Thud. Bang.
The hospital room door closed, and perfect silence descended.
"......."
Unable to make so much as a sound, I blankly stared up at the ornate ceiling.
The terror from when Father, the Duke, had left had already evaporated without a trace long ago.
Only the chilling whisper Ellara had left in my ear moments ago spun madly through my brain.
『I will take you away. To a perfect place... where only I can see you.』
An icy chill crawled up my spine.
This wasn’t a metaphor or rhetoric. My “reader's intuition,” honed from reading countless genre novels, was ringing alarm bells like crazy.
That woman was dead serious about kidnapping me and locking me in a basement.
As if to prove my intuition, to make matters worse, a blood-red system window popped up before my eyes.
[Warning! You have reached a fatal branching point!]
[Due to Main Heroine 'Ellara von Valerius's Yandere awakening, Special Bad Ending Route 2 has been unlocked.]
[If kidnapped, you will never see sunlight again, kept under Ellara's 'protection' and raised in captivity, while the main story of the original work is destroyed.]
"You crazy system bastard! Stop giving me warnings and tell me how to stop it!"
I screamed a silent shriek into the empty air.
It was only a matter of time before Ellara, who had slipped out of the room, returned with sleeping pills or a swaddle(?).
I had to run. I had to call Bayern, the knight commander of this mansion, immediately for an escort...!
"Kk, ugh...!"
I tried to raise myself from the bed and collapsed right back.
From below my left shoulder blade to near my heart, the wound from the poison dagger blazed crimson and screamed.
HP 8%. With a body that would have died of shock long ago were I an ordinary person, I couldn't even set foot on the floor beneath the bed, let alone escape.
*Think, think, Kailan. How do I stop Ellara from kidnapping me?*
If I tell her the truth—"I didn't sacrifice myself for you!"?
→ The [Curse of Karma] penalty activates immediately, and my guts burst, killing me.
Then what if I weep and cling to her, begging, "Please don't lock me up!"?
→ I get hit with a Villain penalty for my pathetic appearance and die, or Ellara says, "As expected, the Young Master's mind and body have grown feeble," and knocks me out to take me away.
There is only one answer.
Turn her blind 'loyalty' and 'obsession' against her. Make her bark at my feet instead of caging me.
In the most arrogant, most detestable 'villain's way.'
*Creeeak—.*
Without even giving me ten minutes to think, the hospital room door opened again.
"......."
I gasped.
Ellara's appearance in the doorway was utterly shocking. The eye-catching pure white knight's uniform she had been wearing moments ago was nowhere to be seen,
replaced by pitch-black covert operational leather armor that would erase all traces.
A fairly large travel backpack hung from her shoulders, and in one hand she carried a thick black bear hide blanket that looked intended to wrap me up tight.
*She's actually crazy! Is that packing speed for real?!*
"My Liege."
Ellara approached silently and knelt on one knee beside the bed.
Her hollow silvery-gray eyes flashed at me, brimming with bizarre affection.
"All preparations are complete. To avoid pursuit, I have secured a safe house in the underground of an abandoned castle in the south.
There, even His Grace the Duke would never find you, and you could rest safely... for the rest of your life."
*An abandoned castle's underground? So not just a basement—you were planning to bury me in a dungeon!*
I hid my trembling hands beneath the sheet and clenched my teeth. Then, lowering my gaze, I squeezed out the coldest, most arrogant voice in the world.
"...It seems like an outing I never permitted."
"Please forgive me. But the Young Master's precious body has grown weak, and this Ducal house is far too dangerous.
Did not even His Grace the Duke fail to understand your true heart and attempt to test you?"
Ellara rose from her spot and tried to drape the black bear hide blanket she had brought over my body.
"Now, please let me hold you. I shall carry you without a single shake, without pain."
Her hands, clad in cool leather gloves, dug in to wrap around my back and the backs of my knees.
The moment I was lifted into her arms here, my life would end as a pet inside a 'silver cage.'
"Remove this hand."
I squeezed out every last bit of my remaining strength and smacked away Ellara's wrist as it tried to wrap around my waist. *Smack!*
Of course, I was so weak it was like a mosquito bumping into her, but the cold fury in my voice was real.
"Ellara von Valerius. It seems you've finally lost your mind.
How dare a mutt belonging to the knight order grab its master's leash and try to pull?"
At my outburst, Ellara's movements faltered.
But there was no sense of hurt on her face. Rather, her eyes carried that sickeningly sublime delusion—the look of *'Ah, you are taking on the role of the villain for my sake again.'*
This wouldn't do. I had to twist the direction of that delusion!
"Safe house? A place where I can rest my whole life?"
I let out a bitter sneer and forcibly raised my upper body, glaring straight at her.
"Don't spew such arrogant nonsense. If a wretch like you threw me into some basement, all the plans I've rolled through this dog-like Ducal house to survive would go up in smoke."
"...Plans, you say?"
"You still don't know? Why I endured the pain of this body rotting and decaying for so long, acting like trash!
Why I kept you by my side and drew the other nobles' aggro, even falling out of Father's favor!"
I coughed out a fit and weakly grabbed Ellara's collar.
"To bring this Rothschild Ducal house—no... to bring this rotting Empire to its knees beneath my feet."
In that instant, Ellara's silvery-gray pupils shook violently, as if ripples had formed across them.
I inwardly cheered and continued my desperate festival of nonsense (building justification).
"Father is too old, and the ones in this house are idiots. I will purge all those fools,
and ascend to the Ducal throne. My plan has only just begun. And you? You were going to smuggle me away with your measly sympathy and let me run?
That's not protecting me. That's breaking my wings."
