“I…there was nothing like this mentioned in the prophecy…?”
While reading the atrocious details of the penalty, I hurriedly rummaged through my old suitcase and pulled a worn-out piece of paper.
Even though it looks like a worthless piece of paper, this is my family heirloom that has been passed down through generations for over 1,000 years.
And what was written on this scrap of paper that had been passed down through generations?
That answer will be known if one goes to the statue of the Hero, the largest sculpture in the Empire, and read the contents etched on the slab, which states:
On the 1000th anniversary of the death of the Demon King, the heir of the Demon King will appear and devour the world. You will need a hero with the same strength as me to stop the heir.
This was the official testament and prophecy of the Great Hero, known throughout the Empire to have defeated the original Demon King.
However, the real prophecy was actually written on this paper.
Of course, it’s the same until the part, ‘You will need a hero with the same strength as me,’ but…from that point onwards, it has been recorded as a secret book and handed down from generation to generation in my family.
“Father, these are not runic characters… nor ancient texts… what’s the identity of these characters that are too well structured to be termed as cipher?”
“Ah… these are called Hangul.”
For reference, my father called these mysterious characters ‘Hangul’. My father, who deeply respects the Hero, was proud to merely know the name of these characters, but I didn’t like them because they were very complex.
Anyway, the content written after the widely known prophecy of the Hero is as follows.
And that Hero will be my direct descendant, who will be born exactly 1000 years after the death of the Demon King. So, future descendants, if you are reading this, keep your eyes wide open.
As it stated, when I opened my eyes wide, colorful pictures and videos appeared and then the following phrase greeted me.
Let’s attack from now on.
Yes. The legendary Hero who defeated the Demon King 1000 years ago, and the ancestor of our family, came from another world.
According to the ancestor’s Prophecy, he was playing a ‘game’ called ‘Dark Tale Fantasy’ when he uttered an insult, calling it a ‘SHIT game’ and then lost consciousness because of an unknown force. He later woke up to find himself in a world where the game ‘Dark Tale Fantasy’ became reality.
His prophetic book was written in magical characters that only a direct descendant of my family could view through space-distortion magic, and was dozens of pages long.
Roughly speaking, it is the story of my ancestor, who had barely managed to reach a happy ending using their “Game Knowledge.”
Anyway, the important thing is that there was a sequel to the ‘game’ called ‘Dark Tale Fantasy 2’ in the world where my ancestor was originally from, which was evaluated as being a ‘dog shit game,’ ‘worse than part 1,’ and ‘made by the development company to torture the players’.
According to my ancestor, who was quite familiar with its content, as he was introduced to the series through the sequel, in order to grant the present world a “Happy Ending,” the Hero must destroy the world once.
This is because, by doing so, you can get a ‘system’ with the ‘Hidden Route’ and achieve a ‘happy ending.’
So, I committed evil deeds in the previous timeline and ruined the world.
Of course, I had no choice but to feel a tremendous sense of guilt because I grew up kindly under a father who was proud that I was a direct successor to the Hero… but what could I have done? The Demon King would have destroyed the world instead if I didn’t.
In that way, after committing many repulsive deeds and even catching the Demon King off guard at the last moment, I regressed and earned the title of “Path of False Evil.”
So, I didn’t really commit any evil deeds but was instead a ‘False Evil’ and tried to protect the Empire and the world at my own expense, but the memories of the women who hated me to death in the previous timeline have also returned.
“What should I do… They’re just so troublesome… Ha….”
I held my head and tried to recall the ‘Main Heroines’ who should have returned with their memories by now.
‘The greatest genius on the continent who will become the Chancellor in the future, one with the potential to become the continent’s strongest Archmage, a Saintess who only appears once every 1000 years, a Warlock who would have shrouded the world in darkness if it weren’t for the curse, and the Imperial Princess… ..’
No matter how much I thought about it, it was so ridiculous that I couldn’t help but laugh.
