I Became the Narrow-Eyed Character in the Little Prince Game

A secret passage beneath the Academy.
Around it, remnants of the ancient era veiled the darkness.

The pitch-black depth, so profound it resembled the pre-dawn, remained invisible to ordinary eyes.
But for those who served twisted beings, it was as comfortable as home.
To them, the night was a time to vomit forth their seething desires.

Within the dense stillness, intruders were marching.
"Hm."
No.

To be exact—they had been marching.
Splish—
A foot pressed down softly, sending ripples through a pool of blood.

No—was it even right to call it merely a "pool"?
The basement floor stretched out like an ocean.
"Khak..."

"Ugh, urk..."
"...grgh, ugh."
Groans echoed from every direction.

Whether it was fortunate or unfortunate—
Those who’d survived with just their limbs blown off were still squirming with their pitiful bodies.
With every twitch, the red pond rippled more and more violently.

But that, too, lasted only a moment.
Shlick—
From somewhere, a silver line carved the air with a glimmering trace.
A single clean stroke slit the necks of the intruders.

And in unison, the decapitated heads floated upward.
The blood spraying like a fountain and the rain-like scene that followed—paradoxically, it was beautiful.
The overwhelming stench of blood, the entrails scattered about, and the blood-red mirror spread across the floor—

All of it was intoxicating.
"This isn't even enough to count as a warm-up."
Amid the carnage—

At the center stood none other than a man.
He stood alone in the sea of blood.
And yet, not a single speck had touched his sleeves.

With nothing but the red of his hair, he rotated his shoulders as though feeling stiff.
An endlessly nonchalant reaction.
"What’s the point of numbers? They’re all just hollow scarecrows."

Three thousand.
That was how many intruders had planned to attack the Academy today.
Including the Chimeras they unleashed, the total force must have easily exceeded ten thousand.

A gap in power so vast it couldn’t be measured.
And yet—
"I expected at least one Apostle to show up."

The man had stopped them.
Alone. Without a scratch. In an instant.
It felt like something out of a dream.

Even in the abyss where the night had sunk, his sword had shone.
The starlight blazed brilliantly.
"Tsk... This was supposed to be my debut battle after six years."

It was nothing short of a massacre.
Yet the man merely clicked his tongue, as if disappointed.
His ease was overwhelming, perhaps because it was so effortless.

The fox who had been watching silently held her breath.
‘...So this is the Crimson Sword Saint.’
The Crimson Sword Saint.

A figure said to have reached the highest night sky in all of human history.
Though he had retired and rust had begun to show with time, that starlight hadn’t faded.
Irene replayed the moment of that dazzling strike.

The flash still hadn’t left her vision.
"...Amazing."
"Hm?"

Perhaps he heard her small muttering.
Kyle let out a hearty laugh.
That same careless, slightly vulgar laugh as always.

"Ahaha! You’re making me blush!"
"You say that, but you sure didn’t hold back."
"This is nothing compared to the Commander, though."

"That much is true."
Light banter passed between them.
But perhaps because of the corpses strewn around them—

The mood, though casual, felt bizarrely out of place.
The red-haired man gave a faint smile.
"And now, you can do it too, can’t you?"

"...."
"If my instincts aren’t wrong, it looked like you reached the stars too."
"It just... kind of happened. Eighty percent of it was thanks to that person’s help, though."

"Regardless of what triggered it."
Kyle shrugged.
Then sheathed the sword he had swung.

At some point, the dazzling starlight had vanished.
"You’ve reached the night sky too."
"...The night sky, huh."

"You’ll probably surpass me soon."
"That sounds absurd."
"Well, you're still inexperienced. But I can feel it. Your star carries a quiet tide."

"...."
"At first, I was confused. I didn’t understand why the Commander took in someone so ordinary. But now I get it. He saw your potential."
Potential.

The word echoed within the fox.
Kyle gave Irene’s shoulder a light pat.
"So chin up."

"..."
"He needs your light."
After that—

The man turned away without hesitation.
His footsteps of the old era tread over blood and corpses as he left.
And the new era watched his retreating figure for just a moment.

'Someday.'
The fox made a vow.
Someday, she too would reach that high—no, even higher.

She would use that radiant starlight to cleanse the world’s karma.
And proudly stand by the boy’s side.
Step—

The girl moved forward.
In her clenched fist, a white flame flickered faintly.
***

The cultists had been utterly annihilated.
In the end, their assault on the Academy amounted to nothing.
A precisely dropped tactical nuke had proven its destructive power, wiping out the designated threat class.

I was observing the situation through a crystal orb.
The flaring starlight—it was truly beautiful.
"Commander."

"Ah."
Just as I was briefly entranced—
A soft voice called out to me.

Standing beside me was a silver-haired girl bathed in moonlight.
The one left behind to oversee cleanup was the vice-commander.
While I’d been lost in thought, it seemed the situation here had wrapped up as well.

"It’s over. I made sure there’ll be no loose ends."
"Another job well done, Miss Neria."
"I simply followed your will."

"You’re always so dependable."
Srrk—
I gently reached out and stroked her head.

Silken strands brushed my fingertips.
And immediately, her pale face flushed red.
So different from her usual stiff demeanor—at moments like this, she was unmistakably still a girl.

