I'm just gonna post a spoiler that I wrote starting from chapter 63 all the way to the end. Chapter 63 starts from what you see in ch 1 of the manhwa, with Richard laying in Caelius' bed and making him drink the love potion. I just finished the novel last night, so I'm trying to write from what I recall.
Spoiler: Chapter 63 to ending of novel First thing, first, this is actually not Richard's 48th regression. It's closer to his 80th, but there is a reason he doesn't remember the 48-79th regression.
And as other pointed out, the novel is not comedy. It's kinda dark.
Anyway, in the present "48th" regression, Richard successfully gets himself engaged to the Crown Prince. The CP absolutely "abhors" the idea and seems to "hate" Richard for forcing him into the engagement (there is a reason I put those words in quotation marks. I will get back to that). Richard has the great idea to trick the CP into taking responsibility by making him drink a Love Potion. The way the Love Potion works is that once the person drinks they, they immediately fall asleep and wake up thinking they slept with the person they last saw (around chapter 63 of the novel). Richard thinks it's a fool poof plan. The first scene we see in chapter 1 of the manhwa is from this. Richard is dressed provocatively and laying in the CP's bed and offers him to drink the glass of wine spiked with love potion. The CP drinks it, and Richard thinks the CP is going to fall asleep soon. His plan will be a success. However, his plan backfire. Instead of falling asleep like he's supposed to, the love potion ends up acting like an aphrodisiac. The Cp pushes him down into the bed, kissing him fervently, begging Richard to not leave him, to not abandon him. He's touches and kisses Richard like a man desperate for water. The aloofness coldness the CP tends to showRichard is gone, replaced by a man desperate for him. Instead of tricking the CP into thinking they slept together, it ends up being real. The CP spends all night having sex with Richard. The noise they made throughout the night permeated all out the palace. Everyone in the palace heard their loud lovemaking.
After the first night, Richard avoids the CP. He can't believe he actually slept with him! He also doesn't understand why the potion didn't work the way it was supposed to! So he confronts the seller. The seller then laughed and said the potion did work. The Love Potion works in two ways. If the recipient has no feelings for the person, it will make them fall asleep and think they slept with them. However, if the recipient DOES have feelings, it will work as an aphrodisiac. Richard pauses and is flabbergasted. What is he saying? Is he saying Caelius has feelings for him? There is no way! Caelius hates him! They're love rivals. They despise each other! That can't be possible!
Anyway, after this scene, the next major scene is the hunting event. At the hunting event, the Emperor forces them to be in the same team. Before the hunt, as a form of courtship, people can give each other handkerchief. Interestingly enough, Richard receives one from the villanness. She practically forces it onto him. She, herself, receives one from the heroine. While Richard is out in the forest with the CP, hunting down monsters, he starts to feel lethargic. His starts to feel fuzzy, his reaction time slowing down. At one point, they are fighting 5 monsters and Richard completely mistimes his swing and ends up getting injured. The monster aims for him, but the CP steps in front and kills the monster. Richard doesn't have time to wonder though, because then arrows come flying out. Assassins. After a few misses, Richard realizes the assassins are after him, not the CP. Richard thinks for a second the CP can abandon him. If the CP leaves him to die by the assassins' hands, he'll be free of him. No more engagement, no more harassment from him. However, to his surprise, the CP stands firmly in front of him, protecting him fiercely. He cuts down every assassin. And when 3 arrows are aimed at Richard's head, Richard think he's done for, but the CP resolutely cuts all of them down. He doesn't let them touch a single hair of Richard's. Richard is absolutely dumbfounded. He doesn't understand why the CP would go so far to protect him. (Honestly, at this point, Richard has an inkling of why, but he refuses to delve deeper. He is in deep denial. But also, at this point, the readers don't see the CP's POV. So we don't really understand it either). The one the poisoned Richard through the handkerchief is the villainness. She is also the one that sent the assassins.
