Brian slowly opened his eyes and then sat down on his bed. The bed felt more comfortable than usual. He was still half asleep and his head was feeling somewhat heavy. He casually looked around the room and noticed that the room was quite unusual.

The room. The bed was quite large and more than enough for four people to sleep comfortably. The blanket was warm and sleek to touch. On his right, decorated silverware were systematically placed on the table. Walls were decorated with gold and silver coloured unique designs. Everything in the room felt so royal and extremely expensive.

No way in the world, I could ever afford to live in such an expensive room.

Brian could not make sense of anything. It was not his room for sure. He had no ideas of where he was. He had never been to such a place before. He pinched himself and the pain confirmed that this was not a dream.

"How the hell did I even get here " He murmured to himself.

And then the realisation dawned on him. 

He left his home around 5 am for a jog.

While he was jogging, out of nowhere he got struck by a vehicle from behind. The impact threw him over the bridge and down into the river.

-Even if somebody saved me, I should be in a hospital. Not in a fancy royal room.

Now that I think about it there is no injury to my body. I felt no pain whatsoever. How is that even possible. My body...

As he was checking his body, he felt something was off about it. He knew his body upside down after all.

He Searched the room for something that could reflect his image but found nothing.

-Dammit, there is not even a mirror in here.

As he was cursing, his eyes fell upon the shiny silver plate lying on the table near his bed. He stretched his hand and grabbed the plate.

-This should work...

The moment he saw his face, His heartbeat rose and his body tensed up. And, The very next moment his brain started flooding with memories. Shockingly, those were not his memories, but somebody else's.

After the memories settled down, everything started making sense to him.

Who he was?

Where he was?

Why he was here?

He got All the answers in an instant.

-I guess it is a reincarnation or something like that.

The owner of this body was a man named Evan Shelton. Evan was 23 the same as Brian. Evan was the lord of the city of Tastur.

The city was the part of the kingdom of Cosvania. Tastur city was located at the southernmost point of the kingdom sharing border with the Orthax empire.

His father Bernolt was assassinated one year ago, so Evan inherited the position of the lord of the city since Evan had no siblings. His mother died when he was very young.

Brian did not get much information about the city from his new memories.

After getting the memories the brain's impression of Evan was not good. He found the previous owner of the body to be a pampered good for nothing womanizer.

By now Brian had come to terms with his situation.

He had no qualms about it since it was better than being dead.

-Well, I think being a lord will not be so bad. I can do whatever I want, wherever I want, whenever I want. I am gonna enjoy this new life to the fullest.

A weird smirk could be seen on his face.

As he was daydreaming he heard a voice coming from outside.

"My lord, Breakfast is ready" a soft and silvery voice of a woman came from behind the door. 

"Bring it in," 

A beautiful young lady walked through the door in a maid's uniform. The moment Brian laid eyes on her, he could not take his eyes off her. Not that he had not seen a girl before, but the young lady standing in the front of him was a top-notch beauty. 

Her long raven-black hair tied in a ponytail was resting over her right shoulder. She had a stunning face with those thin arched eyebrows, soft pink lips, those bright, emerald-green eyes. After arranging the food on the table, she looked towards Brian and spoke in a honey-sweet voice.

"My lord, anything else you need"

When Brian's eyes met with lovely yet poisonous eyes off her, he froze in his place. He was not able to utter a single word. He kept on staring into her eyes as if he had been hypnotized by her.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

Seeing that Brian was staring at her awkwardly, the young maiden became nervous.

Realizing his rudeness Brian ended the staring contest.

"No.. Nothing else, that's all " Brian replied instantly.

She gave a slight bow and left the room.

-Well, there goes my first impression, I should not have stared at her like an idiot. Come to think of it, I have never seen her if Evan's memories are not wrong. A middle-aged lady serves me breakfast every morning. Maybe she is new here.

One day before

Eliza was sitting on the bed in her room engrossed in reading an old and worn out book. She was lost in her world. Eliza was at home on her break from the academy. She had been studying at the Academy of magical arts for the past two years. Her magic aura awakened when she had turned 18, which gave her the ability to use magic. People who could use magic were quite less compared to the overall population.

Mostly nobles could manipulate magic due to their bloodlines. Nobles were nobles for a reason, due to their ability to Use magic.

