chapter 1
1 – Encounter with the Darkness
I’ve lived immaturely.
If he had been a child of a commoner, he would have been sold into slavery by his father, and if he had been a nobleman, he would have been disowned from his family and placed at the forefront of the battlefield.
However, his gold eyes, which were as bright as the sun, and his status as the crown prince, which he acquired through it, obscured his past.
The royal family, whose talent, personality, and future are all clouded over.
However, one eye that holds the sun is truly clear, blinding those who face it.
A madman with golden eyes that even blurred the eyes of the once intelligent emperor.
And sooner or later, he will rise to the throne and be called a tyrant and will incur fear.
First Prince Maximilian La Luminous Pan Arcradium.
That was the public evaluation of me as a human being.
But it will be different now.
Today, this moment.
It reminded me of memories from my previous life.
“Do you have any discomfort, Your Highness Maximilian?”
“No, so let’s all stop and leave.”
“But….”
I think the story will be long.
I frowned slightly at that, and the people who were looking at my complexion with their heads down jumped up from their seats in amazement.
Then, without anyone saying anything first, he hurriedly began to speak.
“No! Then we will step back and try.”
“You must take a rest today.”
“Get well soon!”
It looks very funny.
Those who have lived longer than they will live, and those who are confused by a kid who has not lived half of his life.
Of course, the most ridiculous thing would be me.
Because I was an idiot who was in a hurry to hide my incompetence with authority and listened to foolish noises.
Kikik.
Tak.
When the people who came to check on my safety left the room, the room quickly regained its tranquility.
This is the room where I spent 10 years.
But today, this room was strangely spacious and quiet,
‘It’s boring.’
It felt boring.
It was a strange sensation.
To feel the shabby chicken coop-like house you saw in your dreams rather than this spacious and elegant room.
It has changed.
Through this brief exchange of less than a minute, I realized that my existence had fundamentally changed.
‘Maybe it wasn’t just a simple dream.’
Then what should I do?
‘I have to change.’
I scratched my bandaged forehead and decided to sort out the current situation first.
First of all, today was a place to celebrate the 15th birthday of Maximilian, the Crown Prince of the Empire.
A hunting contest was held before the birthday party, and I, who participated in it, lost my mind for a moment and fell off the horse, probably because of excessive drinking the day before.
I wonder if the shock caused a problem in my head, in a previous life… A strange memory came to mind.
According to that memory, I seem to be a character in a game called ‘The Gardener of Thorns’.
The beginning of the original work begins from the moment I turned 17 and was appointed the student council president of the Imperial Magic Academy ‘Soleil’.
I was appointed as the student council president in early April.
In other words, the main character is a transfer student.
It is an impossible story to be a transfer student in a place where aristocrats and royalty attend, but she is a person born with a special attribute called ‘moon’, not the 4 elements that are the basics of this world.
The moon cannot shine on its own, and is described more plainly than the sun.
But even if it doesn’t stand out, it’s a graceful existence that subtly reflects the surroundings.
It is an attribute that specializes in developing abilities in harmony with other attributes.
If you borrow the knowledge from your previous life, you can see it as a ‘buffer and healer’.
Anyway, the heroine transferred with such a special ability begins with an interview with me, and she begins a fun and lively academy life.
In this process, the story progresses as you get closer to the other targets, and in the end, the story of driving out the dark cloud ‘shadow of the end’ over the empire unfolds.
If you tell someone such a fairytale story….
‘I’m sure there will be a call for a priest.’
The crown prince is arrogant, glaring at others, intimidating others, drinking alcohol like water, and the only thing worth looking at is his good looks.
Suddenly, such a person is talking about absurd stories that the ‘Shadow of the End’ in the founding myth will threaten the empire, and furthermore, the world.
If that’s the case, wouldn’t even the father, no matter how dazzled by the sun’s eyes, bring up the story of handing over the throne to him?
Now, what should I do?
‘I should build up results.’
Even if the same word is spoken, the status of the word changes depending on the position of the being.
So I have to earn enough trust that everyone will listen to me.
The problem was that it wasn’t that easy.
In the game, the character Maximilian is portrayed as a late-stage plastic surgery.
In the latter half of the game, he boasts performance that cannot be compared with other target characters, but until then, he is treated as a very quiet character.
‘Did I say Gilgamesh without ability….’
I remember calling this body that in my previous life.
It’s unfortunate.
Because the grades are different, unlike other target characters, joining the heroine is delayed.
That’s why it’s later to see the heroine’s virtues, but the event for joining them is also cumbersome and annoying.
Is the performance excellent because you joined after going through so much patience?
No, unlike the other guys who are active from the beginning, their specs are so low that they are actually described as the weakest.
It’s a problem even if you focus on fostering after taking all of that into consideration, but even if you invest twice as much effort into other guys, you won’t be able to see any clear results.
Still, there are some results, but until the moment that goes beyond the middle, only regretful sounds come out.
