Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Reinhardt was in the middle of confessing his goings on for the past few days with the Theives guild to Ellen until he suddenly tells her.

"Actually, even that is a cover." Reinhardt bluntly says, catching the attention of Ellen.

"A cover?" Now Ellen's attention was directed to what he had to say next.

"I'm the last remaining heir to the Demon Realm." 

"What?" This makes Ellen look at him with a bewildered expression. Was he joking? What the hell was he thinking uttering those words?

"I don't really care about war, so I just infiltrated the human realm to live comfortably." This makes Ellen even more shocked due to the seriousness of his tone until he said his next sentence.

"Being the successor of the Demon Realm..."

"Is also a cover."

With that sentence being uttered, Ellen make a 'What the fuck' face to Reinhardt as he continues his yapping.

"In reality, I'm the creator of this world, but I was punished for confusing countless people."

"When I got severely criticized, I suddenly died of high blood pressure and was forced into this body to atone for my sins."

Ellen, after listing to all this shift into a serious face due to the fact that she thought she was joking, and the black haired girl rises up, holding her fist tightly while Reinhardt continues.

"Then I suddenly woke up as the demon prince inside the castle that was already under attac-"

"If you don't want to tell me..." She raises her fist which leaves Reinhardt have a fearful face.

Suddenly Reinhardt sees a notification pop up from his status window.

[AN INTERFERENCE HAS BEEN DETECTED DUE TO YOUR ACTIONS.]

"What?" Reinhardt looked at it blankly which confuses Ellen who from her perspective sees Reinhardt freaking out over air.

Before Ellen can question Reinhardt about it however, a bright flash of light engulfs the area, blinding Ellen.

"Ugh..." She tries to cover her eyes from the blinding light shining everywhere, but as she opens her eyes she discovers that she is in a closed room with multiple stationary couches.

Ellen looks around the room she found herself in, analysing the area around her for any potential danger that might come.

The place is covered in wool-like wallpaper with a massive black board on the centre, with couches situated parallel of it. She then stumbles upon a sleeping golden haired boy.

"Reinhardt?" She runs towards him and begins pinching his cheeks. "Wake up..." But as she pinches him a voice rings out from behind her.

"Eh? Ellen? You're here too?" The surprise call makes her turn around to see a timid looking Harriet de Saint-Owen staring at her.

"What are you doing here?" Ellen asks with suspicion due to the sudden appearance of the tsundere girl.

"I-I don't know! There was a sudden bright light and when I opened my eyes I found myself here." She tries to defend herself from Ellen's increasingly threatening tone.

As the two were conversing about the precarious situation they are in, a few voices called to them.

"Oh? Ellen and Harriet? What a peculiar pair." The first voice belonged to the shrewd first prince of the empire himself, Bertus who walks towards the duo to greet them.

"Hello all of you. I have no idea how I got here so I was hoping one of you could answer." The charismatic prince was followed by Liana who asked the very good question.

Soon enough, all of 1st Year's A class showed up behind them coming from a bright light near the entrance area.

"What's going on here? Where am I?" Erich asks in an irritated voice. "If this is a sick prank then they better show themselves."

"I have better things to do, damn it. They better let me out." Cayer is also iritated and adds fuel to the tension.

"Unfortunately we have no idea where we are at the moment." Bertus answers the agitated crowd in a calm manner like he usually does.

"So? How do we get out of here?" Cayer asks the prince in an annoyed tone.

"Yeah, I want to go back to what I was doing. And what's up with him sleeping like nothing's going on?" Kono points at the unmoving Reinhardt laying on the seat.

"Eh, Reinhardt? What happened to him?" Harriet turns to look at the sleeping boy.

"Now, now everyone. I think we should all calm down and properly assess the situation." Bertus budges in, trying to maintain order in the increasingly chaotic room.

Just then, another flash of light bursts on the same spot of the room, and a few figures can be made coming from the smoke.

"What is going on? Where am I?" And there she was,  first princess Charlotte De Gardias along with parts of Class B.

"Ah, dear sister. It seems like you made it here as well. How quaint." Bertus responds which makes Charlotte raise an eyebrow.

"Uhhh, is everyone alright? The atmosphere seems tense." Ludwig speaks out but earns a scolding by Louis for not reading the room.

"We're all stuck in this wool covered room so of course everyone is on edge, Ludwig." The blue haired four-eyes answers his friend's question.

"Yes... Would you mind explaining the situation, Bertus?" Charlotte turns to ask her brother in an accusing tone as she figured this is probably another one of his schemes.

"What makes you think this is my doing?" Bertus turns to stare down Charlotte with a neutral expression.

"I'm not exactly pointing fingers but you were here before me so it's a reasonable assumption, no?"

Before the argument could go further, another blinding flash of light shines through the theatre and two people can be seen coming from the smokes to everyone's surprise.

"Eh? Adriana and Olivia senior?" Cayer calls out at the people who walked into the frey, he didn't think they would also be stuck here too.

"...Can you juniors tell us what is going on?" Adriana asks, confused at the predicament she and her senior clubmate is in.

"We... don't exactly know either. We were all suddenly teleported here." Harriet answers back to her senior.

"I see then... The situation must be very serious if no one could get out of this place." The responsible 2nd year answers while analysing the situation.

"We're sorry that we couldn't be of much help." Adelia tries to be some help but she couldn't offer much.

"Oh... This is a very interesting situation indeed." Olivia says in an interested tone. This experience was a first for her.

"Could this perhaps be some sort of pocket dimension? Never thought these kinds of things are real."

"I'm certain we will figure it out soon." Bertus answers the saintess' questions.

Finally the last flash of light shows the silhouette of two individuals walking into the theatre, emerging from the light.

"Miss Eleris?" Charlotte exclaims.

"Ah, Lady Charlotte. How have you been?"

"Wah! The scary gang leader!" Harriet shrieks while hiding behind Ellen.

"Oh, you're here auntie."

"Hah? Who's your auntie!" Loyar yells back to the disrespectful kids.

"Loyar, calm down!" Eleris scolds her collegue.

"Wait a second..." Kono and the gang walks towards the disguised wolf girl.

"Have we ever met before? In the restaurant district?" He tries to inspect her face up close but Loyar smacks him across the room.

"Kono!" Cayer and Erich were horrified that he was thrown with such force. "You bitch!"

"This idiot has never heard of personal space hasn't he? Getting all up close with me like that." The wolf says in an annoyed tone.

"Now, now let's all calm down we don't need to fight instantly after we first met." The prince comes in and de-escalates the situation between the two sides.

"So... Who are these two exactly?" Bertus turns to his sister to ask in curiosity.

"They're my acquaintances and Reinhardt's family and friends of sort." Charlotte answers, which Bertus responds with an interested 'Hmmm' look on his face.

Upon looking at the people in the theatre, Loyar quickly turns to whisper in Eleris's ears.

"Oi, that's the prince and princess of the empire isn't it? What kind of situation are we dealing with here?"

"I don't know! And where is Sakegaar?"

"Well, I don't see him here. Do you think he's singled out from us?"

Suddenly, a noise erupts from the area near the blackboard, which makes everyone in the room turn to it.

The figure standing there was shrouded in black mist, face distorted and not shown.

"What the, what is that thing?!" Harriet yells as the figure manifests itself in front of them all.

"Who are you! Reveal yourself!" Heinrich says as everyone in the room gets on a defensive stance, ready to defend themselves.

"Rest easy, I am not here to hurt any of you." The man in black answers.

"I find that hard to believe, I assume that you were the one who got us all here." Eleris accuses, which makes the black man scoff a bit.

Cliffman, without consulting anyone decides to take the initiative and lunges at the figure, but he gets instantly blown away by the black one's telekenesis powers. 

"Cliffman!" Bertus yells out in worry as his classmate is slammed onto one of the seats with a massive groan from the impact.

Cayer proceeds to try and use magic but fails. "What the... What happened to my mana?!" he yelled out.

"In case you all haven't noticed, your magic and weapons are stripped." 

"No way..." Liana in turn tries to use her powers but also failed, followed by everyone else who decided to test their luck against the unknown foe.

Ellen tries to summon her soul-bound sword Lament, but somehow fails which makes her face leave an angry expression. "What did you do to my sword." 

Internally she was freaking out. That sword was a final gift from her brother so what if it's gone forever and she can't take it back?! What then, what would she do-

"Calm down ladies and gentlemen. Your weapons and magical powers will be returned to you after this ordeal is over."

"Who are you, and what do you want from us?" The golden haired prince asks hesitantly. He had never lost this much control since the island survival incident.

"You may call me the 'Invigilator'. I will have you watch the events of the person responsible for the changes all of you faced through out these months." This makes the people within the theatre have a mixed response.

"You got us here to watch some random guy's life? This is a waste of time, I demand to be let out this instant!" Kono yells out at the figure in rage but is ignored by the being.

"I agree! This is a waste of time that I could use to do other things!" Liana protests against this but is also ignored.

"Calm down everyone. It won't be bad to comply with what this person has to show us. It could be important." Olivia states to the rest of the people in the room.

"How do you even know if this person is important to us or not?" Charlotte asks the figure for his answer.

"Oh believe me. This viewing will answer all of your questions, including the truth about the boy you have been obsessing over these past few months." With this remark Charlotte's face paled and her full attention was turned towards the figure shrouded in black.

"What?! What do you know about him?!" The first princess yells out in an unlady like manner from rage and panic.

Bertus takes notice of this outburst and makes a Light Yagami looking ass expression on his face. His sister had lost control and he could use this chance to learn more.

The rest of the theatre grows confused with Charlotte crashing out over this comment. She couldn't have been infatuated with some random boy right?

"I assure you all that this will be important. So bear with me will you? It won't take that long trust me."

Ellen however walks up to the black figure and glares in a subtle threatening manner. "Answer me, what did you do to Reinhardt?"

This makes most people turn to look at the sleeping Reinhardt, who is unresponsive to anything and is moving still.

"What... What happened to Reinhardt?" Harriet walks to the sleeping man, followed by Adriana and Olivier.

"Junior? Junior wake up!" The 2nd year girl tries to wake him up but to no avail.

"Reinhardt..." Olivia looks on with sadness in her eyes. He had saved her but she couldn't save him from this sleep.

"What did you do?!" Loyar and Eleris follows them and begins checking up on Reinhardt. What did the figure do to their future king?!

"He's not waking up!" 

"He's in a state of suspended animation for now. He will wake up after all of this is over."

"What exactly would be the reason for that?" Bertus speaks up, ignoring all the danger signs his body has told him.

"I agree that it is rather suspicious." Louis questions the creature's motive.

"There's a very crucial reason that he has to be asleep which will be explained in the viewing, so sit down on your couches and we can start."

"Fine then. Everyone please take a seat so we can get this over with." Bertus says while sitting on one of the couches.

Everyone eventually followed suit, with Reinhardt being in the centre surrounded by girls. He was fucking swimming in them.

"Lucky bastard..." Cayer says in a grumbling tone which was backed up by Kono's nodding.

"This couch is really nice!" Ludwig says to Louis who just sighs at his friend's nature.

"The quality of this seating is even better than those in the Imperial palace... I wonder how the invigilator got material of this quality." Charlotte mutters out loud.

"Well, he has the power to trap us all here so I don't think it is that far fetched." Eleris who is sitting next to her says which Charlotte responds with a look that basically means 'fair enough.'

"Also, I have some ground rules in this theatre as the events shown might make this useful." With this everyone began tensing up.

"Rules? Why would we need those?" Harriet asks curiously as there shouldn't be anything here that needed rules right?

"Maybe let him speak first." Liana says to her seatmate in annoyance..

"There are only three rules. One: No violence of any kind. If you try to hurt or attack another member of this building under any circumstances I will put you back to your seat forcefully or not.

"What? Why would there be violence in here?! What are you showing us that would warrant that?!" Harriet speaks out in worry.

"Either way this seems beneficial to us. If this 'viewing' is that important then it might leak some secrets. I would prefer this rule be here to be honest." This time it was Adriana who spoke to the invigilator's defense.

"Oh..."

"Rule two: No spoilers. If any of you have an idea of what's going to happen then don't ruin it for everyone else. If you do then I will shut your mouth with magic.

"I thought you said you wanted us to view events? Shouldn't we have the ability to discuss it?" Charlotte questions the Invigilator.

"You may discuss theories and the likes but I would prefer the people that were in the dark know about the situation from the viewing rather than be spoiled."

