Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 121

Episode 121

Crown Prince Kassel Ludwig

'Why is he here...?'

I couldn't understand what on earth was happening.

As I was staring blankly at the letters above Kassel's head, stunned by the sudden situation.

"How reckless."

He suddenly frowned and snatched one of my just-freed arms.

Then, he roughly brushed off the parts of the eyeball monster that were stuck all over my hand for me.

But even after brushing them off, the skin, stained black in patches like mold, didn't return to normal.

It seemed to be the aftereffect of the curse.

[Crown Prince Kassel Ludwig feels strong displeasure.]

"I've thought this before, but is self-harm a hobby of yours?"

"Wh-why are you here..."

Hearing the system window that suddenly popped up and his irritation-filled voice, I muttered, somewhat dazed.

How on earth was he, who was supposed to be in the highest of places, here?

Perhaps it was a stupid question. He laughed fiercely.

"After causing such a mess during the opening ceremony, what, should I, the host, run away?"

That familiar sarcasm snapped me to my senses.

I hurriedly checked the situation. I was half-embraced by Kassel, standing a few steps away from the eyeball monster.

I could feel his hard body pressed tightly against me through the thin dress.

Plus, his face was damn close.

It was the same detestable face I saw every day at the temple, but for a moment, my heart plummeted to my toes.

'This wicked thing!'

Shove!

I instantly pushed away the man who bewitched people and quickly stepped back.

Then, more surprised by my own actions, I immediately apologized.

"Gasp. S-sorry..."

Kassel, having been pushed, let out a dumbfounded laugh.

"Ha. Is this how the royalty of Solenia repays a favor?"

He then spun around, walked right up to the slowly approaching eyeball monster, and swiftly pulled out the sword lodged in it.

The eyeball monster tried to attack a step too late, but he easily dodged it.

Swoosh, swish!

And he began to rapidly slice up the eyeball monster.

"Ah, ah, ah. No...!"

Surprisingly, even though it wasn't some weapon imbued with holy power, the attacks were working on the monster.

As I watched the eyeball monster, which now had openings cut all over it in an instant, I belatedly recognized the weapon he was holding.

[Lv.999 Lumiekar]

"Lumiekar..."

It was the sword I had restored, the one offered as the tournament prize.

'Fuck... I shouldn't have given it to him.'

Seeing that, I secretly shed a tear.

If I had known it was such an incredible weapon that it could damage the eyeball monster even without a holy attribute, I never would have handed it over.

Slice, slash, serrk.

At that time, Kassel was practically butchering the eyeball monster.

Him, swinging his sword like a man possessed, and the eyeball monster, being turned to rags.

[Lv.??? Unidentifiable Wicked Dregs]

[The One Forsaken by God]

Confirming the letters floating above it once more, the back of my neck grew cold, as if doused with icy water.

'Nise isn't there...?'

I thought he would come out if I dug through its maw, but even though it was so tattered, Nise's form was nowhere to be seen.

GM Ari: It's Nise's will, so right now, the only way is to physically pull him out. T_T

"I must be... swallowed... to meet him..."

Belatedly recalling what Ari and the eyeball monster had said, I hurriedly shouted at Kassel.

"Wait! D-don't kill it!"

"..."

"Your Highness!"

The man, who was holding Lumiekar high as if to deal a final blow, glanced back at me at my urgent cry.

Honestly, I thought he would just ignore me and plunge his sword into the eyeball monster.

I was steeling myself, wondering if I'd have to use Stun to knock him out, but...

Clang.

Surprisingly, Kassel immediately withdrew his sword and leaped back from the eyeball monster.

I quickly grabbed Puppet Liv, who was lying limply nearby, and ran to him, dragging her along.

"Why? That thing's recovery speed is quite fast."

He gestured toward the eyeball monster with his eyes as he stared at me approaching.

The eyeball monster, sliced and gouged all over, was no different from a tattered rag.

I was momentarily stunned by it, but Kassel barked in a cold voice.

"So, your reason for wasting a chance to kill it had better be damn convincing, Princess."

[Crown Prince Kassel Ludwig feels slight dissatisfaction with you.]

[Crown Prince Kassel Ludwig harbors a trace of suspicion toward your actions.]

System windows popped up one after another, as if he was quite displeased by me suddenly stopping him.

