I Became a Flirting Villain

It was two in the morning. After finishing overtime and returning home, I collapsed onto the bed without even taking a shower. The charger cord was too short, forcing me into an awkward sideways sprawl. Even though I knew I had to drag myself back to the office tomorrow, my fingers were already switching on my phone. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The way I dealt with the stress from my company job was by ripping apart plot holes in other people's novels. It wasn't the healthiest hobby, but it was cheaper than drinking.

The one that had me hooked tonight was Sword of Ice and Snow, a hot-topic web novel sitting at a 4.9 rating with thousands of comments.

The empire had an ancient law. Before reaching the age of twenty-five, no one was allowed to take a lover. Whether they were of the imperial family or the nobility, there were no exceptions.

My finger stopped scrolling.

"...Author."

I addressed the screen with polite formality.

"Did you really overhaul an entire nation just to keep the male lead single?"

Plot holes were usually something you glossed over and moved on from, but this author operated on a different scale. To justify why the male lead remained single until twenty-five, they had enacted a law across the entire empire. At this point, it wasn't so much filling the hole as erecting a monument to it.

With a snort, I opened the comment section. I figured everyone else would be just as dumbfounded as I was, but...

"...It's not that they waited twenty-five years. They were legally barred from dating for twenty-five years, everyone."

I muttered aloud without thinking. It wasn't like I was in any position to criticize. I'd been single for five years myself, using overtime as my excuse. But at least I didn't try to pin it on some imperial decree.

Grumbling, I continued flipping through the pages. As I read on, I discovered there was yet another mechanism to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠patch up the holes in that law. In the year they turned twenty-five and the ban was lifted, the empire held an event called the Marriage Festival. A grand national affair that gathered all the influential figures who had come of age that year along with princesses sent from various countries to pair them up. It was broadcast live throughout the empire via crystal balls. Essentially, it was this world's biggest dating show.

"...The government hosts the dating event and broadcasts it live nationwide? What a crazy country."

Yet for some reason it drew me in. Maybe because I was so burned out from overtime, I felt a little pathetic getting so invested in watching other people's romance.

The four major figures appearing in this year's Marriage Festival were the Crown Prince, the Eastern Grand Duke, the Western Grand Duke, and—the Northern Grand Duke, Carix von Nord.

He was the villain of this story.

In the original story, Carix von Nord reeked of blood from his very first appearance. It was the day he suppressed a rebellion in the North. A lord who had already surrendered was kneeling at his feet. His weapons had been discarded and his army was gone. He was a defeated general who posed no threat even if left alive. Yet the lord begged. He groveled with everything he had, pleading for his family's lives, for his own life.

Carix looked down at that face for a moment. Then he spoke in a low voice.

With a single swing the sword moved. He killed a man there was no need to kill, simply because he was bored. Then, without even raising his head, he wiped the blood from his blade and said, "Next."

"...Whoa."

I couldn't help but make a sound.

"There was no need to kill him. He just... killed him because it was boring."

The expressionless face on the screen was as chilling as the early morning air.

"This guy isn't human. He's a real monster."

That wasn't all. That same winter, he lined up hundreds of captured prisoners on a frozen river. They weren't even bound. There was nowhere to run anyway. The ice had been groaning under their weight from the start. Thin cracks spread out like a spiderweb beneath their feet. One of his subordinates approached and suggested, "Your Highness, if we just shoot arrows, it'll be over quickly."

Carix, seated in a chair by the riverbank, took a sip of his tea.

The prisoners' faces gradually began to tremble violently.

He waited like that until the ice broke. The screams and pleas scattered like the steam from the teacup in his hand. When the ice finally split and the river swallowed everything, he set down his now-cold teacup and slowly stood up.

I stared at the screen in silence for a long time.

"...Shit. This is one hell of a monster."

Snorting in disbelief, I kept scrolling until I reached the scene where the bastard dies.

The beginning was absurdly trivial. The partner assigned to Carix at the Marriage Festival was a princess from a weak, minor nation named Esran. She was clearly just a filler, a princess from some border country you'd have trouble finding on a map. Unfortunately, she was the woman the Crown Prince had secretly taken a liking to.