Later, the two end up winning the hunting competition. Each of them get an imperial Wish Fulfillment request. CP wishes to end the engagement and Richard wishes to keep the engagement (to keep the CP away from Daphne). Seeing as their wishes cancel each other's out, Richard comes up with a solution. He asks the Emperor to transfer their wish to Daphne. After a second of hesitation, the CP agrees too, so the Emperor does just that. Daphne, believe Richard is in love with the CP, wants to help Richard fulfill his wish. So she wishes that Richard and the CP being to share the same bedroom, and that they will have a passionate night together. That exact night, Richard is freshened up by the maids and thrown into the CP's room lol. Much to Richard's horror, the CP doesn't seem to mind the situation as much as he does. After tossing Richard into bed, he places a kiss on Richard's collarbone...and then rolls over to his side of the bed. Richard is both relieved that was all that happened, but is also confused. The CP explains the hickey on his neck should be enough proof of their passionate night. Richard feels humiliated but can't argue back, so the two begin spending their nights together sleeping on the same bed, but never talking.
The next major scene is the execution of Duke Cheska. After he GIVES the body of the empress to Richard, and Richard presents the body to the emperor, the emperor has the duke imprisoned and tortured. On the day he is to be executed, the duke asks the emperor can he say one last thing? The emperor grants it. So, under the eyes of the nobility on the execution grounds, the duke confesses he did all he did, not because he loved the empress. It's because he loves the emperor. We, the readers, never got to see the emperor's reaction because right after the confession, an arrow comes out of nowhere and embeds itself into the emperor's throat. He dies almost instantly. And at that moment, black smoke envelops the duke and he vanishes.
Richard panics at the emperor's death. Not because he actually cared for the emperor. It's because without the emperor enforcing the engagement, the CP will annul it. Then all his effort will be for naught! Since Richard is next in line for the throne and will be the next emperor, there is no one above him that can force him to continue the engagement or marry him. To confirm if the CP really wants to end their engagement, Richard asks for a private audience with the CP, which the CP grants. The CP confirms that yes, he will end the engagement. After all he doesn't love Richard, and Richard is the one that forced the engagement on him. Their conversation is heard by 4 unscrupulous noblemen. Once the CP leaves, they corner Richard and drag him to an abandoned warehouse where they plan to grape and gb him. Richard thought he could handle it, but just as they start tearing at his clothes, he beings to panic and wishes desperately for someone to save it. And that is when the CP kicks the door open and glares at the 4 men. The noblemen drops to their knees when they feel absolute RAGE radiating off the CP. The CP says not a word to any of those noblemen. Instead, he goes straight to Richard and hauls him up and straight to the medical room. He personally bandages and applies ointment to Richard. Richard asks why did the CP save him? Meanwhile, the CP ask how did this situation happen? Richard said the noblemen heard that the engagement was forced and will be annulled, so they used that to threaten him. They brought up to the warehouse to grape him. Richard can feel the anger coming off the CP again, so he asks his question again. Why did the CP save him? After a moment of pause, the CP says Richard is currently still his fiance. He can't have Richard's reputation get tarnished, or it will affect the imperial family's prestige. However, even Richard know that's a flimsy excuse. There is no reason for the CP to feel so angry or enraged on his behalf if it was simply because of family honor and prestige. But although there is doubt in Richard's mind about the real reason, Richard doesn't push further.
