TIRS 04

CHAPTER 4. Conveniently, You’re Alone

I was perfectly healthy.

Aside from a few childhood illnesses, I had never been seriously sick. My stamina was excellent, too.

Even the royal palace physician once praised me, saying, “Her Highness Princess Luibell has a naturally strong constitution.”

And yet I was… terminally ill?

With less than two weeks left to live?

The number—just over thirteen days—was ticking down moment by moment, but it felt so unreal that I couldn’t even feel fear.

I just stared at the letters in disbelief.

Then with a soft ping, new lines of text popped up on the translucent system screen as if to offer an explanation.

[Awakening] Condition – Death of a Lover
Hero Hezen awakens through the death of his lover and becomes the Holy Swordmaster of Light.
Maintain a romantic relationship with for 30 days to meet the awakening condition, then awaken through her death!

Note: Be careful! If the relationship with is broken, the awakening scenario will reset and must start from the beginning.
(Time left until awakening: 13 days, 11 hours, 46 minutes)

“Awakening…?”

The word felt oddly familiar.

“…Come to think of it…”

As I stared at the word, I suddenly recalled the [Awakening] system in this game.

I had never actually played this cursed game, so I didn’t know exactly how the system worked.

Everything I knew was secondhand.

What I’d heard was that players had to achieve Awakening to clear the tutorial scenario, and each hero character had different conditions for Awakening.

And once a hero awakened, the main story of the original novel would begin.

That was the extent of my knowledge.

“So Hezen’s Awakening condition is the death of his lover… which means I have to die for him to awaken?”

There was no way someone as healthy as me suddenly became terminally ill.

And both the time remaining until Hezen’s Awakening and my own remaining lifespan matched exactly.

“Hezen confessed to me… I accepted… and that’s when I became terminally ill!”

Realizing that, my scalp went cold.

That sweet confession—was actually a declaration that he would awaken by killing me.

The moment I realized that, I didn’t just feel rage—I felt murderous intent.

But I didn’t have time to tremble in anger.

As the seconds continued to tick away from my remaining life, anxiety and urgency flooded in.

First, I had to break off this romantic relationship.

“But how?”

Even after witnessing his cheating, we were somehow still ‘in a relationship.’

“There must be another way. This is a game world, so there must be specific conditions…”

No matter how high the freedom, the game wouldn’t allow a major event like Awakening to just play out aimlessly.

The [Romantic Relationship] status should be bound by certain conditions too.

“Hmm…”

Growing used to the system now, I looked at the word “Lover,” and sure enough, like a mouse click, a detailed description popped up:

[You and are lovers through engagement. This relationship cannot be broken as long as the engagement is maintained.]

“As long as the engagement continues…?”

In other words, I had to cancel the engagement to end the relationship.

But our engagement was officially certified by imperial decree—breaking it wouldn’t be easy.

It would take at least a month or two.

And since my mother favored Hezen, it could take even longer.

But I couldn’t just sit around waiting with my life ticking away.

I needed a powerful reason—something that would force the imperial family to annul the engagement immediately.

“Just seeing him cheat isn’t enough.”

Unless he had an illegitimate child or something similarly scandalous, a breakup wouldn’t be easily granted.

“There is one way to completely nullify a royal engagement…”

As I was racking my brain to smash this damned relationship, there was a knock—and Seira came in again.

“Your Highness, you have a visitor.”

“A visitor?”

“Sir Hezen is waiting in the parlor.”

At the mention of the name I least wanted to hear, my face twisted instantly.

With a ping, a semi-transparent system window flickered nearby.

[Side Quest: Stop the Breakup!]
is seriously considering breaking off your engagement after witnessing your betrayal. Raise her affection and mend your relationship to prevent the breakup!

▶ Reward if successful: Title
▶ Penalty if failed: Breakup, -100 Honor, -100 Charisma, Compensation 300,000,000G

It looked exactly like the one I saw the other day—clearly a quest window visible only to Hezen.

It must get clearer when he was near me, and fainter the farther he moved away.

“Hah? A title?”

Seeing “Title” listed as the success reward made me scoff.

Hezen may have been talented, but he was still a commoner by birth.

However, if he married royalty—even a nominal princess like me—he would gain succession rights.

Commoners couldn’t be granted succession rights, so the plan was to bestow him a title before the marriage, turning him into a proper noble.

