episode_0235

As the cold night air brushed past my head, the chilling emotions that followed were enough to give me goosebumps.

I couldn’t help but replay the conversation I had with Edan inside the banquet hall just a while ago, and my heart sank at the memory.

“Why didn’t you avoid it when that woman’s lips were getting closer to Ed’s nose?”

“Do you also think that a decently sized chest is much more appealing than those disgustingly large ones?”

I have no idea what possessed me to blurt out such words in front of Edan. Especially the second one, where I sounded more like a crazy woman whining about why he doesn’t love me instead of suspecting his fiancée’s infidelity.

“Damn it. Why did those words suddenly come out?”

As the cool night air and passing time cleared my head, my face now felt hot. Not because of the summer night’s warmth, but simply due to the embarrassment of the conversation we just had.

“Sigh, embarrassing…”

I should have just stuck to my original plan of putting on a dramatic performance of hysterical jealousy. Whether Edan had any intention of avoiding that woman’s kiss or not, what did it matter?

No, it did matter, to some extent. If Edan’s lips had touched that woman’s in that moment, I would have felt awkward thinking about it whenever I kissed Edan in the future.

Thinking about it, I should have stopped it. In that sense, Edan’s actions were somewhat odd…

“No, no, no, no, no.”

Why am I already assuming that Edan and I will kiss again next time?

With the increasing frequency of kissing Edan these days, my mindset had become more relaxed about it. I had started to see kissing as a somewhat acceptable form of skinship. But where was the line drawn, especially in a male-female relationship?

I couldn’t let this mindset become ingrained. If it did, I might end up with a strange conclusion that as long as it wasn’t related to virginity, it didn’t matter.

“…Well, anyway, it’s a relief that it ended well in the end.”

I was able to successfully appeal to MacHeart that things weren’t going well between Edan and me.

Although Edan seemed flustered at first, he quickly composed himself and played along with my act, ultimately leading to success. Thanks to this, I was able to create a much more natural atmosphere of separation between Edan and me than I had originally planned.

Now, when MacHeart comes after me, I just need to call the others all at once and take him down in one fell swoop. No matter how much demonic power he possesses, he won’t stand a chance against us.

“I’ve already exchanged the signal device in advance, and everything is ready.”

The good thing about expensive items is that even though the one-time use, one-way communication device was relatively costly, it wasn’t bad. Of course, it wasn’t cheap either, but at least it was much cheaper compared to the value of my life.

When MacHeart comes after me, if I channel my magic into the device, the others in the banquet hall will come to help. Edan, the hero, Agnes, and Cerista. With this amount of manpower, we could easily eliminate MacHeart in an instant.

And finally, by using the abilities of the saint that I possess, I could prove in front of everyone that MacHeart had used demonic power, disguising the user as Cerista. Once this plan was executed, everything would flow smoothly in the future.

“It will work out. It has to work out.”

If things don’t go well, I’ll just have to rely on the adventurer party.

No matter how much I played “Luminor Academy” for 2000 hours in my past life and memorized the development in my head, that knowledge wasn’t acquired because I was smart.

If my carefully planned strategy doesn’t work out at my level, I had no choice but to change my plan to killing MacHart with the adventurer party that definitely works. In the process, the few years after graduation spent idling around will eventually become my useless debt intertwined with MacHart.

With such thoughts in mind, I quietly waited for MacHart to appear, and suddenly, the conversation I had with Ethan at the banquet came to mind.

The slightly painful truth Ethan told me towards the end of the verbal spar.

“Just because you barely became engaged to a viscount, did you think you were something special? If you’re not my fiancée, Lily, you’re just a common lower noble lady without any backing.”

…Well, it’s true.

Lately, I’ve been so immersed in academy life that I momentarily forgot. Ethan is the heir of the powerful Blackwood Viscount family among the duke families, and I’m just a fake commoner disguised as the daughter of the Rosewood Viscount family, a lower noble lady at best.

Knowing this, I deliberately focused on addressing Ethan with the utmost respect as his “exclusive maid,” but due to recent events, my relationship with Ethan has become too loose.

