Chapter 14

Chapter 14

There’s no reset button!

I felt like I might pass out. I couldn’t find the button anywhere. What’s worse, the crown prince was still intent on killing me. He was lifting his sword above his head, preparing to strike.

“W-wait! Wait a second!” I shouted at him.

He tilted his head to the side.

“So you feel more like talking now, do you?”

“Yes! I’ll talk! I-I’ll talk!” I said, nodding desperately.

He lowered the sword to my neck again and stared down at me haughtily.

“Go on, then.”

“W-well...”

I’d been desperate to stall for time, but now couldn’t think of anything that might appease him. What was I supposed to say? I couldn’t tell him I’d come here to die. That was no longer an option without a reset button I could press to undo it.

Should I turn on the dialogue options again?

But the dialogue options wouldn’t save me from death. In fact, it was because I’d had them turned off that I’d survived thus far.

“I can almost hear the gears grinding away in your head.”

The crown prince smiled cruelly as I racked my brains.

“I’m really looking forward to hearing what you’ll say next,” he said.

The words [Affection Score 0%] were blinking above his head.

“It’d better be something good, girl.”

“...”

“I don’t appreciate people that interrupt me when I’m in the middle of something,” he said in an ominous tone, digging the blade almost tenderly into my skin. Yet more warm blood trickled down my neck. I was overwhelmed with the sudden primal fear of dying, and it completely short-circuited my brain.

“I... I love you!” I blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“What... did you say?” His red eyes grew wide.

I shut my eyes and shouted, my mouth no longer under my control, “I-I’ve been in love with you for a long time, Your Highness!”

“...”

“I thought you might be upset by what happened earlier, so I wanted to comfort you...”

This was drivel of the highest degree, and it wasn’t a part of the existing story in either normal or hard mode. It was true that the female protagonist met with the crown prince and consoled him in normal mode, but that was only because she hadn’t seen him behead the assassin earlier.

Sh*t.

Why had I said such a preposterous thing? It was absurd, even considering that I was out of options. But then again, there was only one reason a noble lady would chase a man into a secluded maze... or so I would have thought if this game were anything resembling a normal love story.

Goodbye, stupid game. If I return to my world after I die, I’m leaving a scathing 1-star review.

I shut my eyes, quivering as I anticipated the bite of his sword. However, I didn’t hear the high-pitched whistle of the blade splitting the air, no matter how long I waited.

“Hmm. So the rabid dog of Eckhart is in love with the imperial ruffian?” he muttered, as if to himself.

A night breeze tickled my nose. I opened my eyes cautiously.

“That’s...”

“...”

“That’s quite unexpected, as excuses go.”

His blood-red eyes were inches from my face, and I stopped breathing. He looked quite amused.

“Have you ever even met me? Perhaps you saw me in passing only once at the celebration for my return.”

We’d never met, actually, since I’d entered this damned game after that party.

I was stiff as I replied, “I-I fell in love at first sight.”

“What do you like about me, then?”

“That’s...”

This time I was really stumped. What could I tell him? I’d crossed out his name over and over to remind myself to stay away from this guy! I studied him despairingly, desperate to find something to say before his patience ran out.

“Your looks... You’re so handsome...”

“My looks are all that’s attractive about me? That’s a bit disappointing.”

“Y-you’re also brave and good with a sword...”

“Too generic, wouldn’t you say? Don’t you have anything a little more creative?”

“W-well...”

I grew closer to just fainting with every reason he shot down. My knees were on the verge of giving way, in fact, and it was by sheer force of will that I was still standing. The cold metal at my neck scared me to no end.

“Well... you see...”

The grin stretching his red lips deepened the closer I got to outright crying. I must have been insane to consider dying at the hands of this lunatic. I was on the verge of collapsing when he finally spoke.

“Fine. I’m not entirely happy with your reasoning, but I’ll let it go just this once.”

He lowered his blade. I looked up in shock and found that the crown prince’s eyes were gleaming with excitement.

“But the next time we meet, you’ll have to give me a detailed explanation of why, how, and when you started to fall for me.”

I bobbed my head eagerly.

