Chapter 9
“They said a rampage was imminent, but wow—what a mess.”
The wounds on his torso weren’t the only issue. His left arm and leg were broken, twisted in unnatural directions, and the grass around the fountain was so drenched in blood it had lost all color.
For an ordinary person, that amount of bleeding would’ve been fatal long ago.
“If his contamination level were even a little lower, these injuries would’ve healed in minutes.”
But because his rampage was near, his regeneration had slowed. The higher the contamination, the more sensitive the nerves—he must be in excruciating pain.
“…Get out of here… You’re not even here to purify me… What filthy scheme… did you come here with…?”
An S-class Transcendent. A proud naval admiral. A hero of mankind, born of chivalry. The empire’s beloved Crown Prince, kind to all.
But those blue eyes glaring at Odette were full of nothing but disgust. Ignoring his open contempt, she offered a graceful curtsy.
“I greet the little sun of the empire.”
There was no way this would hurt her feelings now.
“You always had that look during audiences. Nothing new.”
In fact, this was almost cute.
“Compared to when he chased me around with a greatsword, a little icy glare is nothing.”
Besides, out of the four male leads, the Crown Prince had been the most favorable toward Odette. The most gentlemanly, too.
Odette smiled slightly and spoke.
“There’s no hidden agenda for coming here, Your Highness. What other reason would a Purifier have to meet a Transcendent on the verge of rampage?”
His blue eyes widened in surprise, then quickly twisted with rage.
“…What kind of twisted mindset… would make you change your mind like this… cough! Get out. Your so-called purification…”
“Yes, yes. It must be nauseating. I understand, so why not shut your mouth? Every word just sprays more blood.”
Odette gently pressed her hand over the fountain of blood from the prince’s mouth to stop the bleeding.
“You dare…”
“Do I need to slap your mouth shut for you to stop talking?”
“I… hate you. I can’t even stand your scent…”
“Yes, yes. I know.”
She replied like she was dealing with a drunken man, brushing off his words.
“Kind to everyone but me. Perfect, really.”
Charlotte’s most loyal knight. The ideal candidate for Male Lead #1.
She could practically applaud.
“Not that he would’ve liked me even without the game’s settings.”
Though he was a Crown Prince, he lived like a soldier—blunt and modest. The traits that made him fall for Charlotte were her gentleness and humility.
Someone like Odette, who insisted on dazzling jewels and extravagant outfits even at funerals, was never going to appeal to him.
“…Go back. I don’t… want to be touched by someone I loathe…”
Wow, how touching. Even while bleeding out, you want to save your firsts for Charlotte?
Odette gave a bitter smile.
“A pure-hearted, kind man. A loyal knight just for Charlotte. That was his character, right? He’s living up to it.”
But ultimately, it was just a fleeting, sentimental gesture.
Once the clear signs of rampage appeared, he’d be begging for her purification for the next six months.
As expected, sparks of electricity began crackling from the prince’s body not long after.
“See? His ability is already overwhelming his physical vessel.”
When a Transcendent’s power overcomes the body containing it—that was the textbook sign of an imminent rampage.
“He really endured six months like this in my past life? Remarkably stubborn.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t have come after all.”
Odette’s voice was cold.
“Better to rampage than be purified by me, huh…”
Her voice was calm, almost leisurely, as if she were savoring the meaning behind his words.
“You’re saying you hate me more than you care about the entire empire being wiped out?”
As she accurately pointed it out, the blood-drenched prince flinched and went silent.
A D-class Transcendent’s rampage is called an “incident.”
C-class? A “disaster.”
B-class? A “catastrophe.”
A-class? A “great calamity.”
Then what of an S-class? That would wipe the empire off the map—erased so cleanly it’d be as if it never existed.
“…”
His blue eyes, glowing with hatred, bore into her. Odette swallowed back the even harsher words on the tip of her tongue.
“Don’t worry. I’ll protect that precious chastity of yours.”
She never intended to purify him through physical contact.
He would last six months, gouging out even one of his eyes, just waiting for Charlotte. And besides, Odette didn’t actually have purification powers.
So all his worries about her “defiling” him were meaningless from the start.
“Still, the depth of his hatred is kind of annoying.”