If I hadn’t been a member of the revered family of the Hero and the first son of the Ducal household with over 1000 years of history, I might have been mercilessly killed with a knife somewhere in the middle of a street by now.
Moreover, even such a position might have been meaningless if the Princess had not been a scarecrow at the very end of the line of succession to the throne.
Of course, within a few years, the Princess will be first in the line of succession with her extraordinary talent… but she won’t be able to touch me right now.
‘…She can’t touch me, can she?’
Anyway, according to the ‘game’ information left behind by my ancestor, the Main Heroines were initially designed to fall in love with me… It is mentioned that if things go well, I’ll be able to have a harem, but it looks like I will be stabbed by the five heroines, let alone have a harem.
Somehow, I’ll have to rack my brains out to survive from the main heroines.
‘First…who is the most urgent…?’
First of all, since tomorrow is the Academy’s entrance ceremony, I will be facing most of the heroines tomorrow at the Academy.
Only the heroine who would become my fiance and future Chancellor is excluded. If my memory is correct, she’s currently on a trip abroad.
Including the Archmage, the Saintess, and the Princess for now. And of course I’ll have to see them tomorrow, but there’s nothing I can do about that right now.
‘Then, the only heroine that’s left is…’
– knock, knock, knock…
“Excuse me.”
While I was pondering, someone opened the dormitory door and came in.
“Young Master, it’s time to eat.”
“…..Ah.”
And, as soon as I realized the identity of the person who opened the door and entered, my eyes began to shake.
“What’s wrong, Young Master?”
“…Oh, nothing.”
The person who was looking down at me with a blank expression is the female butler of our Ducal family; she is a cursed warlock and one of the Main Heroines, ‘Kania,’ and must have also recalled the memories of the previous timeline.
She has an attractive appearance, with her short black hair, black suit, and white gloves being her trademark. My father was the one who brought her into our family, as he recognized her magical talents while she was wandering around the streets with her sister.
In fact, according to the prophecy, my father, who memorized her appearance, was waiting on the street, just so he could bring her back.
Anyway, I have two of her weaknesses in my grasp… one being the knowledge that she is a warlock condemned by the world, and the other being the fact that she is currently under a curse.
The curse that gnaws at her life only stabilizes when she is around me, the Hero’s successor.
As such, she can’t leave my side even for a moment.
“Young Master, how should I prepare the meal?”
“…The usual.”
“Alright.”
As I recalled Kania’s information, she asked me what I wanted to eat in an ice-cold voice, so I asked for the usual.
In actuality, I can’t remember what I used to eat at this age, but wouldn’t she be able to take care of it on her own?
Also…there was definitely killing intent in her voice and eyes. So she really did recall her memories from the previous timeline.’
I hoped it was an error or a prank, but it seems that the contents of the system are accurate.
If that’s the case, I can’t just stay still.
Since the five heroines could cruelly murder me if I just stay still. Even at this moment, the heroines are…
False Evil’s Intuition [A strong murderous intent is felt nearby!]
‘…Wait? What is this?’
Suddenly, a red warning window popped up in front of my eyes. Judging from the contents, it seemed to be related to Kania. But something is strange. I felt her murderous intention before, so why is this only appearing now?
“…System.”
After thinking about it for a while, I opened the system window in a low voice and touched the ‘Acquired Skills List’ window.
[Acquired Skills List] – False Evil’s Intuition Lv1
Description: With your intuition as a False Evil, you can detect a deadly threat once a day.
According to the knowledge gained from the Prophecy that I had learned when I opened the list of acquired skills, the skill called ‘False Evil’s Intuition’ was right there.
After reading the description carefully, this skill detects a deadly threat once a day. In other words, it is a skill that I really needed because I did not know when I would become a target for assassination.
‘Wait, so my life is already in danger?’
The fact that this skill has activated now means that Kania, who is preparing food from downstairs, is planning to kill me.
‘The method of assassination is poison, isn’t it?’
