I Transmigrated as an Extra in a Trashy Dark Romance Game - Chapter 14

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※ This work contains depictions of coercive relationships, explicit language, and other graphic content. Reader discretion is advised.

Listening to Marie’s sharp voice—wondering how she’d stayed quiet so long—Edith descended to the first-floor lobby. Marie followed, muttering “I knew it” under her breath.

On the first floor stood several figures who appeared to be Imperial Knights and the Viscount, his face so red it looked ready to burst.

And…

“Edith!! Just what have you been doing!”

The Viscount shouted loud enough to shake the estate, glaring at Edith. She was utterly baffled by the situation. Simultaneously, the moment she saw his angry face, she felt her status window’s Melancholy Level rise slightly.

For a moment, Edith’s heart pounded, fearing her night with the knight commander had been discovered. But contrary to her expectation, different words burst from the Viscount’s mouth.

“What crime have you committed to be dragged to the Imperial Palace?!”

Viscount Moulton’s furious roar echoed through the first-floor lobby once more. Behind him stood the knights, sending her cold looks as they prepared to take her away.

‘The Imperial Palace? So suddenly?’

Putting that aside, Edith felt wronged, wondering what she could have possibly done wrong.

“By the Imperial Decree. Miss Moulton, you will come with us.”

A knight spoke in a stiff, icy tone, his hand gripping Edith’s arm. His grasp was firm, his stride decisive as he led her away.

As she was dragged out, the Viscount’s continued shouts echoed behind her, mixed with the stifled jeers of the surrounding maids. That unpleasant sensation she never wanted to feel again began to prickle at her feet, announcing its presence.

* * *

Arriving at the imperial palace, Edith was briefly taken aback. Contrary to her expectations of being dragged before the emperor or thrown into a dungeon, they had prepared a reception room for her.

This was a space typically used to receive noble guests. To bring her here, even though she was a noble by title, after being dragged so roughly, was unexpected, and the situation was utterly unpredictable.

“Please wait here for a moment,” a knight said in a cold voice.

Feeling it was an order, Edith had no choice but to wait quietly.

Unable to make sense of the situation, a sense of foreboding kept her on edge as time passed.

About an hour later, as the tension had stiffened her body, an unexpected figure appeared before Edith.

“I greet the Empire’s Little Sun, Your Highness.”

It was the Crown Prince, whose golden hair was the most radiant in the empire. As he entered the reception room, Edith hastily stood and bowed.

“Welcome, young lady. I trust your journey wasn’t too uncomfortable?”

The Crown Prince asked with a bright smile and familiar tone as he sat in the chair opposite her.

For a moment, irritation surged, nearly breaking her composure.

‘”Uncomfortable”? Dragged to the imperial palace like a criminal, is he mocking me…?’

Suppressing her complaints about the Crown Prince, Edith forced a smile and replied,

“Thanks to your consideration… it was comfortable, Your Highness.”

“Is that so? I’m glad then.”

His innocent smile seemed utterly infuriating.

“I heard there’s a young lady our Saintess has been getting close to lately, so out of curiosity, I invited you to the palace like this.”

His words held expressions she wanted to argue against, but that wasn’t the issue. She had been summoned here simply for being acquainted with Serenity.

She knew he monitored the Saintess, but she never expected that surveillance to extend to her. She suddenly remembered his default gentle expression was a mask to conceal his true nature.

‘In the game, the Crown Prince maintained that face while coldly calculating his own gains and losses, possessing a cruel nature that could mercilessly cut down even the current emperor if they stood in his way…’

That was the Crown Prince.

Therefore, he was surely assessing whether Edith was a potential asset or a liability. She grew deeply worried about which category she’d be placed in.

‘Please, don’t let me get entangled…!’

She fervently wished, for the first time, to be treated like a stone on the roadside, desperately hoping the attention on her would fade away.

“But, you see, young lady…”

The Crown Prince took a sip from the teacup placed before them and seemed ready to get to the point.

“I have a pretty good memory for the empire’s nobles, but I simply couldn’t recall you at all.”

Edith thought simply, So the original Edith was such a faint existence that even this sharp-minded Crown Prince didn’t remember her…

“So, I did a little investigation about you.”

His smiling admission startled her. The decisiveness with which he investigated someone just because he didn’t know them was somewhat chilling.

“But there wasn’t much about your information or activities. I found out a lot about your father, Viscount Moulton, instead.”

“Huh? What are you saying all of a sudden…”

“He’s from a rural village in the north, originally a commoner. The moment you were born, your mother died. Suddenly, Moulton became a nouveau riche, bought the title of Viscount, and moved to the capital…”