Luke's eyes fluttered. He stirred, and looked around his surroundings. He was in a large room. There were chairs made of wool dyed a deep velvet, a mahogany table, a few building blocks in the corner. He was laying down in a bed with a canopy, the curtains the same color as the chairs.

He made his way out of bed, and found a mirror on the table. He gazed into it, and what he saw petrified him.

It was himself, but when he was twelve years old.

His heartbeat rapidly accelerated. What happened? Why am I here? How did I travel back into the past?

He heard voices outside of his door. Curious, he made his way over and pressed his ear against the oak.

"...Luke is doing well. He suffered a severe concussion, but other than that, there's nothing to worry about."

Luke recognized that voice. It was his father's. But then, he noticed a calendar nearby. The date filled him with a sense of dread.

It was the very day when his father had died.

Luke opened the door and found his father talking to his mother. Duke Augustine Schuyler was an austere man well in his fifties. He had quite a few streaks of silver hair. Duchess Emmeline Schuyler was a beautiful woman with streaks of platinum in her golden hair.

Luke greeted his parents with a bow. "Greetings, Father. Greetings, Mother." They smiled and bowed back, offering their greetings as well.

"Father, if I may ask. Were you and Mother discussing my injury?" Luke asked with a polite facade, concealing his inner turmoil. I remember how I got injured. I tripped and my face slammed into a rock after chasing a fox which had stolen my fedora.

Duke Augustine gave a smile and nodded. "Indeed we were. How are you feeling?"

Luke rubbed the part of his forehead that had been cracked by the rock. Surprisingly, he felt no pain, only a minor ache when he pressed on it.

"It hurts a bit when I press on it. But other than that, I feel fine."

Augustine and Emmeline smiled, happy Luke was recovering. But Luke still hadn't recovered from his current and most pressing issue: Why was I sent back to this specific day?

Emmeline addressed Luke and told him that since he was mostly better, he could go back to attending his lessons on proper etiquette and manners. Luke thanked them once again, and made his way to his personal classroom.

Luke didn't need to go to classes, as he had already learned all of these from his previous life. But out of respect for his parents, he attended them anyways.

Making his way down the corridor, he was lost in thought. So much so that he didn't see where he was going and bumped into something much bigger than him.

"You need to be more mindful next time, Master Luke." His butler Bernard remarked. Luke nodded and bowed and continued walking.

Arriving at his classroom, which was really just the parlor with a big desk in front of the sofa, he sat down and waited for his teacher to arrive.

But after a few minutes of waiting, Mr. Hence didn't arrive. That's when a knock sounded at his door. Three evenly spaced raps on the wood.

He thought to himself. If I remember correctly, this was the horseman that my father would travel with, and eventually the man who would carry his body out of the Monhelm river.

And sure enough, Duke Augustine opened it to see a tall, pale man with a jet-black beard holding a saddle in each hand.

"Ready for the ride, Duke Augustine?"
The man asked in a deep, gruff voice.
Luke could tell just from it that he was from Brundidge, the land to the south of here.

The Duke nodded and stepped out with him. Through the crystal windows, Luke could see his father mount his grey stallion known as Knasm. The horseman rode the horse he used to travel here, a beautiful palomino that looked twice as young as Knasm.

As the two rode down the paved road, Luke couldn't just let his father die again, not when he had a chance to save him. So, mounting his own horse (a white mare named Albin), he rode off after them.

He knew that his father would die on the bridge that allowed crossing of the Monhelm river. It was known to have many cracks, and the wood had grown soft and rotten in places.

But it was the only way through, mainly because both countries had neglected the repairs and maintenance that it needed.

Luke took a shortcut through the the woods and arrived at the Monhelm river. Seeing as his father's body wasn't on the rocks with a sharp rock impaled through his ribs, he knew he had made it in time.

Luke quickly got to work, moving the sharp rock out of the way and moving nearby planks of wood on top of the rotten planks.

After he finished, he saw Knasm approaching from a distance, and quickly remounted Albin and rode off discreetly, hiding between the brushes of fern.

Luke heard no plank snap, nor an anguished scream, and so he knew that his plan had worked. With a sigh of relief, he helped Albin back in his stable and went back inside his house.

But what he hadn't accounted for was his mother noticing that he had just randomly vanished, based on the look of fury on the normally calm Duchess' face.

