I Have Become The Heroes’ Rival

There was another rule in the impoverished novel that all ordinary people were destined to die.

‘Ordinary’ people were those who had the minimum level of ethics and morality and knew how to value life.

Of course, if they were around the heroine, they would die even if they were not ordinary. But if they were ordinary, they would be unconditionally wiped out.

You could say that Felix was a typical ordinary person there. Truthfully, he died the most tragic death among all the novel characters.

What more, I clearly remembered how the original minor character died.

The minor character, Cedric, the Second Prince, was the only ordinary person among the characters who showed interest in Claudia.

And at this point, you probably predicted that he died.

He saw that the heroine was completely surrounded by obsessed men and was held captive in the imperial palace for days, so he tried to take her out.

‘From memory, Lucas pulled his heart out in front of Claudia’s eyes.’

Claudia probably had a heart for Cedric at that time.

Honestly, it was harder not to fall for the savior who saved her from living hell. It was not just people, but even an anteater would fall in love with him.

However, Lucas, the character destroyer, catches up with the runaway Claudia and then pulls out Cedric’s heart and tells her to look carefully.

And then, he said this:

[A baby bird would run faster than this. Did you really try to entrust your fate to someone like this?]

The scene was only possible because it was a novel. There was no such space in the real world for such a psycho to exist. The genre of this novel sure was exhausting and seemed to be filled with blood and gore.

For reference, Cedric was Lucas’s half-brother. They didn’t even have a bad relationship with each other. But, in the face of love, Lucas was a child who just slaughtered and corrupted everything.

When I thought about how relentlessly the men dealt with their rivals in the original, what they did to me was considered generous.

First of all, the act of sending flowers with a warning note. It was a somewhat gentle method for Lucas.

The same for Benjamin. He could have reported me for blasphemy, but he just looked at me and said I was a gemstone.

Even now, they gave us a chance to be on their side, and they even kindly announced that they were preparing to use the Devil’s relic.

Unless your head served as just a decoration, anyone would have judged that it was unusual.

They must have started to move in earnest from the moment I brought in the Depallacion family through Erica.

Nevertheless, he ignored me implicitly. I wasn’t sure why, but it didn’t seem like I had entered Lucas’s ‘ranks of rivals’ yet.

For some reason, he hasn’t pulled my heart out….. Oh, horror.

‘Why? What’s different about me?’

Was it because Claudia cared for me so much that he couldn’t mess with me? Or was it because I was a humble child of modest status? Maybe it was the thought that if Claudia turned away from me, I wouldn’t be able to do anything?

‘Well, unlike Felix and Cedric, I can’t do anything by myself. I’m not hiding behind Chloe, but rather, just breathing in her house.’

That must be why they considered me as not a threat and ignored me.

Under Claudia’s protection, they couldn’t do anything. But if I became careless, they could easily capture me any time.

Having thought that far, I broke the silence and opened my mouth again.

“Anyway, so I think they will approach us in the same way as the prophecy I saw.”

“I don’t know if that’s considered good…….”

“If you want to be positive, it’s a blessing in disguise¹. We are now able to predict the radius of their actions.”

The most important thing was to keep the men’s guard down. The moment they realized that things were unfavorable to them, they certainly would do more harm without hesitation.

“Huh, so they are planning to wake up the nightmare and chaos that will destroy the world just because they got rejected by a woman?”

Hugo uttered in disbelief.

“I have never seen such an ugly leader in my life. If that’s the future of the Empire, I don’t know what I’ve been protecting it for half a century. I’m done with the Roxidant Empire.”

That cutting remark. I believe it was correct to say that Claudia took after her father.

Rather than talking back, I leaned into the couch and sat in a relaxed position.

“Rin.”

“……Yes?”

“Irene.”

Didn’t you just call me again but slightly differently?

Felix held something near the corner of my mouth.

I opened my mouth reflexively, and soft butterballs came in and slowly melted in my mouth.

‘It’s delicious.’

And with an elegant gesture, Felix naturally held the teapot and started to brew some tea. I was quite dumbfounded that every single action was full of grace.

Now that I thought about it, this moment felt so peaceful despite the grave situation we were facing.

It was the healing power of the Chamberlains.

I swallowed the ball that Felix constantly placed in my mouth and then shook my head in the sense that he should stop giving it to me.

He had been watching me eat well with an affectionate gaze but somehow looked disappointed when I told him to stop.

Hugo, who was watching Felix act like that, said it seemed ridiculous.

“Why don’t you just get a job as a butler?”

“That’s not bad either.”

I looked at Felix, who answered readily, with a questionable gaze. Even if you weren’t a butler, you’re already taking care of me from one to ten.

He then put a teacup in my hand. It was a blended black tea filled with the fragrance of flowers that I like.

I sipped it, as always, without any refusal and spoke.

“So, to add more to this…….”

I took a break for a moment and recalled the information I had obtained from Martina.

At the time when I received the map, I was surprised to discover more than I expected.