Later, desperate to stop the CP from annulling their engagement, Richard tries to get the CP drunk. He thought if he can get the CP drunk, he can wheedle some answers out of him. What he didn't anticipate is that the CP is even a stronger drinker than he is. Richard ends up passing out before the CP. He ends up waking up in the middle of the night though and goes to find the CP. He searches all over the palace for him. In the end, the only place he hasn't searched was the warehouse where he almost got assaulted. As Richard approaches...he starts to smell something metallic. Blood. As he gets closer, he starts to smell alcohol too. He cracks open the warehouse the door and find 4 dead bodies. The 4 noblemen with every bone in the bodies broken. The arms and legs bones jutted out in every angle. Their neck slit. Sitting on atop the pile of bodies was the CP with a bottle of wine in his hand. The CP was drunk. The moment he sees Richard, the aloofness in his eyes disappear. In its place was warmth and tenderness. He calls out Richard's name affectionately. Richard has seen this side of the CP before. The last time he drank the love potion. While thrown off by this unfamiliar CP, Richard takes the risk that the CP seems to be warmer towards him and begins to ask him questions that the sober CP would never answer. The CP confesses that he loves him. Richard's mind reels. He can't believe that. Pushing through his shock, he asks then does that mean the CP won't end their engagement? The CP sadly shakes his head, saying he has to end their engagement. Richard cries out why?! The CP says it's for his own safety. He can't keep Richard by his side if he wants to stay safe. Richard says he doesn't understand! And that's when the CP drops a bombshell. The CP knows he's a regressor. What? Richard's mind screeches to a stop. The CP knows? How? Starting from when? What does that mean? But before Richard can truly process what the CP said, the CP approaches and kisses him. It's not a tepid or tame kiss. It's an all consuming, devouring kiss. The CP has Richard pressed against the wall. Richard sorta resists, but his protests aren't that convincing. The CP ends up on his knees and eats Richard out to prep him. They later have wall sex lol. Richard ends up passing out from the intense sex and from coming multiple times. (I should mention at this point that any time they do it, afterwards the CP will personally help Richard wash).
A few other things happen, but the most important thing is that Richard ends up teaming up with Prince Talenius, the Emperor's nephew. He wants to take the throne from Caelius. He tells Richard if Richard helps him become the emperor, he will personally grant Richard's marriage to Caelius. He signs a magical contract to seal the deal. So with that, Richard joins the rebellion. Under the mastermind behind Prince Taelnius, the person known as the Butterfly Mask, Richard begins assassinating everyone of Caelius' backers. Later, Richard is caught by Caelius and imprisoned. However, it's not a dank cell. It's a pretty nice room with no window. Caelius never mistreats him. In fact, he brings hearty and scrumptious meals for Richard every time. The only thing is, he keeps Richard's hands tied. He intends to keep Richard locked up until, "It's all over." At one point Richard yells at the CP to tell him what's going on. He knows something but won't tell him. The CP tells him it's better for him to not know. Richard mocks him and says after forcing himself on him (twice at that), he has the right to know. The CP stays silent before saying it's for his own good to not know.
Even in the novel it's an abrupt shift, but later the scene shifts to the CP standing at the top of the tower as his army face the rebelling army. The CP thinks to himself as long Richard never finds out, then this ending was worth it.
Later, we shift back to Richard. He's able to free himself. He sees the capital is war torn. But something is weird. The corpses on the street are indiscriminate. It's not just soldiers, but civilians. Something feels off. Something's wrong. He approaches the palace, and even there, it's dead silent. He gets closer to the banquet hall, finding all the aristocrats dead. Then as he gets closer, he finds the CP, lying bloodied on the ground with a sword aimed at his throat. When the CP sees him, with the last of his strength, he begs for Richard to run away. As he finishes his last word, the sword plunges into him and kills the CP. When Richard looks up at the perpetrator, it is the Butterfly Mask, the mastermind behind Prince Taelinius. Richard asks why. The Butterfly Mask person laughs and says she is feeling a bit generous. She guesses at this point Richard deserves to know. She removes her mask.
It's Daphne.
Richard's world completely falls apart. How? Why? This is a lie. It can't be Daphne. It makes no sense. She is the most gentle, good-hearted person he knows. She is his world. His sun. She CAN'T be doing this.
Daphne approaches him with a dagger and says it's his turn to die now. Richard asks he again why? Daphne says she is trying to reach the ending. And she has to kill him to reach it. Does he hate her now? Before Richard can answer, she plunges the dagger into his heart mercilessly. And Richard dies.
Now, we rewind back to the beginning. All the way back to the beginning. Almost thousands upon thousand of regressions ago.
