I was nothing more than a shadow, drifting through the corners of life, seeking warmth that no one ever offered.
Since the moment I opened my eyes to this world, life had been nothing but a constant battle against hunger, cold, and abandonment.
My father ran from the misery of poverty—not to save us, but to save himself—marrying an aristocratic woman after deceiving her into believing he was a noble count.
As for my mother… she faded slowly in my arms while I chased after medicine I couldn't afford, treatments never meant for people like us—just more waiting… more dying.
Is this what I deserved?
Was I doomed to suffer simply because I was born with blood that didn't shine?
Did being the son of the lower class mean I was made to be humiliated… and forgotten?
I've always hated the aristocracy. Not for their luxury—but for their silence. Their coldness… their unchecked authority that never asked, and was never questioned.
I remember my only friend, the boy I worked with in the coal mines. They burned him alive in front of a crowd—just because he dared to wander into a noble's garden, driven by nothing but curiosity.
What burned me wasn't the fire that consumed his body… but the power that allowed it to happen—and stood watching.
I didn't just hate them. I wanted to bring them all down.
But fate… fate was crueler than I imagined.
If poverty didn't kill me, then death was waiting for me at the edge of recklessness.
One day, driven by either need—or rage—I stole a horse. Not just any horse, but one belonging to Archduke Carlos Emilio, one of the most powerful men on the continent.
When his guards chased me, I had no destination. I was simply running—like I always had—fleeing from something that was never just after me…
Then, in one sudden moment… my foot slipped at the edge of a cliff. And I fell.
I didn't just fall from that height—I fell from everything I thought was solid in this world.
Death was inevitable.
Or… so I believed.
I gasped for breath as warm blood streamed down my face, mixing with the dirt at the bottom of the ravine.
Was I… really going to die?
Was this the end for someone like me?
No screams. No tears. Just a question echoing within me, as if I were speaking it into the void.
And then… darkness fell over my eyes.
A darkness that wasn't the end—but the beginning of something I was never prepared for.