Chapter One

"May I come in, my lord?"

The voice of my servant, Miss Kali, comes from the other side of the white door marking the entrance to my room. A white room with red, black, and gold dragons painted on the walls at my request, complementing the black comforter with the gold and black emblem of Aegia across it. I would have preferred the emblem of Luimesha on my bed instead, as their kingdom's animal was the dragon, but my parents didn't allow that when I asked.

They're great parents to their son on his deathbed. Due to die tomorrow night, in fact.

I let another cough ravage my already trembling body, and allow Miss Kali inside. She opens the door and carries a silver tray with a porcelain bowl of soup and a glass cup of milk and probably whatever medication my parents mixed in to make me feel better. Or, at least make me feel comfortable before my death. Most likely the latter, and it wasn't working too well.

"Your favorite soup, my lord," Miss Kali stops at my bedside, and I reluctantly grab my gold dragon plush- who I named Ki- off of my lap and move him to the velvet cushion that Miss Kali retrieved for him after I wouldn't move him off of my lap and onto my bed's covers. If I didn't like the emblem of Aegia, Ki definitely hated it a thousand times more than I. Plus, a velvet cushion was far more comfortable than the pillows I had to lay my head upon.

"Gho berry?" I manage a smile as Miss Kali sets the tray atop my lap, but quickly lifts it when another bout of coughing sends me shaking again.

"Yes. My lord, may I ask you a question?" Miss Kali's voice drops to a whisper and she glances over her shoulder at the closed wooden door.

I nod, and she lets herself sit on the edge of my bed when I move my legs to make enough room for her to do so.

"Are you afraid at all for what's to come, my lord?"

I think about her question. Am I afraid of my death? What the kingdom I was supposed to rule over will become once I am gone? How will the citizens act when they learn their crown prince has (finally) died? Or was she referring to something else that did not concern my death, something I could not think about at the moment?

"What do you mean?" I ask, allowing my hand to grasp the cool metal of the spoon that lays beside my bowl of purple Gho berry soup.

Many considered it a berry too sweet to even eat half of, but I loved the taste, so it was my favorite food to have in any dish. Though, at this point in my sickness, I could only eat soup and other soft foods that didn't hurt my throat when I swallowed.

"Of your death tomorrow night, my lord."

Ah, so she was thinking of the same situation I was in. I tend to overthink a lot of things, so it was natural for me to worry over subjects and topics not entirely worthy of such extensive thought.

But I couldn't help myself. Being alone in my room for most of my life (or as least as far back as I could remember) gave me a lot of free time, most of which was spent reading, but when I grew bored with a book, I would think about whatever came to my mind.

"I don't know how I feel. I've been in my room and kept in the dark about all the affairs in the kingdom. You're the only person who ever visits me," I avert my gaze and focus my eyes on the window.

The last remaining light from the sun disappears and the darkness overtakes all that is outside. But a soft white light flicks on over the window, warding away the darkness that threatens to engulf my room if I open the window.

"I am sorry, my lord. I will miss you with all of my heart. I am sure the king, queen, and citizens of Aegia will feel exactly the same way. I shall leave you in peace now and come get your empty dishes in the morning and replace it with your favorite breakfast. Do you need anything else from me before I go, my lord?" Miss Kali rises from the edge of my bed and stares at me with those soft, pitiful eyes she always looks at me with.

"No."

"Very well. Goodnight, my lord." Miss Kali turns around, opens the door leading out into the hallway from the bedroom, and closes it after she exits.

I am left alone in my room once again. I begin to eat the soup that is before me and pick up the milk with a shaking hand, able to put it on the nightstand to my right with only a little spill that ends up on the table's surface.

Halfway through my soup, a see movement in the darkness out of the corner of my left eye. I turn my head towards the window, unable to see anything of note. Was it just an owl? Maybe a leaf? Or a tree branch?

Just then, a human figure appears right outside my window, illuminated by the light from above. I jolt from my bed, sending the tray falling to the floor with a clash and the shatter of the porcelain bowl, and myself over the edge, falling with a thump and a barely audible groan of pain and shout of surprise.

Despite the pain that courses throughout my body, I clutch the comforter of my bed and pull myself up, my narrowed eyes focused on the figure outside the window, hanging upside down, tapping on the window's glass with a finger.

Using the edge of my bed for support, I force my trembling legs to move towards the window, stopping every so often to cover my mouth with the inside of my elbow as I cough. Sure, no one may be around me to catch whatever I have if it's even contagious, but I taught myself proper manners as the hopeful crown prince to the throne.

And since that dream was going to be destroyed exactly twenty-four hours from now, the manners I had spent so long learning were just constantly reminding me of something I would never have.

I arrive at the window and stare at the figure, who offers a smile, a wave, and another tap on the glass. Reluctantly, after another cough, I unlock the window by flipping the white latch on the top of the lower pane and pour all of my strength into lifting the window so the figure can get in, my arms shaking the entire time, and giving out after ten seconds of pushing upward.

The figure reaches forward with their gloved hands and grabs onto the edge of the lifted windowpane, before pulling forward and letting the lower half of their body fall from above. They pull themselves inside my bedroom, while I move to my right side, watching as they fall onto my bedroom floor, head-first, before pushing themselves up, shaking out their arms and legs, breathing out a sigh, and meeting my horrified but curious expression with another smile and wave.

"Hello! Do you happen to be Theo Veles, Crown Prince to the kingdom of Aegia?" the young man dusts off his outfit of mottled grays with his hands, studying me with his vivid blue eyes.

"Y-yes... Why are you here?" My voice is soft, careful not to alert Miss Kali of any other person who may be near my bedroom to this rather friendly-looking intruder.

But, with my normal voice being not too loud in the first place, I doubt anyone would hear me anyway unless they were standing right outside my bedroom door.

"Ah, wonderful! I'm here to take you back home. I'm Ludwig Casimir, a spy for Chidora. You know, the kingdom famous for our exotic desserts," Ludwig holds out his hand, and I try my best to grasp it and give him a proper shake, though all my hand does is slip through his fingers and drop to my side as I give out another cough.

Back home? Aren't I already here, dying? Even if I wasn't home, why make the effort when I am due to die tomorrow night?

And, where was Chidora? I was never given a map of the kingdom in all my sixteen- almost seventeen- years of living here, so I never knew what kingdoms were on the continent of Iserin besides Aegia and Luimesha, and now Chidora.

"But I am already home."

The spy laughs and invites himself to sit on the edge of my bed closest to the window.

"Oh, you don't know? Your real parents are in Luimesha, praying for your safe return. The sick royals keeping you here aren't your actual parents and are making you sick with that icky soup you love so much. Gho berries are poisonous to humans, you know."

I am stunned into silence. I absently stare at a black dragon painted on the wall behind Ludwig, thinking of what he told me. My parents were in Luimesha? The king and queen who were living in the same castle I was dying in were not my biological parents? Was I kidnapped? How? When? Why?

Was any more of my life a lie?