With a bang, a crestless carriage stopped behind the Count Dyural’s residence. It was hard to discern who it was amidst the quietness of pitch-black darkness but looking at how imposing the horse and the coachmen were, you could tell it must’ve been someone with high status.

The door opened from the inside, and a deep scarlet-haired young man came down lightly, stopped in the middle, and held out his hand towards the inside. Shyly taking his hand and coming down from the carriage was a petite young girl with honey brown hair.

“Umm… Thank you for escorting me, Al.”

“Don’t fret about this. It’s also hard for me not to be with you all time.”

“Al…”

Marika’s cheeks flushed from Al’s gaze, undoubtedly filled with passion.

At her straightforward and cute reply, Alphonso approached her and hugged her as if he couldn’t endure it.

“Ah…”

Then as if he couldn’t stop his desire for coveting her, Alphonso robbed Marika’s lips.

Only when the innocent young lady, unaccustomed to kissing, became exhausted did Alphonso, who was hugging her, separate his lips from hers.

“A-Al… If I didn’t return, my grandfather would discover us.”

“I know. We can’t tell anyone about us yet. However, just wait for a while, Marika. I will make you mine for sure once I tidy up that noisy bunch.”

“Al…”

“Prepare for my embrace on the Pesach night.”

Alphonso flashed a dangerous smile, like a beast gazing at his prey, and quickly returned to the carriage.

Marika held her burning cheeks and saw off the quietly moving carriage.

For a while, Marika stood there in a daze. Still, she quickly returned to herself, feeling the cold night winds, and hurriedly entered the mansion from the back gate. However, she was suddenly captured by the hands extending from the side and covering her mouth.

“Ssh… Don’t scream, Marika. It’s me.”

“Lord Bart?”

Marika turned around and looked at the tall and thin glasses-wearing young man. His growing dark red hair was left unchecked, even his stubble was showing, but his facial features were quite good-looking if you looked closely.

Marika flustered at the young doctor’s sudden appearance, who was living near the orphanage.

“Lord Bart, it’s not good for you to be here.”

“Staying with a commoner-looking man will downgrade your reputation?”

“I have never thought this way. But if grandfather saw us…”

“I know, Marika. I saw you being kissed by someone else. Don’t you think that much selfishness shouldn’t be allowed?”

Redness spread down to Marika’s neck. An older man, whom she had a faint feeling of first love, saw her being kissed by someone who was recently pulling her heartstrings. Combined with shame and a feeling of guilt, Marika’s peacock green eyes become blurred.

“Is that man going to embrace you on Pesach night?”

“I don’t want to. But, I’m not in the position to refuse…”

“Umm, yeah. After all, that man is in the position that can make you his plaything with just a snap of his fingers.”

Bart’s voice had a kind of charm that made people calm, probably something that had become his second nature after dealing with so many patients.

However, an uneasiness brewed inside the Marika, this time from his voice.

“Lord Bart?” 

“Alphonso Johannes II de Savior… That man has robbed me of so many things. However, I don’t want him to snatch you too.”

Bart hugged Marika. Although confused, Marika didn’t resist and entrusted her body to the older man, whose voice was filled with frustration.

“If you’re to be snatched away by that man, I rather…”

The long bangs covered that man’s expression, and his voice diffused in the night’s quietness, not reaching Marika’s ears.

※※※

Pesach Night was the last day of the year or the so-called New Year’s Eve in my previous life. 

On this day, no-holds-barred unfolded all over the kingdom. The biggest one was held in the royal castle, and liquor was served in a place open to the public. Aristocrats gathered in the large hall for a magnificent ball to welcome the New Year.

This year’s Pesach Night’s party, which was an important stage in the Royal Court games, was special for me as well, so I dressed as if I was wearing a battle uniform.

I wore a slim dress made up of lustrous gold beige fabric, a delicate necklace made of thin gold chains woven like lace, a matching hairpiece, and teardrop-shaped sapphire earrings that were a gift from Luca.

Dressing up like a lady was torture, but dressing up beautifully could also enliven you sometimes.

I dressed thinking that, but I quickly came to regret it.

“Phi, you look so beautiful. I can’t take my eyes off you…”

Just as he said, Luca, a man who was straightforward in many ways, had been staring at me ever since he came to pick me up. I thought he was already accustomed to it, but I was naive.

It wouldn’t be wrong to say his relentless gaze, trailing from my exposed skin to the single strand of hair, was on the level of ogling. I didn’t know what to think about this, no matter that he was my fiance.