“Go on, then,” he said, waving me off and sheathing his sword in its scabbard.

Suddenly, the affection score glowed above his luxurious blond hair. Then, it changed.

[Affection Score 2%]

I stared at it, not because I was happy, but in pure outrage.

“What are you doing just standing there like that? Or would you like me to add more cuts to your neck?” the crown prince offered, miming a cutting motion by sliding his thumb across his throat.

“N-no, of course not!” I said, jumping and haltingly backing away.

When I reached the corner exit, I turned and walked away as fast as I could. It didn’t occur to me to offer any polite parting words to the man, even though he was a member of the imperial family. All I was capable of was not breaking into an all-out run as I felt his eyes on my back.

I dashed away as soon as I turned the corner, and a cold wind grazed the cut in my neck. The pain was inconsequential in that moment, though.

There’s no reset button.

That was what had filled me with the most fear, even as the crown prince had been about to cut me down. The insurance policy I’d been counting on didn’t exist, which meant I only had one chance at this.

What if one life is all I get, and I actually die instead of returning to my world?

I was just an ordinary college student. I wasn’t brave enough to risk my life like that. The only option left was pairing up with one of the characters in the game and finding a happy ending somehow.

But how?

All of the male leads were poised to kill me at the slightest provocation. How could I beat the game in these conditions? It didn’t matter that their affection scores were rising, since the accumulated points could crumble away like sand at any moment.

What if the affection scores drop like they did when I was playing the game before?

That would mean wasted effort and death. I didn’t want to die.

Why is this happening to me?

I’d managed to scrape by in the real world until I could escape my half-brothers.

Why do I have to die a stupid death in this stupid game world, trying to curry favor with people I don’t even know?

I was breathing hard, and I realized sobs were escaping in between gasps. I’d sprinted along the lit path, and I arrived at the entrance sooner than expected. I was about to exit the maze altogether when I collided with someone I hadn’t seen in the gloom.

Thump!

“Oh!”

I was terrified, thinking it might be the crown prince, following to kill me after all. I was preparing to make a run for it when the other person grabbed my wrist.

“Let go of me!” I cried, scared out of my wits. “Let go!”

“My lady?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Why do I have to die? I don’t want to die, damn it!” I shrieked.

“My lady! Calm down!”

I frantically tried to shake the hand off my wrist, but as the newcomer grabbed me by the shoulders, I slowly calmed.

“Are you all right?”

I noticed navy blue eyes wide with surprise and silver hair shining in the faint glow of the lamps. Then I saw [Affection Score 0%] shining above his head. I sobbed, trying to slow my breathing.

“Please calm down. I’m not trying to hurt you,” said the man in a soft voice, seemingly mindful of my obvious distress.

Another male protagonist?

I despaired when I realized who this was: Winter Verdandi, a marquis and mage.

“I’m... okay now.”

The realization that I hadn’t run into the crown prince was enough to calm me. I hastily wiped away the tears running down my cheeks. I wanted to go home. I didn’t want to spend another minute in this place, and I most definitely wasn’t equipped to deal with Winter right now.

“I don’t think we’ve met. I’m sorry you had to see me like this. Please forget that you saw me today. If you’ll excuse me,” I rattled off quickly, trying to recover my composure. I nodded to him and attempted to make a retreat, but he stood in my way.

“You’re bleeding quite a lot.” He was pointing at my neck. “And you look pale. You should see a doctor.”

“No, It’s fine. I am in a hurry...”

“Then take this, at least.”

While I didn’t want anything to do with him, he didn’t seem willing to let me leave. He quickly brought something out of his breast pocket.

“Press this against the wound. It should stop the blood flow.”

It was a white handkerchief.

I stared blankly at him, before accepting it. I couldn’t return to the ballroom dripping blood, after all. With another nod, I said emotionlessly, “Thank you. I’ll be sure to return the favor someday.”

“That is all right,” he said politely, suddenly reaching out his hand. “But I hope that the next time we meet, your pretty eyes will not be so sad.”

His warm fingertips grazed my face.

[Affection Score 9%]

I was too busy staring in astonishment at the glowing letters above his head to notice the way he was looking at me.