"Nes."
"…Yes?"
"I'm going to go give that guy who pointed his finger at me the other day a good thrashing, so you'll help me out."
"Your Highness…"
The courtier, Nes, grumbled openly and followed the prince.
And after moving a few loads as the prince, smiling maliciously, instructed in the warehouse, he received money that the prince handed him as a hush-money.
"If you blab, I'll follow you for a whole month, just you watch."
"…?"
Knowing that the prince had almost no money himself, both the courtier and the observing chief steward could infer that this money shouldn't be handed over so easily.
But the prince, with an ominous smile, joyfully departed.
"Well, whoever it is, they're going to be a nuisance. For him to be grinding his teeth like that."
Nes, unlike usual, decided to make the prince's food with specially appropriate ingredients instead of those on the verge of spoiling.
After all, he'd earned some unexpected money.
"…Thanks to this, I can pay for my medicine. Ahem."
Watching him grumble and walk away, the chief steward tilted his head.
No matter how he looked at it, it seemed like the prince had helped Nes, a low-ranking courtier who was financially struggling.
'Am I crazy?'
The prince, who was in dire straits himself, had no reason to do that, and most of all, the prince didn't have that kind of character.
The chief steward shook his head with a dubious expression.
And then, with an expressionless face, he left.
***
If death were the answer, how good would that be?
I thought as I returned to my room and closed the door.
'If the original story had been completed, it would have been easy.'
That's the problem.
That's why I hadn't been able to get rid of myself for days.
The situation I properly examined after returning wasn't that simple.
There was no guarantee that their ending would be happy just because I disappeared.
'Besides, if Eris is Ersen's mother, then Ersen shouldn't die carelessly.'
Because Eris was the one who cursed the original protagonists.
But if Ersen is Eris's only bloodline, it means Ersen could be the only key to breaking their curse.
'If Ersen is the medium of the curse, that is.'
Powerful curses are sometimes enacted using a person as a medium.
It's a rare occurrence because it harms the person who becomes the medium, but Eris would have easily ordered such a thing. If it was a child who wanted to help their mother, even more so… they would have agreed to be the medium.
I also had a hunch about this.
Before regression, despite my weak power, I was able to break Sercil's curse.
Would it be too much to think that perhaps it was because Ersen was the medium of the curse?
So I pondered.
About the appropriate moment to get rid of myself.
'I have to live until all the curses are broken and the half-demons who follow Eris disappear from this world.'
At least until the strong half-demons who could use Eris's corpse to curse the protagonists disappear.
However, I couldn't carelessly ruin the original story. There was a possibility that a happy ending was their destined future.
That means I have to ride the flow of the original story and create their happy ending.
But that's only possible if they accept my involvement, isn't it?
'It'll be difficult.'
They'll reject and hate me no matter what.
'Then.'
So for several days, I observed my surroundings and came to a conclusion.
"For now… I think I should move like this."
That is, for me to act exactly as they know Ersen to be.
A villain. The bloodline of a demon. In accordance with those negative perceptions.
"A villain, but someone who can cooperate because we have the same goal? Would that be enough?"
For example, the goal of weakening the half-demons.
So I become a useful trading partner, even if they don't want to be involved with me.
"Then they'll be able to accept my interference."
Just like the palace attendants in the Prince's Palace did these past few days.
"I can do it this time."
Before regression, the biggest problem was my unreasonable greed.
If I hadn't wanted to be loved by them, I could have acted more rationally.
But this time will be different.
I now knew for sure that such a thing was impossible.
I'll appropriately get involved in incidents, and take on all the things in the original story where they got hurt.
Traps, curses. I'll endure it all, but let them have all the necessary information… then they'll safely reach a happy ending.
'While I'm at it, I'll deal with the half-demons loyal to Eris, in preparation for after I die.'
This time, the path won't be lonely.
"The curses… I'll have to break them without the half-demons knowing, right?"
As quickly as possible.
Though I'll have to break them with a time lag since I'll need to draw blood.
Since I'm going to take on the things that would hurt them, I'll have to break them before my body gets seriously ill.
"…Will that shorten my lifespan even more?"
It's a little regrettable not to see them happy before I die, but it's okay.
I squatted, aimlessly fiddling with my dry fingers, and mumbled.