With that Charlotte quiets down as the invigilator holds up his 3rd finger for the final rule of this viewing.

Rule three: You may pause the viewing at any moment to discuss in the middle of viewing it. This is much less of a rule but a feature you can have. It will automatically pause when it sees fit so you don't have to worry.

"I see. Then I suppose that's all?" Eleris asks which the Invigilator nods.

"And that is all. Let's begin, shall we?"

"We're ready." Charlotte says, eager to finally know the truth about the boy she had been looking forward to meeting again.

With the Invigilator's words, the blackboard suddenly glowed and images were shown moving in a vivid manner.

Chapter Text

The screen flashes open with vivid images 

Everyone was awe struck at the screen, the powers used to display such imagry had never been seen before.

"Such amazing magic!" Eleris speaks with a shocked expression. She had never seen anything like it throughout her years as a vampire.

"What could possibly allow such projections in detail? This is revolutionary!" Charlotte exclaims out loud.

"Indeed, it seems very complex and sophisticated." Adriana says while surprised.

"This could potentially be used in many ways to benefit the people." Olivia comments while muttering something else to herself.

"I hope..."

"Such magic could help advance our empire to even greater heights!" Bertus was absolutely euphoric at how high quality the images in the video are.

The voice begins narrating over a destroyed castle beneath a red sky.

"Thats!" Charlotte instantly recognises it and shudders violently.

Eleris and Loyar could only look at the destroyed castle with sadness. They had left their imperial majesty to defend for himself didn't they?

"That's the demon lord's castle..." Bertus speaks up earning the shock of everyone in the room.

"What?! That's THE demon lord's castle?!" Harriet questions.

"It seems to be."

"Charlotte? Are you alright?" Ludwig turns to ask the shaking girl.

"The Demon World War. A long war that would decide the fate of demons and humans."

"And thankfully we won." Bertus bluntly states earning the side-eye of Eleris and Loyar while Ellen starts staring at the screen.

It shifts to the image of two figures, one wearing a knightly armour with a blue hair while the other is shrouded in robes, using a yellow lightning like magic.

Ellen, Loyar, and Eleris reacts strongly to the images shown on screen.

'Brother... I'm sorry...' She looks on trying to hold her tears.

'Your highness...' Both Loyar and Eleris thought.

"This grade feud between races, ended when the hero Artorius defeated the great demon king Valier."

With this, Ellen sheds a minor tear as she quickly brushes off before anyone could see while the demons look down solemnly.

Most of the people jnside the room also look down to pay respect to the great hero who sacrificed himself.

"With the death of the demon king finally came peace."

The image shifts showing the hero's party kneeling before the pope.

This makes Olivia stare a bit before regaining her composure. This was noticed by Adriana who pats her senior in the back.

"But because the empire had experienced such a long and hard war, they were to expend tremendous effort to cultivate talent and find the heros of the generations."

"Yeah right, 'Heros of the generations'" Erich says while side eyeing the sleeping Reinhardt.

This earns him a glare from some of the girls which makes him promptly back off.

"And that led to the creation of the academy for talents throughout the empire, The Special Education Insitute [TEMPLE]."

"Amen to that."

But then in an unexpected turn of events, the image shifts to a familiar four figure. Ellen on the left, Bertus on the right, with Harriet and Ludwig on the centre.

"Huh!?!? Wh-What?!?" Harriet squeals as her tsundere like face is shown.

"Wait, me?!" Ludwig says in surprise as it clearly focuses on him.

"My, my. I suppose I am important to this viewing after all." Bertus states with smugness in his voice which annoys Charlotte.

"The 'Royal Class' was a special class composed of only geniuses in a school already filled with talented people."

"And in that class was 'Ludwig', a boy who was just and hot tempered but always in last place."

With that, the room erupts into yelling.

"Ludwig?!?! That commoner nobody?!? Why is he the lead?!" Erich yells out.

"This is utter bullshit!" Kono and Cayer adds to his argument.

"It is all a waste of time it seems." Liana says 

"Oh-ho? Ludwig... Are you secretly the one manipulating all of us?" Bertus asks with a slight smile.

"I-I don't know I have no idea! Why am I the main focus?!?!" Ludwig tries to defend himself.

"A fresh action-fantasy novel set in the temple. The demon king is dead."

"You can read now on Kakaopage!"

As the novel's cover is shown everyone's jaws dropped.

"N-Novel?!" 

"T-The demon king is dead?!?!" 

Noises of confusion can be heard all over the theatre.

"Hey invigilator, answer me! What is this!" Liana yells out in fury.

"This better be a bad joke." Kono mutters to himself as Cayer stares at the screen in shock.

"Calm down everyone! We should continue watching and maybe the events will make sense." Bertus says as he was panicking on the inside.

"Are we all... fictional?" Harriet mutters to herself.

"This can't be!"

"All of this new information is certainly... revealing..." Olivia says while staring into the screen.

Everyone was having trouble processing the new information, after all it is inconceivable to think such a thing was real!

"What is... Kakaopage?" Eleris however, questions the other piece of information.

"It is a place where novels can be published for people to read. The people from that world are way more advanced technologically than whatever you all have now."

"Incredible..." Was all Eleris could say.

"What kind of technologies exactly?" Bertus, ever the sly fox asks the Inquistor.

"I am not going to answer that, Bertus De Gardias."

Bertus has a slightly annoyed look but he kept it to himself.

"Settle down, everybody. If you continue to watch then all of this will be cleared up."

With the invigilator's snap everything continued.

[Lame.] was the comment posted.

The screen shows even more comments, trashing the novel such as [The MC is so stupid and dense, why are all the girls falling for him?] and etc.

"S-Stupid? Dense?!?" Ludwig turns to Louis "Louis... Am I that dense?!"

'Yes. Yes you are' Was what Louis thought but he just smiled at Ludwig.

"W-What! There's no way I would be head over heels for that... commoner!" Harriet squeals out which puts Ludwig into an even sadder mood.

"How interesting..." Bertus who was still processing what was going on made a comment.

"It does seem like this novel is an incredibly trash one if so many people hated it this strongly." Adelia states the facts.

"Hah, serves the author right!" Kono replies with copium in his voice. 

A reply was seen attempted before a long strain of dddddddddddddd is shown.

"And just like that."

A ghost of a man in his late twenties with an unshaved beard is shown looking at his corpse.

"I died from high blood pressure."

Many people within the theatre is shocked at death being shown so soon into the viewings. But none were as shocked at Ellen.

Ellen wasn't just shocked, no she was flabbergasted! Her mind instantly wandered to the conversation she had with Reinhardt before coming here.

"In reality, I'm the creator of this world, but I was punished for confusing countless people."

"When I got severely criticized, I suddenly died of high blood pressure and was forced into this body to atone for my sins."

Her head kept rewinding this specific part of their conversation, and it finally clicked.

Ellen wanted to tell everyone who he is, what he truly was.

But before she could utter a word, the black figure spoke out.

"Miss Ellen. I know what you are thinking and what you want to say, but you must remember rule 2. I will let you off with a warning for now but don't spoil."

With that scolding from the Invigilator, all eyes turned to Ellen.

"Ellen? You knew about this?" Harriet was the first to ask.

"Yes. I might have an inkling to this." Was Ellen's reply, but before anyone could press for my answers Charlotte stepped up.

"I think we should abide by the rules set by the Invigilator here and avoid having spoilers."

Due to that everyone went silent and the viewings continued.

The ghost of the author is standing next to a pink haired girl who looks on blankly into the corpse.

"This is a cardiac arrest due to a sudden heart attack from a surge in blood pressure."

As she says that, she hands the author his file and her title is shown.

Agent of Hell's Soul Management Department: Grim Reaper Kim.

"Hell's Soul Management Department?!?! They are real?" Olivia mutters as she couldn't believe it. Apparently the church was right about something after all.

"This is all the more interesting as time passes." Bertus who finally composes himself goes back to his usual demeanour.

"I can't believe that loser died to high blood pressure because people were mean to him about his shitty novel!" Erich laughs.

"It's not nice to say that about someone who died you know?" Ludwig scolds the noble boy which earned him a scowl.

"Whatever." Erich says while not noticing the silent glare from Ellen.

"So he's the author of the world that we live in. Does this make him our god?" Was the question Adriana asked, spooking everyone.

"W-Well... I don't think that should be the case..." Replied Liana. "If anything, he's more of an outside power."

"I also agree with that, and besides this revelation would upset the world balance so..." Charlotte says which ticks off Olivia.

"The world should know the truth! If this person is truly our creator then he should be our one true god right?"

While they were arguing, Ellen was focused on the screen.

'So you weren't joking after all, Reinhardt.' Was the only thought that came to mind.

"Please check this document once you've confirmed it."

"For real?" Was the only response he could give in this absurd situation.

'I died because my blood pressure got too high from reading hate comments?'

"He's still having a hard time grasping the situation... I pity him." Was the only response Ludwig could make out in this situation.

"Well most of it is his fault to be honest." Louis bluntly states.

"That's not really nice, Louis."

"It is the truth."

"Seriously! How many times are you going to ask? Do you not understand even after looking over there?" She says as she points at the corpse.

'True... Even if I don't want to believe it, I have no choice.' He looks at his corpse with a solemn look.

'I'm staring at my corpse right now. I do remember my vision slightly fading, but for that to be my final memory...'

'What a pathetic death.'

"Indeed it was." Loyar says while earning several gazes her way.

"Loyar... It's not nice to say that you know?" Eleris scolds her but she just hmphs.

"Still though, dying from high blood pressure because you read too many hate comments. Talk about a sad death." Was what Heinrich had to say.

"Now, if you've finished assessing the situation, please decide already. I'm busy, you know?"

"Oh? Does Hell have a process that he needs to go through?" Bertus looks with curiosity.

"If this is how it goes when we die then I suppose this could be useful in the long run." Charlotte adds to that point.

'It's already a shock that I've suddenly died, but now I'm forced to make a strange decision.'

'This is what the so called 'Grim Reaper' explained.'

The scene shifts to a floating ghost of the author with a halo on top heading towards the clouds

'When someone dies, in order to go to heaven, they need to first atone for the major sins they've committed.'

"So it's not that different from what the church taught us." Olivia thought out loud. Maybe the church wasn't entirely wrong?

"It seems so. This basically proves that the church is right in its teachings of the afterlife right?" Adriana states but was interrupted by Kono.

"Unless everything shown here is a lie. I'm still having a hard time believing we're just fictional characters of a novel you know?"

"Seconded, I believe we should take it with a grain of salt." Surprisingly it was Louis who backs Kono up.

"For now I think we should just continue watching." Bertus breaks the argument up and the viewings continued.

'And the sins I've committed are... 'Quitting multiple serialisations and writing stories with terrible continuity'.'

"Those are sins?!?!" Adriana states with shock.

"Yeah... If writing stories with terrible continuity are sins then I don't think I want to be a novelist any time soon." 

"It appears merits for sinning is wider than I thought. If writing bad stories counts as sinning then everyday life actions might also be sins." Bertus states with uncertainty.

"There's no use in dwelling about it for now. We should continue watching to see where this goes." It was Charlotte who intervened and the screen moves on.

'I was a novelist. Somewhere around second or third-rate, I was a novel writer able to at least scrape by.'

'So the crimes I committed are how irresponsibly and frequently I dropped my series.

The screen shows the author saying he's dipping the failed novel.

'But I was shameless, and I would write a new novel under a different account.'

"Wow. So he's a real piece of work."

"Seems to be the case, at least he has to atone for it now."

"I, for one could never imagine abandoning a story I made without finishing it first." Olivia shot the author a contemplative look.

Ellen however had an indifferent look and continued watching.

"But this really counts as a sin?" The author complained.

"Well, your sin is fairly small in terms of the impact it had against, say, a single individual."

"The problem is that it happened too many times to too many people, which increased the scale of the issue."

'And so, as an irresponsible novelist.'

'I have to atone by picking one of my completed novels, where I'll be randomly reborn as one of its many characters.'

'And I need to survive till the ending!'

At this, everyone realised what was going to happen.

"Oh? Does this mean that the author is in our world as one of the 'characters' right now?" Bertus asks with a sly smile on his face.

"To have the creator of our world with us..." Olivia says with bafflement.

"We need to find who he is."

Charlotte however, was thinking about something. 'Could he perhaps be reincarnated as the boy who rescued me? Maybe this viewing will answer me.'

