CHAPTER 1: AEGON VALERIA AUGUSTUS

The night was ablaze with the flames burning down Wind Cloud Mansion. Hundreds of Knights and Mages surrounded the mansion to make sure everything was proceeding as instructed by their leader.

The Mages were ensuring that the Barrier remained intact and that the flames consumed everything, while the Knights ensured that none of the survivors escaped this place alive.

If by chance anyone managed to escape the barrier, the Knights would skewer them alive and throw their corpses aside.

The deep smell of blood permeated the air as the flames raged on along with the massacre that brought down the entire Wind Cloud Mansion.

Through those flames staggered out a middle-aged woman. Her robes were scorched, her body marred with wounds and cuts that painted her skin in crimson. Yet despite her ruined state, her eyes burned brighter than the fire itself...unyielding and fierce.

In her trembling arms, wrapped in a bundle of cloth, she clutched the only thing she refused to let the flames take.

The moment she emerged from the ruin, several figures rushed toward her, fear and desperation etched across their faces. At the forefront were three, each carrying their own storm of emotion.

The first was a man in his late twenties, his steps frantic. Beside him was a woman in her early twenties, worry written clearly on her face.

But leading them, pushing past the others with a hollow face drained of blood, was a middle-aged man who had once commanded armies.

He was the first to reach her, arms closing around her broken body. His gaze instantly went to the bundle she held, his body trembling until the faint sound of a baby’s breath reached him.

His hardened expression softened as relief flickered in his eyes.

"Thank the sun... he’s fine," the man whispered. His arms trembled as he tried to steady her. "Honey, let them treat you first—"

But before he could finish, the woman collapsed into his arms, clutching the child tightly even as her legs gave out. Her voice came out faint, every word trembling on her dying breath. "I don’t... have much time left. So listen to me carefully, Arnold."

"What nonsense! You have plenty of time left!" Arnold’s heart twisted painfully as he shouted at her.

His hands, which had once wielded the sword without fear, now trembled uselessly. He wanted to rush her to the apothecary, to force life back into her failing body.

But Olena only shook her head weakly. "I know my body better than anyone..." Her eyes fell to the infant, and despite her bloodied face, her lips softened into a tender smile. "I want you to take care of our grandson. Can you do that?"

"Of course, I will! But you’ll be there too!" Arnold refused, but his voice was cracking.

The Supreme Commander of the Empire’s Army, once a man feared across battlefields, was now nothing but a husband kneeling helpless before fate.

"Don’t be stubborn," Olena rebuked, her tone weak yet carrying the same authority she had always wielded. She turned her gaze toward the young woman beside her. "Xiu, I’m leaving him to you. Raise him well. Promise me."

Her adopted daughter stepped forward immediately, her hands trembling as she took the child. "Mom, what do you mean? I... I’m not fit to raise a child..."

"Mom, why are you ignoring me?" Arthur, Arnold’s son, finally spoke, his voice shaking. A dreadful premonition twisted in his chest. "He’s my son. I’ll raise him!"

But Olena’s eyes flared with a rare fury. "Shut up, Arthur! I’m tired of your family. Tired of watching everyone die for this damned land! If you want to sacrifice family for the Empire, then I’ll grant that wish myself."

Arthur stumbled forward, his face losing it’s colour and his lips trembled. "Mom... you don’t mean this..."

But Olena ignored him, turning back to her husband, who desperately tried to close her wounds with trembling hands. Her sigh was heavy, "Don’t bother, Arnold. I won’t survive this."

"Honey..." His voice broke, despair dripping with every syllable.

Her hand lifted shakily, brushing his face one last time. "Then listen to me. My last request." She coughed blood, but her eyes never wavered. "He almost died because of our children’s failure. Take him far away. Let him grow free, away from their shadows... away from this cursed house."

"MOM!!" Arthur’s roar echoed in the destroyed background. He surged forward, tears and snot staining his face. "He’s my son!"