She is weak due to her curse, so it isn’t reasonable for her to wage an all-out war against me, a direct descendant of the family of the hero. For the same reason, she can’t use most black magic powers without my cooperation.
Of course, even without my help, if she is determined to struggle for hours, she can barely create a lethal dose of poison using black magic.
– Squeak!...
“Young Master, I brought the soup that you always enjoyed.”
As I was pondering about the method of assassination, the dormitory door was reopened, and Kania came in with a bowl of soup.
“There…have fun…I hope you enjoy your meal.”
“……..”
It looks like this was quite difficult for her. I’m pretty sure she overused her black magic.
“When did I tell you to bring me soup?”
“…Yes?”
I stared at her and grumbled quietly.
“When did I tell you to bring me soup….”
“The soup used to be the Young Master’s favorite….”
“Where did you get that answer from!!”
– Clank!!
Kania, who had been struggling to continue her words, closed her eyes tightly when I shouted at her and spilled the soup as she opened her mouth with a shudder.
“…Then what kind of food would you like me to bring?”
“Didn’t I tell you to bring what I always ate?”
“…..”
“You idiot!! You wouldn’t know unless I tell you, would you? It’s a sandwich! Sandwich!!”
“Uh, yes, of course… I’ll have it ready for you right away…”
I screamed in disgust as she clenched her teeth and staggered out of the room.
[Acquired False Evil Points: 1 pt! (Self-Defense)]
And at the same time, a window appeared in front of me.
That’s right. The ‘Path of False Evil,’ a cheat system obtained as a regression perk following the prophetic book, gives you points every time you commit an evil deed.
And these accumulated points will become the medium to save the world.
For me, who was once the Greatest Villain in the Empire, this is just the system I need.
“Master, the sandwich you ordered.”
Anyway, after looking into the system window and pondering for a while, Kania, who was much more emaciated than before, re-entered the room, this time with a sandwich.
“Why is there no cheese? Please go make it again.”
“But….”
“Are you going to talk back to me now?”
“…No.”
Having sent her down again, I continued to nitpick and overwork her.
“The surface of the bread is dry and twisted. Again.”
“The ham is too thick. Again.”
“Too few pickles. Again.”
“The shape is so distasteful. Again.”
After going back and forth between the room and the kitchen for a long time, she began to reach her limits, but her eyes were still filled with hatred.
“Thinking about it, I forgot to ask for tuna. Again.”
But, when I reordered the sandwich for the eleventh time, she ended up coughing blood from her mouth and tripping on the floor as she had forced herself to overuse the black magic.
[Acquired False Evil Points: 1 pt!] [Acquired Survival Bonus Points: Extra 10 pts!] [Accumulated False Evil Points: 22 pts!]
I stared blankly at the windows that appeared one after another when she collapsed; I got up quietly and approached her unconscious self.
“… I’m sorry, Kania.”
Seeing her sullen expression, I uttered an apology that would never be heard; I quickly carried the young lady to the bed and reached out to begin infusing my life force into her body.
“…Kuhn!”
I felt the pain as if my whole body were being torn apart.
Yes. The reason that the effect of the curse weakens when Kania is by my side is not because I have special powers as a hero.
It’s just that I imbue my life force into her so that her curse stagnates for a while.
Thanks to this, my lifespan is slowly being reduced, but what can I do? It’s an unavoidable fate since I decided to live as a villain.
[Acquired False Evil Points: 30 pts! (Self-sacrifice)] [Accumulated False Evil Points: 62 pts]
After I finished injecting my life force, I felt a tingling sensation in my body. As I sat down on the floor, I muttered with a sigh.
“This time, don’t die in front of my eyes, Kania.”
Looking down at her quietly shivering form, I began to re-read the last line of the prophetic book, which I had read repeatedly, using the moonlight permeating through the window as a light source.
When everything is over, the Hero will perish in vain alongside the Demon King.
Indeed, it’s a damned world.