Ellen, upon hearing that, turned to the sleeping Reinhardt and patted his head a bit. "You must've had it rough, Reinhardt.'

"Ellen?" Harriet however caught her in the act and she quickly moved her hand away.

"Still, this could be problematic if he is not identified. Who know what kind of damage he could cause?" Adriana states.

"Action will be taken after we leave this place. We have to."

"Isn't this fairly lax when some people end up with a one-way ticket to hell? Besides, it's your own novel so you should know the entire story." Agent Kim says as she puts on a bright smile.

"Doesn't this sound more of a reward than a punishment?"

"Well... It depends on the novel." The author states as he thinks about the novels he completed.

'No matter how nicely I packaged it, the novels I wrote were far from happy endings.'

"Wait, does that mean our world won't have a happy ending too?" Harriet says.

"The only thing we can do is watch and compare our current world with his other works." Adelia replies 

'1# City of the Dead. It's a zombie apocalypse story so I bet I'm going to be zombie food soon.'

"Undeads?!? That is certainly bad." Eleris says.

'2# Surviving in the Ruined World. It's an apocalypse survival story. No way I last when I just died from reading hate comments.'

This makes Erich and Cayer giggle a bit but they were shut up by some stares into their direction.

'3# The Hunter became a Manager. It's a modern hunter-based action story. There's a good chance that I could be trampled by monsters instead of being a hunter.'

"All of his stories really are depressing." Olivia says while giggling a bit.

"They seem interesting at least?" Ludwig tries to sugar coat it but it's just no use.

'4# Somehow the game became a reality, but my occupation is a cleaner. It's a dungeon-based-action-game fantasy. The setting says that 90% of humanity died in the process so I'm not too keen on it either.'

"What is with him and writing apocalypse stories?!" Harriet yells in confusion.

"Some people just have their styles." Liana replied.

'...I just don't have any confidence that I can survive well even if it is my own novel.'

"You wrote it yourself!" 

"Well his actions have now come back to bite him." Loyar looks unimpressed.

"In any case his choices don't look appealing." Eleris comments.

'Is this my only choice, then?'

'#5 The Demon King is Dead. A slice of life academy story set in a fantasy background.'

'It's a relatively refreshing story I wrote after being tired of writing depressing stories. Currently it is my best option.'

'Though it is what killed me, since it's a slice of life academy story after the war it should have less chance of me dying.'

"At least it's confirmed that our world won't have any catastrophes if what he says is true..."

"I still have a hard time believing all of this, but this strangely makes me relieved for some reason." Kono states.

"Well this is good right? We won't have to worry about any apocalypses any time soon." Bertus says with some joy in his voice.

'The novel where the final boss dies at the start of the story. Meant to be about the afterstories.'

Loyar began whispering into Eleris's ears at this moment.

"If all of this is true then this man. god or not wrote it so that our highness died. Should we find the man and kill him for his imprudence?"

"Let's just wait for now, Loyar."

Ellen was looking a bit down as the image showed her brother once again.

'Yeah this is the best choice.'

'Since it's going to be random, I'm not even going to hope to be a main character... I'll be lucky as long as I'm a student of the academy.'

"I still can't get used to the thought of Ellen and Ludwig..." Louis says while adjusting his glasses.

"Rest assured, I have no intentions of having a romantic relationship with Ludwig." Ellen immediately shot Ludwig down before he could even ask her out.

"Oh? What about Reinhardt then?" Bertus replies with a smile.

"What? Ellen, you like Reinhardt?" Harriet moved her gaze to the girl.

"No, I do not." Ellen replies back with a stoic voice.

Strangely, this makes Cliffman lower his head for some reason.

'But why did this novel fail though? I remember there being something in the later half...'

"That's a bit ominous." Liana remarks.

"It would probably be revealed soon later anyways."

"Hey now! If you keep dragging this out, I'm going to choose for you. I personally like 'City of the dead the mos-"

"THE DEMON KING IS DEAD! I CHOOSE THE DEMON KING IS DEAD!"

"...You don't have to repeat yourself, but alright I'll go with your choice."

"He answered so fast." Charlotte had a light chuckle.

"I mean, it is the best option for him." Louis says, commending the author for his choice.

"Well then, I wish you good luck."

"I guess this is the part where we find out who he really is in our world." As Bertus says this, everyone got tenser.

"Yes..." Charlotte couldn't wait any longer. The Invigilator had promised her truths about the boy in this viewing and she was sure as hell going to get it.

"Maybe he's someone in our school..." Harriet began paying attention to the screen attentively.

"The truth will be revealed soon." Loyar says this as she begins cracking her knuckles, eager to punish the insolent creator that killed her monarch.

"This is about to be very interesting." Olivier also joins in and locks eyes with the screen, awaiting the reveal.

"Well I hope he's a friend of mine." Ludwig says in a very ludwig-like manner.

All the while, Ellen is deep in her thoughts about everything she's witnessed so far.

'Reinhardt... If it really is you then did you write it so that my brother died?' She looks at the sleeping boy in golden hair.

With that, the agent claps her hand and instantly, the author opened his eyes to see himself in the body of a red haired boy with horns.

"Eh?"

The mood of the entire room drops to the floor, with the most effected being Eleris, Loyar, Charlotte, and Ellen.

"AH! He's a demon?!?!" Harriet shrieks out in fear. She had heard from her father what those horns represent.

"Oh my god... He's a demon." Olivia was shocked for words and so was everyone else.

Eleris and Loyar however, were in an even worse state.

"So this is why he said he lost his memories..." Eleris muttered under her breath which only Loyar heard.

Loyar whispered to Eleris. "What do we do now?!?! This changes everything!"

"We continue watching. There's nothing we can do about it now."

Charlotte was shaking at the sight of the demons, her PTSD from her kidnapping in the demon castle is making her act up.

Bertus was looking at the screen with a serious expression as he was thinking hard.

"This is bullshit! You expect us to believe all of this?" Erich lashes out and points his finger at the invigilator.

"Erich, calm down!" Kono and Cayer tried to hold him down but it was no use.

"Let me out this instant!" This was when the man in black sent a black mist and knocking out Erich.

"Erich! What did you do to him!" Kono yells in an enraged voice.

"I put him to sleep for the time being. He will wake up after a few minutes."

While the situation was unfolding, Ellen was deep in thought. Her suspicions were mostly confirmed now.

'So it really was you, Reinhardt...' She thinks back to his words before she came here.

"I'm the last remaining heir to the Demon Realm." 

"I don't really care about war, so I just infiltrated the human realm to live comfortably." 

Ellen clenches her fist as she thinks about what to do forward. She will endure and learn the whole truth with this viewing.

'I was just in my room... What is this extravagant place?'

'Wait. Do I have horns on my head...? And what's with this classy outfit?'

"He doesn't know..." Olivia looks at the demon with pity.

"He should've though... Didn't he write all of this?" Adriana questions.

"I don't think he thought that he was going to be a demon."

'I'm seriously inside my own novel? Come on. If you're just going to drop me in without any explainatio-'

"Woah!" Suddenly a glowing interface manifest in front of the demon.

"A status window? Speak about cliches."

"What is that?" Liana's curiosity was piqued and she gazes into the unfamiliar magic.

"Nothing here makes sense anymore..." Cayer was having a hard time understanding the predicament he was in.

"That ability looks fascinating! It looks like an information system just for him." Eleris spoke out.

"How interesting. I wonder if this demon is still alive, if he is we can interrogate him for information." Bertus bluntly states while Ellen gives him a bit of a side eye.

'Should I hand Reinhardt over?' Is all she could think of right now.

"Huh?" The window shows information on everything from name to stat to race to talents.

"He's... Really weak." Charlotte could only mutter that, while Bertus has an amused look on his face.

"Those stats are not ideal I'd say." Louis's comments to the Combat level assessment F of Valiers Junior.

"Is he really an Archdemon? Shouldn't Archdemons be extremely powerful?" Adriana questions but no one could answer.

"Maybe it's because he's a reincarnation and the Hell agents didn't want him to start off overpowered like usual demons?" Harriet tried to give her two cents but didn't know what to say.

Loyar and Eleris however, had a less than amused look on their faces. Loyar in particular was fuming because these people were making fun of their liege for being weak.

'Huh? Archdemon? Valier... Junior???"

'Lowest grade Demon King?!?!?'

'...Could it be?' Valier Junior's face darken as a haunting realisation hits him.

"He's finally starting to get it." Adriana states while some look at the demon in amusement.

"It took him long enough." Cayer remarks in a smug tone.

'No way, no no no no no no no... This can't be! The random character I ended up as...'

Suddenly loud sounds were heard outside the room.

"What's that sound-"

An explosion erupts all across the palace and Valiers Jr. is sent flying.

"What the?" Liana says while surprised at the sudden explosion.

Eleris and Loyar was in shock but couldn't say anything due to the risk of giving their identities away in front of the Imperial family.

Ellen was in shock but also held back due to the warning imposed by the invigilator and resolved to simply pat Reinhardt on the head.

"W-What the, an explosion?"

Suddenly, a pop up from the status window shows itself, revealing a quest.

=======================================

[PROLOGUE EVENT - RUINATION]

Description: The Defeat of the Demon Army is imminent, and you are powerless. Do your best to survive.

Mission: Escape the Demon King's castle.

Reward: 100 Achievement Points.

=======================================

"What a bad luck he has." Olivia was starting to feel bad for the author who got thrusted into this world during its most crucial battles.

"Maybe he's already dead? How would he even escape this situation." Liana concludes.

"No that can't be the case. The invigilator wouldn't send us here to watch the tale of a dead man." Bertus states, earning the attention of everyone.

"Wouldn't that mean... He might be alive and a demon is living among humans?" Harriet speaks with worry in her voice.

'Shit' Was the face both Loyar and Eleris were making at this moment. If this viewing continued then their covers are blown.

Charlotte however was in deep thought. 'This was about the time the boy appeared and saved me. Couldn't be right?'

"AH!" Valiers Jr. screams as a corpse of a dead orc drops next to him.

He turns to the corner and sees more corpses everywhere.

'To summarise, I ended up entering my novel <The Demon King is Dead> just like I wanted.'

'As a result of the random selection.'

'I'm in the midst of the Demon Realm being blown to pieces.'

'As a character that never even appeared. Age 17, combat ability: None.'

'In a story where the demon king dies at the start, I'm now his son.'

Sounds of explosion can be heard as Valiers Jr run away from the carnage.

"FUCK! NO FUCKING WAY!"

'I've become the Prince of the collapsing Demon Realm.'

With that, the screen comes to an abrupt end, and everyone was left speechless.

"Well, that was the first episode. There are still many, many more but I assume that you all need time to process that information. I'll give you some break time to discuss before we move onto the next episode."

As the last word is said, everyone began freaking out over the knowledge they had been informed with.

Chapter Text

As the screen came to an abrupt end, everyone who had been letting their questions in finally burst as the dam broke.

"I can't believe it... We're all characters of a novel and now our creator is in the world with us?!" Harriet was confused at everything that was going on. None of it made sense!

"And not only that, he's not just any demon, but the demon prince of the Demon Realm..." Bertus says while contemplating. If this person was still alive could he have enslaved him for information on the future?

"I feel a little bit of pity for him. He had to exist as a demon in a world where the Demons have been utterly decimated." Cliffman surprisingly spoke to Valier's defence, surprising many.

"Cliffman, he's a demon!" The blonde first prince raises his voice. He had been told since birth that all demons are evil and now here his fellow peers are defending those wretched creatures?!?! 

"It's not even his fault that he was made one, you need to blame the Hell agents for that."

While the shouting and arguments are going on, The golden haired royal girl spoke up.

"We all need to keep in mind that he's not just the demon prince, but he's also our creator. We need to discuss what we need to do with him."

"What we need to do? How can you be so sure that he's not already dead, your highness." Liana asks in a curious tone.

"The demon castle is likely under siege and fully surrounded by the empire's army so there's no way he can escape." 

"All possibilities need to be considered." Charlotte says while internally deep in thought. She had run the scenarios through her head and there was potentially a point where she had to deal with her biggest fears, that the boy she had been looking for was the demon prince shown on screen.

However there was no concrete evidence yet, and she hoped to be wrong because if she was right, then Bertus the scheming opportunist would pounce on her.

The blonde prince with his yellow eyes looks at Charlotte, his gaze shows that he is also thinking things through.

Charlotte had somehow escaped his grasp and arrived at the capital with a knight, such a thing is nearly impossible, unless... something saved her.

