28. Original Storyline

Claude regained consciousness, finding himself in a place unfamiliar to him, with his mother Xavion lying lifeless within a magical circle adorned with incantations. The door was closed, leaving only Claude and the lifeless woman.

As he took in the scene, Claude swallowed hard, realizing he was still alive. Troubled, and at the mere age of 17.

"This is insane. Am I going to die again if the story still follows the plot at 17 like in the novel?" Claude recalled the most dreaded part of the novel, the death of Claude caused by Kane.

****

In the original novel, Claude always followed Xavier wherever the young man went. They were friends who would become inseparable companions. Claude was willing to do anything for Xavier and sought protection from the Crown Prince. His parents were pleased that Claude always stuck close to Xavier, thinking their closeness would bring them power beyond the royal domain.

However, his parents remained deceitful, manipulating Claude by taking away his hearing aids and instructing him to follow the Crown Prince's demands.

The number of individuals surrounding the Crown Prince left Kane with no opportunity to showcase his leadership abilities. In his mind, Xavier was only fortunate to be born as the Crown Prince but lacked an understanding of governance, power, rules, and everything. Kane's mother contemplated killing Xavier since he was six years old on his birthday, instructing Kane's head servants to poison his birthday cake.

Thus began the encounter between Claude and Xavier. Claude's entry into the royal circle becomes Xavier's food taster. They became true friends, understanding and protecting each other.

On the other hand, secretly, Claude became Kane's confidant, violating the rule that one person could only side with one prince and stay loyal for the rest of his life.

They always met in the lavender flower garden, where Claude, with his gentle heart, sensed Kane's loneliness.

Each time they met, Kane was wounded, and Claude healed him, always assisting Kane, even when overwhelmed, and when everything was chaotic, Claude always gave his blood to Kane, so the young man could fight again, and grow stronger for the kingdom and the country.

Claude didn't realize that Kane had another side. A side where Kane wanted Claude to belong to him, but not out of love or affection. Yet, Claude never came back to him.

Never healed him.

Never helped him again.

This made Kane increasingly angry.

In his private room, Aaron, his friend, goaded Kane to kidnap Claude, who always stood by Xavier's side.

Kane was truly going to do it, especially when he saw Claude tightly holding Xavier's hand, it ignited his rage. When he saw Xavier growing stronger, it burned him up. When he saw Claude smile, resting his head on Xavier's shoulder, it made his heart pound uncontrollably.

Finally, Kane waited for Claude alone, using his teleportation magic to enter Claude's room while holding a knife.

Claude was startled, backing away towards the wall. His heart pounded fiercely.

"Why have you never returned to me?! Why do you always stay close to Xavier?! I need you too! Need your healing! Need your blood, your entire being! Your voice! Everything! I want it, need to hear it, see it, feel your presence near me again," Kane directed his knife towards Claude's abdomen.

Claude couldn't hear Kane; he was deaf, and his hearing aid was confiscated by his mother.

"What's wrong? That's dangerous, what do you want? I'll help you, are you mad because I haven't met you? I'm sorry, I'm busy, Xavier's coronation is coming soon," Claude spoke softly.

Hearing the word 'coronation,' Kane became furious as he hadn't been informed. Xavier and Kane should have competed to see who was the best, like alpha wolves vying for dominance.

"I will thwart that coronation," Kane said without hesitation as he struck Claude's neck. He felt Claude was the reason Xavier advanced so quickly toward leadership. He removed Claude so Xavier would stop his coronation ceremony.

"Ugh."

"What's wrong? Why is it suddenly like this?" Claude felt weak, but he didn't faint. He felt his body being dragged out of the room.

"Kane? Where are you taking me?" Claude asked, growing more confused.

"Kane?" Without answering, Kane teleported to the storage area and gave Claude some apples.

"For you, my best friend (for me, my useful friend)," Kane said.

"Thank you, I like it. People say it's food for the poor, but I like it," Claude hugged the five apples given by Kane. He felt happy. Kane's feigned kindness succeeded in making Claude feel safe and not worry about his bad traits anymore.

"Kane, where are we going next?" Claude asked. "Are you going to give me another gift? My favorite gift?! Yay," Claude exclaimed happily. His eyes sparkled.

Kane took Claude to the garden, the lavender flower garden. Claude immediately ran to see the purple flowers.

"Wow, there are more flowers!" Claude exclaimed excitedly. With enthusiasm, Claude ran to pick the flowers he saw, holding five lavender flowers.

After being satisfied with the flowers, Claude laughed joyfully as he approached Kane, his sweet smile genuinely sincere.

"Thank you— ugh." Just as he was about to thank Kane, Kane slashed his throat mercilessly, as if he were slaughtering a chicken.

Thud.

Claude immediately fell, blood spattered everywhere.

Kane grinned at him, licking the bloody knife.

Claude immediately tried to save himself, even though his breath was escaping from his throat.

"No! Don't!" Claude crawled, but his legs were dragged.

"Don't," Claude whispered weakly.

Claude's eyes widened as Kane sucked the blood from his neck. Claude's hands moved desperately, seeking help, but no one saw him, absolutely no one.

The blood Kane sucked turned into Mana. The more blood he sucked, the larger and fuller Kane's Mana reservoir became.

"Kane..." Claude began to stop resisting, his eyes blurry, unable to see anything anymore.

As the coronation began, Xavier waited for Claude to see himself wearing the crown, but Claude didn't show up at all.

The coronation still had to proceed.

As the King was about to crown Xavier, suddenly someone's body fell onto his crown, bound.

At that moment, everyone present screamed, some fainted, and Xavier fell unconscious seeing the fallen body.

"No way!" The body was Claude's, his body extremely dry, mouth agape, eyes wide open, white without lenses. His hands were bound, clutching five withered lavender flowers and five shriveled apples.

There, Kane laughed before everything fell apart, and chaos ensued endlessly.

****

Remembering the content of the novel was extremely grim, Claude hoped he would never have to experience such scenes. His wish had been granted, but why did he have to die by hanging?

Claude was now confused about what to do. The problem was, he was alive again. Still at the age of 17, an age he certainly had to live through again. How many times would he die and come back to life, in the same novel?