I put strength into the hand gripping her collar and brought my face close enough for our breaths to touch.
"I have no intention of running like a loser and hiding in a basement. I will claw my way to the apex, and I will cut the throats of every bastard who laughed at me."
Breathing heavily, I drove the nail in.
"So what I need isn't a nanny to hide me... but a starved hunting hound to tear out and devour the hearts of enemies blocking my path."
Silence.
The moment my words ended, suffocating silence descended upon the room.
*Please let it pass, please! This was enough like a villain's ambition, right?!*
Feeling cold sweat trickle down my spine, I glanced at the system window.
[Status: Main Heroine 'Ellara's mental state is undergoing a drastic change!]
[Judgment: Your arrogant, grand ambition perfectly satisfies the conditions of 'Villain's Dignity.' The penalty is permanently waived.]
Penalty waiver! I survived for now!
But more important was Ellara's reaction. She had obediently been pulled along by my grip on her collar, her head bowed deeply.
Her expression was hidden behind her bangs.
*Could she have lost all interest because I said I would conquer the world(?)?*
Having spoken of rebellion and purges to her, who had once been a righteous protagonist, if she was disappointed and left, it would be the best result for me.
But my predictions always veered in the worst possible direction.
"...Ahh."
From between Ellara's lowered lips, a deep sigh steeped in ecstasy flowed out.
She slowly raised her head. Her silvery-gray eyes surpassed the bizarre obsession from moments ago,
now bearing the light of a blind fanatic gazing upon some absolute god.
"To think... there was such a deep meaning. This foolish knight almost went against my Liege's will without knowing."
Ellara's internal translator (delusion system) had begun spinning like crazy once again.
(Ellara's Internal Auto-Translation)
*Heavens. To overthrow this cruel Ducal house that abused him and this rotten Empire,
and create a new world without those oppressed like me! For that great cause,
he even endured the pain of his precious body rotting away alone, taking on the role of the villain himself...!*
"Young Master. No, my Liege."
Ellara willingly released her collar from my hand, descended below the bed, and knelt on both knees on the floor. Pressing her forehead against the marble floor, she intoned as if taking an oath.
"Please forgive me. My Liege intends to ascend to the throne of hell himself, yet I dared to speak of a peaceful resting place and hold back your steps."
She raised her head and looked up at me.
Her tear-stained smile was fatally beautiful and, at the same time, chillingly dangerous.
"If that is your wish, I shall not flee. Instead of hiding you, I shall stand at the very vanguard of that blood-soaked path you walk.
I shall pull out the tongues of those who mock you, tear out the hearts of those who block your way, and dye your throne with their blood."
"Y-yeah... Good. That's enough."
I nodded in a daze. I felt like some Demon King intent on destroying the world and his first legion commander,
but I had avoided the bad ending of being kidnapped and confined for life in a basement, so it was a success.
[Notice: Bad Ending Route 2 has been avoided.]
[Ellara von Valerius's status evolves from 'Yandere (Confinement-type)' to 'Yandere (Devotion/Massacre-type).']
*...Hey. Is this really solved?*
Just as I was wiping away cold sweat with a bad feeling,
when Ellara was putting away the backpack and black bear hide on the floor and returning to her loyal hound mode, urgent footsteps sounded from outside the room.
Knock knock knock!
"Young Master Kailan! It's me. Benjamin!"
My personal attendant and, in this mansion, the only one who wasn't afraid of me (and quite a capable informant according to the original work's setting), Benjamin.
"Come in."
When I permitted him, Benjamin burst through the door with a deathly pale face. He glanced at Ellara, then leaned to my ear and whispered urgently.
"Young Master, it's terrible. Right now, at the main gate of the Ducal residence... 'Her' carriage has arrived!"
"Her? But Father just left."
"No! The one you must avoid most in the North, your fiancée, Lady 'Silvia von Kraus,' has just stormed into the residence!"
"What...?"
Silvia von Kraus.
The most haughty mage heroine in the entire setting, who hated Kailan more than a bug and would thrust ice magic into his face at every turn!
Was she supposed to appear at this timing? The incident of me getting stabbed by the poison dagger must have twisted the story through the butterfly effect.
Benjamin continued.
"There's no doubt she came to demand the annulment after hearing the rumor that you were nearly assassinated.
Right now she's raising havoc in the first-floor reception room, demanding they bring you down immediately!"
'Annulment? Ah, actually that's fine. Getting away from that crazy mage as soon as possible would help extend my lifespan.'
I tried to sigh in relief, thinking it was rather fortunate.
But.
*Shhhing—.*
Ellara, who had been kneeling beside my bed, had half-drawn her longsword once more with a chilling scrape.
Her silvery-gray eyes flashed murderously in the direction of the first-floor reception room.
"...Daring to threaten my Liege, whose precious body is afflicted, to come down. Daring to try and abandon my Liege."
"Hey, Ellara. Wait."
"Rest assured, my Liege."
Ellara showed me a benevolent smile like a saint.
"I shall go down there, sew shut that arrogant Lady Kraus's mouth, and bring you her head. I have sworn to clear away the vermin blocking my Liege's path."
"Hey, you crazy bitch!! If you kill her, we'll have a war with the Northern Magic Tower!!!"
Before I could even finish my shriek, Ellara had already burst through the hospital room door and leaped out like a silver wolf.
Having blocked the confinement ending, now the blade-clashing ending between Heroine 1 and Heroine 2 had arrived.
Far from the recuperation life of a terminally ill villain, every single day was a survival game with exploding dopamine.
"Benjamin! Bring a wheelchair, no, a stretcher! Now!!"
Clutching my splitting chest, I screamed with tears of blood.