Alternative Reincarnation

Chapter 2 — 2 Past Reunions.

He left the patron's office wondering what was really happening. Even though he felt as if he understood the situation, confusion still showed on his face. Or at least, he assumed it did. Something about this body made it difficult for his expressions to match what he was feeling. He also realized that he looked much older than he remembered himself being, and, despite everything, this body was handsome. That thought disappeared when he remembered what his so-called father had told him. He was going to be executed in three months, and the man had looked almost pleased about it. What kind of person had he been in this house? What kind of life had he lived in this world? More importantly, what was he supposed to do now? He wondered if he could run away.

He returned to his room and sat on the bed, taking in everything around him. He went to the window and looked outside, trying to understand just how large the estate was. For a moment, he wondered whether the father of this body was some kind of king or an important figure in the empire. The thought quickly faded as he began searching through the room, looking for anything that might give him a clue about where he was. After searching through one thing after another, he suddenly felt nauseous. His stomach turned, and before he could figure out what was happening, he collapsed onto the floor. Even as consciousness slipped away, one thought remained.

Maybe he was hungry. When he opened his eyes again, everything around him was white. It felt like an endless void. He looked around, confused. His mind searched for an explanation, but nothing made sense. Still, he remained strangely calm. He reminded himself that he was a scientist. Panic had never been useful to him, and neither had allowing his emotions to control his decisions. He believed in himself. He believed that, whatever this was, he would eventually understand it. This was his life now, and he would be the one deciding what happened to it—whether he changed everything, remained as he was, or took control of the situation completely.

That thought disappeared when he noticed something in the distance. It looked like a small white creature, somewhat like a rabbit and somehow like a chicken. He stared at it. "Is it some kind of magical creature? Am I dreaming? Am I seeing this in my dream?" He paused.

"But no matter."

He started forward, but the creature suddenly spoke.

"We are together now. Do you want to explore what we can do?"

He stopped. Confused and slightly wary, he stepped backward. This place felt too real to be a dream, and he had no reason to start experimenting inside one. Yet there was something strangely familiar about the creature. He didn't know why, but he felt safe around it.

"What's your name?" he asked.

The creature looked at him with the same confusion. "What's your name?" He answered, "Caelis Astor Hayes." The little creature stared at him.

"No. Stop. Your name is not Caelis Astor Hayes anymore."

He paused.

"Your name from now on is Victor Don Verdaschi."

He looked at the creature with interest. "Oh, interesting. And I have a question. Why is my name Victor?" The creature answered, "Don't you have the answers already? This is not your world. This is not your body. This is not your family, though you do not have a family." He immediately felt insulted.

"Hey, keep my family out of this ."

"Do you mean this family or the other family?

He wanted to explode. He wanted to scream. But when he tried, nothing happened. His face wouldn't change. He couldn't even remember how to scream. He tried to laugh maniacally, but even that wouldn't come out. He stared at the creature. "What's happening?"

"Oh, now you're not going to scream?"

"What did you say?"

"Yes. You heard me right. You cannot scream."

He thought about it for a moment. "Maybe it's because we're in this place of yours. I suppose you rule here. Are you the king of this place?"

"Of course. That's right. My name is King, and it's you who've bestowed me my name."

He looked at the creature.

"Am I your master?"

"Not in a million years. You cannot even have a servant of yours, even if you died a thousand times."

He felt insulted by someone he somehow knew.

"Please help me. I want to know what is happening here. I need to know what's going on.

King began explaining.

"You have died."

He listened.

"And in some senses, I have died too because I'm always with you."

"Yes, yes, but this is the first time I'm seeing you."

"Of course. It's been seventeen years since you saw me. You were still a toddler. I don't think you remember me."

"That's possible. Continue."

King continued. "Do you remember your last activity?"

"Of course I remember."

He paused.

"But now that you say that, I know this name Victor sounds familiar. I did read something about it, but I couldn't have gotten so far."

King answered, "Yes, you are too lazy. You didn't go far. You did read the wiki fandom of some book called Rebirth."

"What did you say?"

"You did read some novel called Rebirth, and you read only the wiki fandom."

He stared at King.

"Do not speak of it. Do not speak of it. You are confusing me more. There is no way that I'm in some novel. This is impossible. Do you know how dumb and stupid it sounds right now, but for such power?"

"Power is not your concern. But aren't you going to ask about Victor's memory? Don't you want to know about Victor?

"I do remember some things about Victor."

He thought. And thought. Then he remembered.

"Ah."

Fear appeared in his eyes. It felt as if he were being killed again and again.

"Why? Why is this happening? Why couldn't I just die in peace or something? Why couldn't things go in order as I had hoped?"

King answered, "So you've realized it."

"Yes. I now know that I—whatever I do, I must die. I don't know if I even have these three months."

He looked at his hands.

"But I was already dead the second I landed here. This person... I mean, this Victor was already dead."

He stared at his hands again.

"This is truly a curse for someone to marvel at. How can someone die like this? This is some kind of joke, and it feels like I'm comfortable with it. I don't know if I should cry, panic, or do anything. But I'm wondering, why don't I feel anything?

King answered, almost surprisingly, "I just discovered that you and Victor share ninety percent of your personality."

"But I'm not a thief. I'm not a criminal. I do not scam people. I'm successful. People love me."

"Who told you that they love you?"

"Is that supposed to be sarcasm? Because if you know my life, you know what I'm talking about."

King quickly apologized.