Daphne is not the original female lead. The one inhabiting her body during all these regressions is actually a transmigrator from Korea. When she first transmigrated into the book, she wanted to avoid the original storyline since it had her committing suicide. So she avoided the original characters, moved to the countryside to live a nice and quiet life. However, she ends up dying a month after the "story ends" and regressed back to the start of the novel. Seeing that avoiding the storyline didn't work, she tried to follow the original storyline. However, while she ends up marrying Caelius, she also befriended the villainness during her second regression too. In the end, she ends up dying AGAIN. So this time, she thought, she will follow the storyline to the T. But she ends up messing up a tiny bit. Surely in her 4th regression, she will make no flaws right? She will follow the story absolutely without a single flaw. But even as she followed the story, because she is not the original Daphne, but an intruder, she can't naturally progress the story. The story will ALWAYS regress once she marries Caelius. No exceptions. After that, she tried just killing herself immediately. And so she did that for about 20 regressions. After that, she went a little crazy and thought maybe there are other ways to find an ending to stop all these regressions? So she began experimenting. She began by killing each character one by one to see if that will bring about the end. She killed Richard, the villainess, the emperor, the duke, etc. (at one point, she even tried to hook the CP and Richard up). None of it worked.
During one of her regressions in which she planned to kill the CP, she ended up telling the CP the truth of the world. It was during the wedding day. The CP thought it would be the most happiest day of his life. He got to marry the woman of his dreams. His soulmate. To only end up with a knife is his heart. The next moment, he woke up in his office. He thought he died, but he's back in the past? He regressed? The CP immediately goes to look for Daphne. Seeing the CP's eyes, Daphne realizes the CP also regressed. She happily claps her hands and basically says yay, she has herself a little helper! Since they both regressed, then it's clear killing him doesn't get them an ending. This time she's going to try for the emperor! The CP immediately tries to oppose her. Even if he and his father aren't close, he is still his father. But as soon as the CP opposed her, Daphne uses her immense black magic to subjugate the CP. She says if he won't help her, then she won't let him get in her way. Without even being able to struggle, she obliterates the CP from existence. The next time the CP regresses, he decides since he can't oppose her...then he'll just watch from the sidelines. And so that's what the CP does. For hundreds and hundreds of regressions. Sometimes, he'll even act out the original storyline with Daphne. During his first few regressions, he had some hope that this was just some nightmare. That HIS Daphne is still in the body somehow. That he can get her back. Maybe he can find a way to exorcise whatever it was that was possessing her body. But as the regressions continued, and seeing Daphne descend further into madness and her apathetic cruelty, the CP finally accepted the woman he loved is dead. She's never coming back. The chance to get his Daphne back was lost thousands of regression ago. There is no a trace of her left. He had no idea how long these regressions would continue either.
Then during one of their many, many regressions, Daphne spilled the beans about the truth of this world to Richard too. Starting from then, Richard began acting out of script. Although the two weren't close, they weren't enemies either. However, after Richard thought the cause of Daphne's suicide was bc of the CP, he acted hostile towards the CP. The CP was a little flabbergasted, but in a way, he also began to admire Richard. Prior to Richard's regression, Daphne just sorta toyed with Richard. She confessed to the CP, saying see, that's the role of the sub male lead. I am his sun. No matter what I do, no matter how many times I reject him, he will love only me. The CP felt pity for Richard. To love such a woman, not knowing the real Daphne is long gone. And as Richard (and they) regressed, he watched Richard try everything to keep Daphne away from him (the CP). From confessing to Daphne first, to stealing all his moments with Daphne, to introducing Daphne to other men. Richard was the image of devotion and persistence. Then, finally. Richard intruded into his office and declared loudly, "I love you, your Highness." The CP stared at him, absolutely dumbfounded. He can't believe Richard was THAT desperate to "save" Daphne from that, that he would resort to such a cockamamie idea as seducing him. Richard was brazen and blunt. Seeing him act so absurd, the CP burst out laughing. And that was when the CP realized, this was the first time since he began regressing that he's sincerely laughed. The world had become so bleak and wearisome, but Richard with his antics, brought some life and fun back into his world. And so Richard's seduction tactics began with full force. He flirt with the CP every chance he'd get. He was forceful, blunt, and shameless. The CP resisted as much as he could. He can't fall for Richard. There's no way he would! Richard is doing this for Daphne. He's not really in love with him. It would be stupid of him to fall for Richard. However, every time he's with Richard, his heart sped up. When they touched, his skin warmed. Just being near him made his heart flutter. Caelius could feel himself falling, but he kept denying it.