"He was your son," Olena shot back, her voice trembling yet sharp. "You made your choice. Live with it."

Arthur collapsed to his knees, slamming his head against the ground until it split. Blood flowed down his face as he sobbed, "I’m sorry! I’m sorry, Mom! Punish me however you want, but don’t do this to me! Don’t take him from me! Please!"

A fierce general, a son of the Empire, reduced to a weeping child before his mother’s condemnation.

But Olena’s heart had already hardened. "You’ve disappointed me as a son. Don’t fail as a soldier too."

Her gaze returned to Xiu, who held the baby gently even though the word was never associated with her before.

Olena’s eyes softened once more. "Raise him well. He doesn’t need to be the best. Let him live happily, freely. Raise him as a gentleman... not a pawn of duty."

Xiu nodded, silent tears running down her cheeks. She knew these were her mother’s final words, and she etched every syllable into her soul.

What none of them noticed were the baby’s eyes. The dazzling golden pearls shining with unusual clarity.

’So... my dream finally came true? I’m reborn.’

The infant’s thoughts stirred, memories returning in fragments. His last life flashed before him, sterile hospital walls, countless surgeries, the doctor’s sigh.

’Doctor Song said it would be my last surgery. I thought I’d finally step outside... but he meant it literally. Straight to the afterlife, huh?’

He sighed inwardly, but there was no bitterness. Just irony.

’So this is my afterlife?’

He remembered it all, his birth, the feeling of being delivered, the strange fog over his mind. Then the chaos. Screams, slaughter, the woman who had come through flames to save him.

’Right... I was kidnapped after birth. And that woman... my grandmother... saved me.’

The realization struck deep. She had paid with her life to keep him safe. In his previous life, he had indirectly saved countless others, but now someone was sacrificing themselves for him.

A grief he had never known wrapped around his tiny heart. ’This... this isn’t how rebirth was supposed to start...’

He tried to wriggle, to move closer to his grandmother. Xiu noticed instantly and smiled weakly. "Mom, he wants to see you. He’s so cute..."

Olena’s hands trembled as she took him into her arms. Her body seemed to relax the moment his golden eyes met hers. "Ah... I knew you’d be closest to me. Forgive your grandma, child. I can’t walk with you in this life."

The baby’s eyes watered, and Olena hurriedly soothed him. "Shh... it’s okay. Everything’s okay. Even if I’m not by your side, my soul will always bless you from the heavens."

She pressed her forehead to his and whispered, "I have nothing else to give you... but I will give you a name. From this moment on, you are the sole heir of House Valeria...Aegon Valeria Augustus."

Blood trickled from her lips as a faint glow sank into the child’s body. Her complexion drained, yet her smile only grew brighter. "Shine, little one. Shine and brighten this cruel world."

Aegon’s tiny hands grasped her finger tightly. He had never lost a loved one in his past life, yet here, reborn, his first breath of existence came with loss.

’God, when I said I wanted to experience everything in this fragile thing called life... you took it too literally.’

Olena hugged him one final time, her warmth searing itself into his soul. Strange sounds flickered faintly in his mind, but he ignored them. All he wanted was to hold onto her presence for just one more heartbeat.

And then—

[System installation complete!]

[Ding! Sign-in System Installed!]

[Ding! 10x Rewards System Installed!]

[Ding! Signing in at Wind Cloud Pavilion! Rewards – Wind Cloud Mana Circulation Technique!]

[Ding! Beginner Luck activated! 10x Rewards upgraded to 100x Rewards for next try!]

[Ding! Mythical-Rank Ice Mana Circulation Technique Acquired!]

[Ding! Legendary-Rank Blazing Sun Holy Physique Acquired!]

[Ding! Unique Skill: Eternal Flame Acquired!]

[Ding! Passive Trait: Child of Duality Acquired!]

...

That night, the legend of Olena Valeria ended. But in her place, a future sun was born, Aegon Valeria Augustus, the child who would one day brighten the world.