Sigh...
Heavy. Everything felt so unbelievably, ridiculously heavy.
Neo tried to lift his arm, but it felt as though invisible lead weights had been chained to his tiny, pudgy wrists. He managed to raise his fist a grand total of two inches before his non-existent triceps gave out, sending his grape-sized hand flopping back onto the ridiculously soft mattress.
'Seriously?' Neo thought, his tiny brows knitting together in a scowl that probably just looked adorable to anyone watching.
'I knew babies were weak, but this is just pathetic.'
It was the morning of his second day in this strange, new world. The raging storm from the night of his birth had completely vanished, leaving behind a crisp, cool morning breeze that gently fluttered the heavy silk curtains of the grand bedroom.
Rustle... rustle...
He could hear the soft, rhythmic sweeping of maids cleaning the hallways outside, the distant chirping of unfamiliar, melodic birds, and the crackle of a warm hearth somewhere to his right. His hearing was surprisingly sharp, but his vision was still a bit blurry around the edges, restricted to whatever happened to cross his immediate line of sight.
Right now, his biggest enemy wasn't some dark lord or terrifying monster. It was his own body.
Just keeping his deep blue eyes open felt like a monumental workout. His brain, housing the consciousness of a fully grown adult, was firing on all cylinders, trying to process his surroundings, formulate plans, and figure out the mechanics of his reincarnation. But his infant body was throwing a massive temper tantrum. It was demanding sleep, milk, and absolutely zero mental exertion.
Creak—
The heavy oak door swung open with a soft groan, and the scent of crushed lavender and morning dew drifted into the room.
"Oh, look at him. He's already awake."
A soft, melodious voice wrapped around him like a warm blanket. Suddenly, a shadow fell over his crib, and the blurry silhouette of a woman leaned over him. As his eyes adjusted, the breathtaking features of Duchess Sylvia came into focus. Her pristine white hair cascaded over her shoulder, a few strands tickling Neo's tiny nose.
He wanted to sneeze, but his body hadn't quite figured out how to coordinate that yet. Instead, he just let out a quiet, weird little huff.
Sylvia beamed, a radiant, exhaustion-tinged smile lighting up her face. She reached down, her slender, elegant hands gently sliding under his tiny back and head.
"Come here, my sweet little lord," she cooed, lifting him effortlessly into her arms.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Pressed against her chest, Neo could hear the steady, reassuring beat of her heart. It was warm. Ridiculously warm and comfortable. But almost instantly, the sheer 'effort' of being moved, of experiencing a change in elevation and temperature, hit him like a truck. A wave of profound lethargy washed over him.
'Are you kidding me?' Neo complained internally, his eyelids drooping.
'I'm exhausted just from being picked up? What kind of cruel joke is this?'
He tried to fight it, fighting to keep his eyes open to observe his surroundings. He needed information. He needed to know exactly where he was and what era he was in. But the gentle rocking motion of his mother was an absolute cheat code against his infant defenses.
"You are so quiet," Sylvia murmured, carrying him slowly toward the massive window that overlooked the sprawling estate.
"The healers say you are perfectly healthy, but you haven't cried once. You just watch everything with those big, beautiful eyes of yours." She chuckled softly, pressing a kiss to his forehead.
"My perfect little Neo. Neo Draven. The heir to the sky and the earth."
Ba-dump.
Neo's heart hitched. His eyes, which had been halfway closed, snapped wide open.
'Wait. What did she just say?'
His tiny brain stalled. He stared up at his mother's beautiful, smiling face, his mind replaying her words on a rapid loop.
Neo—Neo Draven!
It wasn't just a coincidence, was it? 'Neo' was a common enough name. But 'Draven'? The Draven Dukedom? The white hair. The deep sea-blue eyes. The mother named Sylvia...
A sharp, phantom pain pierced through his head as a floodgate of memories from his past life suddenly burst wide open. Not his personal memories, but memories of a screen. Of colorful 2D animation, epic soundtracks, and a story he had binge-watched over a lazy weekend.
'No way... No freaking way,' Neo thought, sheer panic rising in his little chest. 'Shattered Crown?!'
It all clicked. The lavish mansion, the absurdly high-tier magic crystals acting as lamps, the sheer wealth dripping from every corner of the room. He wasn't just reborn in some random, generic fantasy world. He was reborn inside an anime.
Shattered Crown was a massive hit in his previous life. It was a classic Fantasy-Romance, but heavy on the action and power-scaling. The world revolved entirely around the male lead—a pathetic, scrawny countryside boy named Kael. Kael started off with zero talent, bullied by everyone, a literal nobody destined to die in the dirt.
But, as with every modern fantasy trope, Kael had a cheat. A 'System'.
Ding!
Neo could almost hear the obnoxious sound effect from the anime playing in his head. Kael's System allowed him to level up by completing absurd quests, stealing opportunities from others, and cross mortal boundaries that took normal geniuses decades to achieve. Through sheer grit, ridiculous plot armor, and the intervention of this System, Kael went from a weakling to a powerhouse. He gathered a harem of beautiful, powerful women, conquered dungeons, and slowly annihilated anyone who dared to stand in his way.
The 'villains' of the anime.
And the ultimate climax of the story? The royal family falls, leaving no heirs, and the world—desperate for a savior after a cataclysmic war—declares Kael the absolute 'Hero'. He ascends the empty throne, gets crowned the Emperor, and establishes a new, eternal dynasty.
It was a fun watch. A great popcorn show.
Unless, of course, you happened to be reborn as Neo Draven.
