NOVEL NEXT Episode 173
Episode 173
‘Can competitive psychology apply even to worry?’
I never imagined I’d want to ask such a question, but I seriously wanted to.
Is this really happening?
The scene unfolding before my eyes was that ridiculous.
“Ha! Can you truly say you were sincerely worried about Lord Cassice? You people of this land?”
“Yeah. You twisted folks might not understand, but there’s no purer heart than ours. We’re pure even to our brains.”
“Pure brains…?”
“Hey! Hae Yuna! That’s friendly fire…!”
‘The fact that this looks sincere is what’s really crazy, you guys…’
Setting aside whether they truly worried about me or not, interpreting just the surface conversation, the answer is simple.
‘You guys are worried about me.’
…But why are you growling at each other? Common sense dictates that if you came to get even a crumb of favor, shouldn’t you at least give me a chance to be touched and soften my heart?
“Anyway! I must have been twice as concerned as you all.”
“Then I was ten times more than you.”
“I was five thousand times more than all of you.”
“…!”
“…!”
Is this really happening, you crazy bastards.
By now, the unnamed classmates who had rushed over to worry about me were looking back and forth between Ryuseong’s friends and my followers with dumbfounded expressions. Yeah. It’s strange, right? Isn’t it shocking that the true nature of those considered the elite among elites even at Areah Academy, which is full of elites, is like this? I’ve been experiencing this shock since the day I enrolled. While you guys were comfortably enjoying your school days! I! Was forced to witness Ryuseong’s character breakdown and suffered tremendously!
‘Is that all? The damn tree spirit showed a past that didn’t even appear in the original work, and that damned goblin…’
Enough. I have nothing more to say. Just thinking about the hardships and struggles I’ve been through since enrolling, taking midterms, going on a school trip, and until the start of the inter-academy competition, was enough to bring tears to my eyes.
‘Was seducing the protagonist such a grueling task…?’
I had a moment of reality check, but I could understand. Given that Cassice Demillang is the final dark mastermind of world destruction, it was almost a miracle that I, who possessed his body, had formed such a relationship with Ryuseong, the original protagonist.
‘What? I’ve actually lived quite well, haven’t I?’
Setting aside the fact that Cassice Demillang’s innate environment was terrible, as my life has always been that way.
Looking back, I’ve done everything I could in the situations given to me.
‘I’ve done everything, including [censored] things and [censored] acts to Ryuseong…!’
A warm smile involuntarily appeared on my face. It was a benevolent smile like that of Buddha.
But suddenly, those who had been chirping like baby birds, carefully watching my reaction and claiming they worried more, started covering their mouths and averting their eyes. Some even started hiccuping or turning pale.
It was a perplexing sight for me.
‘Wh-What’s going on?’
I was about to pamper them since I was in a good mood, but you don’t like it? Are you tired of even insincere flattery? Is that it?
‘Well, I guess I’ve become a kite with a broken string.’
Maybe that’s understandable. After looking around at my strangely frozen friends, I calmly reviewed the current situation.
I’ve heard that many people are considering whether it’s a good choice to try to impress me. If Demillang doesn’t support me, support for me could become as worthless as delisted stock. Is that all? They could also be chosen as targets by Demillang. They might even be dragged out and killed along with me when the young master is ousted.
Even if their bodies reacted first due to the influence of memories erased by the goblin, due to the residual emotions left behind.
It meant that since they had brains, it was understandable for them to avoid me.
‘That’s what everyone in the world is doing.’
That’s what I heard in the reports after escaping from the emperor’s confinement.
Most political forces are just watching cautiously, while behind the scenes, they’re frantically trying to figure out what kind of relationship exists between Eisen Demillang, who has seized power in Demillang, and Cassice Demillang.
‘Because that’s how they can decide whether they should grovel to me or not…’
It could be seen as a rather rational response.
On the other hand, why hasn’t there been a change in atmosphere even though Eisen Demillang became the acting head of the family?
‘Just thinking about that bastard makes me want to vomit again…’
We need to remember that the former head of the family lived his entire life in Eisen Demillang’s shadow.
Cassice Demillang’s great-grandfather, Eisen Demillang, was a dark lord who ruled the world from behind the scenes. When such a person suddenly declared one day that he would retire from the position of family head and become a secluded old man, it’s worth emphasizing that his son was not at all prepared to become the family head.
