Chapter Text
“The Segyein Empire is declaring war!” Those were the first words I heard shouted in the halls, before I even had the chance to grasp my situation. They were also words that I would recognize even through the ache that swallowed up my mind, for I had heard them a thousand times before; the opening line to my favorite otome game, Ruler of My Heart.
I jolted upwards, glancing around me in a panic. The room was large and spacious, neat and tidy and opulent in its grandeur – but there were almost no personal belongings, as though whoever lived here had no attachment to it, or else simply owned very little to their name. There wasn’t even a mirror in the room, so my eyes naturally drifted down to pale hands, the fingers tinged purple. Hands that were very much not my own. Hands that could only belong to…
Oh my god, was my first thought. I’m Prince Luka!
At the time, I had no reason to believe this wasn’t an extremely vivid dream. In fact, it hadn’t quite kicked in for me that these sensations were far too real for even a lucid dream, something that I wasn’t exactly prone to in the first place. My hands drifted to comb through fluffy hair, to pick at the threads of the silken white nightgown that adorned my body. You never actually saw the prince’s room in Ruler of My Heart, but my physical features could leave no doubt of the identity I had assumed.
There’s a knock on the door, and a servant’s voice calls out to me. “Your Highness, your presence has been requested in the war room!”
The war room – I know where that is, at least. The protagonist visits it many times, after all. “I’ll be there in a moment,” I call back, startled for a moment by the lilting voice that passes my lips. It couldn’t be more different than mine – but then again, I’m not me at the moment, am I?
There’s a wardrobe pushed into a corner of the room. Every single outfit inside, I discover, is predominantly white and princely – I pick one of the simpler shirts with ruffled sleeves, recognizing it as the outfit Luka usually wears in the game, pairing it with a pair of tight black pants. I catch the faintest glimpse of my reflection in the window as I turn towards the door; though the image is hazy, I can nevertheless tell I am the spitting image of the villainous prince.
I might have continued to believe that this was an oddly detailed dream until the next day if not for stubbing my toe as I tried to exit the room. A bullet of pain shot up my nerves as I swore in a very unprincely manner – thankfully, nobody seemed to have heard. However, that was the last of my problems. After all, if I could feel pain, then it wasn’t a dream. Holy shit, this was real! I had been isekai’d into Ruler of My Heart as the villain who had nothing but bad things happen to him!
I didn’t know how this had happened but I had to get back to my world – or at the very least, I had to avoid the game’s endings! There were six of them that I knew of, and most of them ended in my death. The two that didn’t were still horrible! The problem was that I had no idea how to go about doing that. Well, there couldn’t be any harm in going along with the plot for now, could there? Maybe I’d come up with a plan while doing so.
There were so many advisors and soldiers in the grand war room, but only three faces actually caught my attention – probably because they were named characters. The first was a middle-aged man with greying ginger hair, dressed in resplendent finery and an… honestly pretty gaudy crown. This was King Heperu, Luka’s – my? – father. Still, he was a pretty minor character, all things considered, so my attention soon drifted to the woman sitting at his right.
Dark-skinned, grey eyes, long brown hair, a cocky grin and a wolf’s ears and tail; no doubt about it, this was none other than General Hyuna. The only female love interest in the game, I could shamelessly admit that I had played her route over and over again. She was my favorite character, a masterfully-crafted tragedy… one who had stolen my heart completely. Plus, if my theories were right, she would pose surprisingly little threat to me.
At her right was the young woman I would have expected to have inhabited the body of, if I had known this was going to happen. Long pink hair tipped with blue and bright golden eyes… Mizi, the protagonist. The smile she wore was genuine, and I knew her to be a cheerful person… but to the villain, which I suppose I had become, wasn’t she nothing but a danger?
“Luka, my dear son, how nice of you to join us,” the king drawled. My body reacted without my mind’s permission, a barely-suppressed shudder that felt like ice water being poured down my spine. What was all that about? The villainous prince was never particularly explored in game, leaving the fandom to theorize… and I stayed away from all that. Fandom was one of the most terrifying places on the internet, after all. “Why don’t you come sit down?”
Heperu’s tone was… pleasant enough , I suppose, and yet I couldn’t help but feel like something was horribly wrong with it. I didn’t dare to refuse, and so I crossed the room without a word, politely sitting to his left. I could feel every single pair of eyes on me; I hated it. It felt like I was a little mouse trapped in a den of starving cats.
