Some of you may hate how he ended up and why. There are some people born with emotionally weak hearts in the real world and can’t recover from something they experienced. Take Clyde for example which you will read in a few moments. He wasn’t always a brave, kind and confident person. Death changed him. Without further ado, here’s his flashback.

-

–I’m sorry, Clem. I-I can’t get it up for a second time. I-I’m so sorry.

–Geez, Liam! Why are you so sorry about it? I still love you.

‘Huh?’

My past life? Why am I seeing this?

There I was, the average looking guy you could’ve found everywhere with a girl you could mistake for a supermodel in bed. She was smiling gently as we did pillow talk. That’s what happened in my past life when we were dating for a year already.

It was my first time with a girl. Clementine didn’t seem to mind it that much. Or was it just an act?

Regardless, I was happy back then. I still had her.

I was a spineless person. I needed someone else to motivate me to become a better person. She was a strong headed woman with a kind heart.

It was one night when I was walking back from a lecture, Clementine contacted me.

–I’m sorry, but it’s over. I can’t stay in a relationship with you.

–H-huh? Clem? W-Why?

–It’s not healthy having only one person in your life while pushing others away. I’m touched that you love me so much but unfortunately, the consequences will soon show if we don’t end this. Liam… go back to your family and reconcile with them. I don’t know if you’ll wait for me but I’ll definitely wait for you. Goodbye.

–….

I was dumped. It was only in this world that I realized what she meant. I had to have other people around me. People that I cared about and who cared about me.

Go back to my family? They were the damn reason I hated my life before. They said things to me that no parent must ever say to their child.

–Why are you so stupid?

–Our neighbour's son is studying to become a doctor. What have you achieved? Fuck, why are you so useless...

It was later on that I gained awareness of my situation back then. My parents should not have become parents. I wished sometimes that I shouldn't have been born.

I was always compared to others by them and broken down if I couldn't meet their expectations. When I realized, I began hating them.

If… if our relationship continued, we would’ve ended things on bad terms if not for her dumping me. Even though I was smart academically, I was an idiot when it comes to understanding humans and relationships.

Did I deserve her?

Of course not. Even after she told me what I had to do, I fell into depression anyway and ended up on the streets after quitting college. Even my family wanted nothing to do with me. It was the same for me anyway.

But she helped me again. We were less than friends but more than strangers when she told me I could live with her. Was it her pity perhaps? Or was it guilt? I could never know.

I tried multiple times to become a better person.

But in the end, I was a piece of human trash.

A being so utterly stupid that he had no direction in life. Yes, I’m insulting myself as I gazed at my past life. That stupid person was me.

After growing up in this world, I came to realize why family is important to a person. You need them to push you forward in life. Instead of forcing your love on one person, there are a lot of people you can direct that love to if you had true friends and a family.

My will to live resonated within this dark space. I closed my eyes as I felt a rather unfamiliar feeling in my body. The memories from my past faded away as I gained understanding I didn’t have then.

The broken mana veins were slowly being repaired and binding with my spirit core’s channels.

I could clearly see that my core began functioning as it should. Although slowly, it was fixing itself.

My will to live was so strong that it went against the world’s natural laws again.

When was the first time I went against common sense and the world’s natural laws?

Ah, that’s right.

… When I died and reincarnated in this world.

…

…

◇◇◇

“Human!!”

A mature woman with a beauty mark under her eye was crying as she held onto Clyde’s body. Her red eyes and those black wings… it’s Edna in her transformed state.

He realized that it wasn’t a dream when he saw his body rejecting the world’s laws.

‘I feel so weak… but… I’m still alive.’

“E-Edna…”

“Clyde!”

She called him by his name for the first time in a month since she manifested.

His face was buried as she hugged Clyde’s head with loud sobs.

Damian was next to Clyde. He was also unconscious after the pursuit.

“What happened…?”

Edna quickly wiped her tears and began speaking.

It was when he lost consciousness when Edna fired a ferocious Dragon’s Breath. She nearly destroyed the entire west wing of the camp with her power.

Just before she did, however, two men blocked her attack from harming the rest of their members.

Zexel and Indra.

