Chapter 93
Why does my life hurl me into despair, only to toss me a scrap of hope just when I’m about to give up?
I stare at the miracle that has appeared, impossibly, in the middle of the battlefield.
Black hair whipping in the wind, a catlike face that would never look altruistic even in death.
Ivelin spat the words through a grimace.
“What are you spacing out for? Hurry up!”
I grabbed the hand that was trying to pull me up onto the horse.
The pressure of Ivelin’s hand squeezing mine made me feel alive again.
“You were late to come to your senses. I think I finally understand this battlefield. It was the night the Archmage closed up the mansion and vanished. The entourage of the Former Emperor who were invited to that dinner trampled the mansion that evening. That was when the Archmage went berserk.”
She didn’t ask anything.
She didn’t doubt or interrogate.
“I heard we survived because of you. Yurel says you saved all of our group. Thank you.”
She didn’t ask about the pills I’d given them, nor about the source of the accursed hearts, nor how those things ended up healing them.
The glass horse that had carried us pushed through or kicked aside the charging knight-creatures with its hooves and kept running. It seemed to be made of a magical mineral harder than crystal or glass.
Ivelin occasionally kicked the monsters away with her heeled boots.
Rumble—Crash—! Crash!
Blue lightning strokes from the Archmage slammed down behind us, narrowly missing the ground we’d passed.
The door to the banquet hall soon came into view. Looking back, I realized how far we’d been.
We must have been far beyond the center of the battlefield — no wonder the horse had run so long.
“My mansion that you trampled… I’ll kill you all…!”
The Archmage snarled.
At the same time, the lightning, which until now had been striking only one spot, began to fall all around. It appeared to be a simultaneous-pattern attack.
Sizzle—! Roar—!
The outermost defense tower began to crumble.
Walls of the defense towers we’d passed collapsed with thunderous sounds.
The debris from the towers behind us, in the middle, and the one ahead of us came down.
It was faster for the tower fragments to fall before us than for us to return to the banquet hall.
Thud—!
Ivelin ground her teeth, jerked the reins hard, and yelled at me.
“Hang on tight!”
I’d never ridden a horse, but it was clear Ivelin was an excellent rider.
In that moment we were cutting through the air.
Ivelin urged the horse to leap over the debris; it cleared them and raced toward the banquet hall door. Ah — the east entrance.
“Yurel! Kyle! Open the door!”
At Ivelin’s shout the doors opened. As we entered, there was the sound of Kyle and Yurel slamming and locking the door behind us.
The horse ran further into the banquet hall, and in that instant I felt certain we were alive.
Ivelin, likely from the tension, panted and asked me.
“Hah, hah — Lady 에이프릴, are you all right?”
Clink—!
When we dismounted, the horse that had carried us shattered into fragments.
Before the pieces hit the floor they turned into light and vanished like a mirage.
The survivors in the banquet hall had been staring in surprise the moment we appeared.
The Former Emperor and the four founding heroes — the monstrous founders — still sat at the long table.
“What a pretty horse to have broken,” someone said.
“It was always a one-time use item. There was an art exhibit on the east side of the fourth floor. Apparently it was one of the Archmage’s hobbies. Kyle says it was stolen from the curator — he says that cur took a swipe at my face, so this is cheap compensation.” Ivelin said arrogantly. But what I wanted to ask wasn’t about the horse.
“Isn’t it a precious item?” I asked.
“It is, but—”
“Is it suitable for 에이프릴 to use?”
Ivelin’s face twisted.
“What are you saying? Lady. I’ll use things however I like. I’m a calculating person; I move if I judge the price worth it. Friendship is worth that much, right? How’s that for an answer?”
She clearly didn’t know she wasn’t precise or calculative.
Her tone was unnecessarily aggressive — she sounded like a vindictive villain who exploited people.
I couldn’t help laughing weakly.
“Ivelin, you’re really strange. You’re a strange person.”
At that moment, Ivelin, who’d been zoning out until then, opened her eyes wide. She looked like a bewildered cat.
“What’s wrong?”
A bright ding—! sounded and a status window popped up.
You have obtained a □□ fragment of Ivelin!
Unlike the usual obscured letters, which are marked by black squares, this time they were composed in white.
Tip. Collect the ‘□□ fragment’ to complete a whole item!
Couldn’t it at least tell me what it was?
As if in response, another Tip window appeared.
Tip. Some hidden letters unlock when revealed!
It’s not “some” letters — most of them are hidden. Most of the tips that have appeared so far have been obscured.
“I think it’s the second time I’ve seen you smile.” she said.
“The second time? Hmm.”
Did I really laugh more in front of Ivelin than I thought?
From the viewpoint my brother had been playing, Yeniel’s perspective, it seemed the two hadn’t been on bad terms. I didn’t know.
“Correction. In the floating garden of this otherworld, the moment I caught you, you were beaming. I truly liked it. I hate clumsy lies and perfect acting. You look fine like you are now, but I wanted to see you truly smile.”
Suspicion didn’t rise.
“I— have you ever smiled like that while with that bitch and her group?” she asked, tossing the question.
I was at a loss for words and Ivelin laughed coldly. She was truly villainous.
“I told you. The second floor is late. I’ll make you promise to come to me before the third floor’s done. Lady 에이프릴, has your mind changed?”
“……”
I lost.
To someone who’d drawn a line thinking of me only as the holder of the second key.
To someone I could no longer think of merely as a route character, whose affection or suspicion could no longer be measured by numbers.
I knew what I had to say.
“I want to go.”
My faint voice grew firmer.
“I want to go with Ivelin. Right now.”
We might miss some gains by moving hastily without stopping by the other faction.
But didn’t I always play the game following my heart?
A little would be fine.
“……”
“Ivelin?”
Unexpectedly, Ivelin looked utterly stunned, her cheeks flushing.
Ivelin’s affection rating increased!
“Your face is red, Ivelin.”
“What are you looking at? Of course I expected this result, so I’m acting like this. It was too obvious. I thought you’d naturally ask me to let you come to the third floor instead of coming to the second. Of course you would.”
She said that, but she must have been surprised I’d say I’d come immediately.
“Did you secretly think I wouldn’t come, then made the offer with confidence?”
She was somehow funny. Truly.
Then Ivelin’s expression tightened as if she’d remembered something.
“But be careful. The third floor doesn’t deal with the dinner that took place in the Archmage’s mansion. The Archmage outside could sweep away all the troops and come into the banquet hall. Or something else could appear here…”
As soon as she finished, a chill wind blew through the banquet hall.
It turned into a storm.
Black ash began to swirl up from the banquet floor, mixed into the gale, and a massive form coalesced.
The survivors in the hall tensed up and watched the new apparition.
“What is that?”
“A wraith…! We saw it on the fourth floor!”
“The Archmage!”
People began to flee the hall to avoid the shifting smoke-form.
“I did not die. I live on to kill you.”
“My house that you trampled, impure blood of those who defiled it — you will not escape this otherworld!”
Right then, a notification popped up.
You have entered a cooperative relationship with strategist (Suspicion: 15%, not displayed)
