[How can His Highness the Prince be so heartless toward his fiancée?! Has that fox bewitched him?!]
Even through a computer screen, the voice actor’s heartrending performance made my chest ache for no reason.
“Why did I ever start playing a game like this...?”
A female-oriented dating sim called Beneath the Chandelier.
Ordinarily, there was no reason for a man like me to play it. There were games everywhere in the world, and I would never have chosen one so far removed from my tastes.
It had begun when the little nuisance I lived with, who had even let my birthday pass without a word, suddenly made me an offer.
“Oppa. Don’t you want some chicken?”
Free chicken had clouded my judgment. By the time I sensed something fishy, I had already put a piece of the chicken she ordered into my mouth.
“What’s gotten into you? You’re even buying me something like this.”
“Well, you’re good at games, Oppa. There’s a game I play, but it’s difficult. Could you clear it for me?”
My younger sister’s gaze fixed on the drumstick I had just torn open.
I knew it. She was not the kind of person who would buy me something for free.
“Sure. How hard could it be? Just give me the account and password.”
Still, I agreed without thinking much of it. The bribe had already made its way into my stomach, and I thought that no matter how difficult it was, it could not be that bad.
And then...
On the morning of the third day, after pulling two all-nighters without leaving my seat, I quietly marveled with the mouse in my hand.
“I like this sort of thing.”
Thanks to that, I discovered an unexpected taste.
Strictly speaking, the game was close to being a bad one.
What was important in game design? Clearly understanding the goal of the target audience.
An RPG needed endless growth and content to match it. A MOBA needed elements that introduced variables onto the battlefield. A puzzle game needed problems of a puzzling difficulty that seemed just on the verge of being solved.
And in a female-oriented dating sim, naturally, a story that stirred the player’s heart was more important than anything else.
“In that sense, there’s no doubt that the developers of Beneath the Chandelier made this game under some sort of misconception.”
On the surface, it was certainly an ordinary female-oriented dating sim.
It was the kind of story often found in romance fantasy, where the protagonist overcame numerous hardships and found love with the male lead chosen by the player.
However, unlike ordinary dating sims, where the player chose options and built affection with the people around them, this game required you to fight those who served as villains in order to see the story.
And yet.
The combat was difficult.
No, it was insanely difficult—difficult enough to make even fairly skilled players drop out midway through!
The combat was not simply text-based turn-taking, either. It was real-time action, and every battle boasted a difficulty that put Soulslike games to shame.
By that point, the general consensus was that the developers had mistaken the genre of the game they were meant to sell.
There was even the ironic situation of game review channels explaining the brutal difficulty rather than the story.
“That only makes it better.”
But that made it even more appealing to a hardcore gamer like me.
I got to enjoy controlling a character against difficult enemies while also focusing on a reasonably well-written story. No player had seen the ending yet, so if I cleared it, I could even earn the first-clear title!
[I was born with blue blood and have lived while receiving its benefits. It is only natural that I bear its weight as well.]
My favorite character, above all the others, was Luciana Speda.
She was a villainous young lady who opposed the protagonist, but her exclusive illustration and 3D model were breathtaking: silver hair tinged with blue, sapphire-like eyes filled with melancholy, and long eyelashes in perfect harmony.
“Her story was impressive, too.”
She was a character infused with lofty pride, noble honor, and even noblesse oblige.
A noble young lady who had spent her entire life conducting herself so as not to bring shame upon her family, as the prince’s fiancée.
[Are you still wagging your tail at His Highness the Crown Prince? Someone of common birth ought to know her place.]
The sight of her throwing wine at the player and coldly hurling those biting words!
That cold rebuke, born from loyalty to her family and love for the prince, captured my heart.
Unfortunately, however, she was Luciana the villainess—a mid-boss.
The mid-boss, having fallen into darkness, was quite a difficult opponent. I only managed to defeat her after several attempts.
And a few days later.
“That was pretty fun.”
With the ending credits before me, I stretched.
Every bone in my body cracked.
I had nearly kept playing straight through to the next day, but I narrowly managed to defeat the final boss and see the good ending.
Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I tapped out a message on my phone.
[I cleared it.]
[And do you have any conscience? You expect to pay me off for that difficulty with one chicken? The price doesn’t match. I’m offended, so I need another one as my fee.]
