The knock came again — sharp, deliberate. Whoever was at the door wasn't going to wait forever.
Alex opened the door.
A servant stood in the hall, eyes cast down.
"The Duke requests your presence in the study."
Not a question. Not a choice.
Alex gave a single nod. "Lead the way."
'One misstep and I lose all that he created,' he told himself, pacing the estate's endless corridors. 'Not that he created much apart from terror and ill will.'
[On the plus side, your dramatic pacing has improved.]
The Duke's study was no different. Same austere bookshelves, same show weapons, same climate of contained tension.
Renard Vale stood by the far window like a man always ready to pronounce sentence.
Alex shut the door behind him.
"You've been acting strange," the Duke said, without moving. "It's not like you."
Alex said nothing.
"You bowed to a servant. You were polite at breakfast. Didn't insult your brother."
Renard turned at last, hard eyes on him.
"Why?"
Alex remained silent
The Duke didn't react. He walked to the desk, pulled out a sealed envelope, and slid it across the surface.
"You've been admitted into the Imperial Academy," he said. "Your escort arrives in two days. Uniforms and identification are arranged."
'So this is exile. Wrapped in duty and sent off with wax seals.'
[Oh look. A chance to get expelled somewhere new.]
Alex said nothing.
"You'll represent House Vale," the Duke continued. "Learn to act like it. Or don't come back."
He took up the envelope. Gold seal. Thick parchment. Heavy with importance by weight alone.
"You are dismissed."
Alex left without another word.
Back in his quarters, he sat on the edge of the bed, the envelope weighing in his hands.
The seal glinted gold, stamped with the sigil of the Imperial Academy — a sword crossing through a rising sun.
Adrien Vale.
'It's not who I was. But it's who I am now.'
[The paperwork says so. That's effectively magic in noble society.]
He breathed out slowly. For the first time since waking up in this world, the burden of it all — the name, the pressure, the expectations — finally came to rest on his shoulders.
'This isn't just a new life. It's someone else's story I'm trapped in. And if I screw it up. I don't get another chance.'
[That's the spirit. Quiet fear, mild trauma, and possible character growth.]
Adrien looked at the seal again.
Two days.
Then everything changes once more.