Trapped in a Game That Flopped

Chapter 28

Episode 28

"I asked what you were doing, having come right up to me."

Clang!

As he straightened his upper body from leaning against the wall, the sound of chains rang out eerily.

That sound snapped me to my senses.

Kassel's face was located far too close.

To exaggerate, close enough that our lips would touch if I moved just a little.

Of course, that was natural since we'd actually kissed just a moment ago, but to put it another way, it was the perfect distance for him to choke me with his chains.

'Ah, no!'

I immediately turned pale, shot up, and scrambled back from him, as if rolling backward.

"Uaack!"

But my mind was already at the prison door, while I barely managed to stumble back before I plopped down, as if I'd tripped over something.

I looked back. The knight bastards I'd knocked out were sprawled carelessly on the floor.

That's what I had tripped over.

'Ugh, these useless bastards!'

"Euuk..."

I wanted to kick the one who groaned quietly after I bumped him.

"Ha."

The Lord of Nightmares finds your actions extremely unpleasant.

I quickly turned my gaze to the system window that popped up with a snort, an omen as ominous as the Disaster.

Kassel, who had crossed his arms at some point, was watching my one-woman show with his head tilted.

Still within a distance where he could grab me and choke me if he decided to.

"I didn't do anything."

I started by denying it, just in case.

"You didn't do anything?"

"Yes."

"For that to be true, you were far too close, compared to the distance you bastard usually keep."

"..."

"Why? Are you curious how many seconds you'll last this time?"

The bastard twisted his lips into a smirk.

Then, clang!

As if to threaten me, this time he deliberately shook his hand hard to make the chains rattle.

'You devilish bastard.'

I wanted to quickly get back to the door, stepping on or kicking the fallen bastards out of the way, to put distance between us.

But too strong a denial and over-the-top actions would only arouse suspicion.

"...You looked like you were about to fall asleep, so I was in the middle of feeding you an Insomnia Potion."

I calmly denied the kiss from a moment ago.

That's right. Me, a pervert who'd have her first kiss in a game?

No way.

At my excuse, the bastard's brow furrowed slightly.

"...You're saying I was about to fall asleep?"

"Yes. Your eyes were open, but you definitely seemed to have entered a light sleep state. And these men were stabbing you with a knife."

The key to a perfect lie is a quick deflection.

I, who had been sitting, quickly got up and pointed at the unconscious bastards.

'Choke these bastards, not me.'

Contrary to my desperate wish, Kassel glanced at them rather indifferently and asked.

"Is this your doing?"

"Yes, well..."

The Lord of Nightmares harbors strong suspicion toward you.

A system window popped up immediately.

I thought he'd punish the knight bastards right away, but his suspicion of me came first. It was baffling.

But for a mere Apothecary, and a petite woman at that, to have knocked out two able-bodied men, it was understandable that it would arouse suspicion.

"I'm a pretty good fighter."

I answered with a shrug.

At that, the bastard's brow completely crumpled.

"..."

The Lord of Nightmares feels disgusted by your low-quality joke.

The Lord of Nightmares holds a high level of suspicion about your identity.

The Lord of Nightmares is curious about who is behind you.

He was silent, but the system windows clearly showed his rampaging psyche.

Of course, I didn't think I could get away with it as easily as I did with the Head Maid by saying I'd learned self-defense, but this felt a bit excessive.

'Even if the situation has changed, isn't he demanding too many details? I'm just an Apothecary NPC at best...'

I'm not a Hero like the users, so can't he just let it slide?

I grumbled and, having no other choice, gave an explanation completely different from the truth.

"...It was a joke. I ambushed them from behind and knocked them out."

"An ambush...?"

"They passed out right away when I hit them with a rock."

Because Kassel had mindlessly torn up the wall, there was quite a bit of stone debris on the prison floor.

When I pointed to a fairly large chunk among them, he let out a dry laugh.

"You're crazy."

'Crazy? He's a dick even when I help him.'

I was in a bad mood, so I snapped my head away from him.

At that, the bastard added.

"They belong to the Count's knight order, you know. It won't be good for you if they wake up and confess your atrocities to the Count."

"It's fine. The Count trusts me quite a bit."

"Then Adam Hailey must be the crazy one. Trusting a bastard like you."