[Send me a gift coupon by tomorrow. I locked the account, so don’t even dream of seeing the ending before you send it.]
After sending a message demanding robbery... no, rightful compensation from my younger sister, who would be sound asleep and unaware of the world, I lay down as well.
‘I do have a group project due tomorrow, but it’s four in the morning now. If I can somehow wake up by noon, I can finish it...’
Exhaustion made my consciousness abruptly cut off.
***
However, I never got the chance to submit that assignment. Nor did I receive an F along with a thunderous scolding from my professor.
When I opened my eyes again to work on the assignment, an entirely different world greeted me.
“Young Master is awake!”
“W-Who are you?”
“Young Master? Don’t you remember me?”
“Fetch the doctor!”
***
I sighed as I recalled my somewhat dazed first encounter with another world.
‘But what else could I have done?’
Any ordinary modern person who valued privacy would have felt awkward waking up surrounded by many people. Even more so when those people were dressed in old-fashioned clothes.
If I had remained without my memories, the servants who attended me would have had their heads roll over their responsibility.
Ah, not their literal heads. I meant they would have been removed from their positions.
“Young Master Hans. You really are all right, aren’t you?”
“Yes. I said I’m fine.”
Today, too, I waved my hand and sent the anxious-looking servants out of my room.
Fortunately, the memories of this body’s original owner naturally rose to the surface of my mind, so no such disaster had occurred.
But.
Alone, I quietly despaired as I stared at the map hanging on the wall.
At the same time as I recovered the memories, I realized the identity of this body.
“...The Manhet Empire.”
Hans Byron, the third son of House Byron, a baronial family of the Manhet Empire.
In the world of the dating sim I had played last in my previous life, I had possessed an extra whose name I had never heard even once while playing the game.
“What on earth happened?”
I frowned as I looked out the window.
Soldiers patrolling in armor, clusters of houses in the distance, and acrid smoke rising from every chimney.
Beyond them stretched a vast desert.
It was a typical medieval landscape.
No, were passionate readers and dedicated players not supposed to possess bodies in worlds like this? Did clearing the ending for my younger sister not qualify me?
-Oppa, aren’t you eating?
-Son, are you sleeping before you play games?
“...Well, I was passionate about it.”
Come to think of it, perhaps I did meet the standard, even if my motive had been impure.
I had played with more passion than I realized. It had only been a few days, but I had seen that game through to its true ending.
“I don’t know anymore...”
The one saving grace was that I was a noble, perhaps.
It was still better to be a noble, who could indulge in a little luxury now and then and hear news of the world, than a commoner with no foundation who struggled through each day.
Several days later, just as I had barely begun to adapt to this fantasy world and noble life.
“Young Master, the head of the house is looking for you.”
“My father?”
I closed the book I had been reading and rose from my seat.
Baron Byron was something of a family man, and the sociable Hans had treated him without the slightest concern for noble etiquette. Still, it was best to answer the head of the house’s summons promptly.
“Do you know what this is about?”
“I do not. I was only ordered to bring you.”
The baron’s room, which I entered under the servant’s guidance, was not much different from mine.
Except that his desk was covered with documents for work.
“You’re here.”
Amid the mountain of documents, I saw Baron Byron pressing the space between his brows as though he were tired.
“Are you feeling all right?”
“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. Would you like a hand?”
“Tch, forget it. I would not ask for help from someone who collapsed only a few days ago.”
Baron Byron waved his hand dismissively.
“Besides, it would not do to entrust more of this place’s work to you when you will soon leave to become an attendant.”
“Excuse me? An attendant?”
“Yes. You’re fifteen. It’s time you became independent.”
“Ah...”
‘It was something that had been planned, after all.’
I was neither the eldest son who would inherit the family nor anyone special. The future of the third son of a baronial family was already decided.
A division of property?
Not a chance. There was not even enough money to run the estate, so what would they have to give me a share of?
There was nothing a declining baronial family could do for a third son besides raise him through childhood. All it could do was send him out to become independent with the label of noble birth.
There were many ways to become independent. Someone skilled in martial arts might join the army, while someone with business acumen might become a member of a merchant association.
‘I want a household that’s easy to serve and pays well.’
