Chapter 1 - The Prince of the fallen Empire (1)

Everyone must have thought of that at least once.

‘I want to be the main character in the novel.’

An absolute reigning emperor

A Swordmaster that can go against tens of thousands of troops.

A great sorcerer who can peek at the truth.

A cold-blooded assassin who rules the darkness.

The main characters of all the novels I read were all attractive. So I sometimes thought. I want to be the main character from a novel, too.

Maybe I was tired of a life that just revolved like a cogwheel, a continuous cycle.

The desire that I thought would pass by quickly became real.

However, it is impossible to be the main character in a novel. I wasn’t stupid enough to sincerely hope for it.

By the way.

There was no such thing as absolute.

When I woke up, I was in the novel. However, I was not the main character, contrary to my long-cherished desire.

Raymond Pilius.

It was the name of the character I possessed.

He was a villain who faced a miserable ending at the end of the first novel.

But it was worth trying.

Because I know the setting of this novel.

* * *

The warm morning sun touched the man’s cheek.

He opened his eyes, yawning. However, he frowned at the strangely blurred vision and a headache attack.

“Oh, I didn’t remember drinking.”

It was a hangover.

The man instinctively reached out and stirred as if he were looking for something. Then he realized that something was weird.

‘When did my living room become this spacious?’

Originally, there was a narrow table within an arm length, but now nothing came into it.

“What is this…?”

Confusion came as his blurred vision recovered.

“Where am I?”

It was a spacious bedroom decorated with splendor. There was a full-length mirror next to it.

The man stepped down there as if possessed.

Standing in the mirror, there was a chubby blonde Westerner.

“Is this me?”

As soon as he inadvertently uttered his innermost thoughts, a voice came over from the door.

“Prince Raymond Pilius, have you recovered from your hangover?”

He was taken aback by the young man’s voice.

“I’m Raymond Pilius……?”

The man, who was called Raymond, murmured in a small trembling voice.

There’s no way that he didn’t know this name. No, he knows it too well.

“I’m Raymond Pilius, the asshole from ‘The fallen Empire’?”

Raymond Pilius was a character in his favorite novel, “The fallen Empire”.

When he opened my eyes, he came inside this fiction book, but how? Why? He didn’t know why this happened.

There was a more important fact than that.

‘The 5th Prince Raymond Pilius dies at the end of the first volume. And he’s ending was very miserable…….’

How he died was not described. However, he still remembers the sentence that was the most miserable death.

‘The plan to exterminate the royal family.’

A huge event that breaks out at the end of Book One, Raymond Pilius dies there.

“Why do I have to…….”

Can’t he just transmigrate as the main character?

At the moment, his voice trembled and irritation mixed up.

But after a moment, he gave up and threw himself into the chair next to him, sighing.

It was then.

He could hear footsteps over the tightly closed door. It’s quite noisy as if there were several people.

The sound was getting closer. After a while, the sound of footsteps stopped as if they had reached the door. There were murmurs, but he couldn’t hear the contents.

“This is Alex, Your Grace. Excuse me.”

The reason was unknown, but he opened the door cautiously with a nervous voice as if he was anxious for something.

A handsome servant walked in. He was dressed in robes with a smiling face, but somehow he felt that it was an awkward one, and his eyes roamed nervously around.

Behind him, several lightly armed knights with red cape walked in.

Soon their eyes fell to Raymond, who was sitting on a chair. And showed a common reaction.

Raymond opened his mouth wide with his eyes wide open. Soon after, he realized that it was impolite and hurriedly returned to his usual face.

‘Your Majesty, the fifth prince is awake at this hour?’

‘He drank so much yesterday…….’

It was the thoughts of the knights.

‘I’m glad to hear that…’

Alex, who glanced at Rayman’s clear-eyed eyes despite drinking too much the day before, was relieved.

When he drank at night, he would have to wake him up dozens of times the next day.

Of course, Alex, who was in charge of the process, had to be punched because of Raymond’s irritation.

“Your Grace, how are you feeling?”

Alex politely bowed his head and asked about his physical condition. The absentminded Raymond turned his head and headed for Alex.

