A small, thin child with a pale face lay on a bed, eyes barely open. He stared up at the yellowed ceiling, aged and stained by time.
His eyes blinked slowly, trying to grasp what had happened. In his last memory, he was lying in his grand bed, waiting for death to finally take his last breath.
He—Kaelric Thronehart—was the emperor of the Elarindor Empire. An empire that he and his companions had united and built from the ground up, leading it to success and prosperity. After enduring countless bloodshed, betrayals, and other challenges, Kael had become a great emperor.
At the age of 150, surrounded by his descendants—each of whom had left their mark in their respective fields to further the empire—Kael breathed his last breath.
But instead of finding eternal peace, he awoke in an unfamiliar place. With strange memories suddenly flooding his mind. He quickly realized that his soul had entered the body of a frail twelve-year-old boy named Kaelum Arcthelion.
A body so weak it didn't even have the strength to shift into a sitting position.
"Cough! Cough!"
Kael's throat felt like it was burning. This wasn't just a weak body from childhood illness. Something else was sapping its strength.
Click.
A door in the corner of the room opened, revealing a young girl around fifteen years old dressed in a maid's uniform, carrying a tray of food in her hands.
She walked toward Kael's bed and placed the tray on the bedside table. Then she moved to the window, pulling back the curtains and allowing light to spill into the once dim room. She opened both sets of curtains on either side of the bed.
Kael could feel a cool breeze brushing against his body, slowly chasing away the musty scent that clung to the room.
The girl began to walk toward the door to leave, without saying a word or even glancing at the thin, small boy lying in the bed.
"Nay." Kael called out hoarsely.
The maid turned around, surprised to hear her name, but she stepped closer to the bed and stopped at his side.
"Find me a rat."
"A rat?" Nay, the maid, looked stunned at her master's strange command.
Kael didn't answer, only stared at her with sharp, unwavering eyes.
Nay stopped asking questions. "Yes!" she replied, then turned and left the room.
The door closed behind her. Kael remained the same—helpless and still—waiting in silence until Nay returned half an hour later.
She entered the room holding a wooden box that twitched and shifted. Her clothes were slightly disheveled, and her face was slick with sweat, as if she had just run a great distance. Her eyes inadvertently landed on the untouched food sitting on the bedside table.
Nay held the wooden box out at arm's length, keeping it far from her body. Disgust and fear were clear on her face at the creature trapped inside.
Kael studied her expression. "Put the food you brought into the box."
Though confused by her master's odd request, Nay obeyed.
She carefully placed the food into the box, making sure the rat inside didn't escape. Then, Kael gave no further instructions, except one:
"Wait."
No one knew how many minutes had passed, but Nay no longer felt any movement inside the box she was holding.
"Open it," Kael ordered.
With a hesitant look—afraid the rat might leap out and scratch her—Nay slowly opened the box. But there was no squeaking, no sudden movement. She peered inside and found the once energetic rat now lying stiff, its eyes bloodshot, and foam dribbling from its mouth.
Nay's gaze shifted to the food inside the box. Her hands instantly began to tremble. The box slipped from her grip, and she collapsed to the floor, her face pale with terror.
Premeditated murder by poison.
Kaelum Arcthelion was the fifth son of the king of the Elarindor Kingdom. Born with the talent of a swordsman, just like the king himself. But from birth, he was weak and sickly. His mother had died, and her family held no political power within the court.
Kaelum was exiled to a mansion outside the capital. Until one month ago, when he was summoned back for the Aura Bestowal Ceremony, held every year on the first day of the second month, at the cathedral, for all twelve-year-old children.
Every child is born with a talent, marked by a distinct sign somewhere on their body. But not every child is granted an aura. Only a small fraction receive that blessing. Kaelum was one of those rare few. His body glowed with a faint blue light during the ceremony.
But among the three colors that symbolize the awakening of a swordsman's aura, light blue was not one of them.
From that moment on, he was deemed a failure by the king and was sent back to the mansion outside the capital. Not only that, but every maid, butler, guard, even the gardener in his estate, was recalled to the palace—leaving only Nay behind.
Kaelum had just returned to the mansion last night, after nearly a week of travel.
And what awaited him—was poison.
"You tried to kill me?" Kael's voice was sharp and cold.
Nay trembled in fear. She prostrated herself beside Kael's bed. "I don't know anything, Your Highness! I didn't put any poison in it!" Her face was now wet with tears, and her forehead red from pressing it to the floor.
[Name: Nayara (Nay)
Talent: Archer
Aura: Inactive
Status: Potential Companion
Affinity: 0
Disposition: Friendly (1/5)]
[Potential Jobs: Assassin (F) | Chef (C) | Maid (B)]
[Will you choose this person as your companion?]
"Friendly..." Kael exhaled.
Kaelric was no ordinary transmigrator. He had a system, gifted to him by a god as compensation for agreeing to reincarnate into another world.
Once, he had been an ordinary human on Earth. He barely remembered his name, face, or occupation—150 years had passed. He would've forgotten his identity as a man from Earth entirely, if not for his transmigration into Kaelum's body.
[Weakest to Strongest] was the name of his system. A system that granted him power once he succeeded in making the weakest become strong.
In short, to become powerful—he had to make others powerful.
"Your Highness, please forgive me!" Nay remained bowed at his bedside.
And Nay, the maid—the only person Kael could interact with in his current crippled state—would become his first companion in this third life.