Chapter 1
Now that I’m being honest about it.
I never liked you in the first place.
That’s because, in this novel, you were always indecisive and constantly wavering.
Of course, I already knew that was necessary to move the novel’s plot along.
But that didn’t make it any less unpleasant.
A heroine who keeps men on the hook. Narration that rationalizes it. Male leads trapped in that web, unable to escape.
Even so.
The reason I still looked after you was nothing special.
You were my longtime childhood friend in this world—and, more importantly, the hero who would save it.
I stayed by your side to keep you from falling apart and tried to instill the right values in you, all for that reason.
But you’re still the same.
I gazed at her with sunken eyes as she smiled, surrounded by men.
Every one of them was a blue-chip name, each powerful enough to help prop up the Empire.
I could tell from their eyes alone that they had fallen for her.
So let me make this perfectly clear once again.
I absolutely do not like her. I have never once thought of her romantically, so this isn’t jealousy.
The emotion I feel is simply...
It’s probably closer to the instinctive disgust one feels upon seeing a hopeless human being.
I let out a long breath, ran a hand through my hair, and turned away without hesitation.
I felt as if my eyes had briefly met hers, but it didn’t particularly matter.
‘As expected.’
They say people can’t be changed.
I’d told her over and over for more than ten years never to act that way, until I was blue in the face, and she still couldn’t change.
‘She’s hopeless.’
Whether she built a harem or pursued true love, I didn’t care in the first place.
No, if anything, it benefited me if she completely captivated those men.
With the world on the brink of destruction, what did it matter if she was a slut or anything else?
It’s not as though I was going to date or marry her.
If those men lost their heads and poured all their resources into her, I could only be grateful.
No, actually, it would be even better if things went that way.
The problem was...
She kept them all on the hook.
She chose no one and rejected no one. In the end, they couldn’t escape that enormous web.
As someone who knew how this novel ended, I found that even more distasteful.
At a time when they could barely afford not to band together, they were too busy restraining and pressuring one another to pay any attention to the front lines.
Even as the front was breached and the defensive lines collapsed, the world ended because they risked their lives over one woman.
‘Please, don’t be realistic in that regard.’
I’m begging you.
No, perhaps being unrealistic was fitting for the romance-fantasy genre.
It was only fucking awful from a side character’s point of view that the ending was one of destruction.
Well.
No matter how desperately I prayed, the foretold destruction wouldn’t be delayed.
I wasn’t getting a second run at life, so I’d better give up on Plan 1 and move on to Plan 2 from this point forward.
I took a deep breath and ran my hand over the sword at my waist.
I wanted to kill every last one of them and build everything anew, but...
There was no way that was possible.
For starters, even the men who had gotten tangled up with her were all pillars holding up the Empire.
I’d better talk to them in advance and make sure they didn’t start fighting later.
Even then, there was no telling whether the men who had lost their heads over her would listen to me.
Even now, they were eager to keep me in check and tear me apart simply because I was her childhood friend and stood at her side.
‘……Fuck.’
It pissed me off that my most carefully prepared Plan 1 had gone up in smoke.
Still, I was steadily preparing Plan 2, so maybe things would work out somehow.
I’d have to bend over backward and then some to stop the destruction.
With those thoughts in mind, I was leaving the banquet hall when I slowly stopped at the sound of footsteps behind me.
They were familiar footsteps.
I knew who they belonged to without even turning around to check.
“Allen……!! Where are you going……?”
She must have run over in a hurry; her brilliant blond hair was tousled.
Her cheeks were flushed bright red, as though she’d had a few drinks.
Seeing that she had run over in high heels, I faced her as if I were giving her one last chance.
The protagonist of this world.
Elina Leonhardt.
As the protagonist of this world and the center of its reverse harem, she was breathtakingly beautiful.
She was even prettier because she had spent hours on her makeup and outfit for the banquet.
But that was all.
With the end of the world bearing down on me, romantic feelings were a luxury I simply couldn’t afford.