I often poked her cheek on purpose, just to tease her.
In the end, our vice-commander always sank without a fight.
"C-Com… Commander…"

"Hm?"
"In this state, I… I simply c-can’t deliver a report…"
"Miss Neria, I must say—your clumsiness is quite charming. It makes you all the more fun to toy with."

"Th-That’s far too generous…"
"Now then, shall I hear your report?"
Returning to a businesslike tone, Neria calmly delivered her briefing.

Most of the knights under the family’s banner had been neutralized.
In particular, those who had operated directly under the head—the ones with the name “Awl” or something—had all been executed.
From what I heard, they carried out all sorts of vile deeds under Deron’s orders.

The elders and close aides who had contributed to the betrayal—all of them had their heads ❖ Nоvеl𝚒ght ❖ (Exclusive on Nоvеl𝚒ght) cut off.
The only ones spared were those who had never once turned their backs on the name of Vanity.
Even then, they were few enough to count on one hand.

In short—
‘It’s over.’
The Vanity family had fallen.

A pillar that upheld the Empire.
The sentinels of the blue winter.
A lineage second in nobility only to the imperial family.

That proud legacy had, at last, reached its final chapter.
As the one who delivered the finishing blow, I looked down at the ink spreading across my palm.
Such was the fleeting nature of collapse.

Fwwwhhh—
The faint scent of winter drifted in.
I looked around at the still-sleeping world cast in pre-dawn quiet.

The untouched snowfield flowed gently in the soft breeze.
What remained of today, still unsleeping, drifted toward a tomorrow that would never come.
I mulled over the lingering bitterness that bubbled up for no reason.

‘Emilia.’
Naturally, my eyes came to rest on the girl standing ahead.
A girl with blue hair that matched the winter.

I held my breath for a moment.
"...."
She stood silently, looking down at her feet.

What lay at her feet was a frozen hunk of meat.
None other than her uncle.
‘I see.’

I quietly stepped back.
The look in the peacock’s eyes, clouded by vanity, seemed ready to crumble at any moment.
But that sorrow was not something I could share with her.

Nor should I.
I could only bear witness.
‘Deron Vanity.’

The villainess’s uncle.
Though he had betrayed them in the end, once, he had been a beloved family member.
If she felt nothing now, it would’ve been a shallow lie.

The girl bit down on her lip.
—Deron Vanity was a fine pawn.
—We did tell you, didn’t we? Everything was orchestrated on our side.

They had learned that behind his betrayal was the cult.
Maybe there could’ve been another path for her uncle.
Maybe even the twins could have had another way.

The bitterness that follows the end of tragedy always gnaws at the heart.
The idle word “maybe” stabs at your chest like a thorn.
Emilia’s shoulders trembled slightly.

"Uncle… no—Deron Vanity."
But the girl didn’t collapse.
She had endured much. Faced countless defeats.

Her matured reason accepted the bitterness.
Her trembling voice rang with composed clarity.
"Your sins will be remembered by history."

Emilia knew.
Even if the cult had led him into corruption, the things that happened afterward were undeniably Deron’s doing.
He purged those loyal to the family, bound the twins so they couldn’t escape.

And in the end, with the greed to become emperor, he tried to overthrow the Empire.
She had no interest in attaching any maudlin narrative to such a chain of cause and effect.
"The pride you abandoned has stained us all."

The breath went out.
The girl now faced the adult she had once feared.
Not as a child—but as an adult herself.

Her long breath carried no tremble.
"Those sins will be borne by the ones left behind. The name of Vanity will no longer be honorable, and will be remembered with the mark of betrayal. No glory remains in this bloodline."
And yet—

"I will still carry that name."
A name that no longer shone.
Nothing more than the mark of a sinner.

Even so, the girl said she would bear it.
Not for the sake of the late duke and duchess.
Not for the traitors who fell to the cult’s schemes.

Solely for herself.
"Because it is my pride."
A forgotten essence.

The old alias of Vanity—the value she once yearned for.
Though its former glory may fade, the will of those before would not be severed.
Will was never about bloodlines or honor, but something passed from person to person.

Even amid shattered honor, the villainess stood tall.
And above all, she had not lost her pride.
"I will not be like you."

One final declaration, pushed from her throat.
Whether emotion had swelled or not, her voice was tight.
But the resolute look in her eyes remained unshaken.

Beyond the half-open window, a breeze swept through.
Fwwwhhh—
The name now consigned to a page of history.

The peacock stood atop it.
With the swirling winter, and the pride she reaffirmed one last time.
She was no longer the whiny girl who envied others at the Academy.

She had become an adult.
"Lady Emilia."
I stepped softly beside her.

And as the tension melted from her, Emilia leaned gently against me.
I embraced her slender body with open arms.
A quiet whisper at her ear.

"You’ve done well."
"...."
The peacock said nothing and buried her face.

I held her, warm, and patted her delicate back.
Just then, dawn broke through the window—signaling the end.
We stood there together for a long while, in a morning that would soon disappear.

[EP31. Vanity]
—The Betrayed Pride, and the Light That Does Not Fade—
And with that—
The episode came to a close.