My eyes opened as I perceived a soft, warm light flowing from the side. My body leaned up, feeling exhausted. My eyes turned to look at the sky through the window as the view slid past.
"Is it morning already..." A dry voice spoke with indifference. Even though it wasn't my normal voice, I didn't really care about that.
My body stood up and walked to the bathroom on the other side of the room. I took a shower to calm my mind, and when I was finished, I walked out to the wardrobe, just as I did every day.
I pulled out a set of white clothes from inside and walked to the bed to place them there.
My body used a towel to dry itself off before putting on the clothes, but just then, the door from outside opened.
Click.
I turned towards the sound and found that the person who had entered was a young woman with glossy black hair. The outfit she wore was a maid's uniform. That's right, she was my personal maid. Seeing me drying myself, she seemed to look a little surprised, but she said nothing as she walked in.
"Didn't I tell you to knock first!!" a voice full of anger erupted from my mouth. The beautiful maid, upon hearing it, looked me in the eye before walking closer without a hint of remorse.
"Yes... but I just didn't think the Young Master would be awake this early. Did something unusual happen today?" she cut in with a flat voice, completely ignoring what I had just said.
"That's none of your business..." Although I wanted to say something else, my original personality combined with the memories I now had made me respond cruelly. Luckily, the person in front of me didn't seem to pay much attention to what I said.
"Is that so... In that case, please allow me to help prepare your clothes," she said, walking towards the wardrobe. Even though she saw I had already placed a set on the bed, there were still some missing pieces.
"Hmph... meddling in things that don't concern you," I retorted, but the maid seemed to ignore it. Perhaps she was used to hearing such words and had grown accustomed to it.
Sigh... Why did I have to end up in this bastard's body?
I thought back to the day before, when I first arrived in this world. I admit I was confused and very excited back then, but it didn't take long for me to realize that the body I was in came with certain memories, memories that were not my own.
I saw countless images and stories of this world, and that's how I knew that this world I was living in was the world of the dating sim I had just finished playing.
The good feeling of being here transformed into disappointment when I found out whose body I had ended up in.
I turned to look at the mirror on the opposite side of the room. The image reflected in it was that of a tall young man with long black hair that reached his shoulders, coupled with blood-red eyes and a beautifully sculpted physique that was captivating. On top of that, the figure had a youthful and elegant face. If anyone saw what I was seeing, they would surely say that this person must be very popular among women.
Sigh. Even if he was popular, in the end, this character was just a pathetic minor villain.
And after coming to this world, I finally understood something I had long wondered about: why this guy hated the protagonist so much.
What I learned was that this guy's Kingdom of Darkness... ugh, even though I don't want to say his name, it seems I have to.
The Kingdom of Darkness of Sephiroth Alan Hylm—I'll just call him Alan for convenience—and the kingdom of the story's protagonist, Akana Sei—the Kingdom of Akana—seemed to be on extremely bad terms with each other.
The reason I say I just found this out is because the game never explained that the two kingdoms were hostile to each other. Or maybe it was because the protagonist didn't care about it, so he never gave it a second thought. But for Alan, it was a different story.
Since childhood, Alan was raised like a king, constantly pampered. It was probably because he was the eldest son of the Kingdom of Darkness, which made him seem like the most suitable candidate for the throne at the time. This further fueled the attention he received from many ambitious people. On top of that, it was whispered into his ear every day that the Kingdom of Akana was a sworn enemy that should be eliminated. This became the main reason why the young man named Alan grew up with such a personality.
The most important issue was that Alan wanted to be the next king of his own kingdom. The reason was that the selection for the next king had already begun, and among the many candidates chosen was Alan himself.
But... to be blunt, this Alan guy was the least suitable person for the position.
He was violent, a womanizer, and a liar. He was lazy, irresponsible, and good for nothing but provoking people until they despised him. Believing himself to be a king's son, he used his high status to oppress others for his own benefit. All these traits made everyone who knew him grow tired of him and leave.
See? This guy has absolutely nothing good about him except for his face. How could someone like this be fit to be king?
