MBHE | Chapter 1.1

“Hyung!”

A small child ran with short legs and threw himself into the arms of a thirteen-year-old boy. The boy easily lifted the now heavier body and playfully rubbed the child’s little nose.

“Haha, it tickles!”

“You little rascal, how did you get so dirty?”

“I played tag with Dilla in the garden.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Yeah! Next time, you should join us.”

Iellon, who was tidying Carpe’s disheveled silver hair with one hand, saw Dilla, Carpe’s nanny, running from afar and put the child down. Carpe, who was five years old this year, smiled adorably with rosy cheeks.

Though they shared the same silver hair, Iellon’s was curly while Carpe’s flowed smoothly. As he patted it, he felt piercing gazes.

Looking around stealthily, he saw knights watching him and Carpe with disrespectful eyes. The sword in his hand trembled slightly due to the grip.

Dilla, intimidated by the knights’ stares, cautiously held Carpe’s shoulder. Iellon, shielding the obliviously smiling child with his body, gently tugged at his soft cheek.

“If you play with hyung, you’ll get caught in no time, Carr.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. So, you’ll always have to be ‘it.’”

He teased, spinning his finger playfully. Finding the child’s serious, closed-eye contemplation cute, he laughed briefly before signaling Dilla to take the child away.

“I still want to. Even if I’m ‘it,’ it’s fine if I’m with hyung.”

His face shone brightly in the sunlight. His blue eyes, reflecting the sky, gazed unwaveringly at Iellon.

He felt blinded by the light that had saved many and would save many more. Iellon smiled softly and patted Carpe’s head.

“Carr, you’re such a fool. How could hyung make you always ‘it’? It’s already past noon today, so let’s play tag next time.”

At his soothing words, the child nodded obediently. Perhaps it was a hero’s virtue, but Carpe rarely threw tantrums.

He could whine, cry, and shout like other kids, but Iellon found it a bit sad that Carpe was more mature than his peers, despite trying to indulge him.

As Carpe, holding Dilla’s hand, turned with a regretful face, he suddenly remembered something and approached Iellon with a bright face.

“Oh, right! Philip gave me this to eat earlier. Do you want some, hyung?”

In his small hand was a rather large cookie. Sprinkled with sugar, the cookie looked sweet and delicious at a glance.

Iellon, looking at Carpe with affectionate eyes, crouched in front of his brother, who seemed to have received only one.

Smiling with his eyes, Iellon grabbed the child’s wrist without hesitation and popped the cookie into his mouth. Carpe’s mouth dropped open at the snack’s sudden disappearance.

“Hyung, you should have saved some for Carr…”

“Sorry, it looked too delicious. Let’s ask Dilla for something even tastier, okay? I was just so hungry.”

Feigning pity with lowered eyebrows, the kind child nodded understandingly. Still, Carpe, slightly puffing his cheeks in disappointment, cautiously looked up at his brother. Carpe’s face reflected in Iellon’s ever-warm red eyes.

“Was it good?”

Iellon, momentarily widening his eyes, nodded brightly with a smile. His touch on Carpe’s cheek was gentle.

“Yeah. It was really good.”

“Then it’s okay.”

Finally able to take Carpe away, Dilla bowed and left with the child. Carpe, waving back at Iellon, no longer had any trace of disappointment on his face.

Once the child left, Iellon, erasing his smile, spat something onto the dirt with a cold expression.

“Ptooey.”

Small blade fragments, mixed with blood and cookie, sparkled under the sunlight. Iellon wiped the blood trickling from his lips with his sleeve and crushed the red lump underfoot.

Philip was an attendant of the sixth concubine, who was Carpe’s mother. He didn’t know what she was thinking. What was certain was that her hysteria was worsening over time.

Freesia, the second daughter of Baron Ortiz, was a quiet woman, almost invisible in the castle. Then Carpe, with his silver hair, was born, and she was inevitably caught up in several incidents as his mother.

Thanks to Iellon’s efforts, there were only a few direct harms, but the shock seemed significant. Or perhaps there were other reasons.

Anyway, her madness was escalating, and she was increasingly trying to harm Carpe. It was a precarious balancing act, but despite knowing that her position in the imperial palace was thanks to Carpe, her hatred seemed immense.

The day they first met five years ago, the wisdom and resignation seen on her pale face from childbirth had long disappeared.

