Well, in other novels or games, people who were possessed like me could easily find hidden information guilds, but unfortunately, this damn game didn’t have such cliché scenes. How nice would it be if I could go to a pub called Blue Bird or something and order Black Dragon Brew with red eyes and instantly make a capable guild leader who would be friendly to visitors an ally. It would solve both finding Lennox, who was still a guild member, and spying on the news of the distant Graham Grand Duchy in one go.
It’s tedious to mention it again, but it’s so dirty and cheap because the difficulty level is so different. If you wanted to meet Lennox in a playthrough from Allen’s point of view… you just had to go out on the street. Damn cheap plausibility! This shitty game!
So, in a word. Unless you were Allen, there was no way to meet the elusive magician anywhere. No, if he was the guild leader, I would try to persuade my father or subtly probe the Crown Prince, but how could I find a commoner whose name I only knew, especially a guild member working in the shadows? I didn’t know anyone in the information guild, and even if I did, I had no reason to specifically ask them to introduce me to ‘Lennox.’
At this rate, would I be able to meet him within two years? I shook my head indifferently. At least the Grand Duke was manageable if I was given time. Sigh, I can’t help it. For now, I’ll push the other characters’ routes as much as possible and wait for Allen to bring Lennox to me later.
‘Worst Misfortune’ advises you to take another look at the sudden quest’s instructions.
“Look at how petty it still is after just saying one word. It’s really not good.”
‘Worst Misfortune,’ no, ‘System’ emphasizes that the sudden quest’s condition is not a romanceable character, but a ‘romanceable’ character.
Hmm… Unfortunately, I knew too well the difference between the official romanceable characters and the characters that could be ‘romanced’ with this body.
There were still two more people left whose favorability windows I could check.
My beloved two brothers, Andrew Hamilton and Frederick Hamilton.
“If it’s Andrew or Frederick… they’re definitely close by…”
Since they were in the same mansion, there was no need to hesitate.
But it was difficult for me to nod my head and say I would do it. I didn’t know if it would be a meaningful attempt, no matter how physically close they were.
It might sound strange, but there was too little information given. That’s because both of them were not official romanceable characters.
The Crown Prince and Kyle, as well as Grand Duke Graham and Lennox, who had not yet appeared, had a vast amount of settings attached to them.
I knew everything about their respective backgrounds, how they became interested in Allen at first sight, and what triggered that slight interest to grow into favorability.
It was an unexpected harvest that I had reaped by backing away, but even if I hadn’t discovered Kyle or the Crown Prince’s secret preferences, I had a rough idea of how to approach them and how to build a relationship. The same was true for the other romanceable characters.
But Andrew and Frederick, who were not ‘main characters’ in the game and whose only given role was to unconditionally love and support Allen, had almost no such behind-the-scenes settings. They had always been Allen’s strong allies since they recognized the existence of their biological younger brother, whom they had lost when they were young and had difficulty meeting again.
Their role was only to clap and cheer Allen on, no matter what he did. Occasionally showing a touch of jealousy as a seasoning.
Even subtly releasing Pheromones around Andrew to gauge his reaction was done without much thought. Andrew, an Alpha, was right there in front of me, and for a moment, I thought, “You’re perfect.” Besides, I had to test my Pheromones as a Dominant Omega at least once.
If even Andrew, who saw me as such a thorn in his side, was swayed even for a moment, I figured there would be many useful applications here and there in the future.
That was really it. I never seriously considered adding Andrew or Frederick to my harem along with the other capture targets.
Worthless family love? Inevitable awkwardness resulting from it?
Absolutely not. Not only after regaining my memories of my past life, but even before that, I had never really considered them my real brothers. They weren’t even blood-related, so what brothers? Not to mention the first one, who always picked fights over every little thing, and the affection I felt for Frederick only came after I remembered my past life as an orphan. After regaining my memories, I no longer felt like they were my ‘real brothers,’ regardless of whether I grew fond of them or not.
And more importantly, my goal in this playthrough wasn’t simply to get revenge on Allen or to childishly resent him by stealing the love he received.
Frankly, I don’t care if Allen is happily loved and banging drums with his Alphas as he has been. The reason I’m trying to steal Allen’s ‘True Ending,’ as well as his future happiness and fortune, is simply because it’s the last and best struggle I can make. It was an attempt I had never made before.
In the True Ending, Allen manages to keep three other characters in his harem even after his appointment as Crown Princess is confirmed. The capture targets who claimed to be Allen’s Alphas vowed to dedicate their entire lives as shadows and mistresses for Allen’s peaceful life. What suckers.
And I, Noah Hamilton, who was so jealous and envious of such a blessed Allen that I dared to try to assassinate him, was not only disowned by the Hamilton family but also sentenced to death. Originally, the True Ending was supposed to end with Allen marrying the Crown Prince and me being executed in a solitary underground prison.
Being sentenced to death and dragged into an underground prison was fine. In my previous playthrough, even in my exhaustion, I was somewhat excited, thinking that it would finally be over when I died, that I could finally rest. If it was just a brief pain for a long rest, then the flesh torn by the whip and the throbbing eyeballs that couldn’t see properly due to being badly hit were bearable.
But what a whim it must have been. The night before the royal wedding, Allen suddenly came to the prison where I was being held. Kyle followed Allen under the guise of guarding him.
Knowing that there had been some kind of emotional exchange between Kyle and me a few years before he returned to the Hamilton family, Allen deliberately flirted with Kyle in front of me, who was on the verge of death, and received a love confession that he had heard dozens of times, pretending to be troubled and helpless.
After that, after telling Kyle and even the prison guards to leave, saying that he had something to say to me alone, Allen stood and looked down at my bloodied figure for a long time, though I don’t know what his intention was.
Then he asked one question.
‘Do you regret it?’
I didn’t foresee the future and was just foolishly happy. I wanted to die. I could finally die.
Wasn’t the most fervent wish I had after constantly repeating short fragments of life, lasting from three years to nearly ten years, finally about to be fulfilled? As I smiled, tearing my chapped lips wide, my skin felt like it was burning, but I couldn’t bear not to smile. It was the moment of joy I had longed for.
‘Ah, I asked the wrong question. Someone as tough as you wouldn’t regret it this much.’
As I listened to Allen’s cold question, which wasn’t written in the scenario, I just kept laughing. The confirmed death in the planned scenario would be the most ecstatic gift Allen could give me. Because I wasn’t even in a position to die on my own.
There was a time in the past when I couldn’t bear this repeated regression any longer. On the morning of my seventeenth birthday, I pushed Nicole away, who greeted me as soon as I opened my eyes, and threw myself out the window as if diving. When I wanted to die more certainly, I immediately climbed the spire like a madman.
But the results were all the same. I had never succeeded in dying even once. Before I could stop breathing, my vision would immediately darken, and I would hear Nicole’s voice saying, “Young Master! Wake up!”
The very reason I decided to enter the True Ending was because it was the only ending among the many where Noah Hamilton’s death was confirmed. In other endings, Noah Hamilton would end up being confined to a country villa after being disowned, or sold off as a concubine to an old aristocratic family. I didn’t care even if I ended up with such an ending. As long as I could end it. As long as I could end it.
But even if I reached a different ending, I always returned right before the ending scene. So I had to die somehow. That was my most urgent goal right now.