Morning arrived harshly, with the blare of a horn and the sharp bark of orders. Aiden—no, Ren—was yanked from the cell by two guards and dragged into a courtyard half-drowned in mud. Soldiers in black and silver sparred in the distance, their blades clashing in the morning chill. The banners fluttered above them—Shinomi's crest: a broken crown wreathed in flames.
He shivered, not just from the cold.
"This the prisoner?" a gruff man asked, arms folded. "Didn't expect to see Lord Valis's son down here. Thought nobles pissed perfume."
"Not anymore," the second guard said with a laugh, shoving Aiden forward. "He's under Lord Shinomi's command now."
Aiden stood unsteadily, still aching from the rough treatment. Before he could ask what was happening, a familiar figure emerged from the training field—tall, composed, and every bit as intimidating as he had been in the cell.
Shinomi.
He was no longer in armor, but in simple black training robes that somehow made him look even more dangerous. His gaze swept over Aiden like he was measuring a threat.
"From now on," Shinomi said, "you will attend to my horse, polish the soldiers' boots, and scrub the latrines with your bare hands. If you slack off or complain, you will be flogged. If you try to escape, I'll tie you to the wall and let the crows have their way with you."
Aiden didn't flinch. He kept his eyes steady on Shinomi. "Fine."
That made Shinomi pause.
"'Fine'?" he repeated.
"I'll do it," Aiden said. "Whatever you want."
A glimmer of confusion flickered in Shinomi's eyes—but only for a second. He turned sharply. "You'll be watched. Don't test me."
As he walked away, Aiden whispered under his breath, "I won't. I'm not going to waste this chance."
---
That day was brutal.
Aiden scrubbed armor until his fingers bled, took verbal beatings from soldiers who remembered Ren Valis as a cocky brat, and hauled water from the icy river uphill more times than he could count. But he didn't complain. Not once.
Every time he glanced toward the command tent, where Shinomi occasionally emerged with that unreadable expression, Aiden straightened his spine. He wanted to be seen.
Even if Shinomi hated him now, Aiden would prove he was different. He would show him what real loyalty looked like.
He would earn a place by Shinomi's side—not as a noble's son, not as a prisoner, not even as a servant.
But as someone who saw the real him… and chose him.
---
That night, as Aiden collapsed onto the straw in the stables, sore and half-frozen, he smiled faintly.
He was finally inside the story. And he had already changed one thing.
In the original novel, Ren Valis had died the same day he was captured.
Now?
He was still alive.
---