"I'll take care of my own business, so you should probably do something about your appearance."

He was a bastard who only knew how to say hateful things, but his state, covered in an unidentifiable liquid and bleeding from his shoulder, wasn't a pretty sight.

At my pointed remark, he finally seemed to feel the pain, looking down at his wound with a somewhat dazed expression.

In the meantime, I bent down and stripped the clothes off the sprawled-out bastards.

Deviance must have been a daily routine for them, as they weren't wearing their armor properly, making it easy to strip.

I didn't need to take their pants, but I was a little pissed, so I made them stark naked in an instant.

I dug through their pants pockets, took out the prison key, and then threw all their pants out the window opening.

"It's unpleasant, I know, but wipe yourself with this."

I handed the remaining shirts to Kassel.

The bastard, who had been quietly watching my antics, suddenly frowned.

"You're telling me to wipe my body with this?"

"Yes. There's nothing else to wipe with right now."

There was no way a clean towel would be in a place where even meals weren't delivered properly.

Kassel glared at the clothes I offered as if he wanted to kill them, then finally snatched them violently, as if he had no other choice.

Then, with a deep scowl, he began to wipe the filth and blood from his head.

His appearance was bare and covered in scars, but his actions were just like a nobly-raised young master's. It was absurd.

"...There's an unpleasant smell coming from somewhere."

Around the time he'd wiped off most of what was on him, he muttered as if to himself.

Even though I had definitely scrubbed myself clean, I felt a needless pang of guilt.

Any other time, I would have just ignored it, but I found myself hurriedly making an excuse.

"Maybe it's because of the soup you're covered in? Or maybe those guys didn't wash, so their clothes smell..."

By the time I'd said that much, his expression had become so savage that I just shut my mouth.

'If I told him I kissed him after rolling in a mud pit all day, he'd try to kill me on the spot.'

His own appearance wasn't exactly clean either. What a funny guy.

But I'll definitely keep it a secret.

I vowed to myself and spoke.

"I'll stop by the estate a bit and bring you a clean towel and some clothes to wear."

"..."

Even at this favor, which I was only offering out of guilt, the bastard just stared at me blankly without answering.

"Is there anything else you need?"

I asked, puzzled. Then the bastard said something completely absurd.

"Usually, when people see someone in trouble, don't they take off the robe they're wearing and give it to them?"

"What? Me... Why?"

"When they see my face, most people do it, regardless of whether they're a man or a woman."

"Ha."

I was so dumbfounded that a dry laugh escaped my lips.

"Are you, with your own mouth, calling yourself a drop-dead gorgeous, sexy man with a decadent vibe?"

"Am I not?"

"..."

It was infuriating, but I was speechless.

Because anyone could see that Kassel was, in fact, decadently sexy and devastatingly handsome.

But the more evil something is, the more beautiful it is.

I, who knew his rotten personality better than anyone, would never be fooled by that beauty and offer him my robe and items like the Kassel-fanatics.

"Objectively speaking, you're handsome, but you're not my type."

"For someone who says that, you sure touched me just fine."

"Wh-What?"

"Who knows."

The bastard, who had answered shortly, suddenly raised the back of his hand and roughly wiped his lips.

'Don't tell me... he doesn't know, does he?'

My heart sank.

I looked at Kassel with a nervous heart, but he was so expressionless I couldn't figure out what he was thinking.

"A-Ahem! A-Anyway, I'm glad you're awake! I was so surprised, I thought you'd fallen asleep."

In the end, what I chose was a quick change of subject.

Kassel, his face now fairly clean, threw the shirt he was holding onto the floor and muttered irritably.

"The Insomnia Potion's duration has shortened."

"What did you say?!"

My jaw dropped, and I was dumbfounded.

If it shortened from 25 minutes, just how short had it gotten?

"H-How much shorter?"

"Barely 10 minutes."

'Crazy.'

The number of potions I gave Kassel this morning was 30.

I'd come back about five hours after leaving the Tower, so that was a really close call.

Kuuuurururung!

The ominous dark clouds that suddenly filled the sky and the ear-splitting roar.

Remembering the sign of the Disaster that had just occurred, I trembled at my lousy luck of the draw.

I had to admit it now.

An easy 'Stop the Disaster' was out of the question, and I had entered the Resistance Route.