I’m Sick of the Kind Protagonist, so I Might as Well Just Die - Chapter 80

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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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#80
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis and I had died so many times to Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike’s poison that I’d long since stopped counting on my fingers. It had been ages since I even bothered keeping track.
‘This is absurd! How many different poisons does she have?!’
I snapped my eyes open in exasperation, and the sight that greeted me was a bed overflowing with crimson lantern light, cloying fragrance, the ring of metal, and men—so many men.
I rubbed my face against my shoulder to dislodge the blindfold, then simply lay there, staring blankly at the ceiling. Whether the elaborately groomed men pressed their skin against mine or not, I couldn’t muster the energy to tense my limbs.
‘Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike wants something.’
I clenched my teeth and measured the changes wrought by my deaths.
‘The way Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike kills me changes every time. Through my hands, through food, through the air… It’s not just that the method and pathway of the poison differ.’
The concentration of the toxin was escalating. My body could feel it—she was using progressively deadlier compounds. And these more potent poisons left behind a hangover-like aftereffect even after I died and awakened.
‘Is Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike conditioning me?’
The moment that conclusion crystallized, the name of the one who’d issued such an absurd command naturally surfaced in my mind.
‘Perenustus.’
Because the penalty prevented him from orchestrating plans and acting directly, he’d entrusted everything to the most reliable person he knew—Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike. My mind grasped it perfectly.
But understanding it was one thing.
‘Dying over and over without landing a single blow of resistance—that really grinds my gears.’
I was trapped in this chamber, on this bed, beneath this crimson light, repeating the same cycle without knowing how many times I’d died. While I helplessly cycled through death and awakening, Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike and Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis were surely continuing their own learning beyond these walls. The thought stung with envy. Defiance kindled within me.
‘I want to land one blow of my own this time.’
Only then did I shove the men clinging to me aside and rise from the bed.
‘If I aim too high, the curse intervenes. So instead of grand objectives, plans, and vows—I’ll just chase small desires and slip through each immediate crisis.’
Clearing this stage brilliantly, becoming the savior of the twisted Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis, crushing Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike’s ambitions—none of that grandiose nonsense was necessary. What I needed right now was singular and simple.
‘To walk out of this chamber alive.’
That alone would suffice.
‘Once I leave this chamber, the story progresses. Once the story progresses, the scene changes. Once the scene changes, I won’t be tangled up with these half-naked men anymore.’
This level of resolve shouldn’t trigger the curse’s interference. Leaving a chamber isn’t an act requiring tremendous willpower or noble intent—it’s simply opening a door and walking through it.
‘If the curse prevents me from walking out on my own two feet, I’ll get one of these men to carry me out by force.’
If the concubines wouldn’t budge, I could always use Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis.
‘I’ll do what Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike does. She moves about without lifting a finger, as if being carried by priests since birth were the most natural thing in the world.’
If that was how the powerful moved in this world, then as Emperor, I had every right to do the same.
‘Let’s leave this chamber. Once I’m out, I’ll enact a law requiring proper clothing.’
With a goal crystallized, the will to act finally stirred within me.
“Don’t touch me.”
I rubbed my chin against my shoulder, twisted free of the ball wedged in my mouth, and issued the command. The concubines, their faces falling with disappointment, moved to press against me, but I narrowed my eyes and forbade even that.
“Clear my bed.”
The concubines stared at me with expressions of utter devastation before obediently sliding beneath the bed and prostrating themselves. I seized the moment to wrap the bed sheets around my body.
“My, my! Sister, why do you look so frightening today?”
Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike entered without a sound. Having died countless times, I’d come to recognize how extraordinarily strange this was—I was merely a figurehead Emperor, while the true power within the Palace rested in Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike’s hands.
“How about you, as a Saint, perform a consecration to soothe my troubled heart?”
“Oh, please. Consecrations require proper procedure at the Holy Temple.”
Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike parried with a laughing gaze. I was preparing to counter with the authority of the Holy Temple itself when Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis entered.
“Your Majesty. I have brought the sword of the Duchy you broke, refurbished according to your command.”
Once again, he was dragged in by two Knights, his arms pinned to their sides. Unlike Bilateia and myself, whose appearances grew increasingly desperate with each cycle, Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis wore the exact same attire I’d witnessed in previous iterations—thin leather straps barely concealing the essential areas, a brand seared into his muscular chest, and eyes with dilated pupils.
‘Ah. So Leonas is building a tolerance as well. His eyes are becoming less intoxicated with each passing moment.’
When our gazes met, he blinked slowly in response. Before we could even exchange a word of concern, the Knights shoved him onto my bed.
‘I didn’t even order this.’
I pulled him toward me before Bilateia could intervene, dragging him to the center of the bed where I sat. Bilateia, standing at the bed’s edge, clicked her tongue softly and furrowed her brow.