‘Did he say his name was Alex? If I’m the 5th prince and this man is Alex…….’

Stuttering through his memories of the set-up, he soon remembered Alex’s story.

Alex Tilinger, Baron Tilinger’s second son.

For now, he only remembered this much. However, he remembered that there was nothing special about this character.

“Your Majesty?”

When Raymond only looked at him and didn’t say anything, Alex asked again carefully.

“Nothing happened.”

“I’m glad to hear that. Would you like to change your clothes right now?”

Information about imperial etiquette came in.

This was part of the memory that the 5th prince, Raymond Piliers, had.

“Hwa, Your Royal Highness…….”

He frowned because of a short headache, Alex stepped back in surprise and the knights stepped forward. This behavior was very familiar. Like a sight they’ve seen often.

‘How much did you beat that they would react like that?’

Raymond thought it was strange, but soon he could see the answer.

One of the fragments from the memory of the body was related to Alex.

‘Crazy.’

In the past, Raymond seems to have beaten his servants whenever he was bored.

Eventually, his servant was replaced several times and finally was taken over by the powerless second son of Baron Tiringer.

He was beaten so far because he had no strength, and it seems that he had broken his bones not long ago.

Since then, whenever he went to wake him up in the morning, there seemed to be several knights accompanying him.

“Nothing will happen. Relax.”

Raymond spoke in the softest voice he could. Only then did the knights  back out and Alex walked away a bit.

“Sorry, I’m sorry.”

“I will change.”

“Yes, Your Grace.”

The maids came in and helped Raymond change his clothes. Thanks to the memory of Raymond Pilius, he was able to act proficiently when he was taken to change his clothes.

However, one thing that was annoying was that the maids were too rigid when they started to do their job.

‘How many times have you been beating them…’

Raymond’s memory did not flow completely, but it was clear that he had beaten them many times when he saw the reactions of the maids.

In the novel, the prince was said to be famous for being a spoiled prince, so he expected it to some extent.

“Ahhhh!”

“Sorry, your highness!”

While putting up the insignia on the uniform, a sharp needle poked his flesh very lightly.

He frowned at the prickly feeling, the maid who made a mistake kneeled down immediately. Raymond was dumbfounded by her appearance.

‘This…….’

He shook his head with a sigh. Then one of the knights hurriedly stepped forward.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince! You must not kill the maid! Please, calm down!”

‘Oh, my God, I’ve killed a maid before? How could a fool like this still be a prince?’

The moment he thought so, a sentence of the setting came to his mind.

“It is the worst man in the history of the imperial family, but because he has inherited the blood of the imperial family who can handle ancient weapons, he could remain as a prince so far.’

The worst bastard in the history of the imperial family.

But it’s not too late. He can change that.

“What’s your name?”

The prince didn’t pull out the sword for some reason. Alex’s eyes were filled with irritation and the knights gave an anxious look.

He probably thought that instead of pulling out the sword immediately, he would impose a bigger punishment.

Seeing the imperial knights who seemed to be moving forward at any moment, they had no choice but to swallow a short sigh.

“Se, Seria. Your Grace.”

Seria, who was shaking like crazy a while ago, showed a lot of stability just because the punishment still didn’t appear.

“You look very surprised, go get some rest. Now that we’re done with changing my clothes.”

As he finished speaking, he picked up the red cape that the knight was holding and put it on his back.

The imperial knights were surprised with open big eyes at the fact that no tragedy took place.

He could feel their eyes staring at him.

“I’m hungry. Alex, is the breakfast yet?”

“What?”

“I asked if breakfast was ready.”

“Mm, I’ll take you.”

He went first out. Then Alex and the knights followed, leaving only Seria and the two maids in the fifth prince’s bedroom.

“Is he the fifth Prince? Can a person change like this in just a day?”

“Isn’t it a sign that the world is going to collapse today?”

Seria pinched her cheek amidst the murmur of the maids. She felt pain. It wasn’t a dream.

The fifth prince has changed.

* * *

The palace was quiet. It was when I was walking where breakfast was prepared.

