“Why?”
Hades looked straight at me. I knew what he meant by that gaze. ‘I won’t fall for whatever scheme you have this time.’
“Wouldn’t the big misunderstanding you hold be cleared if I directly meet and tell the First Princess?”
“Say it straight.”
Hades sighed.
“You’re the one who wants to maintain that misunderstanding.”
“And you’re the one who created that misunderstanding in the first place.”
“Hold on.”
Altair suddenly intervened.
“So, are you saying, Your Highness, that you forced Angel… Lika to become your representative?”
“Yes.”
“No.”
We answered simultaneously.
“It was forced!”
“I gave you options.”
“Options to stay as a representative or leave? Be reasonable.”
“Either way, it’s not happening.”
Hades glared at me.
“You won’t meet the First Princess. I won’t let that happen.”
But I knew. In the end, who goes and who stays depended on Iskariel, who held the teleportation stone.
I gave Iskariel a soft smile.
“Grandfather.”
“Ha!”
Altair made a strange sound from beside me.
“Grandfather, can’t you take me too? I’ve always been curious about the capital of the Empire.”
Iskariel’s lips curled upward.
“As much as I’d rather not take my beloved granddaughter to such a dangerous place, I guess I have no choice.”
He extended his hand towards me.
“Come here.”
“……?”
Confused, I took his hand. It’s not like holding his hand would do any harm, and we’re not leaving just yet. It was a minor blessing at most.
…Or so I thought.
“Angelica!”
Hades grabbed my shoulder with great force. I tried to swiftly withdraw my hand from Iskariel, but it was already gripped.
A massive light blinked in front of me, and I lost consciousness.
(This is a time separator.)
“Damn it!”
Altair cursed loudly. By just one second, just one second, he had failed to follow Hades, Angelica, and Iskariel, and was left in the castle.
‘There’s no chance of coming back.’
From the start, Iskariel had planned this. To leave behind him, whom he disliked, and go on the quest to defeat the Demon King.
Moreover, they would soon meet the first princess. If they joined forces with her, a player like themselves, the Demon King would be vanquished in no time and the “Eye of the Devil” would fall into the hands of one of them.
“Insane.”
Altair paced around the empty room, but no clever idea came to mind.
‘First of all… I have to find Liridel and Shatekan.’
When the three of them put their heads together, a solution might emerge. Altair had always made decisions on his own, but he desperately needed others’ input now.
It was when he walked out into the empty hallway.
‘…Hold on.’
Something suddenly popped into his mind.
It was the sacred sword.
No one would be guarding it now. Even if he trespassed in the chamber, Hades Croitner wouldn’t be able to catch him.
‘Now is the time.’
Once a sacred sword is bound, its size can be freely adjusted, making it unnoticeable to others. In other words, there was no need to fight over the sword’s ownership with Shatekan.
Altair quickly ran up the stairs. If others noticed the Duke’s absence, chaos would ensue. He had to infiltrate the chamber before that happened.
Finally reaching the chamber, he expertly opened the door and stepped inside. His heart pounded wildly. To think the sacred sword he assumed would require all sorts of nefarious means to obtain was so easily within his grasp!
‘…?’
Altair stood still as if nailed to the spot.
Where the sacred sword should have been, only an empty stand remained. Everything else was just like in the game, making the void left by the missing sword even more glaring.
“Ah, AAAAAHHH!”
A scream burst from Altair’s mouth. It was the first time he felt such a sense of defeat since becoming Letoiza Altair. Until now, he had only known victory, and even when things didn’t go as planned, they eventually turned in the right direction.
But right now.
The moment he lost the sacred sword that should have been there.
He felt the insurmountable wall of fate.
However…
‘I won’t go down here.’
Altair finally composed himself and left the chamber. There was no Duke, the government he adored, or any regent. Meaning, there was no one to issue commands in the duchy at the moment.
“…I’ll make you regret this.”
Alone in the chamber, Altair made a vow.
He would bring down Hades Croitner, who made him feel this defeat.
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