It was not surprising that Silentium²

knew almost all the information about this world.

I guess they were like the fantasy version of Google?

“There is only one ‘Devil’s relic’ in the form of a bow that I saw in the prophecy. It is said to be the most powerful and dangerous item left in the human world.”

It was the only way to destroy the land.

“And it’s currently stored in the temple.”

Of course, in a hidden place that no one could access.

Even Martina, who knew the emperor’s sleeping situation, had no way of knowing exactly where it was. The temple was that sacred and inviolable.

Anyway, up to this point, you could perhaps guess who took the devil’s relic and provided it.

Now you know why I was saying, ‘It’s most likely him’ without having to see the Holy Knight.

Constantine was a man who could abandon his own beliefs to ruin a woman’s life.

“And?”

Felix asked while he raised the teacup. It was as if he felt that my words didn’t end there.

Hmm, what else… I gazed meaninglessly at his neck as he drank the tea and spoke softly.

“Every demon has a different realm of desire. The name of the devil who engraved his strength into the relic…….”

In fact, there were too many demon names, and they were too difficult to remember. It seemed that the author derived them all from original demon names.

It was not easy to get information from just anywhere. It took a year to find it in a world without a search center.

When I asked what kind of devil it was, Martina shrugged her shoulders and smiled obligingly without saying anything.

So what did she say?

“Leraze?”

It seemed like he heard my words. Felix kept his mouth shut for a long time.

What’s with that reaction?

“Do you know what kind of devil it is?”

“Well…….”

He replied, wiping his mouth with a handkerchief taken out of his pocket.

“Leraze is a devil of struggle and victory…… that’s what I recall.”

Oh, it was better than I thought.

But what’s wrong with your reaction?

It was definitely vague whether struggle and victory were good or bad.

‘Victory’ was a positive word, but ‘struggle’ was a bit…….

But if we looked at ‘struggle,’ we could not just consider it as a negative thing. It was not just a random struggle but a struggle to win or overcome.

However, the fact that there was a struggle in the first place was a concern. Felix said the devil’s desire was different from the essence of humans, so his eyes might be turned upside down like a war maniac until he reached victory.

Even so, wasn’t struggle and victory the devil of a relatively healthy desire? It was better than destruction, collapse, chaos, obliteration.

‘Somehow I don’t think that’s the end. Why does it seem like you are deliberately hiding something from me?’

Felix’s reaction was somehow strange, so I narrowed my eyes and looked at Felix suspiciously.

He reached out and patted my head reassuringly.

“It will be okay.”

What did that mean…… for some reason, I could feel a smoldering ominousness.

I have a strong suspicion that he must have made another drastic decision alone.

“But, all I did was just recite the information?”

Didn’t you ask us to come up with other countermeasures and overcome this together?

I shook for a moment in anticipation of the words that would follow. Was this about the plan you were hinting at?

“What do you mean by it will be okay? Are you saying that you’re going to sacrifice yourself in the end?”

“Sacrifice…… Rather than that, it’ll be something more.”

“That’s ridiculous!”

At Felix’s words, Hugo was outraged.

“How can you be crazy enough to say that you’ll accept the power of the devil?”

“It’s the only way.”

“That can’t be done!”

He wheezed and shouted.

“Even if you don’t get eaten by the power of the devil and you’re fortunately safe, it’ll lead to a divine trial. Stop, ‘even if you are eaten by the devil’. They’re aiming for that! Heresy and devil worship is a crime equivalent to treason. I’m sure you already know that?”

Of course, the original mentioned nothing of this.

Perhaps it was because Felix achieved what the male heroes wanted and ended up being eaten by the devil, so it wasn’t necessary to describe it.

‘If it’s equivalent to treason, you’ll be unconditionally destroyed…….’

That was why they chose to use the devil relic among the many other means. Even if Felix had sufficient control over the power of the devil, they were creating a reason for his execution.

The men were more thoroughly insane than I expected.

‘Is that why Felix’s saying he will leave us?’

He said he was afraid of harming me, but in fact, there must have been a more significant reason than that. If Felix remained, they would take him away for heresy.

After picking up his breath and calming his anger, Hugo resumed speaking.

“If it goes on like this, not only you but the whole family will be involved. I’d rather find a way to negotiate before it happens. That’s the best choice.”

Felix shook his head.

“No. We can’t indirectly inform them that someone on our side saw a prophecy. They’ll never stop until they get Claudia. It’s better not to reveal our cards as much as possible.”

I had to agree with that, too.

“Then what shall we do?”

He responded calmly to Hugo’s words.

“They don’t know that I’ve built up magic resistance.”

“……so?”

“Let me become a dead man.”

The eyes that shone behind the glasses were too calm and steady.

* * *

^{1. ‘A blessing in disguise’ is something that appears as a misfortune that also has unexpected benefits.↩}

^{2. Silentium is the second entity that collects information about the world and is ruled by Martina.↩}

* * *