"Chloe Orost Dodor! I challenge you to a duel of oaths! If I win, you must renounce your engagement to me!"
"..."
Something's not right, not even nine-tenths right!
Roy stared blankly at the stunningly beautiful blonde girl in front of him.
Looking at the genuine anger on the other person's delicate and beautiful face, Roy really wanted to send a "black guy with a question mark face" emoji.
Not friends, but a duel? An engagement? Who? Me?
Did I accidentally wander onto a movie set? That was the first thought that popped into Roy's mind.
But he immediately dismissed the idea because he didn't see any cameras or crew members. Instead, he saw a group of teenagers dressed in fancy uniforms surrounding him.
More importantly, the other person was speaking a language that he wasn't familiar with, yet he could understand it, and even had an intuition that he could use it fluently if he just spoke...
At that moment, the group of teenagers were discussing something in a language that was both familiar and unfamiliar to him.
"I knew Princess Shireen would be very angry!"
"That guy bullied Soros because of his status. It's one thing for him to do that normally, but this time he even broke Soros's leg. Even if it's a practical lesson, that's a bit too much..."
"This guy is not good enough for Princess Shirin. I really don't know what His Majesty is thinking."
"To win over the Grand Duke of the North..."
"..."
In fact, Roy wasn't completely clueless about the situation, since he clearly remembered what had happened to him before he arrived there.
He was playing a game when he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, his vision went black, and when he opened his eyes again, this was the scene before him.
Although his mind was still in complete chaos, he had at least read some online novels.
If he's right, he must have traveled through time.
The problem was, this scene seemed strangely familiar to him, and he also remembered the name of the girl in front of him who appeared to be a princess…
"Chloe! Did you hear me?!"
Shirin's angry and dissatisfied voice snapped Roy out of his reverie, and in the instant their eyes met, a flash of inspiration struck him.
He remembered...
The uniforms of these boys and girls, Princess Shireen, the Duke of the North, Chloe...aren't these all things from the game he played before he died?
The difference between the realistic visuals and the cartoonish art style in the game was so great that he was momentarily stunned.
Only then did he finally realize that he seemed to have traveled into the game he was playing?And what did Princess Shireen call her again?
Chloe?
Isn't that a minor villainous boss from the early to mid-game?
What's up with this guy again?
Roy frantically tried to recall all the information about Chloe from the game.
The third son of the Grand Duke of the North, he was of high status and had talent, but not much. He was not as good as his two older brothers and one older sister, nor as good as his youngest sister, so he was neglected at home.
The long-term repressive environment shaped his cruel and perverse personality. He was still somewhat restrained at home, but after the emperor of the empire betrothed his daughter, Princess Shirin, to him in order to stabilize the situation in the north, he became completely arrogant and his infamy resounded throughout the capital.
Princess Shireen naturally looked down on such a despicable person, but when faced with the grand scheme of the empire, personal will is of no use, even if she is a princess.
She pinched her nose and endured the nausea to accept the marriage, but she never gave Chloe a single kind look.
Although Chloe didn't care about the princess's attitude towards her, she couldn't stand the princess flirting with a commoner who had just managed to get into the school—and that commoner was, of course, the protagonist of the game, the one whose leg she had broken, as the crowd had mentioned earlier.
This is what happens at the end of the first act of the game, while the point in time that I traveled to is the beginning of the second act, where the princess challenges her fiancé to a duel to avenge the protagonist.
Roy remembered that in the original storyline of the game, Chloe backed down, agreed to apologize to Soros and make excessive compensation, which made Princess Shireen give up the duel.
However, while Chloe outwardly apologized and softened his stance, his insecure yet arrogant heart was deeply humiliated. He then allied with a villainous organization to kidnap the princess, intending to force himself on her, only to be lured in by the protagonist's group… After a delightful hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress scenario, the villains were defeated, and the protagonist gained the princess's favor.
Good news, the hanged man got the end he deserved.
Bad news, I've now become this hanged man...
What should I do? I need help urgently, I'm waiting online.
Roy—or rather Chloe—was brainstorming, but in Shirin's eyes, he was simply silent.
The princess's anger showed no sign of abating: "Chloe, even if you remain silent, things won't change. You either accept my oath-bound duel and wait for the engagement to be annulled..."
After a pause, she finally considered her position and offered the pre-set escape route: "Either apologize to Soros and compensate him!"
"I choose to duel." The moment all her thoughts were cleared, Chloe made her choice immediately.
This engagement has to be cancelled. We're not on the same path. Since it's already a done deal that I've transmigrated into Chloe, if I, as the villain, want to survive, I'd better cut ties with the main characters as soon as possible.
Having played the game to the late game, I know what these people go through.
It's fine if others act recklessly because of the protagonist's halo, but if you get killed by a shockwave, you're doomed!
However, he gave Princess Shireen an answer that seemed to be exactly what she wanted, leaving Shireen stunned.
"...What?" She seemed not to have heard clearly, or perhaps she couldn't believe what she had heard.Offering him the second option was essentially giving him a way out, and she anticipated that this cowardly bully would take it. She had imagined his anger, his excuses, and even his pleas, but she never expected him to choose the seemingly hopeless option.
"I said I accept your duel," Chloe repeated.
"Whoosh—!"
Like cold water poured into boiling oil, an uproar instantly erupted around them. The students watching were filled with astonishment and disbelief, and their whispers suddenly grew louder.
"Has he gone mad?"
"You actually dare to accept Princess Shirin's challenge?"
"Isn't he afraid of death? Her Highness the Princess is a powerful mage close to the king level!"
"This is going to be interesting..."
Princess Shireen's beautiful eyes narrowed instantly, churning with offended anger and a hint of barely perceptible astonishment.
She stared intently at Chloe, as if trying to rediscover this fiancé she had always considered incompetent and cowardly.
However, Chloe met her gaze without flinching.
Finally, Shirin squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth:
"Good! Very good!"
She took a sudden step forward, her voice tinged with icy rage: "Three days from now, in the dueling arena, Chloe Orost Dodor, I hope you... won't regret this!"
Before she finished speaking, she turned around abruptly, her dazzling golden hair drawing a resolute arc in the air. Without giving Chloe another glance, she left the scene without looking back as the crowd parted ways.