In that sense, becoming an attendant through the family’s arrangement was quite fortunate. I would be under the protection of a higher noble house and would not have to go hungry.
“As it happens, a ducal house was looking for a child around your age.”
“But how could I get a position like that?”
“Ahem. Your father made an effort.”
That was unexpected.
This body’s original owner, Hans, had only been considering becoming a warden. It was the most common job in the West, after all.
I glanced at the paper he held. Sure enough, it listed the particulars of criminals.
That meant even the head of House Byron was a warden.
I should explain at this point.
In this world, it was an ordinary part of daily life, and an obligation, for noble heads of house to manage, punish, and pursue criminals.
The western part of the Manhet Empire was an especially barren land.
Water? Food resources? There was nothing of the sort. All it had was the scorching sunlight and rough sand.
That was why this land had long been suitable as a place of exile. After magic-stone mines were discovered underground, even petty criminals from across the country were sometimes imprisoned here and put to hard labor.
‘And the western nobles manage them. Instead of farmland, they are granted magic-stone mines by the Emperor and live on the profits... I sure suffered while resolving the western food-supply quests in the game, too.’
I readily nodded.
A ducal house was little different from a high-ranking warden. If I served as its support, the work would be much the same.
“If you understand, pack your belongings at once, focusing on preserved food. You have a long journey ahead of you.”
“What do you mean, a long journey? House Roberk’s castle is only a short camel ride away.”
“You are mistaken about something. The place where you will work is not in the West. It is in the North.”
“...?”
I blinked and opened my mouth, wondering whether I had heard correctly.
“The North? The place where it never goes a day without snow, where ferocious monsters are everywhere, and where demonkind is always looking for a chance to cross the border, so war never ends?”
“Tch. It is unlike you to be swayed by pointless rumors. Still, you are not far off. It is the North you are thinking of.”
No, Father.
You did not even ask your son’s opinion before sending him away so readily?
And not just somewhere in this region, but to a completely unfamiliar land?
“Thank you, Father! I will never forget this favor, even after I go to the distant North!”
“...Are you that happy?”
I immediately nodded with a bright expression.
‘No matter how cold the North is or how many monsters it has, can it compare to this West?!’
“All that flies about is sand and venomous insects. The sun shines all year round, and it never even gets windy, so it feels like dying. On top of that, there are criminals crying out for release, insisting they did nothing wrong—”
“...”
“Did I say that out loud?”
Under his cold gaze, I pulled my head into my shoulders like a turtle and lowered it toward the ground.
I had meant to mutter it inwardly, but it had slipped out.
Just skimming Hans’s memories had told me this much. I did not even want to imagine what it would be like if I personally became a warden in the West.
I love the North. I will devote my life to it as an honorable future Northerner.
I might want to take that back if it is too cold, but it still had to be better than being a warden here!
“You rascal. I am glad you are pleased. You will be the personal attendant of a duke’s daughter about your age, after all. I would say your fortunes have turned.”
“...Excuse me?”
No, wait a moment.
“Could the duke’s daughter’s name possibly be Luciana Speda?”
“Hm? I was just about to introduce her to you. How did you know? Well, she is famous, so I suppose it makes sense that you do.”
At that familiar name, a chill ran up my spine.
“Father...”
A sense of crisis rose to my throat.
The image of a head being lopped off at the gallows flashed before my eyes.
She was my favorite character, but she was a villainess fated to fall in every route.
And becoming her personal attendant meant that I would also bear a certain share of the responsibility for that!
Losing my head was a foregone conclusion. It might not be a simple dismissal; my actual head might truly roll!
“Maybe the North is... My hometown is still the best—”
“The letter I sent to House Speda has likely arrived by now. I hope they take a liking to you.”
Father, are nobles not supposed to be heavy-bottomed old provincial men who are slow to act?
Why were you so needlessly capable and quick with your hands that you kept blocking your son’s path at every turn?
Before I even had time to object, translucent words appeared before my eyes as if to prove it.
[For the first time, a main character from the original work has become aware of your existence.]
[A close bond has been formed with the aforementioned individual, “Luciana Speda.”]
[Luciana Speda’s Affection has been updated.]
[Main Story assigned. Encounter “Luciana Speda.”]