The End of Haps (1)
Sometime after I fell into the demon realm—not long after, really.
"Even if you're a possessor, aren't you being a bit too indifferent about your family?"
"That's not something the Grand Duke of Hell should be saying."
Chang Yeom and I once got into a little spat.
"Still, now that you've become Regiph, don't you feel any moral obligation toward that side of things?"
"I didn't ask to become Regiph."
At the time, I was... what should I call it? Extra prickly all around. The kind of mood people describe as "toxic," prickly, everything feeling shitty and irritating.
"Not only did I lose out on that 200 billion in cash, but this isn't even my original world—it's some other world where I've become a mid-boss who kidnaps heroines. How could that possibly feel good?"
"Aha. So you've been hiding those thoughts and just powering through, huh?"
I could spew it all out to Chang Yeom without holding back. Like it or not, she was the one who'd taken everything from me and understood my backstory in the process.
"Yeah, well. Getting possessed is annoying enough, but on top of that, the family I end up in is Hapsderk—that's gotta sting. Especially when that Hapsderk could lead to the world's destruction."
"You might wanna consider that I'm the one at the center of it."
I didn't mention it back then, but...
"A family that goes 'death if not Haps!' What am I supposed to do about that?"
The Hapsderk family raised their siblings like yanderes toward each other.
"If I'd fallen for some other girl besides Seia, she would've become Haps' End right then and there."
Haps' End. By the goddess's design, Seia Hapsderk becomes an angel—and that angel's unofficial name is so blatantly apocalyptic it's called Incestial, pointing straight toward humanity's doom through incest.
Relationships so tangled and taboo you can barely speak them aloud in normal circumstances. Family harmony twisted into something else entirely, a closed society where even touching outsiders feels forbidden. And in the end, humanity dies out from all sorts of genetic diseases.
Humans advance by mixing diverse genetic traits across generations, but mixing blood within the same lineage? History's Habsburgs already made a massive contribution to humanity on that front.
"The Hapsderks never saw me as family. Even just hinting that I had no such thoughts toward Seia was enough."
"Well, yeah, I'll give you that. At first, we tried persuading you, but you were so stubborn we started thinking of other ways pretty quick."
She brought up family responsibility, but the more we talked, the more Chang Yeom slowly accepted the Hapsderks' twisted nature.
"If we're assigning blame, shouldn't it go to the game company that set it up like that in the first place... no, wait, to Ratatosk who cursed us with it?"
"If we can't blame the game company, then yeah, that damn squirrel it is. Even if he's already dead."
"I see. So, if you run into them when you head back to the surface, what'll you do?"
That probably wasn't what Chang Yeom really wanted to ask.
"Thanks to you, the prime angel candidate Seia Hapsderk has ended up under Yurha Silverstar. You've planted enough debt in Yurha that she won't abandon Seia, at least."
"Yeah, hopefully. I set it up that way. Seia's talent is a huge help to Yurha anyway, and with Esta thrown in the mix, it's got some insurance."
"So that's the bare minimum courtesy you could offer as her big brother?"
"Something like that."
Even if the Hapsderk name vanished, I'd made arrangements so a seven-year-old kid like Seia wouldn't grow up in a harsh environment. First line: Yurha. Second: Esta. And the final backup was...
"Ludbekia."
"Your mother?"
"Ludbekia isn't our mother's name."
"Aha, okay. Point taken."
Regiph's mother, Ludbekia. His father was killed by Ratatosk, but his mother Ludbekia survived.
"With no more males in the family, Hapsderk ends here. No more locking up blood kin or keeping them from going outside because they glanced at another woman."
"What about Regiph entering the academy?"
"Regiph never would've made it to the academy."
I held up one finger.
"Father's dead, and he was the only male Hapsderk left."
"Ah."
"If Regiph's father had lived, some other male might've gone to the academy for 'social experience.' But with Regiph as the sole surviving male, Ludbekia and Seia would've kept him locked at home until he came of age. Until 'that day' arrived."
"...Until Seia reached adulthood?"
"No. I just said it—until Regiph reached adulthood."
"Uh."
That was the first time Chang Yeom showed outright disgust.
"So your mother saw you as Regiph... like that?"
"Told you. Hapsderk is messed up."
"Uh, um, yeah..."
"No matter how you slice it, escaping was the right call."
At least, that's how I saw it.
"Hmm... Got it. Guess I shouldn't poke at the family stuff carelessly."
Even Chang Yeom backed off back then.
"But still."
She was still curious, though.
"If you go back to the surface and run into them—not the Hapsderks, but her—what then? Especially Seia."
"Who knows."
I didn't think too seriously about it at the time.
