Will you be my undercover agent?

The next morning, the Regent woke Aidan up before the first light.

"Rise and shine! We have to get back while everyone's still sleeping to avoid any unnecessary questions," he said, straightening out his already immaculate clothes. Even in these circumstances, this man managed to look his best.

Aidan, on the other hand, didn't feel so fresh. He sighed – since he had come to this world, he hadn't slept through the night even once!

"And then what?" he asked, rubbing his eyes.

The Regent gave him a long steady look and finally said:

"I'll send you back to General Minn's place. You might have to lay low for a couple of days and avoid meeting anybody. And after you venture outside, you shouldn't forget to act dejected, sad, humiliated, and unhappy."

That didn't sound very difficult for Aidan. To display all these emotions, he didn't even necessarily need to act.

"Will there be a trial? Are you going to announce my...ahem...castration?" he asked.

The Regent visibly tried to conceal a smile. Aidan raised his eyebrow at him. Just how amused was this guy with his own "brilliant" idea!

"I'm going to heavily imply it," the Regent responded. "It seems a bit inappropriate and over the top to announce something like that publically."

"As if you care about propriety!" Aidan shook his head.

"This is a cruel and unusual punishment – almost everyone's going to think that I'm a monster," the Regent said thoughtfully.

"Aren't you, though?"

"In the context of this world, I'm your average run-off-the-mill tyrant. This is going to put me over the edge."

Aidan noticed a tiny glint in the man's blue eyes.

"For some reason, you seem pleased about it," he said, pursing his lips.

"Why wouldn't I be pleased? This will let me lure out my hidden enemies. They will all flock to you like a bunch of chickens, expressing their pity and dismay. Surely, they'll offer you a chance for revenge. And you, as a proud man, will take it," the Regent responded as they reached the "mirror" lake.

"Unbelievable. You want to use me as a spy!" Aidan rolled his eyes. He had no intentions of entangling himself more with the problems of this world. All he wanted was for poor Corus to have a good life. As long as that was the case, Aidan could just spend the rest of his days here drinking and trying out different kinds of meat.

"Didn't you want to work together to stop the war?" the Regent scratched his head.

Aidan immediately remembered saying something like that yesterday. Not that he didn't mean it – more like, he didn't think it would require any effort on his part. The Regent was doing pretty OK by himself so far, right?

"Yes, but..." Aidan didn't know how to politely back out anymore.

"I'm sure there are still slaves being channeled to the savages through the black market," the Regent's eyes seemed to contain an infinitely complicated emotion. "I need to know who's involved in that and all the ways they are circumventing my surveillance."

"And you're sure they're just going to tell me that?" Aidan was skeptical.

"Not at first," said the Regent. "But with time, I think, they'll trust you enough to involve you in their plans. You're a rich, powerful General with a grudge against Reo Atarian, after all. Your identity is actually perfect for this."

"Why do you suddenly trust me so much?" This question has been at the back of Aidan's mind for a while now.

"You willingly took the Iron Oath, Corus finds you trustworthy enough to invite you to this place. From what I've seen so far, you don't seem malicious... But most importantly, I really, really want to trust at least somebody. Perhaps, it makes me a fool, I don't know," the Regent stepped into the water and was slowly making his way forward. Aidan couldn't see his expression.

He couldn't help but feel bad for poor Jake. They were companions in misfortune – torn out of their regular lives for no reason to deal with all the shit in this weird world. And Jake had spent so much longer here. Aidan shuddered to think what would happen to him in five years. No, he wouldn't survive for a year, let alone five.

Aidan also understood the desire to trust someone very well. Everything is more tolerable if there is a friend on your side.

Aidan followed the Regent into the water, and soon he was already standing on the other side. It was still dark, yet Aidan could make out the silhouette of a bald fat man sitting next to the lake. He still kept the same pose as when they left him yesterday. Aidan didn't want to seem rude, so he greeted the guy. He received, however, no response.

"Who is this man, and why is he so weird?" Aidan asked the Regent on their way back to the Imperial palace once they were outside the hearing range of this Buddha-impersonator.

"I already told you, he's the Guardian of the lake," the Regent said quietly.

"So he just sits there, day and night?" Aidan asked. He couldn't help but sympathize with this poor man.

"He can't leave – he created the place, and he is tied to it," the Regent said, completely unmoved.

"Why doesn't he speak?" Aidan asked.

"Some years ago, he was forced to take the Iron Vow that forbids him to lie. Since then, he doesn't talk at all."

"Who forced him?" Aidan was shocked.

"Me," the Regent responded simply.

