The rain fell softly…
Not violent, not angry… but sorrowful.
As if the sky knew.
In a distant corner of the royal palace, where laughter never reached and music was never heard, a woman sat on the cold floor… holding a small child in her arms.
Her hands trembled.
Not from the cold…
But from the words echoing endlessly in her mind.
"A mere commoner… who dared touch royal blood."
"A disgrace to the kingdom."
"Your existence is a mistake."
She shut her eyes tightly… but the voices did not stop.
The child looked at her with wide, innocent eyes… unaware of the cruelty of this world.
He reached out with his tiny hand… as if trying to wipe away her tears.
She paused.
Then… she smiled.
A broken smile.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered.
Her voice was weak… as if her soul was leaving before her body.
She held him tightly… as if trying to preserve the feeling of him… before she disappeared.
"You are not a mistake… they are."
But…
She didn't believe her own words.
She slowly stood up… her steps heavy… her eyes empty.
She walked toward the window.
Outside… the world was vast… cold… and merciless.
She stopped for a moment.
Looked at him one last time.
The child was smiling… reaching out toward her… waiting for her to come back.
In that moment…
Something inside her broke forever.
A final tear fell.
"Forgive me…"
Then—
One step.
And her voice vanished with the wind.
…
The child did not understand what happened.
He did not understand why she never came back.
He did not understand why silence suddenly became… heavy.
All he felt…
Was emptiness.
---
Years passed…
The child grew…
But that emptiness never left.
In the palace, no one called his name.
He was never acknowledged.
He was merely a shadow walking between walls.
Servants looked at him with disgust.
Children laughed at him.
Nobles… ignored him as if he didn't exist.
"The commoner's son."
"The mistake."
Words that never stopped.
At first… he was angry.
Then… sad.
Then…
He felt nothing.
---
One day…
He stood before an old mirror.
He stared at his reflection for a long time.
"Who… am I?"
A simple question.
But…
There was no answer.
He raised his hand… touching the glass.
As if making sure he truly existed.
But even that…
He wasn't sure of.
---
At that moment…
For a very brief second…
Something strange happened.
As if the world… "cut out"
Sound vanished.
Time… stopped.
He blinked.
Everything returned.
He stepped back.
His heart began racing.
"What… was that?"
He didn't know…
That moment…
Was the beginning of something far more dangerous.
Something…
That would make him wish he had never been born