"My dear sister... Could you be hiding something?" He takes the initiative.

"What could you be implying, brother dearest?"

"From your words I deduce that maybe you are perhaps hiding information about something?"

"..."

"Or perhaps... someone..."

"I do find this baseless accusation to be an unfounded slandering. Besides, this viewing will show you what happened that day anyways." She expertly defends herself.

"Hmmm." Bertus yields, ending the hostilities for now. He will continue to watch and find out the truth to the matter himself.

Erich then snapped awake, surprising his friends who were surrounding him.

"ERICH!!!" Kono and Cayer jump on the noble who's still waking up.

"Ah, knock it off!"

"Sorry." The huge sized teen apologises as he and Kono get off.

"My mind's a bit blank... What happened?" The cocky noble asks, still dazed from whatever the Invigilator did to him.

"Well, you went rogue after that viewing and the Invigilator put you to sleep. That's what happened."

"So... What else happened when I was out?" He asks but was interrupted by the figure shrouded in black.

"Don't worry about it, here." The Invigilator then snapped his fingers, some black smog flies into the green haired noble boy's nose, mouth, ears, and eyes making him shudder violently.

"ERICH! What did you do!" Cayer yells as he and Kono attend to the twitching Erich while the rest watch in horror.

Erich suddenly sat straight up. "WHAT THE HELL? THE AUTHOR IS THE DEMON PRINCE OF THE DEMON REALM?!?!" 

"Uhhh... How did you know that?" His aqua haired friend asks in concern.

"I transplanted the missing parts of the viewing to him. If anyone was knocked out from this point forward you will get the same treatment to fill you in, so behave well." With the Invigilator's message everyone got the memo. If they broke the rules and got knocked out they would get the same memory transplant.

"I still think this is unbelievable! I refuse to believe that we are just characters from a novel!" Erich says, he's ticked off at all of this.

"The only way we can leave is to watch, so just play along and don't cause a ruckus." Liana reprimands him for his reckless actions.

"Still, this is a very interesting turn of events. Could the author be considered the true god?" The former Saint adds her two cents.

"Olivia-senior. I don't think gods and creators are the same. From what we've seen so far he doesn't have omnipotent powers." Adriana argues.

"He's still nigh omniscient is he not? And what does having powers have to do with being considered a god, my cute junior?" 

"Ah- I mean..."

"But him being reborn as a demon is quite problematic... Being the demon prince at that too."

Olivia has a thoughtful look, but continues. "Well if anything I think he's going to escape and be a big player."

"What could give you such confidence?"

"Just a hunch." With that she pats Adriana in the head.

"W-What?" The black haired second year flinches but just accepts it.

Loyar and Eleris was shocked at the turn of events. They had been chilling and doing their part in aiding their prince in the background, organising everything in order to restore the demon realm.

But then they were transported here out of nowhere, being forced to watch the truth of the world of how their entire existence was a lie thought up by one man, who was reincarnated... as their PRINCE.

They were confused of what to do, especially Loyar.

"Eleris... What do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

The wolf girl fidgets a bit, but answers. "He's not even the real royal highness! What is all of this even for? Should we even follow him anymo-"

Eleris slaps Loyar, making her shocked. "What?"

"It doesn't matter who is controlling him, get your head out of the gutter Loyar!"

She then points her finger to their sleeping prince in his blonde disguise, surrounded by his harem of course.

"He IS our liege, and I will follow him to the end. Will you?"

With that, Loyar stayed silent as she is ashamed of thinking to even abandoning her master.

"Yes... I will."

"Good."

While the two were having their conversation, Ellen was in a different hell of her own.

She was torn between her responsibilities and duty as an Artorius, her personal feelings, and the friendship between her and Reinhardt.

With what information she had, she figured out that Reinhardt was not only the Demonic prince of the wretched demon realm, but also the creator that wrote her entire existence, including her brothers... death...

Her duty as the sister of the Hero and an Artorius means she has to kill him right now, her feelings are anger for the apparent cause of her brother's death and her life falling apart.

But... Reinhardt truly cared for her, he truly opened her up and was willing to spend time with her unlike what her brother or family ever had done to her.

Despite all the emotions and obligations that she has, she resolved to sit through all of it, and learn what kind of person Reinhardt is.

She will judge him after all of this is over.

"I hope you didn't betray me." The swordswoman mutter to herself while looking at Reinhardt.

"Now that everyone has blown off steam, how about we continue?"

"Go ahead, we're ready." Bertus commands.

The screen shines open, now showing the next part.

Explosions can be seen from the castle, everything is being destroyed.

A red haired demon boy is seen running through the castle, grasping for air.

"FUCK!!" He yells out as everything falls apart behind him. "THAT FUCKING GRIM REAPER WAS A SCAMMER!"

"Is it weird that I feel kind of bad for him?" Liana asks as she sees the pitful state of the author.

"Well, the situation isn't that great for him."

The screen shows the grim reaper winking in a flashback.

"I'm going to enter the novel as a random character from it?"

"And since you know the story, you could even say that it's a reward💜"

"BUT WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE THE DEMON KING'S SON!"

"Either he has insanely bad luck, or the agent from hell is messing with him." Olivia comments, pitying the poor boy and his current circumstances.

"It might just be both." Adriana says.

"Sucks to be him." Cayer mouths out while grinning.

'As for why the castle is blowing up... That's obvious.'

'The Demon King and the Hero are in the middle of their final battle.'

The screen shifts to an image of what seems to be chapter planning written on a piece of paper.

'This is the prologue scene from the novel that I wrote.'

'Both the Demon King and the Hero will meet their end here.'

Ellen's expression noticeably turned sour at the mention of her brother's sacrifice.

"So you did wrote his death..." Ellen mutters to herself while staring at the sleeping Reinhardt, rage building inside of her which was followed by despair that her brother's death was unavoidable from the beginning.

Harriet somehow doesn't notice it, but keeps her head down in respect for the hero, and so does most people in the room.

Loyar and Eleris wasn't doing any better either. This viewing had shown that though unintentionally, their prince caused the death of their king by scripting his death.

The vampire girl in particular was saddened because of her direct relations with Demon King Valiers.

'The war would end in victory for humanity.'

'And I am the demon prince, Valier.'

'Being the demon prince meanss that... The moment I get caught, I'll definetly...'

The scene shifts to an image of Valiers Jr. being tied up with tiers flowing his eyes while a masked executioner hovers over him with a sword in hand, ready to strike.

'Die.'

"He came to that conclusion quickly." The first prince remarks, being amused at the imagination of the demon prince.

"It is only natural, he wrote all of this after all so this should be basic knowledge for him." Louis shifts his glass, stating the obvious facts.

Eleris and Loyar however were left to ponder, how could their liege escape this hellish predicament he's in? The demon castle was surrounded and there was nothing he could do.

The flamboyant red haired vampire in particular was distraught imagining the death of her ██████████. She was glad that he somehow made it out to meet her though.

"Well, he definitely shot himself in the foot." Liana comments while looking thoughtfully at the screen. He couldn't have died that early right?

Aside from them, the three hopeless idiot trio were sitting next to eachother, smirking at the unfortunate fate of the demon in the screen.

Ellen was feeling conflicted again, why had she felt fear and despair when the demon who manipulated her was going to die? It doesn't make sense...

'Have I grown to attatched?' The black haired kuudere thought while looking at the sleeping Reinhardt.

Charlotte was still anxious, it was about time that the brown haired savior of hers showed up. Would her hypothesis be wrong?

No, she had to keep watching. The truth will reveal itself soon anyways.

'Let's think about this. How can I survive in this awful situation?'

"He's surprisingly not as panicky as I thought." Louis comments, commending the author for his calmness in this hellish situation.

"It is indeed weird that he accepted his situation this fast. Maybe the Hell agents did something to his mental state?" Bertus hums thoughtfully at the possibility.

A status window is seen following Valiers Junior around. 'This thing has been here next to me since a while ago. I never had anything like this in my novel, but according to this status screen cliche...'

'I am currently Valiers Junior, and these are my stats.' 

The god awful stats of the Demon Prince Valiers Junior is shown once again.

'I don't know the exact standards, but this can't be considered as great.'

"Well, we don't know ours either but I'm pretty sure none of us have a combat assessment of F." Heinrich proudly boasts, displaying his arrogance as a royal prince.

Cayer and Kono however were fidgeting a little bit. They had gotten in because of their unique abilities and mana pool but other than that they had nothing.

Surely they weren't that ass at fighting.. Right?

"Since we're at the topic of combat assessment, I'm sure people like Ellen and Cliffman are of the highest rank since they are the strongest here." The first prince says, expressing the superiority of Class A to the whole theatre.

Ellen however, rejected Bertus's proclamation. "There's no way I'm the strongest here. That would belong to the auntie sitting over there." She then points towards the chilling wolf girl who was suddenly startled by the attention.

"I told you to stop calling me auntie! Damn it..." Loyar grumbles while being patted by Eleris. "Stop patting me!"

"Seriously? This old lady is stronger than Ellen?" The green haired noble brat mocks which in turn makes Loyar glare back at him.

"Huh? Wanna go?" This makes Erich back down.

"It's true, I saw the fight and she beat Ellen!" Harriet comes to Loyar's defence. She had seen the whole ordeal after all and no one was more shocked than her at the results.

The people of Class A and especially Bertus were flabbergasted. He knew the truth about Ellen. This girl was an Artorius for Towan's sake! The little sister of the legendary hero who sacrificed his life for Humanity's victory.

And she said that the blue haired auntie sitting there is the strongest? Even Saint-Owen came to back Ellen's claim! Who were these people that Reinhardt is acquainted with...

He had to keep watch on them too. Who knows how much power they possess to make Ellen Artorius recognise their strength.

The screen shifts to reveal the mighty Demon King himself sitting on his golden throne covered by his robe and face unseen by the world while oozing incredible aura.

'Being the final boss, the Demon King would have been better. I could have ran away or tried to reach an agreement... Anything would be better than this.'

Once again, the reveal of the Demon King shook most of the theatre to their core. The one who was responsible for millions of deaths was shown on screen and a lot of people were noticeably ticked off.

Ellen stared at the screen with unrelenting fury. The demon king was the being that took away her brother from her after all.

The rest of the students were indoctrinated at birth that all demons were evil, and here he was, displayed in his full power on the screen.

"He looks absolutely terrifying..." Ludwig can't help but comment.

Charlotte however was... oddly calm. She felt that something inside her resonated with the being on the screen.

The demon spies in the room were familiar with the Demon King, but even on the screen his sheer aura is felt in their seats.

Eleris however, looks on with sadness knowing that her royal highness is already dead.

'I don't have any special abilities to help with escaping or surviving... The only thing that's helpful is the fact that I can read the letters of this world.'

"It is weird that he's able to read and understand our language." The vampire lady comments in curiosity.

"Perhaps he personally designed and wrote our language as the author?" Louis tries to make sense of the whole ordeal but his idea was shot down by Bertus.

"His reaction suggests otherwise, which leads me to believe that the Hell Agents implanted him with the knowledge."

"The hell agents really did provide him with only the necessary things." Olivia says with a pitying tone, because he really got the short end of the stick with his stats.

'Then the only option I have left is...' The Redhead Prince stops by a sign that reads [Warehouse]

'To hope that something good is in here...'

Eleris facepalms at the thought of the future lord of all Demons having no other option but to pillage the storage room. How far they had fallen.

"So that's how he got the magic scrolls..." She muttered to herself.

"It is quite amusing to see the Prince of the Demon Realm loot his own castle for supplies." The saintess chuckles a bit at the ridiculous sight. She had never thought she would be able to see this sight in her life.

"Never have I thought of it as a possibility." Adriana also chuckles as this whole situation is absurd to say the least.

The golden haired princess however was growing increasingly anxious. She had heard reports from Dyrus that the boy she was looking for found the teleportation scrolls from that exact warehouse.

"I hope that wasn't the case..." She silently speaks to herself, hoping that her theory wasn't true.

Stuff were seen thrown all over the floor as the red haired demon inspects everything, only to find mediocre items.

"...I came here in hopes of finding something good, but how does this warehouse only have junk?!"

"Damn it... This is why we're losing to the Imperial Army."

Loyar was understandably furious. The author had possessed her royal highness and now belittles the Demon Realm's efforts because he got shitty loot?!?

But she was calmed down by the vampire lady sitting next to her. "Calm down, he's just adjusting." Eleris makes the case for her prince.

