Ā Chapter 07
When I opened my eyes, I was back in that empty gray room.
Blue eyes, filled with shock and anger, looked down at me, pricking me like needles.
He was a man, fancy as always.
A different kind of fancy from the Emperor ā a face boasting a painstakingly delicate, artistic beauty, so exquisite it was almost severe.
Perenustus, a man so beautiful he looked dangerous, frowned deeply.
> ‘With that expression, he looks even more sensitive. He really is pretty.’
He stared at me, curled up in pain and unable to get up from the floor, with an indescribable annoyance. Without a word, he just looked at me like that for a long while, then finally helped me up with a deep sigh, supporting me with his own hands.
“How honored I am.”
“Is this really a time for jokes?”
“What else? It’s not my first time dying. Did you think I’d whine and cry?”
For a moment, strength surged into the hand supporting my shoulder. His grip was so tight it was almost painful, reminding me of the feeling of holding the Emperor’s hand. I instinctively recoiled and pushed his hand away.
“It hurts.”
“A person who flinches at a grip like this stabbed their own neck with a piece of porcelain?”
“Oh. Are you worried about me?”
“Of course I’m not worā Hah. This wasn’t the kind of place I sent you to so you could just die on a whim!”
His expression, seemingly boiling with anger, also carried an irremovable trace of concern. Perhaps because of that, his voice, laced with a criticism as sharp as his gaze, was almost welcome.
It tickled me somehow, and I was about to make one more pointless joke. That’s when he flapped the fake prophecy, soaked in my blood, in the air.
> “Self-harm is bad enough, but what the hell is this prophecy?! The red door? The jewel of Falkenstein? Because you caused this mess and then died, that world’s genre has completely changed! It suddenly turned into some kind of mystery genre!”
“Wow. That’s exactly what I intended, and it really turned out that way?”
“What did you say?”
I forgot even the lingering pain and smiled brightly.
> “I think I finally understand a little bit now.”
“No. Someone who understands anything could never do something like this.”
“No? I really think I know what I can do? You said the genre changed, right?”
I pointed with my chin at the prophecy, now miserably crumpled in his hand. That fake prophecy was proof that my death had fulfilled someone’s wish.
“Hahā¦. How did I end up with such an unfixable error in my worldā¦ā¦.”
Gritting his teeth and muttering, he threw the prophecy away and tore at his impeccably styled hair.
> “Why do you keep causing more and more troublesome incidents! I gave you the best Academy students so you could practice how the world works, so why did you have to go and die there!”
“Whyā¦? You told me to get caught up in an assassination attempt and die, so I did my best and tried my hardest?”
> “That damn effort, effort, seriously! What I expected from you was a variety of struggles, choices, and results! Who told you to just die so recklessly!”
“That’s funny. Do I need your permission to die? It’s my life.”
The man squeezed his eyes shut and messed up his hair even more, then suddenly shouted into the air.
> “Silphy! Bring the main cast of the Training Stage and come out right now!”
Simultaneously with his shout, accompanied by an ear-splitting screech, countless silver lightning bolts struck down.
“Ah!”
The Chairman glanced at me, who reflexively curled up and covered my ears, then silently put his arm around my shoulder to support me.
> “ā¦I didn’t know you’d be scared of something like this. I’ll tell Silphy to be careful from now on.”
I couldn’t even speak properly and just barely nodded. By the time I caught my breath, leaning on him, the terrifying bolts of light had vanished without a trace.
Instead, the suddenly appeared Silver Dragon, Adeline, and the Emperor stood there with awkward expressions, as if unsure where to look.
> “Everyone, sit down. I called you here because I think we need a reflection meeting.”
Perenustus sat me down on a chair first and declared, as if sighing. Unaccustomed to such treatment, I somehow felt the need to make an excuse and mumbled.
“I’m sorry. Back where I used to live, whenever lightning like this struck, a lot of villagers would die.”
“Ah, sorry. That was probably when I was snoringā”
“Shut your mouth and sit down, Silphy.”
Perenustus grabbed the Silver Dragon by its severed neck, dragged it to a chair, and started interrogating it abruptly.
“You. Why did you arbitrarily put poison in the fountain?”
“That wasn’t me. The bug stayed quiet and out of sight, trying to die willingly, so my curse activated!”
“The curse made her the Empress? That’s my spot?”
Adeline, who had been glancing at the Silver Dragon with frightened eyes, forgot her fear and flared up.
“From the beginning, this Training Stage was from her past life!”
Adeline’s index finger shot out toward me.
> “Because she stole the hero role and the saintess role that were destined for us! So this was supposed to be a reward opportunity!”
“Ahā¦. So that’s why you both hated me so much. I wondered why you were cursing me to die and disappear the moment we met.”
The Emperor and Adeline glanced at me with fed-up eyes. Unfortunately, having eaten so many dirty looks over the past few days, the glares from those two didn’t affect me much.
