Reincarnated as a Tragic Villain, Accidentally Built a Harem

EPISODE 1

"I'm having an identity crisis here, don't disturb me." Shaun told the maid to leave him alone for a moment. Inside the bedroom, Shaun still stood there, staring at the reflection inside the mirror. This feels like a dream, almost disbelief. Eternity later, he slumped himself onto the large bed. Azriel's bed.

Shaun grabbed the diary that original Azriel put, hid it under his pillow. The diary that Azriel always writes before he's going to sleep. Writing whatever happens to him, how's he feeling, how broke he was...how lonely he was. After a few pages, Shaun throw that diary away. That's too traumatizing to read.

He then pacing, circling around the room like he's lost his mind.

This version makes Azriel far more tragic because he's not evil for the sake of being evil. He's just a lonely child who became a villain because being hated was better than being ignored.

Shaun remembers everything.

The Novel: "The Stars We Could Never Reach"

In a modern magical fantasy world, name Aethelgard, where magic exists alongside technology, society is divided by power, wealth, and magical bloodlines.

And of course, there's a kingdom hierarchy inside that fantasy world with noble prestige and political weight.

The Sanguis Sanctum. The highest social class in existence. The Sanguis Sanctum are ancient royal bloodlines believed to possess divine, supernatural, or legendary ancestry. Their families have ruled kingdoms, influenced wars, and shaped history for centuries.

Only a handful of families belong to this rank.

Their Status:

•Royal Families

•Sacred Bloodline Holders

•Ancient Nobility

•Above all laws except their own

•Their motto: "Blood is power. Blood is legacy."

Valmont Nero, also known as the Nobles House. The strongest noble families beneath the Sacred Bloodlines. While not royal, the Valmont Nero houses possess immense wealth, military influence, magical power, and political authority. Many kingdoms rise and fall according to their support.

They are wealthy and politically powerful. Some of them are owners of magical industries worth billions.

Others called them untouchable monsters.

Their Status:

•High Nobility

•Dukes, Marquises, Counts

•Powerful Clans and Houses

•Direct vassals to the Sanguis Sanctum

•Their motto: "Honor, Power, Legacy."

The Iron Gospel, also called as "Imperial Hunter Corps". The kingdom's strongest military force. Unlike the nobles, the Iron Gospel earns its status through merit, strength, and achievements. Their duty is to protect humanity and eliminate supernatural threats.

They possess enough authority to investigate even noble houses and royal bloodlines.

Their Status:

•Military Elite

•Hunter Commanders

•Holy Knights

•Inquisitors

•Royal Army

•Their motto: "Faith. Steel. Judgment."

Mage Society also called as "The Arcane Circle". Scholars, magicians, healers, alchemists, and magical researchers.

Most powerful mages dream of serving the Sacred Bloodlines, Noble Houses, or the Iron Gospel.

Their Status:

•Court Mages

•Scholars

•Alchemists

•Healers

•Researchers

•Their motto: "Knowledge shapes destiny."

Commoners called as The Free Folk. Farmers, merchants, artisans, fishermen, teachers, and ordinary citizens. Most never interact directly with the higher ranks.

Lastly...

Astra Academy, the most prestigious magical institution on the continent, a place where nobles, royalty, prodigies, and future leaders gather to master their powers. Getting accepted into Astra Academy is considered one of the greatest honors a young mage can achieve.

Many fail.

Few succeed.

And only the exceptional survive its ruthless competition.

•Their Motto: "Where Future Legends Are Forged."

"I'm so proud of you, Azriel. Getting accepted into Astra Academy! Gosh, you're a genius! I love you!", Shaun hugs Azriel's body. Well technically, he's just hugging himself.

But back to our business! Ahem ahem!

The novel did mention about Azriel's family status. Among those families inside Valmont Nero, one name stood above the rest.

The Valenhart Family.

A family blessed with overwhelming magical abilities and influence. And unfortunately...

