Hello! I was living in South Korea when I got hit by that famous transmigration truck.
So, to cut to the chase—I’m Lionel Mellans, who fell into an isekai romance novel that I was reading head-to-head with a girl I worked part-time with.
My old name was… Damn, let’s skip it. You might not remember it later anyway.
Anyway, just so you don’t think I’m making this up—the day I became an orphan as a child, Aunt Belitia took me in, and she married Count Cicero and became the Countess, so she’s been taking care of me.
Ah, it wasn’t such a bleak and poor life. You know? My parents ran the Mellans Merchant Guild during their lifetime and accumulated quite a fortune.
I’m that guy. You know, that one.
Like in movies or dramas, those lackey kids who stick behind the real villain like goldfish poop, two or three at a time.
If we’re talking about that genre with the British wizard, you know that dumb-and-dumber combo behind the blonde villain? Yeah, yeah! Does it ring a bell now?
Those experience point shuttles who get defeated right after the protagonist awakens.
I’m one of them.
Haha.
That’s me.
My best friend—no, the owner of me, a coin shuttle—is a sub male lead who gets his head chopped clean off by the real male lead after harassing the female lead and plotting a rebellion.
So I tried desperately to cut ties with this mastermind sub, but it didn’t work out well.
Ah, did I not mention this at the beginning? This bastard is actually really good at magic. Mental disruption magic, specifically. He enchants people like a snake.
One time I was so scared that I obviously tried to run away, and when I came to my senses, I was struggling and writhing on top of his bed.
I kept thinking about what to do. Aha! Out of sight, out of mind!
I went straight to the academy headmaster’s office to submit a withdrawal form, but lo and behold, he rejected me saying that quitting school without patience isn’t a virtue of an intellectual. This is the Imperial Academy with quite high pride, after all.
So to withdraw from the academy, you either have to die or get married and inherit a title.
When I heard that, I thought “Perfect!” and scattered marriage proposals all over the empire.
What happened to me after that?
“Rye. What are you doing?”
Oh no. I need to finish this letter quickly. I don’t think I have time. Anyway, I’m in serious danger right now.
He said so. That he’ll erase my memory and use the artifact meant for the female lead on me instead.
Now I have two plans left.
Either build up enough magic resistance to escape from this bastard’s brainwashing magic.
Or bring the real male lead’s divine artifact that can break this ancient magic.
To do that, never let on that you’ve regained your memory. He’ll just erase your memory again.
Never go against him and survive until the end, Lionel Mellans!
Good luck.
—To my most beloved self, Lionel Mellans. From Lionel Mellans.
P.S.: This paper has divine magic on it, so you should be able to regain your senses a little. It’s a gift from Count Cicero. It won’t be able to dispel artifact magic, but simple brainwashing should be undone.
“……”
P.S. 2: I almost forgot something important. You know that artifact is ancient magic that makes you fall in love with him, right? Please survive well from that bastard, Cesare Yanox. Goodbye!
Wh-wh-wh-what is this?!
I could only stand there dazed for a moment at the flood of memories suddenly rushing in like a tide.
Memories of the six months of hardships I went through after transmigrating into this world and trying to escape from him were flooding into my head.
“Rye! We have swordsmanship class soon! What are you doing here? You haven’t even changed your clothes?”
Just then, the door burst open from behind and Cain, the heir of Count Astol, came in. Cain is lackey #2 who always sticks right next to me, following Cesare around.
“Uh, huh? Ah. I was so absorbed in memorizing stuff for the quiz in the next class that I lost track of time! Sorry!”
I quickly shoved the note between the bed frame and turned around.
Behind pink-haired curly Cain, Cesare with black hair and red eyes walked leisurely. Both were already dressed in the dark red uniforms worn for swordsmanship class.
“Lionel. Studying hard won’t make you do well on the test anyway. Hurry up and come out. Do I have to personally wait in front of your room because of you? What are you doing not even dressed, really.”
“Ce-Cesare!”
“Should I dress you?”
His red eyes looked at me with a chilling aura as sharp as a dagger.
“N-no! It’s fine!”
“What. Why are you breaking out in cold sweat?”
“Huh? No. My head suddenly felt fuzzy.”
“Lionel. Are you okay?”
Cesare suddenly strode over and placed the back of his hand on my forehead. Before I could flinch and pull back, the moment the heat concentrated on my forehead instantly subsided from his cold hand—
*Thump.*
“You really are sick, huh? Your forehead is hot.”
Crazy. Wait. What is this. Heart rate, stop! Heart assault, stop!
Despite my inner screams, my heart was beating even faster.
When Cesare’s dark red eyes, a whole head taller than me, stared straight at me, my cheeks somehow felt flushed, and I pushed away his hand and lowered my gaze.
“I-I’m f-fine.”
“Did you study too hard for the quiz with that bad head of yours? R~ye?”
Cain, who always calls me Rye, thankfully squeezed between Cesare and me and started being cheeky. Thanks to that, the atmosphere seemed to clear, so I quickly shook my head.
“I-I think so, Cain. I, I think I should rest in my room. My head feels like it’s going to split. Sorry, Cesare. You came all the way to my room, and I’m in this state…”
I barely held onto my still violently pounding chest and swaying legs and plopped down on the bed. Next to me lay the swordsmanship class uniform I hadn’t changed into yet.
My memories were still all mixed up and my head was too confused, but it felt like some nameless enormous emotion was rushing in like waves.
“Ha. Lucky you, Lionel? If you’re out, the symmetry on both sides behind me won’t work. Fine, Cain. Let’s ditch too.”
“Wow. Ditching! How exciting!”
