The oddly unfamiliar, tranquil silence solaced his ears for the first time in a while. Usually he would've been disturbed by the loud noises of vehicle horns as his room was just close to the main road.
The softness of his bed was totally different from before. At least he had no memory of it being that soft. For a while, he was lying still in his spot. Then he rolled around for a moment before sitting up straight.
The white curtains hanging down the four corners of the bed interfered with his gaze, but he was able to perceive the red carpet on the floor.
The worn-out marble tiles he had in his shabby apartment room surely weren't red or covered under a red carpet. That made it certain to him that it wasn't his apartment room.
"Where...?"
All the confusion he was feeling left him with no choice other than muttering that to himself. He was in an unfamiliar place, after all.
As perplexed as he was by that strange situation, he jumped down the bed after realising one more thing.
"Huh? W-what happened to my voice...?"
The cold sensation on his neck became intense with the touch of his trembling hands. Surely, it was him who was saying those words, but that wasn't his voice.
Maybe he caught a cold and his voice was like that due to that? He did think of that possibility for a split second, but that wasn't what aligned with his situation. Frantically, he began walking around the room.
That's when his jaw dropped. The absurdity of what he was witnessing was not something that could be put into words. The unknown man stood in the mirror.
The jet-black hair with a slight blue at the ends and the dark blue eyes—a face that was good enough to be called averagely handsome. Those were the features that seemed totally unfamiliar to him. And what was up with the bandage tied around his head?
Yet, there was something he was able to recognise. The black jacket made out of cotton fabric with a hood was the same one he remembered wearing before falling asleep.
"Who is-?!"
Clankk
His words came to a stop when that sound fell on his ears. As if that wasn't enough, the soft sound that followed only added to his anxiety.
Tap tap tap
Someone was walking closer to him after opening the door. He tried to take a peek at whoever it was, but the partially see-through curtains obstructed his field of view. Then two black shoes came into his sight.
His gaze shook a bit, noticing the woman in an odd outfit. This was the first time he had come across such clothes. As much as he remembered, there were almost zero occupations that required one to wear something like that.
The vibes he was getting from the room matched the outfit she was wearing. Where was it that he had seen something similar before? Surely that must've been some historical-genre western fantasy web comic or web novel.
If yes, then it was an outfit that only maids wore. He wondered if he was on some filming set or something since no sane woman would wear such clothes given the modern era they lived in.
"Young Master Jaden, have you come back to your senses? Are you feeling any better now?"
The firm and polite manner of speaking made him feel uneasy. The strange respectful behaviour towards him was something new to him.
Then again, that was of the least concern at the moment. Some words she just said piqued his interest in a rather odd way.
"What? 'Young Master'?"
His index finger pointed towards himself, while his right eye twitched lightly. This was the first time someone had called him by such a title.
He never intended to ask such a question, though. What he had done was purely an act that came about unconsciously.
"Why yes. Are you not?"
The visible confusion on his face left him blank for quite a while. The questions he had on his mind had been multiplied by some digit greater than ten.
He would've certainly asked that woman for more stuff had it not been for the words he heard her mumbling to herself.
"... Did he get amnesia from hitting his head?"
The voice was clear to him, despite the distance between them. Was that something possible to begin with? He never had an idea that his sense of hearing was that good.
That wasn't totally wrong to say, though. It wasn't the body he remembered living in for the past twenty years. The strange bodyache he was feeling made him wobble slightly from time to time.
He then closed his eyes while lightly massaging his eyeballs with his fingers. Steadily opening his eyes again, he looked straight at the woman in the maid outfit.
'Calm down... I should play along to figure out more about this situation.'
The nervousness that flooded his eyes perished within a split second. He slowly approached the bed to take a seat.
The calm yet confused gaze shifted from the red floor to the maid. That look in his eyes was what made the woman flinch lightly.
Sigh
"I see. I must've hit my head quite hard. I don't remember anything."
The maid had almost no expression on her face. Maybe she was surprised? That didn't matter either way, since he had no way of knowing about it.
His eyes squinted peculiarly, leaving one slightly more open than the other. The light shuddering of his body depicted it as if he were in pain. Above that, he was holding a hand lightly around the bandages on his head.
"Just who exactly am I...?"
The eagerness that surfaced in his eyes didn't last for much longer. The pieces of information he was taking made his face lose its colour. Was that supposed to be a joke? Then it was a bad one, for sure.
-----------------
Jaden Brimstone. The only successor to the Brimstone Duchy. A noble bloodline that would make anyone envious. Or that's what the maid said.
'And I am 'that' Jaden, you say...?'
He thought while glancing at the maid, who was still trying to determine if what he was claiming was true or not.
Sigh
That situation was particularly odd. Maybe that's why Jaden kept his lips pursed for a while. His calm eyes scanned the maid with a tense frown.
He let out the breath he held in without letting her notice it. If he had displayed his nervousness, he might've faced some troubles.
"So... Rudia..."
Rudia. Jaden's personal maid. Someone who had been serving the Brimstone family for quite a while. That's who the maid introduced herself as.