I'm just gonna post a spoiler that I wrote starting from chapter 63 all the way to the end. Chapter 63 starts from what you see in ch 1 of the manhwa, with Richard laying in Caelius' bed and making him drink the love potion. I just finished the novel last night, so I'm trying to write from what I recall.
Spoiler: Chapter 63 to ending of novel
First thing, first, this is actually not Richard's 48th regression. It's closer to his 80th, but there is a reason he doesn't remember the 48-79th regression.
And as other pointed out, the novel is not comedy. It's kinda dark.
Anyway, in the present "48th" regression, Richard successfully gets himself engaged to the Crown Prince. The CP absolutely "abhors" the idea and seems to "hate" Richard for forcing him into the engagement (there is a reason I put those words in quotation marks. I will get back to that). Richard has the great idea to trick the CP into taking responsibility by making him drink a Love Potion. The way the Love Potion works is that once the person drinks they, they immediately fall asleep and wake up thinking they slept with the person they last saw (around chapter 63 of the novel). Richard thinks it's a fool poof plan. The first scene we see in chapter 1 of the manhwa is from this. Richard is dressed provocatively and laying in the CP's bed and offers him to drink the glass of wine spiked with love potion. The CP drinks it, and Richard thinks the CP is going to fall asleep soon. His plan will be a success. However, his plan backfire. Instead of falling asleep like he's supposed to, the love potion ends up acting like an aphrodisiac. The Cp pushes him down into the bed, kissing him fervently, begging Richard to not leave him, to not abandon him. He's touches and kisses Richard like a man desperate for water. The aloofness coldness the CP tends to showRichard is gone, replaced by a man desperate for him. Instead of tricking the CP into thinking they slept together, it ends up being real. The CP spends all night having sex with Richard. The noise they made throughout the night permeated all out the palace. Everyone in the palace heard their loud lovemaking.
After the first night, Richard avoids the CP. He can't believe he actually slept with him! He also doesn't understand why the potion didn't work the way it was supposed to! So he confronts the seller. The seller then laughed and said the potion did work. The Love Potion works in two ways. If the recipient has no feelings for the person, it will make them fall asleep and think they slept with them. However, if the recipient DOES have feelings, it will work as an aphrodisiac. Richard pauses and is flabbergasted. What is he saying? Is he saying Caelius has feelings for him? There is no way! Caelius hates him! They're love rivals. They despise each other! That can't be possible!
Anyway, after this scene, the next major scene is the hunting event. At the hunting event, the Emperor forces them to be in the same team. Before the hunt, as a form of courtship, people can give each other handkerchief. Interestingly enough, Richard receives one from the villanness. She practically forces it onto him. She, herself, receives one from the heroine. While Richard is out in the forest with the CP, hunting down monsters, he starts to feel lethargic. His starts to feel fuzzy, his reaction time slowing down. At one point, they are fighting 5 monsters and Richard completely mistimes his swing and ends up getting injured. The monster aims for him, but the CP steps in front and kills the monster. Richard doesn't have time to wonder though, because then arrows come flying out. Assassins. After a few misses, Richard realizes the assassins are after him, not the CP. Richard thinks for a second the CP can abandon him. If the CP leaves him to die by the assassins' hands, he'll be free of him. No more engagement, no more harassment from him. However, to his surprise, the CP stands firmly in front of him, protecting him fiercely. He cuts down every assassin. And when 3 arrows are aimed at Richard's head, Richard think he's done for, but the CP resolutely cuts all of them down. He doesn't let them touch a single hair of Richard's. Richard is absolutely dumbfounded. He doesn't understand why the CP would go so far to protect him. (Honestly, at this point, Richard has an inkling of why, but he refuses to delve deeper. He is in deep denial. But also, at this point, the readers don't see the CP's POV. So we don't really understand it either). The one the poisoned Richard through the handkerchief is the villainness. She is also the one that sent the assassins.
