When Eira woke beneath the lingering warmth of recovery magic, his body still heavy and his thoughts slow, the story returned to him again—not as confusion, but as something he had already accepted.
In the book, Neo was always meant to fall into eternal slumber. It wasn't an accident, nor a tragedy unique to this world. It was the opening wound of the story, the event that shaped everything that followed. The hero—an illegitimate son—possessed immense mana and was therefore seen as a threat to the future king, the sixth prince.
In a world where political backing mattered as much as magic itself, suspicion followed power. Vesa's stolen mana was never the prince's doing, despite what many believed. It was the work of an unseen organisation that had been moving quietly long before the story reached its surface conflicts.
The hero had already suffered enough before the story truly began. He was solitary by nature, shaped by rejection, and supported by a fire goddess who cared more about outcomes than the cost.
That blessing allowed him to enter a dungeon no one else could, where he found Neo—not out of destiny, but compassion. At that point in the story, love didn't exist yet. He helped her because she needed help. He stayed, taught her magic, trained her body, and slowly realized how terrifying her potential was.
The potion she drank amplified her mana beyond reason, turning her into a force capable of shifting wars. When the city was finally attacked by the same organisation that had stolen Vesa's power, Neo fought beside him and survived. After that, she chose to remain with him, not as someone to be protected, but as a guild member and equal.
Their journey continued beyond school, beyond simple heroics. Together they dismantled the organisation, only to uncover that the sixth prince had been complicit after all, backed by his mother's homeland. Even then, the hero was denied the throne for being illegitimate. The people were disappointed.
Power passed instead toward the eleventh prince, whose favoured wife later tried to eliminate Neo. To prevent further bloodshed, the hero and Neo were sent to a neighbouring nation on a covert mission. It was there he found his dragon, earned the trust of another king, and uncovered the truth—Neo was a princess of that nation, and their engagement had already been decided by forces larger than them.
War followed. The hero stood beside Neo, dragon at his back, and claimed victory. He became king. Love endured. Even when challenged by a dragon warrior who fell for Neo's kindness, the hero prevailed. The story ended as stories like to end—with triumph, romance, and a future secured.
Eira closed his eyes.
That was the book's story.
And none of it was his.