She knew he despised her—had braced for it. More resignation than determination.
“He’s so obvious about it. Doesn’t even try to hide the contempt.”
Maybe she hadn’t braced enough. Pathetically, she felt a pang of bitterness.
Turning her back on the Crown Prince, Odette made her way past the heart of the rose garden into the deeper forest.
His gaze clung to her retreating back for a long time—but eventually, overwhelmed by pain, he passed out.
Rustle, rustle. She pushed through the knee-high grass.
“Still better than in my past life.”
The Crown Prince had always disliked Odette. But once Charlotte appeared, his current hatred would seem almost cute.
Once he learned Odette was a fake, his eyes screamed that he wanted to behead her on the spot.
“Even killing you won’t be enough. Just remembering how much you ruined this empire…”
Honestly, his hatred was justified.
A fake Purifier, leeching off others’ misery and pain, fattening herself at their expense—a parasite.
From his perspective, that’s all she was.
“Not that it doesn’t sting a bit.”
But what could she have done? She wasn’t even allowed outside the estate without her family’s supervision.
During her first outing, she smiled at a girl her age and had her hair chopped off with scissors and was thrown in the dungeon for months.
After that, she could only put on a proud face and stare into space, always aware of Fernan’s watchful eyes.
She had no way of knowing how desperately people wanted purification, or how infamous she’d become.
Anyway, given his physical state and hypersensitive nerves, the pain must be unimaginable. But to find contact with her worse than that pain? The depth of that revulsion was hard to fathom.
At the same time, though, it cleared her head. Sympathy and gratitude vanished—along with any faint admiration she might have felt for them as Han Su-wan.
“…It’s fine. What good would it do to be liked by him? I didn’t come here to make friends.”
Stopping the Crown Prince’s rampage would just make things easier later. It was also necessary to prevent the first major event where all the male leads came to utterly despise her.
It was ridiculous to feel hurt over a calculated move.
By the time she composed herself, she’d reached the lake.
“Just as expected.”
Odette exhaled in relief at the sight of the black lotus floating on the water.
There was a specific flower she’d come for—the “Night Glory,” an herb that drastically amplified the effects of temporary rampage inhibitors.
The Albrecht family had run a massive pharmaceutical business for generations.
The first Count Albrecht had been a skilled royal apothecary. His company had since grown into a pharmaceutical giant.
Using Odette as a Purifier, they gained exclusive rights to rampage inhibitors and made a fortune.
But even they didn’t know that Night Glory was a powerful booster for those inhibitors.
At this point, only Han Su-wan, who had read every page of the game setting book, would know.
“Thank goodness it’s inside the palace grounds.”
Without hesitation, Odette dove into the lake.
Splash. Splash.
With each step, cold water clung to her dress and wrapped around her legs. The soaked fabric grew heavy, but there was no time to worry about that.
The lake was deep, and every step sank her feet into muddy ground. She staggered through the water until it reached her chest, stretching her arm to finally grasp the black lotus.
The Night Glory, which could only survive near century-old blue roses, was now in her hands.
“If I combine this with a rampage inhibitor, it’s supposed to have purification effects on par with a B-class.”
In the game’s lore, Night Glory played a crucial role. Charlotte, a provincial apothecary, discovered its boosting effect and traveled to the capital to share the finding.
But its true power was awakening a Purifier’s potential.
“Even Charlotte awakened to S-class after nibbling on a few out of hunger.”
Odette broke off all the flower stems, gathering eight blooms in total.
“Father only sent the weakest batch of inhibitors to the palace. The ones in the family’s vault must be much more effective.”
They were reserved for his precious son, after all.
Adding Night Glory extract on top of that—it should work decently, even for an S-class Transcendent.
Careful not to damage the flowers, she returned from the lake and placed them into her skirt. Then she headed back to the Crown Prince.
By the time she arrived, he had already lost consciousness.
“I’m borrowing your handkerchief, Your Highness.”
“…”
“Silence means consent, you know.”
Fishing a clean handkerchief from his breast pocket, Odette shoved a handful of the rampage inhibitor into his mouth.
She shredded the lotus petals over the open cloth, rolled it neatly, then twisted it with both hands, squeezing the extract directly into his mouth.