Later, the two end up winning the hunting competition. Each of them get an imperial Wish Fulfillment request. CP wishes to end the engagement and Richard wishes to keep the engagement (to keep the CP away from Daphne). Seeing as their wishes cancel each other's out, Richard comes up with a solution. He asks the Emperor to transfer their wish to Daphne. After a second of hesitation, the CP agrees too, so the Emperor does just that. Daphne, believe Richard is in love with the CP, wants to help Richard fulfill his wish. So she wishes that Richard and the CP being to share the same bedroom, and that they will have a passionate night together. That exact night, Richard is freshened up by the maids and thrown into the CP's room lol. Much to Richard's horror, the CP doesn't seem to mind the situation as much as he does. After tossing Richard into bed, he places a kiss on Richard's collarbone...and then rolls over to his side of the bed. Richard is both relieved that was all that happened, but is also confused. The CP explains the hickey on his neck should be enough proof of their passionate night. Richard feels humiliated but can't argue back, so the two begin spending their nights together sleeping on the same bed, but never talking.
The next major scene is the execution of Duke Cheska. After he GIVES the body of the empress to Richard, and Richard presents the body to the emperor, the emperor has the duke imprisoned and tortured. On the day he is to be executed, the duke asks the emperor can he say one last thing? The emperor grants it. So, under the eyes of the nobility on the execution grounds, the duke confesses he did all he did, not because he loved the empress. It's because he loves the emperor. We, the readers, never got to see the emperor's reaction because right after the confession, an arrow comes out of nowhere and embeds itself into the emperor's throat. He dies almost instantly. And at that moment, black smoke envelops the duke and he vanishes.
Richard panics at the emperor's death. Not because he actually cared for the emperor. It's because without the emperor enforcing the engagement, the CP will annul it. Then all his effort will be for naught! Since Richard is next in line for the throne and will be the next emperor, there is no one above him that can force him to continue the engagement or marry him. To confirm if the CP really wants to end their engagement, Richard asks for a private audience with the CP, which the CP grants. The CP confirms that yes, he will end the engagement. After all he doesn't love Richard, and Richard is the one that forced the engagement on him. Their conversation is heard by 4 unscrupulous noblemen. Once the CP leaves, they corner Richard and drag him to an abandoned warehouse where they plan to grape and gb him. Richard thought he could handle it, but just as they start tearing at his clothes, he beings to panic and wishes desperately for someone to save it. And that is when the CP kicks the door open and glares at the 4 men. The noblemen drops to their knees when they feel absolute RAGE radiating off the CP. The CP says not a word to any of those noblemen. Instead, he goes straight to Richard and hauls him up and straight to the medical room. He personally bandages and applies ointment to Richard. Richard asks why did the CP save him? Meanwhile, the CP ask how did this situation happen? Richard said the noblemen heard that the engagement was forced and will be annulled, so they used that to threaten him. They brought up to the warehouse to grape him. Richard can feel the anger coming off the CP again, so he asks his question again. Why did the CP save him? After a moment of pause, the CP says Richard is currently still his fiance. He can't have Richard's reputation get tarnished, or it will affect the imperial family's prestige. However, even Richard know that's a flimsy excuse. There is no reason for the CP to feel so angry or enraged on his behalf if it was simply because of family honor and prestige. But although there is doubt in Richard's mind about the real reason, Richard doesn't push further.
