Born with black hair and eyes, Friedrich was shut away by his father, who blamed him for his mother's death. At sixteen, Albert handed his son over to Crown Prince Valerian. Friedrich became the prince's secret assassin and earned the name the Executioner. When Valerian seized power, he imprisoned Friedrich and tortured him for years, trying to smother his own fear of him. Friedrich escaped the dungeons, killed the prince in a frenzy of violence, and died on the road. He woke in his eleven-year-old body and resolved to rewrite his fate. To break free of his father's control and escape the royal family's notice, he struck a harsh bargain with Albert: he would renounce his title and inheritance in exchange for a place at the Kronos Grand Academy—a vast, law-protected elite school of magic, alchemy, and martial arts, beyond the reach of a grand duke's authority.