'I'm the stepping stone,' Neo realized, a cold sweat breaking out on his tiny forehead.
In the original anime, Neo Draven wasn't the final boss. He wasn't even a major antagonist. He was a third-rate, arrogant, cliché young master. A classic mid-boss who existed purely to make the male lead look good.
According to the lore, Neo possessed an absolute, monstrous amount of magical talent. He was born with the world on a silver platter. But because he had everything, he became impossibly lazy. He squandered his gifts, relied on his family's terrifying reputation, and became a cruel, spoiled brat with no real backstory or depth.
When he inevitably crossed paths with Kael early in the story—sneering at the weak countryside boy and trying to humiliate him—Kael used his newly acquired System abilities to completely outsmart and slaughter Neo.
He died pathetically. In the very first arc.
'I get killed by a countryside boy just to show the audience that Kael isn't afraid of authority,' Neo thought, his tiny hands clenching into fists. 'What a garbage fate!'
But his death wasn't the end. Oh, no. His death was the catalyst for the bloodiest, most tragic arc in the entire anime.
Because the Draven family loved him.
Neo remembered watching the episodes that followed the young master's death. The Duke of Draven—his father, who was currently fighting a war at the borders—went absolutely berserk. The strongest Dukedom in the empire turned all of its terrifying military might toward hunting down Kael.
But the world favored the protagonist. Fate leaned heavily toward the male lead. Through a string of sheer coincidences and absurd luck, Kael ended up saving the life of the current reigning Emperor. Because of this, the Royal Family offered Kael their absolute protection, shielding him from the Duke's wrath.
The result? The Duke declared independence.
CLASH! BOOM!
The imaginary sounds of warfare echoed in Neo's mind. A massive, catastrophic civil war erupted between the Velkrath Empire and the Draven Dukedom. The Duke, a man hailed as the strongest warrior in the realm, decimated the Imperial forces. He killed key generals and legendary warriors, causing irreversible damage to the Empire.
But in the end, it was a war of attrition. Surrounded on a blood-soaked battlefield, betrayed by allies and overwhelmed by numbers, the Duke fell.
And it didn't stop there.
Neo looked up at the woman currently holding him. Sylvia.
In the anime, Duchess Sylvia was revealed to be an incredibly powerful mage, a terror on the battlefield. She fought fiercely to protect her remaining children. But the trauma of losing her firstborn son, followed by the gruesome death of her husband, broke her mind. She became a hollow shell of herself, weakened by grief and madness.
Eventually, the Empire breached the estate. They dragged her out, labeled her a traitor, and executed her in the capital square for 'Treason'. Even Neo's younger siblings—heirs who hadn't even been born yet—were systematically hunted down and executed to prevent future rebellion.
Total destruction. The Draven family name was violently, permanently wiped from the annals of history.
All because a lazy, arrogant young master picked a fight with the main character.
'No.'
Neo's breathing hitched. The sheer gravity of his situation crashed down on him, suffocating him more than the physical weakness of his infant body.
'No way in hell am I letting that happen.'
He wasn't that arrogant idiot from the anime. He wasn't going to be a stepping stone. He didn't care about the plot, he didn't care about Kael's journey to becoming the Emperor, and he certainly didn't care about changing the destiny of the world. Butterfly effect be damned.
He just wanted to live.
"Shhh, it's alright, my little one," Sylvia whispered, misinterpreting his tense posture. She began to rock him again, her movements smooth and filled with an endless, unconditional love.
"Mother is here. You don't have to be afraid of anything in this world. The Draven name will protect you forever."
The bitter irony of her words stung his chest. The Draven name wouldn't protect them; it was the very thing that would put a target on their backs.
But as the afternoon slowly bled into the evening, Neo's chaotic mind began to quiet down.
Sylvia carried him to a plush armchair near the large window, sitting down and holding him up so he could see outside. The evening sun was dipping low over the horizon, casting a breathtaking, golden-orange glow over the sprawling, meticulously manicured gardens of the estate. The light filtered through the glass, warming his pale cheeks.
Whoosh...
A soft evening breeze rattled the windowpanes gently.
Neo rested his tiny cheek against his mother's chest. The smell of lavender, the warmth of the golden sun, the rhythmic, soothing thump of her heart... it was intoxicating.
For the first time since he opened his eyes in this chaotic, terrifying reality, Neo felt comfortable. He felt safe. He looked up at Sylvia, watching the golden sunlight reflect in her beautiful, loving eyes. She looked so incredibly peaceful. She wasn't the mad, grieving, broken woman from the anime. She was a mother, holding her child, perfectly content.
'She's not a character on a screen,' Neo realized, a profound, heavy warmth settling deep in his soul. 'She's real. My father is real. This family is real.'
He didn't want to conquer the world. He didn't want a System, or a harem, or the Emperor's throne. He just wanted to keep this. This warmth. This quiet, golden evening.
'I'm not going to get entangled in the protagonist's messy journey,' Neo vowed silently, his tiny blue eyes narrowing with a fierce, unwavering determination that looked completely out of place on a baby's face.
'I'll train. I won't be lazy. I'll become strong enough to protect myself, and I will stay as far away from the 'Original Story' as humanly possible. I am going to protect this peacefulness. Even if I have to defy the fate of this entire damn world to do it.'
Exhausted by the monumental weight of his own resolutions, Neo's heavy eyelids finally surrendered. Surrounded by the golden light of the setting sun and the steady heartbeat of his mother, the villain of the story drifted off to a peaceful sleep.