I know every alleyway, every hidden corner, and every secret passage within Custodian from the grand palaces of the nobility to the darkest slums where people scrape just to survive. But I cannot say this out loud; I cannot tell anyone how intimately I know the land of our enemy. So instead, we have gathered a group of trusted merchants who will act as our eyes and ears from the inside. While Custodian's army is busy hunting for new kingdoms to conquer, we will quietly weave our way into their territory, building networks that will one day help us bring about real change.
I suggested we start our work within the slums and the royal council agreed immediately. It is where I grew up, where people are desperate for something better, and where the tyrant's eyes almost never stray. The poor are seen as invisible, which makes them the perfect foundation for what we are building. We will bring in food and medicine first, earning their trust slowly and carefully just like tending to delicate seedlings that cannot survive harsh sunlight too soon.
But I also made one thing perfectly clear: I will not just direct this operation from afar. I am going in myself.
"I will enter Custodian not as Prince Vernom of Callibean," I told the council and my siblings as we gathered in the war room. "I will take on the identity of a merchant's son someone who travels between kingdoms to trade goods. It will let me move freely, see things for myself, and ensure our plans stay true to what is actually needed on the ground."
Some of my siblings voiced their concerns, but I remained firm in my decision. In my previous life, I failed to stop that kingdom from falling; in this life, I will make sure I am the one to bring it down. I suppose this plan serves as both my revenge and my redemption.
Prince Vonce frowned deeply at this. "It is too dangerous. If you are caught"
"I won't be. But even if I am, I will be treated as nothing more than a common merchant's son," I cut in firmly. "No one will suspect a lowly trader of being a prince. Besides, I know how to survive there. I know how to talk, how to act, and how to blend into a crowd. You could say it was actually one of my specialties."
There was another fact I kept hidden: Vernom had always loved to sneak out of the palace and travel incognito. And as for my past self? Infiltration was the very skill I was best known for.
I did not add that I had once been one of those people that I had slept in those alleys, fought for those scraps, and lived under that tyrant's rule. But from the way King Theron looked at me, with a gaze that seemed to see right through to my soul, I think he understood more than he ever let on.
"The merchants we have chosen are reliable," Princess Tieran said, pushing a stack of documents across the table toward me. "They have been trading along the border for years, and they know exactly which routes to take to avoid suspicion. We have already prepared your new identity: Kope, son of Mateus the Trader. No one will ever be able to trace it back to Callibean."
The name made my chest tighten. Kael Mateus similar to my young servant friend, Cael. Marcos Mateus like Lord Marcus Thorne, the noble who tried to help the slums before they killed him. It felt like a sign, a way to honor those who had fought for what was right long before me.
"We will start small," I continued, pointing to a detailed map of Custodian's southern slums. "We will set up hidden supply points and make contact with those who still believe in justice. We will listen first find out what they need most, and what fears hold them back. Only then will we begin to plant the idea that change is even possible."
I also plan to seek out and recruit capable, strong-willed people to assemble a new group: the Rose Knights. In my past life, this was the unit I built within Custodian the Royal Family's infamous "Killing Dogs." But this time, I will change the fate of those men and turn their strength toward good.
I thought of the garden back at my palace, and how seeds need water and care before they can ever hope to grow tall. That is exactly what we will be doing giving the people of Custodian what they have been denied for so long: hope, help, and the knowledge that they are not alone.
"Your plan is sound, plausible… and incredibly dangerous," King Theron said finally, leaning back in his chair. "But remember this, Vernom: you are not just going there as a merchant's son. You carry the hopes of both our kingdoms with you. Be careful, and know that you have our full support, even if we cannot show it openly."
I nodded, fully feeling the immense weight of the task ahead. Returning to Custodian meant facing the ghosts of my past seeing the slums where I lost my parents, walking the streets where I learned to fight just to survive, and looking into the eyes of people who still lived under the same cruel system I had once escaped.
But this time, I would not be running away, nor fighting only to stay alive. This time, I was going back to help others grow beyond the life they had been forced into.
"Can I go with you, Your Highness?"
I turned to find Cael standing in the doorway of the war room, his young face set with pure determination. I had thought I sent him back to my quarters hours ago, but it seemed he had been waiting outside all this time, listening to every word.
I shook my head firmly. "No."
His shoulders slumped slightly, but he did not back down. "I can help I can carry supplies, keep watch, do whatever you need. I promise I won't be a burden."
"I know you wouldn't," I said gently, walking over to kneel beside him. "But danger will be following every step of this journey, and this is a task only I can pull off. There are things I will need to do, and places I will need to go, that no one else could navigate the way I can."
I had already mapped out our timeline carefully in my mind: one full year to preparesecuring routes, training contacts, and gathering supplies. Then, another year for me to travel incognito, visiting neighboring kingdoms to seek out reliable allies who shared our vision of a peaceful continent. That would leave us eight more years to spread our seeds building networks not just inside Custodian, but in nearby lands too. We needed people on our side who understood that Custodian's hunger for conquest threatened everyone.
Cael could not know the full extent of my movements not because I did not trust him, but because he would inevitably wonder how I knew so much about Custodian's layout, its people, and its weaknesses. He would get confused, and start asking questions I could never answer without revealing the truth of who I really was. For his safety and ours, I had to move alone for this part of the work.
"War may be inevitable," I continued, lowering my voice so only he could hear. "Custodian's rulers built their power on conquest, and they will never stop until they have taken everything. So if we do end up facing them in battle, we might as well bring the fight both inside their borders and out. The plan is simple: hunt the hunter."
Cael's eyes widened slightly at my words, but he did not flinch. He had seen enough hardship in his short life to understand exactly what was at stake.
"I understand, Your Highness," he said quietly. "But please… be careful. The palace won't feel the same without you here."
I placed a hand on his shoulder, feeling that familiar weight of responsibility I once carried for my fellow soldiers. "I will come back, Cael. And when I do, we will have built something truly worth protecting. In the meantime, I need you to do something very important for me."
"What is it?"
"Keep tending to the garden," I said, thinking of the seeds we would soon be planting across the continent. "Make sure the flowers keep growing and the plants stay healthy. When I return, I want to see that even while I am away planting seeds in a foreign land, hope is still taking root right here at home."
He nodded, a small but brave smile touching his lips. "I will take care of it, Your Highness. I promise."
As I turned back into the war room to finalize our preparations, I felt both the heavy burden of the road ahead and the lightness of true purpose in my heart. We had ten years before the great war I remembered would unfold ten years to plant our seeds, gather our strength, and show Custodian that there is more to power than fear and conquest.
The hunter thinks it holds all the cards. But they have no idea… they are already being watched.