2 The Cursed Prince of Rothford

Howard lies back down on the bed, shocked by what he saw in the mirror with his two jet-black eyes. He had found himself in the body of an absolute stranger, in what appears to be a primitive, yet slightly historical building. 

Questions immediately start popping up inside of his head. Where was he? Who was he? What was he doing here? How did he get here? What happened to the young man's consciousness? Why was this body in great pain? Why is he here? 

All these questions raced through Howard's brain, as he had difficulty processing this overwhelming scenario he found himself in. He had just witnessed some sort of reincarnation happen right before his very eyes! The bedrock of his beliefs, which had been built upon his life experiences in the past, in tragedy, has just been attacked and broken in an instant! 

As he tries to process this information, his ear picks up the sound of a door swinging open. He tilts his head right, to spot a slender feminine figure adorned in a black maid gown, carrying a ceramic cup alongside a teapot on a silver tray.

Despite never meeting this woman in his entire life, he felt as if he had seen her before. Just then, memories of the young man's past soon start flooding back, providing Howard with some much-needed exposition. 

The blonde woman who had just entered the room was his personal maid, assigned to him when he was just 6 years old. She had been responsible for helping treat the young man's body, waking him up from his slumber state every day, and feeding the man with some herbal medicine. 

Though learning about the maid was nice, what really grabbed Howard's attention was what the memories told him about the young man he had unknowingly taken the body of, Kant Icarus Maybale. Kant is a prince belonging to the Maybale family dynasty, a powerful family that ruled over the island of Rothford. He was the eldest of 5 living children of his 'parents'; Danial Icarus Maybale & Malinda Maybale. 

His other siblings were Edward, Sofia, and Lisa, all of whom were 3 to 5 years younger than him, with his twin sister Reena being only 24 seconds younger. It was these bits of memories that informed Howard about Kant's strange standing in the family. According to his memories, Kant was always treated and viewed as the black sheep of the family due to some birth defect that hindered him from providing anything useful to the royal family, and the greater society.

"Oh, my prince! I deeply apologize for not entering without permission! I thought you were still asleep! Please forgive me!" She immediately apologized upon noticing Howard awake on his bed. The maid spoke in a mixture of German and English with a strong Spanish accent on top, creating a strange, alien language that Howard had never heard in his life. Yet somehow, he was able to understand her.

It was a perk of taking over the body of a stranger. Although the consciousness may not have the knowledge of the language, it is still integrated in the brain the consciousness has taken over. However, that does spark a question; how is he able to remember anything about his past life? Maybe his consciousness has a memory of its own?

  "Will you please forgive me, your highness?" she queries again, breaking Howard's thought bubble. She had been standing there, waiting for Howard to respond. She had taken his silence at rejection, a very scary prospect for someone in her class.

"Apology accepted," Howard replied, managing to speak the alien tongue fluently. He noticed a great change in his voice. It was a deeper, more masculine, yet more monotone voice than the one belonging to his original body. 

The maid breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that the prince did not take any offense. She walks closer and places the tray down on a wooden table just next to the bed. She then picks up the teapot and pours a dark blue liquid into the cup. 

Howard made sure to sit on the bed, enduring the intensifying pain he felt, to drink the herbal medicine provided to him. As the lukewarm liquid went down his throat, his tongue picked up a strong sense of sweetness in the drink. Though unexpected, it was a welcome one, as it helped him drink it.

After taking the medicine, Howard lies back down on his bed. Just 2 seconds after fully consuming the drink, he could feel the pain throughout his body gradually dissipate. He could start moving around freely, without being constrained by the pain that plagued him ever since he swapped bodies with this young man.

"The healers will be with you soon, your highness. Please make sure to rest till he arrives," the maid informed Howard before leaving, taking the silver tray with her. Howard was left alone in Kant's room, to spend more time with his thoughts.

As the notion of reincarnation being true begins to settle, Howald is finally able to calm down. He begins to feel a sense of gratitude, to have been reincarnated to some kind of position of power in a primitive world. 

Considering the alternatives; an abused slave forced to work for days on end with break, a teenage prostitute forced to please ugly, evil men, a farm animal raised and fed only to be slaughtered to feed the expanding human appetite, or any of the other horrific jobs in history, he found himself in the best case scenario. 

As he tries to find comfort in his perceived status, his brain brings attention to a tiny detail about Kant Maybale, of him being 'the black sheep' of the family all because of a 'birth defect'.

Looking around his body, Howard was unable to discover anything wrong with Kant. Although he had strange features, such as his pale skin, strange silver, and uncanny black eyes, he had a healthy muscular figure that any man could dream of. It made him wonder, what could this birth defect be? What could he lack that is so important, that removes all value he may have in the family? 

