Chapter 1

Screeeech—!

With an ear-piercing, sharp tearing sound, his vision flashed like a blinding light. The headlights of a massive truck that had slipped on the rain-slick road painted the world white. There was no time to dodge, no time to scream. All he could do was resign himself and close his eyes—that was his last memory.

‘Is this… the end?’

Kim Su-hyun—his eighteen years of life could be summed up in one word: abandoned.

Abandoned by his parents at birth, he grew up in an orphanage. No one ever reached out to him with a kind hand. Amid the world’s rejection and indifference towards him, he had to survive like a hedgehog bristling with spines. He scraped together tuition with part-time jobs and slept curled up in a cramped boarding room, dreaming of a future that never came.

He wanted to be loved. He longed to feel the warmth of a normal family. But even that small wish was denied by fate. The truck that raced through the rain put a full stop to his futile life.

Consciousness sank into an impenetrable darkness. It was cold, lonely, and sorrowful. He thought that was the end of everything.

How much time had passed?

His senses gradually returned. But something was wrong. The horrible pain of the crash was nowhere to be felt; instead, a cozy warmth like being wrapped in soft fleece enveloped his whole body. He wanted to open his eyes, but his eyelids, heavy as lead, would not obey.

“Rian, my child. Are you alright now?”

A soft, warm woman’s voice sounded in his ear. It was a language he’d never heard before, yet strangely its meaning imprinted clearly in his mind.

‘Rian? Who are they calling?’

Su-hyun was confused. Desperately lifting his eyelids, a strange scene came into his blurred view. Intricate patterns were carved into the high ceiling, and warm sunlight poured through the window. He was lying on a gigantic bed the size of an average house.

And there was a woman gazing down at his face with concern. She was a picture-perfect noblewoman: golden hair styled elegantly, wearing a benevolent smile.

“Oh my goodness. You opened your eyes, Rian!”

The woman cried out with joy and gently stroked his cheek. Her touch was so warm that Su-hyun nearly welled up with tears without realizing it. It was the first time in his life he’d ever felt such a tender touch.

He couldn’t make sense of the situation. He had clearly been hit by a truck and died. Was this heaven? But soon he realized his body had become extremely small. He tried to lift his hand, but what appeared in his view was a chubby, tiny infant hand.

‘Is this… my hand?’

Shocked, he looked around. The room held more than just the woman. A stern-looking middle-aged man and, beside him, a slightly younger boy stood by the bed.

“What a relief. He was ill for a full three days.”

The deep-voiced man let out a sigh of relief. He was Rian’s father, Aaron Aster, the Viscount. The boy beside him, peering curiously at his younger sibling, was the eldest son, Kaion Aster.

“Little brother, does it not hurt now?”

Kaion asked gently and tapped Rian’s hand with his small finger. In that moment, Su-hyun realized.

He was no longer Kim Su-hyun; he had been reborn as a child named Rian Aster.

A situation that could not be explained by science or common sense. This place was not South Korea. The people’s clothing, the room’s style, and even the view glimpsed through the window—all of it evoked a medieval European–style fantasy world.

As confusion threatened to overtake him, a glowing orb of light rose in a corner of the room and softly illuminated the surroundings. It was magic. A word he had only seen in textbooks had manifested in front of him; he could no longer deny his reincarnation.

“Mother, Rian is looking at me.”

At Kaion’s words, the blonde woman—Rian’s stepmother, Serena—smiled even more brightly.

“Our youngest really likes his brother, doesn’t he.”

She carefully lifted Rian into her arms. His mother’s embrace was warm and fragrant. It was a safety and coziness he had never once felt in his previous life. The gazes of his family were full of genuine love and concern.

‘Family… so this is family.’

For the abandoned child Kim Su-hyun, it was an abundance of warmth. More than fear of this strange world, the comfort of finally having a family outweighed it. A hot tear rolled down his small cheek.

“Oh dear, my baby. You must still be in pain. Hurry, call the priest…”

Serena flustered, panicking slightly, but Rian simply buried his face in his mother’s embrace. These were not tears of pain. They were tears saying goodbye to a past filled with sorrow and loneliness, and welcoming a new life with joy and gratitude.

Kim Su-hyun had died.

And now he would live as Rian Aster, the second son of the Viscount Aster’s house.

Unlike the life he had lived like a shadow, in this life he vowed to protect this warmth with his own hands. Rian clenched his small fist tightly and made a quiet vow.