Chapter 35
Am I really going to die?
Just like this? So meaninglessly?
Even after I survived falling into a sewer?
“It’s time to take responsibility for your choice now.”
“Ugh… urgh…”
My heart started pounding violently as I watched the madman slowly approach with twin swords in hand.
It felt like death was right in front of me. Fear, tension—everything surged at once.
‘Is it… going to hurt?’
Of course, it’ll hurt!
Instead of hoping he’d kill me painlessly, I decided it was better to at least pretend to cooperate.
Then, I noticed my pale hand trembling.
And suddenly—a twist churned inside me.
‘Why am I letting myself get dragged around like a pushover again?’
Thinking back, it was frustrating that this whole mess began because I got caught up in a suspicious knight’s quest.
Now here I was, forging a fake will, about to get my head chopped off by this twin-blade lunatic.
This felt no different from the powerless reality I was trying to escape—where I was always trampled over and couldn’t even speak up.
“Ah.”
I remembered my true identity.
This game—Arc—is a villainess-raising simulation game.
And Arc is quite lenient when it comes to villainy. The penalties were low, and the returns were big.
“…Excuse me?”
Suddenly fired up, I clenched my fists and snapped at Randolph.
But maybe because I was still scared stiff, my voice came out like a squeak. He didn’t seem to hear me.
“What was that?”
If I were sane, I would’ve backed down from his cold tone.
But I wasn’t.
“Why do you keep talking down to me…?!”
My old, passive self overlapped with my current self, pushed to the edge of death. I snapped.
“……?”
He seemed startled. Randolph, whose face hadn’t shown much emotion since returning to his true self, now looked mildly flustered.
“We’ve just met, haven’t we? If you really wanted me as a companion, you should’ve at least shown a bit of respect! Talking down to me, threatening me with swords—what the hell is that supposed to be?!”
I kept going without pause.
“Who’d want to team up with someone so rude? If your goal is to clean up trash, shouldn’t you at least follow some basic courtesy among janitors? You have no manners! No honor among killers!”
“…….”
“And accepting a mission to kill the Emperor without even knowing who the client is—how is that justice? Isn’t that just recklessly shortening your own lifespan? This isn’t punishing the greedy—it’s just watching others suffer for your own amusement!”
I could say all this because I knew Randolph’s backstory.
In the romance route, it’s revealed he’s consumed by hatred for humanity and has completely lost his values.
To win him over romantically, you have to gently soothe him and bring him back to reality…
But I wasn’t interested in any of that.
‘…Why is it so quiet?’
I was terrified he might lash out and kill me for talking back, but Randolph just stood there, silently listening.
Even after I finished ranting, he didn’t move.
‘What… is this?’
Why wasn’t he reacting?
Was he planning to kill me slowly for daring to talk back?
Despite the relief of having vented, I was starting to regret it a little…
And then the system finally popped up with a message.
[SYSTEM] Persuasion is working effectively.
‘Shapeshifter Randolph’ reflects on his actions!
Persuasion +1
Huh?
This wasn’t a death flag—it felt more like a salvation flag!
My heart started pounding with hope.
But that wasn’t all.
Behind Randolph, a figure suddenly appeared—silently.
A dark red robe. A black mask!
‘Finally!’
The knight had come. The one I thought would never show up in time.
He drew his sword, and Randolph spun around in surprise.
Clang!
In an instant, their swords clashed.
Randolph had drawn his weapon before I even noticed.
“Swordmaster…?”
Randolph growled, but the knight didn’t respond—he just swung again.
The clanging of metal rang through the air, making me wince.
Boom!
Suddenly, a strange noise echoed, and everything went dark.
The abrupt darkness made me panic—what if I got stabbed in the confusion?
“Ah!”
Fortunately, the one who wrapped his arm around my waist wasn’t Randolph—it was the knight.
In a blink, my surroundings changed.
And now—
“Huff… huff…”
I was on my knees, gasping for air.
Honestly, I had gotten some decent gains—yelled at Randolph, unlocked hidden job information—but I was so tense the entire time, the moment I felt safe, my legs gave out.
“I thought I was going to die…”
As my breathing calmed, the frustration of nearly dying surged up.
But I couldn’t really blame him for being late.
‘I still don’t know who this guy really is…’
Randolph had called him a “Swordmaster.” And in Arc’s world, there weren’t many people with that title.
But…
‘I don’t know any Swordmaster like this.’
Was he a mystery character?
Like I said before—not knowing the strategy was the fastest route to a dead ending. And if I didn’t even know the person, I’d better stay quiet.
“You seem calm now.”
As I quieted down, the masked knight finally spoke.
“Did you identify the culprit?”
“…Yes.”
Once the quest was marked complete, I’d find out his identity anyway.
So I stopped overthinking and got to the point.
“The infiltrator in the palace was the assassin guild master.”
“The assassin guild master…”
“Yes, his name is Randolph.”
The moment I answered, the system displayed the quest complete message.
[SYSTEM] Surprise Quest <Suspicious Knight’s Trust> completed!
Quest rewards granted!
You’ve built trust with the ‘Suspicious Knight’—his info is now available.
You can now sell top-tier magic stones to him at double the market price.
Charm +5
· Charm: 9 (↑5)
All the rewards were great, but what I wanted most was to know the identity of this knight.
So I checked immediately.
Name: Suspicious Knight Adrian Theodor von Bregenz
Age: 27
Occupation: Second Prince of the Bregenz Empire
Title: The Royal Family’s Fixer
As the alias “Suspicious Knight” vanished and his true name appeared…
I froze.
‘H-he’s real…’
He was a character I had never once seen during all my time playing the game.
