Ch.199Putri’s Stage (3)

# 199. Putri’s Stage (3)

A song. A song whispering about the sweet and happy love shared with the prince in a dream.

In the game, it was simply a matter of choosing an option. Pick the lyrics that best matched the theme of the song from four choices, then click through a few QTEs that appeared when Snow White sang, and the song part was over!

The difficulty was so low that there was no need to memorize the lyrics or QTE patterns in advance.

But having to actually sing those cringeworthy lyrics myself, and lyrics about loving a man at that—it wasn’t easy.

…It really wasn’t easy.

I suppose I should be thankful that I was facing a dove rather than the prince. By brainwashing myself into thinking I was just practicing a female ballad, it became somewhat bearable.

Finally, the dove came completely close. I took a deep breath and began to sing the lyrics I had composed on my way here, setting them to an appropriate melody.

With a gorgeous face, voice, and the heroine bonus on top of that, I figured it would work out somehow.

“In my dream…”

I hesitated before barely getting out the first phrase. But my song immediately became a ‘phenomenon.’ I had a strong feeling that if I didn’t continue this song to the end, I would definitely fail, no matter how appropriate the lyrics were.

The prince was listening to this song right now.

That was certain.

It felt like the very act of a beautiful girl singing a pure and innocent love song in front of a dove was triggering the story to flow in the right direction, and my song was transforming into a familiar ballad I’d heard many times before.

Since I had no expertise in music, it seemed a hundred, no, a thousand times better to borrow the melody of an already proven hit song than to just hum something carelessly.

A few minutes later, Snow White’s (not really) heart-fluttering love song came to an end. How did my singing sound? What kind of judgment would it receive?

Judging by how the doves weren’t staying still but were circling around me frantically while cooing, it seemed not bad.

“Ah… To think that such a beautiful song came from the voice of someone even more beautiful than the song itself.”

It’s him! No, it’s the prince! The prince has appeared!

Announcing his presence with a slightly cheesy voice, the prince looked exactly like someone who would appear in a pure maiden’s dream.

In other words, he was an extremely handsome man exuding nobility. Since I’m a man and not gay, I could simply think, “Damn, he’s good-looking,” and be done with it.

But how would Snow White—a girl who maintained her inner purity despite suffering harsh oppression from her stepmother—react?

He’s handsome. So cool. I want to be held in those broad arms at least once, and dance while being embraced. I want to whisper sweet words to him.

And that’s why I’m embarrassed and miserable to show myself like this.

That’s why Snow White ran away in the original story, and I needed to run away too.

It wasn’t simply about being startled by a strange man suddenly appearing, but about conveying those complex emotions and wretchedness through my face and gestures.

And I couldn’t flee to somewhere completely out of sight. Somehow, by whatever means, the stepmother needed to witness this, after all.

‘What the hell am I doing?’

Even though I knew exactly why I needed to play this cat-and-mouse game with the prince, I felt a slight sense of reality hitting me, but my body was already moving away from the prince at a perfectly calculated speed—just fast enough to stay ahead but slow enough to be followed.

“Oh, beautiful one! I simply wish to face you and hear your beautiful voice! Where are you rushing off to in such haste?”

Ugh.

It was cringeworthy, but the prince was so handsome that the scene somehow worked. Either because of the heroine bonus or because talking while running was quite difficult, he couldn’t easily keep up with Snow White’s speed.

Instead of answering, I put on the most sorrowful expression I could manage, occasionally glancing back deliberately to make eye contact with the prince, then acting startled.

This reignited the prince’s pursuit, which had slightly slowed.

“Wait, just for a moment, please stop! I… just from your voice and the glimpse I caught of you, a song for you has come to my mind. If you’re reluctant to face me, could you not spare me just a few minutes of your time?”

There it is! The prince’s answering song!

I was grateful that my efforts hadn’t been in vain. I nodded shyly, and the prince, beaming with a smile as bright as a sunflower in full bloom, loosened his neck slightly and began to sing a serenade for Snow White.

“Oh, you. Pure and white as snow.”

Just like with my song, as soon as the prince sang the first phrase, his song became a phenomenon.

The prince’s voice lived up to his looks, but unfortunately for him, the recipient wasn’t a pure maiden but a former office worker, gaming addict, and military veteran, so it sounded as cheesy as eating carbonara for breakfast.

