The world ended on a Tuesday.
Not with collapsing heavens or trumpets of divine judgment—
but with a single line of text
that should not have existed.
—WHOOM—
Lucien Valerian opened his eyes.
The same ceiling greeted him. Again.
Gold filigree spiraled across crimson silk, ornate to the point of arrogance. Above his bed, the obsidian crest of the Valerian Dynasty loomed like an unblinking god. Dragon's-blood incense drifted through the air—thick, metallic, suffocating.
Exactly the same as the last two times.
Lucien exhaled slowly and pushed himself upright.
Twenty-five years old.
Peak of the Heavenly Sovereign Realm.
Unrivaled talent.
Crown Prince of the Nine Continents.
And—
—destined to die in exactly 347 days.
The knowledge lodged itself in his mind like a shard of broken glass. Sharp. Persistent. Impossible to ignore.
This was his third time living this life.
The first time, he had been arrogant.
The second, cautious.
Both times, he had died the same way.
At the hands of the same man.
The Protagonist.
The one the heavens bent over backward to protect.
—DING—
A soft chime echoed not in the room, but in his soul.
A translucent blue screen unfolded before his eyes.
[Heavenly Mandate System Activated]
Host: Lucien Valerian
Current Role: Villainous Crown Prince
Plot Progress: Chapter 1 — The Prince's Arrogance
⚠ Warning: Deviation from script may trigger Heavenly Tribulation
Lucien stared.
In his first life, there had been no system.
In his second, it had appeared only after the Protagonist awakened his own.
But now—
Now it was here from the very beginning.
And something was wrong.
A thin fracture ran along the corner of the screen.
A crack.
Like shattered glass.
Lucien's pupils constricted.
Through that fracture, he saw something the system was not meant to display.
Not elegant runes.
Not divine script.
But messy, uneven handwriting.
fix later — make him less hateable?
The words flickered—
and vanished.
Lucien's heartbeat skipped.
This world…
was a story.
And the one writing it—
…was careless.
"Your Highness?"
The voice came from beyond the silk curtains.
Lucien dismissed the screen instantly, his expression smoothing into practiced calm.
"Enter."
—SHHHK—
The doors parted.
A woman stepped inside, draped in white robes that drank in the light. Long silver hair flowed like moonlit steel, and her crimson eyes—sharp, wary—locked onto him.
Elara Voss.
His personal guard.
Dragon-blooded knight.
Peerless spear wielder.
Unwavering—until she wasn't.
In both previous lives, she had betrayed him.
In both, she had driven her spear through his heart while whispering apologies she never meant to act on.
The system's crack flared again in his memory.
maybe give her a tragic backstory so readers don't hate her for the betrayal
Lucien almost laughed.
Elara knelt, precise and flawless.
"Your Highness. Morning court begins in one hour. The envoys from the Northern Tribes have arrived with their tribute."
Lucien studied her.
She was beautiful in the way ancient weapons were beautiful—
forged for one purpose.
In his second life, he had tried to win her loyalty early. Gifts. Authority. Even secrets of cultivation.
It hadn't mattered.
Because the script demanded her betrayal.
"Cancel my appearance at court."
Elara's head snapped up.
"…Your Highness?"
"I have matters to attend to."
Lucien rose from the bed.
—FWOOOM—
Imperial robes settled around him like living shadow.
"Send word that the Crown Prince is indisposed."
For a heartbeat, Elara froze.
This was wrong.
The Crown Prince was supposed to attend court.
Supposed to publicly humiliate the Northern Tribes' "hidden genius."
The humiliation that would ignite the Protagonist's rise.
"Your Highness," she said carefully, "the Emperor—"
"The Emperor is my father," Lucien interrupted.
His voice carried law.
"And I am the Crown Prince. My word is absolute."
Something flickered across her eyes.
Confusion.
Concern.
Then she bowed—deeper than before.
"As you command."
—SHHHK—
She left.
Silence reclaimed the chamber.
Lucien stood still.
Then—
he raised his hand.
The system screen reappeared.
The crack had widened.
Through it spilled more handwriting. More notes.
need to establish stakes early
maybe have him kill someone important?
no wait that makes him too evil
ugh this is hard
Lucien reached out.
His finger passed through the screen like water.
—KRRRR—
The system shuddered.
Golden threads erupted into existence, weaving themselves into the air around him.
The laws of the world.
[Heavenly Dao Law: The Strong Rule the Weak]
[Heavenly Dao Law: Fate Favors the Chosen]
[Heavenly Dao Law: The Villain Must Fall]
And tangled among them—
a foreign thread.
Thin. Frayed.
Barely holding together.
Author's Note: Everything should work out for the good guys eventually
Lucien grasped it.
—SILENCE—
The world froze.
Smoke halted mid-curl.
A bird outside the window hung suspended in the air.
Even Lucien's heartbeat stopped.
Only the threads moved—writhing, resisting.
Lucien pulled.
—RIP—
The thread came free.
Too easily.
It unraveled in his hand like cheap silk, dissolving into nothing.
New text erupted across the fractured screen.
[ERROR: Plot thread removed]
[Compensating...]
Host Lucien Valerian — Role Reassigned
New Role: ???
—BOOM—
Reality snapped back.
The bird flew on.
The incense burned.
A distant bell tolled.
Lucien looked at his hand.
The thread was gone—
but the knowledge remained.
He knew now.
How to touch the fabric of the world.
How to pull.
The system screen flickered violently. Cracks spread like a shattered mirror.
[Warning: Unscripted actions detected]
[Heavenly Tribulation Probability: 0%]
[Author Confusion Level: Rising]
Lucien smiled.
Not the arrogant sneer of a destined villain.
But the calm, dangerous smile of someone who finally understood the rules.
Somewhere beyond reality—
something stirred.
Confusion.
Panic.
But here, within the imperial palace of the Valerian Dynasty—
the Crown Prince who was meant to die in 347 days
began to laugh.
Quietly.
Because the story was flawed.
And this time—
he would write the ending himself.