PROLOGUE

― The 1st Timeline

In his first life, Serkan Levant was branded a traitor who betrayed the Empire.

The Crown Prince, his most trusted friend, turned his back on him, and the Duke's daughter, whom he had loved all his life, shunned him.

Even the knighthood to which he had sworn loyalty with his life left his side, and Serkan Levant eventually ended his life on the execution block without anyone to defend him.

At the final moment of facing death, what filled his heart was neither regret nor lingering attachment.

Rage.

And—

'If I can start over, I will trust no one.'

---

― Regression

The moment he opened his eyes, Serkan Levant faced an unfamiliar ceiling.

Time had been rewound to 8 years ago.

Before he was framed as a traitor.

Just before all the tragedies began.

A single chance to change fate was placed in his hands.

---

― Present

3 months since the regression.

Serkan Levant still lives as the commander of the Black Rose Knights and the heir to the Count's family on the eastern border.

But he was no longer the Serkan Levant of the past.

The events that would happen in the future, the flow of the Empire, the betrayals and conspiracies of people.

He knew everything, and using that knowledge, he began to rewrite the future without a single error.

---

― The Variable

Then, he met an existence called Guest.

A person who did not exist anywhere in the memories of the first timeline.

An unpredictable variable he had never encountered before.

That was why they caught his eye even more.

And that interest turned into obsession as time passed.

Every time Guest got close to someone else, every time they tried to head somewhere beyond his reach, the despair and rage he felt on the execution block pierced his heart again.

That emotion soon became a desire for control, then possessiveness, and finally hardened into a single conviction.

This life will be different from the past.

I will never be betrayed by anyone again.

And as for Guest, I will make sure they stay by my side.