The Black-Haired Bastard
As soon as Lumiela heard the words black hair, a chill raced up Ian’s spine. …No way. It can’t be. Even so, an imperial bastard? Did that even make sense? In the first place, the original Ian had only been an ordinary baron’s servant. An orphan raised without parents, someone who’d happened to become a servant in the Barhen barony. If he’d carried that much weight in the story, there would have been no reason for him not to appear in the original work.
It doesn’t add up. Ian tried to settle the matter in his mind, but he couldn’t hide the unease gnawing at him.
Lumiela felt the faint trembling of the legs clamped around her thighs and shot Olivia a pointed look, urging her to continue.
“…Any other distinguishing features?”
“He has squinty eyes so narrow you can barely see them, and he looks about fourteen or fifteen years old.”
Ian flinched.
“His name is Ian.”
Fuck.
He had suspected it the moment he heard the part about the squinty eyes, but hearing the name made it undeniable. A sudden birth secret. Ian steadied his reeling mind and forced himself to stay calm.
I’m… an imperial bastard?
Technically it was the Ian from before the possession, but the karmic weight had transferred entirely to the current Ian.
Wait, I don’t even have a Magic Eye. How the hell…
In reality, Ian possessed no special abilities, and his body fell squarely within the range of an ordinary human. Having already encountered countless monsters, he knew better than anyone that he was normal.
Besides, I’ve never even met Olivia before.
From what he’d heard, Olivia seemed to cherish that bastard deeply, yet he and Olivia had never once crossed paths. That left roughly two possibilities.
Either Olivia’s madness has already begun to show… or…
There was another Ian with the same name. The latter seemed statistically impossible, so the former felt far more likely. In the original story’s mid-section, as the Emperor slowly lost his mind, Olivia had gradually lost her reason as well. Later, after the Empire’s fall, she lived alone in the ruins. She never became a devil, but she went just as insane.
Seeing Olivia speaking so coherently right now made it hard to call her crazy, but… considering the other women Ian had dealt with so far, it wasn’t strange at all.
If she’s a regressor, the story changes.
If Olivia was also a regressor, everything made sense. In that case, what connection had the me of the first round shared with her?
Before he could think any further, sudden pressure clamped down on Ian’s face.
Ugh. Wait a second…
He hadn’t had the luxury of thinking leisurely in the first place. The person Olivia was looking for was currently trapped between Lumiela’s thighs. No matter how curious she was about Ian, would she really value him over the sister standing right in front of her?
I didn’t say the name, but there are way too many clues.
Appearance, age, and the perfectly timed moment he’d “visited” Lumiela’s room. She would definitely suspect him. It wouldn’t be strange if the truth came out right here and now.
Lumiela slowly curved the corners of her lips upward and began to stroke her own thigh with deliberate care.
A shiver ran through Ian.
Trapped between Lumiela’s legs, he flinched at her touch but couldn’t make a sound, so he curled up as tightly as possible.
She kept stroking the Ian between her thighs as if he were a cat, then finally reached a conclusion and spoke.
“All right. I’ll find him for you.”
“…Thank you, sister.”
Olivia knew her request had been unreasonable, so she thanked her sister with genuine gratitude. Of course, she had no idea that the younger brother she sought was this close—let alone wedged between her sister’s thighs.
“Good. Now leave.”
Creak—
Thud—
The moment Olivia left, Lumiela immediately threw back the blanket. She looked down at Ian clinging to her leg and gave him a dazzlingly beautiful smile.
“So, what do you think, Ian?”
“…………”
The look in her eyes had already gone far beyond simple interest.
Oh, shit.
There was no twist.
There is no twist.
This child… is my little brother…
Lumiela already had three younger siblings, yet Ian felt different. The brother she had suddenly discovered had only been in her life for a short time, but he had already burrowed deep into her heart. A relationship without lies or pretense. To her, it was both utterly new and intensely stimulating.
Of course, such a relationship was only possible because Lumiela held absolute dominance.
She lifted Ian slowly with both hands. Flustered, he flailed and shouted.
“W-what are you doing?!”
Cute.
The urge to monopolize him surged unconsciously. The reason Lumiela hadn’t told Olivia the truth was, naturally, to spend a little more time alone with Ian.