So I didn’t particularly pay attention to it. Since his song had already become a phenomenon, all I needed to do was listen to it until the end.

Then, by the time the prince’s song ended, the stepmother would surely witness it, and after promising to meet the prince again someday, I could prepare for the assassin.

“Nameless beauty. Today, this moment, I shall never forget for as long as I live. Not with my head, but with my heart. So, nameless beauty, might you tell me your name? If I cannot even hear your name, I fear my heart may never beat properly again!”

“…This humble girl’s name is Margarete.”

“Oh, Margarete! Even your name is incomparably beautiful! I shall never, ever forget it.”

Alright, now could you please leave, Prince?

“I hope we can exchange songs once more. Farewell.”

Having heard Snow White’s name and satisfied with that, the prince disappeared without revealing his own identity. Of course, I wasn’t particularly curious about the prince’s name, nor was it important, so I let it slide.

‘Now, it’s time to prepare for the assassin.’

There’s still some time before the assassin arrives.

The stepmother needs to see the young ones flirting, get extremely pissed off, and ask her famous magic mirror, “Mirror, mirror, who’s the fairest of them all?” only to hear, “Not you, it’s Snow White.”

Then, after barely restraining herself from smashing the mirror, the stepmother would hire an assassin—that would be the correct story progression.

I gazed briefly at the path where the prince had disappeared, then moved to prepare the things I would need to ‘persuade’ the assassin.

I felt something chilling on the nape of my neck.

**

“My goodness. How could such a method…?”

“You don’t have to read it out loud, Yuri…”

Twenty minutes after everyone agreed to Yuri’s plan to identify the impostor by comparing how accurately they remembered their sexual experiences and put it into action.

Everyone submitted their answer sheets to the center simultaneously, agreeing that no one would touch them. Since reading could be done with eyes alone, the seven dwarfs read the first submitted answer sheet and couldn’t hide their astonishment.

“I never thought of casting heal to get it up again and squeeze out more! Soyu unnie! That’s unfair!”

“Hey, hey!”

“Next time when I do it, do it with me! Cast heal on me from the side!”

“This is crazy, seriously!”

“Why not? Seyeon unnie and I did it together.”

“Yuri…”

The insane idea of casting heal on Sunghyun’s manhood to revitalize it after it had gone limp and continue the relationship.

Even the other raid members who didn’t know the details were looking at the dwarf claiming to be Soyu with expressions of wonder.

“Right. Now we can compare this with what Sunghyun wrote.”

“The leader’s answer is… this one.”

After the storm of ‘healing sex’ had passed, the dwarfs returned to their original purpose of comparing memories.

The sight of seven dwarfs huddled together, staring intently at a single piece of paper, was comedic in itself, but their expressions were far from comical.

“It seems mostly correct, but something feels off?”

“If he wrote about the bathtub incident too, isn’t he right about the essentials?”

“Not just that, he wrote down the things we said and even Soyu unnie’s body characteristics. I think we need to hear from Soyu unnie about this. Are these things written here correct?”

“…Yes, they are. I didn’t think Sunghyun would remember all this.”

“That’s proof of how much he loves you, noona.”

“Stop rubbing salt in the wound, woo woo.”

“I’m jealous…”

…Regardless of the content of their conversation, they remained serious throughout.

The seven dwarfs concluded that it was difficult to determine based solely on comparing Soyu and Sunghyun’s records.

So they put the judgment on pseudo-Soyu and semi-Sunghyun on hold and turned their attention to the next answer sheet.

“Ah. Now it’s Subin unnie’s turn.”

“Let’s get into the first experience~”

The expression of the dwarf claiming to be Subin was calm, unlike the dwarf claiming to be Soyu.

Considering her personality, she seemed close to the mindset that if revealing the memory of her first experience would help solve the current problem, she could endure any embarrassment.

Regardless, the dwarf claiming to be Yuri read Subin’s answer aloud, and while the others reprimanded Yuri, their eyes and ears were focused on Subin’s first experience.

“Huh? Wait. Wait a minute! Here. This part! Isn’t this different?”

Their concentration was instantly broken by a single remark from the dwarf claiming to be Yuri.

Soon, all their gazes converged on one spot.