It was the same routine, day after day.
“Damian, I hear you’re top of the class again? At this rate, you might really become an imperial knight!”
“I know, right? The top student and runner-up in the Knight Department always get scouted by the imperial family!”
“For a knight, joining the imperial knights is basically a dream job, isn’t it? Even if war breaks out, you’ll be protecting the imperial family there!”
“I’m jealous. So jealous. Seriously!”
Surrounded by my classmates in the Knight Department of the Imperial Academy, living every day as the object of their envy was only natural to me.
Just as they said, from the day I entered the academy until now, with graduation just around the corner, I had never once lost my place as the top student of the Knight Department.
But that everyday life of mine turned strange in an instant.
Because—
‘What are these memories…? They’re not mine…! But they feel like they are…!’
One day, along with a sudden headache, unknown memories came flooding over me.
Before long, however, I realized that those memories were mine.
‘I… was reincarnated. …I can’t believe I reincarnated into the world of a romance-fantasy novel I used to enjoy reading.’
Honestly, it was a huge shock.
So much so that it affected my academy life.
“Ugh….”
“Damian, what’s been wrong with you lately? You don’t seem able to focus.”
A vast number of memories from my previous life had come rushing in all at once, and while I was sorting them out in my head, I was allowing even easy attacks during light sparring in class.
Thanks to that, rumors that I might soon lose not only my top ranking but even my place among the leading students began spreading everywhere.
“That damn commoner bastard. Finally showing his true colors, huh?”
“Exactly. Serves him right. It really does.”
Of course, those rumors spread the most fiercely among the noble students.
To begin with, when I reincarnated into this world, I was born into an ordinary household, and I had learned all kinds of weapon techniques from my father, who was a mercenary.
The weapon that suited me best was the sword, so I enrolled in the academy’s Knight Department.
In any case, I couldn’t let myself be tied down by my previous life any longer.
At this rate, just as the noble students said, I really might not make it as top student—or even runner-up.
—My current goal, after all, was to become an imperial knight and make life more comfortable for my parents and my one precious little sister.
“Kyaah…!”
“You damn commoner bitch, how dare you bump into me?”
“I was already pissed off. You picked the wrong day.”
One day during the season when I had refocused and begun preparing for the graduation exam.
After finishing some light sparring with my friends, I was on my way back to the dormitory when I witnessed two male students intimidating a female student.
“You there… what do you think you’re doing?”
As an upperclassman of the academy about to graduate, this was not something I could simply overlook.
So, with quick footwork, I stepped in front of the girl and blocked the two male students.
“What the hell are you—!”
“Hey, hey. He’s a senior, a senior.”
Apparently one of them had some sense, because after seeing the color of my tie, he realized I was their senior.
In the Knight Department, hierarchy between seniors and juniors mattered more than in other departments, so they couldn’t carelessly lay a hand on me.
Even if the senior was a commoner, the system of absolute obedience to one’s superiors had taken root, meaning if you were told to do something, you did it.
That made sense, since once you became a knight, you would be assigned to a knight order.
Then naturally, nobles and commoners would gather in one place, and situations could arise where a junior noble knight refused to listen to a senior commoner knight because of their difference in status.
But if something like that happened within a knight order, what would become of it?
If war broke out, differences like that could prevent them from winning battles they otherwise could have won.
Concerned about that, the Rosehill Empire created a law stating that once someone became a knight belonging to the state, until they retired from service, only their status as a “knight” would be recognized.
Therefore, once one became a knight, the status gap between noble and commoner disappeared, and they became fellow knights. That was why it was necessary to restrain such behavior in advance at the academy.
“Tch. Consider yourself lucky, you damn commoner bitch!”
Whoosh!
The two turned around and disappeared as if fleeing.
‘More importantly, they kept that attitude even in front of a senior. Doesn’t seem like they’re the type to join the imperial knights or the empire’s knight order. They must be official heirs of noble houses, most likely.’
Shaking my head at their arrogant behavior, I turned toward the female student who had been intimidated.
But the moment I saw her face, I froze.
“Thank you, senior…. If you hadn’t helped me, I would have been in serious trouble….”
‘Why is the Bloody Empress here!?’
The Bloody Empress.
She was the protagonist of the romance-fantasy novel I used to enjoy, only to have my mind shattered by its ending—The Empress Cannot Love.
Though she was originally the youngest imperial princess, with the lowest right of succession, she eventually became empress.
Because she was a regressor.
‘I don’t know whether the Bloody Empress is before or after her regression right now, but it’s best to keep my distance if possible.’
Why she was called the Bloody Empress could be understood from the word “bloody.”
In order to become emperor, she killed the other princes and princesses.
Because that was the only route by which she could survive.
Thanks to that, despite being a romance-fantasy work, the novel had a very strong sense of ruin and despair.
