Chapter 1
Chapter 1
The moment I opened my eyes, a wave of nausea hit me.
“Ugh…”
Inside my body, the smell of alcohol was burning like fire.
I had no memory of drinking.
Yesterday… I clearly remember scrolling through web novels on my phone and then drifting off to sleep. That was it.
“What the… ugh.”
This place wasn’t my familiar home.
Silk clothes were scattered everywhere without care.
Vomit stains marked the corners of the room.
It was a messy sight, but the room itself was oddly luxurious and old-fashioned.
It felt like the opening scene of a delinquent noble story—
“Your Highness! Please, come to your senses! It’s already been a month… sob sob…”
What the hell is that?
A voice came from outside the door.
As I got up to check, I felt something strange below.
“Damn it.”
I was naked.
And my stomach had a fair amount of fat.
But still… my “other self” was quite… impressive.
Honestly, bigger than mine.
That’s when I became certain.
I’ve definitely possessed some kind of scum noble.
Depending on what story this is, my difficulty level changes completely…
But the more urgent issue is pants.
First, I started looking around for clothes.
None were visible.
I opened another door inside the room.
“A bathroom.”
I thought it would be some medieval latrine, but surprisingly it wasn’t.
The bathroom was better than the one I used to have.
And in front of the mirror, there were several objects I had never seen before.
I touched one of them, and a red laser shot out.
“Ow!”
It slightly burned my finger. It hurt.
But more importantly, why is there a laser beam in a bathroom…?
At this point, I could eliminate a lot of possibilities.
Not a martial arts world. Not fantasy either. Probably not even modern fantasy.
And in possession stories, figuring out who you are is basic etiquette.
I looked into the large mirror.
The face had gained some weight, but the features were still distinctly alive.
If I had dieted, this would be a jackpot face pulled from a scratch card.
Then, my gaze landed on the ash-gray hair.
And a certain novel description flashed through my mind.
“Silver-gray hair like a wolf of the snowfields.
Though dulled by laziness and alcohol-induced weight gain, it was undeniably the mark of the Grand Duke who guards Fenrir.”
…Found it. I know what story this is.
My Galactic Crown Prince.
The romance fantasy novel I fell asleep reading yesterday.
“Of all things… a romance fantasy…”
Still, if it’s a romance fantasy world, at least it’s soft and fluffy, right?
Better than an apocalypse or a tragedy story—
No, that’s bullshit.
My Galactic Crown Prince is a space opera.
And its world is extremely grim.
Alien races are expanding their power.
Meanwhile, the Emperor of the Human Empire, for some reason, has forbidden technological advancement.
Humans, growing weaker by the day, are steadily losing territory to aliens and enemies.
And in the endless wars, love and humanity bloom…
It was fun to read.
But definitely not a world I wanted to be trapped in.
But the real problem was something else.
Even in such a world, if I had possessed a capable character, I might have survived.
But the person I possessed is the Grand Duke of the North.
Where the hell is a “Northern Duke” in a space opera?!
Well, whatever—there is something similar.
The harshest star system in the Human Empire, constantly attacked by enemies: [Amirates].
Its ruler, constantly fighting external invaders, living on the frozen planet [Fenrir].
If that’s not the North, what is?
Still, being a duke might sound like a jackpot possession…
Unfortunately, the Grand Duke of My Galactic Crown Prince is not a male lead, not even a sub male lead.
He’s just a third-rate villain.
Rayan von Fenrir.
A pathetic scumbag who launched a full-scale invasion, conscripting 10 billion out of 15 billion citizens just to kidnap the heroine and make her his wife.
But the heroine’s planet resisted fiercely, and in the end he lost 7 billion troops and was forced to retreat.
Truly, the absurd scale of romance fantasy.
As you can tell, I’ve possessed the worst kind of scum noble.
The only “strength” of our Northern Duke—no, Pig Duke Rayan von Fenrir—is that he can fight a bit.
Even that comes from bloodline-enhanced combat talent and military enhancement drugs given to nobles and knights.
He is someone completely detached from actual training.
Even with superhuman enhancement, he still has a belly fat problem.
That alone says everything.
This guy owes an apology to every gym enthusiast in the universe.
How do you take combat drugs and still end up like this?
And Rayan’s end was short and miserable, befitting a third-rate villain.
