“Mana is the blessing of those that came before us and the ones that will come after.”

Nikias is a sleepyhead, after falling asleep in the afternoon of the previous day, he wakes up at dawn the next day. The silver-haired man watches the sun rising through his curtains, lost in thoughts he doesn't hear the faint knock on his door. His life changed so much in a day, he died and woke up in a completely different world, with different dynamics and even with a different body. 

No one can deny that Nikias is a beauty, in the book he was described poorly because the protagonist hated him, but either way she couldn't deny that he was the prettiest man alive at that moment.

Even inside a coffin, lifeless, the second Prince manages to be mesmerizing. Long silver lashes, porcelain and smooth skin, even his pink lips were well prepared for the funeral. Most times the royal family uses closed caskets, but damn, they sure couldn't hide such beauty even after death. Evangelia knew that, even with the despicable personality of the second Prince, he was a sight to the eyes. Only if he stayed still like that forever, immovable, he would've been still alive. But even beauty can't hide a rotten heart.

It was a harsh description, in Nikias eyes, when he read the story he couldn't avoid but think how unbelievable that was. The beautiful people he met were all rotten, and they all got away with pretty much everything back in his world. Beauty rules the world, he thinks in a daze, and as far as he's seeing around him right now, the same seems to be true for this world. So why does the protagonist think that a pretty face can't hide a trash personality? His family loves him, everyone blushes at his sight, how can someone even go against him?

His gaze goes to the mirror close to the window, the light in the sunrise even makes him look more dazzling, his silver hair reflects the sun rays, and his golden eyes shine in a gorgeous tone this early in the morning. No wonder there are four mirrors in this room, even Nikias himself can't believe in his own beauty. It'll take a while to get used to. 

Again another knock on the door that Nikias doesn’t hear, the purple-ish colors of the sky in the early morning dance on the floor of the room, the man stares at it melancholic. ‘’I wonder if she’ll try to kill me again’’, he says to himself with a sigh. His fingers drums around the window frame, the morning wind messes with his hair but the man doesn’t mind. After Nikias death, what is the next thing happening…? His fingers stop. Oh right, the slave trade black market case, that happens a couple of weeks afterwards. He starts drumming his fingers again. So many worries but the silver-haired man is calm on the outside. Pretending to have amnesia is hard, he doesn’t know what he should know and what he shouldn’t, how far does his amnesia need to go to be believable? His family will buy it, of course, but the heroine might not, and she’s his main concern right now. After all, she’s the one that killed the old Nikias.

This time, Nikias hears the knock on the door. ‘’Enter’’, he says loud enough for the person on the other side to hear. One of his servants enters with a tray that has a tea set, they seem to understand Nikias orders the day prior, as the man doesn't have a flower pin, he's probably Lowe.

‘’Excuse me, your highness, but I wasn’t sure if we should keep serving your tea at dawn’’ his tone is cold and he doesn’t make eye contact while putting the tray on Nikias’ room table. ‘’This is the tea you usually drink every morning, it's a black tea with mana blend.’’

Oh right, Nikias didn’t have mana in the novel. That was one of the reasons why the second Prince was so jealous of his brother to the point of poisoning him, while the Crown Prince had enough mana to fill a football field, Nikias didn’t have a single drop in his body. In the novel, mana was bound to the soul, so even though the soul isn’t the same, he probably still doesn’t have the gift of mana, as he isn’t from this world. But it doesn’t hurt to check.

Nikias walks towards the table, sitting on the chair that has a view of the window. Lowe serves the tea to perfection, he doesn’t speak or make expressions that might anger the Prince, but he steals at glance at Nikias’ face, blushing as a result of it. Then again, who wouldn’t blush? The silver-haired man brings the teacup closer to his lips, the servant can’t avoid but to steal a glance at his lips.

Before drinking, Nikias stops and turns to Lowe. ‘’I would like to ask you a couple questions’’.

‘’Anything you desire, your highness’’ the servant says with a bow, but that isn’t what Nikias was talking about. What’s the point of the Prince asking something to the servant if he can just lie? Mana vow, a vow that forces the one making it to do the contents of the vow, otherwise their own mana will consume them ‘till their death, of course that’s only possible if the person has mana inside their body.

‘’Do you possess mana, Lowe?’’ The Prince asks, finally taking a sip of the tea that flows inside his chest warming him through. It tastes like wine, I wonder why. He thinks but doesn’t say a word, he only drinks it normally with a serious expression.

The servant answers right away. ‘’Yes, your highness’’.

“Then first make a mana pact to me”, the calm tone in the second Prince's voice makes Lowe take a step back. A mana pact is something bound to your soul, you can never lie, harm or even plan to go against the person who's your mana is bound to, it's usually reserved to knights and lovers. It's unheard of doing such a thing as a servant, servants come and go, but mana pacts can't be undone. It works like this: you open a wound in the person who you're going to be bound to, then you pour your mana inside the wound while reciting the enchantment. It's one of those things that every mana blessed person can do, but those without it can't.