A normal person to the core, or so she looked like. But no. There was something that made Jaden feel weird whenever he met her eyes. Deciding to not think much about it, he continued.
"Can you tell me today's date according to the imperial calendar?"
The serious tone clearly spread amidst the silent atmosphere. The man could feel the cold air brushing past his sweaty forehead.
The woman couldn't see his expressions because of the hands covering his face. Yet his actions showed that he was nervous. What can she even say to him when he has lost his memories?
"It's the fifth day of the seventh month. And the year is 1605."
That wasn't the final thing she said. Her words continued when the man was busy staring out the window.
His eyes, which were determining the time at the moment by observing the sky, widened. The terror that engulfed his eyes defined how shocked he was.
The words he heard echoed in his ears for a while. His gaze was simply piercing through the windowpane, just to conclude that it was late in the evening. The faint sunlight visible near the horizon said so.
"As of right now, Miss Julianne will be waiting to have dinner with you."
Huh
The blood gushed through his veins fast because the heart was beating so fast that he couldn't even hear what the maid was saying.
That name wasn't the one he was familiar with, but it was somehow related to a name he had a clue about. His lips trembled as he spoke.
"... Miss Julianne? Who...?"
It could've been just his imagination about having an inkling of who the person mentioned just a moment ago was. If not, he wished for it to be so.
Rudia's clear voice left the strands of hair on his arms stand up straight. The goosebumps he got upon hearing what Rudia was saying had him freeze in his boots.
"Of course, your elder sister. Julianne Brimstone."
Those were the last words he heard from Rudia. Why, you ask? The very next moment, Rudia found herself standing outside Jaden's room.
Without saying a word, Jaden had pushed her out of the room. The excuse to do so was that he wanted to be alone to calm himself down.
As Rudia was nothing more than a maid hired by the Brimstone family, she had no choice but to take her leave quietly.
Left alone in the room, Jaden pushed his hands on the table's surface. He glared at the small mirror that reflected his face.
"If I'm not wrong... 'Jaden Brimstone' is..."
An insignificant side character who appeared only once in the 'Light of Dragonaria'. Somewhere between chapter 100 and 200: that was the first and last time he was mentioned.
It was only on the spur of the moment that he ended up writing a scene like that. Jaden Brimstone visited the protagonists, begging for help.
The request was so absurdly dangerous that the protagonists turned him down. That was used as a stepping stone to develop the story to the reader's taste. What was the request? Well...
-Please save my sister. I'll do whatever you want me to. She has been abducted by one of the demon generals.
That's basically how it was. And that was what made the one who created that story feel regret at one point. That was 'currently'.
'If I'm in his body... then where is he...?'
It was sudden, but that question made him feel heavy in his stomach. Certainly, he remembered living life on 'Earth' and had no memory of the original Jaden.
That's when, along with his thinking, a sharp pain ran through his head. He muttered that question unconsciously.
"Huh...? What... was 'my' name... again-?"
THUD
The utensil filled with water next to his hand fell to the ground, making that loud noise. Even though that sound went unnoticed by him, Jaden was grabbing his head tightly with both hands.
His breath grew stronger with every passing second as he felt like something was tearing his head apart. Despite the immense pain, he was conscious for some reason.
The water that splashed on his jacket dried without a trace. He didn't notice it, though.
Splash
The pain was beyond what one can withstand, yet there were no tears in his eyes. Neither did he shriek in pain.
Splish
The sound of water soothed his ears, making the pain subside. What caught his attention next was the water floating in the air. The words formed by it were visible to him upon closer inspection.
[Don't try it.]
"Huh?"
[You won't remember either way.]
When he was about to open his mouth, another set of words formed in front of him. That left his questions on his tongue.
[Survive. We will meet one day.]
Then the water moved to form another few words and dispersed before he could read them properly. But he did manage to get a glimpse of it.
Huff huff
He breathed heavily while holding onto his chest. That phenomenon wasn't something normal, for sure.
Just what kind of being was behind it? Was it magic? Or was it some existence that even he was unaware of?
Knock knock
That sound made him flinch, giving him no chance to mumble those questions to himself. He let out a sigh, trying to guess how many minutes had passed by.
"What the f*ck did even-"
He got up hastily and put the utensil back at its spot. He should've answered the person on the door. Ignorance is a bliss, indeed.
Clank
He shuddered when he saw Rudia walk in without his permission. Her tense expression told him that something was wrong.
He hadn't said a word for a few minutes. So, Rudia decided to break the silence. She spoke in a calm yet unsure tone.
"Young master, you have a guest..."
His left eye twitched upon hearing her words. Who could even want to meet a side character just a day before the epilogue of the story? Not to mention that it was almost night.
He maintained his composure while expecting further explanation from Rudia. Her sound was low when she said it.
"It's... Lady Rosenstein."
That name reminded Jaden of the last set of words formed by the water. Chills ran down his spine as he gritted his teeth with a light grin.
'Give me a break...'
-[Good luck.]
'Ah... This damned novel...'