"We'll see if we cross paths. Assuming she's still alive by then."
Regiph and Seia's mother, Ludbekia, was someone who didn't exist at the "original story" point.
"Sure, I might meet her once I'm on the surface, but by then, maybe she'll be free of the Hapsderk chains?"
Ratatosk's curse. Only on Haps.
"A stunning S-rank mage like that? No way anyone leaves her alone."
"Nice to meet you. I'm Ludbekia, the first marquess of House Ludbekia."
"......."
"Esta told me about you. You want to make 'Phoenix' a family name to pass down to your heirs, right? Hehe."
"That."
I cautiously raised a hand toward the woman sitting across from me, clad head to toe in a mourning black dress—Regiph's mother, Ludbekia.
"So before...?"
"Lady Hapsderk, Countess of Hapsderk—that was me. Ten years ago."
Ludbekia lifted her teacup, gloved in black lace. I glanced at her left ring finger, but there was no telltale ring bulge or mark.
"Now I'm a widowed marquess raising one daughter."
"Hard to believe you're a widow. Heck, even having a daughter."
I took a sip from my teacup to wet my throat.
"Your daughter's around five this year?"
"Oh my. Esta, this kid knows nothing about me?"
"Seems that way. I thought he knew at least a little."
Esta tilted her head at me, like she was staring at someone whose gears had suddenly jammed despite working fine before.
"...My apologies. Or is she an adopted daughter...?"
"Ah, I get it. Hehehe~"
Ludbekia leaned forward and held up three fingers toward me.
"This is my age~"
"...Thirty?"
"Ahahaha!"
Ludbekia burst into tinkling laughter, and Esta's eyes widened briefly before she smirked.
"Phoenix. The Marchioness Ludbekia is thirty-eight this year—"
"Oh, Esta?"
"Ahem."
"Hehehe. What an amusing student. Let me reintroduce myself. Marchioness Ludbekia, thirty-eight years old."
"No way."
I was genuinely shocked.
"You don't look it at all."
Ten years older, yet she looked younger than ten years ago.
"Blessed by mana, I suppose. Remember this well, Phoenix. People who reach a certain realm... sometimes their bodies turn back the clock."
I knew. In-game, it was systems like "rejuvenation" or "reincarnation reset"—dropping characters level 96+ back to level 1 with a youth-boosted body for regrowth.
"Makes me feel like I'm back in my virgin days~ This is exactly how I looked before my first child. Ah, hair color and such are a bit different, but. Hehehe."
"I-is that so."
"Hmm."
Esta raised an eyebrow at me.
"Looks like you're in a tough spot with someone like Marchioness Ludbekia."
Her gaze subtly drifted to my pants, but she quickly looked surprised and turned away.
"Oh? Could it be this auntie type is your taste~?"
"I'll hold my tongue."
I was doing my best to refine and control the mana flowing downward, but one slip and I could be in trouble.
—Be careful. Your soul is yours, but the fact that it once dwelt in Regiph Hapsderk's body, even for a moment...
Hapsderk.
—Ratatosk poured out curses to the very end. We don't know how it'll manifest, but a being's curse always leaves malice in this world.
The curse of Haps.
"If I'd met 'madam' twenty years ago, I might've made a move before another man claimed you."
"Oh my, I'm flattered you mean it. And now? The kid puts you off~? Or do you prefer the young ones? Or maybe..."
Ludbekia crooked her eyes like crescent moons and pointed at Esta.
"Only women who can ride unicorns, something like that?"
"Pfft!?"
Esta spat out her tea mid-sip.
"If that's really it, well, too bad. For some reason... feels like I finally found a good one after ten years."
"M-Marchioness."
"It's true? Ten years without a single man stirring my heart, and just looking at you, my soul's pulled in. Like becoming a girl again?"
This woman was going off the rails.
"Um, Phoenix?"
And not just any rail-off.
"I mentioned I have a daughter, right? Take good care of her, fellow 'special admittee.'"
"......Pardon?"
"Seiya Ludbekia. I pushed her into special admission this time. Age... seventeen."
"......?"
"Oh! Same age as you, Phoenix—what a coincidence!"
"......."
Using her daughter as bait to hook me.
'Not Seia Hapsderk, but Seiya Ludbekia (17). Faking the name and age.'
Even doctoring her daughter's name and age.
"Th-that's... rude on first meeting, but what about me catches your eye so much?"
"Feels like if my son came back alive, he'd look just like you?"
"......Pardon?"
"Since I'm helping with the special class's practical training for once..."
Ludbekia leaned her upper body way forward, propped her chin on one hand, and tilted her head sideways.
"You can treat me like a son, right?"