Aidan didn't know what to say to that. He still had no idea what to make of the Regent – at times, he seemed like a nice guy, and at times he would be utterly terrifying.

"Adnan!" he suddenly heard a loud voice behind him. He turned around and saw Kai Atarian himself running towards him. As he came closer, Aidan noticed that the rims of his eyes were red, and his clothes were in obvious disarray. Aidan didn't even manage to say anything when he felt strong hands pull him into a tight embrace.

"You're alive," he breathed into Aidan's ear as he ignored all Aidan's attempts to push him away.

Aidan sensed the overwhelming sensation of panic coming over him – he knew he was about to toss the guy across the yard. But as he felt the familiar smell of acacia envelop him, he suddenly seemed to calm down. He clearly didn't want to hurt this person. So Aidan put his hands down, took a deep breath, and just stood there motionlessly, waiting for the Prince to let go. He could endure this for a while.

Finally, the Regent's quiet cough made the Prince take a step back.

"Uncle, have you pardoned him?" he asked with hope in his eyes.

Aidan's heart skipped a beat as he heard the question, and he couldn't help but smile. The Prince was really worried about him. Aidan knew very well that it was just because he felt bad for selling him out to the Regent and was trying to get into his good graces again. But he still was moved. Besides, he wasn't angry with the boy anymore. Without this little "help" from the Prince, he wouldn't have found out about the Regent's true identity.

"General Minn was properly punished, nephew," the Regent sneered in disdain.

Aidan was in awe of this man's acting abilities! The way Jake played an unlikable villain deserved multiple awards. Aidan remembered that he was actually supposed to be sad and in pain, so he immediately erased that little smile he had on his face and gave the Regent a helpless and angry look.

"Is he free to go?" the Prince asked anxiously.

"Yes, I'm about to send him back to his mansion. He will need some medical attention," the Regent responded coldly.

"I'll take him," the Prince volunteered.

"Nephew, are you a coachman or a future Emperor?"

The Prince lowered his eyes and kept quiet.

"I thought so," said the Regent. "If you're bored and feel like you don't have enough responsibilities, I will gladly arrange a useful occupation for you."

The boy still kept quiet, not daring to raise his head.

"If you have nothing else, then General Minn will be on his way," the Regent motioned with his hand for Aidan to leave. And Aidan was happy to oblige.

He couldn't take his horse back, as he was supposed to be "in pain" and "bleeding", so Aidan had no choice but to wake up one of the coaches, sleeping inside the carriages.

In about an hour he was finally back at his mansion - tired, cold, and done with life. This time, nobody greeted him at the door, but Aidan was more relieved than surprised about that. Honestly, he didn't want to see any of his crippled servants.

He entered his room and was happy to see that his request for pillows and blankets had finally been fulfilled. Aidan wrapped himself inside the warm blanket and fell into slumber.

He slept until very late the next day, and he would have slept longer if one of the servants hadn't knocked at the door with the food. As expected, the food was shit. Aidan pushed the lettuce around the plate for a while and thought about all that bread and wine he got in the palace dungeons.

If he was here to stay, he had to start buying and cooking his own food, or he wouldn't survive much longer.

For the next couple of days, Aidan stayed inside his manor, exploring all the rooms. He found the library, filled with books he could barely understand. Many were on martial arts or the arts of war. There were also a couple books on magical plants. Aidan marked those for later.

Aidan even found the almost barren kitchen, but at least a stove was there, so all hope wasn't lost. Finally, he discovered the servant's quarters on the second floor. Now he knew that Adnan Minn had exactly 12 servants, all disabled – one way or another.

Aidan thought a lot about his deal with Jake-the-Regent, about the possible war, and about the poor people that were sold like cattle for slaughter. It had nothing to do with Aidan, sure. But was he actually able to ignore the injustices and do nothing just because this wasn't his world?

On the evening of the third day, Aidan was pretty bored and started thinking about going to the market to stockpile some wine when suddenly he heard a commotion happening downstairs. He left his room and headed to the hall.

"Let me in!" a familiar voice was shouting at his loyal one-armed servant.

"You may, of course, come in, Your Highness," the servant said fearfully. "But General Minn is currently indisposed. I have to ask him if he can entertain guests right now."

Aidan silently gave the old man props for standing up to the Emperor-In-Waiting himself. He was sure it took a lot of guts. Still, Aidan decided not to hide behind the backs of his poor servants.

"I can entertain this guest. It's fine," Aidan smiled as he came up to the door.

The Prince dashed in, looking at Aidan as if he had seen a ghost.

"What did he do to you?" he asked with tears in his eyes.

Aidan sighed. If only he had left to get wine half an hour earlier...