Chapter 02
“I’m innocent… I’m not going to die… I refuse to die.”
“Yeah.”
I rambled nonsense, delirious with fever.
But someone was sitting beside me, answering every word.
“…Those bastards. I’ll… I’ll definitely get revenge. I’ll make them regret abandoning me… I swear…”
“Yeah, I know.”
The voice was a little indifferent, but still pleasant to hear.
Like that, on the brink of death, I drifted in and out of consciousness again and again.
I lived.
That was the first thought that flashed through my mind as soon as I opened my eyes.
“Ugh…”
As I struggled to sit up, the thing covering my body slid off with a soft rustle.
A coat I’d never seen before.
I stared blankly at the coat now lying across my legs, then came to my senses and looked around.
‘A cave.’
I was in a dark, cold cave.
The person who’d brought me here and taken care of me all this time was sitting against the far wall.
His arms were crossed and his head hung low, completely still. He seemed to be asleep.
I knew this boy’s name.
Isael Carlton.
A character destined to become the villain who would later block the protagonist’s path.
One of this world’s other major players.
He opened his eyes not long after.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
I greeted him with an awkward smile, and Isael stared at me like he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Um… uh, thank you. For stopping the bleeding and taking care of me.”
My abdomen was wrapped in strips of cloth.
He had torn my skirt, tied the long strip tightly around my waist, and secured a handkerchief over the wound.
It was unfortunate that my skirt had become shorter and raggedly torn, but given our situation, I had to be grateful for even this treatment.
I fiddled with the uneven hem and said,
“Really, thank you. I’d lost a lot of blood… I survived thanks to you.”
“It’s fine.”
He replied flatly, then fell silent, staring at me without looking away.
And then, after a long pause, he spoke again.
“I know who you are.”
“…Huh?”
“Rosette Grace.”
“Oh…”
“Right?”
“Uh, yeah. That’s right.”
I nodded, dazed.
I knew who he was, of course, but I didn’t expect him to know who I was.
“I’ve seen you a few times. In the imperial palace.”
Isael continued in a low voice.
“And your name… I saw it on the list of sacrifices.”
…The list of sacrifices?
I hadn’t known such a thing existed.
I was still processing that when he spoke again.
“You know who I am too, don’t you.”
I had told Isael that I’d seen his sister.
Knowing who his sister was meant I had to know who he was.
I nodded quickly.
“Yeah, I know.”
“…Okay.”
Silence followed.
Not knowing what he was thinking, I watched him carefully.
After some time, Isael broke the quiet.
“Everyone from the Lyonesse Empire is dead, except for us. You know that?”
The Lyonesse Empire.
That was the country I’d lived in before coming to this tower.
And Isael’s homeland too.
“…I figured it was likely.”
I answered honestly.
“The last time I saw anyone from Lyonesse was on the first floor.”
The two empires that unified the two continents of this world:
Camelot and Lyonesse.
In Camelot, the protagonist Leonard’s homeland, six children were offered as sacrifices.
And from Lyonesse, Isael’s and my birthplace, ten.
It was originally supposed to be nine, but because Isael entered the tower, it became ten.
He jumped onto the altar to save his sister, after all.
Isael was the legitimate heir of Lyonesse—its prince.
Meaning, he was never meant to be a sacrifice.
The child chosen by the imperial family had been the princess, Beatrice.
The emperor had designated Beatrice—a distant relative, not his blood daughter—as the sacrificial princess instead of his own children.
But when Isael learned this, he couldn’t accept it.
He truly cherished Beatrice as his little sister and loved her.
So he tried to stop the sacrificial ritual.
And in the end, he held Beatrice in his arms as they burned together atop the altar, which led to both of them being transported into this tower.
In short, Isael was climbing the tower solely to find his sister.
He becomes a villain because he awakens when Beatrice dies.
There is only one reason Isael becomes the final mastermind who stands against Leonard.
It was because of the choice Leonard made to open the final door at the top of the tower.
“Choose. The countless lives outside, or the life of the woman before you now. If you could save only one side… which would you choose?”
At the final door, the demon asks a single question.
Leonard does not hesitate.
“I will save the greater number of lives.”
“That’s the answer I hoped for. Very well—go on.”
Hearing his answer, the demon opens the door, allowing Leonard and his companions to leave the tower.
But the choice Leonard made…
Because of that choice, one woman was sacrificed in place of the countless lives saved.
That woman was none other than Beatrice—Isael’s sister.
And Isael arrives too late at the final floor, where he finds Beatrice lying dead.
Collapsing in grief before his beloved sister’s corpse, Isael hears the demon speak.
“Leonard of Camelot—the man fated to become a hero—sacrificed this woman’s life to leave the tower.”
And then the demon asks,
“I will give you the power to take revenge. In exchange, offer me your soul. Well? Do you accept?”
Isael answers without a moment of hesitation.
He sells his soul to the demon, determined to take revenge on Leonard.
And to make his parents and his nation pay for sacrificing Beatrice.
Thus he becomes a villain.
Ugh. He really was destined for a miserable life in every way.
Anyway, Isael only becomes Leonard’s enemy after leaving the tower.
Which means Isael surviving the tower is a fixed event in the novel—his future is guaranteed.
Unlike me, a mere extra whose fate was entirely different.
All the sacrifices except for the main characters were doomed to die in this tower.
Every single one of them.
But I wanted to live.
To do that, first…
I stood up and walked toward Isael.
Perhaps because I approached so suddenly, Isael looked at me with sharp, wary eyes.
I spoke carefully.
“Why aren’t you asking?”
“Asking what.”
“About your sister.”
I’d thought he would ask about Beatrice the moment I regained consciousness.
But to my surprise, he hadn’t brought her up at all.
It was strange.
After all, the whole reason he helped me was to find out where his sister was.
He couldn’t let me die before telling him—so he saved me.
“…You mentioned my sister the moment you saw me.”
“Yeah.”
“Then how did you even know I was looking for her?”
Isael stared at me suspiciously.
Even under that gaze, I calmly opened my mouth.
“Well, I’ll start with the thing you’re most curious about.”
At that, Isael crossed his arms, indicating he’d listen.
I looked him straight in the eyes.
“Your sister… the princess… she’s trapped on the very bottom floor of this tower.”
“How would you even kn—”
“How? Because I saw her with my own eyes.”
“…What?”
Isael looked at me like I was speaking complete nonsense.
Understandable.
Before I started spinning the real lie, I laid the groundwork.
“The truth is… I have a bit of a special ability.”