'P-Princess...?'

My heart twinged for a moment at the unexpected title.

How did he know that?

'Come to think of it, he said something about Solenian royalty earlier, too...'

I felt like I was going to faint.

But my stupid status wasn't the problem right now, so I didn't let it show and answered quickly.

"Inside this monster, there is evidence that can support the Saintess's words."

"The Saintess?"

Since things had already come to this, hiding the puppet's identity from Kassel was meaningless.

Only then did his gaze fall on the bundle of silver thread I was clutching.

He didn't seem as surprised as I'd expected at the news that the monster that suddenly crashed the opening ceremony was actually the Saintess.

He soon averted his gaze from the puppet and seemed more interested in what I said next.

"Evidence that can support her, you say..."

"Yes. Evidence that the temple has committed all sorts of crimes, like abusing children and controlling monsters to attack villages."

I didn't have time to explain the whole long story about the Saintess's twin, so I just lumped it all together as 'evidence'.

Nise himself was practically the living proof, so, well, it wasn't wrong.

Besides, the original scenario was that after the temple quest ended, Nise would go to the Imperial Palace.

~ Main Quest! ~

< Find and Make Contact with the Third Colleague, and Uncover the Temple's Vile Secret > Complete!

The newly revealed true 'Agent of God' is scheduled to move to the Imperial Palace to recover their health and assist in the investigation.

Though it was all summed up in a few half-assed system window messages.

The users, myself included, firmly believed that this was when the romance between the two main characters, Kassel and Nise, would begin...

'No, this isn't the time to be thinking about this crap!'

I shook my head violently at the misunderstanding about Nise's gender that had naturally surfaced, and quickly opened my mouth to speak.

"I can get it out."

"..."

"Until then, please protect the Saintess."

I requested, thrusting the bundle of silver thread, which was bigger than me, toward him.

If I left it like this, the Pope wouldn't leave it alone while I was rescuing Nise.

The eyeball monster was already squirming, regenerating its sliced parts.

I had to get this done before it started hopping around wildly again.

However, despite the anxiety in my voice, Kassel didn't even glance at Liv's puppet and just muttered expressionlessly.

"And why should I?"

"...What?"

I was momentarily stunned.

I hadn't expected him to be friendly, but I also hadn't expected such a disagreeable answer.

'This is the guy who snuck out every night just to screw over the Pope, so what does he mean, "why should I"?!'

Faced with his uncooperative attitude, I gritted my teeth and refuted him step by step.

"If Your Highness doesn't help, the temple will try to destroy this puppet to cover up the incident. Then the evidence of their crimes, and the Saintess, will all be eliminated."

"The black magic that the leader of the Dark Society used."

He added, gesturing with his eyes at the Puppet Liv I was holding.

"I don't believe that's the Saintess, but why should I trust and protect someone who uses the kind of black magic only warlocks would use?"

"Then why did you help me? You should have just let that Arbiter eat me."

"..."

"Isn't it because Your Highness also stands to gain by revealing the temple's true face and reducing its power at this opportunity, so you stepped in yourself?"

Why would he stand by while I was desperately rolling around avoiding the eyeball monster's attacks, only to step in the moment I was cornered?

I didn't believe for a second that Kassel had helped me out of the goodness of his heart.

His personality was one thing, but we weren't on such terms either.

As if I'd hit the mark, Kassel slowly narrowed his eyes at my words.

"...Ha. You see me as some cold-blooded monster with no blood or tears."

He, who had been silent for a moment, suddenly let out a dry laugh and roughly swept back his fallen bangs.

His hair, which had been neatly combed back for the official event, and his tidy attire were now a mess from the intense movement.

'Well, weren't you?'

I was looking at him as if this was news to me, and our eyes suddenly met.

[Crown Prince Kassel Ludwig feels you are insolent.]

'Insolent, my ass! You are cold-blooded!'

I was dumbfounded by the system window that popped up.

His character settings are literally that, so what's there to be insolent about?

"I'm the one who wants to ask."

As I clenched my fists and took a deep breath at his unpredictable state, he suddenly spoke.

"Ask what..."

"Why a princess from a distant foreign country who uses magic would come all the way to the Empire's tournament opening ceremony and stir up trouble?"