"I don't know what he was expecting considering the logistics of the Demon Army should be utterly destroyed at this point." Louis comments while shifting his glasses a bit.

"Such is the case for an extremely long war like this one." 

Charlotte had a somewhat relieved expression. Maybe he wasn't the brown haired boy after all, because he and Dyrus would've already looted the warehouse beforehand right?!?!

"Hm?" Valiers expression changes as if he struck gold. 'This is...'

'A magic scroll book!' The item in his hand is revealed to be a demonic magical scroll.

'In the novel, I made it so that someone who couldn't use magic would be able to by using a scroll!'

The princess's face turned sour into a look of confusion. If the demon prince found the scroll... Then how the hell did the boy and Dyrus find scrolls at the warehouse? Did they find another one?

"What the hell? He just conveniently found that? Is this what the novelists call 'Deus Ex Machina?" Cayer vents out his frustrations at the clear plot armour being shown.

"That is extremely lucky of him to find that." Adriana couldn't believe it. It's as if the gods personally delivered it to him out of pity.

"Woah! Is that a magical scroll? I never thought I would see one." Ludwig is as excited as ever. He had never seen such a thing after all.

'So that's how he found those...' Eleris thought to herself. It had been weird that the prince was carrying magical scrolls so this explains how he got his hands on them.

Olivia sat on her seat and analysed the demonic scrolls in every detail. She had been curious about how they worked after all.

The Demon then began flipping through the pages of the scroll.

"Let's see here... I'm sure it's in here somewhere... A magic that can get me out of here..."

"Aha! Found it!"

<TELEPORTATION SCROLL>

"How fucking convenient for him." Now even Kono was joining the plot armour hate train against Valiers Jr.

"So... He used that to escape?!?!" Harriet was shocked that the demon prince could manage to escape so easily from the siege.

The demon trio turned to look at each other. Eleris knew that escaping the palace wouldn't be that simple with the Imperial Army besieging it. There would've been counter measures to prevent such spells from being used after all.

"He might still be alive after all if he has access to such magic." The first prince comments while considering the possibilities of him somehow being able to escape with a magical scroll.

Ellen felt surprisingly glad that Reinhardt's hardships seem to be behind him now that he has found a means to escape. Wait why is she glad again? He killed her brother... But he's also her friend...

'My mind's such a mess...' The Artorius family heir thought. She will need to make up her mind on what to do with Reinhardt soon.

'That's the spell that boy used to get me out of the castle!' Charlotte thought while examining the page. She had no doubt about it, it is the same magic!

The possibility of them being the same person is getting rather high... She had to hope that it wasn't the case or Bertus would be on her ass for conspiring with an archdemon.

"Why do I feel like somethings going to go horribly wrong." Liana says with an indifferent tone.

"Liana! Don't jinx it!" Ludwig then scolds her for that.

"I just had a hunch, maybe I'm wrong, who knows."

The palace shakes from the fighting which makes Valiers Jr turn around with an annoyed look.

"Tch, I'm going to get buried in the rubble at this rate." With time running out he picks up the book and began chanting.

"FIRST, I SHOULD TRY TO GET AS FAR AWAY FROM HERE AS I CAN! <TELEPORATION>!!!"

Absolutely nothing happened.

"Welp, I called it." Liana remarks with a smirk. She had been right on the money so her hunch is accurate.

Bertus bursts out laughing at the unfortunate situation. Of course there would be an anti-movement magic field in the most important battle in human history!

Now he was curious about how this demon could have survived if the teleportation spell didn't work.

Erich, Kono, Cayer also followed suit, relishing at the predicament of the demon prince being shown on screen.

The red haired vampire facepalmed due to the shortsightedness of her liege about the magic barrier. He should've known since he was the one who wrote the damn novel!

"What? Why didn't it work?!" Harriet asks in pure confusion.

"I think the screen will show us why soon." Adelia answers for her best friend.

The red haired archdemon had a look of confusion as nothing happened.

'I'm still here?!'  He thought before inspecting the scroll once more. 

"What...? Why isn't it working?"

Then a pop-up from the status window opens in front of the prince.

[The magic has been cancelled due to the movement magic barrier.]

With that revelation, the red haired boy's face morphs into despair as he slumps himself onto the floor.

"I'm fucked..."

"Things really aren't going his way right now." Now Adriana was joining the pity train. This shit really is sad.

Even Ellen who was still furious about her brother being offscreened by Reinhardt felt bad about his situation. It was like the universe was toying with him.

"He's got to be both the luckiest and unluckiest person right there to have useful items like a magic scroll given to him just for the hope to be dashed away from his eyes just as easily." 

"I bet if the Hell Agents were watching him they would be laughing right now." The Kernstadt prince says as he adds fuel to the fire.

"Maybe this is the aforementioned punishment that Hell Agent Kim mentioned?" Olivia adds insight to the whole unluckiness of Valiers Jr.

"Come on your highness... Sulking like that isn't like you..." Loyar says quietly with Eleris right beside her giving her a slight smile.

"Cool, so he dies anyway big deal. How does this relate to us anyways?" Erich says in an annoyed tone.

Charlotte turns her head to greet the green haired noble. "Maybe if you all keep quiet and continue watching then we will be able to know." The passive aggressiveness of Charlotte makes a few people shudder a little bit.

She had every reason to be on edge, she was about to find out the truth that she really wished wasn't the case. Hopefully the Invigilator is actually keeping his word.

"I don't even have time left to look for something else!!" He says with droplets of tears flowing from his eyes.

"Should I just try begging them for my life instead...?" 

"Yeah right, begging for your life as a demon prince. The Imperial Army will surely take pity from a poor archdemon." Heinrich mocks with sarcasm through the roof.

As the prince says that the pages suddenly flip and his eyes widen.

"....!!"

'Camouflage...?!?'

With the reveal of a camouflage magical scroll, Charlotte started internally freaking out.

'Surely It can't be the case... right?!?! RIGHT?!?!' Was all the princess could think of. Could she be deceived by the demon prince all along?

Bertus also took notice of his sister's demeanour changing with the mention of the camouflage magic.

The Vampire lady also took notice of the magical scroll on screen. "So that's how he escaped..." She knew that there was no way her highness could bulldoze out of that death trap with raw power.

He had used the camouflage spell and that's why he looked like a human when they met at the shop!

'But then again... This would mean...' Eleris took a look at Charlotte whose eyes were glued to the screen.

'Would this reveal all of our secrets? What would the first princess do?' The vampire hoped that it would settle positively somehow.

"Once again... Deus Ex Machina." Kono grumbles as the universe seems to be unable to make their mind if they want to help the demonic prince or not.

The screen shifts to a dark hallway of what looks like a dungeon.

Charlotte's breathing hitch as she remembered that horrible place and the time she had in the demon castle. 

Her panic was through the roof, the memories and everything came pouring back.

Footsteps were heard, and then revealed a human boy with brown hair.

The princess's eyes widen and so does Bertus. He knew that his sister had been tracking her supposed 'savior' for a long time and so this is what he looked like.

But both of their moods dropped once the screen showed an infobox.

[VALIERS JUNIOR (CAMOUFLAGED)]

The dam breaks as the normally collected and calm princess yells out at the screen.

"THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE! IT CAN'T BE!!!!" Her powerful voice rings out all over the theatre, shocking everyone.

"Charlotte, calm down!" Bertus tries to stop his sister but she starts pointing her index finger at the Invigilator who is standing at the corner.

"IS THIS A JOKE TO YOU?! IS THIS WHAT YOU MEAN BY SHOWING THE TRUTH?!"

"Miss Charlotte. I suggest you calm down."

"Calm down? CALM DOWN?!?! HOW DO YOU EXPECT ME TO CALM DOWN AFTER DROPPING THAT ON ME!?"

"This is my last warning. If you continue to disturb the viewing then you will need to be dealt with, like Mr. Erich."

With his sudden mention, Erich shuddered, remembering about the painful sudden blackout he received from the Invigilator.

"..." With the threat made, Charlotte started breathing in and out to calm herself down.

"I'm sorry for my outburst, everyone." With that she sat back down without looking at anything but the screen. She will watch through it and see what his motives are.

"...Miss Charlotte is really scary when she's mad." Ludwig says to Louis who is still flabbergasted by the crash out.

"Uh, yeah."

Eleris was barely composing. Charlotte's reaction was way worse than what she hoped, but thankfully it seems like she didn't instantly go for her the instant she found out.

'Or she hasn't noticed yet..'

The Artorius heiress also looked at Charlotte, but with pity. She can feel the sense of betrayal on what she assumed was a person very important to Charlotte.

Reinhardt has many dirty secrets it seems and she is determined to see through all of it. He wouldn't tell her then so she will take matters into her own hands.

"Sheesh, we should never get on the princess's bad side, like ever." Cayer says to his friends sitting besides him who nods vehemently.

'I don't know if using the scroll to disguise myself as a human prisoner will work, but...'  He puts on a grim face.

'I should try everything that I can. I wonder if it'll go well though.'

A cartoonish diagram shows the thought process behind Valiers Junior's thought process.

[VALIERS JUNIOR'S DEMON KING'S CASTLE ESCAPE PLAN]

1. Disguise as a human with camouflage.

2. Infiltrate into the human prison.

3. Get saved by the Imperial Army along with other prisoners.

4. Find an opportunity to run away!

MISSION SUCCESS!

"That's not a bad plan at all. It's probably the highest chance he will get at escaping the castle." Adriana speaks up to commend the archdemon for his thinking.

"If he succeeds then that would probably be how he survives." The ambitious prince comments, now he only needs to know what the demon did to conspire with Charlotte.

On the other side of the room, Ellen looks at Reinhardt, inspecting his body. Was the camouflage spell how his appearance changed from an archdemon to a golden haired handsome boy?

The golden haired princess looks at the screen with confusion. 'So he didn't go there and get friendly with me for my power?' Was what she currently thought.

Since he's the author of her world and knows everything, he should know that an important person such as her is stuck in a dungeon below the castle right?

'Being saved by the Imperial Army is the best way for me to survive.' He thinks as he is entering the prison cell.

As he steps into the room, there is no sound of voice made by anyone in it.

'What...? Why is it so quiet?'

"Huh?!? Why isn't there any sound coming from the prison?" Harriet asks in curiosity and confusion.

"Oh no... Oh no no no." Charlotte was internally screaming, she had to relive that sight once again. The disgusting eerie feeling of death in the prison cells.

She begin hyperventilating, the panic of seeing it all again is getting to her. But then she felt a palm touch her shoulder which makes her jolt.

The princess turns around and sees the saintess herself smiling at her with a motherly warmth.

"It's okay. We're here for you." Olivia says as she moved her seat next to Charlotte and Adriana follows her.

"We may not directly know what happened but we heard from the rumours. If you feel comfortable just know that everyone here is supporting you."

Some people within the academy already heard the circumstances of the princess's stay in the Demon Castle, and now they braced themselves to see the carnage that awaits them.

'Don't tell me I entered the wrong roo-' He notices that the smell in the room is unfamiliar and weird.

'Urgh... What is this smell? It smells like... Fish? No, it smells like blood.'

"What?!" The tsundere girl was alarmed by the fact that the jailcells smelled like blood. She was starting to pick the pieces together.

The three idiots friend group also took notice of the comment about the room smelling like blood and started preparing for the worst. 

Suddenly he felt a squish as he walked over something. 

'What? I think I just stepped on somethi-' He looks down to see a something that would scar him forever.

A severed bloody human hand lies at his barefeet as he stepped on it.

Charlotte was absolutely not fine. Her PTSD of the time in that dungeon came flooding back and Olivia had to hold her hand to somewhat calm her down.

"By Towan... What happened there?" The saintess can't help but feel disgust for whatever was going on in the demon castle.

"I-Is that a hand!?!" Harriet could not believe this sight. She knew the demons were terrible but to this extent?!?!

The mood of every viewer turned sour as the screen shows even more disturbing shit.

"UWAAAARGH!!!" The author instantly jumped away from the severed hand on the floor with freight in his expression.

His breathing was heavy and panic was in his voice. "IT'S... IT'S A HUMAN HAND!"

He then raised his hand to see it bloodstained. "And is this... Blood?"

The boy in brown hair turned to look at the sight in front of him and froze in shock.

'What is this?!'

The screen shifts to show mangled dead corpses lying all over the floor.

'Are they all dead?!?'

