How to Survive as the Horror Game Villain's Fake Fiancée - Chapter 12
The man, watching her tremble, clicked his tongue and frowned.
“I’ve been meaning to ask since earlier, why do you keep…”
But he didn’t finish his sentence.
“Aaaaaaah!”
A bloodcurdling scream tore through the air from the direction of the banquet hall.
Cynthia froze in shock. It wasn’t just one or two people. Terrible screams echoed in succession, the agonized cries continuing for several minutes.
It sounded like the noise of several people dying at once.
‘No way…!’
Normally, after the news that the duke was dead spread through the manor by a maid, chaos would erupt among the banquet guests. In that moment, the protagonist would be presented with a choice: ‘Leave the banquet hall to investigate the manor’ or ‘Remain in the banquet hall’.
If you chose the latter, the protagonist would die on the spot with the other guests. In this game, the only time you ever heard the screams of ‘many people’ was during that event. Afterward, aside from the protagonist and a handful of companions, there wouldn’t be anyone left to die.
In other words, the game had started now.
‘This can’t be. Why now? The duke is still right here, perfectly fine!’
As a game Easter egg, if you hurried near the dressing room when chaos erupted in the banquet hall, you could see the duke’s body gruesomely impaled by a sword. But now he was alive. He wasn’t even pretending to be dead.
He was even looking at the door with eyes wide in shock.
What on earth was happening?
Cynthia stared at the duke with a face gone white. He moved to stand in front of her, shielding her with his back.
“Looks like something’s happened… It’d be best not to move recklessly.”
Cynthia anxiously stared at the tightly shut dressing room door behind his back. The screams, which had continued all this time, slowly died down.
And after a moment, it was completely silent.
“……”
The duke, moving cautiously, opened the dressing room door just a crack.
Immediately, the smell of blood rushed in. The banquet hall was quite a distance away, and yet the stench was so overwhelming it rolled in like a formless fog, making her nauseous.
Cynthia pinched her nose with both hands, trying not to retch. The duke had noticed the smell before she did.
With a brief click of his tongue, the duke picked up a sword, still in its sheath, from nearby and buckled it at his waist.
“Are you going to stay here?”
He seemed about to go toward the banquet hall.
Cynthia meant to say yes, but at that moment, a thought struck her like lightning.
‘What about Melissa? Is she safe?’
Of all times, a new memory surfaced.
The only person who had ever treated her like a real human being at the count’s estate was her maid, Melissa. The kind maid who had lovingly cared for her, a girl always treated as a disposable product. Even on the way to Wincastle Manor, Melissa had worried for Cynthia, her green eyes brimming with tears.
Cynthia had only just met her today, but to ‘Cynthia Obel’, Melissa was like a real older sister. With that memory crashing over her, Cynthia found herself unable to bear the worry. Anxious and restless, she couldn’t just stay put.
In the end, Cynthia followed behind the man’s back.
“I’ll go too. I don’t want to be alone.”
“…You’ll just get in the way.”
“I’ll try not to.”
It was ridiculous that her only choice in this situation was to rely on the villain, but there was no other way. Cynthia stared at him resolutely, and he, as if annoyed, furrowed his brow, yawned one more time, and set off without bothering to look back at her.
Even after a few steps, he just walked forward with heavy footsteps. Cynthia followed right behind, almost clinging to his back, as she slipped out of the dressing room with him.
