Episode 1: This Life Is Truly A Joke – Chapter 3.2

“In an hour, you have a lesson on the war between the gods.”

“Then I want to be alone until then.”

Upon hearing these words, Yan looked back at the prince with worry.

However, the memories of Calian kept him obedient to his duties, and so the present Calian was allowed to leave the building alone and make his way towards the artificial lake.

There was no one else, except Yan following his steps at a far distance.

“Ha.”

Calian stopped by the lake and breathed heavily from his efforts. He saw there was a small statue in the middle of the lake.

It was a black dragon spreading its wings toward the sky, its eyes studded with red jewels.

‘Isn’t that Sispanian?’

The statue was of the dragon Sispanian, who was also the first queen of Kailis.

He remembered a story that said she had black hair like a still night and red eyes that burned with a sacred fire.

Black hair and red eyes. Just like Calian.

‘Cursed bloody eyes.’

Flanz’s voice reemerged in his mind again.

‘Has my mentality become more fragile because my body is younger?’ Calian laughed at himself after having these thoughts.

Bern was a knight and prince who fought and died alone in at the gates of his kingdom. Just yesterday his arm was severed, and countless arrows pierced his body as he wielded his sword.

There was no reason for him to lose his head here.

The priority at the moment wasn’t to kill the hateful Prince Franz. First he had to figure out how he got in this situation.

Calian opened his eyes for a moment and ordered the thoughts in his head, attempting to get a firm grip on the events that happened.

‘…The Axis.’

The Axis of Time.

It had suddenly appeared at the Palace of Secretia one day, shaped like a large hourglass, and it had the power to turn back the clock only once.

That very Axis of Time must have been the cause of this. However, it was also the very cause of the war between Secretia and Kailis.

Before the war began, the Kingdom of Kailis demanded The Axis of Time. Secretia rejected their demands. It was clear to King Chase that it was a dangerous object, and so he stood up staunchly against them. And how did the Mad King Franz respond?

When King Chase expressed his refusal, a large army had fallen upon the city

Franz even skipped the declaration of war, let alone negotiations. He thought himself too great for the concept.

From that war, the kingdom of Secretia was eventually defeated, the consequence was its utter downfall.

‘My brother must have witnessed my death.’

Chase must have seen Bern, the last knight alive, finally die, and so he must have turned back the clock. He didn’t know that this would be the result, but Chase tried to save Bern.

Calian lamented to himself.

“If the the Axis of Time is the cause of this…that means there’s no way back.”

It could only be used once, and if time had already been twisted, there was no way to return to the old days.

What do I do? Calian murmured to himself for a moment.

He should certainly make use of his second life. He couldn’t afford to waste the opportunity that Chase had given him. And so, Calian decided not to go back, but to live. He’ll live first and find another way.

Calian fell back into his thoughts.

* * *

Calian, age fourteen, was to die soon.

He was accused of attempting to poison Queen Silica but failed, and hung himself in fear of punishment.

Of course no one believed that story.

When news of his “suicide” was revealed, all surrounding gossip around his “assassination” had to been heavily censored. It was rumored that whoever killed Calian would of course be a certain powerful figure.

And that person also had a certain connection to Calian’s biological mother, Freya.

The concubine Freya was famous for her beautiful appearance, but her heritage was that of a commoner. She had won the affection of the king and had given birth to Calian, but soon died from the aftereffects of childbirth.

The afteraffects of childbirth being vomiting black blood after drinking the tea sent by the queen.

And so, Calian lost his mother.

It was unimaginable that Calian had some help. It made no sense that the weak prince obtained some rare poisonous herb, and tried to kill the Queen who held even greater power than the King.

Moreover, Calian has been despised by the Queen and Franz since he was born. Under these circumstances, the original Calian would have felt suffocated.

No matter how large a beast is, it will grow weak if it was only fed milk and was trained to lick its master’s feet from birth. And that was why Calian grew up so pathetic, to the point where he couldn’t imagine ever killing someone.

Calian laughed bitterly.

“I’ll just clean up after him since I can’t stand seeing this mess.”

He had heard that his appearance was just like Freya’s, except for the color of his hair.

The Queen hated Calian’s face, as it was a reminder of his mother’s. So she had Calian killed and made up a story, and the King ignored it.

The Queen held all three of the royal guards, except for one knight under the King’s command.

Calian died two or three months before he turned fifteen, and Yan had said that his fifteenth birthday was four months from now.

“I may be killed anytime soon.”

The remaining time for Calian’s supposed suicide by hanging was about one or two months.

His red eyes reflected in the water keenly.

He didn’t have the slightest intention of dying by their hands.