Later, desperate to stop the CP from annulling their engagement, Richard tries to get the CP drunk. He thought if he can get the CP drunk, he can wheedle some answers out of him. What he didn't anticipate is that the CP is even a stronger drinker than he is. Richard ends up passing out before the CP. He ends up waking up in the middle of the night though and goes to find the CP. He searches all over the palace for him. In the end, the only place he hasn't searched was the warehouse where he almost got assaulted. As Richard approaches...he starts to smell something metallic. Blood. As he gets closer, he starts to smell alcohol too. He cracks open the warehouse the door and find 4 dead bodies. The 4 noblemen with every bone in the bodies broken. The arms and legs bones jutted out in every angle. Their neck slit. Sitting on atop the pile of bodies was the CP with a bottle of wine in his hand. The CP was drunk. The moment he sees Richard, the aloofness in his eyes disappear. In its place was warmth and tenderness. He calls out Richard's name affectionately. Richard has seen this side of the CP before. The last time he drank the love potion. While thrown off by this unfamiliar CP, Richard takes the risk that the CP seems to be warmer towards him and begins to ask him questions that the sober CP would never answer. The CP confesses that he loves him. Richard's mind reels. He can't believe that. Pushing through his shock, he asks then does that mean the CP won't end their engagement? The CP sadly shakes his head, saying he has to end their engagement. Richard cries out why?! The CP says it's for his own safety. He can't keep Richard by his side if he wants to stay safe. Richard says he doesn't understand! And that's when the CP drops a bombshell. The CP knows he's a regressor. What? Richard's mind screeches to a stop. The CP knows? How? Starting from when? What does that mean? But before Richard can truly process what the CP said, the CP approaches and kisses him. It's not a tepid or tame kiss. It's an all consuming, devouring kiss. The CP has Richard pressed against the wall. Richard sorta resists, but his protests aren't that convincing. The CP ends up on his knees and eats Richard out to prep him. They later have wall sex lol. Richard ends up passing out from the intense sex and from coming multiple times. (I should mention at this point that any time they do it, afterwards the CP will personally help Richard wash).
A few other things happen, but the most important thing is that Richard ends up teaming up with Prince Talenius, the Emperor's nephew. He wants to take the throne from Caelius. He tells Richard if Richard helps him become the emperor, he will personally grant Richard's marriage to Caelius. He signs a magical contract to seal the deal. So with that, Richard joins the rebellion. Under the mastermind behind Prince Taelnius, the person known as the Butterfly Mask, Richard begins assassinating everyone of Caelius' backers. Later, Richard is caught by Caelius and imprisoned. However, it's not a dank cell. It's a pretty nice room with no window. Caelius never mistreats him. In fact, he brings hearty and scrumptious meals for Richard every time. The only thing is, he keeps Richard's hands tied. He intends to keep Richard locked up until, "It's all over." At one point Richard yells at the CP to tell him what's going on. He knows something but won't tell him. The CP tells him it's better for him to not know. Richard mocks him and says after forcing himself on him (twice at that), he has the right to know. The CP stays silent before saying it's for his own good to not know.
Even in the novel it's an abrupt shift, but later the scene shifts to the CP standing at the top of the tower as his army face the rebelling army. The CP thinks to himself as long Richard never finds out, then this ending was worth it.
Later, we shift back to Richard. He's able to free himself. He sees the capital is war torn. But something is weird. The corpses on the street are indiscriminate. It's not just soldiers, but civilians. Something feels off. Something's wrong. He approaches the palace, and even there, it's dead silent. He gets closer to the banquet hall, finding all the aristocrats dead. Then as he gets closer, he finds the CP, lying bloodied on the ground with a sword aimed at his throat. When the CP sees him, with the last of his strength, he begs for Richard to run away. As he finishes his last word, the sword plunges into him and kills the CP. When Richard looks up at the perpetrator, it is the Butterfly Mask, the mastermind behind Prince Taelinius. Richard asks why. The Butterfly Mask person laughs and says she is feeling a bit generous. She guesses at this point Richard deserves to know. She removes her mask.
It's Daphne.
Richard's world completely falls apart. How? Why? This is a lie. It can't be Daphne. It makes no sense. She is the most gentle, good-hearted person he knows. She is his world. His sun. She CAN'T be doing this.
Daphne approaches him with a dagger and says it's his turn to die now. Richard asks he again why? Daphne says she is trying to reach the ending. And she has to kill him to reach it. Does he hate her now? Before Richard can answer, she plunges the dagger into his heart mercilessly. And Richard dies.
Now, we rewind back to the beginning. All the way back to the beginning. Almost thousands upon thousand of regressions ago.