> “But well, didn’t it turn out okay in the end? This Chairman person said the genre definitely changed. From romance to mystery.”
“Hey, is that something you should be saying right now?”
“Why? Once I’m gone, Adeline, you’re someone who can rise to the very top all by yourself, just like you wanted, so I wasn’t worried.”
What part of my words was the problem? Adeline, who had been barely holding on, exploded.
> “I haven’t even graduated from the Main Character Academy yet! I’ve never properly played a real lead role! And you suddenly splash a fountain of blood all over someone like that and say ‘turned out okay in the end’? Don’t you understand the concept of psychological trauma?”
“Ah, no wonder.”
I slapped my knee, feeling like all the pieces were finally falling into place.
> “I said your way of thinking was childish, and you really are children.”
“Children?”
Flames erupted from Adeline’s eyes. The flames then engulfed Perenustus.
> “I really didn’t want to say this, but Professor, this is completely your fault! Even if variables are inevitably necessary for a worldview, where did you dig up someone like this to insert into a perfectly functioning world!”
“ā¦ā¦.”
> “And on top of that, you called it Easy Mode Training, but someone like her!”
This time, Adeline’s index finger pointed at the Emperor.
> “What are you thinking, making a guy like this, 100% suited to be a tyrant who obsesses and confines people, the Emperor!”
“What? The Emperor told me his aptitude was for a supporting role, like a guard knight or an attendant.”
“I’m losing my mind. Do you have no eyes?”
Adeline screamed hysterically and grabbed the Emperor’s chin.
> “Look at him! How can that face be a supporting character?”
As the attention focused on him, the Emperor, who had been sitting silently, awkwardly wiped his face.
> “I’m someone who spent a full thousand years as nothing but a supporting character in martial arts stories! I barely earned a appearance alteration right with that experience and transferred to this Academy! If I’d known a bastard born looking like this would be sitting at the top, I never would have come!”
Adeline shrieked, almost a scream. Her protest was so fierce that even the Silver Dragon, who had been watching with a smirk, cleared its throat.
“Hmm, so.”
I pondered Adeline’s words and quietly started to organize the situation.
> “Adeline wants to be the lead at any cost, but His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t want to get entangled with her through obsessive confinement, right?”
“What? This bastard’s getting picky! When a lead role is offered, you should just grab it, no questions asked!”
> “His Majesty the Emperor doesn’t like romance. This person, the Professor or Chairman, wants to control me. Silphy put a curse on me. And I want to satisfy that Comedy-Tragedy Total Quantity thing as quickly as possible and stop being treated like a criminal.”
“ā¦ā¦.”
> “That’s right, isn’t it? That’s our current situation, isn’t it?”
Everyone nodded at me, looking a bit uneasy. Their faces seemed to say, ‘What nonsense is she going to say now that makes us hold our heads?’
To live up to their expectations, I smiled brightly.
> “Now that everyone’s needs are clear, I’ll be careful from now on.”
“Careful? From now on? Professor, am I going to be involved with her again? Really?”
> “Well, whether it’s you or whoever. I’ll try not to be a nuisance and die at a more appropriate time. As much as possible without causing harm.”
Instead of saying ‘I promise,’ I nodded once each to Adeline and the Emperor.
When I first learned to hunt, I had vomited for about a week after getting covered in a prey’s blood. So it was really my fault for suddenly getting blood all over students who hadn’t even graduated from the Academy yet.
“This is what a reflection meeting is, right? Admitting what I did wrong this time, and saying I’ll do better next time.”
“ā¦ā¦.”
Perenustus’s lips twitched, then he buried his face in his palm with a deep sigh.
The Emperor’s expression wasn’t much different from Perenustus’s.
Only the Silver Dragon, who had looked a bit tired of Adeline’s screeching shouts, had eyes shining with amusement.
“No, ha, why is everyone just sitting there quietly? You should be grabbing me by the collar and shaking me, telling me that’s not how it’s done!”
Adeline, who had opened and closed her mouth several times next to me, squeezed out her voice in protest. The smirking Silver Dragon shook its head.
> “Talking to that bug is useless. She’s not the kind of error that responds to common sense.”
A heavy silence fell, carrying Adeline’s shock and Perenustus’s dismay.
The eyes looking at me grew increasingly complicated.
Among them, Perenustus’s eyes, carrying the most troubled light, held me entirely without blinking once.
“Why?”
“Why, you sayā¦ Hah. It seems I really need to start from the very basics, the very bottom with you.”
“Whyā¦ā¦?”
“Because I’m sick of hearing that damn ‘why’.”
The Chairman, coldly silencing me, frowned and placed his hand over his heart.
That gestureā¦ that’s what nobles do when they stake their lives on their fated partner.
> “I am Perenustus, the master of this world. I am thinking of formally taking responsibility for you, staking my name.”
“No? Why would you take responsibility for me?”
> “You have no right to refuse. From now on, you are my Aurelia. My mission.”
