Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship!-Chapter 45: To the Next Star System!

The Meyers Royal Family—one of the few remaining noble houses that still clung to the monarchy system. Within their controlled star systems, they were treated like gods—inviolable, worshipped, their rule absolute. This had been the case for eons.

And perhaps because of this, something strange emerged within their bloodline—something not observed in any other noble family.

Upon reaching the age of thirty—the minimum age of consent in the game’s settings—the direct descendants of the Meyers Royal Family would awaken their special abilities.

As you might’ve guessed, Cassandra Meyers had one too. And hers was… well, blatantly overpowered.

Anyone—or anything—that had ever once shown even the slightest hint of subservience to her would lose the ability to disobey her orders. Whether it was a simple request or an absolute command to end their own life, the result was the same: total and irrevocable obedience.

It was an insanely broken ability. One that directly led to one of the worst bad-end routes in the game.

The event that earned her the title of Crazy Princess happened in Chapter 13. An entire coalition of systems had risen against the Meyers Royal Family. So she simply commanded them to kill each other, prioritizing those not under her control, until only one of them remained.

What followed was a massacre of cosmic proportions.

The game even had a sped-up cutscene showing the carnage. Throughout it all, Cassandra sat on her throne, sipping wine, watching as if she were enjoying some high-class opera.

A level of cruelty beyond human.

But now…

The half-naked beauty kneeling in front of me was nothing like the monster from that story. There was no madness in her eyes. No twisted joy. Instead, her actions felt deliberate—filled with reason and purpose.

I had no idea what the hell she was thinking.

"Wait, what are you doing?" I finally spoke, snapping back to reality. "Can you stand up? Kneeling isn’t helping with keeping your modesty, you know?"

Her current pose almost gave me a clear, shadowy view of her Bermuda triangle—without the Bermuda.

"If that’s what you wish…" Cassandra whispered, then rose to her feet with an almost graceful motion.

Her gaze remained clear—steady—without a hint of hesitation, which meant one thing. It was pointless to ask her to retract her oath.

’…Not that she could take it back in the first place.’

To nobles like herself, an oath of allegiance like this was absolute. Breaking it meant death for the one who swore it.

And beyond that—I needed her alive. Without her future abilities, it would be near impossible to clear some of the dead-end routes awaiting us. We couldn’t afford to lose her here.

’…Well. This messes up my plans, but it also works in our favor.’

Originally, the player had to go through an entire story arc of breaking through Cassandra’s cold heart, redeeming her, and—eventually—recruiting her as part of the player’s harem.

But now?

Not only was the player—Eva—not a guy, but Cassandra wasn’t even crazy. I had so many things I wanted to complain about. But, well… all’s well that ends well. Now that she’s taken me as her "lord," then I can order her around and use her to clear the upcoming bad ends.

Or so I thought—until she spoke again.

"I wouldn’t mind, either way," Cassandra said, tilting her head slightly. "As your spouse, you’ll see my body sooner or later, anyway."

—…Huh?

I stared. I pressed a finger to my temple and felt the incoming headache.

"…Wait a fucking minute."

Her oath wasn’t an oath of allegiance? It was the other one?! The marriage oath? The one nobles used when marrying into a family of higher standing?!

’But I’m not even a noble! I’m just the firstborn of a damn conglomerate!’

Something wasn’t adding up.

Had I missed a major plot point somewhere?

’…Wait…’

Then it hit me. Chapter 13’s timeline is twelve years ahead of now. Could it be—

I turned to Cassandra, frowning.

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This kidnapping event might be the very thing that turns her into the Crazy Princess I know of in the future. Did we just completely derail the plotline?!

If I’d known this beforehand, I would’ve stopped Eva from interfering at all costs!

Sure, it might’ve left us with fewer headaches, but it’s not like Cassandra would’ve died in captivity. She just would’ve… lost a few screws in the process.

And in the grand scale of things? That was fine.

"My dear…?"

Her soft, worried voice pulled me back.

Cassandra was still looking at me. Earnest. Expectant.

I needed to fix this.

"I’m not looking for a bride right now," I said quickly, shaking my head. "And it’s not like you can just decide that on your own, right? What about King Meyers’ opinion?"

"And in the first place—" I pressed on before she could argue, "—we’re in the middle of a crisis. Your kidnappers have serious backing. It wouldn’t be surprising if they locate us at any moment. Save this kind of talk for later—after we’re safe."

Cassandra paused. Then, slowly, she nodded.

"So you need time to prove my loyalty," she murmured as if reaching some personal conclusion.

’…No. That wasn’t what I meant at all.’

Although I interfered with her becoming the Crazy Princess, she’s already crazy enough, alright. But before I could correct her—

"Then, until the day you deem me worthy of standing by your side, please allow me to be part of your mercenary band."