The family's greatest embarrassment.

Azriel Valenhart.

In the novel, Azriel was introduced as the typical villain.

The spoiled young master. The academy troublemaker. The rich kid everyone hated. The arrogant noble who believed the world revolved around him.

He picked fights.

Bullied students.

Insulted teachers.

Destroyed school property.

Provoked the male leads.

Harassed the protagonist.

Created scandals every week.

Whenever something happened at the prestigious Astra Academy, everyone immediately assumed:

"Azriel did it."

And most of the time...

They were right.

Readers hated him. At first.

Then, the story slowly revealed the truth.

A truth most characters never learned.

Azriel wasn't born cruel. He wasn't born selfish. He wasn't born evil. He was simply...

Lonely.

When Azriel was five years old, he proudly showed his first magical achievement to his father.

A tiny floating light.

Children from noble families usually awakened magic around seven years old.

But Azriel awakened at five.

A genius.

A prodigy.

A miracle.

The first thing his father said was:

"So what?"

When Azriel was eight years old, he won a national youth magic competition.

His father never attended.

His mother never came.

Luciel and Izekiel. His older brothers received more congratulations for simply existing.

His parent only saw those two brother, but not the younger one.

His parent always prioritize Azriel's brothers first. He just a shadow inside the family.

Sadly, none of Azriel's brothers even care about the youngest Valenhart. They never act like a big brother would, they never even bother to talk with Azriel. Hell, they barely spare any glance towards him.

And when Azriel was ten years old, he accidentally overheard the servants talking behind his back. Including Azriel's personal butler, Felix.

"Young Master Azriel is such a burden."

"The Duke hates him."

"Everyone in this house hates him."

"I wish he wasn't born."

Children are fragile. Especially children who's desperate for love.

At first, Azriel tried harder.

He studied.

Trained.

Won awards.

Earned achievements.

Perfect grades.

Perfect magic control.

Perfect etiquette.

Perfect manners.

Perfect in everything.

Yet nobody looked at him. Nobody ever praised him. Nobody cared.

Then one day.

Azriel made a mistake. A small mistake. A harmless prank.

For the first time in years,

His father looked at him. His mother also look at him.

The attention lasted only seconds. But Azriel remembered it forever.

If being good changed nothing, maybe being bad would.

That was how the villain was born.

Azriel started causing trouble. Skipping classes. Starting arguments. Getting into fights. Destroying expensive property. Insulting people. Acting arrogant. Acting spoiled. Acting cruel.

Acting like the monster everyone already believed him to be.

And it worked.

People finally looked at him. People talked about him. People remembered his name.

Even if they hated him. At least they saw him.

The saddest part?

Azriel genuinely didn't know how friendships worked. Nobody had ever taught him about that--How to get a friend or talk to someone.

Every conversation felt like a battle. Every interaction felt hostile. Every relationship felt temporary.

When someone smiled at him, he assumed they wanted something.

When someone was kind, he thought they were mocking him.

When someone approached him, he immediately attacked first.

Because being rejected after opening your heart hurt far more than being hated from the start.

The academy students saw a villain. The readers eventually saw a neglected child.

Then came the protagonist.

The academy's golden student. The one destined to save everyone. The one surrounded by countless allies and future lovers. The one everyone adored.

Everything Azriel wanted.

Friends.

Family.

Acceptance.

Love.

And because Azriel wanted those things so badly, he became obsessed.

Not with the protagonist.

But with what the protagonist represented.

"Why does everyone love her?"

"Why can't they look at me like that?"

"What am I missing?"

"What's wrong with me?"

The more he chased answers...,

The more isolated he became.

Meanwhile, the readers slowly learned another truth.

Every cruel thing Azriel did was actually a cry for help.

A pathetic.

Desperate.

Painful cry for someone to notice him.

But nobody did. Not his family. Not the academy. Not the protagonist. Not even the male leads.

Until it was too late.

