Chapter 1: New Life

"Morning already?" Zen muttered to himself as he opened his eyes to the morning sunlight shining on his face. After completing his usual morning routine, he descended the stairs to the kitchen. There, he reheated some leftover Chinese food from the previous night and turned on the TV. Today's news marked the 6th anniversary of the death of Alex Kings, prince of Unity Nation, at the hands of The Night—an infamous terrorist group known for killing people and claiming it's for the world's greater good. Of course, Zen knew that wasn't what happened. Otherwise, how would he be here?

"Damn, it's been 6 years already? Time flies by," Zen thought to himself as he sipped his coffee. The news continued to report on the tragedy of Alex King's death at the hands of 'The Night.' This terrorist group claimed to kill people such as celebrities, government officials, or even royals for what they perceived as the greater good.

Zen knew it was a lie; The Night only wanted chaos and destruction. They had nothing to do with this. It was all just a stage so he could escape royal life. He hated it, and he was never going to become a king anyway.

Instead, his brother, Raiden, was the first in line to become a king of the nation, or even his older sister, Nina, if anything happened to his brother.

Zen harboured a simple dream—to live a life on a farm, harvesting crops and feeding animals. To most people, if they were to hear that the royal prince of a huge nation wanted to become a farmer, they would say that it was a diabolical thing to do. Zen was able to stage his death thanks to Han Red, his royal butler who had looked after him since he was a newborn baby. Han never went against Alex's orders, not even when Zen proposed staging his death to escape royal life.

"I need to phone Han and ask how he's doing," Zen thought to himself. He knew he could trust Han the most in this world, as he was pretty much a person without a lot of background. Han had set up a lot for Zen after his transition, giving him a fake identity of Zen Caine and even crafting a made-up background of being an orphan raised in the US and later moving to the UK with the help of a friend to ensure that no one would suspect.

"Without Han's help, I would be stuck in that boring life," Zen reflected. The thought that he would be stuck being a prince forever would make him go insane for sure.

As he continued to watch the news, the alarm on his phone rang, reminding him to get ready for the first day of university—a goal he managed to achieve with the help of a friend. He decided to call the friend who helped him, Jin Kenzaki, whom he had also assisted on his way to a new life.

"Hello, Jin? It's me. Thanks for the help with the University application, man," Zen said gratefully over the phone. After a brief conversation, Zen gathered everything he needed for his first day of classes, like books and pens. "See you later, man," he concluded the call, heading to his car to prepare for his first day at university, where he would be studying agriculture.