บท 17: Chapter 17: Reflection in Silence
The warm water lapped gently against my skin as I sank deeper into the tub, the heat wrapping around me like a cocoon. Mayer had done well. The bath was prepared just how Eliot liked it—steaming and comfortable. But me? I preferred it cold. Cold water kept the skin tight, kept those nasty blemishes at bay. But I couldn't deny that after being trapped in a ditch for so long, this warmth felt... nice.
There was something about baths. The silence. The stillness. It gave me space to think, uninterrupted by the outside world. I let my hands glide over my skin, scrubbing the grime from days spent lying in the mud. The soap foamed, bubbles rising and breaking in the water as I worked over my arms and chest. Every stroke was deliberate, a ritual of cleansing not just the body, but the mind.
Sebastian Vettel.
His name floated into my thoughts, uninvited but inevitable. In my past life, Sebastian had been my friend, my greatest rival, and ultimately my enemy. And now? Now he was my father. I couldn't help but smirk at the absurdity of it. It felt like something straight out of a bad novel. The Tyrant reincarnated as his enemy's son—how poetic.
Why I was reincarnated, or how, I didn't know. Those questions lingered, but they didn't press on me too heavily. I was alive now. That was all that mattered. I allowed the water to run over my face, the warmth seeping into my skin. Yet, even as I tried to relax, my mind circled back to Sebastian.
Did he do it? Did he really change the world like he said he would, with his justice and his ideals? His stupid, naive ideals. I had my doubts. After all, I had known Sebastian better than anyone. Even if he had managed to wrest control, the world didn't change so easily.
And then there was the name. Elias.
Why had Sebastian changed his name to Elias? What had happened after I was gone? I had no answers, only more questions. But there was no point in dwelling on them. Not now. Not yet. I had started this life in a ditch, in a body that wasn't mine, with memories that didn't belong to me. My name, my strenght—everything that once made me who I was—was gone, vanished as if it had never existed.
But I didn't linger on those thoughts. I wasn't one to waste time on what I couldn't change.
With a sigh, I stood from the bath, water cascading off me in streams. The cool air hit my skin as I stepped out, and I grabbed the towel Mayer had laid out, slowly drying myself. It was then, standing in front of the mirror, that I saw him—Eliot Blackthorn. The boy whose life I had now inherited.
"Quite the looker, if I do say so myself," I murmured, inspecting the reflection before me.
Long, dark, wavy hair fell to his shoulders, framing a soft face with smooth, clear skin. His features, while delicate, were sharp where they needed to be—prominent cheekbones, a straight nose, full lips. He was what people might call a 'pretty boy.' There was no doubt about it, the kid had gotten his looks from his mother. There wasn't a trace of Sebastian in that face.
But the body? That was another story. Slim now, sure. Soft, even. But I could tell, just from looking at the way the muscles responded beneath the skin, that it wouldn't take long to mold this frame into something formidable. Like his father—my father. Sebastian had always been powerful, but this body had potential. With enough work, with enough discipline, I could surpass him.
I draped the towel over my shoulders, my eyes still fixed on the mirror.
It was strange, seeing this new face, this new body, but feeling the same soul. The same determination. Whatever this life threw at me, whatever remnants of the past tried to hold me back, it didn't matter.
I was Leon Winter.
And I would make sure the world remembered that.
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