chapter 5
Just before leaving the secret room, Yoo Jein cast a blessing on everyone in the group.
“It helps reduce fatigue and restore stamina. It’s nothing amazing, but…”
“It’s more than amazing enough. Thank you, Miss Yoo Jein.”
This was the reason Yoo Jein — a commoner orphan raised in a temple — had first caught the attention of noble society.
Divine power.
The Empire, which worshipped many gods, had plenty of priests, but people capable of visibly manifesting divine power like this could be counted on one hand.
As far as I knew, Yoo Jein’s divine power was, well… about enough to heal a paper cut.
‘Too weak, you say?’
The gods in this world were stingy. They rarely granted priests great powers.
Still, that level was enough to become the Empire’s most famous priestess.
After pouring blessings onto several people at once, Yoo Jein staggered, and the Grand Duke beside her quickly supported her.
“Are you alright?”
“Y-Yes, I’m fine. Your Highness, your hand…”
“It’s cold. If that makes you uncomfortable…”
“It doesn’t! That’s not it, I just… my hands are cold…”
“That’s fine. I like cold things.”
‘They’re really flirting right in front of me.’
Watching the romance unfold before my eyes, I dusted off my clothes indifferently.
See nothing. Hear nothing. Pretend I have no mouth.
Just like back when I was a rookie employee and my supervisor and someone from the neighboring team were in that awkward almost-dating phase right in front of me.
The one who shattered the sweet atmosphere was the nuisance guy.
Without even thanking her, he rotated his arm around and grumbled.
“You should’ve done that sooner. Then maybe one of the knights wouldn’t have died.”
Yoo Jein, who had been wiping away cold sweat, flinched.
“I’m sorry…”
“Well, it’s not like you need to apologize to me. I’m just saying.”
So this was what people meant by “causing a fuss even after receiving help.”
It was obvious that every blessing drained a huge amount of her energy, and yet this bastard acted like she owed him blessings on demand.
Instead of the speechless Yoo Jein, the Crown Prince frowned.
“Papri, stop it.”
“Ah, but I’m right, aren’t I, hyung?! Normally, someone like her wouldn’t even dare stand among us. If divine power is what got her this far, then she should’ve known how to act without being told!”
Who knew how many monsters were outside, and now one of our shields was dead, damn it… the nuisance guy muttered.
‘Wow. I can think of a hundred nasty things to say to him right now.’
Just as the Crown Prince was about to speak again, Mascarpone cut in first.
“Didn’t you hear her? She said it was a blessing that relieves fatigue.”
Using the same sharp tone she’d used against me earlier, Mascarpone snapped back.
“Did that knight die from exhaustion earlier? No, he didn’t. What Miss Yoo Jein cast was a blessing, not defensive magic.”
“And who are you to butt in, old lady—”
“Forget ‘old lady’ and hurry up already! At this rate dawn’s going to break before we move!”
“Yeah, let’s just go already. This place creeps me out.”
I immediately backed her up.
At this point, I practically wanted to bow in gratitude to Mascarpone for saying what I’d been holding back.
‘It’s so hard not to butt in. If Mascarpone hadn’t spoken up, I probably would’ve exploded from stress just now.’
I didn’t love the way she’d picked a fight with me earlier, but if she was equally prickly toward everyone, I could tolerate it.
“Y-Yes, let’s go. I’m scared to death…”
Extra #2, reading the room, chimed in as well.
Once the women all spoke up together, even the nuisance guy couldn’t keep arguing and finally shut up.
Darjeeling quickly stepped forward and opened the door.
Darjeeling and the Crown Prince, the only ones who knew how to handle weapons, took the lead while the Grand Duke guarded the rear. The rest of us — unarmed and unable to fight — stayed in the middle.
There were eight people total, but only three combatants.
Three people protecting five.
‘If a game assigned me a team like this? I’d delete my account on the spot.’
“Haah…”
I sighed.
“Ah, move.”
“Huh?”
The nuisance guy suddenly shoved my back and slipped in front of me.
Forced backward, I blinked blankly.
‘Huh?’
What was that?
‘I thought he’d stay in the rear with the Grand Duke?’
Not because he was a man, but because he’d insisted on taking a weapon earlier and grabbed a sword.
And now he casually shoved me aside and squeezed himself into the center row — right between the women. Watching him wedge himself among us so he could be protected from all sides, I let out a sigh and moved to the back instead.
When the Grand Duke noticed me approaching his side, he subtly shifted so I could walk on the safer side.
“You should stand in the front row, my lady.”
“It’s fine. Five people can’t exactly walk side by side.”
Maybe I could stab a zombie in the neck with a paper knife. Or at least shove one over by the shoulder.
The Grand Duke tilted his head while watching me rotate my arms and stretch.
“You seem different today somehow.”
“What, do I look more tired?”
“Not exactly…”
The Grand Duke leaned closer, casting a shadow over my face. I instinctively shrank my shoulders at the warmth of his breath near my ear.
“The atmosphere around you feels different. Earlier, you even helped Miss Yoo Jein.”
“I didn’t help her. Miss Mascarpone did.”
“Wasn’t backing up Miss Mascarpone when she said we should hurry considered helping?”
Smiling to himself, he scratched his cheek before continuing.
“I thought you’d be angry after watching Praha and Miss Yoo Jein stick together all afternoon. But you weren’t.”
His emerald eyes glittered in the corridor light.
“There are corpses walking around outside. Does it really matter if living people cling to each other?”
The moment I answered flatly, he burst into quiet laughter.
“You really are different.”
Because I’m literally a different person.
