5 Chapter Three: A Grim Future

It was so obvious. How in the world could I not have seen it before? The fantasy setting, the mute bastard brother, the tomboy twin sister, and now the kidnapping. It was all identical to that book.

The book I am referring to was the favorite novel of the person in my memories. It was a reincarnation novel about breaking tradition and being yourself. Through many twists and turns and challenges, the main heroine, with the help of her friends, learns to stop hiding and be herself.

And yeah, the endings of the novel weren't exactly happily ever afters. I say endings because there were multiple ends to the story. See, the author had two very different ideas for the end of the book. She didn't want to throw one of them away, so she wrote out two versions of the story.

There were, of course, consistencies in these versions. For example, Melody was the main support character of the heroine in both stories and the beginnings were more or less the same. But there were also differences.

Specifically, there were two largely different end results.

In one ending, I end up getting married to the main heroine. It's a very peaceful end, for the most part. I would live a comfortable life as the Duke of Levaria with the heroine as my loving wife. Come to think of it, I don't think I have mentioned that I was the heir of a Dukedom. Not that that matters. Anyways, it would be a very good and easy ending for me but for two points.

In this ending, both Melody and Charles are killed in the war between good and evil forces.

Charles death, in particular, was especially gruesome. He was taken captive by the opposing forces and tortured for information for two years. He finally succumbed to the torture and died just a few days before we won the war. The depictions of his death in the novel we're vivid and terrifying, something I could hardly imagine.

Melody, on the other hand, had a very heartwarming death. She sacrificed herself to destroy the Great Darkness once and for all. Having been partially corrupted by the black magic herself, she had pushed the heroine away at the last second, taking her place as a sacrifice.

Obviously, this was not an ending that I could go with. I could barely handle the thought of my siblings dying. Also, I was quite gay so there was no chance of me being wed to the heroine. Hmm, come to think of it, these memories probably are mine. Otherwise, I would have the same orientation as my character in the novel, no?

In any case, this option was out of the question. That meant I would have to follow the second ending.

This... wasn't exactly a happy thought.

In the second ending, Charles is the main love interest of the heroine. He ends up marrying her and they run the Dukedom together. Melody starts her own merchant shop and it becomes famous under the guidance of the heroine who, while having no chef skills whatsoever, had a strong memory and remembered recipes from the modern world that we didn't have here. Apart from them, many other characters had much better and happier endings in this version than the other. So, it seems obvious, right? I should choose this one, right?

... I'm sure some of you have guessed the issue by now.

Yes, that's right. In this version on the novel, one of the only characters who die is none other than me, Owen Nelsrin.

Now, you might be thinking, 'Oh, that's fine. You can just change the story so that everyone has a happy ending, right?' But that's not how it works. Changing the story meant potentially harming other characters. If I so much as blundered in one important scene, I could indirectly cause the death of everyone I care about. No joke, I'm being serious.

This novel is very high risk and was filled with violence and unexpected death. I don't want other people to get hurt for my sake. Not like in my past life. Never again.

This was what I was thinking about as I paused. All of this went through my head in a span of a couple minutes. Thoughts churned in my brain and plans formed, only to be shot down.

By the time I ran out of the room to get the guards, I had already resolved myself.

I, Owen Nelsrin, was going to follow the rules of the book and make sure that it moves in relation to the better ending. That is, up until the part when I die.

Because, then I wouldn't be there anymore to make sure it went according to plan.