I, the Female Lead, Ruined the Original

“

, what is this…?”

“What are we doing…?”

“What were we…?”

“Oh my, L-Lord Elard!”

For a moment, they were thrilled to see Lord Elard, one of the most popular figures in society, up close. But when they realized they had been blocking him with their bodies, the ladies’ faces turned bright red.

It was clearly a strange situation, but Theonis remained calm and asked, “Do you remember why you were out here?”

“

, that… it seems we were supposed to protect the imperial palace.”

“Under whose orders?”

“Y-Your Majesty’s.”

“By Your Majesty, you mean…?”

“The empress…?”

Theonis gestured to his elite knights and entered the Rose Palace.

* * *

At Rakrensius’s feet, the remnants of the mirrors that had been floating in the air until a moment ago were piled up.

[It seems the sons of Elard have all entered the Rose Palace.]

Di’s voice, relaying the situation based on the mages’ records, echoed like a period at the end of a sentence.

At that moment,

“Mother….”

A weak voice came from the darkness, and a boy staggered out. It was Eonel. A stream of nosebleeds trickled down his pale face.

“W-What is this?”

[It looks like the saintess hid him using spatial magic, like before. But something seems wrong. Was it the power she used just now, or something else…]

Listening to Selleana and Di’s conversation, Rakrensius adjusted his grip on his sword.

“Mother… is this why you were wary of the fifth prince?”

“What?”

“Did you fear him because he could completely neutralize your power?”

“Did, I… fear him?”

“Is it not so?”

Arshilla’s eyes trembled slightly. Until now, she had never spoken to Eonel about that anomaly… The fear in her eyes now was also due to his son, who spoke of things she had never mentioned.

“I’m the only special one in this world…. Why does Mother fear the fifth prince?”

“My son.”

“If his fate remains, you can force it; and if his fate ends, you can just kill him. Or is his fate somehow tied to brother’s throne…?”

Eonel’s face, asking such cruel questions with innocence, was disturbingly eerie. Selleana and Rakrensius were speechless at the sudden, shocking remarks from the boy.

“Eonel, what are you… saying?” Pavellian, who had been watching from afar, spoke in a dazed voice.

Arshilla quickly opened a rift in space-time. She had been candid with Selleana, intending to deal with her soon, but she couldn’t reveal anything to Pavellian. Thus, she trapped everyone except herself and her son in the space-time rift, silencing them.

“My son.”

Arshilla knelt down and wiped the blood from her son’s face. His eyes, dark with no light, mirrored her own.

“That one, is like you.”

“…What?”

“He’s… someone without destiny.”

Shock rippled across the boy’s face.

“But Mother said I’m the most special in the world…!”

“That’s true. His mother was a leak, a mere creature. Her fate was to die, losing her unborn child due to the imperial family’s neglect.”

“Then….”

“Yes. He was the child she bore against fate.”

“…”

“Because he was a mage, it was hard to find him and force his destiny… But I could shorten his life. I had to keep him under my watch as he might threaten you.”

As Arshilla finished her rapid explanation,

. There was a sound that shouldn’t be there… Rakrensius, who had been frozen like the others, took a step towards them.

“W-What is this…!”

Arshilla was startled by the unexpected movement.

“H-How…!”

“So, now….” Rakrensius’s voice, which had never sounded so eerie in his life, leaked from between his teeth. “To prevent me from threatening your unborn son.”

He took one step closer.

“You took me from my mother and brought me to the imperial palace.”

Then he took another step.

“So you gave my mother an incurable disease to ensure she would die in due course…”

Rakrensius’s blue eyes glowed coldly as he looked down at the boy and saintess at his waist height. His face showed a chilling expression no one had ever seen before.

“No…! H-How…!”

“How indeed.” A faint smirk lifted one corner of his mouth. “You should have been careful until the end. Because I’m the son of that impure leak, and my long-time friend is the reverse scale of the being you borrow power from.”

Rakrensius slowly raised his hand. Di’s tip landed on Arshilla’s shoulder.

“Your power never worked from the start.”

“You wretched…!”

“Wretched? Which part exactly? The faintly lifted corner of his mouth twisted strangely. “Was it because my mother defied fate as a mere human?”

Another step, bringing the blade on her shoulder closer to her neck. Rakrensius’s blade, imbued with his fury, sharpened it more.

“Or… that, I born from a human womb, am just like the Apostle of Orot’s son, with an undetermined fate?”

“

…!”

Arshilla gritted her teeth and swung her hand wildly. The space-time rift closed, and the rest regained movement.

The positions of the three had clearly changed from just before, and Selleana quickly assessed the situation.

And the cold gaze of Rakrensius, aimed at Arshilla with a sword… a look Selleana had never seen before….

[He found out the secret of his mother’s death. His killing intent is boiling, which made my blade as sharp as it was during time with Asmion… I’ve removed some divine power for now.]

As Di calmly explained to his temporary contractor,

“I should have never been kept alive…!” Arshilla stood, pushing the sword away, bleeding from her hand. “I spared your life for my son’s sake, yet you, the son of a mere leak, don’t know gratitude…!”

“Gratitude.” Rakrensius snorted briefly. “Thanks to you, I had a very happy childhood. And thanks to you, I also inflicted long-lasting wounds on the only one who could understand me.”

“Die by fate…!”

As Arshilla roared, a dark light flickered over her entire body. Eonel collapsed beside her. But no matter how much divine power she emitted, the wound on her hand did not heal.

“What, is this…!”

“God’s apostle or whatever, there’s a limit to arrogance…”

Rakrensius laughed bitterly and withdrew his sword. The saintess, having seemingly exhausted her divine power, was panting heavily, blood dripping from her hand. And then,

Unable to hold out any longer, she collapsed to the ground. Her black eyes rolled in shock at being defeated by a mere creature. Seeming to come to a realization, her lips twisted into a strange grin.

“Then, if that’s the case… why don’t you become the crown prince,

?”

Selleana’s face was filled with shock at the sudden proposal.

“Yes. I’ll acknowledge your existence. Pavellian’s fate is almost fulfilled, so it’s fine to get rid of him now.”

Pavellian’s face turned pale with the greatest shock he had ever experienced.

“If you want, I can hand over the throne to you immediately. And later, later… just pass the throne to Eonel…”

“…”

“And so, Lady, you fulfill your destiny… right?” Arshilla’s eerie black eyes turned to Selleana.

Was it the arrogance of a transcendent being, shouting desperately on the verge of collapse? Selleana had to answer this clearly. She slowly approached Rakrensius, placing her hand on his shoulder from behind.

“No, that will never happen.” With her face half-hidden behind Rakrensius’s shoulder, Selleana smiled brightly. “I appreciate that my darling’s mother has approved our marriage, but…”

[Even in this situation…]

“Do you think I would follow that lousy fate?”

“What?”

“How frustrating it was to endure Pavellian’s nonsense, claiming it was fate, just because of the lousy original story!”

“La-Lady…?” Pavellian, attacked out of nowhere, turned even paler in a different sense.

“Do you think my friends’ fates are any good? They’re all terrible! I won’t follow any of that fate! I’ll never become the crown princess, even if I die and come back to life!”