A week had passed since Erwin's soul had been torn from his world.
Seven days trapped between fear and uncertainty, searching for answers that never came.
According to the servants, it was the 714th year of the Kingdom...
and he was only fifteen years old.
"Fifteen...?" he murmured at his reflection.
Perfect...
Back to being a teenager.
And in the deadliest world I'd ever known.
The mirror reflected the face of Lucian Douglas of Mondring.
Refined features. A body forged by years of relentless training. Golden eyes that were already beginning to feel disturbingly familiar.
It wasn't his body.
But with each passing day, it felt a little less like a stranger's.
The servants bathed him with the ease of people carrying out a lifelong routine. To Erwin, every touch was a reminder that he was living someone else's life.
He remained still.
Holding his breath as they cleaned the dried blood from his skin.
Every muscle in his body tightened, but he forced himself not to pull away.
He wasn't used to this.
The closeness.
The vulnerability.
He swallowed, lowered his chin ever so slightly, and feigned calm.
It was that...
or expose himself.
Because if they discovered he wasn't the real Lucian...
What would they do to him?
Would they execute him?
Was there even a punishment for someone who had stolen the body of a duke's heir?
And then there was the lion waiting beyond the door.
What would happen if that beast realized its true master was gone?
The thought sent a chill through his blood.
Not even the warm bath could drive the cold from his bones.
Trying to distract himself, he studied the young man's physique in the mirror.
"This guy took training seriously..." he muttered with a forced smile.
Not long afterward, they dried him, wrapped his wounds, and began dressing him.
Then the door opened.
Erwin felt his body react before his mind did.
His heart raced.
Not because of the woman who had just entered.
But because of the memories this body still held of her.
A deep fear.
Instinctive.
As though every fiber of his being warned him never to provoke this woman.
Sophia Douglas of Mondring stepped through the doorway with calm, measured strides.
Beside her walked a lion with fur as black as night. Its claws echoed against the polished marble in a slow, heavy rhythm, filling the room with silent intimidation.
Sophia was no ordinary mother.
She was Duchess Douglas.
A Beast Tamer capable of subduing creatures that could lay waste to entire armies.
A woman whose mere presence commanded silence.
Lucian's memories were still fragmented.
But one certainty remained untouched.
Sophia loved her son more than anything else in the world.
She would protect him from the entire world if she had to.
And she would destroy anyone who tried to take him away.
Erwin swallowed.
If he made even the smallest mistake...
If she discovered that the person standing before her wasn't really her son...
He didn't want to imagine what would become of him.
Without a word, Sophia raised one hand.
Blue light began dancing between her fingers, illuminating the room like bottled lightning.
She stopped before Erwin and placed her palm against his forearm.
Mana flowed instantly.
Luminous symbols appeared across his skin, weaving together before slowly sinking beneath the flesh.
Erwin held his breath.
He felt something.
A presence on the other side of the bond.
Two separate wills inside his mind.
One was quiet and cautious.
The other was fiercer... wilder.
Yet neither carried any hostility.
They were simply...
watching him.
Recognizing him.
"What is this?" he asked quietly.
Sophia finished tracing the final symbol and withdrew her hand.
"A pack bond."
Erwin looked up.
"A pack?"
She nodded.
A shiver ran down his spine.
He wasn't their commander.
He wasn't their master.
To those creatures, he was something closer to...
a young member of the pack who needed protection.
A cub.
"So... they accepted me?"
A faint smile appeared on Sophia's face.
Erwin remembered what he knew about those creatures.
Thunder wasn't merely a warhorse. It was a lightning beast capable of tearing across battlefields and leaving nothing but scorched earth behind.
Umber was stranger still.
A wolf that hunted with the very darkness surrounding it.
Sophia smiled faintly, though a trace of sadness lingered in her eyes.
"And this is Larriet."
Larriet opened his eyes.
Slowly.
Never taking them off Erwin.
The massive lion stepped away from the window.
One heavy step.
Then another.
Each paw echoed across the marble floor.
A knot formed in Erwin's stomach.
No...
Don't come any closer.
The lion kept approaching.
It didn't seem aggressive.
That was what frightened him the most.
Sophia watched the scene in silence.
Erwin swallowed.
He had no idea how the real Lucian reacted whenever Larriet approached.
Should he pet him?
Talk to him?
Stand perfectly still?
Step back?
One wrong move could expose him.
Larriet stopped in front of him.
Close enough that Erwin could feel the warmth of its breath.
Its enormous golden eyes remained fixed on his.
It sniffed the air.
Once.
Twice.
Erwin's heart pounded so violently he was certain Sophia could hear it.
The lion slowly lowered its head.
Its massive muzzle stopped only inches from Erwin's face.
Erwin stopped breathing.
It knows.
It knows I'm not Lucian.
The lion's pupils narrowed.
A deep growl rumbled from its throat.
Sophia took a step forward.
"Larriet..."
The duchess's voice was calm.
It wasn't a command.
It was a warning.
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then...
the lion let out a slow snort.
It lowered its head and brushed its muzzle against Erwin's shoulder.
Then it walked past him and returned to the window.
As though nothing had happened.
Erwin remained frozen for several long seconds.
Until he remembered how to breathe.
Sophia smiled.
"It seems you've been recognized as part of the pack."
Erwin looked at her in confusion.
"That was... acceptance?"
"For Larriet, yes."
The duchess calmly stroked the lion's mane.
"He rarely approaches someone he doesn't acknowledge."
Erwin swallowed.
"And... what does he do when he doesn't acknowledge someone?"
Sophia answered with the same calm tone one might use to comment on the weather.
"Those who got that close...
didn't survive."
Erwin slowly let out the breath he had been holding.
He forced a smile.
"If that oversized cat ever decides he doesn't like my face anymore, I hope you've got a spare body ready, Mother."
For the first time, Sophia's stern expression softened.
A quiet laugh escaped her.
"Then you'd better learn to earn his respect, my son."
Those words struck him once again.
My son.
Erwin lowered his gaze to the mark on his arm.
The final seal had finished engraving itself.
And then he felt it.
An invisible thread connecting him to those creatures.
An ancient bond tying him to a family that wasn't truly his...
yet, for better or worse, they had accepted him.
For the first time since awakening in Kuria, Erwin felt something resembling belonging.
Umber was the first to approach.
The enormous shadow wolf walked silently until it stood before him.
Its eyes studied Erwin for several long seconds, as if searching for something even it couldn't understand.
Then it sniffed his hand.
And with a deep sigh, rested its head against it.
Erwin froze.
He hadn't expected that.
"Each of my beasts possesses a different affinity," Sophia explained as she watched the scene. "It doesn't just determine their abilities. It also shapes the way they perceive the world."
She ran a hand through Larriet's mane.
"Thunder commands lightning. Umber walks within the shadows. And Larriet..."
The lion opened his eyes completely.
"...is different."
Sophia smiled faintly.
"Which is why he still hasn't fully accepted you."
Erwin understood the message.
These creatures weren't weapons.
They were companions.
Guardians.
But they were also eyes that would always be watching.
Because now he understood.
Sophia hadn't only given him protection.
She had also surrounded him with three beings capable of noticing every change.
Every mistake.
Every moment he stopped resembling the son she knew.
Erwin wasn't sure whether to feel safer...
or more closely watched.