Cain excitedly hopped around my room, and Cesare poked my forehead a bit hard with his index finger, then laid me down on the bed.
“If you’re really sick, I’ll take you to the infirmary, Lionel.”
Cesare said that and smiled with the corners of his mouth curling up. For a moment, his dark red eyes seemed to shine strangely.
No. You don’t have to. Just go now, I tried to say, but suddenly dizziness rushed over me and my consciousness was slowly fading.
Beyond my muffled ears, Cesare’s voice echoed slowly and quietly.
“Get some good rest. My cute Lionel. You can’t overdo it if you’re going to serve me, can you?”
* * *
*’Lionel. It was a bit hard collecting all the marriage proposals you scattered. I had to busily travel all over the country.’*
With a whoosh, scraps of paper burning in flames and dark red fire grew larger and larger, approaching me.
*’Lionel. Where are you trying to run off to?’*
*’Why don’t you want to be with me?’*
*’Shh. It’s okay. You’ll forget everything anyway. Let’s start over.’*
*’Come here. My cute Lionel. Now you’re really going to like me—no, love me.’*
“Huk!”
I gasped for breath and bolted upright from the dormitory bed.
It was already pitch dark outside.
“It’s not a dream…?”
In this nightmare-like reality, I sighed in the darkness and buried my head in the pillow again.
I pushed my spinning head into the soft goose feather pillow and thought carefully again.
So, Cesare Yanox. The young duke of Yanox was targeting me.
The reason was simple. Due to excessive imperial power consolidation, the Yanox ducal family, blocked from entering military, political, and economic power, was plotting a rebellion.
And to be precise, the reason he was targeting me wasn’t me, but the enormous money of the Mellans Merchant Guild.
Only after all my memories returned could I accurately realize what my situation was.
“I’m a coin shuttle!”
Before the transmigration, the foolish me seemed to have followed him blindly enough to offer my entire fortune because Cesare from a ducal family seemed cool and showed off. So I would have funded that bastard plotting rebellion.
However, after I, who knew the original work, transmigrated, the situation completely reversed 180 degrees.
But looking back at my memories, sadly enough, my intelligence wasn’t that different from the original Lionel, so I made the mistake of unconditionally distancing myself from him.
In the end, Cesare didn’t like that I was trying to distance myself, so he used his secretly hidden specialty—brainwashing magic—to distort my memories and make me like him.
To toy with me, suck me dry, and use the Mellans Merchant Guild’s funds in the future.
In fact, if I hadn’t discovered the note stuck between the bed this morning by chance, I might have unknowingly become his coin shuttle and had my head chopped off together with him on the guillotine in the future, none the wiser.
“Are you insane! Ugh.”
Only after squirming and hitting the blanket and pillow several times did I sigh and step out of bed to retrieve that secret note again.
And the moment I lifted my upper body slightly—
“Huk!”
I thought my breath stopped.
My eyes, accustomed to the darkness, noticed the black silhouette by the window.
“Ce-Cesa-Ce… Ce-Cesare…?!”
*Thump.*
My heart rate was rising rapidly again. My heart started pounding so hard my head was ringing.
I couldn’t tell if I was pounding from being so startled or from the artifact magic’s influence.
“That’s right. R-Ry-Rye-Ry-Rye-Lionel. Kekeke.”
He mimicked my stuttering and snickered with a mocking voice.
“Wh-when have you been here…?!”
“Since you fell asleep earlier.”
“Why?!”
“Why? My close friend is sick and bedridden, so I thought you might need nursing, so I stayed.”
“I almost had a heart attack! You should have at least turned on the light!”
“Lionel. What’s a coin shuttle?”
I pressed my lips tightly and quickly turned my head.
Thinking back on this bastard’s past actions, Cesare definitely wasn’t ordinary. He was certainly a sharp man who would immediately stab at any weakness the moment I showed even a little awkwardness or distance or gave away that I had regained my memory.
Also, if I lost my memory again, there was no guarantee I could regain it next time like this. Finding the note today was really lucky because a button from the swordsmanship uniform had fallen between the bed frame.
“Coin shuttle?”
“You just said that. You cried out, ‘I’m a coin shuttle!'”
Move, brain!
“Aha! I said coin shower. Coin shower! Because coins fall like a shower—it’s a word frequently used at the Mellans Merchant Guild when we’re lucky. You must have misheard!”
Pretty good for an improvisation that just came out. As expected, my quick thinking comes from my Hell Joseon experience. Myself! I praise you!
“Why are you lucky?”
“…Well. Um. Secret…”
“Oh, a secret. It’s so disappointing to have secrets between us. I really want to know what it is. By any means necessary.”
It sounded exactly like he’d use brainwashing magic to find out, so I desperately waved my hands.
“I-I’m embarrassed!”
“About what.”
“Y-you…! Were in my dream! So I… liked it…”
It’s not a lie. You really were in my dream, so please just let it slide, okay?
“Why was I in your dream—”
I quickly cut off his words before he could ask another follow-up question and primly sat up.
“That’s why I said I was embarrassed. Really!”
I chattered away without giving him a gap and lit the glass lantern. Soon the room brightened and his handsome face became more visible.
“Cesare, you’re manly, you study well, you handle a sword well, and you’re handsome, so you’re the object of my admiration. Having you in my dream like that, I’m just… embarrassed! A little! Please just kind of let this kind of thing slide. I’m a man with pride too!”
“Aha.”
Only then did he burst into light laughter as if completely convinced and stood up from the armchair. Then he approached me from behind as I poured water into a glass and fiddled with my loosely undone waist belt as he asked.
“Don’t tell me you had a wet dream about me?”
