Killing the Lord – 1

I asked around and found the very top floor of the annex building of the mansion.

Perhaps because the Lord had left the reception room with a very pleased expression, the servants and maids showed an attitude completely opposite to before.

Not only was there no hint of them ignoring me, but their every word was polite, and they even brought refreshments to the table without me asking.

‘Well, to work under a guy like that, you’d have to be quick-witted. Those who weren’t would have all died.’

The Lord of this city was one of the few NPCs in Brdk 4 who was evil from birth.

That was also why I felt no guilt, even though I was planning to lure him out with all sorts of lies and finally frame him for making a contract with a demon and kill him.

Anyway, that bastard would stab me in the back too.

For now, I’ve put the original plan on hold because I’ve obtained a book imbued with a demon, which changed my objective. In the game, the Lord betrays the player the moment the player faithfully carries out his words and sells out the Silver Dawn Knights.

He not only banishes the now useless player from the city but also frames them for conspiring with the Silver Dawn Knights to assassinate the Emperor’s kin.

If that happened, the ending of that playthrough would be fixed as a bad ending, as an added bonus.

All event branches categorized by users as happy endings would be completely blocked, and even among the normal ending branches, only the two most dismal ones could barely be chosen.

The rest all lead straight to bad endings.

Furthermore, all human-side subquests would evaporate, so to enjoy the game normally, one had to either quickly get a bad ending and move on to the next playthrough, or simply start a new game.

‘So, killing that guy early is actually more helpful as an NPC.’

It’s true.

If that guy is killed, Aurora takes over both the Head of the family and Lord positions. If you establish a friendly relationship early on, you can receive quite a lot of help.

It was so bad that when Brdk 4 released all sorts of statistics for its 10th anniversary, he proudly topped the ‘Most Murdered NPC by Players’ category, overwhelmingly crushing the second place by a huge margin.

‘Why isn’t Aurora coming? Surely she didn’t really run away, did she?’

As the refreshments on the table ran out and the sun, precariously hanging on the horizon, slowly began to disappear, a sense of unease gradually reared its head.

If Aurora had truly run away or committed suicide, dealing with the aftermath of killing the Lord would become incredibly difficult. If my luck was even worse, the Silver Dawn Knights would disband.

Moreover, this was the first time for such a situation, making me even more anxious. It meant I couldn’t prepare using my game knowledge.

As I sat idly on the bed, ominous thoughts began to pile up, one after another. It was useless to try and force my thoughts elsewhere.

-Knock knock.

Just as I decided I couldn’t wait any longer and was about to go out to look for Aurora, I heard a polite female voice from outside, accompanied by the sound of knocking on the door.

“Excuse me. Are you in there?”

It was Aurora’s voice.

‘Thank goodness. She didn’t run away.’

I sighed in relief inwardly, and since I was already holding the doorknob, I turned it and opened the door. Outside stood Aurora, just as her voice had indicated.

‘What the fuck.’

And I was horrified by the clothes she was wearing. What Aurora had on was something with an incredibly small amount of fabric.

A design that barely covered the pink tips of her breasts and barely concealed her pubic area. The fabric area that exposed her body was overwhelmingly larger than what it covered. Straps barely wrapped around her body.

It was a type of clothing commonly known as a micro bikini.

I doubted if all the fabric covering her body, put together, could even cover one of my fingers. Did she walk from her room to mine wearing that?

‘What is this? Is this also due to a mod?’

As I looked down at her with a bewildered expression, thinking that, Aurora flinched, her face flushed red, and as if asking me to look more, she put her arms behind her back and subtly pushed out her chest.

Realizing my mistake, I turned my head and gestured for her to come inside.

Unlike the knight captains who wore tight white sleeveless tops and dolphin shorts without an ounce of shame, Aurora was clearly aware that she was wearing embarrassing clothes.

While the micro bikini itself might have been due to a mod, it seemed her common sense hadn’t been altered.

The original was probably a negligee with a moderate amount of exposure, not a ridiculous micro bikini like that.

Click. As I closed the door, Aurora flinched at the sound, then scurried over to lock the doorknob. After that, she went to the window, drew the curtains, and lit the candles placed around the room.

Perhaps it was a room meant for ‘that kind of purpose’ from the start, because as the candles were lit, a very lewd yet dreamy atmosphere spread throughout.

Aurora, who had created ‘that kind of atmosphere’ in the room, then pulled my hand and sat me on the bed. She then trembled slightly and backed away a bit. It was a distance where her entire body could be seen by my eyes.

“Th-thank you… for t-taking in… humble me… like this…”

With her face flushed a bursting red, she slowly began to kneel on the floor.

“My body is now… all… yours… Pl-please, use it as you wish…”

Saying that, Aurora knelt on the floor, clasped her hands in front of her head, and bowed her upper body deeply. It was an act known as dogeza.