A man dressed in similar robes to Alex followed and bowed his head. He opened his mouth in calm steps.

“Fifth prince, Your Grace……. His Majesty wants to have breakfast with you.”

Ronald Pilius, emperor of the Pilias Empire.

“Your Majesty?”

“Yes, Your Royal Highness. Your Majesty will be greatly grieved if you refuse this time as well.”

Alex gave a cold look at the servant who added to his words.

The last horse of the servant was a four-legged race. The servant, who brought it up, also realized it and hurriedly bowed his head.

“I’m sorry, Your Grace. That was presumptuous.”

“No, of course I’ll go if the Emperor calls me. Take me to the main palace.”

“What?”

When Raymond replied, the servant doubted their ears.

‘All of a sudden, the fifth prince who had been refusing the emperor’s meal offer for the last five years after the death of the third empress, finally accepted the invitation.’

Although he delivered the emperor’s meal proposal, he was rather embarrassed because he knew that only firm refusal would return as usual.

“What are you doing? Guide me. Shouldn’t we arrive before His Majesty?”

The servant once again doubted his ears.

If the man in front of him wasn’t the fifth prince, he might have asked back.

Fortunately, he endured such a worst-case scenario, but he couldn’t even make a straight face. Raymond read his servant’s face and lamented.

‘What a bummer you were…….’

In the book, Raymond was a villain, and he was not a significant figure.

As with most novels, “The fallen empire” had a few descriptions of Raymond because the story was mainly based on the main characters.

“I’ll take you to the palace.”

The servant moved first. Right behind, Raymond followed, and Alex and three imperial knights carried out.

The fifth prince’ palace was located at the outskirts of the Royal Fortress, so there was a little bit of a distance. He had to rush his steps in order to not be late for breakfast.

‘How surprised were you?’

‘It is a strange reaction caused by a minor collision between the original fifth prince’s personality and the new personality.

Although the fortress was wide, they were able to arrive at the palace quickly thanks to the mobilization of a carriage.

The royal knights’ eyes widened when they saw a golden carriage with a fifth-prince sentence on it.

“In the Imperial Palace, the fifth prince came to the Imperial Palace?”

“What the hell is going on here…….”

The imperial knights guarding the main gate of the imperial palace were whispering. They seem to have tried to reduce their voice but…

“I can hear you, you bastards.’

The carriage was higher than expected, so the imperial knights did not see Raymond’s frown.

“No problem.”

With the approval of the imperial wizard, the carriage carrying the fifth Prince Raymond Pilius crossed the main gate of the palace.

Looking at the back of the carriage moving away, the royal knights opened their mouths with incredible expressions.

“Do you know how many years it’s been since the Fifth Prince crossed the main gate of the palace?”

“Since your Majesty, the empress, died he had been staying at the Fifth prince Palace for five years.”

“This is so unusual.”

“Isn’t it just a whim?”

At the words of his subordinate, the knight looked up at the sky, shaking his head.

“I hope so, too.”

* * *

Upon arriving from the vast palace, Raymond got off the wagon and recalled the memories of the set-up house.

‘I know a lot about the Phillies.’

The Pilias Empire. It is the only empire that survived the great war that ended in the ancient era, maintaining a thorough centralized regime.

The royal family’s lineage was established to deal with one of the ancient relics, the geosin disease.

Therefore, there have been many secret institutions to protect the royal family since long ago, but now that they are declining, they are not using much power.

‘Not to the point where I’m confident that I know everything.’

Still, he knows all the secret settings that appeared in the novel from the story of the main character, so he didn’t need to worry.

When he first read the novel and later came across the set book, there was one common thought.

‘Oh! This writer is terrible at writing the settings.’

He thought so. Funny enough, the volume of the set book alone exceeded one novel. A novel that has only three volumes in a row.

“Ro, Royal Guard…….”

When he was in the middle of his thoughts, he heard Alex’s surprised voice. As he looked up, a man wearing a golden uniform and a mask was leaning against the wall.

It was a shield designated to protect the imperial family

Looking back on the memory of the fifth prince, he had never seen them in real life.