Nikias wakes up together with the moon, he finds himself alone in his room, however there is a wet towel on his forehead, signaling that there was someone there just a while ago. The pain is now completely gone, and he feels well rested, he sits up, looking at the room engulfed in darkness. It feels lonely, for the first time he's completely alone with the darkness. He used to sleep at a homeless shelter, inside beds in pods that regulated their hunger, a mitigating procedure by the government. Instead of providing actual food, they were fed drugs that hid their hunger. So he was rarely alone at night, unless he slept on the streets. To be reborn with such riches… he couldn't even enjoy the food as he hadn't eaten during breakfast, ashamed of his lack of etiquette. Even if Vahe was used to dealing with hunger, it doesn't mean that his stomach doesn't hurt just the same.

My body feels itchy. After staying most of the day in bed, he feels the lack of exercise hitting him. Vahe used to be quite the runner, he woke up early and watched the sunrise as he ran across the city he lived in. That was something the man had in common with the old Nikias, as they both enjoyed running in the early morning, one for the freedom of the mind and the other for the beauty of his body.

He gets up from bed, going towards his closet to change into more comfortable clothes. I didn't think that I would enjoy only 10% of my day here, I wish it was more productive, he thinks while changing. Even though I learned a lot about who Nikias was and about the world surrounding him, I don't think I'm ready to take onto his role. And just like that a sudden realization comes to the man. Coming of age, does that mean that in two days there will be a ball in my honor? The thought of having to deal with nobility before being ready sends shivers down Nikias spine, he isn't even close to being ready and the fact that his family didn't cancel the event doesn't sit right with him. I almost died and we're still having a ball? I don't understand. Of course, even with all of Vahe's skills, socializing was never one of them. He was a hard worker for sure, however he was known by his colleagues as the monosyllabic boy. 

Having a ball is a way to show nobility that the Imperial family isn't easily shaken, of course that isn't necessarily effective or right, but it's the way they do things here. After getting dressed the man leaves his room to find the previously crowded corridors to be incredibly empty, with only a few guards in front of certain rooms. However there was none in front of his. No wonder I was poisoned, just how much neglect can a Prince have? This thought brings the information he received from his servants previously even more believable. If he's poorly guarded, no one would've told his parents that he went missing.

‘’Excuse me, can you show me where the training grounds are?’’ The palace is huge, therefore Nikias had to stop a guard to ask the location where he wishes to go. The guard was confused at first, but his disgusted expression was enough to tell Nikias that the man recognized him, however the man tells him where to go either way, as he can neglect a Prince but not ignore him when he directly talks to him. 

The complete silence of the palace is comforting, Vahe always found the silence rather cozy, his company was always the best he could have, of course no human enjoys being alone, however, enjoying his own company isn’t the same as being lonely. He walks for a while before being able to actually leave the Palace and enter the garden. 

The Palace’s garden is the same size as the building, with different flowers and gorgeous sculptures, fruit trees and bushes also adorn the beautiful garden, the fresh air in there is incomparable to the air that Vahe was used to - full of pollution. After crossing the garden he finally arrives at the training grounds, surprising enough, there were a few knights training late at night as well. They don’t take a second glance at the Prince and neither greet him. This is starting to become ridiculous. 

‘’When a royal appears before you, you must greet them’’, he practically yells, his voice more hoarse than usual because of the cold air in his throat. The knights stare at him without understanding at first, but they’re smart as the royal knights should be, soon they take formation and bow to the Prince.

‘’We greet the second star of the Empire’’, they yell together.

‘’Good’’ Nikias says, turning his back to the knights. They’re probably used to his presence there, but being insolent seems to also be part of their routines. Maybe the youngest Prince used to not scold the knights to avoid conflict. How can someone so self-absorbed still be so insecure? Nikias asks himself while warming up, he can feel the eyes of the knights on him, but he doesn’t care.  Some of the gazes are of disgust and others are of lust, he rather the previous than the latter, not that he isn’t used to both even in his life as Vahe.

