Chapter 127: The Past That Cannot Be Changed

The night had already fallen over House Valen.

Beyond the tall wooden windows, the estate was almost completely silent. Only the faint sound of the wind moving through the trees and the occasional footsteps of a servant crossing the distant corridor could be heard.

Rin sat alone in his room. The only light came from a single candle placed on the wooden table beside him.

Its small flame trembled every time the cold wind slipped through the cracks around the window.

Rin stared at it for a long time. Everything about this place felt wrong.

The old wooden furniture. The heavy curtains. The candlelight. The clothes hanging beside the bed.

The sounds outside. There was nothing from his own world here. Nothing familiar.

And yet this was where everything had begun.

This was Aelion’s time. His life. His past. Rin lowered his gaze toward his hands.

They were Aelion’s hands. His body was Aelion’s body but his mind was still Rin’s.

Or at least, that was what he had believed until Aelion had spoken to him.

You need to stop pretending you don’t understand.

Rin’s eyes widened slightly. That voice again.

Aelion. Not the System. Not World. Not one of the gods. Aelion himself.

Rin leaned against the back of the wooden chair.

"I don’t understand."

You do.

"No."

You know why you’re here.

Rin was silent. He did know. At least partially. He had been sent back, not physically into the past as himself.

He had awakened inside Aelion’s body. Inside the life of the person whose existence had somehow become the beginning of everything.

The beginning of Kaelith. The beginning of the tragedy. The beginning of the endless cycle and now Rin finally had the chance to see it with his own eyes.

He looked toward the dark window.

"Eryndor..."

Just saying his name made something inside Rin ache. He remembered what had happened earlier.

His mother’s cold expression. The way she had looked at Eryndor.

The punishment. The twenty strikes. The fact that Eryndor had accepted it because he had no choice.

Rin had wanted to stop it. He had wanted to change everything but Aelion had stopped him.

Not physically. With words.

You cannot change what has already happened.

Rin clenched his hands.

"Why can’t I?"

Aelion’s voice became quieter.

Because this is the past.

"That’s not an answer."

It is.

"No, it isn’t."

Rin’s voice rose slightly.

"If I am really here, then I should be able to change something."

You can try.

Rin froze.

"Try?"

You can fight against it.

Aelion paused.

You can make different choices.

Rin’s eyes brightened.

"Then I was right."

No.

The word was immediate. Rin frowned.

"What do you mean, no?"

You can make different choices.

Aelion’s voice sounded almost sad.

But you cannot change the past.

Rin stared at the candle.

"That’s contradictory."

Not if you understand what the past actually is.

Rin remained silent.

Aelion continued.

Everything you do here already happened.

Rin’s expression slowly changed.

"What?"

Your arrival. Your conversations. Your choices. Your attempts to protect Eryndor. Everything.

A chill moved through Rin.

"So you’re saying..."

He swallowed.

"I’m already part of this history?"

Yes.

Rin looked toward the door. He remembered waking in the forest. Hearing Eryndor call him Aelion.

Walking back to House Valen. Seeing the servants. Seeing his mother. Seeing Eryndor. All of it.

"Then..."

Rin’s voice became quieter.

"If I try to change something..."

You already tried.

Rin’s breathing stopped.

Aelion continued.

You simply don’t remember doing it.

Rin slowly stood.

"No."

Rin.

"No."

He shook his head.

"I refuse to believe that."

You don’t have to believe it.

"Then I’ll prove you wrong."

Silence.

Rin walked toward the window. The moon was visible beyond the trees.

"I’ll save Eryndor."

You can’t.

"I’ll stop my mother."

You can’t.

"I’ll prevent whatever happened between him and Aelion."

You can’t.

"I’ll stop the things that eventually turn him into Kaelith."

Aelion went silent. That silence hurt more than an answer. Rin turned away from the window.

"I’ll do it."

Why?

"Because I know what happens."

Do you?

Rin frowned. Aelion’s voice was unusually gentle.

You know what happened to the man you know.

Rin said nothing.

But you don’t know everything that happened to the boy standing in front of you now.

Rin closed his eyes.

Eryndor. The boy who had been his childhood friend. The servant who had grown up beside Aelion. The boy who had smiled at him earlier as if nothing in the world could ever separate them.

The same person who would eventually become someone feared across kingdoms. Someone called Kaelith. Someone who had lost everything. Someone who had spent countless lives searching for Rin.

