maid as he took and made good use of the clip. "You're all really well-prepared."

"His Majesty sometimes has the urge to write some things down while eating, so we keep a stock of pens and papers nearby just in case he runs out of supplies in his spatial ring."

"Oh..."

'Come to think of it, he does do that sometimes...'

Reivan sighed in exasperation, thinking his father really was too much of a workaholic.

'Luckily, I'll be able to help out from now on!'

And the documents he held were the first step to that.

'Hehehe... I wonder how they'll react to this?'

Despite himself, he was feeling childishly excited to show off how adult-like he was.

"Well well, someone's up a little early."

Rodin's voice echoed throughout the dining hall, urging Reivan to look toward the entrance.

'Woah. Those eyebags look heavy...'

Strangely, despite his tired countenance, Rodin still managed to appear regal and elegant as he walked across the carpet-strewn floor.

But his father's kingliness did not matter to Reivan at the moment.

"Father..." He frowned as he looked Rodin up and down. "Did you sleep?"

"I did." His father nodded as he took a seat at the head of the table. "But not much."

"How much is not much?"

"I'd like something light but hot, please." Rodin smiled as he spoke to a butler standing by the sides before he turned back to his son. "An hour or two."

"That's not sleeping, Father. That's taking a nap."

"They're the same thing."

'No, they're not.'

Reivan held back his words, feeling that arguing with his father on this wouldn't really lead them anywhere. So instead, he took out a dark brown pill from Zouros' stomach and floated it over to his father.

"Hm?" Rodin cocked an eyebrow in confusion, but still took it. "What's this? The color is unfamiliar..."

"It's special."

He did not say anything else since they were surrounded by people who weren't absolutely loyal, and his family had repeatedly warned him not to show off his special abilities.

'They're being too cautious...'

Those were his honest thoughts, but since they were likely just thinking of his safety, he couldn't really fault them for it. But Reivan had already checked all of these servants' loyalties with his ability, so he was sure they wouldn't betray the royal family.

Rodin fiddled with the pill between his fingers for a second before frowning. "It would be better for our knights to have these, then."

"Father, we can just get more. In the meantime, please just eat it."

"Fine..." His father gave up and popped the pill into his mouth before swallowing. "The color is a bit unappetizing though..."

'Well, it has highly concentrated caffeine in it after all.'

He'd combined part of the Beast King's Ichor's effect along with it, so that pill was the perfect medicine to help his father out.

"So?" Reivan proudly sniffed. "How're you feeling?"

"Much better." Rodin smirked as he rolled his eyes at his son's smugness.

"Good morning, everyone."

Reivan's eyes widened as he looked behind him in surprise, where his big brother had seemingly walked up to him without his notice.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

'That scared the shit out of me...'

"That looks good, Rein. Can I please have one...?"

"Uh..." Reivan faltered as he quickly examined his sibling.

Roland had a lot more in common with his father than Reivan. They not only shared the same hair and eye colors, but Roland was pretty much a younger version of the king. But they were even more in sync than usual since Roland also had bags under his eyes. His movements also seemed extremely sluggish.

"Good morning Father-in-law! And pleasant morning to you too, Rein!"

And just behind his brother, was the newest addition to the royal family, Stella Mercer — or rather, it was Stella Aizenwald now.

'They look so different...'

Contrary to her husband, Stella was practically bursting with energy. Her face was practically glowing as her lips formed a bright smile. There was a noticeable spring in her step while she skipped across the hall, and her happiness was apparent in the way she waved at her new family.

'Is she a succubus...?'

"Rein." Roland snapped Reivan out of his thoughts by putting a hand on his shoulder. "Please?"

"Ah... of course." Reivan quickly procured another one but found that it vanished immediately as he took it out.

"Thank you." His brother gulped as he moved over to sit at his usual spot to Rodin's right. His expression brightened considerably and a small grin crossed his face. "This is good stuff..."

