My name is Oscar Sinclair.
I was the son of a noble family.
To be precise, I was the eldest son of a count’s household.
Unlike others, I was born into a rather wealthy family, so I spent my childhood in abundance.
I lived a peaceful childhood, leading an ordinary life not so different from others.
Unlike my previous life, this time my family was quite rich.
But it wasn’t my wealth—it was my parents’.
It was never my money.
So I just grew up modestly and normally.
However, I realized something.
That this was the world of [Dark Ariel].
From the day I realized that, my plan to simply enjoy a peaceful isekai life fell apart.
And so did my life… It changed completely.
***
“Oscar Sinclair.”
“…Yes, Your Highness.”
“So, what is it that you want?”
“I’m truly sorry, but I need support, Your Highness.”
“Again, you say?”
When I said I needed support again, Her Highness sighed, and I lowered my head.
Even I was going crazy from the shame of being such a burden, but I couldn’t return empty-handed.
Because we truly lacked support.
There were no soldiers to send, and only the number of the dead kept increasing each day.
Yet the royal family kept making excuses, saying it was due to internal affairs, and didn’t send any help.
Each time they withheld support, people died.
And each time, people cried out in anguish, and the territory’s citizens kept coming to me, pouring out their resentment.
But… I couldn’t come up with a way to overcome the situation either.
I could only helplessly watch it unfold.
But even so, it’s not like I could do nothing.
Even if I lacked power, I still had connections.
It was only a brief connection… but for someone like me who had neither talent nor leadership, that was all I had.
Who was that brief connection?
It was none other than Her Highness, Princess Ilya von Arcilia, standing before me.
You could say we were childhood friends, but it wasn’t anything grand like that.
“…”
I slightly turned my head under her glare that seemed to pierce through me.
I couldn’t bring myself to meet her resentful gaze head-on.
‘Ha… please, just let it slide this time too.’
Truthfully, there was a reason she was glaring at me like that.
As you can probably tell from what I said earlier, I had already requested reinforcements from her multiple times.
And she had sent them to me without a shred of hesitation.
Yet, even after that, I shamelessly asked her again and again for more troops.
I honestly felt that Ilya was amazing for doing this much just for a friend from years ago.
But maybe this time she truly couldn’t do it anymore—she remained silent, unlike usual.
Of course, I should have been thankful for even the first time she helped.
But unfortunately, my territory was in a state of emergency.
My father, once known as the capable Border Duke who ruled the domain, died in battle, and my mother passed away days later, unable to bear the shock.
‘Haa…’
Just thinking about those times made me sigh.
All it took was for my parents to disappear, and the family was already on the brink of collapse.
Most of the attendants and knights left right after my parents passed away.
The few who remained were only here because they had nowhere else to go.
Yes, in their eyes, I must have looked like just an incompetent child.
No—maybe not completely incompetent, but they probably didn’t believe I could live up to the previous head of the household.
Honestly, even I didn’t expect things to fall apart this quickly.
Unless someone was deliberately trying to destroy me, this situation was unbelievably unrealistic.
But no one understood that, and in the end, I found myself here.
‘Is she still in a bad mood?’
Looking at her expression, I couldn’t tell whether it was just a bad mood or something more.
All I could do was read the atmosphere.
Still, I couldn’t let the silence drag on forever, so I had no choice but to open my mouth.
This time, I spoke with words soaked in emotion, hoping to at least stir her sympathy.
“I have nothing more to say… But Your Highness! The people of the territory are suffering! With every passing day, they’re dying one by one…”
“So?”
Ilya abruptly cut off my words and stepped toward me.
Step by step.
With each of her slow, echoing steps, I unconsciously swallowed hard.
‘Did I offend her? Or is she angry?’
My mind was flooded with worries, and I trembled with anxiety.
She came so close, there was less than a step between us.
And then she spoke.
“So… what can you offer me in return?”
‘…Huh?’
I couldn’t hide my confusion at the sudden declaration.
I had expected a rejection.
