episode_0001

There is a notorious novel called “The Fall of the Ailam Empire” that stands as the pinnacle of decadent novels. From the beginning to the middle and all the way to the end, it was a novel where the author’s talent ran wild, making it impossible to let go once you started reading.

The well-developed plot, driven by exceptional storytelling skills, was highly immersive and left many readers with a lasting impact.

And that immersion extended to relentless character defamation.

“[Randor, you son of a bitch.]”

“[If only Randor didn’t exist.]”

“It’s been a while since I felt such disgust towards a fictional character. If I really wanted to, I’d fucking kill this bastard. LOL.”

And at the root of the downfall of the Ailam Empire, there was a traitorous scumbag named Randor.

With a tall and handsome appearance that could easily pass as an ace in a host bar, glasses-wearing, sharp-eyed character.

Considering all this, it’s easy to see what kind of person this bastard is. In the novel, Randor is a figure who manipulates the feeble-minded emperor, turning him into a puppet ruler, and swallows up all the empire’s privileges based on his power.

However, as the aging and foolish emperor failed to realize this fact, he even entrusted his beloved young daughter to Randor.

Invincible Karia.

The youngest Grand Master. The strongest sword in the empire. A monster among monsters, regarded as someone nearly impossible to find a rival for throughout history.

But while her physical strength was formidable, her mental state was weak.

Having lost her mother early on and nearly assassinated several times due to political unrest, the young princess had deep-seated psychological instability. The emperor believed that having Randor, whom he trusted, by her side would bring her emotional stability.

But that was the worst judgment he could have made.

Randor raised young Karia brilliantly.

As his own excellent weapon.

With a serpent’s tongue, Randor skillfully brainwashed Karia through subtle manipulation, to the point where she would willingly plunge a knife into her own heart if he commanded it.

In the end, she becomes the vanguard of the incited by Landoor in the latter part of the novel and becomes a slaughterer who massacres numerous people. And in the final battle, she fights for Landoor and dies.

What happens to Landoor? In the end, he is captured by Adran, the protagonist and just prince, and suffers a fate worse than death in the square, enduring humiliation from the citizens.

“Landoor.”

I was looking at myself in the mirror, touching the face of a despicable and hideous traitor with thoughts of wanting to tear him apart. I muttered absentmindedly.

“Why did I possess this bastard of all people?”

I exclaimed in frustration while gripping my head. The sound of my long sigh and lament was followed by a rustling noise from behind.

When I turned my head, there was a stunning beauty lying on the bed, her crimson hair scattered on the pure white bedsheet.

And below the white bedsheet, near Carya’s legs, another vivid redness revealed its presence.

That’s right.

I had taken the princess’s virginity last night. It was essentially a sexual encounter forced upon me by Carya, but the fact that I took her virginity remained unchanged.

And from this point on, according to the original novel, true catastrophe begins.

The princess believes that her love has been fulfilled through this intimate moment and starts to consider Landoor, whom she trusted more than her own family due to gaslighting, as someone more precious than her own life. She becomes a being who will do anything according to Landoor’s words.

The Iron Blood Legion, the empire’s strongest combat unit led by her, also follows her, leading to a civil war. And in that civil war, the defeated Landoor, as mentioned before, suffers humiliation in the square.

“Ah, aaaaah!! I hate it!!!!!!!!!”

The grotesque and dreadful demise of Landoor depicted in the novel no longer felt satisfyingly inevitable to me.

Damn it!!

I became the one who suffered! That dreadful execution!!

Princess Karia, who was sound asleep despite my shouting, woke up startled from the bed, but I didn’t pay attention to her. I have no desire whatsoever to be killed off with such a bad ending. To survive, I had to make it a happy ending without fail.

“Randor, how is it? Is it delicious?” Princess Karia asks me while looking at me. When she smiles, everything around me brightens up. Could there be such a beautiful woman in this world? If it were an ordinary day, I would have even thought about what name to give our child if such a beauty smiled at me, but now I didn’t have the psychological luxury for such happy delusions.

“Um… I just have something to think about.”

In response to my curt words, Karia makes all the servants who were serving meals leave the room and tightly holds my hand.

“Because I forced you yesterday… Did I become someone you dislike because of that?”

This young lady. She’s completely imagining things wrongly. Among men, if such a beautiful woman actively approaches them, who would dislike it? While there were times when Karia forced it in the beginning, there were also moments later on that I enjoyed.

Once again, memories of the passionate moments from last night come to mind, leaving me momentarily speechless, and Karia seems to have misunderstood.

“I can do any play that Randor likes. Whenever you want. You can treat me like a prostitute… It’s okay. Without you, I can’t. It has to be Randor. I love you, Randor. Please… Please love me.”

If I even show a hint of displeasure, she’ll kneel down. It’s a part where you can see how smooth this fucking bastard Randor’s tongue was. Even though she may have been mentally damaged due to shocking events in her childhood, brainwashed to the point where she would die without herself, the Empire’s princess.

With such exceptional talent, she should contribute to the Empire!!

Rather than causing a fucking rebellion!!

In reality, Karia is an antagonist in the novel, but she’s truly a pitiful character. There wasn’t a single person who sincerely loved her throughout her life.

