A sweet breeze came through the open window in the bright room, full of natural light, and ruffled several pages of the open books thrown across the floor. The maid, Koren, scampered around the room, picking up open books and putting them in neat piles.
With his feet on the windowsill, Faust was sitting comfortably in a lavish, cushioned throne-like chair. A dozen books lay scattered around him as well as on the armrest. The one in his hand, which he was currently reading, was called The Red Winter Records.
Apparently, there was a land far in the north-east called Graveless Bloodlands where heavy snowfall was common. The weird part, however, was the fact that the amount of snowfall and the color of snow changed each year depending on how many people were killed there.
This book in particular described the events of the worst winter ever in this land, and it happened because that year only 400 people had died.
This world was beyond anything Faust had imagined.
It had been a week since he became a prisoner in his own room. It was awfully boring in here. On one of his stepmother’s visits, she brought a few books to teach him basic geology. He read the book from cover to cover in hours and immediately asked for more books. Reading was his best pastime.
He was still not allowed to leave the room. His parents brought several people with them every day to perform weird tests and whatnot. They spent hours talking to him about this and that. Mainly, they were questions about his past. At first he was confused, but the more he read, the more he understood what was going on.
They were afraid that he was possessed by some evil entity.
It was not baseless fear. This world was anything but normal. All kinds of weird creatures roamed the land, including ghosts.
Koren’s clean-up finally reached near the window. She just stood there glaring at him without saying a single word. Faust strained his ear as if she just said something,
"What was that? You think I’m the most handsome young master in the kingdom?"
’Silence.’
"Your words humble me."
They locked eyes. She did not blink even once, her dark eyes piercing through his soul. Only when he lifted his feet from the windowsill did she move to collect a few books placed there, and wordlessly turned around.
Faust sighed.
"Yeah, you are right. I’m too handsome to be humbled."
Koren was the only maid who attended to him. Probably in her late 20s. She was way too pretty to be a maid, truth be told, even if her face was always ice-cold and her piercing gaze never softened. She had long black hair, black eyes, and a curvy athletic figure. Even if she was almost flat, her beauty was top-notch.
’8/10 for sure.’
It was just that she had not spoken a single word to him throughout the week; who knew why? He thought she just couldn’t speak, but then she answered in a deep, melodious voice when his parents asked something. Blatant disrespect that was!
Faust sat up, his legs now crossed on the padded chair as he took in the beautiful view outside. A large town was sprawled in the cradle of high, green mountains. A serene sound of water flowing could be heard faintly when the wind calmed down a little; it came from a large river passing through the mountains and mixing with the vast open sea in the north.
The harbor was always full of activity. From a palace window, Faust could barely make out the ships, but he could still see the movements of a large crowd.
The city was called Cindros. It was in the mid-south part of this continent, Eldraxis. They had the same word for continent and the world. So the planet could be called that as well.
They had not made contact with any other continent or living civilization as of yet and truly believed that no one else existed in the world other than themselves. Knowledge of Astrology was only rudimentary at best. Fortunately, they were not arrogant enough to believe that they were the center of the universe.
People had traveled thousands of kilometers by ship and other means and found nothing but vast ocean, so maybe it was true that there was no one out there.
Dozens of islands were also included in Eldraxis, despite the large body of water in between.
Cindros belonged to the kingdom of Skarvald Orzeth. One of the six powers ruling this world. His father, Duke Henric Dawnfire, was a blood cousin to the king of Skarvald Orzeth, Alexander Brightflame the Third.
Only the king and the members of the royal family were above him in status. Only two other noble families in the kingdom were of equal power.
"I’m loaded and handsome. That old geezer did at least something right."
Koren had left him alone after finishing her cleaning duty. The civilization of this world may be less advanced, but for him personally, this was a huge improvement in living standards.
From the day his grandma died, Faust was in the system. From the age of 4 to 17, over a dozen foster homes had sheltered him. At first, he wished nothing more than to be the best child possible to his new family, but after too many disappointments, he realized what it truly meant to be different.
To belong nowhere, loved by none, and a nuisance to all.
He was never good at socializing to begin with, but after enduring unspeakable evil at a young age, something in him was permanently changed. He did his best to hide it, but every new family they sent him to figured it out sooner or later.
"No, it’s all good. Stop thinking about that nonsense. I am Faust now. A bastard son of a Duke. Filthy rich and a young master like those in the novels!"
Of course, that was if they ever let him out of this miserable room.
Faust looked up. Several footsteps outside. At this time of morning, his parents should be busy with their duties. What was going on?
The guard opened the door, and five people entered his room, including his parents, who locked the door behind them and smiled at him.