The Villain Who Made the Empire Prosper

I Admit My Sins

There’s a novel notorious for being the ultimate in tragedy called ‘The Ailam Empire Has Fallen.’ It was famous as a can’t-put-down book where the author’s writing prowess runs wild from beginning to middle to end.

And the highly plausible and immersive tragic development, executed with excellent writing skill, was enough to leave many readers with lasting trauma.

And that immersion led directly to a flood of curses against one character.

[F*cking Randor.]

[If only this bastard Randor hadn’t existed.]

[It’s been a while since I’ve felt such hatred for a fictional character. Like if you want this bastard dead too lol]

And there was someone who became the fundamental cause of Ailam Empire’s downfall – that would be the treacherous scoundrel named Randor.

With a slim build and looks handsome enough to be an ace at a host club, wearing glasses, and having narrow eyes.

I think that’s enough to get a clear picture of what kind of bastard he is. In the novel, Randor becomes the emperor’s closest confidant by sweet-talking the aged emperor with his silver tongue. And using that power, he swallows up every profitable venture in the empire for himself.

But the aging and foolish emperor failed to realize this fact and even entrusted his most beloved young daughter to Randor.

The invincible Karia.

The youngest Grand Master. The Empire’s strongest sword. A monster among monsters who was evaluated to have no equal throughout history.

Though her body was strong, her mind was weak.

Having lost her mother early and nearly being assassinated multiple times by political opponents, the young princess was mentally very unstable, and the emperor thought she would become emotionally stable if Randor, whom he trusted, stayed by her side.

But that was the worst decision possible.

Randor raised young Karia excellently.

As an excellent weapon for his use.

Randor, with his serpent’s tongue, brainwashed Karia through meticulous gaslighting to the point where she would gladly stab her own heart with a smile if he asked.

Eventually, in the latter part of the novel, she becomes a murderer who massacres countless people as the vanguard of the ‘Ugly War’ that Randor instigates. And in the final battle, she dies fighting for Randor.

What happens to Randor, you ask? In the end, he’s captured by the protagonist, the righteous Crown Prince Golden Adran, and suffers an almost impossibly horrible death by being torn apart limb by limb by citizens in the square.

‘I am Randor.’

And I was looking in the mirror, touching the face of that despicable treacherous scoundrel whom I too had wanted to tear apart multiple times, muttering blankly.

‘Why did I have to possess this bastard of all people.’

I let out a lamentable statement while clutching my head. Behind me, there was a rustling sound in response to my long sigh and lamentation.

When I turned my head, there was a supremely beautiful woman lying naked on the bed, her bright red hair spread across the white bedsheets as she slept.

And at the lower part of the white bedsheets, near Karia’s legs, another red color was clearly making its presence known.

That’s right.

I had taken the princess’s virginity last night. Though it was closer to Karia forcefully taking me, the fact that I had taken her virginity remained unchanged.

And in the original novel, this is where the real beginning of catastrophe starts.

The princess, thinking her love had been fulfilled through this night together, came to regard Randor – whom she already trusted more than family due to gaslighting – as someone more precious than her own life, and became someone who would do anything Randor said.

The Iron Blood Corps, the empire’s strongest combat unit that she led, followed her as their commander, and it eventually led to civil war. And Randor, who lost in that civil war, as mentioned before, gets torn limb from limb in the square.

‘Aaaaaahhhh!! No!!!!!!!!!’

The horrifically gruesome end of Randor described in the novel no longer felt like satisfying justice to me.

F*ck!!

I’m the one who’s going to suffer that terrible execution!

Princess Karia, who had been sleeping soundly, startled awake at my scream, but I paid no attention.

I didn’t have even the slightest desire to die such a bad ending with that horrible execution.

To survive, I absolutely had to make this a happy ending.

‘Randor. How is it? Is it delicious?’

Princess Karia asks me that while looking at me. When she smiles, it feels like everything around becomes bright. Could there be a woman this beautiful in the world? Normally, if such a beauty smiled at me, I would have been thinking about what to name our grandchildren, but right now I didn’t have the psychological leisure for such happy delusions.

‘Yeah…I just have some things to think about.’

At my stiff response, Karia dismissed all the servants attending our meal from the room and then firmly held my hand.

‘Is it because I…forced myself on you yesterday? Have you come to hate me because of that?’

This lady. She’s completely misunderstanding.

What man would dislike such a beautiful woman taking the initiative? Though it started with Karia being forceful, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy the latter part too.

Seeing me momentarily lost for words as I recalled last night’s passionate moments, Karia seemed to misunderstand.

‘I can do any play that Randor likes. Whenever you want. I can do it anytime. You can treat me…like a whore if you want. I, I can’t live without you. It has to be Randor. Randor. I love you. Please… Please like me.’

She looks ready to kneel if I so much as furrow my brow.

This really shows just how smooth that bastard Randor’s tongue was.

Even though she was mentally damaged due to shocking incidents in her childhood, to think he gaslighted the empire’s princess to the point where she’d want to die without him.

With this excellent talent, he should have contributed to the empire!!

Instead of starting a damn rebellion!!

Actually, while Karia is a villain in the novel, she’s quite a pitiful character.

There was not a single person in her life who truly loved her.

Her father the emperor was a workaholic who couldn’t be called a good father even as lip service, her mother died early, and she was surrounded by political opponents who were desperate to kill her out of jealousy for her outstanding talent.

And the person who reached out to Karia, whose mental state was completely shattered from assassination attempts since childhood without knowing even the meaning of love, happened to be Randor.

She’s just a princess who lived miserably and died miserably.

I suddenly felt sorry for Karia trembling before me.

