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I would have loved to just stay there and enjoy more of this sweet, incredibly surreal little moment. I really would have.
For Khon, the thirty-five-year-old cosplayer who had spent his previous life entirely single, having a breathtakingly beautiful girl hold him with such intense, desperate affection was like a dream. Even if that girl was a terrifying, time-manipulating yandere who could probably turn me into dust with a flick of her wrist, it still felt nice to be wanted.
But reality—or rather, this twisted, high-stakes game world reality—had a nasty habit of interrupting nice moments.
A sharp, phantom pain flared in my chest, a harsh reminder of my defective Mana Absorption curse. And with that pain came a sudden, terrifying realization.
*
*
*Aphrodia.* The kidnapping plot.
According to the original *Love and Death Special (LADS)* storyline, the radical anti-noble faction makes their move during the chaos of the Academy's opening week. If I didn't intervene, if I didn't warn her and physically put myself between her and the assassins, the chain reaction of my doom would officially begin.
*
*
I gently placed my hands on Chronos's shoulders, trying to slowly, carefully push her back just an inch.
"Nos," I said, keeping my voice as soft and reassuring as possible. "I need to go. I have to find Aphrodia right now."
The temperature in the small faculty room immediately dropped by ten degrees.
The soft, affectionate aura radiating from Chronos vanished in a fraction of a second, replaced by a suffocating, heavy pressure. It was her Time Magic leaking out, distorting the very air around us.
Chronos slowly tilted her head. Her bright pink hair shadowed her face, and her luminescent red eyes locked onto mine. They were completely devoid of the warmth they held just a moment ago. It was a creepy, cold, blank yandere stare that sent a primal shiver down my spine.
"Warn her?" Chronos whispered, her voice dangerously quiet. "About her kidnapping? But why?"
Her grip on my jacket tightened.
"Why can't you just let her die, honey?" she asked, her tone eerily casual, as if she were suggesting what we should have for lunch. "That bitch will finally stop blocking my way. Without her, there are no obligations. No political marriages. Just you and me. So why are you trying to protect her? HUH, HONEY?"
My heart hammered against my ribs. I could feel the literal fabric of time stuttering around us. The dust motes in the air had frozen in place.
"L... look, Nos," I stammered, raising my hands in a placating gesture, completely abandoning the arrogant villain persona. Survival took priority. "It's not like that. I need to save her, okay? You want me to survive this time, right? You don't want to see me dying again, right?"
Her eyes narrowed, the red glowing brighter in the dim room.
"I need her," I pressed on, my mind working at a million miles an hour. "She is a key to avoiding my death. Please, Nos. You have to understand."
*"A KEY, HUH?!"* Chronos suddenly lunged forward, grabbing my shoulders with a force that made me wince.
*"BUT YOU NEVER EVEN LOOKED AT ME WHEN YOU WERE WITH HER!"* she screamed, the sound echoing unnaturally in the confined space. Tears of rage and deep-seated betrayal welled up in her eyes. *"YOU ONLY CAME AFTER ME AFTER HER DEATH! HER DEATH IS WHAT BROUGHT US TOGETHER! DID YOU FORGET?!"*
She was getting closer, her face inches from mine, her manicured nails digging painfully into my collarbones.
*Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts, geeze!* My fragile, cursed body wasn't built for this kind of physical abuse. But despite the pain, her words hit me like a bucket of ice water.
My mind flashed back to the lore of the "Tyrant's Fall" hidden route.
*Right...* In that timeline, the original Kevius didn't approach Chronos out of love. He went after her because Aphrodia's assassination broke his political standing and pushed him to the brink of execution. He sought out the Student Council President solely to use her overpowered Time Magic to destroy the Heroes and Heroines who had cornered him. Kevius fooled her. He acted like he loved her, manipulated her trauma, and used her as a human weapon right up until the bitter, bloody end.
I already knew that game route. But looking at the tears streaming down Chronos's face, the crushing realization hit me.