"Yes, I'm sorry. But you must know that this person is the opposite of you in the sense of environment and nature. This is maybe kind of you, or not you. But find a way to survive, please. And anyway, when you need me, just say within your mind, King, and I will appear."

He woke up and went to the mirror again. He quickly took off his shirt and looked at the body he was in. Then he noticed the bracelet on his hand and tried to pull it off. It wouldn't come off. He looked at his other hand. There was a ring on his left hand, on the third finger. He tried to pull that off too. It wouldn't move. He wondered whether this was some kind of trick, magic, or simply something he didn't understand. He called for King in his mind.

"King."

He asked him to show him Victor's memories. King complied.

"Okay. I will show you."

In the next moment, he was pulled into what felt like the life of Victor. He saw Victor's birth. His name was Victor Don Verdaschi. His mother was there. His father was there. He belonged to the main family. His mother died in an unkown accident. He had a little brother and an older sister. Victor's family was not doing well. He was raised badly because his parents had no attention to spare for him. His sister possessed talents that terrified every noble house. But that wasn't enough. When the time for succession came, they discovered that Victor possessed omen, a curse. Something that made everyone move away from him. Something that made them hate him.

No matter what Victor did, he couldn't change it. In some sense, he was a victim. But at some point, he was no longer innocent. For years, he tried to earn attention. He tried to do better. He tried to prove himself. But eventually, he realized he wasn't living the life he wanted. He had become obsessed with control. Control didn't require proof. Control didn't require love. Control was something that could be used when people feared you. And all Victor had was hate. Hate. Victor wanted to make the kingdom crumble. But he couldn't. He was smart and capable, but he wasn't the most knowledgeable person in the world. People who didn't know him hated him. People who did know him hated him.

Even though his father tried to protect Victor's legacy despite knowing that his family name could be ruined, it didn't work. Victor was cast out into a world where, no matter where he wandered, he was hated. Was it his power? Was it his aura? What was it? Was it his curse? Was it his omen? And was that really what mattered? King continued showing him Victor's life. He quietly watched.

"This man's life is truly terrible."

He paused.

"Now I wonder what is going to happen to me. Really, what is going to happen? It's not like I've read some novel and I know the future. I'm just a scientist. And I cannot fathom myself dying in some three months because of this.

"Stop."

King stopped.

"I've seen enough."

King looked at him. "Are you satisfied?" He felt something inside him. It felt like Victor's life had somehow become his own. A tear slipped from his eye. He touched his face.

"Hmm, why?" He asked.

King answered, "Because that was his life." He continued, "Ninety percent of Victor's personality matches Astor Hayes" He thought about it.

"Can I really live as Victor and be happy?"

King reminded him of the truth.

"Whatever you do, you must survive. But everything you do from here on out is leading toward the same thing."

Death. He sat on the bed. King started teasing him.

"You're truly miserable. Not only did you die in your world, but even here, after reaching this place, you couldn't even last a day."

King paused.

"But maybe there is a chance of you surviving if you really accept death and embrace the reality you're in."

He felt insulted. Before he could say anything, a knock came to his door.

"Master, young master. The knight who's here to watch over you has come. Please come and meet him in the training grounds."

He thought about it.

"Now they've even sent a person to go around with me everywhere so that I don't try to escape."

He prepared himself. He put on simple shoes, pants, and a shirt. He walked out with his hair fixed and pushed back. He looked like a new person. He was surprisingly lively. Even the maids noticed. They looked at him and whispered that, despite having heard that he would be executed in three months, he looked happy. He looked different. He heard them.

"They don't know that I'm crying in my mind."

He couldn't show his emotions even if he tried. The muscle memory of this body wouldn't allow his face to express what he felt. King answered, "Yeah, that's a good thing. Victor would unlikely embarrass King if he went around crying and begging people to forgive him." King continued.

"I don't know him, but he's not a person to kneel. He is above such lowly people who claim to execute orders while letting a person, a kid, suffer because mainly he has some kind of power they couldn't accept."

King asked him, "Aren't you curious about the curse or the power and why they hate it?"

"What? The power of this man looks like it's been sealed and he cannot use it. And apart from that, he has some rings and a bracelet that I can't take off."

He stopped speaking in his mind. Someone was ahead. He recognized the knight instantly through Victor's memories.

"Yeah. That person hates Victor, meaning he hates me."

He remembered.

"Three years ago, I treated this person badly. I embarrassed him. This made his family disown him from the branch of the family when he was second. And now even his name has changed to Richard Kess Marchiovani.

The knight saw him. Richard approached.

"It's quite a sight to see you again. And this time, it's my turn. It will be a different situation. You know it is I who will burn you or sever your head."

He looked at Richard.

"Oh. I guess I'll have you as my servant even in another life."

Richard took it as disrespect.

"We shall see that when you're dying three months from now. Even when you're sleeping, I'm not allowed to take my eyes off you. And I do hope that you die by my hands, I pray that it happens."

He looked at him.

"Hey, do you think I'll just die because you said so? Or do you think the empire can just kill me? Don't you think they've tried? Do you think this is the second time?"

Richard stared at him.

"Are you really that confident? Don't you see how grave the situation is? You have more than ten guards, and every one of them hates you."

King screamed and told him to just shut up and not to make things worse.

He answered him.

"Oh, you lowly servants will never understand a thing. And I will show you. I will show you what kind of a person I am."

Thought victor knew he was blushing and had zero plans of the future, he couldn't just ignore them.

Richard felt fear. Even he could hear how bad those words sounded. He murmured to himself, "Now this is his true nature." Then one thought remained.

"What is really going to happen within these three months?"