‘Are you sure I’m good enough? I’m at least 10 years older than you?’

“It doesn’t matter!!”

Let’s see. The first intimate encounter… it was when Karia was around 19, right? I remember the novel describing how she was assaulted just after becoming an adult.

Just barely in her late teens.

I held her hand tightly.

“Please take care of me, Karia. I won’t disappear from your side from now on.”

And then I hesitated for a moment about whether I should say the next words.

But still.

As someone who was an avid reader of this novel, there was one thing I really wanted to say to Karia.

“I love you too, Karia.”

In the original work, Randor never once told Karia that he loved her. He only said things like do this because it’s necessary, do that, I need you, nothing more.

I wanted to make this poor woman happy.

“Ugh!…”

At my gentle voice, Karia finally couldn’t hold back and began to cry. I gently pulled her body towards me and embraced her as she sobbed like a child, her shoulders shaking.

She hugged me and cried for a long time.

It was crying that seemed to heal her painful past while simultaneously being tears of happiness.

But as I held her, I couldn’t wear a happy expression.

If it were the original Randor, he would have worn an incredibly evil smile, but I couldn’t even manage that.

‘What do I do now? I’m really screwed.’

From the point where Randor becomes intimate with Karia, this novel begins to rush headlong into the peak of devastation.

In other words.

If we follow the original plot, neither Karia can be happy, nor can I avoid being torn apart and killed.

Right now, I needed to create some kind of change.

It is said that the first Emperor of the Ailam Empire took a dragon as his bride and had offspring.

While it’s such an ancient legend that there’s no way to verify if it’s true, one thing was clear.

Dragon incarnates, commonly known as incarnates, superhuman beings, were born generation after generation in the imperial bloodline.

There were 3 incarnates in this generation.

Prince Adran of the Golden, born with wisdom and a sense of justice.

Princess Karia of the Invincible, born with military might and leadership.

Princess Selene of the Blessed, born with beauty and observational skills.

Each had their own solid power base, and the latter part of the novel was about their struggle to ascend to the throne.

However, there was another faction besides them, namely Duke Pellings.

Duke Pellings was planning to seize the capital and become emperor himself if the three royal siblings destroyed each other, using his vast territory and military forces as a foundation.

It was revealed in the latter part that he was behind countless assassination attempts on Princess Karia, and he could be considered as much of a bastard as Randor in contributing to the empire’s destruction, playing a major role in turning the ugly war into complete chaos.

“Your Majesty, I humbly report that the atrocities of State Minister Randor have reached the heavens!”

Naturally, Duke Pellings’ favorite scenario wasn’t for one of the three incarnate imperial candidates to succeed, but rather for all of them to destroy each other in fierce fighting.

The Emperor ordered Karia, who was only 17, to lead a great northern expedition. It was an extremely difficult mission to eliminate the monster horde that had begun abnormally multiplying two years ago in the Limnacal Plains of the north.

However, living up to her title as the Invincible, Karia led 200,000 Iron Blood troops and returned after two years, having eliminated every last trace of monsters from the Limnacal Plains.

This was naturally an achievement beyond imagination, and therefore Duke Pellings was not pleased. After all, from his perspective, it wasn’t good if one of the incarnate imperial candidates received too much attention.

When Duke Pellings began openly attacking me, Karia’s closest advisor, in the Audience Hall where all imperial state affairs were conducted, it was calculated to weaken Princess Karia’s power by targeting me, her financial backer and strategist, since directly confronting Karia after her achievements would be too risky.

“State Minister Randor has monopolized most of the major merchant guilds in the capital! Moreover, he collects excessive taxes from them and lines his own pockets with some of it! The severity of his crimes is extreme! Your Majesty! I request punishment for State Minister Randor!!!”

The Emperor, whose eyes had grown dim and judgment had declined, raised his voice in apparent anger.

“Is there evidence?”

Randor was said to have honey and oil on his tongue. The aged and foolish Emperor currently trusted me completely. It was quite skillful emperor-manipulation worthy of a corrupt official.

“Yes, Your Majesty, there is!”

As if long prepared, Duke Pellings had his subordinates bring out a series of accusatory documents against me.

The Emperor frowned as he looked at the submitted documents.

He probably wanted to cover for me but was uncomfortable because the evidence was so conclusive.

“State Minister Randor, step forward.”

The Emperor calls me.

And he looks at me with an overtly gentle and mild tone.

“What do you think about these accusations?”

It wasn’t an interrogating tone.

Despite the embezzled amount being beyond imagination, his tone strongly suggested forgiveness.

In the original work, Randor escapes by pinning everything on one of his merchant subordinates as a scapegoat, showing skills that would put a greased loach to shame.

If he puts on a crying show claiming he knew nothing, the Emperor falls for it completely and dismisses all charges.

But if I follow the original plot like that, while it might be fine for now, my future only leads to being torn apart in the square.

Already yesterday, I had stayed up all night thinking until I was shitting blood, and had decided how to change the story.

“Your Imperial Majesty.”

“Yes? There must have been some misunderstanding?”

“Everything I am accused of is true.”

“???????”

The sound of people choking on their breath could be heard from all corners of the Imperial Audience Chamber. The Emperor wore a dumbfounded expression, Karia wore a dumbfounded expression, and both Prince Adran and Princess Selene had shocked faces.

However, no one could match the expression of Duke Pellings.

After enjoying the sight of the Duke’s stupefied face as he blinked with a shocked expression, I smirked and prostrated myself before the Emperor.

“I confess to all my crimes!! Please execute me!! Your Majesty!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

It was the moment when my desperate struggle began to escape the ending where I would be torn limb from limb.