"……Gah!"
My eyes snapped open with the sensation of breath being cut off at the throat.
The first thing that entered my vision was not the ceiling of a peaceful sickroom.
The sky beyond the window hung dead and black, as if blanketed by storm clouds, and the room's glass panes rattled violently under the bizarre air pressure blowing from outside, threatening to shatter at any moment.
A crushing weight that made my lungs feel flattened every time I breathed.
This was no mere natural disaster. It was the 'killing intent' unleashed by the world's apex powerhouses, pressing down on the atmosphere.
"Y-Young Master! Are you awake?!"
Benjamin, who had been cowering beneath my bed and trembling, raised his head with a sob.
"Benjamin……. What on earth is happening outside right now? Don't tell me those crazy bitches actually……"
"Th-the Duke has returned! His Grace, having finished his domain inspection, arrived at the central hall just moments ago, but……
Sir Ellara and Lady Silvia blocked His Grace's path and drew their swords and magic!"
'Insane! They actually started the father hunt?!'
Feeling a terror that made my hair stand on end, I tumbled off the bed.
"Young Master!"
"Wheelchair! No, there's no time for a wheelchair! Support me! We're going to the central hall immediately!"
I had no time to care that my wounds were splitting open and bleeding.
If Duke Rothschild and the two heroines clashed head-on here? Even if Ellara and Silvia were geniuses,
at this point in time the Duke was a monster among monsters boasting the continent's mightiest power. If either of them was hurt or killed, the original plot would shatter into pieces, and my survival route would end too.
Conversely, if our dad(?) fell to the combined assault of those two crazy bitches, the ducal household would be utterly annihilated for the crime of treason!
"Fuck! Run, don't walk, Benjamin!!"
Clinging to Benjamin's shoulder as if hanging from it, I spat out breaths like I was vomiting blood and sprinted desperately toward the central hall on the first floor.
The situation in the central hall was hell itself, and worse than I had imagined.
Kugugugung—!
Massive granite pillars screamed as hairline cracks ran through them.
At the center of the hall stood Duke Callion de Rothschild, draped in the pelt of a gigantic black panther, radiating overwhelming pressure.
Just the waves of mana he released dug deep pits into the marble floor.
And blocking his path were Ellara, who had raised her silver aura to the absolute limit, and Silvia, spewing 7th Circle frost like a storm.
"Hoo."
The Duke's golden eyes sparkled with interest.
"While I was away from home, I thought rats had crawled in…… but it seems my son's playthings were running wild without their master.
Daring to block my path, it seems you have several lives?"
"Shut your mouth, fiend."
Ellara growled like a wolf baring its fangs.
"The price for deceiving my lord, who endured all that suffering while regarding you as his father, and planting such a terrible curse in his heart shall be paid by your neck today."
"Curse?"
The Duke's brow furrowed slightly.
"Don't play dumb, Your Grace."
Silvia too emanated cold killing intent, summoning dozens of massive ice spears in the air.
"Your heir Cailan's heart is currently being devoured by a terrible black magic.
The one capable of breaching Rothschild's iron-clad barrier and committing such an act can only be you, the master of this estate and the one with the ugliest lust for power."
The Duke fell silent for a moment.
His serpentine eyes alternately swept across the two women's faces, then he soon erupted into a low, bizarre laugh.
"Kkuk…… Hahahahaha!!"
The Duke's mad laughter echoed thunderously through the central hall.
"A curse upon my son's heart! Yes, that brat has been coughing up blood and staggering about lately; I see someone has been holding his lifeline and shaking it. And you claim I did it?"
The Duke placed his hand on the hilt of the greatsword at his waist. At that instant, a terrifying killing intent that seemed to crush all of space expanded.
"I, Callion de Rothschild, do not use cowardly magic like curses when I cut off my child's breath.
I simply twist their neck with my own hands. As the price for your reckless talk before me, today I shall tear your limbs apart and make decorations of this hall."
Paaaat—!
The moment the Duke's greatsword was drawn, Ellara and Silvia simultaneously launched themselves.
The glacial trajectory of the Swordmaster and massive ice lances (氷槍) were fired at the Duke's neck in that very critical moment.
"Stoooop!!"
Squeezing my scorching throat as blood boiled up within it, I grabbed the stair railing of the central hall and screamed.
Kaaang—!! Kwagwang!!
At my tearing scream, the three's attacks careened past each other by a hair's breadth in mid-air, causing a massive explosion.
The hall's windows shattered simultaneously, raining down fragments like a downpour.
"Keok, keoheok……!"
Because I had forced my voice, I collapsed right there on the stairs and vomited a gush of black blood.
"Cailan!!"
"My lord!!"
Silvia and Ellara turned deathly pale, withdrawing their weapons and trying to rush toward me.
[Warning! This is a fatal crisis situation!]
[The heroines have attempted rebellion against the Duke. If you cannot control this situation and prove the 'Villain's Arrogance,' a penalty will be activated!]
Even through the flickering pain before my eyes, I desperately racked my brain.
If I pleaded with those two women to stop here, or begged my father for my life, I would immediately die from the system penalty.
I barely managed to stand, gripping the stair railing with my trembling legs.
And toward Ellara and Silvia rushing toward me, I raised my blood-soaked hand and firmly stopped them.
"Stop right there."
At my icy voice, both of their footsteps halted abruptly.
"I'm certain I warned you. Not to bark without my permission."