Well, even without that...
Even if I somehow found myself falling in love with someone, I probably could never have had that kind of relationship with her.
She was such a rotten person that I hadn’t particularly liked her even while reading the novel.
“We’re going. There’s no time to stand around here.”
When I answered while looking down at her without emotion, she grabbed my sleeve and continued.
“Let’s go together. I’ll grab my things and come right out.”
“Forget it.”
What I had wanted from Elina wasn’t love or affection.
Just friendship and trust. And, beyond that, comradeship.
I had only wanted her to become a good comrade I could trust with my back, and even though I had told her that time and again, she ultimately followed the path she wanted.
That was entirely her choice, and I had no intention of blaming her for it.
It was simply that...
“Go play with your men.”
It was a choice she could not make if she wanted to come with me.
Even now, look at her. Though she flinched and startled at my words, the corners of her mouth twitched—anyone could see she was holding back her joy.
Did she think I wouldn’t notice?
I’d been by her side for over ten years.
I swallowed the sigh rising in my chest and looked down at her.
“It’s not like that with those people, I—I mean, it’s not. You know that……?”
That attitude was the problem.
She still didn’t understand that.
“I can’t go with you anymore.”
In truth...
I had originally intended to leave at least a little point of contact between us.
I thought it would be necessary to prevent the destruction, after all.
But the realization that all my efforts over the years had come to nothing sent an unbearable surge of anger through me.
“Huh…? Huh? W-what do you mean…….”
Elina stared blankly at me, her face showing that she didn’t understand what I meant.
Her utterly clueless expression sent my irritation surging, and I ran a hand through my hair again before continuing.
“Get lost. You’re pissing me off.”
The destruction of the world?
Fuck, once it’s right in front of your eyes, you’ll all step up in the end.
If the world ends, am I the only one who dies? We’ll all die together.
In the end, you people only have this time to fool around with one another.
Once their invasion begins, marriage, romance, and all that other bullshit will be pushed aside.
I let out the sigh that had risen to the top of my head along with my anger, then turned away without hesitation.
“A-Allen……? Allen……?”
I brushed off her hand as it clung to my coat and left the banquet hall.
What a fucking day.
It was a day when more than a decade of effort had all gone to waste, but I couldn’t stop and despair over it.
It wasn’t for some grand cause.
If I didn’t want to die, I had to keep moving.
[Prevent the destruction of the world!]
[Failure will result in death!]
As though it were only natural, I let out a hollow laugh at the message that appeared at the edge of my vision.
Wasn’t it obvious that I’d die if the world ended?
@
Allen Debert.
He and Elina Leonhardt had been childhood friends.
He was the eldest son of House Debert.
The eldest son of House Debert—and a wastrel.
Had the novel followed its original plot, he would have been the sort of character who appeared as a disposable villain and then vanished—a painfully predictable fate.
I twisted that future and managed to survive until now.
Everything I had done after surviving had been solely to prevent the destruction of the world.
The only way to stop it was to change Elina’s attitude and draw out her potential.
“Phew.”
What good would that do now?
That man-crazy lunatic lost her head over any man.
I exhaled, loosened the tie strangling my neck, and undid the top two buttons; only then did I feel like I could breathe again.
“Seriously.”
So annoying.
No matter how much I tried to justify my feelings to myself, I couldn’t stop my irritation from rising.
The fact that I had fallen out with the Hero, the greatest military asset...
I wasn’t exactly pleased that things had to take the difficult route when the easy one was right there.
On top of that...
‘I’m going to have to fight Father again.’
I didn’t know what had gotten into him, but my father doted on Elina and adored her as though she were already his daughter-in-law.
I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if today’s events reached his ears.
Still……
‘I feel so much better.’
After releasing some of the pent-up emotions that had accumulated while reading the novel and living in this world...
I felt as though a weight had been lifted from my chest.
Well, in other words...
I’d have to deal with the aftermath myself.
notes