Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 110

Episode 110

Adam was the last person I wanted to run into right now, even more so than Kassel. I swallowed the sigh that threatened to escape.

"Ah... Greetings, Count."

"..."

Even after I managed to greet him, Adam just stared at me silently.

[Adam Hailey is dumbfounded by your behavior.]

But even without him speaking, the damn system window made it obvious what he was thinking.

After raking his eyes over me to the point of making me uncomfortable, he finally spoke.

"We have some things to settle, I believe."

"Pardon? Settle what, might I ask..."

"This isn't a conversation to be had standing here. Come in for a moment."

Adam stepped aside, gesturing with his eyes for me to enter his room.

I expected him to immediately jump down my throat, demanding to know what happened.

His relatively patient attitude was unfamiliar.

'That's right. This was Adam's original personality.'

An aristocratic, cold, handsome man.

Maybe I'd been too worn down by Kassel, that guy with the personality-defective enough to grab someone's hair and start headbanging the moment he met them, because I found myself thinking Adam was much better than him.

Though, it's not like that changes the fact that I'm about to be interrogated.

'Sigh. My life...'

I wanted to avoid this as much as possible, but since I had no choice, I resigned myself and walked into Adam's room.

Adam's room had a layout that wasn't much different from mine.

Kkiiieek. Thud.

After the sound of the door closing behind me, he, who had followed me in, walked past me and sat on the sofa first.

"Sit."

At his words, he glanced at the spot in front of him. I hesitated before approaching and sitting down cautiously.

Sitting across from him, I felt a strong sense of déjà vu.

The conversation I had in Kassel's room just a few days ago overlapped with this situation, just like déjà vu.

'Why must I suffer a similar ordeal every single time?'

While I was having this less-than-amusing deep thought, Adam was the first to open the conversation.

"What exactly have you been doing, wandering around all this time, to end up at the Temple?"

"..."

"My knights reported that every time they were sent to your apothecary shop, you were gone."

[Adam Hailey finds your behavior suspicious.]

Just as I expected, a system window popped up above his head at the same time.

If anything, I was the one who was curious.

'If they said I'm not there, they should just accept it. Why do they keep searching for me so persistently!'

Thinking about how I'd left the shop to the AI for the past month while secretly coming and going, I felt a surge of anger.

Right after the Hailey quest, the entire Dover Village was crawling with knights trying to catch me.

Though their numbers had recently decreased, he said the Count's knights still came by periodically to ask about my location.

Although I did break my employment contract with him, the estate was fine, and Serina's illness was cured.

With the Crown Prince being reinstated, the Hailey family was now more powerful than ever.

Hadn't everything turned out well?

I couldn't understand why he was relentlessly chasing a commoner apothecary who ran away midway out of fear, as if I were some kind of serious criminal.

"Why exactly... were you looking for me?"

"Do you ask because you don't know?"

Adam furrowed his brow at my question.

My heart dropped.

'Don't tell me. Did Kassel and Adam have a heart-to-heart and confess everything?'

"The sinner you were entrusted with, Count, ordered me."

"I am not doing this of my own free will. The Count ordered me."

"As I've said repeatedly, everything I know is what the sinner told me."

Recalling the countless lies I'd spun while going back and forth between Kassel and Adam, cold sweat ran down the back of my neck.

'But Kassel didn't mention anything like that...?'

That bastard had interrogated me like crazy about my identity, but he barely mentioned what happened at the Hailey estate.

That's why I naturally assumed they wouldn't talk about trivial, past events.

But what if that was also just to put me at ease, all to find out the identity of the woman I'd lied about, the one who supposedly instigated me from behind the scenes.

In other words, my true form he saw at the black market...

My anxiety reaching its peak, I hurriedly opened my mouth.

"Don't tell me His Highness the Crown Prince...!"

"It is, of course, to question your sin."

But Adam answered the reason he was looking for me at almost the same time.

For now, my only superficial sin was abandoning the sleeping Crown Prince and running away.

I glanced at him, then stammered.

"I... I am truly sorry for irresponsibly running away."

"..."

"But I am only human... A giant centipede monster suddenly appeared, I was terrified and had no choice."

"..."

"If you want the gold you gave me in the middle of it back, I will give it to you..."

Having to return my rightfully earned reward was a tearful prospect, but I had no choice if I wanted to avoid suspicion.

'Still, let's say I used some for living expenses and give him less than the 1 million coins.'

I reluctantly fumbled in my pocket.

Adam watched me expressionlessly as I pulled out the gold coins one by one, clearly unwilling to part with them, before finally raising a hand to stop me.

"That is not what I am referring to."

"Pardon? Th-then..."

"Of course, running away without fulfilling your duty is also a sin. But don't you think stealing the Count's assets is a greater sin?"

"I did?"

I stared wide-eyed at his words.

It wasn't the worst-case scenario of my lies being exposed, but 'stealing' was something I hadn't expected at all.

[Adam Hailey is displeased by your brazenness.]

I felt incredibly wronged by the system window that popped up in the meantime.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I swear I have never done such a thing! I was too busy trying not to get killed by the monster and run away, what theft are you talking about?"

As I earnestly appealed to Adam, I furiously racked my brain, wondering which bastard had framed me for theft.

It seemed there were some among the employees who disliked me, regardless of the 'Darkness-Eating Centipede'.

'No, I can't help that it looked like I ran away, but to steal something themselves and then frame me...!'

If I find out who it is, I'll beat them to a pulp and ban them.

I ground my teeth and made a vow.

"The Giga-Centipede Essence, Jawbone, Antennae, Legs, Shell, and Tail."