"Uhm... I'll be sure to send you a few more soon..."

"Will you really?" Roland's grin evolved into a beaming smile as he looked at his brother with teary eyes. "I love you, brother."

"Uh-huh. I love you too, big brother..." Reivan's cheeks twitched as he tried his best to maintain a neutral expression.

Rodin, who'd been watching his sons interact with an amused expression chose this moment to speak up. "So, my son. How was your first night as a married man?"

"Haha..." Roland let out a tired chuckle before shaking his head and smiling. "A bit exhausting. But I wouldn't have it any other way. I'm pretty happy."

"Oh, you..." Stella bashfully tapped her husband's arm before sitting down. Her fingers gently traced the table's surface as her eyes scanned the lines of servants standing by the wall. "I'm really part of the royal family now..."

"Hahaha. That you are, my dear. That you are... And we're happy to have you here." Rodin looked warmly at his new daughter-in-law before sending his first son a knowing glance. "My son, you'll get used to it. As all men of our royal family always have."

"Hm?" Reivan — who had been minding his own business, mentally preparing himself to bring up the documents he'd written — looked up when he heard his father's words. "What do you mean, Father?"

"Oh? Are you curious?" His father leaned back in his chair as he gave way for a butler to place a bowl of soup in front of him. "Well, you see, for some reason, men of Aizen's royal families seem to be fated to match with strong and talented women. Like your mother and Stella."

Reivan's eyes widened in horror as his father continued.

"What's strange about it is, we don't even do it intentionally. We just fall for those women and those women fall for us." Rodin chortled. "According to the Sword Star, the Aizen's founder — who you are named after — was the same!"

'Are you screwing with me!? Why the hell does something like that run in the family!? I don't wanna be like these two!'

Yes, he loved his father and brother. And yes, he found that they had many, many admirable attributes.

But romance was not one of them.

Reivan absolutely didn't want to be hen-pecked like these two.

"Oh my..." Stella giggled as her eyes narrowed. She sent the youngest prince a teasing look. "It's looking like that will hold true for Rein as well."

"Huh?" Reivan tilted his head.

Roland chuckled as he sympathetically looked at his brother. "That's true..."

"Mhm." Rodin nodded sagely as he crossed his arms. "History does not lie. Reivan, do not be the one to break this tradition, hm?"

The second prince just looked at them all with confusion before he realized what they were implying.

'Helen...?'

The girl whose talent was so fraudulent, that the universe felt the need to acknowledge it.

'No no no no no... she's practically a little sister to me!'

He was an adult in his past life, so it was mentally impossible for him to have any romantic feelings for the girl, despite how cute she was.

Reivan was not a lolicon.

In fact, he liked women who were a little older than him. So someone like Helen was forever banished behind the "Little Sister" line or even to the "Friend Zone".

As Reivan pondered how to deny whatever it was these three adults were envisioning, he saw Rodin reading a document while sipping on soup.

'Documents!'

That was when he remembered what he was supposed to do. He quickly took out the bundle of paper he'd prepared this morning, setting all thoughts of Helen aside for the moment.

"Father, Big Brother, Big Sister, I have something to show you." Reivan couldn't restrain a look of pride to form on his face as he separated the sheaf of papers into four parts before three of them floated over to his family. "Oh, by the way, when is Mother getting here...?"

"Ah... she's busy with something strange, so she won't make it for breakfast." Rodin sighed as if he was fed up with something while grabbing the papers out of the air. "What's this?"

"No, before that, the handwriting is so good..." Roland marveled before nodding in approval. "You could make money off of this."

'That's what I thought too!'

But that wasn't all that important at the moment, so Reivan cleared his throat and began. "Written in the documents you hold in your hands, is a compilation of the things I discovered during my coming-of-age ceremony."

"Hoh?" Rodin's eyes widened as he looked down to read the document with renewed interest. "And who told you to prepare these?"