Howard tried searching through his memories, only to end up with nothing. Despite taking over Kant's body, he was denied access to a lot of his memories that gave an account to the past. By all means, his consciousness should be flooding with the memories of Kant by now. 

Then again, it might be a good thing that he wasn't being overwhelmed by more information about Kant's past. Howard, for all his intelligence, would not be able to handle such knowledge in an instant. He was better off gaining the memories back one at a time. 

However, that leaves him with another question; how does he regain Kant's memory? If he intends to live amongst these new people, he would need Kant's original memories to properly blend in.

"How did I unlock those other memories? If I can simulate the factors that unlocked them, I might be able to recall his other memories!" Howard thought. As he recalled, the only time when Kant's memories came back, was when he interacted with the people and environment around him.

"I guess I should wait till those healers come around," he remarked. Till then, Howard kept on lying down on his bed, listening to the advice the maid gave him. 3 minutes passed and Howard's ear sensed a knocking on his door, followed by a deep, yet soothing masculine voice.

"Your highness, may we enter your room?" he asked. Howard assumed this was one of the healers the maid talked about. After clearing his throat, Howard gave a response.

"Yes, you shall." 

The door swung open slowly, revealing multiple slender figures standing behind the door. They were adorned in a set of strange clothes he had never seen in his life. Howard's eyes spotted a red cloak with a few strange white patterns on it, partly covering a long-sleeved red shirt with silver buttons. Their white pants were held up by a leather belt with a silver buckle, and their feet were covered in 2-inch heel leather shoes. 

"Good morning, your highness. I see that you have awakened. I presume you drank the herbal drink your maid brought you?" one of them asked.

"I have, yes. To be honest, I expected it to be more bitter. It is very sweet," Howard, posing as Prince Kant Maybale, replied. The healers all smiled.

"How do you feel right now, your highness?" 

"I feel good. The pain that ran through my body had nearly disappeared!" Howard claimed. The healers smile back in return.

"Is there anything else you need to tell us, before we start?" another asked. Howard went quiet, thinking this decision through. His silence dragged on for a whole minute, before he gave out a response. 

"How long will this take?" he queried the healers. Although he wanted to say no, he feared it might come off suspicious, something unnatural, especially after staying silent for so long. His safest bet was to ask a question, something any ordinary patient would do. 

"In your peculiar circumstance, it might take a while. Your body had been damaged heavily fighting that beast. It took us a week to heal your bones back to normal."

"A week?"

"Yes. We operated on you while you were unconscious," the healer elaborated. 

"How many more days will this take?"

"Although we cannot guarantee it, today should be the final day of the procedure, your highness. We will tell you after it is done," another healer replied.

"Will it be painful?"

"A little bit, your highness. However, since you drank the medicine we gave you, you should be fine," another replied. 

"Is that all, your highness?" they asked. Howard, having no questions left, nodded. 

"Very well. We shall begin the operation." 

The healers start surrounding Kant's bed, removing the sheets and looking up his pajamas, exposing the Prince's body. Howard noticed there were no signs of any cuts or bruises anywhere. 

Once his pale skin was exposed, the healers placed their hands all over his body, before closing their eyes and started mumbling some gibberish he was unable to understand.

Howard became confused. What were these healers doing? They were simply touching him, without even giving a massage! Compounding his confusion was the lack of tools present in the room. He thought that maybe the tools were hidden somewhere in a drawer, stored to use on him when they started

It was at this moment Howard asked himself the question that he should have long ago; how the hell are they going to 'heal' him? Last time he checked, one would need extremely advanced robotics, computers, and skilled surgeons to perform such a task. Did he really expect people in this primitive world, with no modern technology to aid their quest, to be able to perform such a feat? No way. 

But then, why did they claim they could heal him? Why give a false hope? Maybe they have been exaggerating his injuries? Maybe they hoped the placebo effect would take place, while giving the prince the excuse that they needed just one more day to complete it. Whatever it was, he had more questions popping up. Questions he wanted answers for. 

Just before Howard spoke up to question the healers, their hands started glowing a bright yellow light! Howard's jaw dropped, unable to comprehend what was unfolding before his eyes. He felt a tingling feeling spread out through his entire body, reaching his bones, before they started burning with pain, only kept mild thanks to the effects of the drink he took a few minutes ago.

At that very moment, Howard started recalling another memory, featuring crucial information about not just the prince, but also the world he lived in. A memory that gave an explanation to all his prior questions, while sparking a thousand more. 

Prince Kant Icarus Maybale happens to live in a magical world plagued with powerful beasts and demons, ruled by powerful magical royal families whose right to rule comes from their immense magical power, and their ability to defend the people from external and internal threats. 

Howard by all odds managed to land the best-worst case scenario in transmigration history, of taking over the body of the cursed prince of Rothford, Kant Icarus Maybale the First, a prince who cannot perform magic in a world run by magic.