A sharp, searing pain shot through Caelum Drayton's chest. His body was heavy, his limbs numb, and his vision blurred as he lay on the cold marble floor of the once-great Drayton estate. The scent of blood and smoke filled his nostrils, mingling with the distant screams of servants being cut down.
'What… what is happening?'
His mind swam with fragmented memories that didn't belong to him.
Caelum Drayton. Heir to House Drayton, a once-proud noble family of the Altheon Kingdom. Known for their military prowess and unwavering loyalty to the crown. His father, Duke Reynard Drayton, was a war hero. His mother, Lady Seraphina Drayton, a woman of noble grace. They were supposed to be untouchable.
Yet now, the Drayton estate was in flames.
"Check if he's dead," a voice echoed through the grand hall, filled with disdain.
Footsteps approached, and Caelum forced himself to focus. A knight clad in black armor, bearing the crest of House Evernall, loomed over him. The family that had long envied the Draytons' position.
'I should be dead… shouldn't I?'
Then it hit him. His past life. His real life.
He was not originally Caelum Drayton.
In another world, another time, he had been an ordinary man—one who had read *Eternal Saga*, the very story he was now trapped in. And Caelum Drayton was nothing more than a minor character. An extra. One whose only role was to die alongside his family in the political purge that reshaped the kingdom.
'No… I refuse to die like this!'
His body screamed in agony, but the desperation to live outweighed the pain. He clenched his fists, trying to move.
"Still breathing?" Another voice joined in—a cold, familiar voice that made Caelum's blood run colder than death itself.
His heart pounded as his gaze landed on the woman standing beside the armored knights.
**Lady Evelyn Evernall.** His fiancée.
A woman he had once believed to be his destined partner. With golden hair cascading down her back and emerald eyes filled with calculated detachment, she stood there, untouched by the carnage. She had always been beautiful, refined, the epitome of noble grace. Yet now, she was the very embodiment of treachery.
She had chosen the winning side.
"Eve…" His voice was hoarse, barely a whisper.
For a moment, her expression flickered—something unreadable in her gaze. But then she sighed, as if his survival was an inconvenience.
"You were always too naive, Cael," she murmured, kneeling beside him. She reached out, brushing his bloodstained cheek with gloved fingers. "This is how the world works. Your family lost. And I…" Her voice softened, almost regretful. "I chose to live."
Anger surged through him, giving him strength. "You betrayed me…"
Evelyn didn't flinch. "I did what I had to."
She slowly rose to her feet, turning to the knight. "Make it painless."
As the knight lifted his sword, the world blurred.
A single notification flashed across his mind.
> **[SYSTEM ACTIVATED]**
> **Welcome, Caelum Drayton. Your destiny has been rewritten.**
A rush of heat flooded his veins, and before the blade could strike, everything turned black.
---
Caelum gasped, jerking upright. His body was drenched in cold sweat, his breath ragged.
He wasn't dead.
His fingers traced his chest, where the sword should have pierced him. The wound was gone.
He quickly scanned his surroundings. No flames. No bodies. No Evelyn.
Instead, he was in a lavish bedroom—his bedroom. The Drayton estate was intact, the sun streaming through the grand windows.
It took him a moment to process. He was alive. But more than that—he was back in time.
'This… this is before everything happened!'
His mind raced as the system's words echoed in his head.
> **[SYSTEM INITIALIZING…]**
> **You have been granted a second chance. Adapt, grow, and reclaim your destiny.**
The system. His cheat. His path to survival.
Caelum exhaled sharply. He wasn't going to waste this chance.
The fall of House Drayton was inevitable if he followed the original story. But this time…
He would rewrite everything.
---
Pushing himself out of bed, he moved swiftly. He needed to confirm the timeline.
His hands trembled as he opened his study's ledger. The date written on the parchment made his heart pound.
**Three months before the Drayton downfall.**
This was the perfect window. The political conspiracies that led to his family's destruction were already in motion. The Evernalls, along with their allies, were secretly dismantling the Draytons' influence. His father was set to be accused of treason. His family's lands would be seized. His mother would be executed. And he—he would be nothing more than a tragic footnote.
Not this time.
Caelum clenched his fists.
A sudden chime echoed in his mind.
> **[SYSTEM QUEST: DEFY FATE]**
> **Objective: Prevent the destruction of House Drayton.**
> **Reward: ???**
The system was already pushing him forward.
"Good," he muttered. "Because I refuse to be a victim."
---
Caelum knew he had to play his cards carefully. He couldn't act recklessly or draw suspicion. But he also couldn't sit back and let fate play out.
**Step one:** Identify his enemies and allies.
**Step two:** Gather power—both political and personal.
**Step three:** Destroy the Evernalls before they destroyed him.
But first, he had to deal with **her**.
Lady Evelyn Evernall.
His fiancée. The woman who would soon betray him.
His jaw tightened. In the original timeline, he had been blindly in love with her, trusting her until the very end. Now, he saw her for what she truly was—an opportunist who would abandon him the moment the tides turned.
A knock at the door interrupted his thoughts.
"Lord Caelum," a maid's voice came from the other side. "Lady Evelyn has arrived for your morning meeting."
Right on schedule.
Caelum exhaled, forcing a smirk onto his lips. "Perfect. Let her in."
If she wanted to play this game, he would play it better.
This time, he wasn't the naive fool who would fall for her deception.
This time, he would be the one to betray her.
---