A frail-looking young man kept glancing at the window, his pale reflection clear in the glass. He kept staring at his own features, as if he couldn't recognize himself. His eyes — turquoise — bore the depths of the mysterious sea. His shoulders seemed to hold a burden far too heavy for his young body.

'How many years has it been by now...? Five years? Seven years? Or perhaps... it's been over a decade, I think.'

The young man tried to remember how many years he had been living like this, inside a world that seemed too unfamiliar to call it reality but too real to call it a dream.

'Sigh... I just can't wrap my mind around this situation. It feels like I'll lose my mind in no time!'

The young man reached for a cup of tea placed on the table and took a sip from it.

'Was I always this weak-minded or...'

He glanced in the opposite direction to his seat and kept looking at the man sitting in front of him. He shared quite a few similarities with the man sitting across from him.

Jet-black hair, a sharp jawline, and clear pale skin.

The man turned a page of the newspaper in his hand with quiet efficiency. He wasn't even bothered by the glances of the young man that came his way.

'Did I turn into a coward because of him...?'

The man reached for the cup of coffee placed in front of him with a certain elegance. He took a slow sip and placed the cup back onto the saucer. Only then, did he noticed the young man looking at him.

"Huh...? Do you need anything, Arthur?"

Arthur flinched slightly, taken aback by the sudden question.

The silence was oppressive, but only for the briefest of moments. The sound of the train wheels gliding against the railway tracks broke it.

"Uh, um... no-nothing, Father!"

Arthur was surprised but somehow managed to reply, panicking.

No matter how much he tried, he couldn't hide his fear of the man he called father. He was a man of power — not magical power, but the power of authority.

"Alright. If you say so."

He was not just any ordinary aristocrat. He was the pride of the Kingdom's most powerful and notorious family. He was the Earl of House Ashbourne, known as the Monster of Ashbourne — Earl Frederick Ashbourne.

The Ashbourne Household was infamous for their rigorous and brutal methods of forging their heirs. They didn't just raise them, they tempered them. And now, unfortunately, Arthur was one of them.

'Why did I have to be reborn in this family?'

Arthur turned his gaze back to the window, his fingertips resting lightly against the cold pane. Beyond the glass, thunder rumbled and lightning split the sky. Rain struck the window in steady torrents, each droplet weaving downward in glistening rivulets.

'And why did it have to be raining today of all days...?'

Arthur couldn't take his eyes off the scenery outside. It seemed as if he wasn't just looking beyond the window, but somewhere else entirely. And that too, for a while now.

***

Arthur wasn't always from this world. He belonged to a different timeline and a different future entirely. He used to be a loner in that world. Whether in kindergarten, school, or university, he preferred to be alone.

It wasn't because he enjoyed solitude, but because he didn't want to hurt others with his misfortunes. He was a poor soul, who became the source of others' entertainment. A soul burdened with the weight of reality.

He was never loved or cherished by his parents. The reason? His parents divorced the moment he turned one year old.

His family went bankrupt when he was five. And soon after, his father developed a habit of drinking and gambling away the remaining fortune.

Eventually, he fell into the trap of the loan sharks, who kept coming to collect the debt. And just like that, each and every year brought new misfortunes.

The people in the neighborhood called him the child of misfortune.

However, his only comfort in life was his older sister, who cherished him despite being affected by his misfortunes.

 "Kwon Jae-hwan! Do you think you're the reason for everyone's misfortunes?!"

Jaehwan looked at his sister with tears in his doe eyes. He was always grateful for her being with him, despite everything that had happened so far.

His sister placed a hand on his head, a gesture that gave him a comfort he could no longer deny or run from.

"You're a brave child, right?! So don't lower your gaze. You haven't done anything wrong. It's just that... you were born in the wrong place and at the wrong time."

Jaehwan nodded hesitantly.

"Y-yes, sister..."

A few months passed like that, and eventually, his sister was struck by his misfortune — on the day of his ninth birthday.

