* * *

“What if this story were real? No, what if it became real?”

Kim Minsoo never reveals the fact that he’s transmigrated someone else’s body.

Until the very end, he remains as Karon Ruavis.

Since the novel is narrated from Kim Minsoo’s perspective, readers naturally focus on him, rather than on Karon Ruavis.

And that’s why I overlooked it too—the fact that, to the people of the Sinoa Empire, it wasn’t Kim Minsoo but Karon Ruavis who ascended to the throne.

Although Karon gets expelled from his family shortly after the novel begins, he’s still the legitimate child of a duke’s house.

And… the Duke of Ruavis was a figure of immense political ambition.

The family crest featuring a serpent hinted at that, as did the sporadic glimpses of his manipulative nature.

Though the novel doesn’t explicitly delve into his schemes, you could sense his calculating disposition in subtle moments.

The Duke of Ruavis plays a minimal role in the novel.

In fact, he doesn’t even appear during most of the main plot.

It’s only on the eve of the final battle against the Demon King that he makes a sudden reappearance.

The Duke visits Karon unexpectedly and supplies weapons and provisions for the army fighting the Demon King.

Although father and son don’t exchange a single word, their silent gaze suggests a fragile reconciliation of their long-standing conflict.

The novel depicted it as a somewhat moving scene… but what if the events after the Demon King’s defeat were fabricated?

---

If this novel were truly a record of events that happened in reality, then here’s the ending I anticipate:

Kim Minsoo, who has transmigrated Karon Ruavis, defeats the Demon King.

Peace returns to the world.

However… with the Ruavis family now the sole dukedom in the empire, the Duke uses his son to spark a rebellion.

Regardless of whether the rebellion succeeds, the empire descends into chaos once more.

Or… perhaps.

Once the Demon King is defeated, the Emperor uses the opportunity to kill Karon, catching him off guard.

After all, a hero who has vanquished the Demon King becomes a significant political threat.

Maybe the Duke uses that as an excuse to start a rebellion.

Either way, a happy ending like the one described in the novel was likely never in the cards.

Of course, this is just my speculation.

I can’t claim it as fact, and there’s probably no way to ever confirm the truth.

But the evidence that I can’t trust the novel’s version of events… I’ve seen and heard that for myself.

---

“The Awakening Ceremony. Alphas and Omegas.”

The existence of such things alone proves that this place is no longer the Sinoa Empire of the novel ‘from transmigration to Hero’.

“Then where is this?”

It’s the Sinoa Empire, but not the Sinoa Empire I know.

I pinched the back of my hand.

It hurt faintly—a vivid, unmistakable pain.

The reality of it crashed over me, even more profoundly than the excruciating pain I’d felt when vomiting blood, my insides twisted by the wrath of the Ancient God Noah.

“Reality… this is reality.”

This world, where I might awaken as an Omega or something else entirely, was my reality now…!

I wanted to grab my hair and scream, but I restrained myself.

After all, I was in a carriage.

As if that wasn’t enough, even though this world deviated from the novel, the characters, their personalities, and their relationships remained unchanged.

Raizen, cursed from birth, will eventually break the seal on the Demon King.

And Sean, his adoptive younger brother… will be the first human he kills.

“In the end, my fate as the transmigrated Sean hasn’t changed much.”

Forget about Alphas and Omegas for now.

I don’t even know if I’ll survive to fourteen, when the Awakening Ceremony happens.

I stashed the novel ‘From Transmigration to Hero’, which I had read to the end, back in my inventory and pulled out the supplementary material, Raizen’s Bonus Chapter.

“What matters is Raizen’s Bonus Chapter.”

My eyes felt dry, but I knew falling asleep would only bring nightmares.

I rubbed my eyes and focused on the rectangular screen, about the size of a smartphone, that only I could see.

The pages turned on their own when I finished reading, so I didn’t need to do anything.

To anyone else, I would just look like I was staring blankly at the wall of the carriage.

Because of that, I didn’t notice.

I had no idea someone was watching me closely.

---

“Sei, don’t dwell too much on what happened at the Imperial Palace.”

As soon as we arrived back at the duke’s estate, the Duchess sat me down and began to speak.

“We didn’t adopt you to force you into situations like that. It’s just that…”

Her voice trailed off, her expression darkening.

To be honest, one of the reasons I had spent the entire journey back reading the novel was to avoid facing the duke and duchess.

