#1
- Prologue
When I first possessed this place, I was full of dreams.
“An uke!”
I wanted to try being that at least once.
I was drawn to the idea that even if it was fake, I could receive love from many people.
“Wait a minute. Those guys just had to cry and all the semes would fall for them.”
All ukes use their heads in their own way, but ultimately, success rates depended on how well they could pretend to be pitiful.
But pretending to be pitiful—wasn’t that my specialty?
* * *
‘Though it being “pretending” is a bit of a problem.’
Being abandoned right after birth, getting beaten constantly, being disowned five times, almost being violated—just listing my past was enough to draw a bowlful of tears from someone.
‘Wasn’t I practically born to be a main uke?’
Yeah, in a way, it’s lucky!
Even while working at the factory, I secretly comforted myself with such thoughts while enjoying BL novels.
There was nothing else to smile about in that life.
Anyway, for that reason, when I first possessed this world, I decided to become an uke.
The novel I possessed happened to be perfect for an uke too.
All the potential capture targets had painful backstories.
“Sercil has a secret about his birth… Theodore is on the verge of madness, consumed by power. Marcus looks bright but ultimately lives with constant guilt because of his clan’s sins.”
Archduke Skyle was broken from losing too many precious people.
“And they all really hate Ersen.”
As if their misfortunes were all because of Ersen.
Without even having a clear reason.
They were really perfect characters to become regretful semes.
“It’s a bit concerning that the story isn’t finished yet so I don’t know why they hate him…”
Since no reason came out even past the middle part, it might surprisingly be nothing much.
Maybe it was just because his personality was too nasty, or maybe it was because of rumors that Ersen might not be of imperial blood.
‘No, I don’t know about other things, but he’s definitely of imperial bloodline!’
It was stated in the original work.
Though weak, Ersen definitely possessed the unique magic called ‘nullification.’
The magic in this world consisted of the five ‘elemental magics’—light, darkness, fire, water, and earth—that mages usually used, and unique magic passed down through bloodlines.
Among these, humans who possessed unique magic that wasn’t elemental could only be pure-blood demons or imperial family members.
‘Since Ersen can’t be a pure-blood demon, he must be imperial family.’
So Ersen was just a nasty second prince.
Therefore, the original characters must have hated and ignored Ersen so much because of the havoc he wreaked.
Without knowing that Ersen’s unique magic could be useful to them.
‘Nullification magic could even break the protagonists’ curses.’
The original Ersen hid this power and only used it occasionally when alone.
Maybe it was too weak to show anyone and he was embarrassed, or maybe he didn’t want to do the good deed of breaking someone’s curse?
“But it worked out well for me in the end.”
Even him hiding his power felt like luck to me.
“I’ll act pitiful to gradually melt their hearts, then break their curses at the crucial moment! Then they’ll definitely like me.”
Since the original characters were good people, if I said the nasty second prince was actually lonely, they’d feel a bit sorry for him.
And if I broke their curses after that, maybe I could be loved too!
‘Maybe, maybe I’ll have a lover who only looks at me for life.’
This place recognizes marriage regardless of gender, so who will I marry?
“Ah, this is the best. Now I don’t have to end it with just fantasies!”
Maybe God took pity on my life that had nothing to smile about and had a whim?
Expressing gratitude to whoever sent me here, I jumped onto the bed.
The soft blanket I’d never touched in my life welcomed me.
That’s how the first day ended.
And that was the only night I could sleep peacefully.
Three years later.
This world had broken in a completely different direction than I had thought.
* * *
“No…!”
I desperately reached out and threw my body forward.
No matter how much I ran, I couldn’t reach hyung.
The sight of hyung stabbing a sword into his neck seemed like a lie.
“Why…!”
I believed everything would work out well if I just broke the curses.
Sercil, who should have been the main uke reaching a happy ending, was dying, and Crown Prince Theodore, who should have been happy with him for life, had gone mad.
Marcus hyung, who was one of the sub-semes, coldly rejected my offer to break his curse, then died right before my eyes like this.
And the Archduke, he…
“Why? Wasn’t this what you wanted?”
The man who arrived a step too late was so deeply eroded and broken by curses that my weak power couldn’t solve.
Yet he was still beautiful.
Heartbreakingly so.
To the pathetic possessor who had completely ruined the original work, he calmly pointed his golden sword.
“You wanted this, so you hovered around us and deceived us with petty words.”
With dead black eyes, he smiled gently.
A chilling energy slightly pierced my throat.