Thankfully, the strained moment didn’t last long as both Heperu and Hyuna went to speak at the same time. They both stopped, their heads turning to lock their gazes on one another; the tension in the room was palpable, as though the world itself had stopped to hold its breath in anticipation. Animosity oozed off the pair of them like a miasma, and I couldn’t help but find myself stunned by it. Yes, I knew the two of them didn’t exactly get along thanks to the game, but it was more of a subtle thing there. Here, in the flesh, the hatred the two of them shared for one another was unmistakable!
The stand-off lasted a few moments longer before Hyuna gritted her teeth, a flash of her fangs visible. “Go ahead, Your Majesty,” she grumbled with a wave of her hand, though she clearly wasn’t happy about it.
Heperu smiled. It didn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you, General,” he replied, and despite his icy tone, the room seemed to relax. Well… for the most part. I couldn’t help but notice that Mizi continued to look a little tense, but I supposed that was only natural. She was supposed to be the player’s vessel in this world, a newcomer to the political situation between the two kingdoms; this whole scene served as exposition for her.
“As you all know, tensions with the Segyein Empire have been growing these past few months, and as of this morning, they have formally declared war,” Heperu continued, and though I knew all of this by heart, I listened closely anyway. It was mostly to keep up appearances, but perhaps he would mention something that wasn’t programmed into the game? This situation was already weird enough as it was. “You have all been called here today to discuss the proper response to such an… inelegant challenge.”
I always thought it was weird how Heperu referred to an outright declaration of war, but real life doesn’t let you pause on dialogue boxes. I didn’t have time to dwell on it further before Hyuna was leaning forward, her rage and hatred melting away into an eager grin. Her tail was even wagging a bit, which was… really cute, actually. “The Segyein army is large, but that just means they will take longer to mobilize,” she said, already leaping on the chance to formulate a strategy for battle. “A preemptive strike could cripple them severely, if not end this war before it even had the chance to begin.”
“A pointless waste of resources and life,” one of the advisors snapped, a man with shaggy strawberry-blond hair and greenish-blue eyes. Urak, I think his name was? Another minor character. “Your Majesty, I hope you aren’t daring to consider the general’s ridiculous idea? Such a strategy could only bear fruit if we made a precise strike at a vital point, and we know of none which could suit the criteria.”
A vital point of the Segyein Empire… An image immediately flashes to mind. The player doesn’t typically find out about this until well into the story, but… maybe that’s exactly why I need to bring it up. The Segyein Empire worship a god called the Great Anakt, and they have a great statue in the center of their capital that is said to contain Their soul. If it were to be destroyed, it would be tantamount to killing Them… and in a society as religious as the Segyein Empire, it could possibly stop any war effort in its tracks. But how would I explain knowing about this? My position as the “villain” already made things quite precarious for me. Still, maybe this is what I needed to turn things around – following the plot wasn’t going to avail me any, after all. I had to try.
An excuse quickly formulates in my mind, and I decide that it’s worth a shot. “If I may interject,” I begin, and for a brief second, I’m once again startled by Luka’s voice falling from my lips. It’s something I’m going to have to get used to quickly, “in anticipation of an event such as this, I have been studying the history and customs of the Segyein Empire. I believe I may know of a ‘vital point’ such as Advisor Urak describes…”
I detail my plan to the assembled war council, folding my hands in my lap and bowing my head politely as I finish. For a long moment, there is silence, long enough for me to think, Oh god, I’m fucked, aren’t I?
Urak is the one to break it, leaning back in his chair and shaking his head with a scoff. “Leave it to those sons of bitches to cling to a false god,” he mutters, his tone laced with a deadly venom. “That’s just like them, isn’t it?”
“Oh, Urak, come off it. They have every right to believe in what they wish to,” an older woman scolds. Grey hair, teal eyes… oh, Io! My heart leaps with excitement and I have to force myself to remain calm and princely instead of bouncing out of my seat. There are many minor characters in this game, but Io was one I would not forget soon. She was by far my favorite of the supporting cast, but it didn’t hurt at all that she was Till’s mother – who was a love interest in the game. “I won’t deny that the prince’s idea sounds like it would be an effective one, but is it moral? Even in wartime, to destroy something so centric to their society sounds unnecessarily cruel. Surely there is another way?”
