The Trash Young Master Refuses to Remember
A trash young master who refuses to remember. A piece of garbage whose only redeeming quality was his looks. If it weren't for his face, he'd have died long ago. A complete and utter bastard not even worthy of the breath he wasted.
And then.
"Well, at least the bastard died well."
The voice of a girl I used to be close with — a younger girl I considered a friend — slammed into my brain like an auditory hallucination, chattering by my ear.
The curses that users had supposedly spat out in unison for that bastard's beloved otome game, or whatever the hell it was, were so creative they were almost laughable.
'At this point, isn't this just straight-up bullying...?'
Recalling those low-tier evaluations I'd never cared about, I thought what a viciously criticized character he was.
Turned out that bastard was me. No, to be precise, I had now become that bastard.
Rian Rojer.
"...Ha."
That pretty boy from the illustration my little sister had once shoved in my face, practically spraying saliva as she worshipped him. That bastard, who should only exist inside a drawing, was now locked in a staring contest with me from beyond the full-length mirror.
"His looks are seriously insane."
Pale skin, almost translucent, was plastered with damp, glossy strands of blood-red hair as deep as freshly bloomed rose petals. With every breath, the rich fragrance of living roses emanated faintly from my body, giving off an air of nobility. Even just standing still and blinking, a unique, languid, and decadent aura spilled out uncontrollably.
Through long lashes that cast deep shadows, ruby-like crimson eyes stared intently at me, and the strange, twisted feeling it gave me was just damn irritating.
No wonder that girl had been absolutely feral over this character, cursing up a storm while simultaneously simping. Even as a guy, I could instantly see why his face worked.
"So why the hell did it have to be me...?"
Normally, shouldn't the person who actually played the game be the one to transmigrate? And what benefit was there for me, a guy, to end up in a female-oriented world?
I was clutching my head as it grew more complicated when—
Bang—!
The door swung open without a knock. The woman who entered without even bothering to muffle her footsteps was wearing a maid uniform.
"Tch..."
The moment our eyes met, she clicked her tongue openly.
"So you're awake."
A dry voice that held not a trace of warmth, no matter how hard you looked. Her furrowed brow showed no intention of even trying to hide her disgust.
I'd heard Rian was a rotten scoundrel, but it seemed he was treated this openly even by the household staff.
"After all that ruckus... no, that mess you caused yesterday, I see you can still sleep with a clear conscience."
"...Huh?"
"Huh. Tch. Don't tell me you're planning to play dumb and claim you don't remember?"
I was dumbfounded by the flagrant insubordination happening right in front of me. My mind went completely blank, and before I knew it, a stupid-sounding response slipped out.
"Uh... I'm sorry...?"
Instantly.
The maid's brow furrowed as if she'd just bitten into a bug.
What the hell? She looked like she was bracing herself, on full alert, wondering what crazy thing I was about to do next. What did I even do...
No, well, I probably did do something. The original owner of this body, that is.
"Ha. Now you're really scraping the bottom of the barrel... Fine. It's not like we'll be seeing each other anymore anyway."
The woman clicked her tongue irritably and spat out coldly.
"The Head wishes to see you. Since you're awake, go to the Head's office immediately."
As if she didn't want to be tied to the same space as me for even a single second, she whirled around and stormed out of the room with irritated steps.
Bang—! Slam—!
I just blinked blankly at the roughly shut door.
The Head's office? Where the hell was that?
The back of my head throbbed painfully. I'd never played the game, so how could I possibly know the mansion's layout?
"Wait, is there even a game that shows the inside of the mansion where the main characters live?"
All I had in my head were a few fragmentary details my little sister had rambled about.
"Haa..."
For now, I'd just have to go out there and figure things out as I went.
Dragging my heavy feet, I stepped out of the room. The ridiculously wide and ornate hallway stretched endlessly before me. Just then, I spotted a male servant walking by and carefully called out to him—
"Excuse me, could you tell me where the Head's office..."
Clatter—! Bang!
Before I could even finish my sentence.
The servant, who had made eye contact with me, dropped the silver tray he was carrying. He collapsed to his knees on the spot and prostrated himself flat on the floor.
"I-I'm so sorry! My eyes were blind, and I almost dared to brush against the young master's noble body! Please, forgive me...!"
He pressed his forehead to the ground, trembling like a leaf, looking like he was about to lick my shoes at any moment. My hand, which I'd merely raised into the air to ask for directions, froze in an awkward position.
No, I wasn't trying to hit you.
"That's not it. I'm trying to get to the Head's office, so which way..."
"T-t-the biggest red door at the end of that, that hallway over there! Please, I beg you, don't be angry...! Eep!"
Trembling violently, the servant pointed out the direction, then, before I could even lower my hand, he scurried away on all fours like an animal and vanished around the corner of the hallway. He didn't even glance back at the tray lying on the floor.
"Seriously, how much of a fucking maniac was he on a daily basis?"
Letting out a frustrated sigh, I slowly walked toward the direction the servant had pointed.
Soon, I stood before a heavy wooden door. I swallowed once and carefully turned the handle.