This poor girl still believed it was real love. Even after returning from a future where they both died horribly, she clung to the lie that he had loved her back.
*Sighs.* Kevius, you really were a colossal asshole, weren't you?
I felt a genuine twinge of guilt. I was essentially hijacking the body of the man who had ruined her life, and now I was about to manipulate her all over again. But I didn't have a choice. If I told her the truth, she would snap my neck. And if I didn't save Aphrodia, the world would end.
I had to play the part. But maybe, just maybe, Khon the cosplayer could be a slightly better husband than the original Kevius.
"Wait, wait, Nos... listen to me," I said, reaching up and gently cupping her cheeks, wiping away her tears with my thumbs. I forced myself to look directly into her terrifying, beautiful red eyes without flinching.
"Do you love me?" I asked softly.
She let out a choked sob, nodding her head frantically. "More than anything."
"Do you want me to live? Do you want us to actually have a future this time?"
"Yes," she whimpered, her grip on my shoulders loosening slightly.
"Then please, allow me to save her. I've thought about this endlessly. Aphrodia's death in the past didn't save me; it only delayed the inevitable and led us both to our graves. But her survival? Her survival can change the entire trajectory of the future. I'm sure of it. Not just one hundred percent—one thousand percent sure."
I leaned my forehead against hers, closing my eyes to sell the performance, though my heart was genuinely pounding.
"Please, Nos... trust me. Please believe in me. You know I love you, right?" I poured every ounce of sincerity I could muster into the lie. "I want us to get a real happy ending. I want to be together for a long, long time without constantly looking over our shoulders. I want to survive this academy, build a family with you, and raise pretty daughters that look exactly like you. To get that future, to make sure we don't die again... I need her, Nos. I need Aphrodia."
For a long, agonizing moment, the only sound in the room was our breathing. The frozen dust motes hung silently in the air.
Then, slowly, the oppressive temporal pressure vanished.
Chronos pulled back, sniffing softly. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her expression shifting from manic desperation to a heavy, reluctant resignation.
She sighed, a long, weary sound.
"Okay. Fine," she whispered.
I exhaled a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding. *Thank God.* "But," she continued, her voice suddenly turning sharp and serious, cutting through the emotional atmosphere like a scalpel. "You guys are fiancés already. If she survives this, you will have to formally marry her one day to satisfy House Ethereum and House Svoboda."
She looked up at me, the yandere intensity replaced by something much more vulnerable, yet fiercely determined.
"Just promise me one thing, Kev. Promise me that you will love me more than her. Or more than any of the other wives you're inevitably going to collect for your political schemes. Promise me that you will prioritize me, and my kids, above all of them. If you promise me this... I will allow you to save her."
I stared at her, slightly taken aback.
*Right... she's a girl before she's a time-manipulating demigod.* What kind of woman wouldn't get jealous when the person she loves is destined to be legally bound to other women? Every woman wants to be the most loved, the most cherished by their partner. It might sound possessive, especially coming from a yandere holding my life in her hands, but at its core, it was just... human.
It was a surprisingly reasonable demand, all things considered.
"I promise, Nos," I said, a small, genuine smile breaking through my villainous facade. "I will love you more than any other woman. Because you are the first one. You are the only one who didn't abandon me, who searched for me across time, and still chose me even though I'm such a jerk. I promise you with all my heart."
I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Chronos gasped softly, and then she smiled—a radiant, genuinely happy smile that made her look like a normal, innocent girl rather than the terrifying Student Council President.
"Oh, Kev..." she breathed.
She hugged me back.
*CRACK.* "Urk!" I choked out a gasp as the air was violently expelled from my lungs. She hugged me so tightly I swear my ribs were going to crack into a dozen pieces any minute now. Her physical strength was completely absurd.
"O-okay, Nos... need... oxygen..." I wheezed, tapping her back frantically.
