I Became a Veteran Heroine in a Harem Story

“Is this a dream?”

Having experienced what I had, I was no longer easily surprised by most things, and that was also true when experiencing what seemed like a lucid dream for the first time.

Though I recognized it was a dream, I looked around this mysterious space that continued without me waking up.

In this space filled with nothing but darkness, without a single point of light, somehow I could still see my body. Literally defying the laws of physics—something only possible in dreams.

But I instinctively felt a sense of rejection toward this phenomenon.

It was because I didn’t have good memories of such surreal places. Perhaps such a space appeared in my dream precisely because I had experienced such things before.

“This is not a dream.”

“…!”

But at that moment. Someone’s voice echoed from behind. Startled, I hurriedly turned around.

It was impossible not to be surprised by this.

“This can’t be.”

“Even with your past experiences, you say such things. There is truly nothing impossible in this universe.”

My voice trembled involuntarily. Looking at me, that ‘black mass’ just smirked and answered nonchalantly as if asking what was so strange.

“Is this part of the dream?”

“You’re free to think whatever you want. It’s not impossible.”

Its characteristically irritating way of speaking was familiar but still made me feel disgusted. That black mass whose true form I didn’t even know was the first to approach me after I possessed the character in the first work—my Constellation that I didn’t even know existed in the work.

My enemy, my benefactor.

And an existence I never wanted to see again.

“It was extremely difficult finding your missing soul. I barely caught a trail thanks to you using what you learned from me to the extreme. The guy whose face and body barely missed the average has become quite presentable this time.”

“What’s your purpose?”

“Nothing, I swear I haven’t been involved in anything. I don’t even have that ability right now.”

As if knowing my mind, it drew a line saying it had nothing to do with this. Since it wasn’t a being that would tell outright lies, even if it might talk nonsense or speak cryptically, this actually made me more confused.

“When a caged bird I was raising with affection, which gave me satisfactory pleasure, died, its soul didn’t return to the predetermined flow but disappeared somewhere, so I couldn’t help but come to see.”

“…Even just that makes me feel disgusted.”

“Don’t worry too much. This place is not governed by our game, so I won’t force anything upon you.”

No life-threatening missions, no sponsorships that had to be obtained at all costs. I flinched hearing that. After all, most of my trauma originated from those things.

“Then why appear again? Just hide and watch sneakily.”

“That wouldn’t be fun. Watching quietly isn’t bad, but the you I know performs better when given appropriate pressure.”

Extremely sadistic. True to an existence that wanders the universe seeking only its own fun, interest, and amusement.

“Shall I give you one gift?”

However, when I glared at it, it cleared its throat as if doing me a favor.

Simultaneously, my field of vision, which had been nothing but darkness, inverted. Now, instead of darkness, it was filled with bright white light.

“What is this?”

“The author decided to remake their work. The reason for the remake is simple. It didn’t perform well. Why didn’t it perform well? Perhaps you, a reader who dropped it in the middle and don’t know the ending, might know?”

It opened an internet window and showed it to me. Something I hadn’t seen in quite a while—what was appearing in that window was a novel being serialized in real-time.

“Much has already changed from the original. You know why? From what I see, the performance doesn’t look too bad now. With the author’s will, it could certainly go into paid serialization.”

“Why are you telling me this? Are you trying to say that even if you die and come back to life, you’re ultimately just someone’s pawn and toy? Playing into that strange system that imposes penalties on heroines?”

“Let me tell you one thing, that system is merely something this world, which didn’t want to disappear, created on its own… And don’t be too fixated on the past. Look at reality.”

When I showed a sharp reaction, it laughed. It was clearly mockery, making my brow twitch.

“Where exactly is anything forcing you now? Thinking that the situation forces you is the worst approach. You are no longer a toy thrown into amusement. Rather, the opposite. You’re a hero who can lead the work, a whole world, with initiative!”

It exaggerated with an over-the-top voice. And hearing those words, I closed my mouth.

“A heroine entangled with the protagonist, you can end this work as you wish or hard-carry it to raise its popularity. Answer me, are you really just a pawn being used?”