As I stared blankly at the sight, her black hair cascading like a waterfall on either side suddenly brought me back to my senses. Now that I thought about it, I shouldn’t be doing this here.

Because of the appearance-altering mod, her looks were such that she wouldn’t be outdone anywhere, but her actions were pure lewdness itself, making me momentarily lose my mind. I forcibly suppressed the surging lustful thoughts.

If I revealed my sexual desires here, it would be over.

“Aurora-nim.”

“Yes, yes! …Huh?”

When I called her name, Aurora instinctively lifted her head and replied, then noticed that I had used an honorific for her and made a questioning expression.

“The reason I came here is not to embrace Aurora-nim.”

“……?”

An even deeper question appeared on her face. I met her gaze directly and said,

“By any chance, are you interested in the position of Head of the family?”

“……So, to summarize what you’re saying.”

Hooo, a wisp of white smoke rose from Aurora’s mouth.

The embarrassed expression she had just moments ago, while performing dogeza and offering herself, had completely vanished. Instead, a sharp and stern expression took its place.

Holding a pipe in her left hand, resting her right elbow on the armrest of the chair, leaning slightly to the right with her palm supporting her face, and crossing her legs, she looked incredibly alluring.

Even so, her attire was still a micro bikini.

“You mean you want to kill that pig bastard and put me in the position of Head of the family, right? And while you’re at it, make me take over the Lord’s position of this city too.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“How are you going to kill him? Even if that bastard is fat as hell, his head is sharper than others’. He didn’t just survive alone when the Emperor was beheading his own relatives to eliminate rebellion risks for nothing.”

“Isn’t it because I have a way that I came here?”

“Ha, you’re full of confidence, aren’t you?”

Aurora let out a small laugh and then placed the unlit pipe on the desk. A faint wisp of smoke curled up from its tip.

“Let me ask you one thing. You, why are you so unfazed even after seeing me now? You’re not surprised, not awkward. It’s as if you expected me to be like this.”

Aurora asked, as if curious. Indeed, it was understandable for her to be curious, given that her personality had changed to almost that of a different person compared to moments ago, yet I was accepting it as a matter of course.

‘Because her current appearance is the personality I originally knew.’

The Lord’s daughter was an NPC with an immense desire for the position of Head of the family, and she possessed more than enough ability for it.

If a player who had established a friendly relationship with her informed her of the Lord assassination plan in advance, giving her time to prepare, she would literally inherit the position of Head of the family and quell the city’s chaos in the blink of an eye.

Even if not informed in advance, she would handle all the aftermath by herself, racking her brain. However, after that, her relationship with the player would become a bit strained.

That’s why I was much more accustomed to this confident side of Aurora.

“Well. Why do you think?”

Of course, being accustomed to something and revealing it are two different matters. I played dumb.

“If you don’t want to tell me, just say so directly. Don’t beat around the bush. I don’t like that.”

Aurora clicked her tongue at my sly answer.

“Alright, you’re right. I wish that pig bastard would die, I wish I could kill that pig bastard and take the position of Head of the family, and I wish I could rule this city instead of that pig bastard.”

Her tone was calm at first, but it grew increasingly agitated towards the end. Anger slowly surfaced on her face. Her eyebrows twitched, and the corners of her mouth twisted.

“You’re asking if I feel sorry for killing him, even though he’s my father? Not at all. Not even a little. Never. Do you know how much I’ve wanted to kill that pig all this time? He’d constantly eye my body with those fucking eyes, or scheme to make money off my body, or even think of using my body as a bargaining chip! And then he finally sold me off? Am I supposed to call that kind of bastard ‘father’?”

Bang! Unable to contain her rage, Aurora finally slammed the table. The pipe toppled over, scattering gray ash across the table. Her tightly clenched fists were trembling.

“To that bastard, I wasn’t a daughter, but a tool. So I should treat him not as a father, but as an idiot. No, even that treatment is too good for him.”

Her intense emotions seemed to have subsided a little, as she tilted her head back to look at the ceiling and let out a long, drawn-out sigh. A deep exhalation, “Whoooooosh,” could be heard.

When her face turned back to me, her golden eyes held a very tired look.

“……If I hadn’t caught on early and handled myself, I’d probably be gasping for breath under that pig bastard right now, or sold off as a concubine to some old man, fawning between his legs, or rolling around in a brothel until my back broke. That’s why I deliberately lived by pretending to be weak and fragile. Because I had to act like an obedient daughter, just enough to avoid dirty deeds.”

Saying that, Aurora shivered. When she mentioned a “fake personality,” she was probably referring to the weak and fragile demeanor she had shown me just moments ago.

Paradoxically, by acting as a fragile daughter who could be manipulated at will, she had managed to survive without suffering ill treatment until now.

If she had revealed her true personality, there was no telling what that guy might have done to break her spirit.

“But you know.”

Her golden eyes turned back to me. All traces of fatigue had vanished, replaced by a blazing emotion.

“How can I trust you?”