Chapter 1 Task Failed
The room was vast and lavish — deep red carpet underfoot, an ornately carved European-style bed at its heart, and along one wall a sheet of glass that ran floor to ceiling. Beyond it stretched the star sea, distant and shining.
A golden-haired boy stood at that window, gazing up at the view in silence.
He had pale blue eyes like cut gemstones, and soft golden hair that caught the light as if dusted with gold leaf. A few strands fell loose across a smooth, fair forehead. His lips were the colour of dawn roses, and every feature — every single one — had been put together with the kind of precision that left nothing to criticise.
He was dressed in a black formal suit, a black bow tie at his throat, and set into the bow tie was a deep blue sapphire roughly the size of his thumb. The light it threw off matched the pale blue of his eyes.
He hadn’t spoken for some time. There was a faint shadow over those clear eyes, a quiet melancholy that did nothing to spoil the rest of him — if anything, it made him look more like a fallen angel, like a spirit misplaced in the mortal world.
You could only wonder what had brought him to that expression.
But to Julian Ashford, none of this mattered. Not the face. Not the bloodline. Not any of it.
What mattered was — why was he back?
He’d started out as a perfectly ordinary university student in the twenty-first century. Then, not long ago, he’d been hit by a car and died. That was when something calling itself a System had latched onto him with a deal: transmigrate into a novel, finish one task, earn a second life.
To someone about to die, what offer beats that?
When he’d learnt the task was just to play the cannon-fodder villain in a BL novel and nudge the male leads into each other’s arms, Julian had agreed without blinking.
And then he’d woken up here. Eighteen years old. A noble youth named Julian Ashford in some interstellar empire halfway across a future timeline — same name, different soul.
The original Julian had it all. The face, obviously. But also the bloodline.
His father, Duke Reginald Ashford, was one of the empire’s handful of grand dukes — high nobility, second only to the imperial family itself. House Ashford had drifted away from the centre of court politics in recent years, but among the aristocracy their name still carried serious weight. His mother, Lady Seraphina Ashford, had been a childhood friend of the current Emperor’s own mother and came from another famous noble line. Pedigree to spare.
After years of marriage, the Duke and Lady Ashford had finally been blessed with a single precious son. That son being the original.
So the original had started life at the top of the empire and never looked down. Pampered, indulged, hand-fed everything most people spend a lifetime trying to reach, doted on from every direction. As long as he didn’t go out of his way to ruin it, he could’ve lived in luxury until the end.
Naturally, he went out of his way to ruin it.
Raised with no discipline, spoilt rotten, the original had grown into a textbook noble brat — and in the novel, that was exactly his function. Cannon-fodder villain. The biggest obstacle standing between the male lead, Nolan Vale, and his happy ending.
Then an accident had killed him early, and Julian Ashford had been dropped in to take over the script.
His job: keep playing the villain. Pretend to be madly in love with the Emperor, Silas Kane. Make life hell for Nolan Vale. Cause every problem the plot needed. Die at the end.
Julian Ashford, on the other hand, had been raised by perfectly nice modern parents, was polite to elderly people, gave up his seat on the bus, and had once been described in a graduation speech as a credit to his generation. Now he was supposed to throw his weight around like a spoilt aristocrat, get hated by everyone, and finish things off by getting himself killed.
But fine. To go home, he could swallow that.
He’d thrown himself into the role. Played the obsessive, brain-dead fan of Emperor Silas Kane. Sabotaged Nolan Vale at every opportunity. Banded together with every minor villain available, and conspired against the lovers with all the cackling enthusiasm of someone who very much wanted to lose.
Lucky for him, he was supposed to lose. Cannon-fodder villains come with built-in face-slap moments — every time his villainy looked like it might actually work, someone who adored Nolan Vale would burst in and ruin it. Crime not-quite-committed. Punishment delivered. A morally clean defeat. Which, honestly, suited Julian fine.
He worked at the job with quiet dedication, using his own stupidity and cruelty to throw Nolan Vale’s brilliance into sharper relief, earning the deep loathing of literally everyone, while Nolan Vale and Silas Kane fell more and more in love. They’d almost made it to the altar. Almost. Julian had nearly wept with paternal pride.
Then, as the story neared its end, his exit cue arrived: the biggest villain in the book, Grand Duke Cassian Valcourt, kidnapped Nolan Vale to threaten the Emperor. Julian, playing his part, swaggered in to ‘torment’ Nolan Vale — making sure to leave just enough of an opening for Nolan to fight back, win, and escape. Then, when Silas Kane arrived to rescue his beloved, Julian took an attack meant for the Emperor and died spectacularly in his place.
