* * *

“The sinner Isaac Liam Drake, obey the command of His Majesty the Emperor!”

“…”

Isaac tilted his head slightly as he listened to the imperial herald’s booming voice.

It was done.

All of it was finally over.

His role as the villain had officially come to an end.

With that, Isaac let out a breath of relief, his face softening as he gazed at the herald with quiet satisfaction.

“For the crime of daring to rebel against the imperial family, you are sentenced to death—a hundred times over! From this day forth, the title of Duke Drake is revoked, and all your assets are confiscated.”

A faint memory of the novel surfaced in Isaac’s mind.

The scene was playing out exactly as it had in the original story.

It had been a year since Isaac found himself transmigrated into the fantasy novel he’d once enjoyed reading.

Playing the role of the villainous Isaac had been exhausting.

Yet, at long last, he was able to reach the ending where the villain meets his downfall.

Isaac Liam Drake.

A central villain and one of the key schemers in the story. He constantly obstructed the protagonist, Maximilian, at every turn.

The title of the novel was I’ve Become the Fallen Crown Prince of the Empire.

Its protagonist was a Korean man who had transmigrated into the deposed Crown Prince of the Beatrix Empire.

That’s right—this was a transmigration story.

And Isaac was another transmigrator, inhabiting the body of the villain in the same tale.

At first, Isaac couldn’t believe there could be two transmigrators in one story.

But unlike the protagonist, Isaac couldn’t see any kind of status window or system interface.

That left him with only one option: to fulfill his role as the villain, see the story through to its end, and make his exit.

He was careful to ensure that the protagonist never discovered they were both transmigrators.

Moreover, Isaac hadn’t entered this world as a clean slate.

He arrived after Isaac Liam Drake had already committed countless atrocities.

Reforming his character wasn’t an option.

Pretending to be the perfect villain for a year had been nothing short of torture.

Still, his efforts had paid off.

The protagonist, imbued with the buffs of a transmigrator, would reclaim the Crown Prince’s position and ascend to the imperial throne.

Naturally, this meant the villain’s ruin.

In the novel’s finale, Isaac loses his title, all his wealth is confiscated, and he is executed.

Though Isaac would soon face this same fate, he remained calm.

While he couldn’t alter the story’s trajectory, he had managed to tweak it ever so slightly.

Thanks to his knowledge of the original plot, Isaac had preemptively bribed someone to procure a body that resembled his own.

As a high-ranking noble and the leader of the aristocratic faction, Isaac was imprisoned in an elegant chamber within the imperial palace, where he consumed poison to die.

The humiliation of such a confined and ignoble end must have weighed heavily on Isaac’s proud character, but for the transmigrator, it was a perfect opportunity.

He could stage a death and escape unnoticed.

“Now, I’ll finally live a peaceful life, spending money without a care in the world.”

Even if the protagonist discovered the switch later, it wouldn’t matter.

By then, Isaac would already have used his escape route to flee the empire.

With his fortune safely hidden away, he envisioned a tranquil life in a distant land.

Suppressing a smirk, Isaac listened intently as the herald reached the conclusion of his proclamation.

“For betraying the imperial family, a crime that cannot be forgiven, His Majesty the Emperor has graciously considered your prior contributions to the empire and shown leniency one last time.”

“…I obey His Majesty’s command.”

Here it came—the herald’s final lines.

In exchange for Isaac’s life, the Drake family would be preserved.

Even though the Drake family had been the spearhead of the aristocratic faction, their centuries-long legacy couldn’t simply be erased.

Isaac vaguely recalled that the family would install his timid cousin as the new head, a mere puppet for the protagonist to manipulate.

Whatever.

Isaac couldn’t care less what happened to a ruined noble family.

Bowing his head solemnly, he waited for the herald’s closing statement.

“To preserve the Duke Drake lineage, the former Duke Drake will marry Grand Duke Eukrencia.”

“…What?”

“The Drake family will temporarily be governed by an interim head. The child born to the former Duke Drake and the Grand Duke of Eukrencia will succeed as the next head.”

“Wait—hold on!”

Isaac froze, utterly dumbfounded.

This was far too different from the original plot.

He quickly gathered himself and shouted, “There must be a mistake!”

The herald regarded him with an indifferent gaze.

“Former Duke Drake, obey His Majesty’s command!”

“No, what the hell is this…?”

Marriage?

He was supposed to marry?

All of a sudden?

And the Grand Duke of Eukrencia, no less…

‘Luinael Vernon Eukrencia? The protagonist’s younger brother?’

Maximilian, the transmigrator protagonist, was the first prince born of the late empress.

Luinael, the third prince and the protagonist’s brother, was also her child.

The late empress had died shortly after giving birth to Luinael.

Her position was filled by Veronica, who schemed to make her own son, the second prince Trystan, the emperor.

Before Maximilian’s transmigration, he had fallen victim to these schemes and been deposed as Crown Prince.

The transmigrated protagonist used his buffs to reclaim his title and exact revenge on Veronica.

Eventually, Trystan was defeated in a civil war, and Maximilian ascended to the throne.

Naturally, Isaac had supported Trystan.

Veronica’s family rivaled the Drakes in influence, and the entire aristocratic faction had aligned with the second prince.

Isaac’s downfall alongside Trystan was inevitable.

As for Luinael, he’d forfeited any claim to the throne early on, siding with Maximilian.

By the time Maximilian was deposed, Luinael was still a child, hardly a significant presence in the story.

But now…

“You’re telling me I have to marry someone who just came of age?”

Isaac barely remembered Luinael from the original.

He had been too young to appear during Maximilian’s struggles but later grew into a capable ally.

By the novel’s climax, Luinael returned from war to assist Maximilian in defeating Trystan.

Isaac had never encountered Luinael in this life; the young prince had been away at war.

His memories of Luinael from the novel were vague at best.

“This must be some kind of mistake! A sinner like me marrying the Grand Duke…”

“There is no mistake in His Majesty’s command.”

‘…Damn it.’

The so-called “grace” of the emperor.

Grace, my foot.

What kind of twisted scheme was this protagonist concocting now?

Grinding his teeth, Isaac struggled to think.

Click, clack.

The sound of footsteps drew near.

“…”

Startled, Isaac turned toward the approaching figure.

And in that instant, it felt as if the world had been bathed in light.

Silver hair that seemed to hold the glow of moonlight.

Eyes as vividly blue as the winter sky.

He stood taller and broader than Isaac, yet his face was so breathtakingly beautiful that it defied reason.

For a moment, Isaac forgot the situation entirely, his gaze fixed blankly on the man before him.

Then, the lips of this stunning figure parted.

“It has been a while, Duke Drake… or should I say, Isaac.”

“…?”

‘He knows me? Who is he? There’s no way I could forget a face like that after seeing it once.’

Isaac’s mind went into overdrive, searching his memories.

Yet even in his recollections, no one remotely resembling this man came to mind…

‘Wait a moment—silver hair? Silver hair?’

Throughout all the characters he’d encountered, not a single one had silver hair.

It was such an extraordinarily unique color.

* * *