And at their first meeting during the festival, the princess stood before Carix. There wasn't a trace of warmth in Carix's eyes as he looked down at the trembling Esran. The mere fact that the man known only by rumors as the Blood Winter stood before her was enough to make the princess's legs shake uncontrollably.

It was a low voice. That made it all the more chilling. The more the princess tried to stop, the worse her trembling became. Carix took a step closer and finished his sentence.

Esran could barely breathe. That night, the princess tried to pack her bags and flee but was caught by her escorts. The next day, with an even paler face than before, she had to stand before him again.

And that happened to step on the Crown Prince's reverse scale. The Crown Prince saw him as a thorn in his side, and before long, by the emperor's order, Carix was sent to the battlefield. It was called a deployment, but anyone could see it was a push into a deathtrap.

And on the battlefield, Carix was surrounded. With no escape in any direction. It ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠wasn't just the enemy forces encircling him. There were survivors from the North who had lost family to the Blood Winter, children who had buried their ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠parents in that icy river, the bloodlines of the lords whose heads he'd casually taken. And even the faces who had stood with him at the Marriage Festival were mixed in among them.

One man who had lost his family to him shouted with bloodshot eyes.

"Do you even remember my father and brothers that you threw into the ice river?!"

Carix looked at him for a moment before answering indifferently.

The man's face twisted. Carix turned his gaze away as if even that expression was boring.

A princess he had once insulted pointed a trembling sword at him.

The atmosphere in the hall grew icy. The Crown Prince pointed his sword at his heart and said, "You know what you've done wrong."

But Carix asked back with a genuinely puzzled look.

He slowly scanned the faces filled with resentment surrounding him, then actually scoffed.

But no matter how powerful the Northern Grand Duke was, he couldn't withstand the massive coordinated assault pouring in from all directions at once. Dozens of blades pierced him simultaneously. The man who had viewed people as nothing but insects his entire life fell without ever realizing the simple reason why those crushed insects had gathered with such gnashing teeth.

"...Wow."

I couldn't even laugh.

"Be grateful that I let you live? Since he never saw people as people, that's the kind of thing he would say. No wonder he turned everyone against him. If there's such a thing as reaping what you sow, this is it."

I put down my phone. It was reaping what he sowed, but the aftertaste was bitterly unpleasant.

"...This is why you shouldn't be a villain."

Muttering, I closed my eyes. My overtime-exhausted body sank straight into sleep.

And when I opened my eyes.

The ceiling was high. It was an unfamiliar waiting room. Ornate chairs, a large full-length mirror, servants lined up on both sides. In the mirror was the face of that villain bastard with silver hair and grey eyes.

Only then did I realize. I had transmigrated. And of all people, into the body of the guy who got stabbed by dozens of swords and died last night.

I didn't even have time to process the situation. One of the servants approached and bowed politely.

"Your Highness. Preparations for the first meeting at the Marriage Festival are complete. Your assigned partner will be arriving shortly."

...Marriage Festival. First meeting. Partner.

A scene from the original flashed through my mind. The first button that led to Carix's death. The scene where he tramples the princess from the minor nation and steps on the Crown Prince's reverse scale.

No way.

At that moment, the waiting room door opened. The one who entered was a small princess with a completely intimidated expression. The filler from a minor nation hard to find on any map—the exact Esran I had seen in the original last night.

The moment I saw that face, my spine froze.

...That princess.

I'd seen her in the original. The one who just trembled in the corner of the screen with no backing or anything.

Tame her? Win her heart? This is outright blackmail.

It was saying if I didn't do it, I would die. Kindly including a death notice too.

I absolutely cannot touch her. I need to get on her good side if I want to live.

The problem was that I didn't know how to get on anyone's good side. What experience did a nine-year company worker have with scoring points with women?

For now, I grabbed a blanket that caught my eye and awkwardly held it out.

The princess's head jerked up. Then she went deathly pale. The color drained completely, even her lips turning blue.

"I-I'm sorry!"

The princess snatched the blanket as if stealing it and bolted out.

Slam. The door closed.

I stood there frozen for a moment with my hand still outstretched in that awkward pose.

Did I mess up? Is a villain being kind even scarier? I don't know anymore.

"...A wooing system? For me?"

A hollow laugh escaped me. What wooing system for a guy who just terrified a woman into running away? This system was definitely broken.