“I’ve already kneaded him thoroughly to suit your tastes. There’s no point in dragging him to places my hands can’t reach now—”
Crack!
Before Bilateia could finish speaking, I slapped Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis across the cheek. Though I’d thrown punches before, this was my first time striking someone’s face, and I’d misjudged the force—my palm stung.
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis couldn’t overcome the shock of the blow; his face remained frozen in place. Behind Bilateia, who covered her mouth with both hands in astonishment, I could see the Knights drawing sharp breaths.
‘I’m sorry, Leonas!’
Seizing the momentum, I grabbed Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis by the hair and struck his cheek again. A louder impact accompanied an even deeper silence.
“Are you coming to your senses? Or do you need another blow before you understand?”
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis spat blood onto my bed and glared at me with a menacing gaze.
‘Perfect. His mind is completely back.’
The pupils that had been hazily dilated from the drug finally regained their original fierce brilliance, fixed upon me. I tightened my grip on his hair as I observed my reflection in those crimson eyes.
“You are mine, devoted to me.”
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis’s expression hardened.
“As my possession, you cannot allow another’s hands to touch you without permission.”
These were words Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis had once spoken to me in the Previous World.
“And since you’re so beautifully made, I cannot simply carve away every part that’s been touched by another.”
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis’s lips twisted into a smile. I mirrored it with an identical grin.
“If you understand, straighten yourself and greet your master properly.”
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis slowly straightened his upper body while keeping his hair in my grip. The Knights rushed forward from both sides to restrain him, but I raised my hand to stop them.
“Leave him.”
The Knights awkwardly lowered their extended hands and retreated backward. Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis rose from the bed and met my gaze at eye level. The blows hadn’t completely purged the drug from his system—his eyes still rimmed red—but he seemed to have regained his composure with a reasonably composed demeanor. My relief was short-lived.
“So then, with what part of myself shall I honor my master? Shall I use my mouth, or something else?”
I nearly let a curse slip past my lips, but barely restrained myself. I glared at him with a twisted smile while tightening my grip, and turned my blame toward Bilateia.
“Holy Priestess. For someone who boasted of molding him to my tastes, he seems entirely unmanaged.”
“Well, that’s because you beat that pretty thing senseless and completely purged the drug from his system.”
“Which only proves you don’t understand my tastes at all. I don’t prefer someone marinated in drugs.”
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis chuckled and settled his weight directly onto my body.
‘Hey, do you have the entire structure of this place mapped out?’
I whispered so no one else could hear, and he nodded while pretending to suck on my ear. That was all I needed.
“How presumptuous. It should be I who rides you, not you who rides me.”
“Ah, so that’s your preference. However, with my hands bound behind my back like this, I’m unable to lift the great Emperor onto myself. Whatever shall we do?”
I glanced at his arms bound behind his back and smiled crookedly.
“What are you talking about? Weren’t you just showing off your chest?”
“….”
“Exactly. If you can snap through restraints like that in an instant, then you’re doing it intentionally.”
“….”
“Or perhaps not? I overestimated someone who merely fought me to a draw with no technique.”
A blue vein bulged at Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis’s temple. As I clicked my tongue and traced the protruding vein with my hand, he tore apart the leather restraints binding his arms.
“Good. Now that your hands are free, become my palanquin.”
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis, who had grasped my waist to lift me onto his body, suddenly furrowed his brows.
“Did you not hear me, or did you hear but fail to understand? Am I such a fool that I need to be explicitly ordered to embrace you and leave this chamber before I comprehend?”
Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis lifted me into his arms with that same furrowed expression. I shook my head gently while draping the large cloth covering my body across his as well.
“I’m exhausted by the sight of everything laid bare. There’s an art to concealment—it’s what gives things their true flavor.”
“…And where exactly are we going?”
Bilateia Fernichiosa Venisike posed the question with unmistakable mockery. I waved my hand to summon the Knights to block her from approaching me, then deigned to answer as though bestowing a favor.
“Having obtained something precious, I must naturally parade it about. The Emperor has no obligation to inform the Priestess of his destination, but if I must answer—such is my intention.”
As I tapped his shoulder lightly, Leonas Hagpethar Yuletanis rose to his feet. Though the drug’s effects had not entirely dissipated, he walked across the undulating bed without hesitation and reached the chamber door in an instant.
“Follow us.”
The Knights, who had been holding the door open with perfect decorum, followed behind us with disciplined precision. The oppressive bedroom, reeking of red lantern debauchery, receded into the distance behind us.
‘I survived. I escaped alive.’
Yet my joy was short-lived as an unwelcome status window materialized in the void.
▶ [Observation Alert] The attention of great beings!
The First Being shows interest in the current Worlds.
The Fourth Being intently observes the Emperor’s movements.
The Ninth Being expresses fervent anticipation for this development.
The Second, Third, Fifth, Seventh, and Eleventh Beings declare their spectation!
Observation concentration ▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮▮ surpassing critical threshold

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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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