But hearing such a different answer left me stunned.
For a moment, I was too shocked to think properly.
But as I locked eyes with the princess standing before me, I managed to regain my senses.
‘Phew… it’s fine. If it’s like this, it might actually work in my favor.’
Calming myself, I realized that her question—“What can you offer me?”, meant that she expected something from me.
Alternatively, it could have meant she expected nothing at all and wanted me to just leave.
If that were the case… then I wouldn’t be able to protect my domain.
Right now, I had no choice but to hope it was the former.
‘What could she want right now? Money? Or some item?’
No matter how much I thought about it, my dull mind could only come up with money or… the heirloom of my house.
‘But even for her… that heirloom, the one Father left behind as his final legacy…?’
I kept agonizing over it, but I didn’t have much time.
Ilya was not a patient person, and I was currently in the position of the one making the request.
In the end, I said…
“Your Highness… the heirloom of my family…”
My voice trembled.
Even if it meant dishonoring myself.
If I could save my people and avoid passing this burden onto my younger sister…
Just as I was about to finish speaking.
“Y-Your Highness?”
“No, that’s not it.”
She slowly crouched before me and looked straight into my eyes, gently reaching out her hand.
Her hand reached toward my face.
But I reflexively pushed it away.
That was a mistake.
Looking at her rejected hand, Ilya’s pupils trembled as if in shock.
Realizing what I had done too late, I hurried to apologize and reached out to her.
“I-I’m sorry, that was a mistake…”
But she didn’t allow my hand to reach her.
With only her will, her magic began to restrain my movements.
That wasn’t all.
As her magic moved, the plants decorating the room also started extending their vines toward me.
It felt as if.
‘The world itself was moving for her…’
Yes, I finally remembered what blessing she had received as royalty.
It was to be loved by the world.
It wasn’t that she deserved to be loved.
She was unconditionally loved.
That was the blessing—and curse—of the royal bloodline she possessed.
“Ugh… khk!”
Gradually, the magical energy and the vines began to constrict me.
The vines, now as thick as tree trunks, began to target my neck along with her magic.
As I thought to myself, ‘So this is how I die…’
Swish.
“…?”
Suddenly, the vines released me.
The furious magical pressure that had been vibrating in the air had vanished without a trace, and all that remained was silence.
As the stillness dragged on, it was Ilya who spoke first.
“I can’t lend you the knights, but instead, I’ll send a few prisoners from the organization we captured this time.”
“Ah, understood!”
I hurried out, and on my way, I ran into Ilya’s maid.
“Haah…”
She sighed the moment she saw me.
She must have thought I’d caused trouble again.
She gestured for me to follow, as if she already had a grasp of the situation.
“I heard enough of what was said. Please follow me.”
And so, I followed her down into the underground.
Along the way, we passed many criminals.
But those weren’t the ones I needed to see.
The criminals I was supposed to take with me were…
“Here they are.”
Slowly unlocking the iron bars with a key, she stepped aside with a warning to be careful.
Relying on the torchlight, I slowly examined the prisoners.
They were said to be subordinates of a rather large organization that had been captured this time, but something felt… off.
The maid beside me must have anticipated that and added a short explanation.
“We did a bit of ‘correction’ to their heads. There shouldn’t be any issues, so feel free to look through them.”
Satisfied with that answer, I continued looking around, and then I found something strange.
No, more precisely, I found something I shouldn’t have found.
Seeing my face suddenly go pale, the maid tilted her head and asked with curiosity, “Did something surprise you?”
The person wasn’t that huge, vicious criminal over there.
Nor the one covered in scars like he’d been slashed all over with blades.
No.
The one who shocked me was simply… a woman.
Seeing my reaction, the maid looked confused, as if she couldn’t understand.
But for me—someone who knew her true identity—it was nothing short of terrifying.
Because her true identity was…
‘Why is the final boss here???’
She was none other than Iris Hildegart, the former Empress.
The strongest being in this entire dark fantasy world, and the one who appears as the final boss.