"Luke Alexander Giorno Schuyler!" Duke Emmeline growled his full name the moment she caught sight of him, marching up to him with a quick stride that contrasted with her age.

"I've been worried sick, thinking that you had been kidnapped by those nasty Razvan or worse!"

Luke immediately tried to explain, but the words caught in his throat and refused to exit his mouth. He knew that explaining his motives would make her even angrier.

She went off on a series of colorful threats that she promised she would see through to the very end if he misbehaved one more time, but eventually, Emmeline calmed down and sent him off to his room.

Sitting on his bed, Luke grabbed a book from his bedside drawer titled
"The History of Kalna" and started reading it. Kalna was the country he lived in, and it was known for the unique geological landscape which gave them an advantage in both warfare and trade routes with other lands.

Even though he had already read this book countless times in his past life, he still found it mesmerizing to read on how the great warrior Halberd the Slaughterer had singlehandedly destroyed an entire village of Razvan and claimed the land for himself, and had now turned it into a thriving kingdom.

Shutting the book, he heard his telephone ring and went over to pick it up.

"Luke Schuyler here."

"Luke, it's me, your father. I've found someone who wants to be your fiance."

WHAT?!

"Father, you have to be joking, right? Is that why you traveled with that horseman?"

"Indeed. That horseman you speak of, Master Yan, has a daughter. He wanted me to see if his daughter was a suitable candidate for you."

Luke started to panic a little. He knew who his daughter was. He had died fighting her in his past life, and his resentment for her still burned strong.

Hara Baroque Eunelope.

But he wondered. Did she remember him? He put the thought aside and answered his father.

"I see. We'll be expecting visitors, then. I'll tell the servants to clean the house in honor of your arrival, and the candidate Master Yan brings."

"Good."

His father hung up without another word. Luke then called his mother and explained what his father had told him, and she assured him that she would tell the servants to clean the manor.

After reading Shakespeare's Sonnets for a few hours, a magnificent chime sounded from the parlor.

They're here.

Luke made his way out of his room, hurried down the marble steps and stood with his mother.

"Come in." Duchess Emmeline's voice sounded through the entrance hall.

The door swung open, revealing Duke Augustine, Master Yan, and Hara herself.

She had skin the color of milk, and her loose, curly brown hair fell down to her shoulder. Behind her was her sister Yanna Eunelope, who had beautiful golden hair, which she had presumably inherited from her mother, considering the fact that Yan had brown hair.

However, Luke wasn't expecting to meet Yanna so early. In his past life, they met at Luke's debutante ball, and they were...

Luke remembered very well what he and Yanna were in his past life, perhaps a little too well.

They had been lovers.

Now that my father is alive, the timeline of events must have changed. Luke thought to himself.

Luke performed a bow, and both Yanna and Hara dropped a polite curtsey.

"Lady Yanna. Lady Hara. What a pleasure to meet the both of you." Luke stated with the smile that he reserved for formal occasions.

Yanna responded. "It is a great pleasure to be able to meet you too,
Sir Luke." She bowed low, but Hara's expression remained unchanging.

Duke Augustine cleared his throat and coughed to gain everyone's attention.

"Now, we have the lovely Eunelope sisters here at our manor today. I must announce this to my son and future successor Luke, in hopes that he will be prepared for what these sisters will bring."

Luke felt his father's gaze on him, bearing down on him like a bear.

"Both of them will be competing for my son's love."

Everyone was completely caught off guard, Luke particularly so. But he quickly hid it behind a polite smile.

"Is that so, Father? Well, I wish you both the best of luck in winning me over."

The sisters nodded, and the Duke and Duchess offered to lead them to the dining area for some refreshments after such a long journey.

Just then, Bernard passed by, and he noticed the look of distress on Luke's face. He quickly made his way over.

"Master Luke, is there a problem?"

Luke quickly forced a smile and shook  his head.

"No, not at all. Please, continue on your way."

Bernard nodded and patted his back before leaving. Luke was alone in the parlor, in complete and utter shock.

I didn't think the timeline would change THIS drastically! I'll have to be careful with my next moves, or else I could end up never becoming the duke at all!

Luke knew that his cousin would attempt to dethrone him again and again. She was relentless. And now that the timeline of events had changed, she might actually succeed in her attempts of claiming the throne for herself. And Luke was determined not to let that happen.