Chapter 3
Guests do not enter the palace… they are swallowed
The kingdom's gate was nothing like he had imagined.
In the stories,
gates were tall, majestic,
opening slowly as music played in the background,
and characters moved forward as if the world was waiting for them.
But in reality?
It was silent.
A heavy silence…
not the kind that comes from calm,
but from something that watches.
The carriage stopped.
The sound of the wheels vanished suddenly,
as if it had crossed an invisible boundary.
"We have arrived."
The servant Han Beijin said softly,
quieter than usual.
Kim Seojun lifted his head.
The walls.
Taller than he remembered…
thicker…
closer.
"Have… the walls always been this close?"
he asked without realizing it.
Arin von Kraits turned to him,
the Sword Saint giving a side smile.
"Strange that you ask that."
Then, in a calm tone, he added:
"It's as if you're visiting the place for the first time…
even though you've been here before."
His body stiffened.
…This line was not in the story.
It had never been here.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
Arin chuckled lightly,
but his eyes did not laugh.
"Nothing. Just a feeling."
A feeling.
The word alone was enough
to make something stir inside his head.
The world is not supposed to feel.
The world is reset from zero.
Unless—
He stopped the thought.
Not now.
Inside the palace
The palace was not lit as it was in the story.
Fewer candles.
Louder footsteps.
And the gazes… heavier.
Every servant passing by him
paused for a fraction of a second.
Not a bow.
Not respect.
But hesitation.
As if they… knew him.
Or as if they had seen him
in a bad dream.
"Has this part changed?"
he wondered internally.
Or perhaps the change… was him?
The princess's smile.
The ballroom was vast,
but the air was stifling.
And there—
sat Princess Elianora Valentin.
Her smile, just as it was.
Soft.
Perfect.
Deliberate.
The smile that had led a duke to execution.
When her eyes met his,
they sparkled.
Not with surprise.
…Recognition.
She rose slowly,
taking two steps forward.
"Welcome, Duke Leonard von Raichen."
Her voice was gentle.
Then she added, as if whispering something only he could hear:
"Or…
should I say:
welcome back?"
Time stopped.
Not figuratively.
Literally.
The candles froze.
The noise vanished.
Even his breath was trapped in his chest.
Words appeared.
Not like windows.
Not like a system.
But as text…
written over reality.
[Warning]
The world has responded to you.
The repetition is no longer invisible.
He shivered.
"…She knows."
This was not in the story.
Not in any chapter.
The princess smiled more.
"Do not worry, Duke Leonard."
Then she bowed slightly.
"This time…
we will not mistake the ending."
Time returned suddenly.
The clinking of glasses fell.
The noise returned.
The candles moved.
But one thing was no longer the same.
Kim Seojun understood now.
This is not a world that allows retries without cost.
And this…
is not a story to be read until the end.
It is a world
that awaits its next death.