Chapter 14
Just moments ago, her fingertips that still held warmth touched her cheek, and Cynthia almost burst into tears, but she forced herself to hold it in.
Even then, she occasionally mustered the courage to check if Melissa’s face was among the corpses. Every time she spotted someone with similar hair or eye color, or someone dressed as a maid, her heart would freeze, but fortunately, Melissa was nowhere to be found.
Trying not to look only made memories of Melissa surface one after another. How, on the way here in the carriage, she had squeezed Cynthia’s hand tight, tearfully saying, “I just don’t understand why you have to be pushed into a situation like this, Miss.”
Cynthia became melancholy. Even though these weren’t her own memories, it felt like she had truly experienced them.
At last, having managed to pass through the forest of corpses, Cynthia barely reached the music box. As soon as her trembling hands grasped the music box secured to the side table, a message appeared.
First Floor Main Banquet Hall. Would you like to save?
“Y-Yes, save. Save!”
Saved at First Floor Banquet Hall.
Kkiririk, kkirik—
The ‘Save Point’ tab appeared, with Cynthia’s face rendered in pixel graphics. As the music box’s spring wound down, the cheerful, lively tune abruptly stopped, replaced by a sinister, eerie melody that began to ooze through the room.
Only then did Cynthia let go of the music box, her legs giving out as she sank to the floor. She felt like she might burst into tears at any moment, but forced herself to keep her body tense.
But this was no time for that.
Propping herself up with both hands on the side table, Cynthia shakily stood up. Now that she had saved at the save point, she had to find a way to escape. Ending or not, she didn’t want to stay here a moment longer. She didn’t care about the final villain or anything else.
CRASH!
A sharp noise rang out nearby.
Startled, Cynthia turned toward the sound and saw the duke striking the window with his sword. But no matter how many times he swung, not even a crack appeared in the glass.
What had been a bright window just a moment ago now showed only pitch-black night, as if darkness had fallen all at once. Watching the duke continue to batter the window, Cynthia glanced around, then grabbed a longsword from the waist of a dead knight hanging nearby and tried to strike the window herself.
CRASH, CRASH!
Still, not even a single shard of glass flew off, much less a crack appearing. But Cynthia gripped the sword again.
She couldn’t give up like this.
“Let me out! I said, let me out!”
CRAAAAASH!
Yelling, she swung the sword like a club at the window, only for the blade to snap in half and go flying.
Cynthia tossed aside the remaining hilt and collapsed, gasping for breath. Her hands and arms tingled. Sweat slid down her temples and her palms throbbed. The shards of the broken sword scattered at her feet seemed to signal her fate, that no matter what she did, there was no way out.
At that point, the duke stopped swinging his sword as well, came over, and sat down next to her.
“I have no idea what’s going on… Why has it come to this?”
His expression was silent, but even he seemed unsettled.
Something was wrong. The only times the duke ever acted were when he greeted guests at the banquet or pretended to be dead. There was no reason for him to be putting on an act now, with everything already set in motion.
While Cynthia stared at him with a troubled expression, a message appeared.
1- Keep searching here. 2- Go back to the corridor. 3- Check the mirror.
It was the in-game enemy creature spawn event.
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