Chapter 2 …
“You’ve waited a long time.”
The end of my trembling voice cracked slightly.
Of course, it was intentional acting—but at the same time, it was also a reaction that naturally slipped out under extreme tension.
Make a mistake in this play, and you die.
Despite my life-or-death performance, Azel still showed no particular reaction.
“Azel?”
I deliberately narrowed the space between my brows, calling his name cautiously, as if puzzled.
The familiar tone would make it sound like I was pressing him, asking why he wasn’t saying anything.
And sure enough, a response finally came.
“Who are you?”
A flat, monotonous answer.
For someone responding to a stranger who knew his name, it was astonishingly underwhelming.
But this was where it really mattered.
I had no intention of letting such a natural reaction from Azel slide.
“…What?”
At first, I had to show instinctive confusion, as if I couldn’t understand what he’d said.
But the more I turned it over in my mind, the more I had to realize something was wrong.
The expression that had held only mild puzzlement slowly mixed with shock.
That sequence couldn’t be too slow—or too fast.
“What did you just… say…?”
I asked again as if to confirm it, deliberately trailing off.
As though I’d realized something—something I should never say out loud—I hurriedly covered my mouth with both hands.
I stopped breathing, as if swallowing a scream. When I tensed my body all the way to my scalp, my trembling fingertips pressed against my lips.
Now!
Just as a thick teardrop finally plopped onto the back of my hand, I pretended my legs gave out and collapsed to the ground.
“You forgot… You forgot me.”
Even to my own ears, my broken voice sounded so fragile it felt like it might fade away at any moment.
“…So that’s it. That’s what this was.”
I didn’t forget to leave a bit of foreshadowing, murmuring to myself.
What that foreshadowing was about—I could think about that later. I’d heard that K-drama scripts were usually written like this anyway.
If it works, it works. And if not, who cares? Is that really what matters right now?
When I bowed my head, tears poured down and splashed onto my thighs.
I could feel a piercing gaze on the top of my head, but I didn’t even have time to feel embarrassed.
He’s probably dumbfounded. But my life is on the line here!
This was the first time in my life I’d ever acted so desperately.
Still pretending I hadn’t recovered from the shock, I slowly lifted my head to check his reaction—and immediately met his crimson eyes.
What was that look?
I didn’t need to hear it out loud to know.
Azel’s eyes looked like those of someone facing something utterly incomprehensible.
At least he doesn’t look like he’s about to go, “What the hell is this?” and cut me down on the spot. That’s not bad.
Doing a one-woman show was a little mortifying, but momentum was everything.
As I swallowed my tears, ignoring the burning stare, a faint crease formed between Azel’s smooth brows.
I desperately hoped it was proof that my acting was getting through to him.
Please, please, please!
“You—”
The moment I’d been waiting for.
Just as Azel finally opened his mouth—
“Azel Biots!”
“…!”
Of all times, an uninvited guest appeared.
“What kind of scheme are you plotting this time?!”
It was the most unwelcome interruption imaginable.
“Azel Biots!”
From the moment Bellrod heard there was a disturbance in the central plaza, he’d more or less predicted how things would turn out.
Smashed vendor stalls, miscellaneous junk strewn everywhere, even a broken street tree.
It wasn’t especially severe by Azel Biots’ standards—but that was probably because Bellrod had arrived quickly.
Azel Biots.
The enemy he despised beyond measure.
The unidentified man who threatened his beloved Yulia and obstructed him at every turn.
As Bellrod barely restrained his fury and glared at Azel Biots, something out of place caught the edge of his vision.
A strange woman with pink hair was staring at him with what seemed like intense fervor.
Who is she?
She was a rare beauty—lake-like eyes shimmering with tears, cheeks flushed red.
At first, he assumed she was crying out of fear after being caught up in Azel Biots’ violence.
But the moment their eyes met, Bellrod realized he was wrong.
No, why…?
A woman he had never seen before was glaring at him as though he were her sworn enemy.
It was completely incomprehensible.
That bastard has to be kidding me! If only he’d been a little later!
You could only ruin a perfect plan so much—and of course he had to show up at this exact moment.
Bellrod Christian.
A devout, ascetic holy knight with platinum-blond hair and pale blue eyes.
Among the five male leads in this otome game—excluding Azel—he was the one closest to being the “official” route.
And he was my favorite, too.
Outwardly polite and cultured, but secretly proud and jealous—that was part of his charm.
Though what I liked most was his face.
But that was only when my life wasn’t on the line. Right now, Bellrod’s appearance was the last thing I wanted.
With the arrival of such a major male lead, Azel’s attention naturally shifted toward him.
Just as Azel’s heavy mouth was about to open, all his focus was stolen away—enough to make my blood boil.
You useless jerk! Bellrod, you idiot! You were my least favorite even when I played the game! Boo!
If that handsome good-for-nothing wasn’t going to save my life, he deserved to be demoted from favorite to bottom tier without hesitation.
Leaving the wronged-looking Bellrod behind, I hurriedly fixed my expression and looked back at Azel—but he wasn’t looking at me anymore.
Drop dead, Bellrod.
As I hurled childish curses I couldn’t say out loud, the conversation between Azel and Bellrod continued.
“Bellrod Christian. You’re late.”
“Why did you suddenly appear here? What are you plotting this time?”
“The time has finally come.”
“The time for what?”
“To end this accursed curse.”
As the serious exchange went on, the pressure radiating from Azel intensified.
It was a sense of dissonance.
The ominous aura surrounding him made it feel as though he were something that didn’t belong to reality.
“A curse?”
Perhaps sensing the same thing, Bellrod’s expression gradually hardened.
But I was the only one who understood the true meaning of Azel’s words.
Bellrod didn’t even know that Azel was a regressor—much less that this world was on the brink of destruction.
“A curse? What do you mean by that?”
Bellrod asked again, but there was no way Azel would answer.
Instead, a dark crimson haze began to writhe around him.
He was finally awakening the power that would bring about the end of the world.
We’re screwed.
As that brief thought crossed my mind, figures in black robes began appearing one by one.
Azel’s subordinates.
“What in the world is this…!”
“Do not interfere with Him.”
With that as the signal, they all charged at Bellrod at once.
They meant to prevent him from disrupting Azel’s awakening.
“You’re the ones interfering!”
In an instant, chaos erupted into a full-blown fight.
Meanwhile, completely sidelined by all of this, I found myself thinking very seriously:
I really want to run away.
I genuinely did not want to get involved in this mess.
But I can’t… right?
Casting a resentful look at the world, I turned my head back toward Azel—and at that moment, our eyes met.
So he hadn’t completely forgotten about me after all.
That said, for some reason, his expression looked even more irritated than before.
This damn life.
My motivation was already draining away, but now was the moment I had to step in.
Bellrod can’t stop Azel’s awakening. And he can’t defeat Azel once he’s awakened, either. It wouldn’t matter who showed up here.
In the tense standoff, I finally staggered to my feet.
At least his subordinates aren’t paying attention to me. Probably because they know I can’t pose any threat to Azel. But still.
It was such an obvious fact that it didn’t even hurt my pride.
But there was something they didn’t know.
I was a variable they hadn’t accounted for.
“Stop, Azel.”
Wiping away my tears conspicuously, I took a step toward him.
Despite my unsteady body, my firm voice rang out, drawing everyone’s attention to me.
But their gazes didn’t matter.
In the end, the one who decided how this story would end was Azel.
Looking only at him, I spoke with resolve.
“You can stop now.”
Azel’s awakening wasn’t finished yet.
Which meant there was still plenty of time—
Time for the variable to move.