Roughly wiping the blood dripping from my jaw with the back of my hand, I glared at them with the bone-chilling eyes of a villain.
"Are you intent on ruining my plan? That man's neck is not a trophy you bitches can touch as you please."
"Cailan! Have you really gone crazy?!"
Silvia shouted in a voice full of grievance.
"That monster planted a terrible curse in your heart! And yet you're saying you'll embrace it alone and die?!"
"Silvia."
I growled lowly.
"Whether what's embedded in my body is a curse or a blessing, it's mine. I cannot tolerate you bitches stealing my prey.
If you don't step back immediately, I'll be the one to tear you apart first."
Silence.
A terminally ill patient on the verge of death, vomiting blood and gasping for breath, was spewing threats at the world's strongest magician and Swordmaster.
To anyone watching, it was a ridiculous and desperate bluff.
But.
(Ellara & Silvia's Mental Auto-Translation)
'Ahh……. To save us. To prevent the Duke's blade from turning toward us, he is pushing us away while coughing up blood himself.
Even the karmic sin of patricide he intended to commit, he intends to bear solely on his own rather than letting it stain our hands. Such noble and foolish devotion……!'
Ellara bit her lip and shed tears drop by drop, and Silvia too clenched her fists tightly, unable to approach any further.
'Alright, it worked! I've stopped those crazy bitches' rampage for now!'
Letting out a sigh of relief, I slowly turned my head toward the final boss who held the power of life and death over me, Duke Callion.
The Duke held his greatsword at an angle, observing me with an intrigued gaze.
"A curse embedded in your heart, is it? Just what kind of filthy mischief have you been up to outside, to fall victim to such ugly black magic?"
Even as cold sweat trickled down my spine, I twisted my lips into a vicious smile.
If I said something like, "Wasn't it you, Dad?" or "I don't know, please save me," I would immediately die from the penalty. Unconditionally, unconditionally, I had to act insolent!
"……Does it matter what I've been up to?"
I leaned crookedly against the railing.
"What matters is that a trivial curse like this cannot take my life. And as you just heard."
I pointed straight at the Duke with a trembling finger.
"To cut down that arrogant neck of my father and devour everything of Rothschild—it will not be these two hunting dogs, but……
I, Cailan de Rothschild, shall be the one to do it. So don't let your guard down just because you're old. You never know when I'll plunge a knife into your back."
Insanity.
Even after saying it, it was the height of truly insane patricide. It was essentially declaring "I'll kill Dad soon and take all the inheritance" right in front of Dad. I wouldn't have had any excuse even if my head flew off immediately.
I squeezed my eyes shut tightly.
'Kill me. Just kill me cleanly.'
[Status: You have succeeded in acting 'Extreme Villain'! Penalty is permanently exempted!]
[You have achieved a Hidden Achievement!]
As the system window flickered, a low voice resonated throughout the central hall.
"……Kkuk."
The Duke's shoulders shook.
"Hahahahahaha!!!"
He sheathed his greatsword and burst into crazed laughter.
"Indeed! If you had begged for your life over a mere curse, I would have killed you with my own hands immediately. To cut down your father's neck and devour the household?
Haha! You've finally developed the venom worthy of a whelp born from my loins!"
The Duke nodded in satisfaction and strode toward me in broad steps.
As he approached, Ellara and Silvia behind me inhaled sharply, but I forcibly blocked them.
The Duke gripped my shoulder tightly with his massive hand. (It hurt like hell since it was the wounded area, but I couldn't show it.)
"You shall need a stage to test whether that insolent ambition of yours is real. The 'Imperial Academy Founding Festival' hosted by the Imperial Family approaches in one month."
The Academy Founding Festival?
The episode in the original where Cailan committed all sorts of atrocities and got thoroughly beaten by the protagonist party, publicly humiliated?!
"The clue to dispelling the curse embedded in your heart may also lie dormant in the Imperial Grand Library or beneath the Academy.
Go, Cailan. Go and prove your worth as Rothschild's heir."
The Duke formed a serpentine, bone-chilling smile.
"If you disgrace my name there while staggering about, before you can plunge a knife in my back, I shall bury you first with my own hands."
Having finished speaking, the Duke disappeared up the stairs with heavy steps, his cape billowing.
"……Hah."
The moment the Duke completely vanished from sight, the taut string of tension snapped, and I collapsed right onto the floor.
"Cailan!"
"My lord!"
Silvia and Ellara dashed like arrows and supported my collapsing body from both sides.
Their hands holding me were trembling desperately.
"You foolish child……. Playing the cool loner until the very end. Don't you dare think we survived because you took the Duke's aggro like that."
Silvia shot out the words forcibly, her eyes red, but her blue mana warmly enveloped my body.
"Your great ambition and noble sacrifice, this Ellara has engraved into her very bones. Even if the Academy becomes a hellish pit of fire, I shall gladly become the blade that opens my lord's path."
Ellara too rubbed her cheek against mine, swearing in a voice full of fanatical devotion.
As a result, the Duke acknowledged me as his successor, and the two heroines were ready to follow me even to the Academy.
'The Academy……. All the original protagonists will be gathered there.'
Having to enroll at the Academy with a terminal penalty, with a crazy fiancée and a bodyguard knight who had tried to kill me at my sides.
My wretched and suffocating misunderstanding-driven harem survival story was only now truly stepping onto the stage.