Daphne is not the original female lead. The one inhabiting her body during all these regressions is actually a transmigrator from Korea. When she first transmigrated into the book, she wanted to avoid the original storyline since it had her committing suicide. So she avoided the original characters, moved to the countryside to live a nice and quiet life. However, she ends up dying a month after the "story ends" and regressed back to the start of the novel. Seeing that avoiding the storyline didn't work, she tried to follow the original storyline. However, while she ends up marrying Caelius, she also befriended the villainness during her second regression too. In the end, she ends up dying AGAIN. So this time, she thought, she will follow the storyline to the T. But she ends up messing up a tiny bit. Surely in her 4th regression, she will make no flaws right? She will follow the story absolutely without a single flaw. But even as she followed the story, because she is not the original Daphne, but an intruder, she can't naturally progress the story. The story will ALWAYS regress once she marries Caelius. No exceptions. After that, she tried just killing herself immediately. And so she did that for about 20 regressions. After that, she went a little crazy and thought maybe there are other ways to find an ending to stop all these regressions? So she began experimenting. She began by killing each character one by one to see if that will bring about the end. She killed Richard, the villainess, the emperor, the duke, etc. (at one point, she even tried to hook the CP and Richard up). None of it worked.
During one of her regressions in which she planned to kill the CP, she ended up telling the CP the truth of the world. It was during the wedding day. The CP thought it would be the most happiest day of his life. He got to marry the woman of his dreams. His soulmate. To only end up with a knife is his heart. The next moment, he woke up in his office. He thought he died, but he's back in the past? He regressed? The CP immediately goes to look for Daphne. Seeing the CP's eyes, Daphne realizes the CP also regressed. She happily claps her hands and basically says yay, she has herself a little helper! Since they both regressed, then it's clear killing him doesn't get them an ending. This time she's going to try for the emperor! The CP immediately tries to oppose her. Even if he and his father aren't close, he is still his father. But as soon as the CP opposed her, Daphne uses her immense black magic to subjugate the CP. She says if he won't help her, then she won't let him get in her way. Without even being able to struggle, she obliterates the CP from existence. The next time the CP regresses, he decides since he can't oppose her...then he'll just watch from the sidelines. And so that's what the CP does. For hundreds and hundreds of regressions. Sometimes, he'll even act out the original storyline with Daphne. During his first few regressions, he had some hope that this was just some nightmare. That HIS Daphne is still in the body somehow. That he can get her back. Maybe he can find a way to exorcise whatever it was that was possessing her body. But as the regressions continued, and seeing Daphne descend further into madness and her apathetic cruelty, the CP finally accepted the woman he loved is dead. She's never coming back. The chance to get his Daphne back was lost thousands of regression ago. There is no a trace of her left. He had no idea how long these regressions would continue either.
Then during one of their many, many regressions, Daphne spilled the beans about the truth of this world to Richard too. Starting from then, Richard began acting out of script. Although the two weren't close, they weren't enemies either. However, after Richard thought the cause of Daphne's suicide was bc of the CP, he acted hostile towards the CP. The CP was a little flabbergasted, but in a way, he also began to admire Richard. Prior to Richard's regression, Daphne just sorta toyed with Richard. She confessed to the CP, saying see, that's the role of the sub male lead. I am his sun. No matter what I do, no matter how many times I reject him, he will love only me. The CP felt pity for Richard. To love such a woman, not knowing the real Daphne is long gone. And as Richard (and they) regressed, he watched Richard try everything to keep Daphne away from him (the CP). From confessing to Daphne first, to stealing all his moments with Daphne, to introducing Daphne to other men. Richard was the image of devotion and persistence. Then, finally. Richard intruded into his office and declared loudly, "I love you, your Highness." The CP stared at him, absolutely dumbfounded. He can't believe Richard was THAT desperate to "save" Daphne from that, that he would resort to such a cockamamie idea as seducing him. Richard was brazen and blunt. Seeing him act so absurd, the CP burst out laughing. And that was when the CP realized, this was the first time since he began regressing that he's sincerely laughed. The world had become so bleak and wearisome, but Richard with his antics, brought some life and fun back into his world. And so Richard's seduction tactics began with full force. He flirt with the CP every chance he'd get. He was forceful, blunt, and shameless. The CP resisted as much as he could. He can't fall for Richard. There's no way he would! Richard is doing this for Daphne. He's not really in love with him. It would be stupid of him to fall for Richard. However, every time he's with Richard, his heart sped up. When they touched, his skin warmed. Just being near him made his heart flutter. Caelius could feel himself falling, but he kept denying it.