I’m Sick of the Kind Protagonist, so I Might as Well Just Die - Chapter 58

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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#58
“You knew you’d die, and yet you’ve escalated the situation like this? Now?”
“I saw in the status window that the Ancient Gods were enjoying themselves.”
“That doesn’t make sense! You’re knowingly walking toward death just to entertain those old relics?”
Leonas smiled faintly.
“It’s a bit hypocritical for someone who dies habitually to say that to me.”
“I’m a sinner who must fulfill some quota of comedy and tragedy, so that’s why I do this.”
“A sinner? What jailer would throw themselves into prison to save a criminal, you fool?”
Leonas shook his head as if he’d just witnessed the world’s greatest idiot, then extended his right hand.
“Regardless, the Ancient Gods won’t be able to get truly angry. This is all something I’m orchestrating with their own power.”
I stared at the white light gathering in his outstretched palm, and my brows suddenly furrowed deeply.
“Wait. Seeing that power makes me realize something about my curse too….”
“What?”
“The collateral Imperial Family member Aurelia wanted to escape the castle. But the me inside her wanted to return to the castle and witness the dumbfounded expressions on your and Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike’s faces?”
“….”
“Then does Silpi’s curse react to the Aurelia of this world rather than to me?”
Leonas, who had been seriously contemplating my words, shook his head.
“I think the curse placed on you operates on a far more fundamental level.”
“…Could you explain it simply?”
“You wanted to create unexpected situations and watch people’s bewildered expressions, right?”
“Yes.”
“You felt that way, so wouldn’t great beings feel the same? Wouldn’t they want to make things even more difficult and strike you from behind?”
Certainly…. When Silpi had placed the curse on me, she was filled with pure malice—a desire to make me eat dirt. Leonas continued as I nodded in understanding.
“Moreover, Silverdragoon isn’t simply a monster placed in the Worlds; she’s the Professor’s avatar. A curse from such an immense being wouldn’t operate flatly or one-dimensionally.”
“In my previous life, I succeeded in protecting you all, and in the life before that, I succeeded in the bombing attack…?”
Leonas clicked his tongue.
“You need to think about yourself more deeply. Your desire didn’t end at ‘protecting’ or ‘succeeding in the attack,’ did it? You wanted to witness with your own eyes the world transforming because of your actions.”
I froze as if struck by those words.
“Witnessing the world transform with my own eyes….”
My true desire—something I hadn’t even recognized in myself—coiled around my entire body like an enormous serpent.
“That’s right. That’s what I was like.”
As I spoke the acknowledgment aloud, it became clearer. In a world without Silverdragoon, I had contemplated ways to capture the dragon because I wanted to live without worry alongside the villagers.
“To live each day filled only with things I loved, without being bound by affection to a foolish man. To see the children I protected grow into adults…. That’s the life I wanted.”
Simultaneously, I could no longer avoid acknowledging everything I had deliberately refused to consider deeply until now. I wanted to witness Leonas’s meticulously written sentences becoming reality, Mure transforming day by day after gaining her name, and the expression on Perenustus’s face as he confirmed it all.
***
My desire to see this and that was fulfilled sooner than expected. With a resounding trumpet fanfare, Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike and Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis appeared side by side on the highest balcony of the Imperial Palace.
“I convey my heartfelt joy at the strengthening of the Commoner’s Assembly’s voice and the establishment of a special deliberative body.”
As Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike’s cold declaration rang out, cheers erupted from the Palace Square. When Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis waved his hand, waves of roaring acclaim reverberated against the stone walls of the Palace.
“They make quite the matching pair, don’t they?”
Perenustus and I stood in the Garden, nestled among the crowds that filled the main Palace and the Square. Struck by how coldly he delivered this compliment, I glanced at Perenustus before turning my gaze away.
The nobility gathered in the Garden, the merchants standing at the boundary between Garden and Square, the commoners waving handkerchiefs in the Palace Square beyond the Castle Gate—all were fixated on the balcony. Not only the people, but even the observing Ancient Gods kept their gaze relentlessly fixed on the noble pair standing there.
‘Leonas really pulled it off.’
Standing beside Perenustus, I rubbed my arms as goosebumps rose while hearing the crowds chanting Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis’s name. As the praise for Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis grew louder, the surrounding nobility began hurling insults at us as if venting their frustration.
