chapter 1 – [lethal injection]

The bitter silence.

Their stony stares.

His heavy breaths filled the air. An anonymous figure ambled up to him. His feet and arms bound tightly without even a chance of struggle. Saying it intimidated him wasn't the right word. Maybe paranoid would fit better.

But that didn't matter. The thin needle glinted maliciously as it slowly grew closer. He could feel the expecting gazes encroaching on his thin body. Thinking of the inevitable predicament, he could only bury all of his regrets deep in his heart.

"Convict 2805, for the murders of 10 citizens of The Empire. We will hereby execute you using the method of lethal injection." The officer announced.

"Convict 2805, do you have any last words?" another officer said.

"The only thing I'm truly regretful of is dying a virgin, but maybe in my next life I'll get laid." He grinned mischievously, erupting into a cacophony of cackles. Gagged quickly by the officers, he watched quietly.

'Of course, I, myself, didn't believe that was the case. Hell, I didn't even deserve to even live as an insect in my next life. But infuriating others is such a compelling feeling.' Thoughts along those lines wandered in his mind.

The thin needle filled with clear liquid. Slowly, an ample amount of it entered his body. He could feel as his heart slowed to such extremes that it was completely silent in there.

"Ah... I really wished I could've eaten more." Eventually, all thoughts drifted into the abyss.

Or so he had thought. However, he found himself in another predicament. He truly was a magnet for disaster.

Sounds of cooing noises wormed its way into his ears. His body felt as heavy as lead. Just moving his fingers was a laborious task.

'Is this death?' Thoughts such as that floated across his mind. He could faintly hear mutterings and unfamiliar words, as his consciousness slowly grew more aware.

He blinked in annoyance as the voices slowly creeped louder. In retaliation, he blurted, "Shut up!"

WAHHH

But only a blaring wail filled the room now. All the voices, including himself, stood in silence. Ideas popped in and out of his head, but he had just the faintest of ideas about what exactly what had happened.

'Reincarnation.'

The word popped into his head instantly, slowly peeling his eyes open. 3 blurry figures appeared in his view; a male and 2 females.

Who knew that his last words be granted. 'Maybe I should've asked for more, but I did? Didn't I?'

Looking over to the figures, he could assume: the tallest figure looked the most hysterical, the one holding him looks to be sighing. Another older woman is cleaning up the dirty blankets. His beady eyes scanned over each one of them. The figures all seemed to have a mixture of eastern and western themes in their clothing. He couldn't really put his finger on it.

His mother, he assumed, who was holding him, had a thin dress with lace at the ends, her legs covered with thick layers of blankets. Her eyes looked sort of drained. The other lady, whom he assumed was older, was bowing and he could see her back twitching. Either she was fearful or she was stifling her laughter. From his view, he couldn't get a very good look.

Finally, the last figure, which he concluded, must be his father. He had a daunting height to him. But unconditional love filled his eyes. It was an odd feeling to have it directed at him.

That odd feeling, however, was overshadowed by the familiar yet formidable feeling that wells up in your stomach.

Hunger.

He waved my hands around, hoping to get some food. Maybe they assumed he was looking for attention. They grabbed hold of his petite fingers with ease and experimented with it. It wasn't a nice thing to know how easily he could be subdued.

He could see them mouthing off some foreign words to each-other, maybe the language here.

Either way, that didn't matter now. Watching their bickering made him grow even more irritated. He wailed in frustration. He didn't have a clue why his emotions were so easily influenced, but that was for another day.

He guessed they had finally understood what he was asking for. The male was looking around in another fit of panic. The older lady turned her head to giggle again.

But what he truly surprised him was that the lady holding him pulled the upper part of her dress down.

He was so shocked as he understood what he had basically asked for. If he could blush right now, his face would be blank as a sheet. He adamantly refused to drink from it...

He did...

In all his life, this had to be most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to him.

---

[14 Years Pass by]

A heavy sigh rang from the lonely library.

Today, he turned 14. It was considered the time young nobles took a step in society.

Throughout these long and harrowing years. He has come to one conclusion.

It's too peaceful. In his past life, the authorities would chase him down to the ends of time, at least then he had something to live for. But reincarnating as the heir of Duke Shiki, loyal knight to the emperor.

He has had a little fun; during his time here, he has created a persona for himself. The stoic but secretly caring type, the maids seemed to like the cold type, anyway.

But that was the beside the point. It bore him out of his mind.

Oh yes, he had forgotten to specify how this world is quasi-fantasy and futuristic world. In theory, it seemed confusing but in practice; it worked pretty well. The most shocking thing was that there was magic.

And with this magic, he found many odd discoveries about his body. An unsettling amount at that.

He was apparently quite adept at magic, so learning everything and using it couldn't even be called a challenge at this point. Ah... he was so bored.

Kicking his feet in frustration, many books from the shelves came tumbling down. Each book narrowly missing him alas, that didn't last for long. A thick book landed on his head, creating a pang of pain.

"Ah, fuc-" He quickly stopped himself and looked around. Phew.

Looking down at mayhem of piled books, he could only sigh in resignation. Gathering all the books into his arms, he placed them in the rightful places. Gazing at the last book, he lingered on it for longer. Eventually, he brought up to him and looked at the blank cover.

No name or author were written there. Sitting back down, he flicked through the pages, his brows creasing each page.

The thick dust piles floated around the room, surveying the contents of the book. It was as if he couldn't release his eyes from it. Its words burned into his inky orbs.

The text danced across each paragraph, forming an enchanting sequence to view.

Hours passed by like this.

Awaking from his delusion, he rubbed his dry eyes. Slowly, his mouth contorted into an enormous grin. He swiftly hid it back and trying to reorganise what had just happened, but before he could do that, he was interrupted.

A small maid meandered over to him, her cheeks blushing pink. "Young Master Yoshin, the Lord requests your presence in his office."

"Please lead the way, big sister." He grasped onto his knees and heaved himself up, his hands clasped around the book tightly. The maid gingerly led him to his father's office.

Unbeknownst to others, this was the origins of Yoshin Shiki's reign.

---