"By the gods..." Olivia felt extreme sadness over the corpses of innocent lives laying all over the dungeon. "Such barbarity done by the demonkind..."

"It is absolutely detestable." Adriana says while clenching her fist due to what is being shown on screen.

"What the hell..." Cayer couldn't hold it anymore and started puking after seeing such a sight. His friend Kono followed suit while Erich tried to stay calm.

They had never seen actual deaths before, and now they see it in such a detailed fashion that they couldn't handle the gore.

Harriet had a look of horror on her face seeing all the deceased. This image will scar her for the rest of her life.

Ludwig and Louis had a horrified look with what was shown. Such disgusting acts of murder...

Ellen wasn't that unfamiliar with seeing death before because she was an Artorius, but the swordmaster still felt absolutely disgusted by what was shown on screen.

And for Charlotte? The princess was being tended to by Olivia and surprisingly her brother Bertus of all people who were helping her calm down from the PTSD.

Bertus didn't really have a reason to care, but he was still human and seeing his sister like this wasn't sitting well with him so he opted to help her deal with it.

"It's okay dear sister, I'm here, we're here, you're safe from that place." He says while rubbing Charlotte's back.

Her breathing grew stedier and she began recovering from the shock. She was ready to power through this.

'I...I never wrote about something like this in the novel...? It was supposed to be a RomCom novel!' The author thought as sweat flows down his face from stress.

"Wait, what? He didn't?? Then why..." The heiress to the duchy of Saint-Owen was confused by how any of this is happening if the creator hadn't wrote it.

"If I had to guess." Louis who was still recovering from the gruesome sight spoke up. "Perhaps the Hell Agents filled in the details of stuff that there wouldn't be any details about?"

"Either the Hell Agents were the one who did it... Or the world we live in just sort of corrected any plot holes he has?!" Liana offers her hypothesis.

"There's no point in dwelling about that now. We best focus on what's in front of us on the screen." Olivia says while still being horrified at the carnage.

'What do I do? Should I leave again?'

'But what should I do if I leave? What do I have to do to...' The author was panicking but then a faint sound of sobbing was heard.

'Huh?'

The camera pans to a familiar girl with blonde hair wearing a bloodied white gown while sobbing uncontrollably.

"Wait... Is that... Charlotte?" The Ludwig thought out loud in surprise. The original protagonist had always seen Charlotte as an iron lady that could take on any challenge so this came as a surprise for him.

The princess herself looked at her crying pathetic self in the screen and felt a sting of pain in her chest. Her past self had been so, so, weak and she couldn't protect anyone in that dungeon.

But now it's different. There's no way to turn back time and change the past, all that can be done is to watch and she had accepted that reality. 

"By the gods... Are you alright?" The blonde saint turns to the princess sitting next to her.

"It's alright. I need to get myself together anyways."

"Are you sure?"

"...Yes."

"It's not wrong to cry you know?" With Olivia's last remark the conversation grew to a close. 

Bertus on the other hand finally sees his sister on screen for the first time. The first prince had a look of disgust not for her but for what happened to her. She was the princess damn it! And these demons dare do all of this to an Imperial princess?

The rest of the theatre gave Charlotte looks of sympathy for the shit she was going through.

'Is that a survivor?'

"E-Excuse me...? Are you alright?" He begins walking towards her but flinches.

He stops to stare at Charlotte mourning another older women with the same hair colour as her.

With that reveal, tears started rolling down from Charlotte's eyes as she sees the sight she never wanted to relive ever again.

"...M-Mother..." She bawled her eyes out at the corpse of the mother that sacrificed herself to protect her daughter.

"How horrible..." The golden haired saint could not believe it. This was what the imperial princess went through? Her mother dying in front of her?

"I.. I don't know what to say... My condolences to you." Even Ellen spoke up to support Charlotte as she also knew what it's like to lose an important family member.

"..." Bertus didn't know how to react. The scene before him was his weak sister crying over his step mother. Should he be relieved that a political opponent is in a state of weakness or should he be saddened that a family member is suffering?

He doesn't get it. His mother drilled him in the responsibilities of becoming the next emperor no matter the cost, but yet its family.

The prince made up his mind. He will comfort her in her time of need, at least for now.

Everyone else was silent to pay respects to the Queen Consort.

'It's a girl... Is she a kid?'

"Wait... He didn't know who she was? I thought he wrote all of us?" Harriet was even more confused.

"That would be the case... Unless he never wrote about Charlotte." Louis' words spooked the theatre to its core with the implications that came with this accusation.

"Louis! Are you telling me that my sister is an anomaly?" Bertus speaks up in accusation but Charlotte stops him.

"Wait no, stop. he might be on to something, let him cook speak."

With the princess' gesture, Louis continues on with his hypothesis. 

"It is possible that the Hell Agents were somehow adding more and more characters and content to the original plot. Like the masssacre at the dungeon."

"What if it is to, let's say add more difficulty to the author who had to be here in order to repent? It wouldn't be much of a challnge if he just knows everything after all."

"Then... I was never there in the original story?" The princess asks with a solemn look.

"Unfortunately seems to be the case." With that the mood of the room took a negative hit.

Charlotte flinches in fear when she notices the presence of the disguised archdemon.

"Ah! Sorry! I must've scared you. I'm also a prisoner here! A-Are you okay?"

"He's tricking the princess... Such a sly tongue." Erich can't help but comment at the sheer trickery.

"It hurts a bit to know that he's not actually a prisoner... But what happened next made up for it." The golden haired princess says, surprising many.

Bertus had some details from the reports he received from the duchy's knights present of his sister's escape. Now he will be able to watch what happened.

The scared girl nods to the question.

"Ah, That's a relief..." He turns to look at the corpse of the lady next to Charlotte.

'Were they related...? Oh no...' The disguised demon gives her a look of pity.

"Don't worry, people are coming to save us soon. If it's fine with you, would you like to wait together?"

With that suggestion, The girl stared blankly.

"Without knowing about the whole disguised demon chicanery, he really does look like a savior who came out of no where as an emotional support." Olivia hums thoughtfully at this sight.

"Yeah... He really is. In that place all that existed was death and destruction, so I was really relieved when someone came to me." Charlotte replied.

"Even if you now know his true identity, you still feel the same?"

"You need to wait and see."

'Ah, shit. Was that too much? I think she's wary of me...' The boy thought.

"Yeah no shit. You look suspicious as hell! Imagine the entire room being filled with dead bodies and suddenly an uninjured guy comes announcing he's a survivor. That will creep me out!"

"Cayer, please read the room." With that remark, Cayer shut up.

"It's... It's because I'm honestly super scared!"

"Wow, amazing acting skills." Liana bluntly says but earns the glare of Charlotte.

"This is... the Demon King's castle after all... Wouldn't it be better for u to stay together?"

With that, Charlotte's face lit up with somewhat positive emotions that weren't previously present at all.

"Oh? Is that where you fell for him?" The saint was starting to piece together the relationship between the two from the clues of screaming and shouting a while back.

"Olivia-senior... I don't think it's right to joke about that..." Adriana tries to stop her but Bertus just giggles loudly to the surprise of many.

"You've hit right on the money, Olivia-senior." The first prince himself had been spying on his sister and he knew how she was obsessed with this boy, so he came to the same conclusion as the Saint herself.

Charlotte's cheeks were starting to turn red from embarassment as the teasing goes out of hand.

The girl then starts shaking with a bit of tears coming off her eyes.

"Uh? AH?! S-SORRY!!" Naturally, this makes the author panic because he had never dealt with a teenage girl before so he has no idea what to do.

"I ASKED TOO MUCH, RIGHT?! WHAT I'M TRYING TO SAY IS THAT-"

Charlotte stops him mid sentence. "No... It's okay..."

"Come sit here next to me..." She gestures him to come closer.

"Ah, should I?"

"Practically got him wrapped around your finger huh? Your highness." Olivia persists with the teasing, being interested in the interactions shown on screen.

"Senior!" Adriana wanted to stop her from teasing the princess and making her the new objects of attatchment, but to no avail.

"Dear sister... You really are assertive." Bertus joins the teasing which makes Charlotte even redder.

The rest look on at Charlotte's embarrassed face. They could not believe that the iron willed princess of all people would make that kind of reaction.

Ellen however, was confused at this. How could Charlotte of all people forgive Reinhardt so easily? He tricked and used her! Maybe she also needs to let go and move forward as well...

The atmosphere was awkward, as Valiers Jr was sitting next to this golden haired girl and no words were spoken.

'...Mmm, it's a bit awkward.'

Charlotte suddenly turned to him. "...You're really calm, huh?"

"Is that so? It's also really scary for me..."

The author's face becomes serious. 'I'm not really lying. It really is scary. After all, if my plan fails, I'll be immediately captured and killed.'

"Oh yeah, right. He still needed to escape from the castle." They were drunk on the atmosphere and almost forgot about the conundrum at hand.

'Well, it's not like I have any other options, so if I fail, that's that.' Suddenly, some rustling sound came from his rags.

".....?" He checks on the pockets. 'Huh? There's something in my cloak.'

He then pulls the thing out, revealing a plastic wrapped cracker.

'Ah, right, I had this. I found it in the pockets of the clothes that I was wearing originally and kept it with me.'

He stares at the crackers. 'I'm not that hungry right now, but...'

The author turns to Charlotte. "Hey... I picked this up earlier..."

She turns around to see him offering the crackers.

"Do you want to share it?"

"This is... Quite romantic for some reason." Adriana couldn't help but comment. She wasn't a big fan of her senior teasing the princess but she wasn't going to deny the obvious either.

"Well, crackers literally appeared to him for this exact moment so I think the Hell people wanted this to happen?" Even Ludwig was getting on board to the frustrations of Charlotte.

The golden princess herself was blushing internally. This is their private moment and it's being broadcasted to the people she know! She bet the Invigilator is enjoying this even if they don't show it.

In the corner, Eleris was cheering her liege on. 'Yes, you're doing good. This is how you deal with girls.' Was her internal thought. She was proud of her ██████████ for having social skills.

Cayer, Kono, and Erich was in disbelief. He got Charlotte's affection with crackers?!?! Hell, if they knew it was that easy then they would've gotten girlfriends by now!

"Hm...?" He awkwardly presents and the two look at each other with neither side making any moves.

"......Th-Thank you." After some hesitation, The girl accepts, taking small bites out of the crackers.

'What? She should be starving right now. Why is she just taking small bites? Does she just not like crackers?'

'He cares about me...' Charlotte's thoughts were all jumbled. Why does he care so much for a girl he only met in a bloody dungeon?

"Let's just wait a bit. The Imperial Army's going to save us soo-" Suddenly, there were yellings outside the door.

"I FOUND THE PRISON CELLS!" This startled the duo sitting on the prison floor.

'Th-They're here!' The Anxiety level rises for the author as more imperial troops poured into the room.

The soldiers are commanded by a duke who stood tall against the kids on the floor.

"Duke Salerian." The De Gardias royal siblings both said at the same time as the man showed himself, but their tones were way, way, different.

Charlotte had a solemn tone, as she couldn't save the duke from his untimely demise due to political schemes.

While Bertus on the other hand saw him as a political threat to his ambitions, and viewed him accordingly as such.

The duke's face shows relief as she sees the surviving prisoners. "Ah...! Finally...!"

Valiers Jr was obviously confused at what's going on. 'Why are they reacting like this...? For just running into prisoners like this, their reactions are a bit-' 

His thoughts were cut off by the duke's next words.

"YOUR IMPERIAL HIGHNESS!!" This shocks the author to his core.

"Please punish me for not saving you sooner!" After his proclamation, the duke gets on his knees and bows to the girl.

'What?' He swiftly turns around to Charlotte.

'Did this old man just... Call her 'Your Imperial Highness'...?!?'

[GARDIAS EMPIRE'S 1ST IMPERIAL PRINCESS]

[CHARLOTTE DE GARDIAS]

With that, another pop up shows up.

[PROLOGUE EVENT]

[RUINATION - CLEARED]

[YOU HAVE ACQUIRED 100 ACHIEVEMENT POINTS.]

"Achievement points?" Eleris asks in curiosity what those were, but the Invigilator finally spoke up as the screen came to an abrupt stop.

"That is episode two done. I will give you 10 minutes to rest up and discuss, and then we will continue a few more episodes and then there will be a long break."

With that, the theatre began growing loud once again.

Chapter Text

With the end of the 2nd episode, discussions immediately started between the people within the theatre after the Invigilator signalled the break.