Her voice was confident. Determined.

"I’ll do everything in my power to ensure you never regret this decision!"

She spoke as if she’d already been accepted into our group… A decision I hadn’t even made yet. This is driving me insane.

In the end, we postponed all decisions for now. I led Cassandra to a vacant room on the ship so she could rest, then made my way back to the cockpit.

Sitting down, I let out a deep sigh.

Even though I’d only been away for a short while, I felt at least twice as tired—emotionally and mentally, more than anything else.

"Anyway, right now, our top priority is shaking off our pursuers," I muttered to myself, trying to switch gears. "I’ll let the me of tomorrow deal with all of the troublesome stuff..."

I gently closed my eyes, taking a short nap.

---

During the jump, I mapped out several waypoints, carefully plotting our course based on the numerous requests I had claimed from the Adventurer’s Guild. Efficiency was key—completing jobs along the way would not only net us valuable credits but also help disguise our true destination.

Ultimately, our goal was the Kariki Star System. It was the best option for multiple reasons—first, it allowed us to advance to the next phase of the main quest faster. Second, and more importantly, it was the perfect place to hide Princess Cassandra.

Anyway, it had been 50 hours since we left the Calumet Star System. It had been quite a long ride already, but there were still no signs of pursuers anywhere. Right now, the two of us were idle inside the Range Falcon’s bridge, simply watching the sensors as time flew by.

Eva leaned against the console, arms crossed. "I still think this is a terrible idea," she muttered.

I grinned, shrugging my shoulders. "You think everything is a terrible idea."

I had already spoken to her about Cassandra’s situation—excluding the part about her marriage oath to me. In truth, I wanted to clarify that it was her impulsive action that dragged us into this situation. Of course, I didn’t dare bring that up in front of her. I don’t like pain, after all.

"This time, I mean it." She sighed. "Kariki doesn’t let anyone in. That Cassandra girl isn’t recorded as part of our group, so she would have a hard time entering Kariki’s Star System—if we weren’t shot down immediately by its defense systems."

She wasn’t wrong. Kariki’s defense grid was infamous—the kind of place where unauthorized ships turned into space dust in seconds. Every automated turret, every drone, and every planetary defense station was controlled by an AI system so advanced that no hacker had ever broken through it.

And it wasn’t for lack of trying. If you made a list of the top ten hackers in the universe, the top nine of them were already working under Kariki himself, further enhancing his firewalls.

That meant zero chances of a security breach.

Which, ironically, made it the safest place for us—so long as we followed the rules.

"That’s exactly why it’s a great idea," I pointed out. "As long as we register her as part of our fleet before reaching there, we’ll be safe. No one’s getting in to chase us. Not bounty hunters, not the military, not even pirates."

Eva scoffed. "Yeah, if everything goes perfectly. And remind me, when has anything in our lives ever gone perfectly?"

I gave her a cocky grin. "There’s first time for everything."

She rolled her eyes.

Our journey would take 15 galactic days—crossing through the Calumet Asteroid Belt, stopping by various star systems, and then making a final jump into Kariki’s domain.

On paper, it was a simple trip. In practice? The eerie silence of the wide expanse of space was starting to get under my skin. By day two, the tension was thick enough to be felt in our skin.

Normally, traveling through these regions meant dealing with some kind of disturbance—pirates, stranded merchants, or aliens. Space was never quiet. Not to mention the effect of Eva’s MC Correction in play, dragging us to trouble at every turn.

But now? Nothing. Not a single hostile encounter. Not even a single ship entered our long-range radars—pirates or not.

"This is bad," I muttered, feeling a rising sense of foreboding about what was coming next.

This section was where we usually encountered hundreds of pirates in a day. And now, we haven’t seen even their shadows.

Eva seemed to have noticed my worry, and with a frown, she asked. "You think it’s a trap?"

"I don’t know," I admitted. "But if the usual scumbags aren’t here, it’s either because they’re dead… or something bigger scared them off."

We exchanged a glance. Neither option was comforting.

At that moment, Percy’s voice chimed in from the speakers, announcing the results of the analysis I had requested earlier.

[Completed analysis of historical sector activity results.]

I leaned deeper in my chair. "And?"

[A significant drop in unauthorized activity across multiple sectors has been observed. Pirate fleet movements are down 97% compared to ten days ago. That is an unprecedented reduction.]

Eva frowned. "Wait… Are you telling me someone actually cleaned up this place?"

[Affirmative. However, there are no official reports of military engagement in this region. The responsible party remains unknown.]

I felt a chill run down my spine. Someone—or something—had silenced the chaos of deep space. And I had a gut feeling that soon enough, we were about to find out who did it, and why.