Until Adam started rattling off the very things I had stolen.

"It seems you stripped it clean of anything valuable."

"..."

"The employees who saw the monster's corpse at the top of the tower were terrified and immediately sent me a message. Therefore, the only ones at the scene were you and His Highness the Crown Prince..."

"..."

"Will you still feign ignorance and say you didn't steal them?"

"That...! F..."

Fuck.

I barely swallowed the curse that almost burst out.

'How... How did it turn out like that!'

I just gaped like a goldfish, staring into Adam's blue eyes, which had now taken on a sharp glint.

That was definitely my reward.

The damn system wouldn't automatically give me the reward even after clearing the quest, so I had no choice but to take it myself.

But now that Adam was accusing me, calling it 'the Count's assets', I couldn't think of a rebuttal.

In any case, the Giga-Centipede was a monster sealed in the Count's estate, and it was known that the Male Lead had caught it, not me.

'Damn it...'

While I was at a loss for words, feeling distressed, Adam spoke, as if sneering.

"To run away, see that the monster was dead, and then come back to take that stuff."

"..."

"You truly are... something else."

[Adam Hailey admires your infinite capitalism.]

'So that's how it turned out...'

As summarized by Adam, I was a completely crazy person obsessed with money.

'I should have just hounded the developers for it instead.'

At the time, I was so focused on grabbing the reward myself and getting out quickly that I didn't even have time to think of that method.

"That... my close acquaintance is very sick, Count."

"..."

"That friend desperately needs a potion made with the Giga-Centipede shell..."

"And the Giga-Centipede Essence, Antennae, Jawbone, Legs, and Tail as well?"

"...I apologize."

As a last-ditch effort, I tried to sell out Elaine, who was very mentally sick, to get out of it.

But at Adam's voice, once again dryly listing the things I took, I could only weakly murmur an apology.

It was so unfair I could go crazy, but I had no more excuses.

'I already made them all into potions or sold them off long ago. What if he tells me to give them back?'

I was hanging my head gloomily at the thought of having to reimburse Adam for them.

"...Normally, it would be right to arrest you as a thief and throw you in jail, but."

Suddenly, Adam delivered some unexpected good news.

"Thanks to the potion you gave me, Serina has fully recovered."

"..."

"She no longer gets sores or burns, even when seeing the sunlight."

I raised my head and met Adam's gaze.

His stiff expression had softened slightly, perhaps thinking of his only younger sister.

To me, he was a ruthless bastard trying to steal my precious rewards, but hearing that his young sister was okay was genuinely good news for a change.

"Congratulations, Count. I'm glad to hear that."

I had been inwardly curious after giving it to her, so this was great.

When I conveyed that sincerely, Adam stared at me with unreadable eyes before discussing my punishment.

"You called it a service, but I am not the type to live in debt."

"..."

"And to me, there is no greater debt than Serina's life. Therefore, your sin."

"..."

"We will consider it paid for by the things you stole."

He was saying he wouldn't take my rewards back.

It was truly a relief, but at the same time, this punishment left a... crappy taste in my mouth.

"That is... thank you."

I muttered awkwardly.

At that, Adam narrowed his eyes and asked back suspiciously.

"Are you truly thankful?"

"Of course. I am sincerely grateful for your benevolence, as vast as the sea, Count."

I quickly answered, a bit more sincerely than before.

In any case, I hadn't gone through the worst-case scenario of my lies being exposed, and I hadn't had the rewards I worked my ass off for stolen, so it was a happy ending.

I glanced at Adam, then slowly made a show of getting up.

"Well then... is this all you needed to settle?"

"No. We're not finished, so sit down."

But at his sharp words, I had no choice but to sit back down.

"There is one thing I want to ask you."

"What is it?"

My theft sin had been squared away.

I was annoyed about why he wouldn't let me go, but I had overcome the big hurdle, so I was feeling rather generous.

At that, he took something from his breast pocket and placed it on the table.

"You remember this, I trust."

Dalkak.

What was placed on the table with a dull thud was none other than.

[S-Grade Defense Artifact]

"This is..."

"It is identical to the one I gave you."

Of course, I recognized the familiar, ornate artifact well.

I had personally poured my mana into it and committed the absurd act of protecting the entire Hailey estate.

But I couldn't understand why Adam was suddenly bringing this out again.

As I looked back and forth between the artifact and him, bewildered, he pressed me in a lower voice.

"I am certain I told you to use this to escape with Serina and the sinner if the disaster struck."

"That... the m-monster's seal suddenly broke, so I wasn't in the right mind for that."

I flinched and made the excuse that I had no choice because I was running away.

Honestly, wasn't it true? In a disaster, Adam and the knights would hold off the monsters for a while, so there would be time to escape.

Who would have the presence of mind to take care of other people with an arch-monster right in front of them?

Because of that, I answered quite confidently.

"I really did not steal this to sell it. I was so busy running away, I don't even know where I..."

"Then why was this found on top of the tower, activated?"

No sooner had I trailed off, implying I'd lost it, than Adam shot back a direct question.

My mind went blank for a moment.

'Fuck...'

I hadn't worried about the artifact at all.

Because it's characteristic of magical tools that if a magic far exceeding its engraved range is activated, it will soon be nullified and destroyed.

But the problem was.

'He saw it before it was nullified?!'

The fact that Adam had discovered the artifact before it was destroyed.

As if to prove it, he looked straight at me with his clear blue eyes.

"Unbelievably, it defended the entire Hailey estate."

"..."

"Tell me what happened back then."

[Adam Hailey holds a strong suspicion about your identity.]

I had just gotten over one big mountain, only for another, even larger one to appear.