Charlotte's PTSD over the whole being kidnapped by demons, witnessing massacres, and her mother dying has nearly subsided with the support of Olivia and the sight of the hero who saved her.

She calms down, breathing in and out, recovering from the shock of episode two, thinking about the repercussion she will get once episode three reveals her being in cahoots with the Demon Prince.

While the princess was in thought, Olivia and Adriana converse about their thoughts of the second episode in this viewing.

"So, what did you think about all of that, Adriana?" The saintess asks her cute junior.

"I don't think we should be prying into the princess' business." Replied adriana.

"The whole affair with the princess and the demon prince is very intriguing, is it not?" She says with a smile.

Adriana looks unfazed by this, but internally she thinks something else. 'Senior Olivia is going to make the princess her new object of attatchment... I pity her.'

The undercover demons were unsure of what to make of the situation. On one hand, their prince has built friendly connections with the first princess of the Gardias empire, which should've been a positive gain.

However... Once the true identity of Reinhardt is revealed... They could not stomach what the consequences would be.

"I... Will prepare for the rotary gang's evacuation once we get out of here." Loyar says to her collegue.

"Please do, we must take precaution." 

Bertus de Gardias was unsure of what he should do. His sister was conspiring with a demon! But she didn't know he was a demon so could she be excused?

Even if she didn't know, he knew that this information would damage his sister's reputation in the race in the royal succession.

His victory was assured once they get out of this place. 

After further discussions by the people in this god forsakened room, the Invigilator appears again, announcing that the five minutes are up.

"We will now be watching episode three." With this, everyone's attention was focused on the screen.

The screen opens up with the flag of the Gardias empire, showing a military camp installment guarded by hundreds of soldiers.

[IMPERIAL ARMY FIELD MILITARY CAMP]

Multiple soldiers in full gear are shown in front of one very large tent.

'Fortunately, being saved alongside the princess I was dramatically with is a good thing.' He monologues internally.

Charlotte is seen cutting a steak and eating it gracefully.

'But this situation right now...'

"Ah~" The first princess says as she takes another bite of the steak.

"..." Looking at the golden haired girl, the archdemon in disguise is pretty uncomfortable.

"I can't believe the princess is eating a steak like nothing happened..." Adelia comments, shocked at the princess' nonchalantness.

But the first prince, who's watching his sister's every move was convinced otherwise.

'She's baiting the guards. There's no way she's this aloof when danger obviously looms.'

"His face looking at her eat is hilarious though." 

'This is hopeless...'

'I was rescued by the noble mister along with the princess I just happened to be with. But in the end, I am still a 'demon' fooling the others with the low-ranking magic 'camouflage'.

'If by any chance, the princess's magician says that we may have been cursed by the Demon King and uses dispel...'

'It's all over.'

"And there is this unique predicament of his. I was so engrossed with the interaction of the two that I almost forgot what he's going through right now." Olivia says while holding her chin.

This makes Eleris naturally curious. How hasn't anyone used dispell on him considering how suspicious he is being that close to their first princess?

"He's walking on a tight rope. He must be very stressful dealing with all of this within the first few hours of his arrival." Ellen comments.

'Reinhardt... You've been through a lot.' The hero thinks with pity.

'To add to that...'

Charlotte in her bloody clothes is seen directing the attention of the guards to Valiers Jr.

"Please look after this person first. He is my savior."

'The princess is taking too much care of me!'

"Probably the first time I've seen someone complain about being looked after by a royalty." Bertus comments about the author's thought process.

'To put it simply, there is too much attention placed on me to sneak off and run away without anyone finding out.'

'And one more thing.' He turns to look at the first princess who is smiling in front of him.

'The Charlotte De Gardias who is in front of me...'

'Is a character who doesn't appear in the original novel.' He thought as she smiles back at him while cutting the steak. 'Someone I never even wrote about.'

"Seems like I was correct in my assumption." Louis says in triumph while Charlotte looks down.

"So I'm not supposed to exist in the first place? That's sad to think about I guess."

Olivia looked at the princess in pity, she was going to say something but Ludwig beat her to it.

"That's not true! You are here with us now and nothing's going to change that." The kind former protagonist came to Charlotte's support.

"Yeah... You're right." 

"My sincerest apologies, princess." The light blue haired knight beside her speaks up.

"Lance..." The golden haired princess says with venom in her voice, her disdain for him was clear and Bertus took note of it.

He bows with his hands around his chest to the girl. "Since we are at a military camp, this was the best I could prepare for you."

Charlotte smiles back to the soldier. "It is alright, Lance. Thank you for the hospitality."

The knight sighs. "Thank you for your understanding. As soon as Duke Salerian arrives, we shall take you to the imperial palace."

Bertus and Charlotte stares blankly because they know that it wasn't the case.

Olivia and Heinrich also notices that something was up, with both the saintess and the prince being familiar with these kinds of political intrigue.

"Something is up, I can feel it." The Kernstadt prince says to Liana and Cliffmann.

"That is a relief. Thank you." The golden haired princess responds with a smile.

She then turned her head towards the black haired boy. "Oh, and..."

"Earlier, in the prison... Thank you very much."

'I don't think I did anything...' He thought. "Did I even do anything?"

"Even if that's how you feel, you were a big help to me." She says as a servant delivers tea to her.

"I-I see."

"Oh ho~ a big help to you hmm?" The saintess turns to tease the princess.

"Tch. Lucky bastard." The ever jealous cayer mutters under his breath.

The princess picks up the cup of tea. "In return for that, I will make sure you are safely returned to your hometown. What is the name of it?"

Charlotte's attention was directed back to the screen as she recalls the fact that he had lost his memories. poor him.

The author is startled by this. "I beg your pardon?! M-My hometown?"

'Huh...?! How should I answer this?' He panics internally.

"Wait, what? Shouldn't he know those since he was the one who wrote all of this?" Harriet questions the memory of the author.

Even Charlotte was surprised by this, and she knew what his answer was! 'Oh...' She had now realised that he was bullshitting and that she had been had.

"I should've known..." The first princess says to herself in a low voice.

'Wait, hometown?! A region?! W-What was there?! There's no way I would remember something like that!'

"...Of course. Why do I even bother?" The tsundere has now realised that he was a very shitty creator indeed.

"I mean, I don't think he could've known that said information would be useful." Adelia reasoned to her best friend.

"Fair enough, I guess."

'Hm...? Wait, I've been feeling a gaze-' He glances over towards the light blue haired knight.

The soldier radiates a threatening aura of killing intent towards the disguised archdemon, with his hand by the hilt of his sword.

Everyone tensed up as the surprise glare by Lance puts everyone on guard. It seems like this ultra-realistic showcase also allowed auras and killing intents to be felt among the viewers.

Cliffman and Ellen, the most experienced fighters among the students jerk up alongside Eleris and Loyar who were powerful warriors in their own right.

"I can feel the hostilities even from where I'm sitting." Ellen says in an indifferent voice, but deep inside she felt pity for Reinhardt for going through such a hellish experience.

"How dare that lowly knight threaten our liege with his pathetic stares..." The wolfgirl was ballistic at the sheer audacity of Lance.

"Calm down, Loyar. There's no gain from having a staring contest against moving pictures." Her red-haired vampire compatriot shuts her down.

The golden haired princess also hated this sight. She knew that he was gunning her and the boy down from the beginning, but can't he be more subtle about it?

And how dare he act that way towards a royal guest! It is unacceptable in her eyes.

"Ah... I can't remember anything..." He responds to the princess.

'He's staring at me as if he'll kill me just for answering slowly... I should just make something up.'

"So that's why he said that..." Charlotte felt pity for him even if he lied to her. That must've been an uncomfortable situation for him.

"That's the best excuse he could make up?" The ever prideful Harriet is confused by the stupidity of the author in his response. 

"By Towan... My liege what even is that answer..?" The red haired vampire was sighing hard, it would be a miracle if he somehow pulled through.

"C'mon now Eleris. Let's have faith in him now yeah?" Loyar pats her friend to reassure her. His royal highness came out unscathed from worse before so this shouldn't be too much right?

"What kind of excuse even is that?" The trio of idiots that comprised of Cayer, Kono, and Erich felt somewhat bad for the situation that the disguised demon is in, but they just can't help but make fun of him for this.

"How could something like that happen...?!" The princess says with a saddened face, some tears coming from her eyes.

'Eh? She believes this? Is she dumb?' The archdemon calls her out in his head.

Bertus immediately burst out laughing out loud completely unlike his character. His stomach was getting hurt just from him laughing so hard! The prince had never seen such comedic shit occuring in his life before, he wanted to compose himself but this is just too much!

Charlotte turned to stare at the disrespectful first prince, who just turns around and apologises. "Ah, sorry. But this is just... too much for me to handle." He says while giggling.

The princess in turn was beet red in embarrassment. She had never been called out like this before and she never expected it to be from HIM of all people. "Aaaah...." She groaned out.

"It seems like I was blinded in my thoughts to notice the sheer ridiculousness of that excuse." The golden haired girl says in shame.

"Hmmmm~..." Olivia turned to look at her cute junior, about to tease playfully like she usually does, but she felt a hand grab her shoulder.

"Senior Olivia. Please don't." Adriana stopped her senior from antagonising the royals further, so Olivia reluctantly had to back down.

"For you to say that... You must have gone through a lot as well!" Charlotte makes a praying gesture with sparkles around her.

'It's a good thing she's naive.' He thought.

Not caring for how embarrassed his sister is, Bertus continues to laugh his heart out at how funny all of this is. His sister? A Gardias? Naive? "Oh man this is too rich." He says as some tear of joy flows from his eyes.

"Honestly, she looks really naive from the view of someone who doesn't know much about her." Liana comments. Being a high ranking noble does prove useful when understanding powerful figures.

She begins wiping the tears off her eyes as she reassures him. "You don't have to worry anymore. In my name I shall help you recover your memories!"

'Is she lovestruck, or is she playing dumb?' The first prince thought after his laughters died down. His sister was cold and calculating like him after all, could being saved from a kidnapping change her this much?

"Ah! Thank you princess!" The man quickly bows down.

"Princess! That kind of promise is..." Lance objects to her decision, but she counters.

"I already said it, so I can't take it back. Will you make me into a liar?"

"N-No, princess..." The bodyguard quickly backs down.

'A liar...' The author thinks to himself with guilt showing on his face.

'He's self concious it seems.' Ellen thought. She liked that he at least acknowledge that he's lying so damn much to everyone.

'I'm thankful for her intentions, but that promise is impossible to keep.' Charlotte's smiling face is shown.

'Because the princess will die.'

"Hold up, what?! I thought he didn't know anything about her right?" Harriet was just straight up confused at the contradictions.

Even Charlotte was surprised. She didn't expect to get a damn death flag on her. Did she do something wrong? How could she prevent her own death?

"I... Guess we'll just have to find out why then..." The princess says in a shaking voice, which Olivia and Adriana took note of but could only give her pity gazes.

"Don't worry, Charlotte." Ludwig tells her. "We should be able to help you once all of this is over." 

"I suppose..."

Bertus also perks up, such information regarding his sister could be beneficial to him in the long run with the succession still being indecisive.

His internal monologue continues. 'In the original novel, there wasn't a single description about the real conditions of the prison cells in the demon king's castle.'

It shifts to the author typing on his computer. 'A backstory that not even I know must have been automatically generated for the establishment of the likelihood of this world.'

'If the princess' existence was one of those changes, then I can't know about her future that I never wrote.'

"Then why the hell did he make assumptions that she would die?!" Erich was getting tired of the contradictions by the author.

'But knowing Bertus, the prince I made...' The screen shows Bertus in his prince attire surrounded by knights.

"Oh? It seems that I'm up next." The first prince is intrigued about how he is thought of by his creator.

'He would never let competition live if it stood in the way of his succession to the throne.'

"Wait... So Bertus is going to kill her?" Ludwig asks in disbelief. How could family go against family like that?!

The mood instantly went sour in the room, as while most people already know that it's the standard due to being apart of noble families some didn't have that luxury and we're horrified by the idea of kin slaying.

Ellen in particular was the most disgusted with Bertus. She had cried hard after the news of her brother's death and now she sees the royals assassinating their own family left and right.

"Personally, I would say that we should give him the benefit of the doubt, but with him being written by this guy I think his word has weight." Liana states with indifference in her voice.

