I Transmigrated as an Extra in a Trashy Dark Romance Game - Chapter 21

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

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When her body, exhausted from the relentless stream of incidents, had somewhat recovered, Serenity visited the estate—unannounced by any letter—with Carlton in tow.

“Miss Langor, and Sir Carlton… To what do we owe this visit?”

“Edith…! Are you alright? I heard you were summoned by His Highness! Did anything happen?”

Serenity grabbed Edith and began meticulously checking her over from head to toe.

Putting aside the fact that her summons to the palace was now public knowledge, Serenity’s words were telling. Had the Crown Prince already made a move? Thinking back to his words, they were dripping with obsession.

Edith hadn’t even decided how to act between the warning and her pity, and now seeing Serenity arrive with Carlton in tow was giving her a headache. To calm the inspecting Serenity and steady herself, Edith placed her hands on her shoulders.

“I’m fine, Miss Langor. Thank you for your concern. Since you’ve come all this way, would you like some tea?”

Lacking a conservatory, they sat at a modest tea table set up in the garden. Kaidros and Edith sat on one side, Serenity sat opposite, and Knight Commander Carlton stood rigidly behind her, hands clasped behind his back.

“…And this is His Grace, Prince Kaidros, the son of a distant relative of my father, Viscount Moulton. He’ll be staying with us for a while.”

“Oh my! A handsome prince, just like you, Edith!”

“A pleasure. You must be the Saintess I’ve heard so much about. As expected.”

With the intention of somehow pairing the two, Edith enthusiastically introduced him to Serenity.

Fortunately, they seemed to get along. Kaidros played the part of a noble scion, kissing the back of Serenity’s hand in greeting, and Serenity clapped her hands, showering him with praise.

Edith felt a flicker of hope that this plan might succeed. Maybe the dragon would be better for Serenity than the Crown Prince, the ultimate villain of this dark tale. She tried to ignore her guilt by picking up a cookie from the table.

However, there was one person at the table who clearly expressed discomfort with Kaidros’s presence: Carlton.

“If you are that distant a relative, are you not practically a stranger? Yet you are living together under the same roof.”

Pricked by this accurate observation, Kaidros looked at Carlton and scoffed dismissively.

Then, he gently cupped Edith’s cheek and turned her face toward him, meticulously brushing away a cookie crumb from the corner of her mouth with his finger.

“I dote on her as if she were my own dear little sister. Such concerns don’t seem to apply to us, it seems.”

Caught off guard by the sudden physical contact, Edith froze. Across from her, the two men engaged in a subtle clash of wills.

Oblivious, Serenity only smiled shyly behind her hand, commenting on how deep their bond seemed.

“Miss Langor, please excuse me for a moment.”

While trying to block out the arena-like atmosphere more than a pleasant one, Edith excused herself to use the restroom.

Feeling a bit tired from dealing with all three of them, she decided to rest in her room and headed to the second floor.

Carlton followed her, right up to the door of her room on the second floor.

Sensing his presence, Edith turned around. In an instant, Carlton pushed her back against the wall.

“Who is he, my lady?”

“Huh?”

Pushed roughly against the wall, a dull pain bloomed in her back as she struggled to grasp the situation. A sense of dissonance washed over her—was this man pinning her to the wall really the Knight Commander Carlton she knew?

“Just as I introduced him earlier, of course. Why are you asking this, Sir Carlton?”

Staring at him with bewildered, trembling eyes, Edith questioned his intent again. Carlton gritted his teeth as if suppressing fury from within and whispered lowly by her ear.

“Then did you sleep with a man who is your relative? You’re practically flaunting the marks on your neck.”

He trailed his finger down her neck, then glanced pointedly at the neckline of her dress.

‘Carlton was definitely not this kind of character…’

Carlton, the only sane character in the entire game, was acting strangely, displaying excessive jealousy toward her.

Desperate to escape the situation, she looked around, but all the maids and servants were downstairs, busying themselves between the garden and the kitchen, likely because of the Saintess’s presence.

With no one to call for help, her gaze was captured as Carlton gripped her chin and roughly crushed his lips against hers.

In an instant, their lips met. Pinned and controlled by his grip, unable to move, Edith’s eyes widened in shock.

Then, as his tongue bound hers and refused to let go, she couldn’t breathe properly; her breaths grew increasingly ragged.