“The Imperial Princess’s lover and the Grand Duke’s lover are husband and wife? This is truly a matter that will be remembered throughout history!”
“Who would have thought he’d gain his title by offering his own wife to the Grand Duke, and the moment he solidified his position, he’d attach himself to the Imperial Princess?”
“Look at them standing shoulder to shoulder like a couple of lovers. How shameless must one be to manage such a thing?”
As if those words were a signal, Perenustus and I deliberately leaned our heads against each other. Simultaneously, the sound of disapproving clicks of tongues echoed from all directions.
“This is precisely why one must consider lineage.”
“My, when someone of lowly birth obtains a title beyond their station, the shameful things they do…”
“Our Grand Duke up there is already demonstrating it so well with his laughter.”
“Only the Imperial Princess deserves our pity.”
Had Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike heard that comment about pity, she would have been most angered by it. While I was inwardly clicking my tongue, Perenustus’s voice reached me.
-Aurelia.
‘Yes?’
-Today, I will bring down Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis and seat Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike on the throne.
‘I suspected as much.’
-…Your response seems far too calm.
‘I anticipated it.’
Perenustus fell silent for a moment.
I looked up at the two figures on the balcony. Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis, who had been waving toward the Square, tilted his head toward Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike and whispered something.
-I’m the only one seething here. This is my first time writing an ending where the male protagonist of my world goes to the guillotine.
‘I’ve died multiple times, and dying cleanly in one swift blow like the guillotine hurts far less. Leonas has already been prepared for this for quite some time, so don’t dwell on it too much and just proceed.’
Perenustus narrowed his long eyes and looked down at me. I deliberately turned my gaze away and looked at Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis and Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike. Just as Perenustus said, the perfectly matched pair stepped forward as the roar from the Square reached its peak.
Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike was the first to speak.
“It has been several years since the Emperor has lain unconscious. As the sole blood of the great Emperor, I must speak words of importance to all of you.”
The noise and clamor from the Square subsided. In the expectant silence, Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike’s voice resonated.
“A movement of treason has been discovered.”
The temperature of the silence shifted at this unexpected declaration.
“My husband, the Empire’s sole Grand Duke, sought to place a collateral member of the Imperial Family at the forefront and murder both me and my father to seize the throne.”
Arrow-like gazes pierced toward me and Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis. In the suffocating silence, Perenustus gripped my arm tightly.
-Run, Aurelia. This is not the method I discussed with Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike!
‘Really? You warned me not to trust anyone, and now you’re experiencing what you did to your own disciple?’
Just as I responded calmly, Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis also remained motionless beside Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike, as if hearing someone else’s tale.
▶ [Emergency Observation Alert] The Imperial Princess’s Creator Betrayed!
All entities under observation!
The Fourth Entity and the Sixth Entity burst into laughter!
The Ninth Entity recoils in shock!
Current observation concentration limit exceeded
— Betting Status: Grand Duke Escape 8 vs Execution 4
Within the Imperial Palace, preparations had already been completed, and Leonas’s Knights were drawing their blades against him.
-Aurelia. This is no time for leisurely jests!
‘Perenustus, you’d better steel yourself. The developments Leonas has orchestrated are far from simple.’
I teased Perenustus while awaiting the activation of the ‘system’ Leonas had meticulously constructed. In that moment, Knights who had rushed into the Garden separated Perenustus and me. Just as Perenustus reflexively tried to exert his strength, the people in the Palace Square began to move.
A low murmur, like a minor commotion, spread seamlessly through the densely gathered crowd, and noise gradually rose. The handkerchiefs that had been waving in cheers now covered the faces of those who had lost their smiles.
[Truth speaks through silence]
Those who had covered their faces with handkerchiefs bearing the same inscription looked upward, as if awaiting a verdict. Leonas, who had not spoken a single word until now, gazed down upon them.
And he smiled brilliantly at the people—not a savage bitter smile, nor a forced one, but the serene smile of one who had harbored a long-cherished wish and now faced its realization.
“From this moment forward, this world belongs to you.”
Before his words could even finish, the Knights wrenched Leonas’s arms behind his back and bound him. Even as he was led away in humiliation, his spine remained unbowed.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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