‘It’s because my position overlaps with that guy.’
The 2nd Prince Dior.
If I hadn’t been born with the characteristics of His Majesty the first emperor, he is my half-brother who is evaluated as having inherited the position of crown prince right away.
Among the four elements of fire, water, wind, and earth, he was born with the attribute of fire that overlaps with mine.
The attribute of fire gets tired quickly, but the instant firepower is the most outstanding attribute.
So it would be more beneficial to hire two people, but unfortunately, in the game, only one of Dior and I could be recruited into the party.
This is not a game, so of course you can recruit both of them into your party, but
‘My pride won’t allow it.’
Perhaps because my pride was reflected, a necessary condition for the event for the heroine to join me was goodwill with Dior.
The moment Dior develops a crush on the protagonist, more than just an acquaintance, Maximilian can’t be recruited as a colleague forever.
Tricky conditions.
Furthermore, if you choose me, you will be forced to play with restrictions that prevent you from using the powerful firepower of fire from the beginning.
This is why I, who is born with the attributes of the sun, is ignored and called ‘something without ability’.
‘It’s awful.’
To make a game for women, and to see the true ending, a design that forces restrictive play.
It seemed that the ratings were leaning towards the two extremes.
I think I liked that part in my previous life.
Anyway, at the moment of crossing the middle of the middle after crossing the thorny path, Maximilian finally awakens to a new attribute.
The attribute of ‘sun’, just like His Majesty the first emperor!
“hahahaha!”
Yes, that’s how it should be!
Cancer, of course it should be.
Did my father, who had a very good eye, put me in the position of crown prince simply because of these eyes?
The sun emits its own light.
It is an existence that burns the surroundings, but also warmly illuminates them.
Perhaps it is a reflection of that characteristic, the solar attribute possesses the ability to be active on any battlefield.
Basically, it is immune to status ailments, and even possesses the sustaining ability to automatically recover its physical strength when given time.
In the latter half, you can grant this ability to your teammates, and you become an existence that perfectly suppresses that guy who is simply superior in firepower.
Like His Majesty, the first emperor in the founding myth of the country who led mankind to victory by shining light on the surroundings!
It was to the point where even if I didn’t want to laugh, I started laughing.
Understandably, I became the target of ridicule and contempt, and I felt like I was getting a bit of a reward for my life that I had just started due to the backlash against him.
‘Mmm….’
When I think about it now, I’ve never had a minor illness in the past, and even when I was slightly injured, I quickly left my seat and got up.
Even though it wasn’t revealed, the power of the sun already dwells in this body.
‘Hmm. That’s probably why.’
Despite the fall of the crown prince, there are only four or five people who have come to worry about his comfort, and this must be the reason for this situation.
For a very brief moment, I thought that my past behavior might have been a problem, but whatever.
I just need to show a different side of me from now on.
Anyway, a stronger impression of being human is left in the mind.
It’s just a matter of making a strong impression so that the mistakes of the past are forgotten!
If you have any problems….
“Whoa.”
Even though I received the help of the main character, it must be the part that I did not show much change until the middle of the work.
This isn’t a game, it’s reality.
It is a story that there is no idiot who dares to choose the thorny path like a pervert.
Nine out of ten you’ll recruit him into your party.
‘It’s done.’
In the first place, there is a possibility of a dirty ending, whether it’s a reverse harem or something.
No matter how much a hero saved a country, a being who had to give birth to an heir would be so promiscuous that he would not be suitable as an emperor’s spouse.
This body contains the power of the sun passed down from the ancestors.
Even without the help of that filthy bastard, I can develop my abilities by myself.
The pain of walking barefoot on a thorny road is sure to follow, but wouldn’t it be better than walking through an unknown fog?
It was a car to say goodbye to the indolent life of the past while organizing my thoughts like that.
Smart.
─ Mr. Maximilian. Priscilla, her fiancé, came to visit.
Priscilla Lou Arvest van Istria.
I’m Maximilian’s fiancée, and she’s in charge of the role of the villainous girl in this game.
“Stop by.”
Kikik.
Ttogak.
The door opened and the guy came out.
A border-like beauty with soft and elegant hair with blue light, and a bewitching self-eye that makes anyone lose their eyes the first time they meet eyes.
“It has been intense. Are you feeling better?”
There was something about her that made her look enchanting, but she had always been someone I didn’t like.
‘Why did she say she would get engaged to a guy like this?’
It made me want to directly question myself from six years ago.
She is a guy who is evaluated as a gifted woman to the extent of being compared to him, because it was difficult for her to harbor good feelings.
This was the first time this guy had asked for a direct meeting like this, as she was considered a thorn in the eye and had only had formal meetings for six years.
Did she still worry about her fiancé’s safety?
Maybe.
But now, no matter how I think about it, the accident didn’t flow in a good direction.
That would be the case too.
“Yes, it’s been a while.”
Because this guy was the shaman of the ‘shadow of the end’ that would bring an end to the empire and the world.