Chapter 96 : Chapter 96
Volume 2
Chapter 20 : My Choice!
“Leave?”
Muen’s eyes widened abruptly as he looked toward the room’s door.
The door no longer gave him that sealed, suffocating feeling from before.
It seemed as though it really could be opened directly.
Almost instinctively, Muen grabbed the doorknob and pressed down hard.
Click.
The door opened.
Through the crack, he could see a brightly lit corridor outside.
Joy flashed through Muen’s eyes.
As long as the door was open, he could leave this place!
But he was not planning to abandon Selicia.
He was going to call for help!
Only by bringing other people here would there be any chance of saving Selicia!
“Wait.”
Muen suddenly stopped.
He realized something was wrong.
“The assassin’s accomplice guarding the door should know this too, so why would she let me go?”
“She just said... it was almost over?”
What... was almost over?
Muen suddenly turned around.
And then he saw it.
The maid gripped a burning dagger, like Death raising Its scythe, about to bring it down and reap a soul that remained proud even at the end of all hope.
Ahead of him lay life.
Behind him lay death.
At that moment, time itself seemed to freeze.
Somewhere in the haze, Muen heard the rustle of turning pages, as if a story had reached a critical juncture and was waiting for him to write what came next.
...
In Selicia’s eyes was reflected the blade and the fire.
Despair had completely enveloped her, pressing down on her so heavily that she could barely breathe.
Everything in her vision had slowed, as if the world had been put into slow motion.
But Selicia understood that time had not truly slowed.
Rather, at the edge of life and death, her mind had begun racing at a terrifying speed, accelerating her thoughts.
To put it simply, it was a dying flash of memories.
“How disgraceful. To think I would fall in a place like this...”
“Damn you, Muen Campbell...”
Selicia cursed the man she hated most in her heart, yet the fury she had felt just moments ago was already gone.
At a time like this, anger meant nothing.
“He should have escaped by now...”
“That’s good. He shouldn’t die here...”
Selicia closed her eyes and calmly accepted her fate.
Thud.
The sound of a blade sinking into flesh rang out as expected.
Scalding blood burst forth and splattered across Selicia’s face.
But Selicia felt no pain. Instead, she felt a familiar warmth envelop her.
“What—”
She opened her eyes in shock, and her gaze immediately crashed into a pair of azure eyes—clear, pure, and yet now somewhat dim.
Just like they had been at the start of the banquet, when he had invited her to dance.
“Cough, cough... Isn’t it a little too early to give up now, my princess...?”
Muen sprawled over Selicia’s body, smiling miserably as he coughed up a mouthful of blood, staining Selicia’s pure white dress with a shocking red.
“Why...”
Selicia’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The frost in them seemed to melt away, revealing a panic and confusion she had never shown to anyone before, like that of a helpless little girl.
“Muen Campbell, why did you save me...?”
“Why? Cough, cough... Damn it, I want to know too.”
Muen gasped painfully for breath. The dagger that symbolized death had pierced through his lung from behind, and those flames that could even resist the laws of the gods were now frenziedly burning through his body, bringing agony so intense it felt as though his consciousness were being torn apart.
“If I had to say... maybe... it was just a moment of impulse.”
“A moment of impulse? Who would act on impulse at a time like this...?”
Seeing that Selicia clearly did not believe him, Muen could only shake his head helplessly.
But in truth, he had not lied.
At that moment, if he had taken just one step forward, he could have distanced himself from death.
Yet when he turned back and saw the dagger being raised, about to fall, every thought in his mind vanished.
His guilt toward Selicia.
His regret over his own weakness.
His fear of death.
His desire to survive.
All of it disappeared.
He simply did not want Selicia to die.
He did not want this girl, the character he had once loved most, this girl who had appeared before him so vividly, so truly, so beautifully, to die.
Much less because of him.
So he chose to turn back.
So he stood in front of Death.
So that was it.
What he had called an obsession...
Perhaps it had only ever been self-deception.
“Looks like I really do have some kind of intermittent brain-short-circuit syndrome, and it always flares up at the critical moment.”
Muen could not help but smile bitterly.
Just like how, at two in the morning, he had once recklessly insisted on pulling the gacha no matter what.
And then, after getting so excited over a ten-pull with five golds, he had been run over by a truck passing by.
“So this is the same ending again?”
Fortunately, after dying once already, death did not feel quite so terrifying anymore.
“But before that, let me act cool one last time... otherwise I’ll really be losing out...”
Thinking this, Muen endured the agony, forced himself to stay conscious, and did his best to smile at Selicia with the elegance and composure befitting a true Duke’s heir.
“So now... do I look like a man? Your Highness.”
“You...”
Unfortunately, Muen never got to hear Selicia’s answer.
Darkness swallowed his consciousness.
...
【...】
【Loading progress...】
【Arrogance Progress: 50%】
【Jealousy Progress: 99%】
【Greed Progress: 0%】
【Lust Progress: 0%】
【Sloth Progress: 0%】
【Wrath Progress: 0%】
【Gluttony Progress: -90%】
【...】
【...】
【Please continue struggling】
【Muen Campbell】
【My ■■■■】
In the depths of Muen’s consciousness, the black book trembled slightly.
...
“You bastard—”
Seeing Muen suddenly throw himself out and block the attack with his own body, the maid’s eyes burst with devouring fury.
Just a little more... just a little more and it would have succeeded, so why did you have to interfere at the critical moment, Muen Campbell?
You were not even our target!
“Strange... Was I distracted for a moment just now?”
The maid pressed a hand to her forehead, instinctively sensing that something was off, but she had no time to think about that now.
“You think this can stop me? Even if you blocked this strike, with the divine blessing granted by the divine being, Princess Selicia is still nothing more than a lamb waiting for slaughter!”
“At worst, I’ll just stab her again!”
The maid tightened her grip on the dagger and tried to pull it out...
Hm?
Why would it not come out?
The maid lowered her head in confusion and looked at Muen.
Only to discover that where she had stabbed, tiny specks of golden light were flickering across his luxurious clothes, tightly pinning her dagger in place.
“So there is something strange about these clothes after all.”
The maid sneered in disdain.
As the Duke’s heir, it was not strange for him to have something that could save his life. But no matter how unusual it was... it was only a piece of clothing. How long could it possibly hold me back?
The maid exerted her full strength, and sure enough, she soon managed to pull the dagger free.
But the dagger she pulled out seemed a little strange...
“Huh?”
The maid stared blankly at the dagger.
The blade still gleamed coldly. It was as sharp as ever.
Only...
“Where’s my fire?”
Where was that huge mass of holy flame bestowed by the divine being?
How had it just disappeared?