episode_0002

I recalled the miserable isekai life I endured during my first run.

After all that, why am I lying here again?

No, after putting me through all that, shouldn’t they at least have the decency to send me back out of guilt?

God is dead.

No, maybe it was just yesterday.

Sigh… This must be my fate.

Grumbling, I stared blankly at the quest window. The main quest that had tormented me for years in the previous world was still gleaming mockingly.

[Main Quest: Grant True Happiness to All Heroines! 0/4■]

“I don’t get it…”

I didn’t even hear the Demon King’s last words properly before she tore me to shreds, let alone understood their meaning, so I decided not to dwell on it.

At worst, it was probably just her mocking me. Even I had to admit my death was pathetically naive.

The bigger issue was the quest. The one I was looking at now was identical to the one from my first run.

Did that mean the quest wasn’t completed? Was defeating the Demon King only part of it?

“Bullshit…”

That couldn’t be. The heroines from the first run were the type who’d oppose me even if I claimed to be a god.

I mustered the courage to reveal that I could see the future, and look how that turned out.

I thought resetting to a second run with all my hopes intact was the only way.

Was I wrong?

After everything I went through?

Another three years of running around the academy?

“You damn—!”

I swallowed the curse before it could escape.

If this really was a regression, swearing or raising my voice in this house would be suicide.

For now—no, probably forever—my standing here was just the popular younger sister and the family’s disgrace.

If I dared to curse, I’d be in deep trouble starting today.

Ugh… My stomach’s already churning.

Every time I suggested digging beneath the mansion or using the family’s assets for something, these people knew how to starve me properly.

I went hungry.

At first, I toughed it out, thinking I could skip a few meals.

But the human body doesn’t endure that easily.

“I’m sorry. I just wanted to help the family and you—”

“I never expected anything from you in the first place.”

The stew I finally got after kneeling before my sister that day was tearfully delicious.

The meat melted in my mouth.

“Ah.”

Remembering that made me realize my current situation again.

“Second run…”

Right now, I didn’t need to run around desperately persuading stubborn heroines.

The ones in a hurry weren’t me—it was them.

If I’d regressed, it meant the artifact I gave Rue had been successfully activated.

“Hah…”

Feeling relieved, I flopped back onto the bed.

The thought of being comforted by those now-apologetic heroines while reaping the rewards was delightful.

But the moment I considered that, a dissonance hit me, and I bolted upright.

[Main Quest: Grant True Happiness to All Heroines! 0/4■]

The quest remained unchanged, still glowing.

“True happiness… true happiness…”

I didn’t really know what “true happiness” meant. But this world’s infuriatingly convoluted quests always hid riddles, only revealing details once solved.

If I hadn’t known the original story, I’d have died for sure.

No—I’d have died just the same, but more meaninglessly.

“True happiness” was likely the core of this quest. Defeating the Demon King was obviously the baseline requirement.

After all, every heroine’s gathering and countless sub-quests revolved around that goal.

But that alone wasn’t enough.

“Hmm… Ugh…”

What was true happiness?

What even was happiness?

After about 15 minutes of serious (and pointless) philosophical agony, I found my answer.

“Live strong…”

They had to become independent.

Realizing that unraveled everything.

The heroines of the second run carried guilt over my sacrificial death in the first run.

Their sense of debt was probably interfering with the quest conditions.

A quest impossible in the first run and only clearable in the second? That’s way too hardcore.

Which meant the very premise of my plan had to change.

“Where’s my head-patting…?”

The heroines couldn’t cling to me or feel guilty.

In this world, once the Demon King was defeated, I’d be whisked back to my original world immediately. If they were attached to me, they’d never achieve true happiness.

And then I wouldn’t get to go home either.

Some might say, “Why not just settle down with people who care about you?”

But not me.

If anything, dying once made me more determined. After dying like that, how could I give up?

My body burned with resolve.

Just wait. My 40 billion!!!

Still, I had to account for the worst-case scenario.

What if this wasn’t a second run but a new first run…?

BANG!

The door burst open with a crash, and a girl stumbled into my room, panting.

Her disheveled black hair and obsidian eyes—even in this state, her beauty was undeniable.

“Just die.”

“Disgrace of the family.”

“If only I were the real daughter of this house…”

The girl who, despite being an adopted daughter of the prestigious Grave family, had ousted me, the legitimate heir, and become the new head.

The girl who tormented me relentlessly with verbal abuse and psychological attacks.

Yet still, my adorable little sister—Christine Grave—stared at me like she’d seen a ghost.

“Brother…?”

Yep. That expression confirms it—this is the second run.

————

“Thank you.”

Those were his last words.

Thank you? For what? At that moment, even a curse wouldn’t have been enough.

Without a chance to atone or confess the truth, the four of us—myself included—lay strewn in some forest, a pitiful sight.

“Idiot…”

As if to avoid worrying us till the end, he was smiling.

And all we could do was watch as he crumbled away.

“Hic… Ugh… Ugh!!”

My exhausted throat produced retching sounds instead of sobs.

“Hah… Ugh… Hah… Hah…”

Gritting my teeth, I forced down the nausea.

Even shedding tears for him was an unforgivable act for us.

How dare we, after ignoring him out of disappointment from our own misplaced expectations?

Behind me, Cecilia spoke quietly.

Even her usually calm voice trembled.

“What do we do now?”

“What do you mean? We failed. What else is there to say?”

Some truths had to be accepted.

We lost. What happened next was entirely up to the Demon King.

If she wanted to chase us, she could’ve done so anytime.

The fact that she hadn’t come after us yet meant she was letting us go—for now.

At that pragmatic remark, Elia coldly interjected.

“Then let’s go back and announce it. ‘The proud hero party not only failed to defeat the Demon King but were pitied by her. And the one who saved them was the son of the Grave ducal house—the very family the kingdom loves to call trash.’ How thrilled the citizens will be.”

“Quiet, Your Highness.”

“Is there… really no way? Going back like this is just too…”

“There can’t be. We drove away the one who could’ve been our breakthrough. And if I recall, the Grave heiress played a big part in that, no?”

“How can you be so heartless—!”

THUD!

The moment I lunged at Elia, I was slammed back to the ground—just as her sword stabbed harshly into the earth.

“It couldn’t be helped. It just… couldn’t be helped…”

“……”

Watching Elia mutter to herself, I had no choice but to release the magical energy coiled in my body.

“Hah. ‘Talent blindness’—how laughable. I couldn’t even recognize the most loyal retainer right beside me.”

As we bickered and muttered empty apologies, Rue quietly fiddled with the pocket watch.

Noticing this, we stopped fighting and gathered around her.

“Rue…? What are you doing?”

“There’s… there’s got to be a way to use this. He wouldn’t have given us something meaningless!”

“That’s true…”

Eric wouldn’t have.

Perhaps it was the glimmer of hope, but instead of fighting, the four of us huddled together, desperately trying to unlock the watch’s secret.

How absurd.

The so-called hope of humanity, gathered around a pocket watch like children.

But that emptiness soon turned to frustration.

“No divine energy…”

“Not mana or primal sorcery either.”

“Maybe it’s just a broken watch? If I were Eric, I’d pull a prank like this. A petty revenge.”

“That can’t be. Eric would’ve—”

CLICK!

A small mechanical sound rang out as Rue shook the watch impatiently.

And then—miracles arrive abruptly.

As luck often does.