At those words, spat out as if chewing each syllable, I barely managed to suppress my trembling shoulders.

As I thought, he already knew all about the fake identity I'd used to enter the arena.

'I was definitely holed up in the dome, so how did he find out...?'

My heart pounded wildly.

However, I answered calmly.

"...I am a very close friend of the Saintess."

"A friend?"

"Yes. That's why I came to help the Saintess escape from the temple."

At my words, Kassel let out a snort, a mocking smile.

Of course, he didn't look like he believed me at all.

"You certainly have... a lot of friends to help. Somehow, I feel like a non-human thief might be among them."

"Yes, well... I seem to have more than a certain despicable someone who tries to steal other people's auction items at the black market."

"Ha. Despicable?"

Unable to back down, I gritted my teeth and retorted, and he immediately glared.

Then he burst out into an empty laugh.

"...So you knew."

He was asking if I knew his identity from the black market.

Unlike me, whose mask string had come undone midway, revealing my face, he had kept his black mask on until the very end.

"...You were the person I used to rip off the slave trader. Of course I knew."

As I nodded and inadvertently muttered about how I'd used the Lord of Nightmares, he stared at me with a dumbfounded look.

"I'd rather not be called 'despicable' by someone who posed as another's lover for unjust gains."

"Th-that's...!"

Belatedly realizing my mistake, I hurriedly shouted at him, as if begging.

"P-please, for the sake of our bond back then, just help me!"

"..."

A bond? Even I thought it was a ridiculous thing to say.

How in the world would lying to his face that I was his lover build any kind of bond?

'Are you crazy, you stupid mouth!'

As I was inwardly weeping and imagining slapping my own mouth.

Kassel, who had been silent for a while, finally answered.

"Fine."

The tension abruptly drained from my body.

"As you said, I will protect this... bundle... until you bring back that evidence."

Kassel took the Puppet Liv I was holding out and casually tucked her under his arm.

The large bundle of silver thread that I had to drag around somehow looked small and light on him.

As I was blankly registering our height difference, he gave a cold warning.

"But mark my words."

"..."

"If this 'evidence' isn't conclusive, I will eliminate both of them on the charge of ruining the tournament opening ceremony."

"E-eliminate?"

My eyes went wide as a rabbit's at the word 'eliminate', and he nodded.

And he added.

"And your own person won't get off unscathed either, Princess."

That bastard.

But for now, I decided to just be grateful that I had entrusted Liv to him.

I hated to admit it, but right now, he was the only one I could trust.

"...Understood."

I answered reluctantly and immediately turned my back to him, walking toward the eyeball monster.

It was regenerating its body, slowly but surely.

Most of the gaps from being cut had already been filled.

But there was one spot that hadn't.

'Only the place I cut with my dagger hasn't regenerated.'

Below its maw, it was still split open and tattered from where the blade had cut it.

If it opened its mouth in that state, it looked like my whole body could fit inside with room to spare.

"Let me meet him. The one I'm looking for."

I said to the eyeball monster, which was squirming and regenerating without moving from its spot.

Grit, grrrit, grit, grit.

The intact red eyes moved around wildly, then at some point, they all fixed on me.

Spluurch.

As if it understood me, the eyeball monster finally, slowly, opened its maw.

But its speed was slower than ever.

The damage it had taken from Kassel seemed to be severe.

As I waited nervously for it to swallow me, I suddenly heard a low, sarcastic remark from behind me.

"If you're not confident, why don't you contact Solenia right now?"

I glanced back. Kassel was looking at me with a thoroughly bored expression.

It seemed he couldn't see the dregs slowly opening its maw, as I was blocking his view.

"I'm fine."

I refused flatly.

Naturally, not only am I not real Solenian royalty...

"Wait. You, behind you..."

Suddenly, Kassel's eyes widened.

It seemed he had finally spotted the monster, which had opened its maw as wide as possible to swallow me.

I retorted, my lips twisting.

"I'll take care of my own person."

Because I'm gonna grab that bastard Nise and bounce immediately!

At that moment, Kassel reached out his hand to me.

"Please take care of the Saintess. I'm trusting you, Your Highness. Later."

"...Princess!"

Just as he tossed aside even Liv's puppet and lunged at me.

Gulp.

I was swallowed whole by the eyeball monster.