The top floor of the Academy's main building, the place closest to touching the clouds.
Before the massive golden door of the 'Student Council Room'—a symbol of absolute power where only the Imperial family and a select few geniuses are permitted entry.
"……Haa."
Leaning my weight askew against my cane, I let out a deep sigh.
Because I had overused(?) my mana in the forest yesterday, it felt like my insides were turning inside out, but I couldn't ignore Princess Aurelia's summons.
If I didn't go, the Princess would barge into my dormitory again, and then Ellara and Silvia would definitely try to slit her throat in the dorm hallway.
"My liege, is it necessary to answer this vulgar princess's call when your precious body is unwell? I shall enter and cut off that arrogant tongue, presenting it before your bedchamber."
Ellara, standing at my left, caressed the hilt of her longsword with an air that suggested she could shatter the door at any moment.
"Princess, my foot. She's just an old fox mad with lust for power."
Silvia, standing at my right, let out a cold scoff. "Kailan, if this is bothersome, I'll freeze this entire floor with the chill of the north, so just go back and rest."
"Both of you, please shut your mouths."
I pressed hard on my throbbing temples.
"If you slit the Princess's throat, the Imperial Knights will come swarming, and if you freeze this floor, the Magic Tower and the Imperial Court will go to war.
Unless you intend to ruin my convalescence plans, quietly shut up and stand behind me."
I twisted my bloodless lips into a villain's smile, then jerked my chin at the door.
"Open it."
Screech—.
The massive golden door opened, revealing the dazzlingly splendid view of the student council room.
A luxurious red carpet covered the floor, and behind the massive mahogany desk in the center sat the First Princess of the Empire, Aurelia, legs crossed and sitting arrogantly.
But she wasn't the only one who caught my eye.
"……What brings you here?"
In the center of the student council room stood a red-haired boy, ramrod straight.
It was Lumen, the protagonist of the original story!
'No, why are you in a place like this?! You're a freshman!'
Though I was inwardly shocked, externally I merely twitched one eyebrow and swept my gaze over Lumen as if he were a bug.
Princess Aurelia opened her fan to cover her lips and laughed languidly.
"You've come, mad dog. And the two fleas clinging tightly to your side as well."
"Watch your mouth, Princess." Silvia's eyes grew ferocious.
But Aurelia leisurely pointed at Lumen.
"He's the top freshman and the idol of the commoners.
Though his bloodline is lowly, his upright talent seemed useful, so I was in the process of scouting him as the student council's hunting dog. And you had to appear at just the right moment."
Undeterred by the Princess's words, Lumen glared at me with bloodshot eyes and shouted.
"Your Highness! How could you try to bring a devil like him into the student council that must defend the Empire!
That Kailan de Rothschild brainwashes the innocent with his terrible black magic……!"
"Silence, Lumen."
Aurelia's voice froze cold in an instant.
"Did you think I called you here to hear your shallow sense of justice? Black magic or whatever, strong power is the Empire's weapon. If you won't wag your tail, get out of this room at once."
Lumen gritted his teeth at the Princess's sharp killing intent. I knew why he was holding his ground instead of retreating.
As the righteous protagonist, he couldn't stand idle and watch 'a massive pure evil' like me (Kailan) take over the student council, the heart of the Academy.
"Kailan."
Aurelia propped her chin on her hand and fixed me with a languid, heavy gaze.
"You were barking quite amusingly in the dormitory. That you'd break my neck and drag me off the throne?
Let me say it again. If you swear loyalty to me and take charge of the student council's 'Darkness,' I shall overlook your cute little rebellion as a charming gesture."
[Warning! You must prove the 'Villain's Dominance' before the Princess and the original protagonist!]
[Condition: Impress upon them the 'Tyrant's' pride that does not bow before any authority.]
[Penalty upon failure: Cardiac rupture and instant death.]
Haah.
Can't even a single day pass quietly, you damned system.
Suppressing my esophagus that felt like it was boiling with blood, I leaned on my cane and walked slowly, very arrogantly, to the center of the student council room.
With every step I took, the murderous intent radiating from Ellara and Silvia following behind me made the splendid decorations of the student council room tremble.
"Loyalty? A cute little rebellion?"
I burst into a scoff, tapped the shoulder of the upright Lumen as I passed by. It was a perfect act of ignoring, as if passing by a stone lying on the roadside.
"Kurk……!" Lumen clenched his fist in humiliation, but crushed by the momentum of the hounds at my sides, he didn't dare draw his sword.
I approached Aurelia's massive mahogany desk.
And.
"You dare wag your snout so carelessly, Aurelia."
I placed both hands on the desk and thrust my upper body forward, narrowing the distance until our noses nearly touched.
"H-how insolent! What blasphemy toward Her Highness……!"
An Imperial royal guard in the corner drew his sword in shock, but.
"Shut your mouth."
As I turned my head coolly and muttered, the guard froze in place, trembling like a frog before a giant serpent.