"It's fine everyone, I made it out alive and the emperor already made his decree during the opening ceremony did he not?" Charlotte calms the agitated audience to avoid increasing hostilities.

"Charlotte... This isn't a normal thing to say you know? You can't just accept an assassination attempt like it's no big deal..." Olivia says with worry in her voice. What has this girl went through to say such things?

"I know, but seriously I'm fine. Thank's for worrying, Senior Olivia."

The viewing returns from the author's thoughts. "Th-Thank you once again, princess!" He replies with a weak smile.

'This innocent girl must not even know of her own fate.'

"He's really underestimating me, isn't he?" Charlotte says with a pout. How could he have such perception of a royal princess?

'Even my own life is on the line, so what could I do for her with my powerless self?'

'Rather, the princess dying and me getting away from danger would be more...'

The entire theatre is shocked by the inner thoughts of the author, and especially Charlotte who was in disbelief.

She thought he cared for her... Was she just delusional all along? Was she tricked?

Her face ran pale at the thought of a betrayal of this magnitude, and tears started flowing down from her face as her head hung low.

Bertus scoffs. 'It seems like he's not a saint like my dear sister believed.' He didn't expect this guy to be this damn low, but he suppose desperation really brings the worse out of everyone.

"I knew that fucking guy isn't trustworthy." Cayer continues to fuel the flames.

Even Ellen was disappointed. 'Reinhardt... I didn't think you would feel that way. I'm disappointed really.' She thought while looking at the sleeping man.

He stops his thoughts as his hands shake with anger. 'Fucker...'

"Hmm?" The sudden change of tone surprises Bertus. Did he have a sudden change of heart?

The princess also looked up to hear what the author has to say now.

'What kind of thoughts are those? A young child's life is at risk.' The disguised archdemon soon made up his mind on the matter.

'"Your life is in danger". I have to tell her.'

"It seems like we spoke too soon." Olivia was impressed with the morals that he had. She expected him to be a coward but this changed her perception of him.

"So he did care about me..." Charlotte began wiping tears off her eyes. She hadn't misplaced her faith in him after all.

The theatre's perception of him had changed with his new attitude, some even started respecting his resolve.

The girl suddenly sighs, putting her hand on her chest.

"I feel like I've gotten a little indigestion from eating too much." She says with a bright cheerful smile.

The princess turns to Lance. "Could you go and get a doctor for me?"

He hesitates a bit with the her order. "B-But princess... I have to ensure your safety..."

The objection was cut short by the golden haired girl. "Lance. Is there any reason why I would be in danger, even after I heard that the demon king has died?" She asks with a smile.

"...No." The blue knight with a piercing gaze replies, resolving the tension.

"That is a really suspicious look from him." Olivia can't help but comment about the tense situation.

The Gardias siblings knew what was really happening, but kept quiet to not ruin the mood.

"I knew it. Something is definetly up with those knights." Heinrich also comments about the situation.

"I shall go call a doctor." He says while leaving the tent.

"Thank you, lance." The princess says while she waited for him to leave.

As Lance left the tent, the girl's expression grows serious like her personality got changed out of nowhere.

She turns towards the boy in front of her. "First, I should start with an apology."

Most people in the room were surprised by the sudden change in tone of the first princess, she had been so friendly looking so is she breaking the facade?

'Huh? What's this all of a sudden?' he thought with anxiety. 'It's as if she's a completely different person...'

"Sorry." Charlotte says as she picks up her cup of tea.

Her eyes grows serious, and she stares at him. "Because of me... You will die."

"Honestly, nothing surprises me anymore." Liana echos the thought of many in the theatre who were just done with the plot twists.

"What is with the need of these death predictions?!" Harriet was also agitated at the constant death flags being given.

"How dare she say shit like that to our future king?" Loyar was growling but Eleris calms her down.

"I know this looks bad but I'm sure my on screen counterpart can explain what is going on if you let me speak." Charlotte says, shutting everyone up.

"What?" The man is in disbelief. 'Compared to before...'

'She seems like a different person entirely!'

"Is that his biggest concern when she told him that he is literally going to die?" Adelia asks in confusion due to his thought process.

"Don't question it, nothing about him makes sense."

"I am unable to give you the exact details of the imperial family, but there is a high possibility that I will be assassinated in the near future if things continue as they are." The princess says as she sips on her cup of tea.

"The culprit will be my step-sibling, Bertus De Gardias."

"To the surprise of no one." Liana says with sarcasm in her tone.

"Do you all really believe her? I wouldn't dare to do such a thing." The prince defends himself from the wild accusations.

Everyone in the room just gave him a solid stare of "Really?" before turning their attention back to the screen.

"How revolting." The hero's sister just can't help but comment at the attitude of the kin slayer.

Ludwig turns to Louis. "Do you think Bertus would kill Charlotte?"

"I don't know the specifics of the Imperial family, but most of them act like this."

"Must've been hard being from the high society then." The former protagonist says with pity.

"Most of the people of this camp are probably my enemies, and the fact that they are keeping me here without letting me go outside..."

"Means that they have no intention of delivering the message that I have been saved." 

"That explains the knight's intense stare earlier." Adelia comments, now realising the full reason.

"I mean, even back home I can't trust my knights but for the entire camp to be your enemy? That's actually crazy." Heinrich, being from the Kernstadt kingdom can't help but sympathise.

"Such is life for a person of high status." Olivia also knows what it's like to be surrounded by enemies. Being the saint means the church had to keep an eye on her at all times.

That makes the disguised archdemon think back to the weird things that happened when they were rescued. '...If I think about it, she was covered by a thick coat when she was being rescued.'

"Not going to lie, that is actually smart." Eleris comments on the good thinking on the traitor's part.

'People might not know that there were survivors among the prisoners held within the demon king's castle...'

Charlotte continues her explanation. "They're probably waiting on orders about how to get rid of me. They might poison me here and say that they found me dead inside the demon king's castle."

"If I die like that, they won't just let you go either." She places her cup down on the table. "You'll be quietly killed as well to get rid of the evidence."

"So that's what she meant when she said he was going to die." Louis notes with an understanding tone.

"It is a reasonable judgment on her part considering the situation at hand." Heinrich also commends the princess for picking up on the plot.

'Why must our prince be subjected through such hardship instantly after his arrival? Do the people at hell have nothing else to do?' The vampire thought in sadness.

"Together with me." The screen shows an imagination of both him and Charlotte dead in blood stained clothes, lying next to each other.

Many people within the theatre were uncomfortable at the projection of a possibility of both of them dying, especially because one of them was next to them right now.

"This imagry is really explicit..." Adelia can't help but be horrified at what was shown.

"Was showing this even neccessary?" Even Bertus was annoyed at such an imagry being displayed.

"Why are you complaining? It's what you wanted right?" Liana says to him in a tone packed with sarcasm.

The prince was silent and turned his head away from her, not willing to waste time on such nonsense any longer.

"T-Then can't we ask help from the knights?" He tried to reason, she's the princess after all.

Charlotte quickly shoots the idea down. "That's no use. It doesn't seem like there is anyone here I can trust." This comment sparks a revelation in his head.

'Wait...! Even that knight from earlier?!' A threatening image of Lance with his death stare is shown. 'Shit, this is a complete checkmate situation!' He panics.

"Don't worry." She speaks to him, pulling him from his thoughts. 

"I made a promise with you in my name, didn't I?" Charlotte says while hitting him with that Steve Jobs stare. "That I'll help you until you regain your memories."

"Oh? You're willing to keep your promise with that boy? Even now?" The saintess turns to her seatmate.

"Of course, He is my saviour and I intend to keep my word no matter what." Charlotte replies to Olivia with confidence.

"That's good then." She just smiles at the golden haired girl.

The first prince however gazes at his sister in amusement. 'Did you really keep that promise though?' He thought.

"Lucky bastard..." Cayer grits his teeth in jealousy. If some douche like him could net the princess then how come a massive mana pool like him hasn't gotten anyone yet?

His friends patted him on the back, showing that they are all in the same boat of being maidenless.

Ellen was surprised about the princess' commitment. 'How would she react if she learned the truth that he is Reinhardt?' Was what she thought.

She points her finger. "Listen well now. We are going to get out of here."

"I'll try to grab their attention." With the plan being discussed, it was showtime. 'Shit.' He thought.

'I don't have a lot of time.' He is seen outside the tent, looking around to see if any guards were nearby. 'Just what in the world is going on here?!'

With confirmation that there were none, the disguised demon began running. 'Remember that our lives...' He begins motivating himself.

'Depend on your success!'

With that, the screen turns black.

"That was one hell of an episode." Adriana felt relieved that the episode was finally over, the various plot twists and tension is giving her too much stress.

"It had a lot of emotional spins and I honestly don't know what to think of it." Harriet was also tired from this episode.

"I guess we will be seeing how he and Charlotte leave the trap Bertus set up." Louis comments, eager to see how the duo managed to do it.

Bertus was not happy at the accusation, but he kept quiet as he knew that speaking up would only make him more disliked.

"I'm curious to see how he will pull through with such pressure." Cliffman also comments regarding the author.

"You would have to find out then." The surprise appearance of the Invigilator startles most people in the room.

"As usual, 5 minutes will be alloted to all of you for breaks. You may discuss or do whatever in that time frame."

"So... Is there a bathroom in this place?" Harriet cannot help but ask as she is hitting her limit.

"Go to the hallway. there should be bathroom seperating boys and girls." 

"Oh, thank you... Sir?." She says as she goes to take a massive dump.

With Harriet's departure, everyone began chilling and talking about the episode they just watched, analysing the details.

As expected, many turned their eyes towards Charlotte for her input about the episode and what they would be seeing next.

"I already know what happens, but I cannot give spoilers." The princess replies, reminding them of one of the ironclad rules.

"Then again, I can't help but be relieved after hearing his thoughts. He really was a kind person like I thought." She says with a smile.

At this point, some had already caught onto the true feelings that Charlotte held towards the boy she deemed as her saviour, but most did not say anything about it.

Bertus however looks on with judgment. 'For a supposed rival of mine to be so easily swayed by emotions...'

Heinrich was just chilling with the people near his seat such as Liana and Cliffman, discussing about what they thought.

"So, since you are a prince yourself do you think Bertus is actually responsible? Or is the princess just paranoid." Cliffman asks the opinion of the Kernstadt prince.

"It is very likely he ordered the knights to kill her. For someone like Bertus it would be the best option to get rid of all potential threats." Heinrich answers with his opinion.

"Even as a daughter of the duke I never had to deal with all of that, but I guess it really is a different case for royals." Liana also chimes in with her thoughts.

While everyone was chatting, Ellen just sat next to Reinhardt and felt her anger subsiding. He is nice and trustworthy she reasoned after watching the whole interaction he had with Charlotte.

But even then, could she forgive him who technically killed her brother without much thought? 

Is she even in the right for blaming him of such things? 

Then Harriet came back from her trip to the bathroom and noticed something was off with Ellen. "Are you... Alright? You don't look so well since you came here."

"I'm fine... I was just collecting my thoughts." She replied back to the brown haired girl.

"There's no worries. We're all friends aren't we? You can talk to me." 

'Friends...' The heroine thought before smiling. "I can't really say because of the rules."

"Oh... Right..." Harriet felt dejected but understood the reasoning. The Invigilator's powers were no joke.

'She's right... Me and Reinhardt are friends. I should believe in him. He even told me about his true identity so he shouldn't have bad intentions.' She had made up her mind. While she would continue to watch Reinhardt's actions she would still have trust in him.

"So... Has Reinhardt shown any signs of waking up yet?" This sudden question from Harriet snaps Ellen out of her thoughts.

"It seems like he won't just like the Invigilator said." Though she did wonder if the Invigilator would ever wake him up in the future, or keep him like this until they all left.

"I see..."

Suddenly, the Invigilator appeared again with a clap that caught everyone's attention.

"The five minute break is over. Episode 4 will now be running."

With that, everyone prepared themselves to see what the next episode has installed for them to see.

Chapter Text

You are probably expecting a new chapter, but this is not the case. I think I'm just done with this fic in general because 

1. Daon webtoon studio cancelling the Manhwa out of nowhere destroyed all sense of motivation I had

2. I haven't even read the LN yet so the reactions will be shallow and ass since I lack the proper info on the characters.

For these reasons I'm gonna abandon this fic for the unforeseen future.

But yeah instead I'll probably start writing a react fic for Greatest Estate Developer so stay tuned when that comes out

Peace.