Killed in a rebellion, his head displayed on a roadside.
The one who led that rebellion was his younger brother, Kaneil von Fenrir.
He was the classic sub male lead in the noble villain trope.
Anyway, the important thing is—
“I’m going to die!”
If I don’t want to die, I need to move that heavy body right now.
I quickly got dressed and opened the door.
Chief Butler Gehrnhard.
One of the few people who truly cared for this scum Grand Duke.
After the crushing defeat a few days ago, he had to drag the Grand Duke out of his alcohol-filled despair.
The star system was collapsing.
But that didn’t matter to him.
He only wanted the Grand Duke not to be broken.
No matter how terrible a man he was, he was still family.
“Your Highness! Please, come to your senses! It’s already been a month… sob sob…”
A full month standing before the door with a broken heart.
Just as he was about to give up—
Creak.
The door opened.
And there he was—properly dressed, groomed, at least not naked.
Presentable enough to step outside.
Ah.
Tears welled in Gehrnhard’s wrinkled eyes.
“Y-Your Highness… you’ve finally… finally come out.”
“Uh… old man. Uh… prepare my ceremonial clothes… no, just… get them ready.”
The awkward tone went completely unnoticed by the emotional butler.
“Yes, of course, Your Highness. Where will you go?”
“To the administration. I’ve got work to do.”
At those words, Gehrnhard was overwhelmed with emotion.
Was this really the same scum prince?
It was almost overwhelming.
“Yes, yes! You must restore order to the star system as soon as possible!”
“Mm… normalization… good idea.”
“Yes, Your Highness. I’ll prepare everything at once.”
The old butler bowed and turned away, wiping away tears.
To others, he might still be seen as someone beneath contempt…
But to him, this single step meant everything.
The place I was in now was the flagship, Glory of the Wolf.
A fortress-class battleship orbiting Planet Fenrir, and the capital vessel of the ducal fleet.
As expected from a fortress-class warship, Glory of the Wolf was enormous.
Almost the size of a nation.
And fitting that scale, it served as the capital of the Amirates star system.
The administration was also located inside the flagship.
When I arrived, bureaucrats glanced at me, then quickly returned to their work—
“Y-Your Grace?!”
They all stood up in shock.
“W-w-welcome, Your Grace!”
“W-what happened? Wasn’t he basically a shut-in?”
“Damn it… I should’ve run away from this cursed system sooner…”
Whispers of confusion filled the air.
Thanks to the enhancement drugs, Rayan’s hearing was excellent.
I can hear you, you bastards…
Still, they weren’t entirely wrong.
The mess was originally caused by the previous owner of this body, not me.
“Focus on your work.”
I left a short command and headed to the Grand Duke’s office.
Damn. That was pretty damn charismatic.
But once I sat down in the office, my confidence quickly shrank like a deflated pig bladder.
Stacks upon stacks of documents on the desk.
Not sure why a space opera world insists on paper documents…
Anyway, half of these were death reports.
Most causes were starvation or freezing.
Planet Fenrir and other worlds where -20°C was considered warm.
A system where only monsters adapted to extreme cold could survive…
But even they had limits, and food was scarce.
Half the population had already died.
And the remaining 3 billion survivors out of 10 billion were also a problem.
A meaningless war always destroys even its own side.
Unlike some philosophy of “Xers,” infrastructure in this already underpopulated system collapsed rapidly.
And that lack of infrastructure became the deadliest factor in this world.
Hundreds of millions dying every day from starvation and freezing.
The entire system needed power generation immediately.
Nothing triggers rebellion faster than starvation and freezing to death.
But—
No fuel. Massive reserves exist, but too few miners to extract it.
And not enough personnel to run the power plants.
A deadlock.
If you try to do something, there aren’t enough people.
If you do nothing?
Everyone starves and freezes.
Just how insane is this difficulty level…
“Haah…”
I sighed and fiddled with the desk controls.
I think a star map comes out here—
Fwoosh.
A holographic projection of the star system appeared.
Twelve planets.
Six of them were red, meaning they were already conquered by aliens.
Four blue ones remained under ducal control.
And gray ones—lifeless, abandoned worlds.
“…Wait.”
I carefully examined the map.
Hell difficulty possession.
But maybe… there is a way to break through this.