After my father, Barris Knightford, had taken his second wife, a new law was enacted that very same day.
The law stated that any discrimination or hate crimes committed toward humankind would be taken as an act of treason against the crown.
It turned out that the demon concubine had been a good friend of the royal family and a former demon noble, Stella Leviathan. This, somehow, was able to successfully quell the storm of hate brewing in the kingdom for around two years, that is, until a horrible incident occurred.
Azure assassins had infiltrated the kingdom with help from the head of the Leonhart family, Lurain Leonhart. The assassins snuck into the castle and ended up murdering Stella, taking her decapitated head as a trophy.
Barris was incredibly furious. When he had discovered who had helped plan the incident, he ordered Lurain to be executed. Along with that, his family's status was to be stripped.
After that incident, the king and queen became more cold and ruthless towards the matters involving their citizens, especially toward affairs regarding the Leonhart family.
This deep rooted animosity eventually leads to Barris choosing to sacrifice Aaron for the sake of the kingdom in the distant future. I suppose it was a reasonable decision for any ruler to make. However, to the eyes of Aaron who had been backstabbed countless times before, this was the final straw.
Fortunately, it looks like I was born before most of that bad stuff happens considering my parents are still their kind, gentle selves. I think I might've just killed myself if I was born after Stella's death.
"Young master Raine, where have you gone?" A youthful, melodic voice could be heard nearby, calling for me.
"Little prince, please come out!"
As of right now, I am currently teleporting to good hiding places in the castle library. As of now, it's been four years since I was reincarnated.
I know what you're thinking, "oh wow, time skip". Well shut up, it's been absolute hell for me living in this child's body and learning how to use it. I've had to learn to speak, walk, and don't even get me started on not having any control over my bodily functions for over a year!
To be honest, not much happened in the past four years, I had very minimal interaction with my birth parents, king and queen Knightford, but that is mainly due to their positions and how much work they both have. I've simply spent the time building my mana capacity through repeated use of magic like teleportation or simple circulation.
Fortunately, nobody knows I can use magic, however, since I technically kickstarted my mana-awakening over a decade early.
Anyways, it looks like I was conveniently born around the same year as the protagonist. How convenient, and realistic. This means that I have certainly possessed the body of the same Raine Knightford from the novel.
Now, when I think of how Raine was in the novel, the phrase 'You are your own worst enemy' comes to mind.
Raine Knightford the novel was described as an overwhelming talent capable of using both space and time magic. He was born with not one, but two universe magic attributes, that's insane!
Unfortunately, he was terribly arrogant and narcissistic due to his power and authority he was blessed with. Consequently, he failed to properly train his gifts. He had the highest potential among the royal family yet was one of the weakest due to his disgusting laziness and complacency. This led to the protagonist, Aaron, being able to defeat and eventually kill him with relative ease.
Fuck that noise.
The author gave me such a talented character, you best believe I'm gonna train how to use it. This will also help improve my mana capacity. Learning skills and developing mana is far easier when you are a child after all.
"There you are, little prince." I heard as I was browsing magic books on a shelf.
Behind me was the figure of an incredibly stunning woman. She had long, flowing purple hair as well as pale gray skin.
She also wore a stunning dark lavender dress that looked like it was designed for casual wear.
It was Stella.
Around a month from now, Stella is to debut as my father's second wife. However, only a year later, she is going to be assassinated.
Hell no, I'm not going to allow that to happen!
One of the main reasons I had been training my space-time magic was to be able to transport another person with me when I teleport. I needed to increase my mana capacity to handle the strain of teleporting two people.
Currently, I can make small teleportations by myself. I guess that goes to show how talented Raine was.
Another thing I needed to do was to get close to Stella so I could be with her during the assassination attempt. To do that, I needed to appeal to Stella's good side, which was not that hard.
In the novel, she was a warm, kindhearted individual. She also had a deep love for children, hoping to have children of her own one day. Unfortunately, that never got to happen for her…
"You can't be wandering around the castle like that, especially in the library. There are tons of forbidden books that eat children like you here!" She scolded me in an exaggerated tone.
Well, she's not wrong exactly I guess.
She picked me up by the waist and held me close to her large chest and I instinctively reached out to hug her. She let out a small gasp before rubbing the top of my head and smiling. I could feel a warmth from her, a warmth that made me feel at ease within.
Was this maybe some sort of magic?
As she cradled me in her arms, I began to feel drowsy. As I expected, utilizing magic at such a young age drains the body of a lot of energy. I began to nod off. As I looked up, I saw her smiling. She had a kind smile, almost as if she was looking at her child.
Yeah, I'm going to save her.
Whenever the King and Queen were busy with political duties, Stella took care of the young royals. She is practically the main mother figure for me and my siblings growing up. In any case, she was more than qualified to be a wife of my father.
"Sweet dreams, little prince." She said in a soothing whisper.
And with those words, I fell asleep. I guess it's time for a training montage or something, I suppose I will be training for a year. When the time finally comes, I will be ready to save Stella. I will be one step closer to my preferred ending.
I suppose it is rather unfortunate that I cannot not prevent Leonhart from falling. However, it's bound to happen eventually. It's unavoidable. Aside from that, I can't exactly do much with this current body of mine. I guess it's just fated to be this way no matter how you change it.