I almost didn’t hear the thunder outside, buried under the clamor of laughter. But a glance out the darkened window confirmed it.

“There’s lightning outside.”

At my words, Hiss involuntarily tensed up, but the landlord laughed heartily and took another drink.

“Eh, relax. A little lightning won’t get past the lightning rod. Right, guys?”

The other members of the conquest team also laughed uproariously, raising their glasses.

“It’s all thanks to the princess!”

“I’ve been so worried lately, I’m almost in trouble.”

In the festive atmosphere, only Hiss looked somber.

“I’m sorry, Reina. If I knew it was going to rain today, I would never have brought you.”

“It’s okay. Now that it’s come to this, it’s good to see the power of the lightning rod, right?”

I tried to reassure Hiss, but the crease in his brow wouldn’t smooth out.

The drunken villagers were pouring new wine into their glasses, chattering noisily.

“Guys! Let’s toast once more!”

At the landlord’s shout, everyone raised their glasses in unison and shouted.

“For the lightning rod—!”

And as they lowered their hands for the toast,

Screeeech.

The sound of fingernails scraping glass pierced through the noise in the banquet hall and stung sharply in my ears.

People who had been laughing and chatting just moments before fell eerily silent.

“Boys, bring the windows.”

The landlord, who had been clinking glasses with people next to him just moments ago, stood up from his seat without hesitation.

The other conquest team members also stood up from their seats and quickly prepared for battle.

Hiss grabbed my hand.

“You go to the basement first.”

I finally nodded.

I was reluctant to run away, but I would only get in the way if I stayed. As I quickly tried to get up,

All the glass windows in the banquet hall shattered at once, and the Eldeings poured in.

(This is a time separator.)

The conquest team had no time to prepare in front of the pouring swarm of Eldeings.

The banquet hall, which had been filled with laughter, was filled with screams in an instant. The windows shattered, the wind howled through the gaps, and the candles went out, plunging the surroundings into darkness.

In the chaos, I lost hold of Hiss’s hand, and the surging crowd made it impossible to even tell which direction Hiss was in.

Pushed to and fro, I ended up near a broken window, and when someone shoved me from behind, I fell helplessly.

The shattered glass on the floor dug into my palms and knees. I grimaced in pain as it pierced my flesh.

“Ah.”

I hardly made a sound when a hot wind grazed over my neck.
Familiar smell of sewage, eerie cries, the stinging liquid dripping, as if pricked once on the window.

I instinctively stiffened my body. Merely glancing to confirm Elding’s presence was my limit.

Elding looked around with his eyes wide open like saucers, trying to find the source of the sound. But for some reason, he didn’t seem to spot me where I was standing.

I crawled out behind Elding as quietly as I could, on all fours. Glass fragments were painfully embedded in me, but I couldn’t even wince.

Then my sleeve caught on a sharp fragment and was ripped. Elding, who had been glancing around, suddenly fixed his dreadful eyes on me.

In an instant, I was lifted into midair, and Elding firmly twisted my waist and opened his mouth. A foul odor stabbed at my nose.

The hand gripping me exerted so much pressure that I found it hard to breathe.

I instinctively knew. Struggling would only hasten my death; there was no escape here.

I hated it.

So, I had no choice but to struggle even more. Because it was terrifying, unfair, infuriating. If only I had been a little stronger, if only I had magic, if only I wasn’t a maid but a real princess.

I wouldn’t have had to go like this.

I hated it.

But still, there was no exception. The moment of falling, everything slowly passed as if the winding of time was stretched long.

People staggering under the thin moonlight obscured by clouds, Elding chasing with his characteristic wobbling walk, the screeching sound of a warehouse opening in the distance, Elding’s mouth opening even wider.

A force strong enough to snatch away all the breath in my lungs welcomed me. Someone caught me from Elding’s hand in an instant and set me down a little away from the chaos.

Glass fragments were embedded even deeper, but there was a refreshing scent from the clothing I grabbed randomly.

“You, who are you?”

A rougher voice than I thought came out.

But instead of answering, the person gently brushed my head and wrapped my trembling body in a jacket.

I only realized the trembling of my hand after he had already disappeared.

I could have pulled off the jacket right then to confirm his identity, but strangely, I hesitated.

So when I finally mustered the courage to pull off the jacket, everything was over.

The last remaining Elding had turned tail and was running away, and the floor was littered with Elding corpses. His was running towards me from a distance, but everything was blurry, like a dream at dawn.

My body slowly tilted to the side, and my eyes gently closed. The last thing I remembered was the scent that lingered by my side for a long time.