Besides, Luca had lost his usual cold demeanor from being forced to long abstinence, and a kind of allure that was hard to conceal was oozing out from his haggard and beautiful melancholic face. It was as if a dam had broken.

After looking at him tonight, no one would think of Luca as an angel. Rather, it was more like a fallen angel’s temptation, something you shouldn’t see.

My eyes trailed off to a faraway land as I headed for the royal capital while being escorted by my fiance, who was clad in a kind of a violent seduction, like an obscene object that shouldn’t be taken out in public.

In the front yard, which was open for the general public, alcohol was served free of charge, and the place was crowded with people gathering to watch musical performances or dance.

“Luca, look, it’s a sword dance. I wonder if it’s a magic trick, like swallowing a big sword over there.”

“That’s right.”

“You haven’t looked at it at all, though.”

“Sorry. My mind is filled only with you right now.”

I shivered at his words, his hot breath pouring in my ears. 

It was a delightful thing for a woman… Or so I wanted to say, but it was terrifying in a sense.

I wondered how I would react if Luca, who was confirming the time with his pocket watch, attacked me as soon as the Pesach Night was over.

I thought I should first be concerned about myself rather than worrying about what would happen on the night of Pesach.

It was an unspoken agreement that people with lower standing gathered first at the evening party.

By the time the Duke, Duchess, and we arrived, the halls of the royal palace were filled with people, and before long, the royalty appeared, raising the curtain on the ball.

Luca was intimidating one man after another while bewitching the woman’s left and right, but when a knight in an imperial guard uniform approached, his expression froze.

However, the imperial knight didn’t perturb from the cold atmosphere, which even froze his uncontainable charm.

“Lord Luca, I have something to consult about the matter aforementioned matter.”

“It has nothing to do with me. I was just providing information.”

“I am very well aware of this. However, to cut off any future worries…”

I was a bit suspicious since the knight gave me a fleeting glance with some meaning in his eyes but feeling Luca’s annoyance to the point his murderous intent was about to leak out, I quickly calmed him down while caressing his back.

“Luca.”

“I’m alright… I’m sorry, I just need to talk to him for a minute.”

This was the first time Luca had left me alone on such an occasion.

I looked up at him in surprise, and his emerald green eyes, which had been frozen stiff. They softened and melted as soon as we made eye contact, revealing the suffocating passion.

“It’s a selfish request, but please, don’t leave Father’s side. Of course, dancing with anyone isn’t good either. Please don’t get closer to anyone either, even if it’s someone you know.”

Normally, I would have laughed off Luca’s jealous words. However, I suddenly felt an indescribable uneasiness, and I grabbed the sleeve of Luca’s coat tightly.

“Phi?”

“I’m sorry. I will keep that in mind, so it’s all right.”

I was ashamed of my child-like behavior and let go of his hand, but Luca suddenly hugged me. He brought his hand to his mouth, kissed it, and brushed against my teeth lightly.

“I will come back soon. I don’t want to be separated from you even for a second when I will soon feel you.”

Being stared at by his green flame-like eyes, my indescribable uneasiness was replaced by something else.

It was not like he would eat me in the sense of literal eating, but I felt like he would surely nibble on me lightly…

Luca filled me with even more worries about the after abstinence scene and left with the knight, and I tried to stay close to my father as much as Luca said.

However, the people coming to my father for a courtesy visit were never-ending. If the person coming to him was an influential figure with nearly the same rank, I had scruples about staying next to him and listening to their conversation. 

I was currently standing a bit distance from my father, who was chatting with the secretary of foreign affairs, an astringent old man when someone suddenly pulled my arms.

I was surprised at the rude action and turned around to see the petite Marika standing there, looking as pretty as ever.

“Lady Marika?”

The same color as her eyes, the peacock green dress made Marika look a bit more mature, accentuating her unique beauty, which was on the border between girl and woman. The 18-year-old game heroine Marika’s body shape also fitted with her prim and proper face, making her even more conspicuous.

Not because of her calm appearance, but I felt like tonight’s Marika had lost her usual cheerfulness (also known as optimism) and naiveness.

“Lady Philia… Well, I have something to talk about. Will you come with me?”

“I apologize, but does it have to be now?”

When she asked impatiently, I tilted my neck in confusion and softly turned her down.

Even from the perspective of social standing, she should be obliged to withdraw once I said this bit. Still, Marika was overbearing.

“Please, come with me. I just want you to listen to me.”

“What are you doing, Lady Marika?”

Marika linked her arm with me as if we two young ladies were close friends and tried to pull me by force.