The head and the former head of the assassin clan.

They were tasked with taking out Clyde, Charlotte and the entire Republican army. Clyde has the ability to become an obstacle in the future so Olivia decided that now would be the best time to kill him and his lord.

“J-Just from looking at their eyes, I could tell that I was no match for them in my infant form.”

Edna shuddered as she remembered those two monsters. Zelda and Aubrey were hard enough opponents but then they had to show up.

Edna had no choice. She took Clyde and Damian to where she told Charlotte to hide.

Maybe it was due to luck. Edna managed to escape those two monsters. She might not be any dragon of normal birth but she’s still in her infant phase. At the level she is now, she could barely compare to an average adult dragon.(True dragon lords are higher in species rank than the aforementioned dragons. Which Edna classifies as. It might be confusing to some that there are so many dragon types).

Edna got injured while she was flying with them in the sky. She lost one wing and had to run all the way to this cave.

Clyde listened silently and then spotted Charlotte sitting in a corner staring at the cave wall blankly.

She remembered the words the current head of the Minerva assassin clan, Zexel said to Edna who told Charlotte afterwords:

––The queen is on the verge of death. Even worse than before you left the palace a month ago. Do you want to know who placed her into that state? As a present to when we’ll eventually kill you… It’s the one who gave us this job. And I must say, it’s one of the most highest kill contracts I had in a while. That woman was either desperate or very generous.

It wasn’t words meant for Edna. The words were for her to tell the princess. The one whose mother is at death’s door.

From his words, she knew that it was a woman that ordered the kill on them. And naturally she has a few suspects.

She has many enemies but only one individual has ever showed her hate for Charlotte in the absence of her father and mother.

‘It was Olivia…’

She might be wrong but a certain part of her is telling her that she’s right. That woman must be the one that ordered for her mother to be poisoned and ordered a hit on them.

Charlotte’s heart couldn’t calm down as she questioned if her mother was dead or alive.

“…”

A pair of thin but muscular arms wrapped around Charlotte’s neck. The back of her head rested against his chest.

It brought her warmth and shook her out of her dazed state. She’d let only one male be this close to her.

“Lord Clyde…”

Clyde held Charlotte without saying anything. Edna just mentioned what Zexel told her.

The queen is on her death’s bed. She might have a year left. Maybe less time.

“I failed as a knight today. My lord almost got hurt and I wasn’t able to defeat our enemies.”

Defeat isn’t the right word. Rather, he was no match for Aubrey even if Zelda didn’t intervene. He now knows that every single person of the Minerva clan is a monster.

What would’ve happened if they continued fighting and then those other two also came along? They would’ve been killed no doubt.

As Damian said, his father hates his guts so much that he would tear his own son apart if they ever saw each other.

“No… you did your best…”

Charlotte held his hand. Different from her gentle voice, her head was a mess. Complicated feelings arose.

As Edna said earlier, Clyde’s mana core was destroyed. She doesn’t know of his spirit core but even his spirit abilities are limited. He can only use lesser spirits to heal minor injuries or boost his overall strength to that of a D-rank adventurer’s level.

Other than that fact, Charlotte’s mother is also expected to die.

‘Her cheerfulness from before was a lie…’

She was too excited to speak with Melodia again that she didn’t see her mother acting as if everything was alright.

She would die soon since the poison has already spread and caused multiple diseases inside her body. Her immune system is on the verge of collapsing.

No positive thoughts entered Charlotte’s brain as she sat there while Clyde held her shoulder.

…

After a while…

“Where are we?”

Damian woke up.

It was amazing how he was able to recover so fast from his injuries. His shoulder was already healing. His left eye had a leaf patch covering it.

When he looked around, all he could see was a dark cave.

“Ah, I was only looking around blindly to find a safe place. I-It was earlier that I realized that I can’t find the entrance anymore…”

Edna lowered her head in embarrassment. As a young dragon, she has little knowledge about the world so she doesn’t know the dangers of caves.

The cave looked like a safe place at first. She thought that the assassins wouldn’t be able to find them inside.

Her plan worked but the same could not be said for them not being able to find an exit. With no other choice, the four of them got up and started looking for an exit.