Sigh... But even so, there was still one person who didn't think that way.
"Young Master... please turn this way," hearing the voice, I turned to look behind me.
Thwip.
And in the blink of an eye, a piece of cloth was wrapped around my neck. A moment later, the young woman adjusted it and gave it a slight tug.
"There..." she said with a neutral expression, looking at the necktie before her.
I stared at the necktie around my neck, then shifted my gaze to the young woman in front of me.
The name of the woman before me was Irene.
Honestly, after receiving this bastard's memories, I learned that Alan knew next to nothing about the woman in front of him. All he knew was that she was the woman who had raised his mother. Nothing more than that.
"Ah..." As much as I wanted to thank her, the words that came out were just a detached acknowledgment instead. It frustrated me a little.
"In that case, I will go prepare breakfast. Please be so kind as to come down and eat."
"Yeah, yeah, I know already!!"
"Well then... I will take my leave," the woman said, bowing her head before walking away. I watched her back until she was out of sight.
Irene... she was the only person who never left Alan's side. And she was also the only one who sought revenge for everything that happened to him.
When I played the game, in the route where the protagonist had to kill Alan, Irene would challenge the hero to a duel for revenge. And she would use everything she had to kill the hero.
Irene's skill level was extremely high. She possessed powerful magic and hit incredibly hard. You could say she was stronger than any monster or boss in that particular Chapter. To be honest, if I hadn't used special items or good party members, I would have been utterly defeated by her.
After the protagonist defeated Irene, we could choose to either kill her or let her go. If we chose to spare her, Irene would accept her defeat and leave peacefully... but there was another option to ask her to join us. However, Irene would refuse, insisting that the protagonist was her enemy.
And if we chose to kill her, Irene would die, fading away with a smile on her face. I never understood what that smile was supposed to mean.
But if we chose to let Irene go, later on, around Chapter 3, if we went to Alan's grave in the City of Darkness, we would find Irene sitting there.
When she saw the protagonist approach, she wouldn't scold him or say anything. Irene would just look at the protagonist silently before turning back to stare at the gravestone, forever. No matter how many Chapters passed or even until the end of the game, Irene would just sit there. No matter what item we gave her, her only reaction was to stare at the protagonist with those same placid eyes. Her HeartUp value would never increase; it would remain permanently at the highest level of HeartDown. This showed that no matter what, she would never see us in a positive light.
That was the meaning of the route where the hero killed Alan. But in the route where Alan was killed by monsters, Irene would willingly become our ally to go and defeat the Demon Lord in his stead.
In that route, you could get an ending with Irene and learn a lot about her: that she was the daughter of the Demon Lord who had fled from his army because she no longer wanted to fight. She then met Alan's mother, who saved her. Irene said that was the first time she had ever known the kindness that woman had shown her. She swore to be a servant of the Sephiroth family and promised to protect that woman's bloodline forever.
The bad ending for Irene was that she would sacrifice her own life to die along with the Demon Lord to end everything. The good ending was that the protagonist could gather everyone's strength and defeat the Demon Lord. After that, Irene would take the throne and become the new Demon Lord, ending the worldwide war her father had started. And soon after, she would marry the protagonist, as a way to connect all the people of the world and the demon race.
It was a good story, wasn't it? Honestly, I quite liked that ending. Even if it was a bit cliché, seeing a girl who had suffered for so long finally find release like that was bound to make me happy for her.
Of course... the thing she was suffering from was me, or rather, Alan himself.
Sigh. To have someone who cared for you so much right by your side, yet this guy was too busy reveling in his own power to see what was important and what wasn't. That's the life of a pathetic person for you.
As sad as it is that I've become you... I have no intention of doing the same stupid things he did.
Those death flags... I will overcome them all. Even if I have to start from zero.
Do you hear me, you pathetic loser!! I will be the one to destroy your fate!!!
You can curse me or think I've stolen your body all you want, but from this day forward, I am Sephiroth Alan Hylm.
A pathetic loser... who will destroy his own destiny.