Chapter 18 : Chapter 18
Volume 1
Chapter 18 : Different Perspectives
“Damn… when gods fight, mortals suffer?”
Muen was currently cowering in a corner, looking humble, weak, helpless, and pitiful.
He lowered his head and glanced at the cut mark only a few centimeters away from him. He could not help but shudder violently.
This would not do.
He could not stay here—otherwise, he might not even know how he died.
Taking advantage of the fierce battle between the two, Muen pressed himself against the wall and slowly edged toward the door.
Fortunately, the maid assassin’s target was not him, and she had no time to bother with a weakling like him.
So Muen quickly made his way to the door. As long as he opened it, he could escape easily.
“Hm?”
Muen twisted the doorknob forcefully—but it did not budge at all.
“Huh? Huh?!”
His face instantly turned deathly pale.
Clearly, that maid assassin had come fully prepared.
No wonder she dared to attempt an assassination in the heavily guarded Duke’s residence—and target none other than the Empire’s Third Princess!
“But this is strange. This never happened in the original story!”
Muen clutched his head in frustration and slowly crouched down again, his mind racing at full speed.
No matter how hard he searched his memories, he could only arrive at one certain conclusion—
—this scene absolutely did not exist in the original plot!
“Why did an assassin suddenly appear? Where did things go wrong?”
“This is the Duke’s residence! How could an assassin infiltrate so easily without triggering any alarms?”
“Could it be…”
Thinking back to what the assassin had said earlier, Muen suddenly arrived at a horrifying possibility.
“Was it because of the order I gave… that these assassins found an opening?”
In the original story, the sick maid Noelle had not been given any time to rest.
The original Muen had never issued an order to recruit additional help from outside to ensure the banquet ran smoothly.
But in this timeline, because of Muen’s small act of kindness, everything had changed.
The staff that the head maid hastily recruited overnight had become the one and only flaw in the otherwise tightly secured Duke’s residence today!
“But this is still too absurd. The recruitment was done overnight!”
The head maid must have understood the importance of security and trust. The moment she received Muen’s order, she had acted immediately—
precisely to prevent ill-intentioned outsiders from having time to react.
Yet even so, an assassin had still managed to slip in among those recruits.
“Could it be that someone has been monitoring the Duke’s residence around the clock?”
No matter how much Muen wracked his brain, this was the only conclusion he could come up with.
But any speculation was meaningless to his current situation.
He was still standing on the brink of death—brought there by his own actions!
“For now, all I can do is pray that Selicia defeats the assassin. A weakling like me can do nothing.”
“…Hm? Wait. For me, is Selicia winning really the best outcome?”
“The assassin’s target is clearly only Selicia!”
Muen’s eyes suddenly widened.
In this desperate situation, he had stumbled upon an unexpected glimmer of hope.
That is right.
If Selicia were to die here, then everything that had happened between them… would never be known.
…
While Muen was caught in his internal struggle, the situation on the battlefield suddenly changed.
The maid once again displayed her initial speed, turning into an afterimage as she dodged the countless blade-like ice spikes conjured by Selicia.
The spikes covered every possible foothold beneath her.
Even if she had avoided the first strike, she should have had nowhere to escape—like prey trapped in a field of spikes.
Yet when she reappeared, it was as if she had lost all weight.
She descended lightly from the air, her toes landing delicately on the tips of the ice spikes—each one capable of piercing her with the slightest pressure.
She stood there alone, poised and graceful, like a dancer on the edge of blades.
“Some kind of short-burst movement technique… and gravity magic.”
Selicia’s gaze darkened. The more she discerned the maid’s methods, the more serious her expression became.
“There were no signs of spellcasting. Is it attached to some kind of artifact?”
“As expected of Princess Selicia.”
A strange violet light flickered in the maid’s right eye.
“You saw through my abilities so quickly.”
“It is you who underestimate me.”
Selicia narrowed her eyes and sneered.
“You dare attack me head-on—do you take me for an easy target?”
“No, we have given Your Highness ample respect.”
The maid’s gaze subtly swept across Selicia’s lower body. A faint, ambiguous smile curved at her lips.
“And yet, despite having the advantage, you have not taken the initiative to attack. Does that not prove that this moment is exactly the right opportunity?
After all—
Your Highness is still a woman.
No matter who it is, after experiencing something like that for the first time—and under such intense circumstances—it is bound to affect one’s stamina… or perhaps other aspects of one’s abilities.”
“You—”
For the first time, Selicia’s composure cracked with visible anger.
“Do you want me to tear that filthy, disgusting mouth of yours apart later?”
“Heh. As an assassin, I should not be speaking this much.
But…”
The maid’s smile vanished, her eyes turning cold as iron.
“Sometimes, an assassin also needs to buy time.”
The moment her words fell, a sharp, grating hum filled the air.
The entire room began to tremble, as if struck by a powerful earthquake.
The walls, the floor, the ceiling—suddenly, golden runes emerged, as though pushing their way out from within the structure itself, writhing incessantly.
A sacred golden light radiated from the runes, enveloping everyone present.
“Hurry… I cannot hold it much longer.”
A weak voice came from outside—even though the room was supposed to be completely soundproof.
“Do not worry. It will be quick.”
The maid suddenly raised her left hand.
In it was a container filled with a crimson liquid.
[Prayer]
The world suddenly fell into absolute silence, leaving only the maid’s solemn voice echoing.
A trace of shock flashed through Selicia’s eyes.
In the next moment, she furiously conjured countless ice spikes and launched them toward the maid again—but they were temporarily suppressed by the golden runes.
[Using the heart’s blood of one hundred children as an offering, we present this sacrifice to the God of the Molten World, the Lord of the Crimson Sun, the great King of Withering]
The maid crushed the container. The blood of a hundred children’s hearts slowly flowed out—but strangely, it did not follow gravity. Instead, it twisted and coiled like serpents.
[We request]
[Grant us]
[The power to suppress wind and snow]
Crack.
Crack, crack.
A vortex like a black hole slowly formed out of nothingness.
An indescribable aura of terror seeped from within, making it difficult for everyone to breathe.
A withered hand suddenly extended from the vortex, its five fingers spread, as if asking for something.
The maid respectfully offered the blood.
The hand withdrew with the offering.
Then, a sickening, bone-chilling sound of slurping echoed from within the vortex.
Moments later, the withered hand emerged again.
This time, crimson flames burned upon its palm—unnatural and eerie.