Chapter 69
When the candle went out, the smell of burning lingered in the darkness.
Right. If a battle broke out, my mind cleared.
Whenever I imagined leaving the game and returning to reality, my brother was always there.
Not the otherworldly hero who had saved the world and died a thousand years earlier in the game.
I had to survive for now. The event that had just triggered was most likely the butler appearance event.
I groped for my poleaxe.
“What was the butler’s attack pattern again?”
I couldn’t remember exactly, but I knew he used poison and his attack range was pretty wide.
One variable was that the lights were off, maybe because it was hard mode.
Could I protect the Crown Prince in the dark?
I and Yurel might be okay, but the prince would be fatally wounded even if he was merely grazed.
“I’m not confident about reacting using only hearing.”
Still, it wouldn’t be impossible.
Something thudded and came running down from the ceiling. The moment the monster appeared, a sharp smell of blood spread so strongly that it confirmed to me that it was indeed the butler.
Humans became vulnerable in the dark.
The Crown Prince’s breathing grew irregular.
“This room is too small to run. Lady, I want to save you, save you. I really don’t know what to do….”
He sounded like he was hyperventilating.
He wouldn’t be worried about me dying, so it was probably claustrophobia.
At the peak of the short, heightened tension, something crashed in the dark and someone sprang across the wall and ceiling and attacked us.
I heard the movement and struck the trajectory with my poleaxe.
Thud—!
Fighting by sound alone wasn’t so bad, actually.
But I had to know where the prince was so I wouldn’t cut him. I held his wrist tightly to keep him from moving rashly.
“Lady April!”
“Your Highness.”
I heard the monster swing something nearby in close quarters.
The wind that blew through the darkness carried the scent of iron and blood.
“Stay where you are. If you don’t want to be torn apart.”
The voice that came from the dark was sincere.
At the same time, from the direction where Yurel was, I heard a very short, clear metallic ring—the quick sound of a sword being drawn.
Because Yurel had been there from the start, I wasn’t too worried.
The butler was a humanoid enemy, after all.
But the Butcher’s fatal side effect was dangerous.
A roar and the sound of metal scraping crossed each other. Something spurted; even without seeing it I knew it was hot blood.
Blue sparks of energy flashed and vanished in the dark.
I focused on the sounds as closely as I could.
Listening longer, I could distinguish that the heavy, dull noises belonged to the monster butler, while the sharp metallic sounds were Yurel’s.
“Now.”
Yurel’s attack came flying toward us.
I parried Yurel’s strike with my poleaxe, deflecting it.
The Crown Prince remained still, his wrist gripped by me, unaware of what I was doing.
Bang—! Ka-thud—!
After the fierce clash of combat, part of the ceiling near the corner broke.
Bright light streamed in through the hole above our heads. A cold wind followed.
Only then were we able to see Yurel properly.
I let go of the Crown Prince’s wrist.
Yurel stood a few steps away from us.
Although we stood in the center of the room, light did not touch him the way it did us.
Something heavy and large collapsed with a thud in front of Yurel.
“G-….”
The creature in front of Yurel had been reduced to a bloody mess, leaving no shape behind as it dissolved into blood.
A bloodstained butler’s uniform lay tossed on the floor.
Only I, who had seen the butler uniform through the game, could barely tell it had been a butler.
Yurel then looked at the Crown Prince.
Yurel’s eyes, normally black, had flared red.
The Butcher trait had a side effect called “Corruption” that appeared with some probability after battle.
It caused the host—or the highest-ranking person in the party—to be consumed by murderous intent.
It couldn’t be controlled.
A Yurel consumed by Corruption would not stop until he had fallen or had killed the target.
The more bond the host built with Yurel, the stronger the side effect became.
That was why, in the game, the romance ending from Eveline’s perspective only had outcomes like “killed by Yurel” or “Eveline kills Yurel.”
‘No luck. I half-expected it, but the Corruption really hit. Maybe the ratios change on hard mode?’
On normal mode, Yurel rarely went berserk from Corruption. Corruption only manifested when you pursued Yurel in Eveline’s route.
Here, the highest-ranking person was the Crown Prince.
Yurel’s red eyes lifted his blood-wet sword.
And in extreme situations, people always showed their true natures.
“Lady April.”
The Crown Prince called me.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Will you protect me from Lord Yurel?”
He asked me to stand against Yurel, who was soaked in murderous intent.
It was a brazen request.
“Lady. I will do my best to protect you. It will probably be bleak and frightening….”
I never really believed him from the start.
There had been a time when I thought, for some reason, that the Crown Prince somewhat resembled my brother. I erased that thought completely.
The Crown Prince did not resemble my brother in the slightest.
Iseo-woo was the most selfless person I knew.
Even when he had confessed his love for me, he would remain composed and cold-faced, not like the Crown Prince who barked orders.
It would not be strange to think he sacrificed himself for this world.
No. Focus. I forced myself to think as lightly as possible.
‘Well, it’d be a problem if the Crown Prince died.’
For many reasons.
“You want Lord Yurel stopped? Yes! I don’t know much, but I’ll protect Your Highness.”
I tilted my head innocently and smiled brightly, pretending not to understand the situation.
Then I glanced up at Yurel and laughed lightly.
“Oh my, Lord Yurel.”
Seeing Yurel’s reddened eyes, I chattered as if childishly.
“You look tired. If you pull an all-nighter or don’t sleep, your eyes get red. April learned that you have to get enough sleep to look pretty.”
The Crown Prince pressed his lips tightly together.
Yurel’s gaze, burning red, turned toward me.
Yurel, consumed by murderous intent, instinctively perceived me as a threatening superior.
He also realized that unless he killed me he couldn’t kill the Crown Prince.
“Lady.”
Just as the Crown Prince was about to say something,
Yurel dashed at me like lightning.