Iellon, deciding to firmly warn her about the deal once more, picked up a wooden sword.

“Let’s begin.”

At the voice of the most likely candidate for emperor, the imperial knight commander resumed his stance. No one present worried about Iellon’s mouth being in tatters.

It wasn’t because the knights were particularly cold-hearted, but because of Iellon’s will. If Iellon mentioned this incident, the empress would seize the opportunity and use it as a pretext to purge Freesia and Carpe.

Carpe. The second prince of the Leronan Empire and a future hero. This ridiculous label wasn’t just a dream or wish. Carpe would indeed become the hero who saved the empire. Iellon knew this.

Because he had read the future.

♣ ♣ ♣

『Heroes Never Die』 wasn’t very popular, but it had a niche following due to its traditional plot as a fantasy novel.

The protagonist, Carpe, though born a prince, was taken out of the castle before he even opened his eyes by his mother, who feared he would be caught up in the struggle for the throne. He falls into a river with his mother, who is killed by pursuing knights, but a master who witnesses the scene picks him up and raises him.

To hide his silver hair, the symbol of the royal family, Carpe grows up dyeing his hair and vows revenge after hearing from his master that his mother’s killers were the emperor’s knights.

He embarks on a journey to gain strength, making various companions along the way. Eventually, he kills Iellon Leronan, who stands in his way to protect the position of crown prince, and also defeats the demon king who was consuming the country, becoming a true hero.

Though the story was quite common, the detailed process of Carpe meeting companions and growing was so well done that it was a novel that could make you laugh and cry.

He especially liked the ending of this novel. The hero is praised, and evil disappears in a perfect happy ending. He didn’t mind rereading from the first page for the thrill of reading the last chapter.

‘But to think I’d wake up in the world of a novel after dying.’

And as Iellon Leronan, an unimpressive mid-boss, no less. He never imagined it, even in his dreams. Newly born Iellon was so dazed that he didn’t cry, and the midwife had to spank him several times to make him wail.

In the original story, Iellon was a narrow-minded man who would do anything to protect his position as the first prince and crown prince.

The various evil deeds he committed to eliminate threats after hearing rumors about silver hair spanned hundreds of pages, and he ultimately died without receiving anyone’s mourning, as befits a villain.

If he had been the final boss, he might have been remembered, but with the appearance of the true enemy of the hero, the demon king, Iellon remained an insignificant villain.

As a diligent reader who had meticulously read the book, he learned for the first time, living as Iellon, that even a minor villain had a rather tough backstory.

The Leronan Empire had a long history of war. Not only external wars but also long internal struggles. Coups occurred, the imperial power changed, nobles were purged, and new people became emperors.

After finally stabilizing through that long history, there was an implicit rule in the imperial palace. There should be only one crown prince among the emperor’s children. To conserve national power, unnecessary disputes must be avoided.

Many younger siblings died after Iellon was born. He wasn’t foolish enough not to know that he survived because his mother was the empress. Even though Iellon was the only surviving prince, the empress was not satisfied.

‘It’s still scary to think about…’

The empress, Helen Leronan, was a woman like a tiger. Thanks to her, he could quickly absorb the knowledge of this world, but if he had truly been an ignorant baby, his life would have been tough.

“It’s not very comfortable even now.”

“Pardon? What did you say?”

“Nothing. Rather, bring me some water. Your sluggish movements are making me frustrated.”

At the cold response, the knight slumped his shoulders and trudged away. Iellon, cooling his sweat with the breeze, rubbed his red eyes with the back of his hand. His hands were full of rough calluses, unbefitting a thirteen-year-old.

He had only one wish. A perfect happy ending, more beautiful and brilliant than the book.

He was sure he was born as a villain for that purpose, on a night with a full moon five years ago.

Young Iellon was a child who neither laughed nor cried. He was merely dazed, following the harsh daily schedule, but to those who didn’t know, he was treated as an unpleasant child.

To be honest, there wasn’t much to laugh about. The excitement of the fantasy world faded in less than two years, leaving only adults who feared him and a mother who wielded a whip.

The thought of being killed by his brother in the near future also contributed to his gloom. He hadn’t decided how to act for eight years.

The protagonist hadn’t even been born yet, and the demons were quiet. Following the original story as it was? Iellon had no desire to die. Moreover, he had no intention of committing the evil deeds he had done without reason.