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Chapter 12: The Sleepless Night of the Princess
The final villain.
The Third Princess, Iris Hysirion.
There is much to say about her.
The final boss of Act 6 of Flame Butterfly and its hidden antagonist.
The Demon Sovereign.
And she is destined to become the vessel of that Demon Sovereign.
Perhaps that’s why Iris exudes an oddly decadent aura.
Despite being the second-ranked candidate to lead the empire, the energy emanating from her is unambiguously somber and dark.
Yet, separate from that, there is an undeniable force about her that makes it hard to look away.
To begin with, she possesses an innate beauty:
raven-black hair, porcelain skin that seems almost excessively pale, and eyes imbued with ruby-like magical power.
Anyone who meets her sighs in awe of her beauty and wishes for her gaze to fall upon them.
It’s no coincidence that she rivals Nikita for the top spot in the empire's beauty rankings.
If Nikita’s beauty is cold and honest, Iris’s is decadent and alluring.
Her cherry-red lips stir hearts every time they part, and her words compel others to listen, making them want to fulfill whatever she whispers.
Though the Demon Sovereign’s seductive nature plays a role, her unique atmosphere of decadence contributes significantly.
And now, she stands before me.
A “hospital visit,”
or some similarly trivial reason, is unlikely.
After all, since enrolling at Zerion Academy, I have never spoken with her, not even once.
Then why has she come?
After all, the body I’ve borrowed—Hannon Irey—is technically of the same bloodline as her.
Though not through my father’s side, but my mother’s.
We are cousins, at least in theory.
Iris must view Hannon as such.
After all, her maternal grandfather, Duke Robliage, is someone who sent her with a clear agenda in mind.
Judging by the dark circles under her eyes, it seems her insomnia persists.
Iris, burdened by her grandfather’s ambition to place her on the throne, has always suffered from insomnia under such relentless pressure.
Though on the surface, it seems similar to Isabel’s insomnia, there is a fundamental difference.
Iris’s insomnia has the Demon Sovereign’s involvement.
Her nightmares are laced with the Demon Sovereign’s whispers, who tightens its grip on her in a bid to corrupt her completely one day.
The more she dreams of such horrors, the weaker Iris becomes.
By now, her insomnia should have improved somewhat.
Lucas’s Flame of Resolve would have driven away her nightmares, allowing her to sleep peacefully.
This, in turn, would have led her to seek out Lucas more often, sparking numerous incidents and their eventual resolution together.
Such was the nature of the relationship between Lucas and Iris.
But Lucas no longer exists in this world.
Naturally, Iris’s insomnia remains unresolved and ongoing.
And this task has now fallen to me.
The day she falls completely into the abyss of her nightmares will be the day of the Demon Sovereign’s resurrection.
"I greet the Third Princess, Iris Hysirion.”
However, curing her insomnia is not something I can do recklessly.
What matters is the process—
establishing a bond of trust between people first.
As I knelt and offered a bow to the royal, Iris gazed down at me wordlessly.
Then, with a casual wave of her hand, she dismissed it.
“This is Zerion Academy. No need for such formalities between students, even if it’s just the two of us.”
She’s not wrong.
I was simply acting in line with what Hannon would likely do.
Iris leaned her head against the wall.
Her black hair cascaded naturally over her pale skin.
Even now, her beauty exuded decadence and temptation.
“There’s something I’d like to ask.”
Her fragile voice, flowing from her cherry-red lips,
possessed a captivating force.
My ears perked up instinctively, drawn to her voice.
“Are you someone sent by Duke Robliage?”
I had expected such a question from the moment she approached me.
‘If I get tangled up with Duke Robliage now…’
It’s a straight path to a bad ending for me, not Lucas.
The Duke is a man greedy enough to leverage even the Demon Sovereign’s power to place Iris on the throne.
If someone he didn’t send were to approach Iris, he would almost certainly interpret it as a ploy by the First Prince’s faction and have me executed.
‘Although, to be fair, that is technically correct.’
Hannon, as mentioned earlier, is a hidden character who appears under specific conditions.
The condition for Hannon’s transfer is tied to Lucas achieving a certain level of fame at the academy.
‘And that fame must be achieved flawlessly in all related events to trigger Hannon’s transfer.’
Thus, little is known about Hannon.
But one thing is certain:
‘Hannon was sent by the First Prince to scout talented individuals from Lucas’s side to his own.’
Caught between the Third Princess and the First Prince in their struggle for the throne, the First Prince is naturally gathering power.
However, the world’s most renowned talents gathered at Zerion Academy when the Third Princess enrolled.
Due to Duke Robliage’s schemes, the First Prince cannot openly intervene at Zerion Academy.
