I wasn’t particularly surprised by the fact that I might be dead.
‘What’s the big deal about that.’
Everyone dies. Not many people want to die, but the truth is that doesn’t give us any choice in the matter, so there’s no point in arguing about it.
So what’s important to humans isn’t surprisingly whether they die or not. It’s how they die, and when they die that matters.
“…Wait. When did I die?”
The moment I thought of that question, my chest stung painfully and several realities came rushing at me.
My younger sister. My younger sister hasn’t died yet.
Of course, that fact doesn’t change the reality surrounding us siblings, but still.
I quickly scattered the useless sentiments that kept rising up. Then I said to the system window.
“The reason you bothered to show me that recovery or whatever, is that I need to fill it up, right?”
If the guide was willing to cooperate in sending me back to my original world, the method of raising that ‘recovery’ would be key.
The system window gently swayed up and down. Just like nodding its head.
[To fuse the user’s soul fragments, ‘Fragments of Authority’ are needed.]
[You must remain until the ending of this world, <Pavane for a Dead Princess>.]
“That’s all?”
Just when I was thinking it might be simpler than expected, that all I had to do was stay here.
[To avoid being recognized as a stranger and expelled, please be mindful of these three elements!]
The system window kindly began giving me information one by one, even making a ding sound.
[① Law of Preserving the Original Work]
That makes sense. As the guide said, if I, a stranger, carelessly twisted the fate of this world, there would definitely be trouble. It meant I should stay without interfering with the flow of the original work as much as possible.
[② Character Guidelines]
Characters must be character-like. It’s a kind of safety device to maintain their destiny. I could agree with that. However, if there was one problem… it’s that the character I possessed just happens to be this bastard.
Traitor, arrogant bastard, demon, playboy, scoundrel, trash, betrayer, capricious bastard, swindler.
Achille Lowyn Fel Betius.
[③ Chaos Meter]
“Why the hell should I care about something like this…”
It seems I’ve been scammed by this possession.
***
Now. Let’s think about this first.
If there’s one fortunate thing, the protagonist of <Pavane for a Dead Princess> is not me.
Lenox Constina Felwood. The male protagonist of this novel is this body’s half-brother. And a much younger one at that.
And that male protagonist almost dies after falling into Achille’s schemes.
‘Was it around when he was fifteen?’
He even has his funeral held after his breath stops once, but true to being the protagonist, he doesn’t actually die. Instead, he awakens as a mage, and afterward uses that ability to take revenge on Achille, the culprit behind the incident.
In other words, this character’s future of being cruelly executed by the protagonist’s hand isn’t simple bad luck, but a kind of karmic retribution.
“What must happen will surely happen, but…”
Does it really have to go that far? Even without me going out of my way, Lenox’s life will be unfortunate enough.
Right. I didn’t want to commit sins. I didn’t want to do bad things to others, and I wanted to avoid interfering with the story even more. I wanted to leave the things that would happen in this world to the great leading roles and just live quietly.
My dream has always been modest. I don’t need wealth and glory, and I don’t need honor. I don’t even have the greed to be remembered as a good person by anyone. I didn’t want to become an important existence, and I hated even more becoming someone’s precious existence.
So I wanted to live quietly in this place too, without any presence, as if dead. I’m confident I can pull it off spectacularly well.
But the problem was the ‘Chaos Meter’ the system mentioned.
I, ‘Achille’, was the worst villain and a brutal scoundrel in the story. If I didn’t act in accordance with those guidelines, something called the ‘Chaos Meter’ would decrease, and if that happened, not only the system but I would also be in trouble.
[Current Chaos Meter: 90%]
[┗( T﹏T )┛]
[Actions befitting the ‘Character Guidelines’ are needed!]
Even when I tried to ignore it, it came rushing over wherever my eyes landed, silently making a fuss, so I couldn’t help but respond.
“Alright, I got it.”
I muttered as if soothing it and turned around.
In short, it’s telling me to act like ‘Achille Lowyn Fel Betius’. That doesn’t mean I want to act like trash who tries to harm the protagonist and hastens his own death, though.
‘For that, I should check a few things.’
I looked at the vase shattered into pieces on the floor and briefly recalled when I broke it. More precisely, I remembered the attendant’s flustered voice heard at the moment it shattered.
