Interlude 1: Fathers Who Get It Spectacularly Wrong

Once the Zesphiria family sets their sights on you, not even a Queen can escape.

Within the Kingdom of Ringveid, that particular Marquis house held a status unlike any other. The Zesphirias were one of the few noble lineages that had endured since the nation’s founding... and they were the very embodiment of the state’s shadow.

Espionage, kidnapping, torture, and assassination. Having spent centuries handling every piece of dirty work the crown required, they eventually gained enough power to be whispered of as the true, de facto rulers of the kingdom. However...

That was now little more than a memory of past glory.

The modern Zesphiria family had been reduced to mere errand boys. Their raison d'être grew thinner with every passing year; it was clear to any observer that the house was destined for ruin sooner rather than later.

That was precisely why the current head, Richard Zesphiria, had trembled with such fervor upon his son's birth.

The state of being 《Monster-Possessed》. Specifically, a form where half of the face was a grotesque, otherworldly deformity—it was the exact image of the family's progenitor.

It was the image of the First Head, the man known by the alias "The Night King."

The moment Richard laid eyes on the boy, he became convinced: his son was the First Head reborn.

His house was in its twilight years, while the Royal Family was growing increasingly emboldened. To solve these crises, the legend had returned to the mortal coil. Because he had reached this absolute conclusion, Richard bestowed upon his child the same name as the first: Alvart.

And now, even after Alvart had departed the room, Richard remained on his knees—tears streaming down his face in a relentless torrent.

“I knew it...!” he choked out. “I wasn't wrong...!”

The treatment he had subjected Alvart to—acts that were indistinguishable from pure abuse—had been performed with a singular purpose: to stimulate the soul of the First Head dwelling within the boy.

Even if the First Head failed to awaken, Richard would have been satisfied as long as the boy’s Heterodox Abilities manifested. He had fully expected that if that happened, he, his wife, and even Lumiere would likely be slaughtered by the boy's hand...

But if the glory of Zesphiria could be restored to its zenith in exchange for their lives, he would have offered his throat to the blade with a smile.

Yet, in the end, the boy had let them live.

Recalling that moment, Richard turned to his wife and asked, “Almeria. Did you see... did you see his eyes?”

“I did, I did,” she whispered. “Those obsidian pupils... it was as if all the darkness in this world had been condensed into them. That was not the Alvart we knew.”

That much was true... but every conclusion they drew from that point on was a catastrophic misunderstanding.

“To have the magnanimity to let all our past cruelty be water under the bridge... there is no doubt,” Richard declared.

“Yes,” Almeria agreed. “The current Alvart is...”

『The reincarnation of the First Head...!』 they spoke in unison.

Had the man himself been in the room, he surely would have asked: Who the hell is that?

“Still... as expected of the Night King. To think he would desire to enroll in the Academy,” Richard mused.

“There is nothing for a man of his stature to learn in such a place. The fact that he requested enrollment despite that must mean...” Almeria trailed off.

“Indeed,” Richard nodded firmly. “He has clearly sensed the presence of the various monsters and schemers lurking within those walls.”

The two continued to trade wild misconceptions, and there was no one present to offer a reality check.

“First, he shall expose the darkness within the Academy, and then... he intends to save the Kingdom from the crisis that threatens it,” Richard theorized.

“Oh, First Head...! To think we were so incompetent that you had to take matters into your own hands...!” Almeria sobbed.

One misunderstanding led to another. Eventually, the pair turned their gaze toward Lumiere.

Having finished her self-healing and returned to a stable state, she remained on her knees, staring fixedly at a single spot on the floor. It was the place where Alvart had been standing moments ago.

As she stared into the empty air, her beautiful face showed not a single shred of the bitterness of defeat. Instead, she wore a rapturous, ecstatic smile, her cheeks flushed a deep, feverish crimson.

“Lumiere. You shall also be entering the Academy alongside him,” Richard commanded.

“It goes without saying that you must not be a hindrance. You must make yourself useful to him, in whatever form that may take. Do you understand?” Almeria added.

There was no response.

There was no longer any room in Lumiere’s mind for the existence of her parents. Her head and her heart were currently filled to the brim with a single existence.

“Onii-sama... ♥”

Alvart Zesphiria. Or rather, the man inside him who desired nothing more than a peaceful, ordinary life.

He had no way of knowing.

It wasn't just the original game's scenario that had begun to break.

The "peaceful" scenario he had envisioned for himself was also beginning to crumble with a loud, distinct crack.