“Oh, that’s just like you, to be so soft on those Segyein filth and their cult belief,” Urak scowled, rolling his eyes at her across the table. Io didn’t react at all aside from a slight narrowing of her eyes, her chin held high. “But then again, are we surprised? After all, your good-for-nothing son follows the path of those forgotten gods. Why would he do such a thing, if someone didn’t teach him? Someone like his tramp of a moth–”
“Urak, Io, that is enough.” Heperu’s voice cut across the war room, silencing Urak and likely intervening in a murder about to happen. Listen, I’ve played Till’s route enough to know what Io is like when she’s angry, and the answer is scarier than any of the love interests could ever hope to be. There’s no way she’d stand for such slander of her son, and… huh, this was different, wasn’t it? This dialogue never occurs in the game, which means… I’ve already done something new! I just hope that it’s putting me on the right track, away from a painful and miserable fate.
Realizing that Heperu is still speaking, I quickly tune back into the discussion. “We will carry out Luka’s plan,” the king is saying. “General Hyuna, I trust that you can handle all of the preparations for it?”
“Who do you think I am, Your Majesty?” Hyuna rolls her eyes, though she can’t quite hide the smirk on her lips as she stretches. “Of course I can. Don’t even worry about it.” God, her audacity…! If she weren’t so skilled at her job – or maybe just in possession of plot armor – I’m certain Heperu would have had her executed by now for the way she talks to him!
“Very well.” As if to further reinforce that idea, the king’s tone is colder than a winter’s snow when he acknowledges her. It’s all I can do to remain polite and composed when those piercing eyes turn to me. “Luka, as this idea was yours, you will be… assisting her. ” It’s as though he bit into a lemon as he speaks those words, and it flickers a spark of curiosity in my mind. Why did he seem so opposed to this? The game never really touched on Heperu and Hyuna’s animosity all that much… “Do I make myself clear?”
“Yes, Father.” I’m pretty sure this is the title that Luka uses for Heperu? It must be, because that chilling gaze moves away from me without further ceremony.
“Then this meeting of the court is dismissed.”
I flock out of the room with the crowd, but linger behind. If memory serves me right, any moment now, Hyuna should…
“Luka!” Right on cue, the general approaches me, her usual lackadaisical smirk on her lips and a hand on her hip. Trailing behind her like a puppy is Mizi, smiling shyly but brightly. Looking at her like this, it’s almost hard to believe how great of a threat she is to me. Well, none of the bad endings have her directly hurting Luka – but it’s her presence that drives the narrative. Without her, the story simply can’t be.
…What if she were to–
I quickly shake that thought from my mind. My life might be at stake, sure, but I don’t want to become a murderer over this isekai shit. It’s not her fault; she doesn’t deserve to die over this.
I put the topic to rest for now and greet them with what I hope is Luka’s signature, pleasantly blank smile. “Ah, General. And… Mi-ss?” Nice save, [ERROR: CHARACTER FILE NOT FOUND] . It wouldn’t be possible for the prince to know Mizi’s name at this point, I have to remind myself. I’m horrendously lucky that her name is what it is.
“M-Mizi, Your Highness!” The young woman curtsies quickly, more elegant than I had ever imagined in my mind. “It’s a pleasure to meet you!”
“Mizi here is a… protege of mine, I guess you could say,” Hyuna explains, gesturing for her to stand up straight. God, her audacity really is such a charm point, isn’t it? “I ain’t gonna be around forever, and though she might not seem it, I reckon Mizi is gonna be a good enough replacement for me when I finally kick it.”
“I have a long way before I can meet Hyuna’s standards, though!” Mizi hurries to add, and her eyes shine with such bright earnestness that for a moment, I forget my situation. It’s so hard to think of her as… well, my antagonist, by definition, even if she’s the game protagonist. “But in order to gain experience, I’ll be joining your strike team.”
“Well then, if you are the General’s chosen protege, I look forward to seeing what you are capable of.” Is that haughty enough? I hope so. I dare to extend a hand to Mizi, and the poor woman actually looks starstruck as she shakes it. If I didn’t already know the type of person she would become by day thirty of the game…
I retract my hand quickly enough, watching as Hyuna yawns and stretches, her ears and tail lazy and relaxed. “Well, I just wanted you to meet Mimi,” oh God that’s right, Hyuna has about fifty hundred different nicknames for the protagonist, “so we’ll be on our way now. Seeya later, princey.~”
Mizi looks completely stunned that her mentor is speaking to the crown prince so informally, and it takes everything I have to stifle a laugh. She doesn’t get a chance to react beyond that, however, because the werewolf grabs her by the arm and drags her off. The dynamic the two of them share is incredibly endearing, honestly; there’s a reason I romanced Hyuna more times than I care to admit. Still, I’m fated to see them again both by the game’s plot and logic, so there’s no reason to miss them for too long. It’s likely that I’ll meet the other two love interests, Ivan and Till, tomorrow, and the latter is involved in so many bad endings…
I need a plan.