I met Aurelia's golden eyes head-on once more.
The Princess's eyes, which should have held confusion, were surprisingly trembling faintly, harboring a strange heat.
"The day I enter under your command will never come, not even if this Empire falls to ruin."
I flung my cane roughly to the floor.
Clatter—!
The sound of the cane rolling split the quiet room.
Hiding the trembling of my legs with all my might, I arrogantly perched on the armrest of the 'Throne of the Student Council President (chair)' where Aurelia was sitting!
This was insane. Truly, utterly insane.
A composition both treasonous and blasphemous—perching on the armrest of the chair where the First Princess of the Empire sat, looking down on her as if she were beneath my feet.
"You…… what do you think you're doing."
Aurelia's lips trembled. Her face was flushed red to a dangerous degree.
I donned a ferocious smile and reached out, gripping Aurelia's white chin with rough fingers!
"I told you. You're nothing more than a chess piece of mine."
I pulled her face slightly toward me and whispered low into her ear. With every breath, the faint scent of blood seeping from between my lips brushed the tip of her nose.
"No matter how much you wag your tail in this trivial student council room, all you'll get is pocket change for power. But if you kneel at my feet and offer yourself as the carpet for my path to walk on……"
I released her chin and spat out.
"I might just toss a mere throne onto the hem of your skirt. If I'm in the mood, that is."
Silence.
Suffocating silence sucked all the oxygen from the student council room.
[Status: You have perfectly succeeded in the 'Act of the True Mastermind Tyrant'! Penalty waived!]
[The mental state of Heroine 'Aurelia von Chronos' changes dramatically!]
A madly pounding heartbeat.
I felt like my heart would burst and kill me at any moment, but outwardly I sat nonchalantly on the armrest of Aurelia's throne, legs crossed.
Inside, I was screaming 'Please save me, Princess, please don't cast magic,' wanting to squeeze my eyes shut.
However.
"……Ah, ahahaha."
What broke the silence was not anger, but Aurelia's breathy laughter.
Instead of raging at the fact that she had been humiliated, she covered her flushed cheek with one hand and trembled, shoulders shaking subtly.
(Aurelia's Mind Auto-Translation)
'Good heavens. To perch on my chair, grip my chin, and say he'll toss me the throne!
That overwhelming pressure of a massive predator, even as he pants precariously with a blood-scented body as if about to die at any moment!
None of the men in the Imperial family have ever given me such a thrilling humiliation. The day I completely subdue that arrogant mad dog and put a collar on him beneath my feet…… just how sweet would that be!'
Aurelia looked up at me with enraptured eyes.
"Insolent wretch. To think you'd use me as your chess piece. Fine. Shall we wager on which comes first—you placing me on the throne, or me making you submit and kneel beside my bed?"
No, damn it, why is the bed coming into this?!
At the Princess's bombshell statement, the thread of reason of the two yanderes standing behind me snapped completely.
"The vulgar princess bitch dares to try and defile our liege! I shall raise a blood storm in this place today and forever seal that snout!"
Ellara roared like a beast and fully drew her longsword. A pale blue Sword Aura split the ceiling of the student council room.
"Like a filthy bitch in heat. I'll bury you and that chair you're sitting in under permafrost and turn you into an ice sculpture!"
Silvia too had her hair standing on end from rage, running her 7th Circle mana rampant and beginning to freeze the entire student council room white.
"Attack!" Aurelia too unfolded her fan and unleashed killing intent.
The royal guards rushed in hurriedly, and the student council room transformed in an instant into a terrible arena of chaos (catfight) where the three strongest women in the world were tangled together.
Kwaang—!! Kwagwang!!
Magic and aura exploded, and the golden chandelier crashed to the floor and shattered.
And in the center of this pandemonium, the one most shocked was not the women surrounding me, but—
The protagonist of the original story, Lumen.
Lumen looked at me—no, at this insane arena—with a despairing expression of disbelief.
(Lumen's Delusion)
'Th-that devil……! To think he has even seduced Her Highness the First Princess with his dark charm(?) and arrogance!
Not content with one, he's driven three geniuses completely mad and induced a tragedy where they kill each other! He's not simply strong. He's a fearsome mastermind who plays with human hearts!'
Lumen bit his lip until it bled and swallowed a silent scream.
'Just you wait, Kailan! I will definitely save those three geniuses from your evil clutches and shatter that arrogant throne of yours!'
Grinding the blade of vengeance alone, Lumen dashed out of the ruined student council room.
"……Hey. Stop fighting."
Crouched on the collapsing armrest of the golden throne, I muttered blankly, watching ice spears and Sword Aura and the Princess's magic bombardment tear through the air.
Academy Day 4.
Three women who could destroy the world were dancing a sword dance by my side, and the original protagonist had pinned me as a cosmic horror-level Casanova mastermind.
Save me. Please, someone just lay me down in my dormitory……
The mastermind's recuperation life was racing toward ruin once again today.