TVRP 02

Chapter 2

Eden.

Eden Banchehof.

That was the name of none other than the ‘Demon King’ himself in <The Demon King’s Consort>.

‘Why on earth is the male lead here? And in this state?’

Completely flustered, I looked Eden up and down.

Dust-covered black hair, dirt-stained skin, and scratches scattered here and there across his body.

His extremely thin frame was the very picture of a child who had grown up without enough food.

Suddenly, I remembered the description of the male lead from the original story.

[Eden Banchehof was the illegitimate child of the Empress. Abandoned immediately after birth and destined to die, he miraculously survived by sheer luck and spent his childhood wandering the slums.]

Those ‘slums’ were……

‘In our Sergegnev territory?!’

It was true that our territory, which bordered monster-infested areas, had poor security.

There were even plenty of rumors that criminals who could no longer show their faces in the capital had fled to our territory.

Since the territory’s residents received absolutely no welfare benefits, there were slums as well.

But I never imagined that the male lead’s junior version had actually set up camp there and was living there……!

“F-Father.”

I looked up at my father with determination.

“I’m all grown up now, too. I’m too old to play with dolls. Why don’t you return this ‘doll’ to wherever you found him?”

I had no idea where he had picked up something like this, but no way, absolutely not, Father!

Let’s take him back right now!

“You’re refusing to accept him?”

“Yes. Um, there are already too many things in my room, so there isn’t really any space……”

My father raised one eyebrow as though he had heard the most ridiculous thing imaginable.

“‘This’ already belongs to you.”

His voice was cold and sharp.

“If you want to dispose of it, dispose of it yourself.”

‘Dispose of it?’

I had seen Father’s subordinates being ‘disposed of’ several times at this castle.

They were usually traitors or people who had made irredeemable mistakes.

Such people were thrown outside into that forest crawling with monsters.

I imagined that every single person discarded that way probably died at the hands of monsters without even lasting an hour.

‘If a child this young were thrown into that forest…….’

He’d die.

Without a doubt.

No matter how legendary a hero he would eventually become, right now he was nothing more than a little boy.

<The Demon King’s Consort> was a hardcore angst story for its protagonists, but ironically, the world itself was a heroic story that eventually ushered in an era of peace.

That was because the male protagonist would go on to save the world from the countless monsters tormenting it.

In other words, that boy glaring at me so fiercely right now was actually the future hero.

‘If the protagonist dies pointlessly here, won’t this world go straight into the destruction route?’

I couldn’t lose the second life I had worked so hard to obtain in such a meaningless way.

“You seem incapable of even disposing of it.”

My father frowned as he looked down at my face, which had gone pale with worry.

“Give it here. Apparently, even throwing away trash still requires your father’s assistance.”

His voice contained deep indifference and a hint of derision.

He seemed disappointed once again in a daughter he had never expected much from in the first place.

For a moment, my chest stung slightly.

But regardless of that, my body was already standing in front of Eden.

“No, Father! Now that I think about it, I really like this doll! Wow, wow! He’s so pretty and cute!”

Pretending to be overcome with admiration, I grabbed Eden’s cheeks and stretched them wide.

As his pale cheeks were pulled outward, Eden’s face twisted viciously.

“Thank you, Father. I’ll take good care of him! Nice to meet you, doll. My name is Lilyan!”

“Lily, an……”

With his cheeks stretched, Eden repeated my name in a slightly muffled voice.

It was creepy.

It felt like he was memorizing my name for the kill list he would make after becoming Emperor someday.

“Master.”

My father spoke in a voice laced with mockery.

“A doll should call its owner ‘Master.’”

‘Dad! Don’t do this!’

I could hear Eden grinding his teeth.

I felt like I was watching a death flag being raised in real time, and my knees nearly gave out.

His golden eyes, as though cast from molten gold, glared at me as if they could pierce straight through me.

Then his blood-crusted lips slowly moved.

“Mas…… ter.”

‘Eek.’

It was an absolutely terrifying title for His Majesty the future Emperor, who was destined to be called a blood-mad murderer.

I pretended I hadn’t heard that frightening voice and forced myself to shout cheerfully.

“Well then, doll. How about we go play house together? Father, is that okay?”

“Do as you please.”

With that, my father turned his head away from me.

As though his business was finished and dealing with me any longer was a nuisance.

In the past, I might have been hurt by that cold attitude, which contained not even a speck of affection.

But now, I wasn’t particularly upset.

My head was already completely occupied by alarms screaming, ‘Male lead has appeared!’ and ‘Danger, danger!’

“Yes! Thank you!”

I answered immediately and hurriedly dragged Eden away.

As I grabbed Eden’s arm and climbed the stairs, my thoughts spun rapidly.