I looked at him with my pitiful face splattered with Marcus hyung’s blood.
“What should I do? I’m not as soft-hearted as my friends.”
The laughter that flowed out habitually wasn’t as sweet as before.
He hates me. He always had, but now that fact hurt more.
Because despair was seeping into his face.
Not once had I ever wished for him to despair.
…Everything was a mess.
‘Why?’
I, I just wanted to comfort their pain, and also, also…
‘Just wanted them to love me a little.’
It wasn’t like I wanted tremendous love like when I first possessed this world.
As time passed, I learned that people’s perception of Prince Ersen was worse than I thought.
The original protagonists avoided Ersen more severely than in the original work.
It wasn’t like Ersen was involved with demons, so why was that?
I wanted to know the reason, but there was no one to ask.
Because hardly anyone would talk to me.
Naturally, my dreams shrunk day by day.
‘So I just wanted them to like me just a little bit.’
Right, at some point I thought even crumb-like affection would be okay.
That was still good. I thought it would be enough if they grew fond enough to keep me by their side.
If they, no, if that person…
If that kind person would smile at me sincerely just once.
‘Then I felt like I could live my whole life smiling with just that one memory.’
However, all the things I did hastily with such feelings ended in failure.
‘Ignorant, with no discernment. Of course, since I’m uneducated.’
My throat felt tight.
Still, I studied hard after coming to this world because I wanted to be helpful somehow…
‘…I should have rather done nothing at all.’
Instead of the curse inherited from his mother being broken, Sercil was revealed to be a fairy and was tormented by all kinds of death threats before being cursed with an even more terrible curse.
This time, a curse my weak power couldn’t break.
It was all because I publicly broke that child’s curse.
Theodore gained control over his unstable power, but wanting to die with Sercil, he abandoned his self-control.
He would soon close his eyes together with Sercil.
The original him would have chosen to live with Sercil, but because of the accidents I caused, the imperial family was losing both power and magical strength.
There would have been no answer.
And Marcus, who suffered his whole life from his clan’s sins as a half-demon…
…Marcus hyung didn’t react well to my words telling him not to bear his clan’s sins, contrary to my expectations.
He was wary of me and never trusted me for even a moment.
And he died so meaninglessly over there like that.
“Did you want to become Crown Prince? Or did you want to lead the half-demon clan instead of Marcus?”
Half-demons. The original work’s villain group where half-demon hybrids gathered around pure-blood demons…
‘Why would I want their clan? What connection do they and I have?’
Blinking blankly, I belatedly asked back.
“What…?”
What did he just say…?
“Oh my, I thought you knew?”
Prince Ersen had no memories from before age 7, so that was really true.
Muttering like that, the Archduke sneered.
“You’re a half-demon.”
Ersen is, what…?
The words entering my ears felt chillier than the sword touching my throat.
“Ersen, descendant of the traitor Eris, the pure-blood demon who forcibly violated the Emperor.”
Eris… wasn’t that the final boss of the original work?
It was such a crime against imperial decree to even mention that name that it was only occasionally referenced, but each time it was mentioned alongside the half-demons’ madness, creating the most cruel scenes.
‘Only how cruel she was came out, but what kind of life she lived never appeared.’
That person was Ersen’s mother.
“Didn’t you know that you were born after that pure-blood demon forced her way to become Empress?”
“Ah…?”
How could such a fact never come out even once?
I had no way to learn about this world other than the original work.
No one, no one would even talk to Ersen…
“Born as the last pure-blood demon with a personality that had to have whatever she wanted to be satisfied. You’re alike, you and her.”
The sins Eris committed in the original work came to mind one by one.
Cursing countless people, and even after death, inciting half-demons through her will to torment the protagonists.
Among them, there was also what she did to sub-seme Marcus.
That Eris directly cast the binding curse that made Marcus leave his beloved family to be bound to the half-demons.
‘Ah. Hyung. Marcus hyung…’
Marcus hadn’t simply distrusted me.
He hated me but endured it.
I… I knew nothing.
Ignorance was a sin. Even if I couldn’t help it.
The Archduke’s blue eyes were staring at me as if to pierce through me.
A gaze like he was facing an enemy.
‘Ah.’
I remembered what happened with him.
The day when I pretended to know without him telling me and rashly tried to comfort him, earning his anger.
I had suddenly received killing intent and fainted.
‘He had endured me a lot.’
Skyle Rodias.
The great mage and Empire’s Archduke had no family.
Because they were all massacred by some crazy pure-blood demon.