The World the Regression Protagonist Abandoned

Kang Taeyoon hurried out of the bathroom. He had no idea when the sentry would return, and if they caught him a second time, the excuse of needing the toilet would not save him again.

First, I have to find Seraphina.

Fortunately, she was close. Kang Taeyoon checked the position marked on the map and started moving.

I have to get to Seraphina.

It was not simply that she was the nearest. If he was going to get out of this, he needed the bracelet she carried.

The Imperial Guardian Spirit, Orden.

It had been the first fortune Leonhardt seized after his regression. He had taken the bracelet from Seraphina, recited the cipher, and the guardian spirit sleeping inside had awakened. From the moment that power was his, Leonhardt could stand against elite knights in an instant—and through sheer effort, he had only grown stronger after that.

If I can just get that bracelet, I can make this work somehow!

As he was now, he could barely handle a single soldier. With the guardian spirit's power, though, a way to save the three of them might finally open. And luckily, he still remembered the activation cipher from the original.

Good thing I didn't forget the story.

Footsteps sounded ahead. Startled, Kang Taeyoon stopped dead.

Who now?

He ducked behind a pillar just as a middle-aged ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠man in an opulent military uniform came into view. He did not look like a regular soldier, and yet, for some reason, he was moving alone, without a single escort. The man glanced around, then slipped into a room.

Kang Taeyoon looked from the doorway to the marker floating ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠before his eyes.

That's where Seraphina is?

Of all the rooms in the palace, it was the one he had been walking toward. He edged closer. The door had not shut all the way, and the voices inside carried clearly through the gap.

"Where are the guards?"

"I sent them elsewhere. I don't want to be interrupted."

Kang Taeyoon peered through the crack.

A blonde woman sat on a long settee. Her golden hair fell all ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the way to her waist, rippling in soft waves from the shoulders down. A few loosened strands clung to her cheek, and the face revealed between them stole his gaze before he knew it.

Whoa. In the flesh, she's a knockout.

Her eyes were long and clear, a lucid blue. Her skin was white and smooth as porcelain, her features cut as cleanly as sculpture, open and striking. The large eyes lifted faintly at the outer corners, lending her a proud, elegant air, and the fine arch of her brows suited that gaze perfectly. From the clean line of her nose to the jaw that tapered gently beneath it, there was nothing to fault. Even her red lips were alluring enough to make a man swallow.

The way she sat was no different. An empress's grace showed through her, as if nobility had been born into her very bones.

So that's Seraphina. No wonder they call her the peerless number one beauty of the continent.

She was the woman the original had hammered home, again and again, as the greatest beauty on the continent. He had tried to picture her while reading, but the real thing was on another level entirely. The Arken Empire had fallen, and she had been reduced to a prisoner. Exhaustion was written all over her—and even disheveled, she was still that beautiful.

Finding her, though, was no reason to relax.

The man who had entered sat down beside her and laid a hand on her shoulder.

"Lord Kessler. Take your hand off me."

Seraphina's face was tight with distaste. At the name, Kang Taeyoon placed the man at once.

Kessler? Don't tell me—Bruno Kessler?

Commander of the Waltern Imperial Invasion Army. In the original, his skill at commanding troops had been considerable. He himself, though, had never been much of a fighter, and he was a greedy noble besides.

He was basically an extra villain who got himself killed in Leonhardt's revenge...

Before the regression, the commander who brought an empire to ruin. After it, a villain cut down by an enraged Leonhardt. He died midway through the story, so he had never been that important an antagonist.

The commander himself snuck in to pull something like this? The continent's greatest beauty must have turned his head.

He could guess why the man had come without an escort and cleared the guards out of the way. A prisoner meant to be offered up to the emperor—and he intended to put his hands on her in secret, where no one else would see.

"Once you are taken to Waltern, you will become spoils for His Majesty, our Emperor."

"And?"

"Before that, why not spend a little time with me? No one will ever know what happened here."

Seraphina's expression hardened. When Commander Kessler reached for her waist, she shoved his hand away.

"Get out. Now!"

The slap cracked through the room.

"Ah!"

A short scream tore out of her as she was driven from the settee and collapsed to the floor.

"You wench! Do you still think you're an empress?"

Commander Kessler glared down at her, irritation twisting his face. Seraphina clutched her cheek and stared back at him.

Wow. Is this a rape in progress?

