Damn you, world!
Japanese title: Akuyaku Reijo Ni Koi Wo Shite
When Rion regained consciousness, he was already in another world. There was no meeting with a God, no cheat skills, just a sudden reincarnation. There was no time to find his bearings either, he was in a life-or-death trouble from the start that would somehow result in being employed as a valet to a vain youngster from an aristocratic family.
He would, in time, discover an astonishing truth about this new world and vow to fight it with all his might to protect the people important to him. No matter how reckless that would be.
Tropes in the work as follows:
- Acceptable Break from Reality: Rion's plans in organizing crime in the slums he's from shouldn't work anywhere near as well as they do, but being a "Key character," the world setting twists causality to make this aspect of his efforts actually succeed, for its own ends.
- Culture Blind: Maria acts as if she's still in modern Japan, despite finding herself in a medieval aristocracy. The only reason she's not killed for Lese Majeste is that the world needs her for its "script" and won't let her be killed.
- Deconstruction: Of wish fulfillment isekai stories. Rion doesn't have any special insight to the world because he never played the game; his life is much worse for ending up in another world instead of being better; rather than finding himself gathering an adoring harem, he is repeatedly raped by women who only care for his body; his unique physical trait (mismatched eyes) is seen as a mark of bad luck instead of being cool; the "female protagonist" is a horrific tyrant who he hates outright instead of being a romantic interest; and rather than the god of the world giving him advice or protecting him, at best he gets to make a Deal with the Devil with a fragment of the world's consciousness while the rest of it actively works against him. He's still a handsome broody master swordsman, but it's small consolation given everything that's happened to him.
- Double Standard Rape: Female on Male: Rion is raped by women considerably older and higher on the social strata near-constantly, or at best, the consent is highly questionable, since he doesn't have the agency to say "no." Yet, everyone who knows about it acts as if he is the instigator, regardless of the circumstances. Just one more reason Rion is a Misanthrope Supreme.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Rion and Ariel have to go through a bunch of crap through the story.
- Genre Blind: Rion was never a fan of isekai stories or light novels, and knows absolutely nothing about the "game world" he finds himself in. He has to learn everything regarding his circumstances the hard way.
- George Lucas Altered Version: Due to being a web-novel, which tend to be like open source rough drafts for Light Novels in Japan, the author has gone back and rewritten parts. Most notably, Prince Arnold's character was overhauled to be much more sympathetic, and a Hero-Worshipper to Rion.
- Gone Horribly Right: In addition to laziness and lack of concern, Maria has no governing or managerial experience of any sort, so when she succeeds at conquering the kingdom of Grand Flam and setting herself up as empress of the Alexandros Empire, she does such terrible job of choosing the people who will administer her territory, and setting up oversight, that the wrath of the peasants she "heroically" saves from the nobility turn their rage at the corrupt government she built, and at her, personally, repeatedly requiring suppression from the army to keep everything stable. Even trying to shift their wrath to a foreign country by launching a war is too little, too late for her.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: In-universe. Vincent Windhill and Ariel Windhill. Despite all of Rion's best efforts, the world is determined to cast them as villains, regardless of their words or deeds, at least until the end of "The Academy Arc."
- Lack of Empathy: Both Rion and Maria start the story caring only for themselves. While Rion learns to trust and cherish others, Maria never gets out of this mindset, and unknowingly continues to alienate everyone, surviving only because the world setting doesn't want her killed off just yet.
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Justified. In the story, the vast, vast majority of women are either virgins pure as snow, or harlots who use sex as a weapon. The number of women who have a happy and healthy sex-life, as part of a committed relationship, can be counted on one hand.
- Mugging the Monster: Throughout the story, the aristocracy, almost without exception, treat Rion like crap, for the fact that he's an orphan from the slums, only present in their company because Vincent took pity on him. Then comes the reveal that he's the long-lost younger sibling of the crown prince. Cue a Mass "Oh, Crap!".
- Nominal Hero: In-universe. Maria, chosen by the world as "The protagonist."
- Plot Armor: Invoked and Lampshaded. The world will not let any lethal harm come to a "key character" as long as it has scenes planned out for him or her. Rion actively tries to kill Maria at several points, yet she "accidentally" survives all of them, blissfully unaware.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: What's good and what's evil is entirely dependent on what Rion says it is. Sadly, since the world seems absolutely determined to see him suffer, he's become quite the Misanthrope Supreme.
- Rape as Drama: The original host of Rion's body, Frey, was repeatedly raped in the slums by "Dan" and Rion finds himself being used as a sex-toy, despite being less than 11 years old, by "noble" ladies, whom he can't refuse because of his status being lower than theirs, and it sickens him.
- Rape as Backstory: When your entire life is spent being used as a sex toy, among other abuses, such experiences will seriously sour genuine loving commitments, like marriage. It takes Rion the better part of a year of being Happily Married before he can realize that it's actually okay to consummate his marriage, because of the subconscious fear that he'll be disgusted with her too, like he was disgusted by all the women who used him as their toy prior to marriage, under Questionable Consent circumstances.
- Real Politik: The crown and the three main aristocratic houses may be allies, on paper, but they're constantly jockeying for maximum benefits to themselves, not the kingdom as a whole. In fact, the only time the marquess of one of those families was truly loyal to the crown, to the point of death, happened at the founding of the country over 400 years ago. King Flamm foolishly, and willingly, throws away such loyalty by executing Vincent Windhill on false charges of high treason, because he couldn't be bothered to actually investigate if the claims were true until after the boy was dead.
- "Reborn as Villainess" Story: In a Darker and Edgier tale, Rion, from Japan dies and finds himself in the body of a child in the slums, who's life is miserable until he encounters the Villainess Ariel Windhill and her brother, being hired as their valet (Battle Butler). Unaware that he's in a world based on a game, Rion is teased by her and forms a Lady and Knight relationship, using subterfuge to protect the siblings and their reputations, and encountering the world's Designated Hero Maria. Maria, from earth but having played the game, and seeing the actually innocent Ariel as her greatest enemy, spreads rumors and conspires to bring the two siblings down, earning Rion's wrath, only for Rion to find that she has In-Universe Plot Armor, and You Can't Fight Fate.
- Reincarnation: Both Maria and Rion come from modern Japan and were reincarnated into this "game world."
- Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: Legend has it that people born with heterochromia, like Rion, are the harbinger of misfortune. Rion gets treated very, very badly as a result. This bad treatment is precisely what causes most of the misfortune in the story, regardless of Rion's wishes or acts.
- Setting as a Character: The world of the story has a will of its own and will twist causality into pretzels to get the scenario it wants.
- Trapped in Another World: Neither Rion nor Maria know how they wound up in this "game world," and neither of them can leave.
- Wrong Genre Savvy: Maria is convinced that the new world she finds herself in will act exactly like the game she's fond of playing, and follows the script of her "perfect walkthrough," completely baffled when things don't go her way.