Most decisively, even though it was a romance-fantasy, the male lead who was supposed to become the Bloody Empress’s partner died at the end, and just as the title implied, she became unable to love anyone at all.
She was an extremely pitiful, tragic protagonist.
That was why keeping my distance from her was the right choice.
—One wrong move, and under the influence of the Bloody Empress, an insignificant extra like me would have the life expectancy of an ant.
“No need to thank me. It’s only natural as your senior. Anyway, I’m busy, so I’ll be going—”
“Lady Yuria, there you are!”
Just as I was about to accept her thanks briefly and make my escape, another female student ran up to the Bloody Empress.
“I was worried! You disappeared all of a sudden!”
“Um, Toki…. I’m not alone right now….”
“Huh? …Eek!”
Ah, now there was really no way out.
I had heard not only the Bloody Empress’s name, but also another female student addressing her politely.
—But I still had an escape plan.
“What? Another person appeared in the blink of an eye? Are you two friends…?”
I naturally kept my gaze fixed on the open book in my hand, intending to act as if I had only just noticed the female student who had run over.
“…You’re acting, aren’t you?”
The atmosphere around the Bloody Empress, “Yuria Rosehill,” changed.
‘So this is after her regression…!’
Before her regression, she had a very gentle air about her, and she wasn’t the type to speak informally to someone without permission.
After enduring all kinds of hardship, dying unjustly, and regressing, her personality changed—so the Yuria Rosehill before me was indeed the post-regression Bloody Empress I remembered.
“What do you mean, junior? I’m about to take my graduation exam, so….”
“You’re shameless, senior. You might be able to fool others, but not me.”
I was truly doomed.
I had acted as naturally as I could, but it seemed I had taken a regressor’s experience far too lightly.
There was no helping it.
“…I greet Your Highness the Imperial Princess.”
“So you did know, didn’t you? Who I am.”
“From your name and that student’s—no, your guard’s attitude, I had a vague intuition….”
Since there might be other students nearby, I did not use formal court etiquette.
I merely addressed her quietly, in a whispering voice.
“I like you. You seem to know how to treat me in the current situation. If you were an ordinary student, you would have made a fuss and alerted everyone around us to my presence.”
This was making me a little uneasy.
“I’ve decided. You will become my knight.”
“…Pardon?”
And so, I became the close aide—half-forced—of the Bloody Empress, whom I had never intended to get close to.
Oh…. My…. God….
◈
“Damian, why do you look like death warmed over?”
“Graduation is coming soon, so I’m feeling sentimental.”
Not at all.
My mind was in shambles because yesterday, the Bloody Empress had told me to become her knight.
Even though I told her I would keep her secret and begged her to let me go, her will was firm.
Well, I could understand it.
From her perspective, trying to gather talented people, I must have seemed that desirable.
‘What do I do now…. Am I going to get dragged into the imperial succession struggle like this…?’
As someone who knew the path ahead was a path of carnage, I could not help but feel an intense aversion.
All I wanted was to live happily with my family. That would have been enough.
‘It was already decided, but I chose this path only for the enormous salary and the pension system that guaranteed my retirement. And now that meeting yesterday has ruined everything…. No, in the first place, if only I hadn’t remembered my previous life….’
A sigh escaped me on its own.
‘Now that it’s come to this, I have no choice but to use my memories of my previous life to make her emperor as safely as possible. And while I’m at it, prevent the bad ending.’
But I couldn’t keep despairing forever.
I could only survive by doing whatever it took and choosing the best possible option.
‘For the sake of my happy life with my family, I’ll do my absolute best!’
“Next. Student Damian.”
Before that, the priority was to finish this graduation exam as the top student.
Only then would I be able to move freely within the imperial palace as an imperial knight.
“Come forward, Student Damian. I am looking forward to seeing whether you will be the top student again this time.”
“As always, I will simply do my best.”
Step!
Taking up the practice longsword, I pointed it at the professor in charge of the Knight Department’s exam, and at the same time, I moved quickly toward him.
Whoosh! Whoosh, whoosh! Whooosh!! Clang!!!
Then I swung my sword fiercely.
“Haha! As expected, you’re the same as ever! You are a sword prodigy sent by the heavens!”
As he received my swift sword strikes, the exam professor laughed in delight.
Of course, that did not mean he had the luxury of being relaxed.
Including every exam held each semester and year, my record against the exam professor was in my favor.
And since I absolutely intended to become the top student, I was giving it my all.
“This is the end, Professor!!”
Piiing!!
A red aura shimmered around my sword.
“You! So you really did awaken ‘aura’!!”
Slice!!
My practice longsword cut the professor’s practice longsword clean in two.
Exceptionally cleanly.
‘This should be the decisive blow, right? I even used the aura I’d been hiding all this time.’