Near the end of the novel, Azriel was framed for a crime he never committed.

The evidence was fabricated.

The witnesses were bribed.

The truth was buried.

And because of his reputation, everyone believed it. Immediately.

Nobody defended him.

Nobody questioned it.

Nobody trusted him.

Because villains lie. Villains manipulate. Villains deserve punishment. Right?

Azriel laughed during the trial.

A broken laugh. A defeated laugh.

Because for the first time in his life, he stopped trying.

His final words in the novel became one of the most famous lines among readers.

"I spent my entire life screaming for someone to look at me."

"And when you finally did..."

"It was only to watch me fall."

Then he died.

Alone.

Abandoned.

Forgotten.

Readers cried.

The comment sections exploded. The fandom mourned him for years. Many believed Azriel was more tragic than the protagonist himself. And among those readers, one person complained louder than everyone else.

A certain dance instructor. A chaotic Filipino-Korean man named Lee Shaun. The same man who repeatedly screamed:

"If I enter this novel, I'm saving Azriel."

The universe heard him. And now Lee Shaun was staring at the mirror in front of him.

Black hair.

Purple eyes.

The face of Azriel Valenhart staring back.

Silence.

Then Shaun slowly covered his face.

"..."

"OH NO."

Because after reading the entire novel, Shaun knew something terrifying. Something nobody else knew.

Something that made Azriel's story even sadder.

The real tragedy wasn't that Azriel died.

The real tragedy was that Azriel was actually one of the kindest people in the entire novel.

Yet, nobody ever noticed.

_______________________________________

The moment Lee Shaun remembered that part of the novel, he wanted to throw up.

Not because of the trial.

Not because of the execution.

Not because of Azriel's death.

No.

Because he suddenly remembered what happened one year before all of that.

And somehow, it was even worse.

"Wait."

Shaun froze in front of the mirror. His expression slowly cracked.

"No."

A horrible realization hit him.

"No, no, no, no."

He grabbed both sides of his head. "NOT THAT ARC!"

The "Fallen Noble Arc."

The most hated arc in the entire fandom. The arc that made readers send death threats to fictional characters.

The arc that made thousands of comments cry over Azriel.

The arc Shaun skipped multiple times because it physically hurt him to read.

One year before the trial.

One year before Azriel's death.

One year before everything fell apart.

The Duke of Valenhart publicly disowned his youngest son. Not privately. Not quietly.

Not inside the family mansion.

But, publicly. Nationally.

In front of cameras.

Reporters.

Noble families.

Government officials.

Academy representatives.

Everyone.

The headlines spread throughout the country.

•"VALENHART FAMILY DISOWNS YOUNGEST SON."

•"AZRIEL VALENHART STRIPPED OF NOBLE STATUS."

•"NO MORE VALMONT NERO'S TITLE FOR AZRIEL VALENHART?"

•"FORMER YOUNG MASTER TO REPAY DAMAGES AS COMMON SERVANT."

At the time, readers thought:

"Good."

"Finally."

"That brat deserves it."

"Justice."

Until the story revealed the truth later. The Archduke Valenhart, Azriel's Father never cared about justice. Never cared about responsibility. Never cared about discipline.

He just simply wanted Azriel gone.

The damages Azriel supposedly caused?

Most were exaggerated.

Some weren't even his fault.

Others were incidents that some classmates and the staffs secretly framed him for.

Because of Azriel's reputation was already terrible, so nobody questioned it.

The Archduke Valenhart used those incidents as an excuse. A convenient excuse.

A legal excuse and a socially acceptable excuse. And then...

He took everything from Azriel.

His name.

His inheritance.

His family records.

His noble privileges.

His bank accounts.

His social standing.

His title.

Everything.

Azriel Valenhart ceased to exist.

The boy who spent eighteen years desperately trying to earn his family's attention was thrown away like garbage.

And the punishment?

To repay the academy for damages.

By becoming academy staff.