If I raised my voice, my father would notice, and it would garner others’ attention too, so I couldn’t make up my mind immediately if I should do that or not. 

Taking advantage of my hesitation, Marika led me to the terrace. 

It was when I walked down from the terrace to the garden that I extremely regretted my hesitation.

In the courtyard, bonfires were burning, and the famous groups were displaying their arts like drama and magic tricks for aristocrats, but one corner was drowned in darkness. Only a few late-blooming noctilucent flowers gave off a faint glow.

It was a scene I had seen in the game. This was the garden where Philia summoned Marika to kill her.

For a moment, I felt like I would faint, but I returned to myself at Marika’s unexpected words after she turned around suddenly.

“You know, Philia, I’m being forced to marry a disgusting character.”

“Huh?”

Even though I knew I should escape immediately, I couldn’t help but listen.

“A disgusting character! It’s Ghini; you should have known about him.”

I was about to nod when I somehow stopped myself from saying, “Ahh, that guy”.

Ghini was a minor character who appeared in several routes, and like Philia, he was a classic villain. He also was a deadly character who one-sidedly fell in love with the heroine and tried to abduct or molest her, only to be stopped and killed by a captured character who conveniently rushed in.

Ghini in the game was a greasy, obese body character, and unlike tonight’s Luca, he had a criminally obscene face in a different sense. He was also a seedy character, with a drooling and a lustful face with peeled-back eyes.

I had seen real-life Ghini, and although he looked certainly obese with a bulging belly and far from beautiful, he wasn’t drooling and looked like a mature man. He was also the youngest son of a very wealthy count family.

“I can’t believe it… The Count is marrying me to that disgusting fatty.”

“The Count’s family over there should be a noble lineage with honorable origin. I have heard that Lord Ghini is also an outstanding scholar with a gentle temperament.”

“However, that face looks like a perv, no matter how I see it. Besides, there wasn’t even any route where I, the heroine, engaged with that disgusting fatty.”

If you said that, there was also no route where the capture target Luca and villainess Philia were together.

It was already time to realize this was reality and not the game.

“I want to be lovey-dovey with Lau, but there’s no event, I can’t even meet Al, and recently I couldn’t even contact Region…”

“What did you say?”

Marika grumbled out her complaint in a fit of rage.

She wasn’t as naturally cheerful as the last time we met, and her annoyance was self-evident from her gesture of biting her nails in a temper. 

“As I thought, there isn’t any event besides this one to return to the king’s route.” 

I had an unpleasant premonition from her words and was about to retreat when I saw the dull shining short dagger in her hand, and my face turned pale. 

While holding the slender, feminine dagger, Marika approached me.

“C-Calm down, Lady Marika… You will not get anything even if you stab me.”

“Stabbing you? No, I’m not going to do that.”

“Huh?”

Marika gave me a puzzled look, and I was also confused. After a momentary gap, Marika showed me an unabashed smile.

“You stab me. Then Al rushes over and saves me. If it isn’t done, I can’t get the Queen’s end.”

What an absurd request! 

She wanted me to stab the heroine as a villainess lady and hope to be rescued by the crown prince who barely knew her? 

“Come, Philia, stab me!”

“It’s dangerous! Put down the blade!”

Leaving aside the plan that was just too absurd, for the time being, I had to make her put down the blade. 

As I had a tug war with Marika, who kept pressing the dagger in my direction, the sound of kicking the soil resonated around us.

Soon, a solemn angry voice resounded, tearing apart the night’s stillness.

“What are you doing?!”

“Y-Your Highness?”

In contrast to my stunned reaction to the Crown Prince’s unexpected entry, Marika pushed the dagger to me as if she was just waiting for that and staggeringly rushed up to the Crown Prince.

“Your Highness Alphonso, save me…”

“The young lady of Count Dyural’s house…”

The Crown Prince instantly hugged the petite young girl who jumped into his embrace. Marika trembled like a frightened deer and looked up at the Crown Prince as if clinging to him.

“L-Lady Philia suddenly tried to stab me…”

I immediately wanted to retort fervently, but before I could do that, I heard the sound of hurried footsteps.

“What happened to Your Highness!?”

After the Crown Prince, the imperial guard and Laurenz rushed over. Even the people from the courtyard gathered, and I felt like I was surrounded.

The vivid weight of the dagger in my hand pulsated. Even though I understood that Marika’s accusation was too nonsensical to be passed in my mind, the scene in front of me and my old memories overlapped, suffocating me.

In the garden with flickering noctilucent flowers, the scene from the Crown Prince’s route, the heroine’s assassination attempt event was successfully portrayed.

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