She lost her life at the hands of none other than her own father, as she tried to save her dear younger brother from his violence.

The blood pooled around her body, and Jaehwan froze mid-step, taken aback by what had transpired in the house while he had been running for his life.

"S-sister! P-please wake up! SISTER HA-EUN!"

Jaehwan couldn't even fathom the fear and pain his sister must have felt during her struggle to protect him.

That was the day he promised himself he would never get close to anyone again. He would never allow himself to rest until he found his father, who had fled the scene.

However, he couldn't even throw his father behind prison walls. Because, before Jaehwan could reach him, he was plunged to his death by the hands of his colleague.

Jaehwan fell from the rooftop of the building, and the only thing that awaited him... was death.

However...

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in an unfamiliar place, with unfamiliar people, and an unfamiliar ceiling above him.

'Wh-where the hell am I...?'

Jaehwan didn't know how to feel about the situation he was thrown into. He moved his hands, only to see a pair of small hands belonging to that of a newborn child.

"Uaah...? (Huh...?)"

Jaehwan's expression shifted into one of confusion.

'Wait... Did I just make that sound?!'

Jaehwan couldn't understand his situation, he couldn't make sense of anything.

"Lord Ashbourne, the child was born without many complications. However, he is quite frail… I cannot say with certainty that he will survive into adulthood."

The doctor looked at the child with eyes full of pity, her expression solemn. She couldn't understand how this small child was going to survive in the Ashbourne family.

"Tsk! She couldn't even birth a healthy child!"

It was a voice that belonged to a middle-aged man, a man with sharp features and the gaze of a predator.

"Father! Don't insult my wife over something so trivial. At least not while she is still my wife and the mother of my child. I won't tolerate it."

The man with the cane in his hand nodded half-heartedly and added:

"Sure, let's do it your way. Until the divorce is finalized, that is."

He turned around and left the room, the sound of his cane echoing throughout the space.

"Hmm... So what shall I name you, my boy?"

The man's face remained expressionless.

Jaehwan always knew what people thought of him. Some showed their contempt openly, while others pitied him silently.

But... there were just a small number of people who neither pitied him nor showed contempt. And Jaehwan could tell that the man standing before him was one of the second category.

"I shall name you Arthur... Arthur Ashbourne. That will be your name. I have high expectations of you, my child. I hope you won't disappoint me."

With that, the man also left the room.

'Urgh...! What's wrong with those men?!'

Jaehwan was unaware at that moment that his life was soon going to be turned upside down.

He understood right away that it was a similar era to that of Victorian Britain. He could tell just by the attire of the people around him and the newspaper, everything was written in English.

Jaehwan noticed the date on the newspaper: October 7, 1864.

The people spoke English, and Jaehwan could understand and speak it better than he thought he would. It was as if he had always been meant to be born in this world.

Aside from all that, his family situation was pretty much the same as before. But not everything was the same — his parents were about to be divorced, but his family wasn't poor. They were wealthy, incredibly wealthy.

As a few years passed, his parents eventually divorced, and then his mother left him. Jaehwan hadn't cried in his past life when his mother left to chase after her pipe dream of becoming an actress.

However, this time he begged his mother not to leave him. But... his efforts were all futile.

She left him without a glance back, leaving him on the cold floor, where he collapsed from the shock and fear that his present life would turn out the same, that nothing would ever change.

But when he woke up, he remembered something far too important to forget.

He realized that he was inside the novel called Ashes of Vengeance. It was a psychological mystery novel whose protagonist was Theodore Granville.

A young man who loses his family in an arson and chases after the culprit. It served as the most important turning point in the story.

Jaehwan knew that he was nothing more than a side character in that story, one who had died even before the plot truly began.

And the man before him was none other than the story's villain. The one responsible for the arson and the murderer of Theodore's loving family.

'But for now... I'm Arthur Ashbourne, and the man before me is my father. And I'll do anything I can to prevent that future from unfolding.'

Because if he didn't, and everything went as it did in the story... he would die.

And he couldn't afford to die... not again.