Right, this should work.
Having made up my mind, I picked up a chair next to me. My weak arms trembled, but still, I bit my lip and…
Crash!
As soon as I swung the chair and broke the window, I shouted.
“Is there no one outside!”
A few seconds later, I heard someone running over urgently.
“D-did you, did you call, Your Imperial Majesty the Emperor.”
I answered in a deliberately irritable voice.
“What are you doing not coming in right away and cleaning this up!”
The door opened, and soon my eyes met with the terrified attendant.
[Current Chaos Meter: 92%]
I broke a whole window and it only went up 2 percent. It was an annoyingly stingy number.
“I-I’m sorry. I’ll clean the floor first so you won’t be uncomfortable…”
I’m the one who made a scene, but they’re the one apologizing. It was a moment that roughly showed the estimate of how this bastard has lived his life.
“No!”
The moment I saw the attendant bending down to the floor and trying to pick up glass shards with bare hands, I shouted as if scolding.
“Stop right there!”
“…Your Majesty?”
“Who told you to touch glass with bare hands?”
You might get hurt.
“Go right now and bring a broom!”
“…Y-yes!”
While watching the back of the attendant leaving both bewildered and urgently, a system window floated up.
[Current Chaos Meter: 93%]
‘Mm, as expected.’
It’s not filled simply by doing bad things. In other words, someone must recognize my actions as chaos.
And even when it wasn’t necessarily an action intended to harm or trouble them but the other party misunderstood, like just now, it seemed to be established.
While I was organizing my thoughts, the attendant who brought the broom and dustpan began reading my mood while trembling pitifully.
“M-may I really sweep it, Your Majesty?”
“What do you mean?”
“You always said the sound of the broom sweeping is annoying, so you told us to sweep it up with our hands…”
“…Hah.”
Achille, you damn human.
I plopped down in the chair with my hand on my brow.
“Use the broom. I hate getting hurt, so don’t touch it with your hands, and clean it up carefully. Understand?”
“Yes, sir!”
While the attendant was cleaning, feeling awkward just sitting there, I quietly moved my foot and kicked a nearby glass shard into the dustpan.
“Hey. I want to ask you something.”
To adapt to this world and see the ending, I need to know exactly when it is now. The only information given to me currently is that Achille is staying in the annex of the imperial palace as an emperor.
It would be most straightforward to ask what year it is and how old I am, but…
‘They’ll definitely treat me like a crazy person.’
So I decided to ask indirectly.
“Lenox. How old is that kid this year?”
Achille’s young half-brother. And this world revolves around that kid who is the protagonist.
“The Young Imperial Majesty is…”
The attendant who had been diligently sweeping glanced at me and said.
“Only nine years old this year.”
“Young.”
Not even ten yet. Too young, far too young.
‘Is this when nothing has started yet?’
Well, that’s why I’m still staying in the imperial palace. Originally, after committing this and that wrong, the Emperor who couldn’t bear the tyranny would banish him to the North, which is close to a wasteland.
Gaining some strange courage from my words, the attendant said.
“As Your Majesty has recognized, nine years old is young. So the Young Majesty doesn’t follow Your Majesty around with bad intentions, but just because he likes his brother with a young child’s heart…”
“Lenox follows me around?”
“Huh? Yes. That’s why a few days ago, didn’t you get angry saying he was annoying? While throwing a cup filled with hot tea.”
I smiled faintly and muttered inwardly.
‘Trash.’
Getting angry at an elementary school kid is already absurd, but he threw a teacup? The more I learn, the more rotten this bastard is.
If there’s one fortunate thing, it’s that Lenox follows me around. It’s before the sibling relationship heads toward catastrophe. It couldn’t help but be a hopeful sign.
‘I’ll live even more quietly than a dead person.’
I refuse a future of acting like trash toward a nine-year-old kid and dying horribly. When the Chaos Meter is needed, I’ll break a few plates and live as a scoundrel in name only, then return in time to take care of my younger sister.
A blue window floated up before my eyes.
[Be mindful of the ‘Law of Preserving the Original Work’.]
[The next event that must happen is the ‘Conferment Ceremony of the Grand Duke Betius Title’.]