His last conscious thought had been one of pure relief.
Finally. Going home.
Julian Ashford had — he was prepared to argue this in court — done the job impeccably. Diligent. Tireless. Never cut a corner. Walked every single beat of the plot without flinching. Even, in his dying moments, made sure to ‘repent’ and ‘let go’ and ‘bless the lovers’ future.′ A textbook performance.
Then he’d opened his eyes — and found himself standing here.
This room. This horribly familiar room.
He was back.
Not home. Back to the very first day he’d arrived in this world.
Tonight was the original’s eighteenth birthday gala. Julian didn’t need to look outside to know what was waiting — the entire glittering circus, gold-leafed and ridiculous. Duke Reginald Ashford’s only son coming of age was, frankly, a Whole Event. Every noble on the imperial planet had sent gifts. They were all out there now, waiting for tonight’s main attraction to appear.
Julian had absolutely no interest in being a main attraction.
He turned inwards and called for the System with all the patience of a man who hadn’t slept.
【System. System, where are you? Explain this. Why am I back?】
The System, having tried ‘play dead’ and found it wasn’t working, finally answered. Slowly.
【Task failed. So we go again.】
Julian wasn’t having it.
【Task failed how? What exactly went wrong?】 The romance had been going great. Hadn’t it?
The System didn’t actually know, which was awkward, because if it had known it wouldn’t have been hiding. After a long, calculated pause, it said in its usual flat voice:
【Failure cause currently undetermined. Confirmed only: after your death, the male leads did not end up together. World collapse triggered. Task ruled failed.】
Julian couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
【They didn’t end up together?】
【Correct.】
【How. How is that even possible.】
【Cause unknown. Post-collapse data inaccessible.】
Julian’s face went still. Not happy.
【So you don’t know what went wrong, but you want me to do the whole thing again. That’s a waste of my time. I’m supposed to be going home.】
【Apologies. Task completion is required for reward.】
【And you have nothing for me. No info. No guidance. Just ‘try again.’】
The System weighed the question for several seconds, then said:
【If you decline, you don’t have to redo the task.】
Julian’s eyes lit up.
【You’ll send me home?】
【I do not have authority to send you home. But I can grant you a quiet, painless death and return you to your original fate. A new host will be selected.】
【…】
A very long moment passed.
Then Julian sighed.
【On reflection, I’m sure I just did something wrong somewhere. Caused the deviation myself. This time I’ll get it right. No need to bring in another host.】
The System sounded almost suspicious. 【You’re certain?】
【Of course I’m certain,】 Julian said firmly. 【Who knows this task better than me? I’ve already lived through the plot once. I know every beat. Every character. This’ll be a walk in the park. Trust me.】
The System relaxed, visibly. Truthfully, it hadn’t wanted to find a new host either — hosts as conscientious as Julian Ashford were thin on the ground these days. 【That’s good to hear. Now — you should probably go out.】
Julian resigned himself. Treat it like a game you have to replay. He’d been naive last time, thinking he’d finish the whole thing in one run.
Still — the thought of facing the original’s pack of useless friends made his head hurt. He had nothing in common with that lot of brats.
Then again. If the original hadn’t been an idiot and got himself killed, Julian wouldn’t have got a second chance at life in the first place. So living the original’s life on his behalf was, in a way, fair compensation.
Looked at like that, it almost made sense.
He breathed in, steadied himself, and opened the door.
The novel’s plot hadn’t actually started yet. At this point in the timeline, Nolan Vale was still off in the distant Nado star system, fighting the Zerg.
The book proper opened with Nolan Vale returning home in victory — and that was still a month away. Once Nolan came back, the script would kick in and Julian would have to start performing his cannon-fodder villain role in earnest.
Until then, there was no actual script. The book hadn’t bothered to write this stretch. Julian just had to follow the natural rhythm of the world and not break character too badly. Plenty of room to breathe.
Last time, freshly arrived and bewildered, he’d stumbled through this birthday gala in a cold sweat, terrified of being caught out. Tense the whole night.
This time — well. He was a returning player. He knew the room, the people, the script. And there were no main characters at this particular event, which made it even easier. Just background nobles.
A second-run advantage, basically. Plus side: I have lived this exact day before. Minus side: I have lived this exact day before. Julian made the best of it.
He walked down the long, gilded corridor, and halfway along he ran into the original’s parents.