Ian immediately tried to lie in order to escape her.
“M-my name isn’t actually Ian.”
“………”
Looking thoroughly unimpressed, Lumiela frowned and began roughly tousling Ian’s hair in irritation. The problem was that her transcendent strength made his head shake violently.
Shake, shake—
He was starting to feel dizzy.
“Ugh, s-stop it, please.”
At Lumiela’s stern tone, Ian hurriedly explained to prevent any further misunderstanding.
“M-my name really is Ian, but what do you mean by imperial bloodline? I don’t have a Magic Eye, and my body is completely ordinary. I don’t even have the imperial family’s signature platinum blonde hair. How could I possibly be royalty?”
A perfectly logical explanation. Unfortunately, Lumiela had already decided that Ian was her brother.
“You claim you’re not imperial royalty, yet you seem to know an awful lot about us, don’t you?”
“That’s because…”
I read it in the original story.
He couldn’t say that, so the frustration was unbearable. Ian thumped his chest and appealed to her.
“Haa… I’m just an ordinary servant working for a barony. If you investigate later, you’ll see I’m telling the truth.”
“………”
His continued denial of his birth was beginning to genuinely anger Lumiela. No matter what his current status was, to keep rejecting noble blood like this? If Ian hadn’t been her brother, such an insult would have warranted immediate execution. The more he explained, the colder Lumiela’s expression grew.
“…I see.”
“……?”
“So according to you, you’re nothing more than a servant. You want to be treated that way, is that it?”
“Y-yes…?”
“Then a mere commoner has touched and molested an imperial princess’s sacred body?”
“…………”
That was your—
Ian wanted to protest immediately, but Lumiela turned her head away and continued.
“Then I suppose I have no choice but to call the imperial guards…”
“Noona.”
The title slipped out reflexively.
“…………!”
Ian had only said it to survive, but to Lumiela the impact was far beyond imagination.
Grab—
He reached out first and clung to Lumiela’s body. The sight of him hanging on might have looked a little pathetic, but for the sake of survival he had to endure it.
“N-noonaaa!”
Fuck.
For a moment, Ian was consumed by self-loathing. Clinging to a woman he’d met today and calling her noona…
“All right, all right… so could you… let go now?”
Lumiela kept her face turned away as she asked. Her cheeks were so flushed she couldn’t even look at him.
***
Olivia, having left Lumiela’s quarters, was heading back to her own palace.
Where could Ian be right now?
Unlike the future, the current Ian was far too weak. As his older sister, Olivia felt it was her duty to look after him.
Just as she was worrying about his safety, someone approached her.
A girl who resembled Olivia but looked noticeably younger. The Fourth Princess, Evangeline von Lebeus. With a doll-like appearance, Evangeline gave her a polite bow.
“It is a pleasure to see you, Second Princess. Have you been well?”
Along with the formal address came a gentle smile. Yet the courtesy felt slightly excessive between sisters.
“…Evangeline.”
Olivia started to say something to her, but then simply ignored her and walked past.
Having already seen the future, Olivia knew exactly what lay behind Evangeline’s facade. The true face hidden beneath that polite mask.
It was… truly indescribable madness.
There’s still plenty of time.
Stopping Evangeline with her current power would be easy, but… what mattered most right now was finding Ian. Priorities had to be clear.
***
In the wasteland after the apocalypse, Serena gazed sadly at her broken sword and asked Olivia,
“So what exactly caused the Empire to fall?”
Before the Richard family’s estate had given birth to the Abyss of No Return. Even back then, demonic realms had appeared across the continent, but none had been strong enough to threaten the mighty Empire.
Yet when Serena had become the Sword Demon and finally escaped the demonic realm, the Empire had already been destroyed. The time she had spent trapped inside had been roughly three months. What on earth had happened in the Empire during that period?
Olivia didn’t answer Serena’s question right away. She hesitated for a moment.
“That’s…”
Before she could reply, a man’s voice came from behind them.
“The descent of original sin.”
“……?”
“The result of an experiment so horrific it defies description.”
“……”
Olivia lowered her head in guilt. It hadn’t been a sin she had committed alone, but she certainly bore part of the responsibility.