The noble house of Demillang was openly disappointed by the new, foolish and stupid family head’s behavior.
The position of the family head in a noble house is significant. However, Eisen Demillang was the true master of Demillang who had raised the family’s prestige to a level that seemed impossible to surpass. With Eisen Demillang still alive, no other family head could satisfy the eyes of the elders.
To put it bluntly, how could a family head who hasn’t gained the recognition of the council of elders be properly recognized as a monarch within the family?
No matter what the former family head did, he couldn’t escape from Eisen Demillang’s shadow. The real power holder was practically Eisen Demillang.
Therefore, people in the world come to this conclusion:
‘If the head of Demillang tried to kill Cassice Demillang, wasn’t that also Eisen Demillang’s intention?’
This was appropriate to express doubts about whether Cassice Demillang was not recognized as a legitimate young master.
Naturally, given his past achievements, there were no question marks on Cassice Demillang’s abilities.
To tell the truth, that’s why the young master assassination attempt was even more incomprehensible.
‘Why someone so fitting for a noble house?’
‘For what reason did they try to oust him?’
People’s boundless curiosity naturally led them to stimulate their imagination.
It might be hard to believe, but the prevailing theory these days was that his scandal with Ryuseong of the Hanra faction might have been used as a weakness.
Some gossip magazines were frantically printing as if it were true the romantic story that the family head had tried to use Ryuseong to bring down the Hanra faction, but Cassice Demillang disobeyed the order to protect his lover.
‘I’m really going crazy…’
To me, the person involved, it just looked like a cheap knockoff melodrama of Romeo and Juliet, but from an objective point of view, I understood why the gossip magazines were booming. After all, keywords like tragic, heartrending, and true love are commercially successful codes that work anywhere. In the end, I heard that romantics even established an association to actively support our love or something…
‘All sorts of nonsense are circulating…’
I didn’t know if Ryuseong had heard about it, but I thought he would be shocked if he found out.
Of course, rational people said something different. They questioned how long Cassice Demillang’s genius could last. In other words, sustainability. To put it more bluntly, ‘how long will he stay alive.’
‘After all, when internal organs are this twisted, people usually die.’
Even if he’s fine now, they said he might have tried to replace the heir because you never know when he might slip up and die.
I don’t know what the truth is. However, Eisen Demillang killed the family head to cut off the tail. The idea that Eisen Demillang might have led the assassination attempt on Cassice Demillang is just speculation and circumstantial evidence. Cassice Demillang has no official means to protest against Eisen Demillang.
Even if Eisen Demillang had dissected, dismantled, reassembled, and experimented on Cassice Demillang, I…
“…Cassice, Cassice!”
I feel dizzy. What is it? Who keeps calling me? Suddenly, I snapped back to reality. Ah. I just attended the academy now. Did I lose my sense of reality after constantly zoning out during the time I was confined by the emperor? I was about to explain to those calling out to me that I was just lost in thought for a while. But…
“Ambulance!”
“Emergency room!”
“911!”
…No, do they think I’m made of glass?
I thought they were trying to distance themselves from me because of their earlier reaction, but I can clearly see now that assumption was wrong. But do you really have to go this crazy? You guys?
Utterly dumbfounded, I just stared blankly at them running around.
But when left alone, these crazy bastards were digging as if they were about to tunnel through the Earth.
“The wind is too strong! He’ll catch a cold! Hyang-ah, block it with your body!”
“Protect the young master at all costs!”
‘…Hey, does no one remember that the official schedule of the competition is being broadcast live worldwide?’
Not even one person…?
But if there were such a person with common sense, they wouldn’t have appeared as main or supporting characters in the original twisted dark fantasy.
Watching them not caring at all about how others might look at them…
A Buddha-like smile involuntarily appeared on my face.
‘Maybe it’s both funny and touching that they keep worrying about me regardless of how the political situation changes.’
In the past, I would have beaten each of you to a pulp.
I’ve really become much nicer.
Is this what nirvana is? Something like that?
“…”
“…”
By the way, the kids suddenly went quiet. And it feels like there’s a chill in the air, but that must be my imagination, right?