<The Demon King’s Consort> was a hardcore angst romance simulation game.

‘Hardcore,’ ‘angst,’ and ‘romance.’

A combination that went together about as well as mint chocolate and stew.

In reality, there was no pink-colored LOVE in the story.

There was only the male protagonist’s insane obsession with the heroine.

‘It got so much criticism for misleading consumers. Personally, though, I liked that part.’

Who would have thought the 19+ rating wasn’t because of steamy romantic scenes between the protagonists, but simply because of how brutal the game was?

Anyway, I, Lilyan Sergegnev, also proudly occupied a place among the game’s cast of characters.

As an extra?

No.

To my great honor, I was the main villain.

‘Lilyan Sergegnev. The heroine’s half-sister and the only human magic stone.’

In this world, ‘mana’ could only be extracted from an extremely rare mineral called a ‘magic stone.’

And Lilyan was the only human capable of generating that precious mana within her own body.

Thanks to this ability, Lilyan managed to attract many talented mages.

The book described it as practically a harem made up of mages, or even an entire mage army.

Apparently, especially the men would practically pretend to die if Lilyan told them to.

‘I remember her being quite the devastating femme fatale character…….’

It was hard to believe when I looked at my current short limbs and chubby baby fat.

Anyway.

Lilyan used that terrifying network of connections to try to eliminate her half-sister, the heroine.

But……

‘I was the one who got eliminated.’

I was killed by the male protagonist.

‘Then if I simply don’t try to hurt my sister, doesn’t that mean I won’t die?’

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case either.

Even if the male protagonist didn’t kill Lilyan, she was destined to die before long.

Since her body itself was essentially a magic stone, the more mana Lilyan extracted, the more she depleted her own life force.

And despite that, she recklessly used magic just to show off, so even if the male protagonist hadn’t killed her, she would have died young before long.

‘My second life is on a time limit?’

That was like a bolt from the blue.

But let’s scrape together every last bit of positive thinking and look at it from the opposite direction.

‘If I just avoid all the stupid things the original Lilyan did, that means I can preserve my lifespan.’

Fortunately, I had recovered my memories of my previous life while I was still young.

How fortunate that I came to my senses early, before I could evolve into the delinquent little monster who would go on to destroy my half-sister’s mental health!

‘Yeah. I can do this.’

I just had to twist the story so that nothing resembling the original plot ever came anywhere near my sister and me.

‘I can make that happen!’

……That was what I had firmly resolved to do.

Until this guy showed up.

“How did things get this messed up?!”

I had just been living my life peacefully, and suddenly the male protagonist dropped right in front of me!

I turned toward Eden, huffing angrily.

“You know, why did you have to get caught by my father of all people? You should’ve been better at dodging him!”

When our eyes met, the boy glared at me with a rebellious expression, as though I had just said something completely ridiculous.

I suddenly stopped talking.

‘……But is he really that male protagonist?’

The unusual combination of hair and eye color, combined with the matching name, had made me certain.

But when I took a closer look, doubts began creeping in.

‘He’s shorter than me.’

Well, boys did tend to mature physically a little later than girls, so I supposed that could be overlooked.

‘And he’s as skinny as a bundle of firewood.’

The ‘Eden Banchehof’ in <The Demon King’s Consort> had what could only be described as the perfect physique.

Broad shoulders and a solid chest, a trim waist and powerfully muscled thighs, along with an intense gaze that looked like it could give someone a heart attack simply by staring at them.

In the game’s descriptions, he was constantly compared to a black panther or a jackal.

‘But this one is more like…….’

……A cat?

His sharply upturned eyes and exquisite golden irises.

Features as finely crafted as a doll’s, and skin so white it was almost translucent.

His beauty was almost sacred at first glance.

‘This face grows up and…… turns into that?’

An adult man overflowing with such decadent beauty that simply looking at him felt like committing a crime.

That man who was constantly appearing half-naked with that very face, making it painfully obvious why the game was rated 19+ despite not having a single explicit scene.

To think that this beautiful young boy and that male protagonist were the same person.

‘He really is the male protagonist…… right?’

I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.

“You said your name is Eden, right? Not Edenn or Arden or something?”

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

The boy’s eyes snapped upward.

For a moment, irritation brought a faint murderous glint to his cat-like eyes.

‘He even gives off murderous intent just because I asked his name!’

Judging by that attitude, he did seem to be the male protagonist after all.

Then there was only one thing at the very top of my priority list.

‘Things may have gotten this complicated, but I absolutely cannot let him meet my sister.’

A fated first meeting in childhood?

Hmph.

Even if I had to have dirt thrown into my eyes, I would never let that happen.