I knew all that.

“Wait… So he courted me just to get the title?”

Seeing those two infuriating letters [Title] listed so plainly made my blood boil.

And that compensation of 300 million gold for breaking off the engagement?

In Azester Empire, the breakup fee was double the dowry.

Which meant that bastard received a dowry of 150 million gold from my mother!

Not for marriage—for engagement!

“That damned gold-digging bastard!”

Grinding my teeth, I glared at the increasingly vivid system window.

“Your Highness, are you… not going to see him?”

As I continued to stare blankly, Seira asked in a worried voice.

“No, I’m not.”

I stood up abruptly and said in a cold voice.

Why would I meet that bastard?

The one who deceived me, used me, and made me terminally ill?

He wasn’t here to apologize—he was here to raise my affection and stop the breakup.

As if I’d let him.

If I stayed, he might come looking for me in my room, and just the thought annoyed me. So I headed outside for a walk.

“Don’t tell anyone where I am! I want to be alone!”

“Y-Your Highness…!”

Seira’s distressed voice echoed behind me, but I ignored her and left alone.

Truthfully, I didn’t want to be with anyone.

Every time I saw those floating words above people’s heads, I was reminded—painfully—that I was just another character in this damned game.

Even when I first regained my past life memories at age six, it wasn’t this depressing.

It would be a lie to say I had no regrets about my past life.

I lived under my aunt’s roof, walking on eggshells every day. I studied desperately to escape that wretched house.

My last memory was feeling joy at being accepted to the university of my dreams—just before being hit by a drunk driver.

My first emotion was injustice.

But I knew that dwelling on it wouldn’t change anything.

So I decided—if I had to start over, I’d live this new life to the fullest.

The original Chronicles of the Hero of Light was a brilliant story—not just the hero Hezen, but every character sparkled.

During my darkest school days, it had been my beacon of hope, my comfort.

To be reincarnated into that very world… I thought it would be the perfect new beginning.

But this world was created solely for one person?

And the rest of us, myself included, were disposable NPCs?

And worst of all, I had to die for that bastard’s Awakening?

“This is just too cruel.”

Cursing this world under my breath, I stomped down the path.

Who cared about princess-like grace when no one was watching?

With every stomp, the pendant around my neck jingled.

Rustle—

I heard someone behind me.

“I said don’t follow me!”

Assuming it was Seira or a maid, I snapped a bit sharply.

“It’s you, isn’t it?”

But the low, rough voice that answered was a man’s.

I turned—and saw him. The man I’d bumped into in the palace corridor recently.

With silver-white hair and blood-red eyes, his striking features were impossible to forget. The owner of the pendant now hanging around my neck.

“…Huh?”

My eyes widened.

“There’s nothing above him…”

There were no letters floating above his head—none of that damned game text that everyone else had.

“…So it is you.”

The man let out a wind-like laugh. Then his voice dropped chillingly.

“Pendant thief.”

“Without fear.”

His threatening eyes sent a chill down my spine. I instinctively clutched the pendant and took a step back.

“How dare you touch what’s mine?”

He stared at the necklace around my neck with a cold, lethal gaze.

A pale white aura began gathering around him.

“W-Wait! It’s a misunderstanding—kyahh!”

Boom!

A deafening blast cut off my desperate excuse.

That psycho actually launched a glowing orb at me.

If I hadn’t noticed in time and dodged, I would’ve taken the full brunt of the blow.

Looking back, I saw a massive tree obliterated—reduced to ash.

My eyes went wide.

“Did he just destroy a tree?!”

“…Ho.”

Hearing his intrigued exclamation, I turned.

He was smiling.

“A nimble little thief, like a stray cat. Is that how you stole my pendant?”

“I didn’t steal it—I found it—aghh!”

Boom!!

Another orb flew at me.

This time, it grazed my dress—leaving a charred, smoldering line.

“Gasp!”

If it had touched me instead of the fabric…

“W-Wait, calm down, calm—!”

If I couldn’t calm him down, I’d end up like the dress—or that tree.

“I-I’m Princess Luibell of Azester! This is treason—!”

“If I kill you here and bury the body, no one will know.”

He curled his lips into a sinister grin.

“Conveniently, you’re alone.”

His narrowed crimson eyes glinted with murderous intent.