"Right! Sorry, sorry honey!" she chirped, instantly letting go and stepping back, her cheeks flushed a bright, happy pink. "Go! Go save the Mercury girl. I'll be watching from the Council Room. If anyone tries to hurt you, I'll freeze their timeline and shatter them into a million pieces, okay? Love you!"
With a cheerful wave completely at odds with her psychotic threat, she unlocked the door and practically skipped out into the hallway.
I slumped against the desk, coughing and rubbing my bruised ribs.
*I survived.* I pulled out my pocket watch. I had spent way too much time in here. The opening ceremony was over, and the first-year students were supposed to be reporting to their assigned homerooms for orientation.
I burst out of the faculty room and broke into a sprint down the opulent, gold-veined corridors of Luminous Academy.
My cursed body protested immediately. The defective Mana Absorption acted up, making my veins burn like they were filled with battery acid. Sweat beaded on my pale forehead, and my breath came in ragged gasps. I must have looked pathetic—the fearsome Kevius Von Svoboda, the 'Walking Death Flag', panting and stumbling through the halls like a sickly commoner.
Students pointed and whispered as I passed, but I ignored them. I had to get to the First-Year Elite Class.
In the game, the very first major interactive event for Kevius happens on day one, in that classroom.
It was the infamous "Slap Event."
Kevius, being his usual arrogant self, takes the seat next to Solana Ra Luminous Inferno, the First Princess of the Luminous Kingdom. Solana, who despises Kevius's cursed lineage, tells him to move. Kevius insults her. Solana loses her temper and tries to slap him with a hand wreathed in Lava Magic.
And then, right before the fiery hand connects, Aphrodia steps in.
Despite only having a 15% affection rating for me, Aphrodia is fiercely proud of her status as my fiancée. She intercepts Solana's hand, neutralizing the Lava Magic with her Mercury Magic, and coldly declares that no one touches a member of House Ethereum's extended family without facing consequences.
It was a crucial scene. It established the rivalry between Solana and Aphrodia, and it was my first opportunity to alter my destiny by intervening before Aphrodia had to.
I reached the massive, carved oak doors of the Elite Classroom and shoved them open, gasping for air.
The room was a stunning amphitheater of polished mahogany and floating magical slates. Dozens of the highest-ranking noble heirs sat in their assigned seats, murmuring quietly.
I scanned the room, my crimson eyes desperately searching for a waterfall of pure white hair and piercing blue eyes.
I looked at the center row.
Sitting there, looking impossibly proud, arrogant, and elegant in her complex black starry royal dress, was Solana Ra Luminous Inferno. Her fiery orange hair seemed to literally glow in the ambient light. She glanced at me as I burst in, her eyes narrowing in immediate disgust.
But the seat next to her—the seat that was supposed to be mine—was empty.
More importantly, the seat directly behind it was empty too.
I froze, the burning in my veins momentarily forgotten, replaced by a cold dread that settled like a stone in my stomach.
I checked the back corners. I checked the front row.
She wasn't there.
*What?!* My mind spun out of control. She should be in class! According to the game's rigid schedule, she *had* to be in class for the Slap Event to trigger!
But I only saw Solana. There was no sign of Aphrodia.
Is this because I'm arriving late? Did my little detour with the time-traveling yandere cause the timeline to slip?
*Ding!*
A blue system notification suddenly popped up in my peripheral vision, flickering violently as if it were malfunctioning.
**[Warning: Major Deviation Detected.]**
**[Target: Aphrodia Von Ethereum - Location Unknown.]**
I stared at the flickering blue screen, the blood draining from my already pale face.
*Location Unknown?*
Don't tell me... did she get kidnapped already?!
But that made no sense! The kidnapping wasn't supposed to happen until the middle of the first semester, exactly two months from now! The anti-noble faction needed time to infiltrate the Academy's security barriers.
My breathing hitched. I looked back at the hallway I had just run down.
What the hell is happening? Did my presence—or Chronos's regression—accelerate the plot? Was the game trying to correct itself by killing her off early?
Where is Aphrodia?