He chooses not to interfere with the academy to avoid provoking a direct confrontation with the Duke.
But as Lucas’s fame reached the royal court’s ears, the First Prince began to fear that such talent might entirely shift to the Third Princess’s side, prompting him to send someone to transfer in.
That someone is Hannon Irey, quietly placed in the academy by the First Prince’s faction.
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‘If the condition isn’t met, Hannon doesn’t transfer.’
If the condition isn’t met, the First Prince deems Zerion Academy insignificant enough to ignore, choosing to avoid direct confrontation with the Duke instead.
But the fact that Hannon has transferred means the First Prince now views the situation as dangerous enough to justify clashing with the Duke.
‘And here I am, having transferred as Hannon.’
Zerion Academy has ears.
The First Prince’s faction would be astonished to see Hannon transfer without their permission.
However, it would take them roughly six months to fully grasp the situation.
‘Right now, the First Prince is preoccupied.’
The First Prince, who has already shifted his attention away from the academy, has no time to care.
‘And during this period, I had planned to secure my position somehow.’
Before enrolling at Zerion Academy, I didn’t sit idly by.
I crafted a fairly meticulous plan—
a tightrope strategy to navigate between the First Prince and Duke Robliage.
But there is one person—just one—who could cut this tightrope entirely.
‘Iris, who can relay information to the Duke Robliage at any time.’
The Iris standing before me is exactly that variable.
She doesn’t even need to meet the Duke in person to convey her words.
The reverse is also true: the Duke Robliage can relay his words to her without meeting in person.
If she were to inquire about me to the Duke Robliage, either he or the First Prince would send someone to sever my tightrope.
‘The only relief is…’
Iris doesn’t reach out to the Duke Robliage first.
She doesn’t particularly enjoy being involved in the imperial succession battle because of him.
During the game, she subtly expressed her distaste for the Duke Robliage several times.
For that reason, she wouldn’t actively inquire about me.
‘But that’s only an assumption.’
This isn’t the game anymore.
This is the real world—after the bad ending where the protagonist dies and no one knows how things will unfold.
A world of pure variables.
Who knows how Iris’s feelings may have changed?
“That depends on how the Third Princess chooses to think about it.”
Thus, I must prepare for both possibilities:
A world where the Duke Robliage sends Hannon.
A world where the First Prince sends Hannon.
I need to consider both scenarios to deal with future variables and steer things toward the correct path.
Iris stared at me after hearing my response.
Her gaze was unsettling, like a Persian cat staring at you with a meaning no human could decipher.
“Fine. Then.”
Iris didn’t ask further questions.
She seemed to decide to think it over on her own.
It’s hard on my heart.
Talking with someone who could become the final boss is bound to be stressful.
“By the way, I should warn you—don’t make disparaging comments about Lucas Fernando.”
Iris had significant connections to Lucas.
The spark of his Flame of Resolve was the only lullaby for her sleepless nights plagued by nightmares.
“There are still many who think of him.”
Lucas only attended Zerion Academy for a single year, but the impact he left during that time was immense.
As expected of the protagonist—he planted deep roots everywhere.
‘And I have to take on that role now.’
My gaze once again fell on Iris.
What must I do for her to replace the protagonist, Lucas?
“Are you still unable to sleep well these days?”
Indeed, I must address Iris’s most painful struggle—her insomnia.
“There is honey called Honeer from the southern red soil region. Boil it and drink it before bed; it might help a little.”
This honey induces a sleep-like state while providing restorative effects.
Though it can’t resolve the root cause of her insomnia, it should allow her some rest.
Iris’s gaze met mine. In her ruby-red eyes, a brief flicker of emotion passed.
“…I’ll keep that in mind.”
Perhaps she thought that she should consider it even since I gave her advice.
Iris didn’t say more and left the room, the door closing behind her.
Watching her black hair flutter as she walked away, I let out a deep sigh.
“There’s still a long road ahead.”
Isabel Luna’s suicide.
Nikita Cynthia’s ancient dragon.
Iris Hysirion’s insomnia.
All of them are critical issues directly tied to the bad ending.
I must solve every one of them.
I immediately opened the door and stepped out.
I can’t afford to lie down any longer.
For the upcoming mock battle, I need to train individually.
Repeated actions and practice to raise my stats even slightly.
And beyond the steel skin, I need to prepare more.
I must secure a top ranking in the mock battle to achieve my goals.
I’ll prepare everything I possibly can.
‘My body’s not going to hold up at this rate.’
Shaking off the lingering fatigue, I walked down the hallway.
The sun was setting, but I couldn’t rest just yet.
The world still needed someone to replace the sun.
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