Eliza was not nobility, but a commoner. Neither her mother nor her father had Any magical abilities. So she had no bloodline for magic either.

It was rare, but not unique for commoners can use magic. Unless one had a powerful magic ability, the probability of becoming a noble was close to zero.

Eliza had this unique Runic magical Ability. The runic magic was considered to be the lowest rank in the hierarchy due to its non-combative nature. 

Her reading was disrupted by a loud voice outside.

"Eliza... Eliiiizaaaa" A middle-aged man, wearing a guard's uniform shouted while standing outside the house.

"Your mother has got injured, " he said in a loud tone. 

The moment Eliza heard the second sentence, She jumped out of her bed and ran towards the door.

"Uncle Cale, what happened to my mother? Please tell me, " she asked in a panicking voice.

"Shyla slipped and fell while working in the lord's palace but.."-before Cale could finish his sentence Eliza had sprinted towards the lord's palace. She ran to the palace. Cale shouted to slow down, but she did not listen. Ever since her father had abandoned them, her mother was the only family she had left.

When she reached the gates, the Guards stopped her.

"Stop right there young lady, where are you going? This is the lord's castle you know that, don't you ?" 

one of the guards came forward.

"Please... Let me enter my mother works here as a maid, her name is Shyla, " Eliza said with all of it in a single breath. But the guards refused to listen.

"Stand down, you two, " an old man shouted at the guards from inside the castle. All the guards stopped at once and gave a bow of respect. The man was Cornell. His position was only second to the lord.

"Young lady, are you Shayla's daughter? " The old men asked her.

"Yes my Lord, please let me enter my mother..." She said while kneeling on the ground.

"She is resting in the maid's quarters, " Cornell knew her mother's injury.

"One of you guide her to the maid's quarters, " he ordered. 

 One of the guards stepped out and lead the way. 

When Eliza reached the quarters. She rushed to her mother's side and held her hand as if to never let it go. She was on the verge of crying.

"I am fine dear," Shalya said in a weak voice yet assuring voice conveying that she was fine.

"What happened to mother, aunt Sophie " she looked at the maid standing beside her.

"Nothing.."

Before Shayla could say anything, Sophie started speaking.

"Listen, Eliza, "

"Your mother told me not to tell you anything about her injury" "What about it?"

Eliza spoke in a surprised tone.

"About a month ago, Do you remember when she got badly injured after falling from a caravan.

'Yes," Eliza said.

-Sophie continued.

"She never truly recovered from it. She did not buy the healing potions prescribed by the healer to save money. Ever since then the injuries have been resurfacing. Specially the leg injury"

Eliza was sad and angry at the same time.

"Mother, how could you do that to yourself... why didn't you tell me " -Eliza spoke while tears were flowing down her cheeks.

Eliza knew why her mother did not stop working in the palace even though her leg was in pain. 

Her father abandoned them when Eliza was just 10. He took most of the money with him and ran to another city. She never shed a tear in front of Eliza. Her mother never showed any weakness in front of her. She worked very hard as a maid to give her a decent life.

Even though Eliza was given a scholarship for studying in the academy, she still had to pay for her lodging and food. 

Eliza knew all this but still was powerless to do anything. She did not have any means to earn in the academy. She did what she could i.e. she studied hard, harder than the most.

She had realised that now it was her time to take care of her mother.

She looked at her mother and said:-

"I will work in your place in the palace from today  "

Before Shayla could say anything thing.

"And I will not take no for an answer"

"But..." Shayla stopped after seeing her daughter's resolute expression. 

Now let's go home" Eliza stood up with a smile and supported her mother.

Eliza came back home with her mother. She prepared dinner. Eliza sat near her mother until she had fallen asleep. She then went to her room and lay down on her bed. After two years of hardship, She had realised that the path ahead of her would be even harder. 

Had she had the ability to control powerful magic attribute like fire, she would have been able to gain a place in the military academy. Unlike other magic attributes, runic magic involved lots of research and resources. Doing regular experiments to test the theory meant lots and lots of gold coins, Which she did not have. she was a commoner so  She had no influence whatsoever.

Being a commoner, She could not join any magic guild of a noble family. Unless she was recommended by a known mage. All she could rely on was her strength.

She had remained unfazed by the hardships so far. She knew lamenting about her situation would not make it any better.