A Beautiful Dream is Hard to Realize

Chen Yan was dreaming.

It was a story of his past when he was still a teenager.

At that time, he was quite an excellent student. His grades were always good and never dropped from top ten of his year, especially in science classes and their tests, where he often aced them. He was also an honor student who was well liked by teachers.

Not only by the faculty, he had some good friends where he would chat with during breaks, girls he loved to oggle together with the said friends, and would laugh over even at the silliest things.

The changed happened quite suddenly.

Using little money he saved, Chen Yan bought a ticket one day.

He didn't remember what could be the impetus. Thinking about it, it was quite weird since he considered himself quite upright and never really participated in any gamble that involved money.

Of course, many people would argue that lottery can't really be said a form of gamble, but it was technically one, so it was something he used to avoid.

While he couldn't recall the reasoning that led to his decision, he still vividly remembered the Sunday evening when his loud voice nearly exploded his own home.

The lottery had a list of numbers, which just happened to hit all the right numbers appeared on the television.

Since that day, the few life plans he had back then, already drifted from the original path.

"Damn, how could I just slept like that." Mumbled the prince of the castle.

Stretching his limbs, feeling the sensation of the warm sheet, he already felt a lot better. He didn't know how long he passed out, but it was enough to wash away all his fatigue.

Walking to the balcony with half-closed eyes, he found that the sun was currently setting. The sky was dyed with a beautiful gradation of night blue, purple, and orange colors with sprinkles of stars that sparkled faintly all over the place.

Counting from noon, It seemed he was sleeping more than he was napping.

He originally wanted to gather his thought, but who would think the bed was too much. In a mere minute, his consciousness already being carried away. He even dreamt of his past.

Smile formed on his lips as he followed up reminiscing about stuff he already left behind. His eyes gently closed as if to reinforce the vague images that floated close by yet so far.

"Speaking of which, wasn't my choice of the future before that was to become an engineer?"

Roland chuckled at the what if.

If he was someone who got interested in and ended up having such background, he would be a lot more relieved now.

While he was not totally clueless about education as he grew older, the parts he had confident more or less stopped at the elementary level.

"What now..."

Roland rubbed his temple and went back to the bed. He sat at the fluffy bed and pondered things while watching the transition from dawn to evening.

Beside dwelling in series of what-ifs, the fact he was dropped in a story he read was more intriguing and realistic.

In the story he read, the protagonist, Chen Yan the engineer, died from overworking and came to possess the body of Roland, a prince from the Kingdom of Graycastle.

And now, he, also Chen Yan, trapped in the same body with similar, perhaps even exact circumstances.

Letting a soft sigh, he lamented the fact he couldn't exactly rejoice at this dream-like story.

After all, this fantasy setting was not exactly an easy mode where he could take things to stride.

Being a prince had little advantage. In fact, the only perk was that he started as the ruler of the town.

But for the hundred chapters he had read, this Roland would face plenty of assassinations, and problems that required advanced engineering skill before he could get a smooth sailing.

This was the reason he was so hung up at the word engineering. It was the key ability to survive in this strange world where a lot of people, intentionally or due circumstances, wanted to kill Roland the character he was now.

He originally wished this whole event was just a dream, even so, he already slept and didn't wake up in his previous world.

He already accepted fully that he was now Roland.

"Wait... Before that, there are plenty of problems await before I even need to use that kind of..." Roland lightly slapped his head.

At nearly the same time, his room was knocked and a gentle voice carried over from behind the door, cutting his monologue.

Yeah, problem.

The example came at the right time.

In a rare case, Tyre hadn't seen the face of the prince for the day. Usually, the prince would bother her on his own initiative, so even if she didn't want to, he would be nearby.

Not to mention, he was basically a shut-in. If not in his room, he would be in kitchen stealing foods, or harassing maids that caught his eyes. In short, he was just like a ghost bounded to the castle. Despite being the lord of the town, he barely went out.

Of course, her original plan was that she would never see him anymore after his breakfast that had his last meal.

The oldest princess of Graycastle Kingdom, princess Garcia Wimbledon had ordered the death of her own sibling and her duty as a spy planted to his side was to execute it at moment notice.

For that very purpose, her royal highness was merciless. Despite Roland, her silly sibling was as harmless as a pill bug and probably couldn't do anything when he was so far away, she still had specifically ordered a potent poison from a famous alchemist.

Colorless and tasteless, just like water. The poison was the newest creation and probably the most lethal invention an alchemist in the four Kingdoms that ever made if the description was the truth.

Unfortunately, however, it had failed to achieve success.

She had clearly seen the prince consumed the poisoned food.. Could it be the poison was supposed to be processed with an empty stomach or down with hot water? It would be such a bogus then.

It was unlikely she actually got the poison swapped with some other too. Still, whether the poison failed or it was due to her negligence, for Gracia Wimbledon, it was still a failure on her part.

Gracia Wimbledon had achieved her success so far from being decisive and tolerated in using any methods for the best results.

She was a kingfisher specifically raised to nip the bud known as Roland Wimbledon, but she had failed miserably. Would her sister get in danger from this?

Tyre was anxious, but the professional training she went through made her capable in masking her face and hid any traces of anxiety or agitation.

At any rate, she wanted to first verify whether the poison indeed didn't work, or just delayed. She had heard the prince already came back from other maids, but since then he was in his room.

She already knocked his room at two different times, but if her hearing didn't also fail her, he was sleeping soundly inside during both times.

Now for the third time, she finally heard the response.

Her heart sank, it was the voice of none other but the prince Roland that she wished had died. Though she had prepared, a faint glimmer of hope still resided in the back of her mind that the poison was just delayed somehow.

But hearing his casual word, that wishful thinking had vanished thoroughly. It was already too long from the estimated reaction, what else was this beside failure? Her poker face even faltered.

Taking a deep breath, she reached out her hands to tap and pressed her face gently in a way to make her skin muscles relax.

With quick efficiency, she had settled her condition to normal. For the last touch, she put a charming smile before she opened the door as usual.