"Once it's all over and I die, you all will be happy, right?"
They said they couldn't kill Ersen even if they wanted to because there was no justification.
That's a relief. To think there'll be at least one reason for them to smile because of me.
A smile involuntarily formed on my face.
"Alright! Let's get busy."
Because to handle all that with this dying body, I have to be diligent.
***
The face I had barely gotten used to during the 3 years before regression was reflected in the mirror.
My raven-black hair was cut to an uneven length, and my large eyes, about a third covered by bangs, were a hazy gray.
Pale, white skin.
My body, excessively thin for my height, couldn't be called healthy even as a compliment.
'I don't remember starving in the palace. It looks strangely like I'm living in poverty, doesn't it?'
Ersen had been like this ever since I first possessed him.
Perhaps my impression changed because the body was possessed.
"Ahem! Let's see. Before, I practiced looking pitiful and forlorn, didn't I?"
I straightened my expression, which was naturally about to become gloomy, and lifted the corners of my mouth in a deeply suspicious way.
"Oh, it suits me."
It's a haggard look, but at the same time, it looks gloomy, so it suits me well.
"Ah, ah."
I adjusted my voice tone to be lower and softer than before, my pronunciation to be standard, and my speech to be like a secret murmur.
'Hmm… it doesn't seem much different from how I was before transmigration.'
Now, let's straighten my shoulders and back.
My steps, quiet.
I left the room as I was.
***
Before regression, the first thing I changed was the protagonist Sercil's first episode.
In the original story, Sercil goes to the capital to break an unknown curse.
He then encounters a pickpocket and has his belongings stolen, and while looking for work, he is tricked by a temple and is about to be sold as a sacrifice.
He encounters the male leads one by one at the temple, unaware of their identities, but in my opinion, that episode seemed better off removed.
'Because Sercil gets caught by Archbishop Bormir after running away from the temple.'
Archbishop Bormir is a mid-boss level character in the story.
He concealed his dirty true nature with a gentle facade but was, in reality, a corrupt priest who had long dealt with half-demons.
There was no reason to get involved with such a person when I was completely unprepared.
They all ended up with a handicap in the early stages because of the archbishop…
So, before regression, I prevented Sercil from being pickpocketed and tried to take him in as my attendant. To keep him from getting involved with the temple at all.
"No, please let go! Who are you to forcibly…!"
"Shhh, shhh! Please lower your voice, Sercil! I'm not a dangerous person!"
"No, and how do you know my name?!"
"…"
Yeah. Thinking about it now, the first impression was already ruined!
I awkwardly scratched my cheek.
At that time, apart from wanting to become an actor, I was also a little excited about meeting the protagonist…
'Anyway, then I lost Sercil to His Highness Theodore.'
Theodore, that is, the main male lead of the original story and Ersen's half-brother.
"What are you doing?"
He appeared not long after I brought Sercil into the imperial palace.
Red hair and golden eyes.
A passionate color combination, but his first impression was that of a very beautiful block of ice.
"Let go."
Perhaps because their first meeting was fast? The speed at which the two grew closer afterwards was also much faster than in the original story.
Sercil, rescued(?) from me, became Prince Theodore's attendant.
Unlike the original story, the Grand Duke wasn't involved in their employment contract, so Sercil wasn't underpaid by Theodore either.
Thanks to this, Sercil became a fervent fan of the Crown Prince. And it didn't take long for that feeling to develop into love.
'His Highness Theodore was originally said to have fallen in love at first sight anyway…'
At the time, to resolve the misunderstanding between the two, I hung around the Crown Prince's Palace for a few days, and then I ended up encountering the other male leads, Grand Duke Skyle and Brother Marcus, in succession.
And from them…
"Ugh."
I wrinkled my nose and shook off the bitterness.
I'll just say that the faces I looked up at with eager, forlorn expressions were even colder than Theodore's.
'I should have known then.'
That it's better to give up early on the idea of becoming a beloved protagonist.
"I'll take this one."
I chose a small horse from the imperial stable near Ersen's palace.
The stable hand looked at me with displeasure, then with a slightly softened face, he nodded.
If I had chosen a well-maintained, good horse, he would have openly asked my destination and told me to go back, or he would have recommended a weak horse, saying this one wasn't in good condition today.
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