"Nobody. I thought this by myself." Reivan grinned. "Since I'm now an official part of the royal family, I just wanted to help out however I can, as soon as I can."

Roland chuckled. "You cheeky little brat."

"How impressive!" Stella exclaimed before sighing in admiration. "The royal family is really made of different stuff, huh? All Hector does is run around and pull pranks on people. While Helen just eats as much as she can in between playing and sleeping..."

As Reivan faltered under the two's praising looks, scratching his head in embarrassment, his father's eyes continued to scan through the documents.

"Another world...?" Rodin frowned. "Roland, get reading."

"Hm? Ah, yes." The older prince finally looked away from his brother and pored over his own sheaf of paper. Soon, he also frowned. "So the Outlands is an unstable world...? Or is our world the unstable one?"

Stella also seemed to have finished reading the first page. "Another world... is it perhaps similar to the strange place that Arkhan's Spirit Tower is connected to?"

"Perhaps." Rodin nodded at the possibility. "But there is something more concerning to me... What changes does the connection to an unstable world bring to our world? Will our world become unstable as well?"

Roland's face darkened. "Dammit. That's true..."

Reivan — who'd looked proud at first — looked lost. He hadn't thought of that possibility at all.

'Are we actually fucked?'

"This is not something to talk about over breakfast..." Rodin put away the papers into his spatial ring before turning to Reivan with a smile. "You don't have to be upset. These kinds of things are better known as early as possible. You did a wonderful job."

"Thanks..." Reivan found it hard to smile, but he still did so.

"That said, we will need to know more about this." His father continued after finishing off his bowl of soup. "So you will have to briefly go back to the Outlands after you're finished with today's lecture. Try to see if you can find something else out. For example, if there is a possibility of whatever's happening in the Outlands to spread to our world as well."

"Yes, Father." The youngest prince nodded, undaunted by the thought of going back into such an accursed place.

"Ah." Rodin paused as he was moving to stand up. "I'll have the Sword Star guard you while you're there. He has a problem that you might be able to help solve..."

Roland almost spat out his tea before looking incredulously at his father for confirmation. "The Sword Star does?"

Their father nodded. "Yes, that's right."

'That super strong guy needs my help...?'

A feeling of elation overcame Reivan. He was just a useless sack of flesh in his past life, someone that could only depend on others to survive.

But now? Even the strongest person in the kingdom needed his help.

'I'll finally be useful to my family.'

Reivan unknowingly clenched his fists under the table, his excitement threatening to make him dance like an idiot.

But his joy quickly plummeted when he noticed something in what his father had just said.

"Lecture...?" Reivan tamped down the anxiety in his voice as he asked, "What lecture are you talking about, Father?"

"Hm?" Rodin raised an eyebrow as he stood up and smoothed out his clothes. "Naturally, I mean the lecture you will be receiving today."

"What...?"

When he realized that his thoughts were, in fact, correct, Reivan's heart sank. But then disappointment quickly became anger as he slammed his tiny fist on the table in protest.

"But I thought I was going to receive training from now on!"

"You are." Rodin shook his head. "Just not today."

"Why!?"

"I still have to prepare some things. I haven't even informed your trainer yet."

"Father," Reivan growled. "It's not like my tenth birthday came as a surprise. The same event happened nine times on the same date, every year for nine years straight. Why wasn't this trainer informed in advance?"

Roland snickered as he listened, earning a slap on the back from his wife.

Rodin also looked amused, despite his son's insolent tone. His intonation was calm as he admonished Reivan. "You're so impatient... Just relax. A single day will not make a difference."

'That is not true at all...'

But his father's lack of any strong reaction sapped him of most of his anger. He was still incredibly irritated though.

"Fine..."

"Good." Rodin smiled warmly as he walked over to his pouting son before ruffling his hair. "While we're at it, I have someone for you to meet."

Reivan's eyes narrowed while his father's fingers messed up his grey locks. "Who?"

"Your guardian knight."