Lucien Ashborne was supposed to be a nobody — an early-game villain who existed only to be crushed by the protagonist. After provoking the wrong person, he vanished from the story without even a dramatic death scene.

When a player named James dies and wakes up in Lucien’s body, he inherits every bit of the villain’s broken reputation and zero of his privileges. Bullied, scorned, and abandoned by his own noble family, Lucien now stands at the bottom of the academy hierarchy.

To make matters worse, the world he knew as a game has no guaranteed happy ending… and the protagonist’s party treats him like a criminal.

But James isn’t the Lucien they think he is.

With fragments of meta-knowledge, a half-broken system that barely works, and a determination to avoid becoming cannon fodder, he chooses a different path.

He doesn’t seek glory.
He just refuses to disappear.

This is the story of a former villain trying to rewrite his role — not as a hero, but as someone who survives on his own terms.

The thought bubbled up. If I had warned the Academy sooner? If I had ambushed Silas before the ritual started? Maybe this woman would be alive.


I stopped. I closed my eyes and crushed that thought instantly.


I shook my head, opening my eyes. The cold, pragmatic light returned to them.


'Self-doubt is for heroes. Guilt is for the weak.'


I was a villain. I was Lucien Ashborne.


I looked at the carnage and did the math.


In the original game, this event—the Day of Shattered Glass—resulted in the death of 80% of the attendees. Every noble in the VIP section died. The protagonist party was decimated mentally. The Empire plunged into chaos.


The VIPs were alive. My mother was alive. Ariana was alive. The Protagonists were injured but breathing.


The only casualties were commoners and low-ranking staff who didn't have protective artifacts or personal knights.


Chapter 81 - Aftermath