A servant.

A butler.

A commoner.

The very same students he once studied beside now became his superiors.

The same students who hated him.

The same students he argued with.

The same students he offended.

The same male leads.

The same protagonist.

Now they could order him around.

Legally.

Shaun remembered that arc vividly.

Because every chapter felt like watching someone drown.

At first, Azriel thought it wasn't so bad.

"Maybe Father will forgive me if I work hard."

"Maybe he'll take me back."

"Maybe this is a test."

Readers wanted to hug him, including Lee Shaun.

Because even after everything, Azriel still loved his father. His family.

Still hoped. Still waited. Still believed.

Every month he sent letters home.

No replies.

Every holiday he waited.

Nobody came.

Even his birthday.

Nothing.

Not even a message.

The academy staff hated him too. Because they only knew the spoiled noble version of Azriel Valenhart.

Nobody wanted to work with him.

Nobody wanted to talk to him.

Nobody wanted to eat with him.

Students laughed. Teachers mocked him. Servants whispered behind his back.

And because Azriel had no social skills...

He didn't know how to defend himself. He just knows how to fight. And Azriel no longer thought he was important anymore, so he let everything happen.

The novel described it beautifully.

Painfully.

As a noble, people feared him.

As a commoner, people discovered he was completely defenseless.

Because he wasn't good at insults actually.

Wasn't good at manipulation.

Wasn't good at revenge.

The villain everyone feared was actually terrible at being a villain.

Many students intentionally made messes just so Azriel would clean them.

Some dumped drinks on him. Others hid his supplies.

Some even recorded videos of him working and posted them online. The comments were brutal.

"Look who's cleaning floors now."

"Former Young Master becomes janitor."

"Serves him right."

"Karma."

Shaun remembered reading those chapters at 3 a.m. And wanting to punch every fictional character. Because the worst part wasn't the bullying.

The worst part was Azriel's reaction to it. He never fought back.

Never screamed.

Never complained.

Never reported anyone.

Because deep inside, Azriel genuinely believed he deserved it.

The boy spent his entire life being told he was a problem. Eventually,

He started believing it.

And then came the scene. The scene that broke the fandom where the protagonist accidentally found Azriel asleep inside a storage room.

Not because he was lazy. Because he was homeless.

His family had frozen every account.

Every asset.

Every property connected to him.

Azriel couldn't afford rent. So he secretly slept inside unused academy storage rooms.

Readers discovered he had been surviving on instant noodles for months.

The same boy who once lived in one of the richest households in the country. The same boy everyone called spoiled. The same boy everyone envied.

Was starving. Alone.

And nobody noticed.

Nobody cared.

Because everybody was too busy celebrating his downfall.

Standing in front of the mirror now, Shaun felt genuine anger rising inside him.

"That old bastard."

The Archduke Valenhart.

"That absolute piece of trash."

Shaun remembered every chapter. Every humiliation. Every cruel scene. Every ignored cry for help.

Then he remembered something else.

Something important.

This was before all of it happened.

Before the disownment.

Before the academy servant arc.

Before the homelessness.

Before the trial.

Before the execution.

Azriel was still a noble. Still had status. Still had power. He still had time.

A slow grin spread across Shaun's face. The kind of grin that made idol trainees nervous. Because unlike the original Azriel, Lee Shaun wasn't desperate for his father's love or attention. In fact—

He already hated that old man. And Azriel's family.

"Okay."

He cracked his knuckles.

"Step One. Save my money. Maybe, find a job."

"Step Two. Expose every idiot. Beat the shit out of everyone who's messing with me."

"Step Three. Get my favorite villain a happy ending. Don't give a shit about the protagonist, the male leads and the novel's plot. Just save Azriel."

He paused.

"Step Four."

A dangerous smile appeared.

"Make the Valenhart's Family regret every life decision their ever made."

For the first time since arriving in the novel, Lee Shaun was actually excited.

Because the original story?