Prologue: A Good-for-Nothing Steps into the Graveyard of Life

“—Objection!”

The sudden, booming voice mercilessly shattered the solemn silence.

The gazes of all the attendees at the wedding ceremony turned in unison toward the source of the voice.

There, at the entrance to the cathedral’s inner sanctum where the ceremony was being held, the door had been violently kicked open—revealing a lone man standing beyond it.

Normally, he wore the instructor’s robe of the magic academy in a slovenly, disheveled fashion—but today, for some reason, he had it on properly. That man’s name was—

“Glenn Radars…!?”

“Why is he here…?”

As the attendees seated on the long pews to either side fixed their eyes on him, the man—Glenn—strode brazenly down the red carpeted path in the center, the Virgin Road, heading toward the innermost part of the cathedral’s sanctum.

Before the altar at the far end, adorned with a towering cross-shaped holy symbol, stood the priest overseeing the ceremony, alongside the groom and bride, the stars of this wedding.

“Se-Sensei!?”

The bride, Sistine, adorned in a pure white dress and veil woven from the finest silk, turned around, bouquet in hand, eyes wide with astonishment. In that attire, designed to make a woman shine more beautifully than at any other moment in her life, Sistine looked as breathtaking as a dream, as ethereal as an illusion.

“Hmph… What business do you have here now, Glenn-sensei?”

Meanwhile, the groom standing beside Sistine flashed a composed smile at the unexpected intruder, Glenn.

“Hah? Didn’t hear me? I said I object. I’m dead set against this marriage. No way I’m handing White Cat over to the likes of you.”

In response, Glenn glared at the groom as if he were his mortal enemy.

In an instant, a tense, explosive atmosphere crackled between Glenn and the groom.

Before the two of them, the cathedral buzzed with murmurs and whispers.

The attendees exchanged glances, swallowing hard, unable to do anything but watch how the situation would unfold.

“S-Sensei… Are you serious…?”

“No matter how you look at it… this is…”

“Could it be… h-he’s actually serious…?”

Even Sistine’s classmates, who were attending her wedding, couldn’t hide their confusion and unease at this utterly unexpected turn of events.

“—!”

Meanwhile, Sistine, who had been staring at Glenn in a daze, snapped back to her senses.

She averted her gaze, looking down… and her small shoulders began to tremble with rage.

“…Don’t mess with me…! How far will you go, you…!?”

“~♪”

In contrast, Glenn seemed utterly unfazed by Sistine’s fury. With his hands clasped behind his head, he looked off in another direction, whistling nonchalantly.

“Don’t you dare ruin my sacred wedding with Leos! And to think, you ran away from the duel with Leos in the first place! You no longer have any right to—!”

“Dah—Hahaha! Shut up already!”

Glenn cut off Sistine’s sharp rebuke with a boisterous laugh.

“You think I’d give up so easily on a chance to marry into wealth!? Fuhahahahaha!”

With that, Glenn, cackling with the most despicable glee, pulled something from his pocket and abruptly slammed it onto the floor.

In an instant, a blinding flash seared their eyes, and a deafening explosion of sound reverberated through the cathedral.

It was a flash stone, a non-lethal offensive magical tool.

“Gyaaahhh!?”

“My eyes! My eyes!”

The serene and solemn atmosphere from moments before flipped into utter chaos within the cathedral’s inner sanctum.

Seizing the opportunity, Glenn swiftly dashed to the altar, shoved the groom aside—

“White Cat, come on!”

“Kyaa!?”

He lunged at the blinded Sistine, scooping her up forcefully into a bridal carry, then spun around and bolted from the scene like a fleeing rabbit.

“See ya, Leos-chan! I’m taking the bride!”

Like a gust of wind, Glenn barreled out of the cathedral’s inner sanctum, tore through the central crossing, shoved past the bewildered worshippers, raced down the nave, and burst out of the cathedral.

Without so much as a glance to the side, he sprinted furiously through the streets of Fejite—

“Let me go! Let me go! I’m going to marry Leos!”

Carried in Glenn’s arms and still in her bridal attire, Sistine flailed her arms and legs, tears brimming in her eyes as she struggled.

“You idiot, idiot, IDIOT! You’re the worst! Is marrying into wealth all you care about!? What do you think my maiden heart is to you!? I hate you! Just die already!”

As she smacked his face repeatedly, Glenn grimaced, looking annoyed.

Eventually, his expression twisted bitterly, and with a deep sigh, he—

“Daaahhh!? Damn it all! Why did it come to this!?”

God, do you hate me that much?

In his heart, Glenn screamed to the heavens, railing against the utterly absurd and unjust fate that had befallen him.

…Really, how did it come to this?

Thinking back, it all probably started with that incident.

As the world rushed past him like a raging current, Glenn’s thoughts drifted to an event from about ten days ago—