Chapter 19 : Chapter 19
Volume 1
Chapter 19 : This Is the Way Out!
Looking at the withered hand burning with eerie flames, the maid remained calm.
She extended her right hand—the one holding the dagger—and placed it before the hand.
The withered fingers slowly tightened, wrapping themselves around her wrist.
Sizzle…
The sinister flames began to dance, and the stench of burning flesh quickly filled the room.
The maid’s face turned pale, and cold sweat poured down her forehead, as though she were enduring some unbearable agony.
And yet, in her eyes, a fervent emotion was brewing—like a believer witnessing the descent of a miracle.
A moment later, the withered hand released her wrist and withdrew back into the black-hole-like vortex.
That terrifying aura vanished, as though it had never existed.
But the eerie flames remained, still burning fiercely on the maid’s right hand—together with the dagger.
“An evil priest?”
Selicia’s voice returned to the world once more, carrying an indescribable fury.
“You sewer rats actually dare show yourselves before me?”
“Rats? To a noble princess like Your Highness, perhaps we really are nothing more than rats.”
The maid raised her eyes.
In her cold gaze were reflected the flames—and Selicia’s slightly pale face.
Her expression turned mocking.
“But, Your Highness, the noble princess is about to be killed by a lowly rat.”
The maid vanished again.
Then she reappeared directly in front of Selicia.
The flaming dagger struck at Selicia’s heart from a vicious angle, merciless and precise.
“Hmph. Dream on!”
Selicia gave a cold snort, and an even more terrifying chill erupted from her delicate body.
In an instant, everything around her was torn to pieces by extreme cold and storms.
But only for an instant.
Such a brief instant that it could not even affect the maid who was already right in front of her.
At most, it caused the dagger in her hand to shift slightly off course.
Because in the very next moment, that chill abruptly vanished.
That was right—without warning, suddenly, and so unexpectedly that it left no time to react, it disappeared.
Selicia was stunned for a moment, but she quickly recovered and looked toward the flames burning on the maid’s right hand.
“So it really is a power made specifically to restrain me.”
Selicia’s ice came from a divine blessing. It was different from ordinary frost magic; what it represented was the power of law itself.
To freeze all things.
That was the nature of the law.
So in theory, she could even freeze flames directly.
But for the time being, that power was no longer functioning.
She could not even condense the ice sword she wielded so effortlessly.
Because another law—one that completely restrained hers—was burning upon the maid’s right hand and dagger.
“And you think that will be enough to kill me?”
Selicia quickly calmed down.
Her strength did not come solely from divine grace.
Before the maid’s second assault could arrive, Selicia suddenly advanced instead of retreating, closing the distance at once.
Her slender fingers came together into a palm strike.
Battle aura surged sharply from her palm as she struck fiercely toward the maid’s chest.
“I nearly forgot that Your Highness’s martial skill is no less impressive. Unfortunately…”
The maid did not dodge. Instead, she met Selicia’s palm head-on.
Their battle aura collided and fell into a brief stalemate.
The fierce pressure of the wind blew through the maid’s neatly trimmed bobbed hair.
Her expression remained as cold as ever.
“Unfortunately, because you are accustomed to using an ice sword, you, who excel at swordsmanship, did not carry an ordinary sword for self-defense.
And because of your excessive confidence, you did not even bother to keep a defensive magic artifact on your person.”
“!”
Selicia’s face remained cold, but something flickered deep within her eyes.
“So—”
The maid’s battle aura suddenly reversed, latching onto Selicia’s palm.
Taking Selicia’s strike head-on had caused her immediate injury, but it was precisely because of that that Selicia now had nowhere to retreat.
“So I believe I still can kill you.”
The maid’s right hand had already risen in advance.
She gripped the dagger in reverse, aiming for a vital point to ensure the precision, force, and lethality of the blow.
Death raised its scythe once more.
And this time, it was truly a dead end.
…
“Damn it, what the hell am I thinking?”
Crouched in the corner, Muen suddenly slapped himself hard across the face, forcing himself awake from that seductive but utterly unforgivable thought.
He could hardly believe that, just moments ago, he had actually wanted Selicia to die.
For the sake of his own selfish survival, he had wished for that assassin to kill her!
“Yes, if Selicia dies, then no one will pursue the crime of my violating the princess. I might even survive a little longer.”
“But after what I did to a pure and innocent girl, I actually wanted to take her life too?”
“What kind of utterly shameless, irredeemable scumbag does that make me? Selicia is innocent!”
Muen slammed his fist into the ground.
The sharp pain helped clear his mind.
And because of that, the guilt finally began to rise, filling his entire heart.
That was right. From beginning to end, Selicia had been innocent.
She had done nothing wrong.
She had only been invited into this room because of Muen’s cowardice.
She had been drugged because of Muen’s despicable scheme.
She had lost her purity because of Muen’s stupidity.
And now, because of Muen’s single oversight, she might even lose her life here.
This should never have happened to her.
She should have lived as she did in the original story—meeting the person she loved and having a happy life of her own.
She should not die here!
“No. I cannot just stand by and watch Selicia die. I have to help her!”
Muen clenched his fists tightly, a trace of resolve appearing in his eyes.
But the moment he raised his head and looked toward the battle between Selicia and the assassin, that resolve quickly faded.
“How… am I supposed to help?”
He could not even see the assassin’s movements clearly.
He had no divine blessing.
He recognized the maid’s [Prayer].
It was a power from the original story, belonging to beings known as evil priests—people who obtained strength from evil gods through ritual sacrifice.
That was not a level of power he should even be touching right now.
He was the pampered son of a Duke, the blond villain whose only role was to pave the way for the protagonist.
He was also just an ordinary first-year student at Saint Marika Academy and during this past year, he had spent most of his time idling his days away.
The only spell he could remember at this moment was a useless Light spell.
He simply could not help Selicia.
“Maybe… not getting in her way is the best help I can offer?”
Just like certain heroines in television dramas who have no real ability and only make things worse despite their good intentions, perhaps the best thing he could do now was stay put and watch.
“Selicia will definitely win. Definitely! She is so strong—she does not need my help at all,” Muen muttered to himself, as if trying to convince himself.
…
Click.
Muen suddenly heard a crisp sound from behind him, like the unlocking of a door.
“It is almost over. You can leave now, Muen Campbell.”
That somewhat weak voice—the one that had appeared once before—spoke again by Muen’s ear.