Rin opened his eyes.

"I can save him."

And if you do?

"I’ll save him."

And if the future changes?

"Then it changes."

And if the future you know disappears?

Rin hesitated. Aelion asked the question he had been avoiding.

What if changing the past means that he never becomes the person you know?

Rin looked down. His heart tightened.

Aelion continued.

What if Eryndor lives a peaceful life?

Rin didn’t answer.

What if he never becomes Kaelith?

The candle flickered.

What if you succeed in saving him...

Aelion’s voice became almost a whisper.

...and lose the man you love because of it?

Rin’s fingers trembled. He had never considered it that way. He had always thought of changing the past as something simple.

Save Eryndor. Prevent the tragedy. Stop the betrayal. Stop the suffering. Save everyone but history was not a single thread.

It was a web. Pulling one thread could destroy everything connected to it.

Rin sat down again.

"I don’t know."

Exactly.

"I don’t know what will happen."

No one does.

"Then why should I do nothing?"

Aelion didn’t answer.

Rin looked at the candle.

"Tell me to do nothing?"

Silence.

"Tell me to watch?"

Nothing.

"Tell me to let Eryndor suffer because that’s what history demands?"

Aelion remained silent. Rin’s eyes hardened.

"You can’t."

Finally, Aelion spoke.

No.

His voice sounded tired.

I can’t.

Rin lowered his head.

"Then I’ll try."

Even if you lose him?

Rin closed his eyes.

"I’ll deal with that when it happens."

You’re afraid.

"Of course I am."

You’re afraid that you’ll save him.

Rin opened his eyes.

"And lose him."

Yes.

Rin looked at the candle again. The flame reflected in his eyes.

"But I’m more afraid of doing nothing."

Aelion was silent. For a while, neither of them spoke.

Then Aelion whispered,

You’re really my reincarnation.

Rin gave a small, bitter smile.

"Unfortunately I was thinking I am that..."

Aelion laughed softly. For the first time that night, the tension disappeared for a moment.

But only for a moment. Because Rin knew there was something else he had to ask.

"Why me?"

What do you mean?

"Why was I reincarnated as you?"

Aelion didn’t answer immediately. Rin waited.

The silence stretched.

Finally—

Because you were never supposed to forget.

Rin’s expression changed.

"What?"

You forgot because the world needed you to.

"World?"

Aelion said nothing. Rin immediately understood.

There were still secrets. Too many but he wouldn’t force the answers tonight.

He had already learned enough. He was in the past. He was Aelion. And Eryndor was here. That was enough.

Rin stood again.

"I’ll change it."

You know what I said.

"I know."

You know it may be impossible.

"I know."

You know you might lose him.

Rin’s hand rested on the wooden door.

"I know."

And you’ll still try?

Rin looked back at the candle.

"Yes."

Aelion didn’t respond. Rin opened the door but before he could leave, Aelion spoke one last time.

Then remember one thing.

Rin stopped.

"What?"

Whatever happens... don’t forget why you’re doing this.

Rin frowned.

"To save Eryndor?"

Aelion’s voice became strangely quiet.

No.

Rin waited.

To save the person you love.

Then Aelion disappeared into silence. Rin stood there for several seconds. He didn’t understand what Aelion meant.

Not completely. Eventually, he closed the door. The room became silent again.

Rin returned to the wooden chair. He sat beside the candle.

Outside, the estate slept. The servants had gone to their rooms. The guards stood in the courtyard.

Eryndor was somewhere else in the estate. And Rin...

Rin was alone. He stared at the candle. For some reason, his chest hurt.

He tried to ignore it. He failed. He remembered another place.

Another time. Another person.

A man who had always looked at him as if Rin were the only thing left in the world. A man who had followed him through countless lives. A man who remembered what Rin could not. A man who had loved him even when Rin didn’t remember loving him.

Rin’s eyes slowly filled with tears. He wiped them away but another tear followed. Then another. He lowered his head.

For the first time since arriving in the past, Rin allowed himself to admit what he had been refusing to think about.

He missed him.

More than he wanted to admit. More than he could explain. Rin stared at the candle for a long time.

Then, in the quiet of the ancient room, he finally whispered the name that had been trapped inside his heart since the moment he had arrived here.

"Kaelith..."

The candle flame trembled. Rin’s lips shook.

"I miss you, my sweet baby.."

And for the first time since entering Aelion’s past...Rin cried alone in the candlelight.