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.

I felt a burning gaze from across the table.


Alicia was sitting there, gripping her fork and knife vertically like dual-wielded daggers. Her red eyes were locked onto the serving platter in Lily's hands with the intensity of a starving direwolf. If she had a tail, the wind pressure from its wagging would have shattered the windows.


I could almost hear a phantom [Woof!] echoing in the air.


"Alicia," I sighed, picking up my napkin. "Don't stare so hard. You'll melt the cheese with your eyes."


"I am not staring, Boss," she said, drool practically forming at the corner of her mouth. "I am strategically analyzing the nutritional distribution and thermal decay of the protein."


Lily laughed, a bright sound that filled the room, and placed a massive plate in front of the crimson-eyed maid.


"Here is your portion, Alicia. Extra meat, just like you asked."


Chapter 124 - I don't like being spied on