Kang Taeyoon swallowed dryly. Something that had never happened in the original, thanks to Leonhardt's regression, was unfolding right in front of him. The empress Leonhardt had abandoned—if that was even the word—when he regressed had clearly been left to suffer something ugly. The problem was that the ugly thing was happening now.

Fuck. Do I have to deal with this bastard too?

He had come planning to find Seraphina and get the bracelet off her, one way or another. He had not expected the enemy commander to arrive first and start this.

"Hhk..."

Seraphina braced a hand against the floor, trying to push herself up. Between the sleeve that had slipped down her arm, a golden bracelet caught the light—two lions wrapped around a blue gem.

That's it!

Kang Taeyoon's gaze locked onto it. It was the bracelet described in the original. They had not taken even that from her. Not yet.

Commander Kessler seized her arm as she struggled to rise, and with his other hand he caught the hem of her dress. He meant to tear it off her.

"D-don't! Please, don't do this!"

Seraphina begged and tried to twist free, but Commander Kessler showed no intention of stopping. If anything, the sight of her seemed to excite him further. Hot breath snorted from his nose.

Kang Taeyoon scanned the room in a rush. On the table beside the door sat a metal candlestick.

If I hit him in the back of the head with that...

He was afraid. If the ambush failed, the man might kill him. But if he did not save Seraphina, the quest was going to kill him anyway.

Damn it. It's all or nothing!

He snatched up the candlestick and stepped into the room. Commander Kessler was so fixed on Seraphina that he never noticed anyone coming up behind him. Seraphina saw Kang Taeyoon, and a flicker of surprise crossed her face—but Kessler, intent on ripping the dress from her body, did not register his own danger.

"You bitch. Now I'm going to—"

The candlestick came down with a dull, heavy crack.

Kang Taeyoon had swung it with both hands, with everything he had. Struck in the back of the head, Commander Kessler pitched forward. The hand gripping Seraphina went slack, and his body toppled onto her. She twisted aside just in time to keep from being pinned beneath him.

Did it work?

Kang Taeyoon stared down at Commander Kessler, breathing hard. He kept the candlestick raised in case the man got back up, but Kessler did not move. Blood was running from the back of his head. There was no sign he was breathing.

Wait. Is he dead?

Kang Taeyoon's face went stiff. He had meant to knock the man out. It seemed he had actually killed him.

No. I hit him once... and he's dead?

The moment the thought landed—that he had killed a person—the hand around the candlestick began to shake. Seraphina, just as startled, looked from Commander Kessler to him and back again.

He had come for the bracelet, looking for a way to stay alive. And before he had gained so much as a scrap of that power, he had killed the commander of an enemy empire.

Fuck... I killed someone!

He stared down at the hand locked around the candlestick. It was trembling. He knew he ought to let go, but his fingers would not straighten.

"Um..."

He looked up at the sound of Seraphina's voice. She had drawn her disordered clothes closed and was watching him. The cheek that had swollen red caught his eye.

"Thank you for saving me."

Seraphina bowed her head. Her voice was trembling too.

"If it hadn't been for you, I would have......"

The rest of the sentence faded out. Kang Taeyoon swallowed.

Right. I couldn't just stand there and watch.

He had not meant to kill. But if he had not stepped in, that man would have kept forcing himself on Seraphina. It was already done. Right now, getting out of here alive came first.

"I have a request."

Whether because Commander Kessler had sent the guards away or not, there was no one nearby. Even so, he had no idea when someone might come. He had to hurry.

"Please, speak."

"Could you give me that bracelet?"

Seraphina looked down at her own wrist.

"This?"

"Yes. The Imperial Guardian Spirit sleeps inside it."

Her eyes widened.

"The guardian spirit?"

"I know how to wake it. With that power, we can get out of here."

Seraphina looked from the bracelet to Kang Taeyoon, and back again.

"All right."

She undid the clasp at once and held the bracelet out to him.

"Here. Take it."

Kang Taeyoon accepted it and looked at her, faintly startled.

"I don't know who you are, but if it hadn't been for you, I..."

Seraphina could not bring herself to say what would have followed.

"In any case, I have no choice but to trust you."

Resignation lived in her eyes, and alongside it a hard resolve to face what was real.

"Leave it to me."

Kang Taeyoon closed his hand around the bracelet and spoke ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the words that would wake it.