Yandere Instruction Manual: My Wife is World Ending Calamity!

Chapter 47: The Mark of the Usurper.

The moment I stepped through the portal, the familiar teleportation bridge greeted me once again before spitting me out as rudely as ever.

I had returned to the chamber within Nyxara’s shell.

Before my eyes could even adjust to the familiar darkness completely, Nyxara was already standing there, her long blue hair emitting a faint glow in the dim chamber while a pair of round spectacles rested upon the bridge of her nose and in her hands was a book.

A romance novel.

Before I could make out its title, her eyes met mine and with a casual wave of her hand, both the book and the spectacles vanished without a trace as she spoke.

"Oh... you survived!"

She blinked in surprise, the small fins on either side of her head twitching ever so slightly as all I could do was let out a quiet sigh.

So that habit of reading those cheap romance novels hadn’t changed either.

For some reason, that small and familiar sight brought a small chuckle to my lips because after everything I had just experienced, it felt strangely comforting.

Shaking the thought aside, I answered her.

"Yeah. I somehow managed to make it." I smirked. "Don’t tell me you were actually expecting me to die."

Her expression changed almost immediately.

"Why would I expect that? If anything, it’s better for me if someone finally completes that damned trial. At least then I will be free of one of my responsibilities."

There was an unmistakable hint of relief in her voice.

"Now that you have cleared it, the entrance entrusted to me has finally fulfilled its purpose so I won’t have to send any more poor students to their deaths anymore."

She let out a long and relieved sigh.

"Now, all I have to do is endure a few more centuries in this place and then I will finally be free and leave this damned first ring of sea without worry."

Just like always, she said far more than she actually needed to but I didn’t interrupt her because my attention was on something entirely else.

Her status window which had appeared before my eyes the moment I activated my [[Eye of Usurper]].

════〔 STATUS 〕═════

▸ NAME: ⟦ Nyxara Arcanum ⟧

▸ Role : ⟦ The Traitor ⟧

▸ TALENT: ⟦ 1. Living Darkness 2. Blackwater Veil 3. Hypnotic Lure 4. Abyssal Gaze ⟧

▸ Core: ⟦ Tier V Transcendent ⟧

▸ Core Trait: ⟦ Overthinker: ⟧

▸ Note : ⟦ Princess of a catastrophic race, imprisoned within the First Ring of the Great Sea while still young, she was fated, alongside the rest of her clan, to guard the entrances to the Path of Qualification, paying the price for a grave sin committed by her people. Blessed by the sea itself and gifted with great Talents, she is a being far beyond your reach. Under ordinary circumstances, you would never have stood a chance to stand beside her as she is leagues and ages beyond you.⟧

══════════════════

As I looked over her status window, I ignored the usual sarcastic remarks in the note which had somehow stayed the same despite its evolution.

Most of the information wasn’t new because she had already told me much of it in my previous life but one detail, however, immediately caught my attention.

Her role.

She had a Role assigned by Fate as well.

The Traitor.

What exactly was that supposed to mean?

From everything I had seen so far, Roles appeared to be assigned from Fate’s own perspective. I had been branded the Demon King simply because my very existence lay beyond its control but if that logic was true, then The Traitor could only refer to someone destined to betray Fate itself or maybe, someone who already had.

Was it because she helped me survive in my previous life? Or... was it because something else entirely?

The thought quietly surfaced in my mind and somehow it didn’t seem wrong.

I instinctively focused on it, hoping the Eye of the Usurper would reveal more but unfortunately nothing happened.

So, I gave up and instead turned my attention to my newly acquired ability to copy Talents or more accurately to understand how it actually worked.

The moment I willed it, a completely different status window materialized before my eyes.

[True Name: ????]

[Conditions to Reveal: ?????]

[Note: Place the Mark of the Usurper upon the target to reveal the conditions required to engrave their True Name. Be warned, only one Mark may exist at any given time. Once placed, it cannot be removed or transferred until you either successfully engrave the target’s True Name or willingly abandon the attempt. Abandoning the mark or leaving the Mark unresolved for too long may result in soul damage. The Mark may only be placed through direct physical contact.]

Hmm... so I have to place a Mark before I can even learn the conditions required to engrave a True Name.

With that thought, I dismissed the window because honestly, there was no point thinking about it for now.

The conditions to engrave her True Name could be something as simple or something that could require too much time and work to fulfill.

Either way, Nyxara wasn’t the right target, not because her Talents were useless but because I already had an idea about whose True Name I wanted to engrave first.

It was someone whose Talent could potentially solve one of my biggest problems.

"...Why are you staring at me like that?"

Nyxara’s cautious voice snapped me out of my thoughts as I looked up to find her subtly taking a step backward. Looking at her like that, a smile appeared onto my face.

"I was just trying to remember what happened to Duke North after he confessed to Selene. Seeing that book reminded me how I never got to read the rest of it during my journey."

"Y-you’ve read The Forbidden Love of Forgotten Extra too?"

Her eyes lit up instantly.

Rather... you made my life a living hell by forcing me to listen to every complaint you had about that novel.

Naturally, I kept that thought to myself and simply nodded. And before she could launch into an enthusiastic discussion of the story she loved so much, I quickly changed the subject.

"In any case, how many days have passed since I entered?"

She quickly composed herself again before replying. "I believe... it has been nearly twenty-five days."

The moment those words left her mouth, my eyes widened.

Damn it.

"Has the Entrance Test already begun?"

The question escaped almost instinctively.

I knew time flowed differently within the trial but I hadn’t expected the distortion to work like this. In my previous life, I had spent months inside while only a few hours had passed outside but this time, it was the complete opposite.

Nyxara closed her eyes for a brief moment as if sensing something beyond the chamber before nodding a moment later.

"Yes. It’s already underway."

"Could you please send me out? I will come back another time to have a chat."

As a noble, I didn’t need to take the entrance examination as bloodline alone guaranteed my admission and I had even warned Liana that I might disappear for several days, so there was nothing to worry about on that front either but...

Even so... there was no way in hell, I was going to miss it.