Chapter 1

Kim Ga-Eul opened his eyes to an unfamiliar environment, in a bed twice the size of his own body.

Where am I?

He quickly shot up, frantically looking around.

The room couldn't be described as anything else as fancy and luxurious. The mattress seemed to be made out of cotton, the armchairs were lined with gold and everything was reflecting light, which made the room look like it was filled with glitter. This is not my apartment in Korea.

"I'll call the Imperial Physician right away! Just wait here." A maid quickly stood up and ran out of the room, causing the maids outside to look at her with curiosity.

Imperial Physician? Just where..?

He spotted a mirror in the room and looked at it to see his reflection. He didn't recognize the person looking right back at him.

Since when did he have purple eyes and white hair?

A wave of unfamiliar memories washed over him, causing him to jolt in surprise.

The boy in the memories looked just like the person staring at him in the reflection, just younger.

The memories ranged from sad to happy ones, from him eating dinner with his mother to him playing with a boy he met in town.

That person is super familiar. It's as if he read a novel that had a character with that description before...

Wait.. wasn't this the bedroom of Raphael Ventura? He looked around the room once more. The room was exactly as it was described in the novel, with most things being in the exact position they were described to be in.

He slapped himself in the face, just to see if he was dreaming or not. When that didn't work, he let out a deep sigh.

Just what was he supposed to do now? Pretend to be the villain of his favorite novel and try to avoid his fate of dying a terrible death? Exactly that.

There was a huge problem he did not account for.

He was terrible at acting as a brash person, let alone a villain who did terrible things in the future.

His eyes fell on a letter on a nearby nightstand.

Unable to deny his curiosity he reached out for the letter.

"Your Highness! The Imperial Physician is here!" The maid from earlier rushed into the room, making him flinch and leave the letter on the nightstand.

A little while later

He was diagnosed with a bottle of stimulants to help him stay awake while being asked a ton of questions like 'Has this happened before?' and similar ones like that.

He finally got to read the letter on his nightstand. It was a letter from Ren, his best friend from town. The letter was mostly about things that happened to him last week, while also reminding him to meet up at the marketplace.

He had a few hours to prepare to sneak out of this palace. Thankfully he was transported here with Raphael's memories.

It seemed as if Raphael was neglected by the Imperial family in his memories, which caused him to sneak out and meet Ren. He didn't have a personal servant and he was only ever invited to events if the other princes were unavailable, so the only people he interacted with (other than Ren) were the maids outside of his room and his tutors.

And this year was his first year at the Academy, the place where you form close bonds and connections while also learning how to put your magic to good use.

He decided to write down the key plot of the novel in the diary of the Third Prince, which could be found in a secret compartment on a bookshelf. He also wrote down other things he remembered, like certain people, how magic worked, and types of monsters that were gonna be important in the future.

After a very delicious meal, he decided to go into town an hour early. He put a hood on and used a secret passage that Raphael always used in his memories.

He slowly walked around town looking at the various stores and occasionally, people that he passed by. He remembered the usual route to the meeting spot they usually met at, but since he was early, he had time to look around and look at the things people were selling.

Today was August 4th of the year 631, a month before the Academy began. He needed to train in using his magic and hopefully rely on his muscle memory to use his bow. And he also needed to prepare for the things that were going to happen from now on.

He also had the protagonist on his side, as they were childhood best friends.

But he couldn't rely on that, since he couldn't be seen with him in front of other nobles. If he was caught acting friendly towards a commoner, he might get his reputation ruined.

And he also needed to make the protagonist believe that he was Raphael Ventura, which would be really difficult.

His eyes landed on a pair of people wearing friendship bracelets on their wrists.

In Korea, he never had a friend he could give a friendship bracelet to, as it was seen as a thing that only girls did. But he didn't find anything wrong in wearing a matching pair of bracelets. It was a symbol of friendship, so he didn't find a problem with wearing one or giving it to another person.

Maybe he could try giving Ren a friendship band? They could be easily hidden under a sleeve and it's not like they would wear it 24/7.

It was almost time to meet Ren, so he walked to the marketplace and looked around to see if he could spot Ren.

When he spotted him he went into an alley and waited for Ren to follow him. After both of them were in the alley, he took off his hood.

"Raphael! It's been a while. How are you?" Ren asked him, awkwardly standing in the alley.

"I've been good. How about you?" Raphael smiled. Meeting the protagonist of his favorite novel was a dream come true.

"I have been helping around my parent's store a lot. Nothing interesting happened."

"Well, I've been watching Vynn and Lucas train together. Father was feeling a bit agitated these days." Raphael lied. He couldn't tell Ren that he was unconscious for three days.

Ren looked at him with an expression filled with worry and another odd feeling he couldn't recognize. Raphael was nervous, knowing his plans would fail if Ren saw right through him.

After a while, Ren shrugged, "Do you want to check out the market? You can look around for things that catch your eye." he gestured towards the market.

"Sure." He put his hood back on and took Ren's hand. They walked around the market before Raphael stopped at a store that sold fake jewelry. He could go in and buy the bands like he wanted.

Ren looked at him with a puzzled expression. He knew that Raphael wasn't the type of person to buy jewelry.

"I was going to buy us matching bands. I'm not going to buy a band with gems on it for you, since you probably wouldn't accept it." He quickly explained, hoping that Ren would come with him.

"Oh okay." Raphael sighed in relief and walked into the store.

As they were browsing through the various bracelets and bands, the store owner walked up to them.

"What are you looking for? I can help you find something." The owner asked, looking between them.

"We would like to buy friendship bands." Raphael smiled at the lady. The lady nodded before walking away.

After a couple of minutes, she returned with two bands. They were simple friendship bands with a candy-striped pattern, but one had shades of purple and the other had shades of yellow.

Raphael gazed at the bands with approval and put the yellow one on his wrist. The band reminded him of Ren's eyes.

"I like these. How much would it be?" Raphael asked, taking the purple one and putting it on Ren's wrist.

"That would be 8 novas." He nodded and paid for the bands.

"Do you like the bands?" He asked.

"Yeah." Ren looked pleased.

"That's good. How about I buy you some food before leaving?" he asked. Ren probably hasn't eaten dinner yet.

Ren shook his head.

"Fine, I won't buy you food. I'll send you a letter so you know when can we meet next time. Don't get into any trouble, okay?" Raphael hugged him before bidding him goodbye.

He quickly walked away, needing to get to the palace as fast as possible. He couldn't get recognized now.

When he got to his room, he hastily put the hood in a box under his bed and changed into his night robes. He wanted to get some sleep, as he had some studying to do tomorrow. Raphael always had tutors teaching him various things, such as history, etiquette, and so on.

And with that, he fell asleep.