It was the boy from that story.
The bedtime story.
'Grandma… what have I gotten myself into?'
Henry, himself grew up with his grandmother for as long as he could remember.
From what she told him, Henry's father hated him. His mother had died while giving birth to him, and although Henry was the proof of their love, his father believed Henry was cursed as the reason he lost the woman he loved was him.
Because of Henry's mother's last wish, his father did not abandon him immediately. He raised him, but never loved him.
Eventually, even that obligation became too much.
When Henry's father finally grew tired of him, he ignored his late wife's wish entirely and abandoned Henry. That was when Henry's grandmother took pity on him and decided to raise him herself.
Henry heard that his grandmother brought him away when he was only three years old. From that day on, his father never once came to see him. He only sent money every month, cold, calculated, like a business transaction.
Henry's grandmother was deeply offended, but she still collected every coin. She saved it all for Henry, telling herself it would belong to him one day.
When Henry was around eight years old, he learned that his father had remarried. A year later, that woman gave birth to a baby girl.
That girl became the sister who hated Henry, for being the son of her father's true love.
When Henry lived with his grandmother, she often told him bedtime stories. Among them, one was his absolute favorite.
That story had magic.
That was also why he loved it so much.
In the story, there was an arrogant boy. His name was also Henry.
Henry Bryxton.
He was cruel, evil, and bullied everyone around him. In the end, he was kidnapped by a group of bad people and beaten to death.
And, that was little Henry's favorite part.
He liked hearing about evil being punished.
Because of that, he never let his grandmother continue the story from that one point.
Every night, he forced her to start from the beginning, just so he could hear about the bad boy's death again. And before she could continue to the next part, Henry would fall asleep.
So he never knew what happened afterward.
He never knew the ending.
Remembering how he stubbornly forced his grandmother to repeat only that part, Henry felt deep regret now that he had got stuck here.
If he was right, then he had entered that very bedtime story, one he never got to hear in full.
But still, now that Henry has a little understanding of what is happening, he just has to accept it and be smart.
Also in that story, the boy died after suffering massive blood loss from a head wound.
And matching the time lines, Henry remember before waking up in this bed, he was laying under that tree, in pain with a head injury which might not have been from when he actually slipped and fell...
Still...if he only think about the story, that moment should have been the end of this Henry, the 14 year old boy.
But here he is.
So the ending definetely changed...
Because of that, even if he knew the rest of that story, it wouldn't be much useful, right? Since the whole story will change now...
'I'm not the main character since grandma said the story didn't end with Henry's death. So...I shouldn't be bothered much, right?'
As long as Henry could live, even if here since he will have to look for a way to be back..., he will endure this.
"Henry," Henry's daze broke by Arthur's voice as he gently asked, "did it work? Do you remember anything?"
Henry hesitated.
To cover one lie, he would need countless more in the future.
So Henry chose to be truthful.
But...in this little Henry's shoes.
Well, in truth, he did get the apparantly 'lost' memories back.
But those memories were not pleasant, they were actually worse than the story he heard. His grandma had made them real kid-friendly.
In truth, they were horrible.
The original owner of this body was truly evil.
He actually deserved to die.
He was a pain in the ass.
But...there were traumas the boy experienced too...
They were horrible in the same manner.
His grandma was right when she said he only got evil because he didn't get enough love. At first, the boy had been obedient, innocent, and kind. But no one loved him. No one cared. No one paid him any attention.
Not even the man who called himself his father, this mean bastard.
Unlike Henry, who had his grandmother, this child had no one. Not even a grandma...
That must have sucked...
In order to survive, he had begin to fight back.
He insulted others before they could insult him. He bullied them before they could bully him. He humiliated them until no one dared to speak his name aloud.
And so, he stayed that way, because he was safe that way.
But Henry wouldn't accept such bully behaviour to be excusable in anyway.
Tsk, whatever...
But he was sure this real Henry bastard wouldn't look for excuses either since he was unhinged.
Even though the young boy's heart wasn't originally cruel, it slowly turned dark.
Then one day, a girl named Ricarda appeared in the mansion.
When Henry had heard the maids gossiping about her, something inside him shattered.
She was his father's illegitimate child.
What hurt most was not her existence, but how much the duke cared for her.
Henry saw his father holding her hand. Speaking gently. Drinking tea with her. Buying her clothes. Even telling her bedtime stories himself.
Watching them laugh together, Henry's only thought was to kill her.
Not to bully her.
Not to chase her away.
Kill her.
And, he tried.
Poison?
Failed.
Starvation?
Discovered, and Henry was punished.
Assassins?
Every single one of them was found dead in Ricarda's room the next morning.
Fire?
She wasn't even in the room.
Something always protected her.
Henry became more twisted. More unstable. Even his gaze terrified people. He no longer looked like a child, but like a monster wearing human skin.
Then one day, he was kidnapped by a group of thieves.
They were ordinary criminals.
But Henry couldn't escape.
He had already been poisoned which he never knew how.
In the end, he was beaten brutally after biting one of them. One man smashed his head with an iron rod.
That was the wound.
That was his death.
The original Henry died that day.
And now, he took his place.
'This won't be easy', Henry thought grimly.
'Too many people want me dead.'
Suddenly, the duke grabbed him roughly.
Henry flinched as cold fear and disgust crawled up his spine.
"Tell me," the duke growled, staring at him with terrifying intensity.
"What happened that day? You heard what Duke Siloksan said, didn't you?"
"Tell me what you heard."
He pestered again.
'Ugh! This disgusting excuse of a father wouldn't leave me alone, would he?'