Chapter 1 - I Shall Avoid My Fate
The streets were hushed, the moon was bright, prince Artisia admired the world outside of his golden framed window. Then he sighed regretfully and closed the royal blue curtains.
Artisia had always treasured these rare, harmonious moments, as they were the only times where he got to do whatever he liked. Within certain boundaries, of course. But, he always found it hard to imagine his many lives without having a luminescent, starry night waiting for him at the end of the day. He couldn't imagine anything better as the only links between the outside world and him were his father, King Ertien and his precious golden window located in the dusty, old, ancient watchtower in which he slept in.
Artisia loved to watch the citizens of his father's kingdom go about their daily tasks, as he knew he would never be able to do that because of how he was imprisoned. You see, Artisia had a younger brother, the second prince of Hevalia, Rin. Rin had put some type of poison in their mother's teacup, she died, pleading that we both live a pleasant life after her passing. But, a few days after her funeral, Rin blamed it all on Artisia. Why? To be the next in line to the throne, of course. Needless to say, King Ertien believed him because Rin was his favourite and he didn't want to give Artisia the throne anyway as he was too "kind-hearted". Hence the imprisonment.
To pass the time, Artisia also loved to read and write about all the stories that happened in his previous lives. Yes, he could remember them all, or most of them, at least. He keeps getting reincarnated over and over again, each time remembering absolutely everything. From the first time he ate solid food in his first life to the present. Each time he was revived, he had to save the world in one form or another, ranging from defeating a dragon to rescuing a young lady in distress. It was starting to get boring at this point. He could guess what the plot was supposed to be like this time around. Artisia would overthrow his treacherous father, King Ertien, with the help of an intelligent, beautiful young maiden, since none of his lives had been any different. Then he would make Rin a commoner and yes, you guessed it, fall in love with the female protagonist that had helped him. Perfect right?
Wrong! Not only does he have to deal with all the paperwork, can you imagine balancing it out with a never-ending amount of balls and banquets? Plus, dealing with all the country's affairs, wars and whatever else? Artisia groaned at the mere thought of it.
Now, do you want to hear the upgraded plot that Artisia made up? Of course, you do. First, escape the watchtower on the night of his brother's coming-of-age ceremony (this happens when you're 15-16 depending on the parents' decision) with money and a decent amount of snacks. This will make the next day complete havoc and ruin the royal family's reputation. That won't be much use to him, but he'd be able to at least take some sort of revenge on his father and brother. This makes it worth it.
Second, disguise himself as a commoner. Not risking a search party showing up.
Third, get out of Hevalia. It doesn't matter where he goes as long as he gets out of Hevalia. This will be done by acting as a stow-away on a humongous trading ship that King Ertien buys from monthly. This will make it so that he doesn't suspect I got away on it, as he would never think that his own child would be able to sneak right under his nose.
Lastly, escape, get identification and live. Not forgetting to change his name obviously.
Wouldn't it be weird for an officer to pull you over to give you a ticket, ask for identification and find out that you're the unwanted prince of another nation? Honestly, I'd feel bad for the officer.
As soon as Artisia sat down on his blue bed covers, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in." He commanded with a monotone voice.
"Yes, thank you, your majesty." An old servant with tied back grey hair and several warts all over her face bowed, holding platinum-coloured towels.
It's already time to bathe and just as I was going to have a nap too. I mean what's there to bathe for?
"Thanks," Artisia said, indifferently.
The old woman escorted him to the bathroom, he got in the scolding hot bath and she started to scrub his delicate, almost feminine back.
I bet that Rin has dozens of young, beautiful women to assist him in bathing. But I only have this old, unsightly stranger and frankly, I'd rather bathe myself. But, then again, what so good about women? I'd rather men.
