Episode 97. Conclusion (2)

I tilted my head in confusion. Then Beth, her face turning bright red, shouted at the top of her lungs.

“You… You’re the male lead! You were created to love me! It’s cheating for you to look at me like that!”

To Beth, Daniel was nothing more than a character in a game, even as they stood face to face, speaking to each other.

It was Percy who responded to her outburst.

“No being in this world is made to sacrifice themselves for another. You need to realize that the nonsense you’re spouting is pure delusion. I’m just curious if you can finally die now.”

“Y-You…!!”

Beth went pale at Percy’s words, but quickly turned red again as she glared at me.

“This is all your fault! You’re just a villainess! Why do you keep doing things to mess everything up?!”

Seeing her still blaming me made me laugh quietly to myself.

“I want to live too, you know?”

What she was really saying was that I should quietly die for her happiness. She was incredibly selfish.

“Speaking of which, I have a question for you. How do I return to the original world?”

“The original world? Don’t tell me you’re a player too?”

“Yes.”

“H… Ha ha ha…”

Beth laughed hysterically, as if she had lost her mind, then asked in a cold voice.

“And what do you plan to do if you return? The you in that world is probably already dead.”

“Dead? Me?”

“Yes. Didn’t you know? You must have died; that’s why you ended up possessing a game character. How else could you have come here?”

“But I…”

I blinked, trying to process her words. As I thought about it, my memories just before entering the game were hazy. The realization left me speechless, and Julius, noticing my shock, shrugged.

“It seems like you both have a lot to say to each other.”

Then he issued a command.

“Take her away.”

The imperial guards stepped forward to escort Beth out, leaving behind an unsettling tension in the room.

* * *

The game had ended, and I had avoided death. But that didn’t mean all my questions were answered. After sending Beth off to prison, Percy, Julius, and I settled into Julius’s office. I narrowed my eyes and asked.

“Julius, what do you know? Spill it.”

“What do you mean?”

Julius tried to feign innocence, but I could already tell he knew more than he let on. His earlier actions, particularly changing my name, were more than enough to make me suspicious. I pressed him seriously.

“You deliberately changed my name. The moment you did, the system crashed. Now, tell me what you know.”

Julius hesitated, scratching his cheek with his finger, but eventually, he began to speak, and once he started, the words flowed easily.

“Sienna, like you, I also endured years of abuse. Father was erratically temperamental, and Mother took out her mental anguish on me. By the time I first sought out Duke Stewart, my mind was filled with nothing but thoughts of revenge against our parents.”

Julius paused, glancing at Percy. Percy, seated with his hands clasped together, took over the story. He had put his gloves back on, as if he was still uncomfortable with his bare hands.

“My situation was similar. My father believed it was strange for the Stewarts to be subjugated to Zulatán. He said that the emperor had some strange power that made the Stewarts kneel. To overcome it, he tried to strip me of my emotions from a young age. I grew disillusioned with the world itself.”

The reason they were taking turns sharing their tragic pasts was clear: they both had something in common. Parental abuse and a desire for revenge.

“So you both endured similar pain? And that’s why you joined forces?”

“Sienna, you were the link between us,” Percy said.

Normally, they hadn’t considered each other’s existence, but through me, they had found a common cause in seeking revenge. But how exactly did they plan to achieve this revenge? Their pain and circumstances were different, after all.

Julius answered my unspoken question.

“Then, I learned a secret from Father about the world itself. That everything was predetermined. In the empire, there was always an emperor, and all the dukes were to obey him. Just like that.”

Julius’s words sounded strange, but I knew exactly what he was describing. It was the world-building! The foundation of the game itself.

‘Of course.’

I thought.

‘For a game to progress, it needs a world to operate within.’

The barcode on Julius and Percy’s hands had marked their roles. Emperor, Duke—those titles were necessary to the world’s structure.

Even if these characters didn’t appear in the game itself, they were essential for maintaining the world’s background and setting. The roles needed to exist, even if the individuals did not. So when the emperor or duke changed, the barcode would transfer to the new person’s hand.

‘Ugh, that’s creepy.’

I thought, shuddering.

The realization that their entire existence, and even their suffering, had been determined by some external script was deeply unsettling. It wasn’t just a story—they had been living out their predetermined roles, each marked by a barcode that dictated their fate.

What would it feel like if the world I lived in was predetermined from birth, with everything set in stone? And what if the entire world revolved around a single protagonist? It would be an incredibly unsettling and bizarre existence.

Julius casually snapped his fingers and spoke.

“Then I started noticing something strange. Why was Sienna the only one with the last name Liata? Was there a reason for it? I began to suspect something when I ascended to the throne. Just as only a Zulatán can inherit the throne, I realized that the name ‘Liata’ was reserved exclusively for the villainess.”

So, there was a reason why Sienna was the only one with an odd surname in this world. Even if all the other royals were to die, a villainess could never ascend to the throne.

It made sense now why Julius had gone out of his way to have me take on the name Sienna Zulatán.

“So you changed my name for that reason?”

I asked to confirm my suspicion, and Julius shrugged. His response was much more serious than I had anticipated.

“It wasn’t just about changing your name. If it didn’t work, I was prepared to take my own life to ensure you became the only Zulatán.”

“Julius!”

He was willing to risk his life! I called his name, horrified at the thought, but Julius just smiled lazily.

“It wasn’t because I particularly liked you or anything. The idea of a predetermined fate was something my pride as a human being couldn’t accept.”

“But still, you did it for me, didn’t you?”

“Well…”

This idiot. Had I called him an idiot so many times that he’d really become one?

‘Did you think I’d be grateful if you passed on the throne and gave me freedom that way?’

More likely, he would have felt burdened by the heavy responsibility left on me. I was just relieved that Julius hadn’t gone through with ending his life.

As my emotions welled up and my eyes began to mist, Julius, his face turning red, waved his hands dismissively.

“Hey, hey. Don’t start crying now. It’s weird seeing you like this.”

“You should be glad. If you had died, I’d have cursed you out.”

“Who curses out their own brother…?”

Before Julius could feel too awkward, Percy spoke up, his eyes shining as if he was looking for praise.

“It was my idea, Sienna. When this foolish emperor said he was going to end his life, I suggested that it would be faster for you to marry me and change your name.”

But Julius, still slightly embarrassed, cut Percy off with a sharp look.

“I don’t know why you had to butt in, Duke. Are you trying to win Sienna’s favor?”

“Sienna loves only me in this world.”

“How shameless. Now that the cursed fate is gone, there’s no need for you to stick around. Sienna will live in luxury in the palace.”

“You should win Sienna’s heart before saying things like that. And it’s unseemly for a grown man to cling to his sister.”

“What are you saying, you thief!”

What were these two grown men doing? And, really, it wasn’t me acting out of character, but them.

I sighed and said, “Both of you, stop it. Since when did you both like me so much that you’d argue over it?”

“Indeed. Let’s just leave this wretched emperor to die alone in solitude.”

“You didn’t care about Sienna either, Duke, so you’re in no position to talk.”

“I would never—”

“Enough! Both of you, stop talking!”

This was never going to end. At this rate, instead of having a meaningful conversation, we would just keep arguing endlessly.