How to Survive as the Horror Game Villain’s Fake Fiancée - Chapter 20

※ This book contains depictions of coercive/dubcon/noncon acts, violence, and gore. Reader discretion is advised.

“That’s right, in the Sky Garden, there’s a magical device that can forcibly open the doors in case of emergency, powered by magic, isn’t there?”

“…Was there?”

“To get there, you need to open the doors on each floor, but do you remember where the keys are? Normally, the servants would be in charge, but if we could just find out where they keep them, we could open the doors in no time.”

After thinking for a while, Segleninde frowned and replied.

“I can’t really remember the exact location… but I’m sure we’ll find it if we look around.”

As expected, even though the villain had become an ally, it didn’t mean the game could be cleared that much faster. Still, Cynthia did not despair.

“Right. Let’s look for it together.”

Cynthia smiled brightly. Wasn’t this enough to count as being pretty lucky? At the very least, in her misfortune-filled life, this was about as good as winning second place in the lottery.

Segleninde glanced at her, then simply stared blankly at her smiling face. Emboldened, Cynthia gently took his arm for the sake of her ‘best fiancée’ performance, but he didn’t shake her off or push her away, he just let it happen.

She’d expected his body to be as cold as a corpse, but as she’d already noticed when they hid behind the mirror, he was actually quite warm, even overflowing with heat. Her hands couldn’t even fully wrap around his forearm, which was thick with solid muscle.

If she forgot the fact that he was the villain who killed people in all sorts of ways, he really was the perfect man. So she hoped his misunderstanding would last a long, long time, and, putting on her cutest voice, said,

“And, we have to escape together, right?”

At that, Segleninde gave a faint smile. When his blood-red eyes shone with that expression, he was truly beautiful. He didn’t look at all like a brutal killing machine, or a ruffian who treated a noble lady carelessly.

For a moment, he even looked as innocent as a young man in his first love. There was no trace of a murderer or the attitude of a brute.

But suddenly, he scrunched his brows and pulled his arm out of her grasp, almost as if shaking her off. He even shot her a sharp glare.

“Now that I think about it, why would I leave? This is my house. I heard there were weird rumors about me outside. Are you trying to use them to do something to me?”

“Huh? No, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but I’ve done way too much cleaning up after those rumors to try and use them against you! Besides, are you really going to keep living in this house where all these weird things are happening?”

“…Ah, right.”

“……”

‘He really turned into a complete idiot after losing his memory.’

Now that he was her ally, he seemed way more careless than before. Well, since his only real skill had been killing people, maybe it made sense if there wasn’t much in his head.

‘Still, I’m lucky to have him as a companion. All the other companions have their own flaws anyway. As long as his abilities stay the same, I can handle this level of stupidity.’

Cynthia recalled the pre-update version of this game.

She retraced the early stages in her mind. How many puzzles were on the first floor, how to solve them to get to the next floor and approach the Sky Garden.

But maybe because she’d played too many games for fun, her memory was jumbled. All she could recall was that even finding the hints for the puzzles in this game was grueling.

Fortunately, some memories came back. She remembered the types of creatures patrolling the first floor hallway.

‘First, the Harvester I saw earlier. Then the Butcher Cooks who show up near the kitchen. And finally, the Ghost Rats… Those are on every floor.’

Harvesters handled the chase scenes. She couldn’t remember their exact routes, but as long as she avoided those areas, she wouldn’t run into them. The Butcher Cooks also appeared only in certain spots. The Ghost Rats popped up randomly and sapped your health, but if your agility was high, you could dodge them.

The first floor didn’t have any instant-death traps, so compared to other floors, it wasn’t as dangerous. The real problem was the puzzle events.

‘If you mess up on a puzzle, it’s instant death.’

Cynthia glanced sideways at Segleninde, who was walking beside her. With high attack and defense—and even instant-death skills—as long as he didn’t regain his villain persona and betray her, she probably wouldn’t die for a while.

At the very least, they wouldn’t expect a delicate, frail noble lady like her to fight. For the sake of her own survival, Cynthia decided she’d make the most out of him.

“Anyway, let’s go back to the dressing room where we were earlier. That place seemed safe.”

One of the most important things in this game was securing a rest point. The trap-free and puzzle-free rooms were randomly assigned in the game, but at least the one they started in had seemed clear, so she decided to check it first.