Creeeeak—
The air inside the room that opened with a heavy scraping sound was frozen solid, like the dead of winter.
My eyes first met a woman sitting crookedly in a massive leather chair at the head of the wide office.
Hair similar to Rian's, but in an even darker shade of deep crimson. Amethyst eyes with sharply upturned corners pierced through me coldly.
So the person called the Head was that woman? ...Had the Head position been passed down to Rian's older sister at a young age?
She was impossibly young for a Head, and breathtakingly beautiful in a cruel sort of way.
Beside her stood a tall woman with shining emerald eyes, and behind that woman, hiding and trembling at just the sound of my footsteps, was a tiny girl.
"..."
"..."
Killing intent? No, what I felt was utter contempt, icy disdain, and avoidance.
They were family, right...? The way they looked at me was nothing like how you'd treat family.
The red-haired woman sitting askew in the leather chair looked down at me coldly.
"So you came walking in on your own two feet. Looks like you're ready to pack your bags."
"...Huh? Bags?"
Pack my bags? My dizzy head couldn't grasp the situation at all.
What the hell was she talking about, telling me to pack up and leave the moment I opened my eyes?
"...You're being kicked out... you trash."
Behind the woman with emerald eyes.
The tiny girl hiding there was trembling as she spat out the words. The look she gave me was filled with extreme terror, as if she were looking at a man-eating monster.
"Haa. Irina, stay back."
The woman with emerald eyes let out a small sigh and shielded the child. A cold aura radiated from her tall figure, and her icy gaze fixed on me.
"Rian. You're in the presence of the Head. Stand up straight."
Her voice was like ice, and my shoulders flinched involuntarily. Not knowing what to do or say, I stood there like a mute when the red-haired Head looking down at me clicked her tongue.
Interpreting my stupid expression as 'defiance,' she pulled a stack of documents from a drawer and tossed them onto the floor.
—Thump, flutter.
"This is the record of the public funds you blew at the gambling den a few days ago, along with the payment for the territory's spirit stones."
"...Huh?"
"Even the allowance I've been giving you feels like a waste now. Sign it. As of today, I am excommunicating you from the Rojer family."
Excommunication?
I felt like I'd been hit hard on the head. Was I being thrown out onto the streets of this unfamiliar otherworld, with no support, the moment I opened my eyes?
Clatter—!
As I clutched my dizzy head in silence, the woman with emerald eyes tossed a silver fountain pen at my feet. The pen rolled across the documents and stopped right in front of my shoe.
"Don't be stubborn. I can't do this anymore either, Rian. Don't make a scene in front of the Head and just sign quietly."
Her cold voice carried a hint of profound exhaustion. The tiny girl hiding behind her also clutched her skirt tightly and whispered.
"Hurry up... sign and get out, you monster..."
In this brutal space where hatred and contempt poured down on me just for breathing, I glanced down at the documents scattered on the floor.
Holy shit, how many zeros were there?
The amount of debt I could see at a glance was no joke. Even without thinking hard, I knew that the moment I signed that paper, I'd be saddled with this massive debt and meet a miserable end.
What should I do? Should I just drop to my knees and beg?
As I just stared blankly at the fountain pen, the Head sitting at the head of the table sharply raised her amethyst eyes.
"I have no time to waste. Pick up the pen. Now."
An icy killing intent constricted my throat.
Instead of the papers on the floor, I looked at the red-haired Head slouching in her chair and carefully opened my mouth.
No matter how hostile she was, we were still blood-related family, so surely communication was possible. Even if I was trembling inside, I had to act as brazen and wronged as possible.
"Well, um, sis. Isn't it a bit too much to kick me out the moment I open my eyes?"
Instantly.
A silence fell over the Head's office, as if the frozen air itself had cracked.
"...What?"
The cruel smile hanging from the corner of the Head's lips froze solid in an instant.
"S-Sis...?"
The woman with emerald eyes also widened her eyes as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, and even the trembling little girl stared at me in shock.
It was different from killing intent or contempt. It was pure confusion, like she was looking at a madman who'd been shot in the head.
I'd only called her that to be friendly, thinking she was the older sister who'd inherited the Head position at a young age. Why were they looking at me like I'd just said something completely insane?
Cold, clammy sweat broke out down my spine. An instinctive intuition slammed into my brain — if I clumsily pretended to know things or made excuses, I might actually lose my head.
At times like this, the only way was to let go of everything and go with pure honesty. I wet my parched lips and carefully opened my mouth.
"Um."
"..."
"It's just that I really don't remember anything."
Silence.
The bizarre atmosphere in the Head's office grew even heavier.
"...What?"
The woman with emerald eyes echoed back, as if her soul had left her body. Without avoiding her gaze, I very honestly and plainly dropped the bomb.
"The truth is, who I am, where this place is... and what kind of crazy shit I did to get kicked out the moment I opened my eyes — I don't have the slightest clue about any of it."
"..."
"So, yeah... Amnesia? I think that's what's going on with me."
Hey, what was I supposed to do if I genuinely didn't know?