The Genius and Calamity of the Villainous Noble: A Brilliant Prodigy Unaware of Their Reincarnation as the Game's Antagonist Defies the Scenario and Dominates with Talent and Hard Work - Chapter 2.1

“Uuuuuuugh…”

I sat alone in the Reinhardt Ducal Estate, drowning my sorrows in alcohol as I stared blankly into space.

“MARINAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!”

Tears streamed down my face as I sobbed over the loss of Marina, my fiancée, who had always been by my side.

“Who the hell said reincarnation messes up your emotions and makes you unable to feel sadness or anger? That’s complete nonsense—I feel them just fine!”

After being reincarnated into this world, my mindset had changed drastically from my past life.

Back then, no matter how much future knowledge I had, I wasn’t nearly intelligent enough to control the world’s financial systems. Nor did I possess any combat talent.

Just the sight of a dead body would have made me vomit.

And yet…

In this life, I felt as though I could claim everything the world had to offer. I had become a genius. Seeing corpses didn’t faze me. I could kill without hesitation.

Because of this, I had convinced myself that reincarnation had warped me—that it had stripped me of my ability to grieve, to feel shock, to be moved by anything.

“…Damn it all.”

If I were still capable of sadness, then surely the fact that I could never see my parents or friends from my past life again should have devastated me. It should have left me broken.

And yet, I felt nothing.

Not sadness. Not longing.

Nothing at all.

That’s why I had always believed that I was incapable of mourning—

That my past life had been completely severed, my emotions manipulated by someone beyond my understanding.

“And yet… here I am, grieving. I can cry. Why am I crying? What the hell is this? This is ridiculous. Absolute bullshit…”

I muttered bitterly to myself.

“And what the hell is a Demon King, anyway? That’s supposed to be nothing more than a fairy tale. Sure, there have been rumors about a Demon King’s emergence, but who actually believes that kind of thing?”

The Demon King—

A ruler who commands the demons, a race that thrives in lands so inhospitable that no human could ever survive there.

A figure from legends, said to have once led an invasion against humanity.

And yet, somehow, that very being exists—and is my fiancée.

It makes no sense. I can’t accept it.

“Ugh… Marina… Aah… Should I just exterminate all the demons and take Marina for myself, lock her away where no one can touch her?”

…That actually doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

I once dreamed of world domination as a child, but now? I don’t particularly feel like going through with it.

Yeah… this might be a better plan.

“Lord Ark.”

Just as I was contemplating something truly dangerous, a voice interrupted my thoughts—it was the butler of House Reinhardt.

“…Huh?”

“The head of the Lisa Trading Company has arrived.”

“Mm. Understood. I’ll be there shortly.”

I set the bottle of alcohol down on the table and slowly rose to my feet.