After warming up the second Prince starts running on the training grounds’ track field, the size of a football field, the training grounds is the size it needs to fit the battalion of the Empire, it also has an attached building with an indoor arena and dorms for the knights that live far from home. It's quite effective in making those men live and breathe patriotism. Running makes Nikias feel free, the cold air against his skin, the sweat dripping from his hair and the control of his breathing, everything under his own control, it feels amazing. But not only as a moment to feel free, but also a moment to do what he does the most: think.

A ruined Prince with a bad personality… Not only do I need to regain the trust of my brother and the heroine, to survive I also need to understand the environment I am in. Nikias never touched a weapon in his life, and his social reputation is terrible as he never went to social gatherings. So he already is two steps back from any noble man in the Empire. In a place where your connections are everything, Nikias is surrounded by people that don’t respect him or worse, use him for their own selfish gains. 

There are two paths that a Prince who doesn’t hold the crown can go, the first is the path of war, to become a knight and fight for his Empire in the frontlines, and the second is the one that Nikias took in the novel in the first three timelines, political marriage. In the novel, it was described that the second Prince married the Princess of a nearby Kingdom that wanted to attack the Empire, being part of the agreement of peace. However there’s a big problem with marrying the Princess.

The first is that in all three timelines, the Kingdom he went to live in burned to ashes during the war with the ancient god. And the second is that differently from the old Nikias, Vahe is gay. That was one of the reasons why he was hated by his previous parents and also why he was constantly alone. Of course that being gay wasn’t an issue in his previous world, it was quite common, however there were still people that saw it as something to be ashamed of, and some that even told him he should die for it.

Good for Vahe that he was a hard shell to break, though.

In the novel it was described that after birth with mana became a thing, there wasn’t any other prejudice against same-sex marriages, it became even a common occurrence in households with only male or female heirs. But I can’t assume that a Prince getting married to another man is the same thing as a Baron or Viscount doing so. I know that in my coming of age ceremony they’ll ask that I choose a fiance, that was how Nikias met the Princess. He chose her because she said that from all the people in the ballroom he was the shiniest. What a simple lad. There wasn’t love in their marriage, though. Which is the common thing in political marriages, it is quite good to imagine that the Emperor and Empress love each other, but the truth isn’t as simple. If he’s going to propose a political marriage with another man, he must find the perfect candidate. Even if I’m living as Nikias now, I refuse to erase my own identity, I won’t marry a woman for the sake of appearances. Confident as ever, Nikias continues to run while reflecting on his situation, the prying eyes of the knights still lingering on him.

They’re staring not because he’s running or because of his beauty, but because Nikias never ran for almost half an hour non stop, the man enjoyed running, true, but he constantly took breaks and slacked a lot, he only did enough to keep his appearance lean. However right now, he seems to me actually enjoying the run for the sake of running.

It would be interesting to marry someone that is allied to the heroine, therefore I can have other protection besides the fairy… The heroine has four main allies during the course of the story besides the Crown Prince, they all die at the end though. I don’t care if they die after I get married, and after the war the heroine won’t have the time to worry about me. That’s cold, to want to marry someone even knowing they’ll die, and not think about preventing it and rather how to benefit from it. 

From the four allies, three were men. The first is Rainier Baudry, son of the duke of the south, he was the first to help the heroine, he was a boy from the slums that became a hero after saving the Crown Prince when they were both children, he was adopted by Duke Baudry, that never married or had children, as his heir. He’s Alkaios friend, and part of the royal knights if I’m not mistaken, he certainly is good enough, however he despises Nikias so much that he killed the fairy to hit him in one of the heroine’s previous lives. 

Philippe Doujan, he was the knight that was appointed to Evangelia after she became the Crown Princess, he’s probably the easiest to access since he lives close to the palace. However as son of a Viscount, he isn’t of high status enough to be a good match to Nikias.  He was described as quite loyal, which is good in a marriage, but I quite dislike the golden retriever type of man like him. 

And the last man is Margrave Nicholas Larchier, he was an ally that appeared in the third book, however he was essential for the win of the Empire against the ancient god, he was described as a man with no honor and a strong sense of power. A powerful magician, he became a Margrave at the age of 15 and closed himself off in order to complete his mana research. He has ties with the magician’s tower, which is quite nerve-wracking, and he won’t appear until late so I can’t pretend to fall in love at first sight like a fool of a Prince.