‘’The universe defines fate as the flow of a river, it has a determined path, but the strength and rockiness of it depends on the external influences on the river.’’

Nikias stares in shock at his walk-in closet. He's royalty so of course he would own a quite considerable amount of clothes, but he didn't think it would be this much. The closet is practically the same size as his room, filled with clothes, shoes and jewelry. A prince never dresses himself, suddenly words that he read in the novel comes to his mind. The man should call back for his servants to dress him, per usual, but the idea of another man or even a woman helping him dress makes Nikias want to throw up. I hate people touching me. And that's something that comes from his time as Vahe, being a pretty boy from the slums, he was touched a lot by unknown people with false pretenses.

It can be counted on one hand the people Nikias would allow to touch him. He enters the closet and starts looking at the clothes, each piece is unique, they even are made with good quality materials, all that you would expect a Prince to have. As a man with not much notion of fashion, especially from this world, the silver-haired man chooses clothes that he would wear normally. Well fitted black pants, a silk white shirt that's slightly open on his chest, a black coat with small pearls on its sleeves and black boots. The attire makes the second Prince look elegant yet simple, as Vahe the man used to wear black clothes all the time and that won't change just because he's now seen as someone else. His soul it's still his and that's all that matters. Even if he’s not dressing as royalty, it won’t change much, Prince Nikias never was someone people expected something from, anyway.

For the first time after waking up as Nikias, the man leaves his room. The Palace corridors look like museums from the world he came from, the walls are made with white marble and they're decorated with beautiful patterns made of gold, between rooms there's also displays of treasures or even just outstanding works of art. Differently from what one must imagine, the corridors are bursting with people, all of them bow when passing through the Prince, but none stay long enough to direct a word at him. It's at this moment that he realizes just how much everyone despises the second Prince, their eyes full of annoyance and disgust.

Nikias walks with false confidence, he's not used to the attention, however what good would it make showing so? He realizes that he has no idea where the dining room is, lucky for him he passes Alkaios room at the same time his brother is leaving for breakfast.

“Brother”, his hoarse voice startles the Crown Prince, the brother’s eyes are filled with confusion but he recomposes himself quickly. Nodding towards his younger brother and turning to walk towards the dining room, Nikias follows him quickly like a puppy following its owner. Every servant that walks past them shoots them eyes of confusion, it is quite disturbing indeed to see the wicked younger Prince following the kind older one like some kind of innocent soul.

“Why are you walking behind me?” Alkaios asks with a sigh, his voice is sweet and silkier than ever, he probably just barely woke up. “As a Prince you must walk beside me, we're still equals”. Wow, he’s kind hearted for sure, Nikias thinks with a smile, he doesn't want to get on the bad side of the Crown Prince, after all, he's his biggest death flag.

“Sorry, brother”, Nikias says with his best innocent expression, it's not easy to look innocent when your heart is full of darkness. Vahe wasn't as wicked as the old Nikias, but he's no pushover. He just needs to look like one. The man walks a bit faster to catch onto his brother, this time walking beside him. “How was I before?” It's a stupid question if you consider Vahe read all about the old Nikias, however, to appear like a person with no memories, he needs to ask it.

Alkaios is suspicious, that much is obvious, after all Nikias wasn't the type to follow him around, no, he used to look at his older brother with hate in his eyes. Although right now he looks just like a harmless younger brother, just like his friends talk about their younger siblings. Cute, Alkaios thinks when he steals a glance at his younger brother who's pouting at his lack of answer.

He's hard to crack, Nikias thinks, annoyed, my older brother would never… A headache strikes the man, almost as if his brain is burning inside his own head, he stops on his tracks, catching the attention of Alkaios, who turns to see his brother agonizing in pain.

“Vahe, eat quickly, before our parents come back” a blinding smile of a gorgeous eleven year old, black eyes and hair combined with a gorgeous personality, that was Zerah, Vahe's older brother by four years. He ruffles the boy's head with pride while the younger Vahe's eats to his heart content the hard old bread. “Don't worry, I'll protect you, my little brother”.

A memory. It's hard to think that a sudden memory about his childhood would appear at a moment like this. However due to trauma, Vahe had no memories of his life before he completed thirteen. So suddenly remembering a moment with the older brother he never remembered the existence of, is a shock in itself. Maybe the soul exchange made his locked memories resurface, or the sight of his new found brother made him remember the lost one. Whichever reason is, he isn’t really happy to recall his pained childhood memories.

“Nikias, what's happening?” Urgency is heard on Alkaios voice, even if he tries being cold towards his hellish younger brother he can't avoid but worry seeing the man in pain. “Call a doctor!” He yells towards a servant, he touches Nikias' arms but it's suddenly pushed away.

“Don't touch me”, the youngest Prince whispers, trying to recover after the pain suddenly goes away, just as fast as it came. His eyes are filled with disgust, Alkaios is taken aback, he's used to that gaze, but the youngest seemed fine just a moment ago. Zerah… Nikias thinks it's the first time in four years that he remembered the name of his older brother. Tears gather in his eyes, pain in his chest and his head feels heavy. A sob is trapped in his throat, he's aware, though, of the eyes on him, however he isn't able to stop the flow of tears. 