It might be because the people around me are of a higher average level. From the next Red Demon Lord to the saintess, I’ve built too close relationships with high-ranking individuals.

“He probably didn’t mean it when he said ‘barely a viscount’s daughter,’ but… hmm…”

Still, the fact that the phrase ‘barely a viscount’s daughter’ came out in that situation probably means that I’ve been thinking that way in my head all along, right? So, it was inevitable that such words would come out naturally in that situation. The thought kept bothering me.

Being alone makes my thoughts turn negative. It would be better to just finish it quickly and throw away this headache.

With such thoughts, I was performing the act of a “rejected noble lady by her fiancé” in the garden outside the palace gate, and finally, the protagonist of today showed his face.

…Honestly, I didn’t want to meet him half-heartedly, but since I’ve come this far, it was an unavoidable fate.

“Oh, you look lonely from behind, miss.”

“….”

With the sound of footsteps, the prey of the day, MacHart, the prince, appeared, spewing nauseating lines from the start.

He must have followed me since I left the banquet. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to find me so quickly.

While everyone inside the banquet hall was looking for someone to spend the night with, I was alone in the garden at the back door, causing a commotion.

And that damn MacHart had been sending me unpleasant obsessions for almost two months, so he had no choice but to reveal himself in this trap.

“First of all, I need to buy some time.”

I sent magic power to the communicator in my pocket to call the rest of the members inside the banquet hall to the back door of the palace.

It takes about 20 seconds for the magic power to flow and send the signal. Considering the time it takes for another member of the subjugation team to come here without being noticed by others from the banquet hall, it would take about 1 to 2 minutes.

Dragging other people along for no reason would only turn a perfectly fine prince into a crime scene where many would gather to kill him, so it would take time for each person to appear with concealment magic or protective spells.

And during that time, what I had to do was to somehow not get sucked into the McHeart and ‘alone’ space.

“Well, is there anything you’ve done to make my back less lonely?”

“I don’t think there’s anything to make it less lonely, but I can make sure your back isn’t lonely from now on.”

“Damn, seriously. Just when I was starting to forget, you show up again…”

I tried to calm my trembling heart in my chest and continued to act nonchalant.

Don’t get scared for no reason, don’t get caught hiding a plan, just act the same way I’ve been dealing with him so far.

If I respond in a way that’s different from usual, he’ll notice and run away, so I had to wait until he was definitely caught off guard.

“Yeah. Have you been well, Lilith?”

“Don’t call me by my name. It makes me sick.”

“Then can I call you by a nickname? Lily?”

“You bastard!”

When the title of Lily came out of McHeart’s mouth, I couldn’t help but momentarily lose control of my emotions.

Calm down, calm down. Don’t get caught up in his pace.

“I’ve been so lonely. I usually bring a woman I like to my bed within a week to relieve my stress, but Lily is so well-guarded, you know.”

“Oh, really?”

“She’s been protected like a princess 24/7, right? With the young lord you serve and the heir of the Blaze family.”

“…”

“My power isn’t particularly good for dealing with multiple people at once… In many ways, dealing with you is difficult, because it’s the power of a demon.”

Now, McHeart was openly mentioning that he was dealing with the power of a demon in front of me, as if he had no intention of hiding it anymore.

He must have thought there was no need to hide it anymore. He had the confidence to shut me up firmly, which was why he had such a shameless attitude.

After all, the people who would listen to what the junior viscount said were few and far between. It was the reason why I was still unharmed almost two months after McHeart attacked me.

In the end, I had to gather people who believed in my words and somehow solve the situation. By now, they would have received the magical signal I sent, so I had to wait for my comrades to come and buy some time.

“By the way, you were so well protected, why are you alone now? Does that mean you’re starting to open up to me?”

“Do as you please. Delusions are free.”

-Swish.

“Of course, thanks to that idiot, such ridiculous delusions will probably end today.”

The blackwood-patterned dagger pulled out from under the dress skirt gleamed coldly.

It was the early start of the fourth part, the McHeart subjugation battle.