"Mmmh..."
When I woke up, I found myself looking at the ceiling-or rather, the canopy of the bed I was lying on. My body felt heavy, and I couldn't move my limbs as I wished. And though I could open my eyes, the blinding light only served to make me dizzy.
"Young Master Vanitas..." A trembling voice spoke from beside the bed. I found its deep, aged tone to be familiar for some reason.
Ugh..." I groaned.
"Y-Young Master Vanitas has awakened! What a miracle! Y-You there! Go call for the doctor! Ah, we must also inform the master and his wife!" the elderly butler ordered a maid that was waiting in the corner of the room.
I gazed at the scene vacantly, then called him, "Gramps."
"Yes! What is it, Young Master?"
Young Master, huh? But that's not what I want to know.
"Who am I?" I asked.
"Who are you...? Did the high fever make you lose your memory?!"
"Answer my question."
"O-Of course! You are the heir to the marquisate of Lindblum, Vanitas Lindblum!"
I fell silent. I knew that name.
Vanitas Lindblum was one of the antagonists of that novel.
"Hmm?"
"I-Is there a problem?" the elderly butler-Jürgen-asked, confused.
"No, it's nothing..." I replied as someone, an old physician, approached my bed. Despite his age, he sure had come fast.
He took my temperature, checked my pulse, and performed a brief examination before announcing that I didn't appear to have any issues.
From there, things moved at a blinding pace.
Suddenly, a woman with gorgeous blonde hair and amber eyes violently opened the door to my room. "My dear Vanny! Thank goodness you woke up! I was so worried!" she shouted, before rushing over to my bedside and enveloping me in a teary embrace.
That woman was Lavinia Lindblum, and she was Vanitas's mother-which made her my mother now too.
"You've been burning with a high fever for three whole days and nights, Vanny. You've endured well," said the man who entered a few minutes after my mother. He must have run straight here, because even though he was trying to act composed, I noticed that his breathing was slightly uneven. His silver hair was short and neatly trimmed, and his sharp dark gray eyes and refined facial features were like you would expect from a noble. The man was none other than my father and the head of the Lindblum marquisate, Ernst Lindblum.
My parents looked relieved to see their son had managed to escape the claws of death-or at least, that's what I thought at that moment.
After that, I spent the next three days entirely resting in bed to recover, with the doctor coming to examine me from time to time, and I used that time to make sense of my situation.
I had been reincarnated as Vanitas Lindblum, a merciless, villainous noble and one of a certain novel's antagonists.
I didn't know why I had been reincarnated, nor could I recall the name of the novel. In fact, I didn't even remember who I had been in my past life. A high schooler? An office worker? Or perhaps a teacher? None of these felt right, but somehow I could remember that I, in fact, had lived in a worlddifferent from this one.
I could vaguely recall the protagonist's name, as well as the fact that the novel had several heroines-that much was fine for now. Later on I might remember the important things.
What truly mattered, however, was that I hadn't forgotten Vanitas Lindblum's fate.
In the novel, Vanitas commanded many slaves and indulged in countless cruel acts, and eventually faced retribution for his sins. He was enslaved and forced to commit good deeds against his will, causing him to scream while vomiting blood. Being a slave meant killing himself wasn't an option, and he was instead sent to a desolate mine, destined to work himself to exhaustion until his final breath.