A few minutes later.
Noah stepped into his personal chamber quietly.
The soft click of the door closing behind him echoed faintly through the large room.
Waiting inside were his three regular maids, standing near the dining table with warm food already set. The smell of roasted meat and fresh bread filled the air.
"Your Highness, supper is ready," one of them said gently with a small smile.
Noah shook his head. "I'm not hungry. You can all go. I need to rest."
The three maids exchanged a quick glance, then nodded politely before bowing and leaving the room. Only Elena, his personal maid, stayed behind.
She stepped closer with a concerned look in her eyes. "Are you sure, Your Highness?"
"Yes," Noah said. "You should get some rest too. Take the night off."
Elena tilted her head slightly. She had noticed the prince seemed to be in a hurry about something. But she didn't ask.
She simply bowed and said, "As you wish," before walking out and quietly closing the chamber door behind her.
The moment the door shut, Noah let out a long breath. The room was finally quiet.
He walked over to a small table near the window and pulled out the old lamp from his robe. He set it down gently. It looked like any other vintage lamp—dull gold and copper in color, with faded patterns and tiny carvings across its surface.
Noah sat down cross-legged on the floor. He placed both hands on his lap and closed his eyes. His breathing slowed. He focused on the strange unease inside his chest and mind—the feeling that had started back at the auction.
He let go of the noise in his mind. He let go of thoughts about the gala, about Emeric, about the past. Slowly, that unease grew stronger, and then his mind slipped into a different space.
He found himself standing in a strange place. There was no ground beneath his feet, but he wasn't falling either. Everything around him was covered in soft white and gray fog. It moved gently, like clouds drifting in the sky.
Noah looked around. There was no sound, no wind, no sense of direction. Just stillness.
His body moved on its own, led by the feeling in his chest. He walked through the mist, letting it wrap around him.
Deeper and deeper he went, until he found it—a coin, floating in the air. It was flipping over and over by itself. It never landed. It never stopped.
With each flip, Noah's restlessness surged.
He recognized it.
It was the same coin Dean had made him hold before killing him in his past life. If he had been fully aware at that moment, maybe he would've been angry. Maybe his heart would've boiled with the pain of helplessness and untimely death.
But in this place, those feelings didn't reach him. Only his subconscious was awake.
So he didn't think. He just subconsciously reached out and grabbed the coin, stopping its endless flip.
As soon as his fingers closed around it, the clouds vanished, and the soul space shattered like glass.
Noah blinked and found himself back in his royal chamber. He sat still for a few seconds, unsure of what had just happened.
Then, he looked down.
In his right hand was the coin.
It was cold to the touch. One side showed an old wooden ship. The other side had a strange face—two human profiles fused into one, split down the middle.
Noah stared at it in silence.
He remembered Dean's vague words that he had heard in his drunken stupor, at least the ones he could recall.
Dean had called it "Charon's Obol." A coin tied to many legends. One that could carry souls across the River Styx. It was also a coin of luck and fate. A wishing coin.
Dean had claimed it could mess with cause and effect itself.
At the time, Noah had honestly thought Dean was a runaway patient from a psych ward. He didn't know where Dean had gotten the coin from or why he was giving it to him.
But that hadn't stopped Noah from holding onto the coin with his last breath. Not because Dean had told him to—but because Noah had needed something to hold onto for comfort in his final moments.
Noah sighed. He didn't want to think about Dean. Or the past. Not right now.
He turned his attention back to the lamp. It was just sitting there. Quiet. Still.
But something had definitely happened at the auction. The coin had reacted for a reason.
He slowly brought the coin closer to the mouth of the lamp. The lamp didn't glow or burst with light. Instead, a thin stream of white smoke began to rise from inside it—soft and light, like a wisp of cloud.
"A wishing coin, huh?" Noah whispered.
Noah did the only thing he was truly good at—simple math.
Wishing coin + wishing lamp = wishes fulfilled?
He looked between the lamp and the coin. "Well well well… This isn't a well per se, but... I guess it's close enough."
He held the coin over the lamp's opening. His hand trembled just a little.
Then, he let go.
The coin dropped—and was instantly pulled in by a strong force. The coin went straight inside the lamp.
The lamp made no sound, but the runes on its surface shimmered one by one. White light pulsed across them like waves moving through water.
Then, the lamp exhaled a larger puff of white smoke. The smoke kept growing, swirling, taking shape.
Slowly, the volume of smoke increased until it formed the outline of a human figure.
At that moment, the 9th prince's royal chamber was quietly sealed off from the rest of the palace.
If a knowledgeable Arkanist had been inside Noah's room, they would have widened their eyes in shock.
Zero Order item? This thing was clearly above even a 4th Order Arkana item.
Of course, Noah didn't care about that. He was focused on the figure forming out of the smoke.
She looked pretty, he thought to himself, leaning back in his chair, waiting.
"Master, oh master!"
A beautiful blonde genie appeared before him, her voice sweet and doting. She smiled warmly before hugging him close as soon as her manifestation was completed.
Noah could have said a lot of things at that moment. He could've asked who she was or what was going on. Like other protagonists.
But he didn't bother with the usual questions.
He just hugged her back, buried his face against her chest, and smiled as her soft scent filled his nose.
"Haah! I have been waiting for a someone like you, you know? Alright. My first wish… give me a nine incher bazooka when I grow up…"