They looked at me as though they’d committed some grave sin, and I didn’t want to see it.

“They probably didn’t expect the Emperor to have such schemes in mind, either.”

Their plans to adopt Sean and hide him in the duchy until he came of age had been completely derailed when he caught the Emperor’s attention.

“But if I lie and claim I awakened as an Alpha, wouldn’t that solve everything?”

The thought crossed my mind but remained unspoken.

That wasn’t something Sean would say, at least not the Sean the duke and duchess knew.

“I’m so sorry… truly.”

The Duchess murmured softly as she held my hand.

It was strange.

Seeing someone grieve for my sake, even though they didn’t truly know who I was, stirred feelings I couldn’t quite name.

“She’s only kind to me because she thinks I’m Sean.”

If she ever discovered that another soul had taken over this body, she would likely see me as a demon.

And yet… I hugged her tightly.

“Sei… Sean…”

I don’t know how to comfort people.

I’ve never been comforted myself.

But I do know that, in moments like this, the warmth of another person can be a profound solace.

After a brief hesitation, the Duchess embraced me just as tightly.

We held each other for a long time.

---

Though many things had happened, returning to the duke’s estate felt like everything was settling back into place.

Raizen resumed his grueling heir training as usual, and I increased my study time.

I’d never thought of myself as someone who enjoyed learning, but I found it surprisingly enjoyable.

I also stopped eating alone in my room and began dining with the family in the dining hall.

They had only allowed me to eat alone before because they thought rest was the most important thing for me.

Breakfast and dinner together—that was the duke’s family rule.

“Thank you for the meal.”

After finishing a hearty breakfast, I stood and made my way toward my room.

But just as I was about to escape, a voice called out from behind me.

“Sei.”

Damn it.

A low voice, unusually deep for his age. Raizen.

The moment he called my name, my wretched body began trembling uncontrollably.

Why?

The reason was simple.

[Raizen’s first murder occurred when he was fifteen.]

I had read about my own death in Raizen’s Bonus Chapter.

Since returning from the Imperial Palace, I had been avoiding Raizen at all costs, focusing on keeping my composure.

I had assumed he would confront me immediately upon our return to the estate—threatening me to keep my mouth shut.

After all, wasn’t Sean the first victim of his twisted schemes, eliminated for sensing his rotting core?

“So why! Why is he calling me now?”

I wanted to pretend I hadn’t heard it, but it was already too late.

I had stopped dead in my tracks at the sound of Raizen’s voice.

‘If I keep walking, it’ll only confirm that I’ve been avoiding him all this time.’

I had seen the black mass with Raizen.

It was something only he could originally see.

That thing was the curse itself—the one rooted in Raizen’s heart, feeding on his negative emotions as it grew.

It whispered to him incessantly, saying, “No one loves you,” nurturing his hatred for the world.

And… it was also the culprit behind the tragedy that struck when he was ten, as the Crown Prince once mentioned in the imperial palace.

That black mass wanted nothing more than to utterly isolate Raizen.

In the untold parts of the novel, I wasn’t sure if the real Sean had seen the black mass himself.

But… I figured he probably hadn’t.

The nuance of how Sean was described in the “Raizen’s Bonus Chapter” suggested as much.

[From the beginning, Raizen didn’t like Sean.

No matter how traumatic it was to witness his parents’ deaths, his fragile personality never changed, even as time passed.

He trembled at the sight of blood and often fell ill, clinging to their mother’s attention more than Raizen ever did.

The day Raizen returned from hunting wild beasts in a fit of madness, reeking of blood, Sean’s disgusted expression had only widened the gap between them.]

There was always an unbridgeable distance between Raizen and Sean. Unlike now.

‘At least that Sean wouldn’t have clung to Raizen, calling him “hyung” the way I do.’

So now, I couldn’t run away.

If I did, my relationship with Raizen would be irreparably damaged.

He’d think I was afraid of him because I’d seen the black mass.

I slowly turned my head.

Thanks to my efforts, the trembling in my body had subsided a little.

But up close, it was still obvious enough to notice.

“Hyung,” I said, forcing a smile.

Raizen strode toward me without hesitation.

“Can we talk for a moment?”

“Huh? Can’t we just… talk here?”

“……”

“…Guess not.”

I obediently followed Raizen to his room.

* * *