After closing the door, Felix walked through the hallway in a slow but steady manner. His face was cold and expressionless, and yet a hint of sorrow flashed in his purple eyes. He passed many rooms and different hallways until his feet stopped in front of the kitchen.

In fact, there was no need for him to bother going to the kitchen since he could just call a servant, much less deliberately taking the longer way. But for Felix, it was what he needed to avoid showing others his weak self.

Before Felix was about to lose in his thoughts, a brown-haired maid popped out from behind the kitchen's door.

"Your Highness?" the maid gasped in astonishment as she quickly opened the door wide and bowed respectfully. "What might brought your esteemed self to this humble place?"

"Prepare another portion of meal for dinner," Felix ordered. "For the kid."

No matter how much suspicion Felix had for the silver-haired boy who appeared out of nowhere, he couldn't possibly get anything out of his mouth without feeding him first. Although seemingly confused by Felix's act of coming to the kitchen himself, the maid nodded without any question.

After giving the order, Felix went back, this time taking the shorter way that passed through the inner garden. Numerous thoughts flashed in his mind as he kept walking and walking until his feet stopped in front of a huge window from where he could see the outer garden and the road to the main palace.

The palace Felix and Fiorentia lived in was Tourmaline Palace located in the eastern part of the chateau. It was formerly belonged to their deceased father, the only younger brother of the current King. After their parents' death, the palace was granted to the two with the King as their guardian. Of course, this decision wasn't without objections from the nobility. Regardless, the King insisted to the point that he made a decree, thus keeping the two parentless children under his protection.

For this reason, Felix and Fiorentia were very grateful towards their uncle. So, upon receiving the 'past' memories through his dreams where the kingdom was destroyed every time, Felix almost succumbed to despair. If he could, he would do whatever it took to protect the kingdom —or to be exact, his uncle. Yet, he couldn't rid of the fear —the fear of having to see his homeland crumbled to dust with his very own eyes numerous times, affirming his powerlessness in front of fate.

Felix gripped the curtain while clenching his teeth. In fact, when he said to Fiorentia that he only 'received' the memories, not 'experiencing' them himself, it wasn't a lie in a sense, since it was how he convinced himself every second.

Every time his mind was confused by the memories, Felix would constantly remind himself that the present was reality, and the memories were only a dream. He could treat them as another source of information and knowledge, but he should never be influenced by the memories.

"Hastiness leads to error, impulsivity leads to failure ..." Felix muttered repeatedly. " ... there's not room for another mistake .... this is the last time ..."

As what the 'first' Fiorentia had predicted, even the strongest box could break. Felix knew that his mental state was at its limit. Even after a year passed since he 'received' the memories, he still often dreamed having to watch his sister's repeated deaths. His mind became wearier by each nightmares. Felix even thought that he preferred going through physical tortures than having to suffer from these dreams.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

He turned his back to the window, thinking that the silver-haired boy should be awoken by now. In fact, before Felix left the room, he saw the boy's fingers moved. The reason he went outside was to avoid any quarrels between him and Fiorentia, who kept persuading him to somehow prevent the war from happening.

"I'm sorry, uncle ..." Felix muttered to himself as his body slumped onto the floor. His elbows were on top of his knees, holding his own head as he looked down, instinctively preventing someone passing by to see his expression —although the hallway was in fact, empty.

" ... I can't stand seeing Fio die ...again and again. You'll understand, right? I know that you'll do the same if you're in my position ..."

Felix didn't need anyone to confirm or respond to his decision. It was already decided since a long time ago that no matter what happened, his first priority was the safety of his sister.

" ... first I need to find who targets her."

He had spent this past year trying to look for their hidden enemy. But his effort was futile, as if someone was tying his body by a thread, moving his body to their convenience.

His fist clenched tight until blood oozed out.

"Calm down, Felix Regillum …" he sighed heavily before muttering with a barely inaudible voice. " ….think …think back to what happened at that time ….that person should be close by …"

Felix tried to recall back the things that happened in the first timeline —the day when this mess began.

***

Summer 12th of the 7th month, year 546

First timeline

The scent of blood and sight of corpses engulfed Felix and Fiorentia as they fled from the palace as fast as they could. From behind, they could hear screams and the sound of explosions. They ran and ran, struggling to not look back at the chateau that was now in shambles.

Gritting their teeth and biting their lips, the two held back their tears from falling. Just when they finally passed the city gate, slightly relieved by the fact that they managed to stay out of sight, an arrow suddenly pierced Fiorentia from behind.

She didn't fall, as Felix was able to catch her body immediately. His face was pale and aghast.

"Fio!" he cried in languish upon seeing her bloody clothes.

Felix's head immediately turned towards the city wall where he found countless Chaldean archers pointing their arrows towards them.

" ….run …."

But he couldn't hear her voice because they were already bombarded with hundreds of arrows. He tried to block them using his sword —but as expected, it was futile. The two children's bodies were impaled mercilessly.

" ….Fio …"

There was no answer. Felix struggled to turn his head around and maintain his consciousness, just to find Fiorentia's lifeless body beside him. It was very terrifying, seeing countless arrows pierced through her small body, and Felix knew that his state was probably the same.

He used his remaining strength to move his hand towards her when suddenly a sharp pain struck his fingers.

"For goodness sake, he's still alive? What a monster."

A voice Felix never heard spoke. Although his sight blurred, he could feel that the voice belonged to the one who stepped on his hand. Strangely, the voice was small and sounded shrill, as if it belonged to a girl in her early teens.

Before Felix could figure it out, he felt something stabbing his chest and the next thing he knew, he was back to his 8 year old self. As memories poured into his brain, Felix soon realized that time had regressed.

***

" …. that voice …if only I could find out who it belongs to …!"

Strangely, Felix never heard or encountered the owner of the voice ever since then in the timelines after, as if it had disappeared into thin air. It was the reason why Felix didn't bother to recall or look for it other than in the second and third timelines.

" …can I even find that person —no, was that voice truly not my own hallucination?"

Taking a deep breath, Felix stood up. He wiped the remaining blood on his palm with his own vest, thinking that Fiorentia wouldn't notice since the color was dark.

"I guess it's time to go back," he muttered before continuing to walk, hoping that Fiorentia wouldn't bring up the subject of their quarrel and wondering if the silver-haired boy had awoken or not.

'Who is he?' Felix thought to himself. 'Why did that boy never appear in the previous timelines?'

"I feel sorry for Fio, but if his identity is troublesome, then I guess I don't have any choice," he sighed once more.

'I have to eliminate him.'