The emperor, who was a devoted father, had an addiction that made him an inadequate father even with empty words. The mother died early, and those around her were envious of her exceptional talent, unable to kill her, which left her frustrated. From a young age, Karia, who knew nothing but assassination attempts and had her mental state shattered, was reached out to by none other than Landoor. She was just a princess destined to be unhappy for the rest of her life. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Karia, trembling before my eyes. “Is it okay for me too? I’m 10 years older than you.” “It doesn’t matter!” Looking back, the incident of their first night together… It must have been when Karia was around 19 years old. I remember it being described in the novel as her being frightened as a newly adult woman. At most, she was in her late teens. I firmly held her hand. “Please take care of me, Karia. I won’t leave your side from now on.” And then, I hesitated for a moment whether to say the next words or not. But as expected, there was one thing I wanted to tell Karia, as someone who was a fan of this novel. “I love you too, Karia.” In the original work, Landoor never once said that he loved Karia. He only said things like “Do this because I need it” or “Do that” and stopped at saying that he needed her. I wanted to make this pitiful woman happy. “Ugh!…” Unable to hold back any longer, Karia started shedding tears at my affectionate voice. I gently pulled her trembling body towards me, like comforting a young child, and hugged her tightly. She clung to me and cried for a long time. It was a cry that healed the painful past but at the same time seemed so happy. However, I couldn’t put on a happy face while holding her like that. If it were the original Landoor, he would have had an evil smile, but I couldn’t manage such a smile. ‘Now what? This is really messed up.’ From the moment Landoor entered into a relationship with Karia, this novel began to descend into the depths of decadence. In short…

If we follow the original plot, neither Karia nor I can be happy, and I will definitely be torn apart. Right now, something needed to change. It is said that the first emperor of the Ailam Empire took a dragon as his bride and bore offspring. Although there is no way to confirm whether this is true or not, one thing was certain. It was that extraordinary individuals known as Avatars, who surpassed humans and were commonly referred to as Dragon Incarnates, were born in the imperial bloodline from generation to generation. In this generation, there are a total of three Avatars. Adran, the Golden Prince, born with wisdom and a sense of justice. Karia, the Invincible Princess, born with strength and leadership. Selene, the Graceful Princess, born with beauty and observational skills. Each of them possessed their own firm power, and their struggle to ascend to the throne was the focus of the latter part of the novel. However, besides them, there was another force, namely Duke Pellings. Duke Pellings, with his vast territory and military forces, planned to seize the capital and become the emperor if the three princesses and princes fought each other and annihilated themselves. It was revealed in the latter part of the story that he was the one who had made numerous attempts to assassinate Princess Karia, and he could be considered a despicable bastard who greatly contributed to the empire’s destruction in a brutal war, just like Landoor. “I apologize, Your Majesty! The evil of Landoor’s subjugation is spreading throughout the sky!” Needless to say, Duke Pellings’ favorite scenario was for the three Avatars, who were candidates for the throne, to fight each other until they all perished, rather than one of them emerging victorious. The emperor commanded the young 17-year-old Karia to lead a northern expedition. It was an extremely difficult mission to subdue the monster horde that had started multiplying in the northern Rimnakal Plain over two years ago. However, the Invincible Karia, true to her nickname, led a formidable army of 200,000 and went there, completely eradicating the monsters from the Rimnakal Plain in just two years before returning.

Of course, this was a momentous occasion beyond imagination, and as a result, Duke Fellings was not pleased. It wouldn’t be favorable for him if one of the candidates for emperor received excessive attention from the public.

In the Royal Palace where all imperial affairs took place, Duke Fellings began openly targeting me, who was Princess Caria’s closest confidant. He had calculated that by provoking Caria, who held considerable power, through me, who played the role of her purse-keeper, he could weaken Princess Caria’s influence.

“Lord Rendor, the Prime Minister, has monopolized most of the major merchant guilds in the capital! Furthermore, their crimes are severe, such as extorting excessive taxes from them and filling his own pockets! Your Majesty, I request that you punish Prime Minister Rendor!”

The Emperor, whose eyes became sharp and judgment impaired, raised his voice in anger at those words.

“Do you have any evidence?”

Rendor, who was said to have coated his tongue with honey and oil at the same time, replied. The aging and foolish Emperor was currently in a state of complete trust towards me. Just like a naive lamb, he was an excellent emperor for roasting.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

As if prepared for a long time, Duke Fellings ordered his subordinates to bring various pieces of incriminating evidence against me.

The Emperor frowned as he looked at the fabricated documents.

Although he wanted to cover it up, the evidence was so solid that it made him uncomfortable.

“Prime Minister Rendor, step forward.”

The Emperor called me.

And he looked at me openly with a gentle and mild tone.

“What do you think about these accusations?”

It wasn’t an interrogative tone.

Even though the amount embezzled was beyond imagination, his tone exuded an implication of forgiveness.

In the original work, Rendor, who manipulated everything and blamed it all on a single merchant under him, would skillfully escape as a sacrificial lamb, having learned the art of greasing the wheels.

I didn’t know anything. If I could put on a crying show, the Emperor would easily be deceived and all charges would disappear. But if I followed the original development like that, my future would only end up with a public execution in the square.

Already yesterday. I had already planned out how to change the conversation by thinking hard all night long.

“Your Majesty.”

“Yes. Was there some misunderstanding?”

“It’s all my fault.”

“??????”

A choking sound, as if swallowing breath wrongly, echoes throughout the palace. The Emperor had a dumbfounded expression, as did Karia. Prince Adran and Princess Selene also had astonished faces.

However, none of them could match the expression of Duke Fellings.

After observing the duke’s stunned expression with a smirk, I bowed my head before the Emperor.

“I confess to all my sins!! Please kill me!! Your Majesty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It was the moment when the struggle to escape from the limb-tearing ending began.