The Crown Prince is frozen in place. When you're so used to the disgust and annoyance of your younger brother, you tend to spend a minimal amount of time with him. And even if you don't despise the younger boy, you tend to be cold and dismissive when he approaches you. What if he truly lost his memory? Alkaios thinks with heaviness in his heart. If he doesn't hate me anymore, does that mean that we can finally act like brothers? Or is it too late? His wish was well funded, after all the Crown Prince never hated Nikias, on the contrary, he always found the younger man adorable and lovable.

Yes, he was a doting brother inside.

After a few moments the doctor arrives to find Nikias sitting on the floor bawling his eyes out in silence and the Crown Prince staring at him in awe. “Your highness’’, he bows with caution. “Do you mind if I analyze you for a moment?” The doctor asks Nikias to stop crying for a moment. The man shakes his head.

“There's no need, the pain is gone”, he gets up with his whole face and ears red like a cherry. “I'm sorry for the scene I caused”, he's embarrassed but can't actually explain what happened, as he doesn’t understand it himself.

“It's okay Nikias, let's eat something”, Alkaios says with a faint smile. It's the first time he smiled towards his younger brother. Something in the book he regretted deeply.

The younger Prince nods, hiding his face with shame. “I can't believe I cried”, he scoffs.

“It's okay”, the Crown Prince repeats, walking next to his brother. “You used to cry a lot when you were a baby” Alkaios comments thinking fondly of the baby Nikias that cried for days with no end.

“I'm not a baby anymore”, Nikias laughs dryly at his brother. Repressing the thoughts of the brother he lost all those years back. He doesn't have the mental strength to think about the past he fought so much to forget.

“I keep forgetting that”, Alkaios comments under his breath. The second Prince wants to ask him to repeat as the man hasn't heard what he said, but they enter the dining room.

The room is majestic, the table is big enough to fit forty people, made of noble wood with golden decorations and on the ceiling is a huge chandelier powered up by mana crystals. The table is already with the plates and both the Emperor and Empress are already at their places. Emperor Magnus Valerius Chrysl is an imposing man, he has broad shoulders and a cold expression, he has the same golden eyes as Nikias, but his hair is black like the darkness of the night.

Close to the older man, both young Princes look like babies waiting for the chance to prove their worth. No wonder Evangelia had a hard time defeating the Emperor, he's huge. Nikias' thinks with admiration. “Is he our father, brother?” He whispers even though he already knows the answer to that. 

For a second Alkaios almost wishes to tease the younger by saying no, but he decides not to play with the man's amnesia, considering the scene he saw previously at the Palace's corridor. “Correct”, the older Prince answers coldly, taking his seat next to their father, while Nikias sits next to their mother. The Empress stares at the men with admiration in her eyes, she truly loves both with utmost care, it must've hurt a lot… Nikias death.

“How are you feeling Nikki?” Empress Else smiles towards her younger son, the breakfast table has quite the feast, the young Prince stares at the fancy plate with fancy tableware. In his life as Vahe he never learned how to use tableware, it sounds silly but he never thought of food as something to be enjoyed, it was something he ate only when absolutely necessary. He ate with his hands most of the time, once he attempted to use a spoon to eat soup, but ended up dropping the spoon most times, he had a hard time with something everyone said was so easy.

He watched a lot of videos of people using cutlery and even studied old times etiquette in the knowledge pods, but again, the brain might know, but the muscles aren’t used to it yet. Most would probably still be able to use tableware even without memories, as its muscles would be used to it, maybe because the old Nikias could, he might be able to do so now. 

“I'm a little better mother,” Nikias smiles innocently, he glances at the Emperor’s hand, swiftly cutting the eggs on his plate, with a soft sigh he stares at his own plate, he was the only one that received a golden colored soup. The man grabs the spoon nervously, however as he holds the spoon as one holds a pencil, he doesn’t seem able to eat properly. “I can't seem to recall how to use the tableware”, he says with a light laugh, dropping the spoon inside the plate, of course he feels ashamed, after all, it seems like something so simple that everyone knows. His parents' reaction is one of pity and sadness.

The Emperor stares at him quietly, he doesn't seem to be a man of words, contrary to the Empress who expressed herself quite clearly, although his eyes still express pain in seeing his younger son in this situation. “It's okay, son, you can eat however you see fit for now, I'll ask the Butler to find you an etiquette teacher”, his words are just as cold as Alkaios’, but he sounds sincere.

“Thank you, father”, Nikias smiles, he's got nothing to lose by sucking up to his family members, after all, they're his ticket towards a long and healthy life. Especially considering they're the biggest force in the Empire, no one is known to be as strong as the Emperor, even the Empress hypnotic magic doesn't work on the man. “If I may, I would like to ask for teachers in all subjects, since I've been struggling to remember even the smallest details”, he tries to sound smart, trying not to be presumptuous and end up getting on his father's bad side.

That's a bad habit of children from abusive households, but Vahe's childhood is a story for another chapter, as even he can't recall all of his parents wrongdoings. He successfully blocked those memories from his brain. However the Emperor is nothing like Vahe's father, he is too busy being over the moon on the fact that his younger son called him father for the first time in his life. The old Nikias was too scared of the Emperor's cold exterior to notice the amount of doting he received from the older man.