Chapter 33
The screams of a person gradually turned into grotesque cries like those of a monster.
Eventually, the flowers withered into ashes and vanished.
“Completely gone… what a relief.”
Sian, who had been so distracted by the overwhelming scene that he spoke to me, soon trailed off as he returned to reality.
The group approached me.
“Well done, Lady April!”
Could Max actually know how to praise others?
That doubt was quickly resolved by the Crown Prince.
“Max, didn’t you say you had a bit of a phobia of big flowers? You did well. Lady April.”
“Thank you, Your Highness!”
He smiled brightly, delighted by the praise.
“Sian. Straighten your shoulders. It was true that immortality only applied under certain conditions… but Lady April wouldn’t have known that. Lady April, how did you know about that window?”
I tilted my head.
“That’s because the sun was shining, but there were no shadows.”
It was true.
In reality, I had noticed because of the hand reflected outside the window, but that explanation sounded convincing enough.
Of course, since those flowers were monsters from the other side of the world, they might have simply had no shadows from the start.
But now that the man-eating flowers had turned to dust and blown away, no one would ever know the truth.
At that moment, a strong scent rose from where the flowers had been.
As Max had said, it was clearly the raw material of perfume, so strong you could tell instantly.
It was so thick that even a small amount seemed to seep into the body. To be honest, the scent was so overpowering it felt more like stench than fragrance.
As I moved closer, I saw small fragrance droplets floating in the air.
“It’s perfume! Right, Lady Yeniel?”
“Something close. They’re fragrance drops, the raw material used to make perfume.”
Yeniel, who answered me, muttered in puzzlement.
“How can a liquid exist in this form?”
I wondered if Yeniel was perhaps not a science type.
Each fragrance droplet emitted a different smell, as if from different flowers, but I couldn’t tell them apart.
The fragrance drops didn’t soak into my hands or break when touched. They maintained their form.
“Lady April! Why are you touching such precious things!” Max shouted.
“This belongs to April,” I replied.
“You should be offering it to His Highness, not—”
I shifted slightly so the halberd was in clear view. True to his cowardly nature, Max shut his mouth immediately. It was convenient.
“The flowers said they would give them to April, and April cut them down, so they belong to April.”
Like tiny pearls, the drops gathered without mixing. I collected them, one by one, into my hand.
Item Acquired
Fragrance Drops (Hidden Item): Used for making perfume!
Tip: Perfume can be manufactured at a ‘specific location’.
Am I really supposed to start making perfume now?
“Go to a specific location and make perfume.”
Alright. I kept it in mind.
If possible, it would be good to make at least two bottles, to give to both sides of Aquilium.
They said the ‘Heart’ you could get with their two keys was related to the quest.
Though since the quest text had been obscured, I didn’t really know what I was supposed to do with the heart.
I decided to think about that after making the perfume.
The fragrance drops in my palm sparkled.
‘Storing them in Sian’s perfume bottle should work, right?’
“Sir Sian. Can April put these in your perfume bottle?”
I asked with an innocent smile.
Sian’s face showed raw terror.
He wasn’t afraid of me as a person.
It was the expression of someone crushed under the weight of guilt.
He trembled like someone who had realized just how heavy his sin truly was.
Everything felt like a dreadful nightmare.
A few hours after Sian and the others abandoned April in the sacrificial dungeon, April returned.
One hand held the halberd, the other the demon’s head.
When Yeniel had first chosen April as the one to be left behind as a sacrifice, Sian had agreed with the calculation.
At least one person had to be left behind as food.
The demon could not bear boredom more than hunger. It fed on fear, despair, and suffering before devouring the flesh.
If one tried to close the dungeon without leaving a victim, this intelligent and wicked being would attempt to break free.
If the demon left the 4th floor dungeon and roamed the mansion, all the other survivors in the banquet hall would die.
Dozens of lives compared to April’s one.
Wasn’t the choice obvious?
It seemed rational, logical. A perfect decision in theory.
The fake exit order to tell April had been drawn up by the Crown Prince.
Max, the Crown Prince, Yeniel. Then April, then Sian.
The order itself wasn’t too important.
Sian, who could use spirits to delay the demon, had to leave last.
April would be placed as late as possible.
The plan was for April to grab the switch while Sian escaped.
But—
When April turned to look at Sian with her pure, innocent face, his heart plummeted.
How could he ever forget that expression?
Something inside him collapsed in that instant.
And he instinctively knew it could never be repaired.
When April returned alive, he had mistaken his feelings for fear.
Fear of the demon, and of April who had slain it.
Fear that if April discovered what they had done, he might share the demon’s fate.
But what terrified him even more was the thought of April learning of his betrayal.
Every time he met her innocent gaze, he felt pierced and tortured.
He could no longer speak or act.
He feared that opening his mouth would expose him. That anything he did would reveal to April what kind of man he really was.
There was no going back.
Not to the person he had been before deciding, however indirectly, to kill someone.
How could the others remain so calm?
To him, it felt like burning in hell.
A hell of his own making.
He should never have done it.
He had committed a sin he must never have committed.
And pitifully, as he watched April still smiling at him, he faintly realized the truth.
Sian liked April.
“Sir Sian. I want to put the fragrance into the bottle.”
I called him again, as if urging for a response, smiling as though I knew nothing.
Honestly, I thought the others would suspect me at least somewhat. That I might be acting.
After all, hadn’t the Crown Prince himself promised never to forget me, and even left the door unlocked?
‘Maybe they really haven’t noticed anything, and that’s why they don’t bring it up.’
Even as we walked the 3rd floor corridor, the group avoided talking about the sacrifice dungeon or the demon.
But Sian’s brutally honest reaction only made me appear all the more innocent and blameless. At least to everyone except Yeniel.
“Oh my?”
I widened my eyes.
“Are you very hot? You’re sweating. Or maybe… sick? April has never had cold sweats before, so I don’t know.”
One hand clenched tightly around the fragrance drops, I pressed the other to Sian’s forehead.
“I’m… fine.”
Sian writhed in torment, unable to brush my hand away.
Yeniel spoke.
“Sir Sian will be fine, Lady April.”
Her voice was firm, with the faintest chill.
“Most likely he’s dizzy from overusing spirits. I understand your concern, Lady April, but it’s best to give him time to recover. Leave him alone for about thirty minutes and he should be fine.”
In truth, it was more a message to Sian himself—telling him to pull himself together within thirty minutes.
