Prince Leonard’s Unique Skill was quite simple, he could experience another person’s dreams for about a week.

  As the name of his Skill, Exchange, suggested it was supposed to be mutual, but such thing was seen as a security risk so the late King Raul, his father, had him trained to have Lucid dreams then, once Leonard had mastered the art, the King made sure he would always have a dreamless sleep by directly affecting Leonard’s body with another Unique Skill.

  King Raul had wanted Prince Leonard to use his Skill as a means of espionage against anyone the King considered a conspirator against the Crown, but in defiance to his wishes Prince Leonard had instead used it to help anyone who needed a relief from their nightmares.

  However such endeavor had consequences.

  On the way to an Inn close to the Aurelia’s Estate

  An ornate white carriage with silver accents and golden trims was pulled by two slender ivory black horses.

  A breed made exclusively for Royalty by the Mercure when the Circles hadn’t been a necessity anymore and they could finally put to use their family’s knowledge about horses, which would secure their place as the second most influential family of Luminance.

  Driving the carriage was an middle aged man with thick eyebrows, his tanned body was muscular while his wild hair was black with some white specks and he was dressed in a black uniform with golden motives vaguely resembling a tiger’s stripes, the silver brooch carrying Lorens’s insignia resting on his shoulder pad.

  His big hairy hands were firmly holding the reigns and his eyes were trained on both the road and their surroundings, ready to act to keep his charge safe.

  His name was Nicolas, he doubled as bodyguard and servant to Prince Leonard, who prefers to have a reduced staff attending to him much to the headache of his elder siblings.

  The carriage was headed to an Inn, so they could rest for the night and go back to the Capital in the morning.

  As crazy as it may sound it was considered to be of bad manners at best to stay the night and a challenge to the host at worst.

  Such belief had formed from an old phase about guests smelling like bad fish, so leaving as soon as possible was good guests’s way of not stinking up the place, but by staying it was either their intention to be a bad guest by stinking the place or a declaration to not be a guest anymore and own the place.

  A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

  So a Prince or a noble ending up sleeping in a Inn wasn’t an impossible scenario, on the contrary it was a normal sight.

  “Your highness I heard that you have used your Skill” Nicolas had asked as the Inn was getting in sight, his voice was quite remarkably deep “The Royal doctor had specifically said that it was too stressful to your heart to do so, Princess Morgana will be cross with you”

  “I know, my elder sister always worries too much, but I am glad to give that poor girl a break” Prince Leonard had gently responded without regret

  “Was it wise to go so far for someone like her?” Nicolas questioned the decision

  “I don’t see the issue there” the Prince was quick to answer unbothered by the words “Bastard or no bastard the Duke has decided to raise her as his own, and so it’s just fair we follow his wishes and regard her as an Aurelia all the same” he explained his reasoning

  “Your highness has doubts about the girl being a bastard?” Nicolas let his tongue loose “I don’t believe his majesty would have ordered their execution if it wasn’t an air tight case”

  “You are right, my brother might be shortsighted on many things but he wouldn’t go forward with executing a noble without undeniable proof” the Prince agreed with him

  “Then why does your Highness think of foul play?” the man was curious, even if his full attention was still on the road and any possible danger

  “Don’t you think it was a bit too convenient how all the proof simply presented itself in such a damning way all at once?” Prince Leonard had inquired his voice laced with suspicion and doubt, his words made Nicolas think but such thing couldn’t be right.

  “But the child’s hair” Nicolas pointed out a bit uncertain, at that the Prince stayed silent for a little while before he sighed with the exhaustion of someone that had dealt with too much bullshit throughout their whole life.

  “Maybe on this point I am just over thinking it and seeing conspiracies where there is none” he ended up admitting

  “It’s not your fault your Highness, nobles are always up to no good and your Highness had to deal with them for so long” Nicolas tried to make him feel better “It’s totally normal to get a little paranoid”

  “Ah that might be the case” the Prince agreed with him before his voice turned grave with warning “but Nicolas, remember to watch your tongue if you had called paranoid anyone else they would have had your tongue ripped out”

  “I am sorry your highness, I will be more careful in the future” Nicolas paled at the thought as he pulled up to the Inn.

  He let the Prince get off the carriage right by the entrance of the building

  “I will be back shortly with your things you Highness” Nicolas had declared, since he needed to leave the carriage in the designated spot and get the horses in the stable for the night.

  “Take your time Nicolas” the Prince had said back as he got inside the Inn

  Prince Leonard had taken pride in his skills at manipulating dreams, even while he was having someone else's he was always in full control and could diffuse anything that came at him, no matter how terrifying.

  But this time it was different, he could feel it as soon as the dream started.

  Something was terribly off and he felt himself being yanked

  “You are not her” a woman with purple hair had told him, but what caught his interest was the banner hanging from her waist, as far as he knew that specific banner with that trim couldn’t have ever existed “Whatever you did undo it before you doom us all” she warned him before she pushed him and suddenly he found himself standing in some kind of jail.

  Cough Cough

  “Oh it’s the Asylum” he guessed seeing the real occupant of this cell was a impossibly thin woman stuck in straight jacket laying on a thin cot

  She looked utterly sick.