The Grand Duke openly stared at me with a “what got into you?” expression, and I stared right back.
He was handsome.
Like those celebrity birthday ads plastered around Samseong Station on Line 2 late at night.
Sparkling brightly while the underground station stayed dark all around it. Like someone had taken the most radiant moment of a person’s life and pasted it onto a glowing billboard.
With hair that pure and golden, he probably glowed without needing any lighting at all.
I flicked my wrist loosely.
“Still tired? Even after receiving a blessing?”
“The kind of fatigue I have isn’t something a blessing can cure.”
“Then what can?”
The kind only iced Americanos can fix.
“Mind your own business.”
“How cold.”
“Yes.”
Even when I answered curtly, the Grand Duke only laughed.
After the confession incident involving Yoo Sara, it was common knowledge that relations between the Grand Duke and Lady Yoo Sara had completely soured.
So even if I acted prickly toward him, no one found it strange.
Because of that, it was convenient. I could speak to him exactly how I wanted without holding back.
“Stop talking to me. I’m too tired to even speak…”
As I shut down the Grand Duke’s attempts at conversation, Yoo Jein, walking ahead of us, glanced back.
Only after meeting those round rabbit-like eyes did I close my mouth.
Was she upset because I said her blessing didn’t work?
Better stay quiet.
The villa we were in looked like the Korean letter “ㅜ” from above — a two-story building.
The secret room we’d come from was the room farthest to the right on the second floor. There were no stairs on that side; instead, there was a large central staircase used by nobles in the middle of the building and another staircase on the left used by servants.
Second floor: stairs / central staircase / secret room
First floor: gallery / kitchen / dining hall
Our target — the kitchen — was attached behind the grand curved staircase in the center.
In theory, it was simple. Walk straight, turn the corner, go down the spiral staircase, then slip into the kitchen behind it.
‘The problem is that this “simple” building is ridiculously huge.’
As we walked the long corridor, people gradually stopped talking. Even the Grand Duke, who’d been teasing me earlier, now carefully scanned our surroundings.
To calm my nerves, I occupied myself with pointless thoughts.
—Yoo Sara’s Crown Prince acrostic poem—
Crown: What an honor.
Prince: To be escorted by both the Crown Prince and the Grand Duke.
…Okay, the joke doesn’t really translate cleanly into English.
Just as we neared the central staircase, Extra #2 spoke.
“It’s too quiet… it’s making me nervous.”
Mascarpone, biting her lip, responded.
“Wouldn’t it be better if we just went back to the room now?”
It sounded like she was asking the Crown Prince for his opinion, but he kept staring ahead without replying. Once again, it was the Grand Duke who answered.
“Corpses are walking around. At this point, even the building collapsing or catching fire wouldn’t be surprising. We don’t know what else could happen, so escaping is our top priority. That’s also why we’re bringing along those of you who can’t fight.”
“But…”
At that moment, the Crown Prince whispered from the front.
“Shh.”
Everyone froze instantly, like brakes had been slammed on.
Behind a giant horse statue positioned around the corner from the staircase—
stood a knight.
No one had to tell us to hold our breath.
“…”
The Crown Prince raised his empty left hand and crossed two fingers in a signal. Darjeeling immediately lifted his shield to protect everyone.
Silencing his footsteps, the Crown Prince closed the distance behind the knight in just a few strides.
“Grrrk…”
Just as the knight’s cloudy white eyes turned toward us—
Slice.
The Crown Prince severed his neck.
Only after he returned did anyone dare speak again.
Pretending not to notice the dismembered corpse lying in the corner of the hallway.
“It can’t see us.”
“It must detect its surroundings through hearing or smell instead of sight.”
“Are all the moving corpses like that?”
“Your Highness, what do you think?”
“…That isn’t the problem.”
The Crown Prince’s expression had turned grim. So had Darjeeling’s beside him.
Frowning deeply, the Crown Prince gestured toward the central staircase. We couldn’t see it from here because of the corner.
The whispering stopped as everyone crowded behind Darjeeling and the Crown Prince.
“Ah!”
“Ugh…”
There was a mountain of corpses.
Dozens of bodies — decapitated, dismembered, sliced in half — were piled across the wide curved staircase like discarded mannequins.
Blood streamed down the steps like a river flowing through a valley.
Drip. Drip. Drip…
Only after seeing it did the nauseating stench hit us.
A fingernail-less hand sticking out from the top stair. A young man with his stomach split open lying near the top of the pile. Spilled intestines. The jagged cross-section of severed necks.
“Ah!”
Yoo Jein stumbled backward and stepped squarely on my foot before I could react.
While staring blankly at the pile of corpses, I failed to dodge as she crashed into me.
Her tall pointed heel slipped painfully across the top of my foot—
and the two of us collapsed together in a tangled heap.
“Ack!”
“Oh my!”
“Miss Yoo Jein!”
“Are you alright?!”
“Ah… y-yes, I’m okay.”
I knew those shoes looked dangerous.
Rubbing my throbbing ankle, I looked up—
and saw two large hands extended in front of me.
“Ah, thank—”
I froze just as I was about to grab one.
The two male leads had both reached out their hands.
More specifically—
both of them were reaching toward Yoo Jein.
The male leads looked flustered as they saw me freeze.
My empty space in front of me.
‘Are you alright?!’
…So that question wasn’t directed at me after all.
[Imperial Villa — Second Floor Hallway]
Darjeeling / Crown Prince
Yoo Jein / Nuisance Guy / Mascarpone / Extra #2
Grand Duke / Yoo Sara
(Surviving)