“I won’t take back those words. But it doesn’t change the fact that this situation itself is not what I want. I absolutely do not desire to compete with other heroines in a harem setting and flirt with some guy.”

“You’re incredibly arrogant. Do you want the entire world to adjust to you? If you’ve grasped the handle to cut, shouldn’t you at least cut something, regardless of what you choose to cut?”

It hit the mark. Indeed, for every give, there’s a take.

It was only natural that there would be a price for the opportunity of a second possession given to me. Whether this possession was something I wanted or not, that fact remained unchanged.

“If you’re so dissatisfied, then change it yourself. If you don’t like the harem setting, take the lead and twist the structure. You have both the right and the power to do so. Nothing else matters. Just satisfy the viewers.”

“If the writing fails to satisfy them and dies, won’t the author abandon this world?”

“Don’t misunderstand. They’re not Constellations obsessed with amusement and stimulation. If you don’t even have that much confidence, then you should conform to reality.”

An irrefutable fact. I sighed hearing those words.

* * *

‘Annoying bastard.’

I slowly opened my eyes, awakening from the dream. An unfamiliar bed, an unfamiliar ceiling. But its image was still flickering before my eyes.

Its words, saying it would help me for its own amusement based on our past connection, still echoed in my ears. Those words were certainly not lies. After all, it was a being that lived solely for its own entertainment.

“Hmm.”

I raised my hand, wrapped in bandages, and waved it in front of my eyes. The state of my body, as examined by my quickly returning senses, wasn’t too bad considering how much I had pushed myself.

Conserving my strength at the last moment had helped with the recovery.

Then I casually lifted the loose patient gown to examine my body. There were bandages on my cheeks and forehead, and it would be harder to find places on my body that weren’t wrapped in bandages.

Even understanding that it was the tradition here to apply highly absorbent medicinal ointment to bandages to treat internal injuries, it felt suffocatingly tight.

“The treatment is excessive.”

With a wry smile, I began by removing what was stuck to my face. A master who has mastered body strengthening through mana operation can enhance physical regeneration to the extreme.

This means wound recovery is incomparably faster and cleaner than for ordinary people. While it might be difficult to restore severed or lost organs, it was possible to regenerate deep wounds without leaving a single scar.

Thanks to this, my skin, without a single blemish, remained as it was before being injured.

“You’ve, you’ve awakened.”

That’s when someone opened the door and entered. She appeared to be around my age and was clearly a nurse assisting the doctor.

She was startled to see me sitting up, quickly put down what she was holding, and approached me.

“What day is it today?”

“Well, you’ve been lying down for two full days. It’s Tuesday morning now.”

Though it felt like just a moment, I had been lying down for quite a while. But it definitely wasn’t an injury that would keep me down for so long. This was clearly the aftermath of meeting that being.

“Just a moment! I’ll call the others!”

After checking my condition, she hurriedly left the room and ran somewhere. I just watched her go. It was a confirmed fact from the moment I lunged at the minotaur, but the situation had already left the hands of a mere student like me.

“Fortunately, it seems you’ve recovered completely without any issues. This is possible because of a Magic Knight’s body, blessed by mana and robust.”

The middle-aged doctor with a half-balding head, whom the nurse had brought, carefully took my arm to check my pulse, examined my eyes, and after checking my condition, declared there were no problems.

“Are you really alright? Is your memory intact?”

“Yes.”

However, the atmosphere was heavy. It was because of those who had come with the doctor.

The chancellor, who had come with his secretary, showed a peculiar expression at my statement that I was fine.

“Then do you have nothing particular to say?”

“…I won’t make excuses.”

I won’t avert my gaze from his looking down at me. It was something I had prepared for anyway. It was just revealed a bit earlier than my plan due to unexpected variables. Seeing my attitude, the chancellor twitched his mustache and beard as if his mouth was itching to speak.

“There’s a mountain of things I want to say and hear, but we must follow order. Let’s… have a detailed conversation after you return to the academy.”

After sighing, he took his entourage and left the room.

I had an intuition that some troublesome matters would arise, but given how things had turned out, it was something I had to bear.

“Um, er, someone from the Adenberg family has arrived.”

The main event was yet to come.

The nurse girl from earlier announced the visit of a new guest while trembling.