Lowe bows on the floor. “I apologize, your highness, but I can't possibly…”, the servant avoids looking up at his employer, it's unreasonable to not be scared of royalty. Even if it is the second Prince who doesn't possess any talents or abilities, he still has the power to execute you with a mere word.

“How can I trust your words if you refuse to make a mana pact?” Nikias says, his tone is cold, and his hoarse voice brings shivers down Lowe's spine, and not the good kind of shivers. “If you wish to continue serving me together with your brother, I recommend you do the pact”. A threat. Do it or you and your brother will die. The man trembles but raises his head.

“I'll do it, your highness”, thankfully Lowe isn't dumb enough to ignore the warning in Nikias voice. The Prince smirks, he found a way to figure out more about the castle and himself without risking people finding out about his inquiries. I should make his brother do the pact as well.

“Bring your brother too, you have ten minutes”, Lowe's face contorts itself in pure horror. That wasn't what I agreed to, the servant thinks while cursing the man as much as he can inside his head. But he doesn't argue, Nikias does notice the displeasure in his face, though. Lowe gets up and bows before leaving the room.

When he’s left alone again, the silver-haired man returns to his own thoughts. It would be good if I could attend the slave trading auction before the female lead barges there… And there is a good reason why Nikias wishes so, of course getting involved with the slave traders is a bad thing, however there is a reason why it's such a popular pastime to a lot of nobles. They sell different species there. Not only dwarves, elves, fairies and other species with human-like features for cheap labor, but also monsters like dragons, goblins, wyverns etc, for not only people that wish to experiment with those monsters but also those who wish to control them like a pet.

There's also those crazy bastards that buy elven slaves to mix their bloodline. It's a rumor that if you have a half-elven as your blood descendant, you'll be blessed by the gods for life. But it's a rather doubtful rumor, as the elves' blood is known to be poisonous to humans, so any halfling would have difficulties even being born. There are only records of halflings of dwarves and dragons ever existing. Who the hell fucked a dragon? Nikias asks himself, well, but that isn't too relevant right now. The reason why he needs to go there before the female lead, it's because of a baby fairy that she'll find there. In her previous lives the baby ended up in Nikias hands, making it almost impossible to kill him afterwards.

And that's because when a baby fairy reaches two years old, they bond with their parents, casting a protective spell on them until they die of natural causes. That's why most fairies have children, so they can protect themselves against other creatures or even humans that hunt them to turn them into slaves. Of course, if the child dies, they also die with them. And that wasn't an option to Evangelia, she refused to kill an innocent fairy for the sake of killing Nikias.

The baby was mistreated, oh boy, how the little girl suffered at the hands of the original Nikias, she was malnourished, locked inside a birdcage in the middle of the palace and even used as an attraction to Nikias guests. She was tortured and neglected. But this time around, the new Nikias wouldn't do such a thing to a child. Right?

I should get her a nanny or something and send her to the west wing after she turns two. For a second it was almost thoughtful of the idea of the man saving the child. But it seems like his objective is the same as the old Nikias, just he won't mistreat the little girl. Well, that's better, for sure.

In Evangelia’s fourth life, she saved the fairy, but sent her to an orphanage, where she was mistreated just the same, but this time she died before completing five. At least Nikias didn't let her die. The silver-haired is mistaken if he thinks that just because she was alive she was better off.

His thoughts are interrupted by the room's door opening again, this time both of the twins enter the room, Raphael is using a flower brooch per instructed. Good. “Take a seat”, the Prince says and the servants oblige, sitting in front of the man at the table. “I expect that your brother already told you what you're doing here” Nikias says not waiting for the man to answer, he gets up and walks towards his work desk, grabs a letter opener and goes back to the table. He isn't a fan of pain, but as it's necessary the man doesn't wait another second. I need a place where people won't notice, with that thought he crosses his legs, making a deep cut closer to his ankle. If the cut is superficial, the mana doesn't flow properly and the pact might not succeed. “Begin”, he orders and the nervous servants obey.

“I, Raphael/Lowe, swear upon my mana and my soul, to serve the second Prince of the Exos Empire, Nikias Gregor Chrysl with my life, and never betray him even in the last days of my mortal life” a faint glow leaves both of their hands towards the cut, Nikias can feel the strangers mana flowing inside the cut, and after the glow stops, the pact is done. It's a strange sensation, the Prince thinks, he can feel the brothers’ mana flowing inside him towards his own heart. So that's how having mana feels like.

He isn't mistaken, but he isn't right as well, but he'll realize so, soon enough.