Thud, thud thud.

As the broken system window fell to the floor, it immediately disappeared without a trace.

“The, the system window…!”

Hezen stammered in confusion, looking around frantically.

But the system window was nowhere to be seen.

‘…It’s all gone.’

I quietly swallowed, feeling a chill run down my spine.

It wasn’t just the noisy system window that had disappeared.

The pink window above my head too. Even the interface and quest windows that activated when I got close to Hezen.

They all vanished.

‘What’s going on? Does that mean that damn quest is gone too?’

I couldn’t reveal that I could see the system window in front of Hezen, so I was trying not to show it when.

Suddenly, Hezen rushed at Anselot and grabbed him by the collar.

“You, you…! What did you…!”

One of Anselot’s eyebrows raised in displeasure at the rude action.

‘Oh no…!’

I was shocked and opened my eyes wide at the sight.

“You, you did this, didn’t you? It was you? Lulu suddenly rejecting me, the system window disappearing, it was all you…!”

Hezen shouted angrily at Anselot.

‘Oh no, he’s gone mad!’

It seems Hezen was so shocked that something was wrong with his head. If he’s not crazy, he must have a death wish.

His opponent was Salto!

The murderous psycho who would slice someone’s throat with a smile if they annoyed him even slightly!

And what Hezen was doing now was far beyond just ‘slightly annoying’.

But sadly, I no longer had any loyalty left to help Hezen.

‘I should quietly slip away while that idiot is acting stupid.’

I was confused by the sudden disappearance of the system window, but I was thinking I should just run away from here alone when.

“Hey.”

Anselot looked down at Hezen with cold eyes and spat out.

Despite being just a short, one-syllable word, Hezen flinched and removed his hand from Anselot’s collar.

“Wh-what…!”

It was pathetic how he tried to act tough after being so scared.

Anselot stared coldly at him with an expressionless face. That expression, devoid of any anger, was strangely murderous.

“Let’s say it was all my doing, as you said.”

Anselot slowly parted his lips and asked, curling up the corner of his mouth crookedly.

“With no system window, what do you think would happen if I killed you here?”

“…!”

Hezen froze in shock.

As a player, he could feel pain but wouldn’t die until seeing the ending. He would just be forcibly reset.

He could even revive on the spot instantly without resetting if he paid money.

But now, with no system window…

“I’m very curious. How about you?”

Anselot asked in a meaningful voice.

“I, I, I, I…”

Hezen, pale as a sheet, backed away with a visibly frightened face and then…

Whoosh!

He ran away at full speed.

His sprint was so fast I thought he must have used a skill.

‘To think someone like that is the protagonist.’

After watching that cowardly retreating figure for a moment, I slowly rolled my eyes to look at Anselot.

Tug, tug.

Anselot was straightening his crumpled collar with a displeased expression.

‘Eek.’

I belatedly realized I hadn’t left yet, distracted by watching Hezen’s pathetic behavior.

‘I should quickly leave too…’

But the moment I took a step.

“Ah.”

“Hik!”

Our eyes met.

At that moment, his face immediately brightened.

“Finally, it’s just the two of us, Princess Luibel.”

Anselot’s eyes curved into pretty crescent moons.

That smiling face was stunningly handsome, and also murderous.

“Y-y-yeah. You’re good at counting. If I disappear too, there’ll finally be only one left. Well then, I’ll be going. Bye.”

I tried to leave after awkwardly responding, but a low murmur caught my ankle.

“Our little mouse of a princess. Trying to run away again.”

“Heek!”

“You ran away like this earlier too, when I wasn’t looking.”

“R-run away?”

I feigned innocence and imitated the most dignified voice I could as I made excuses.

“Why would I run away? I just came out because I had something to say to my former fiancé.”

It wasn’t a complete lie, so I stiffened my neck.

Then Anselot, who was now in front of me, lowered his head to meet my eyes.

“You know what?”

“…?”

“Your Highness is cutest when you tell such obvious lies.”

I had the illusion that his two eyes, smiling at me, flashed for a moment.

“Really, you’re sooo cute. Can I poke your cheek just once?”

Why did that voice, elongating ‘sooo’, give me such chilling goosebumps?

“N-no? Absolutely not!”

I quickly shook my head and answered.

Poking my cheek might be a new murder technique.

“Then how about patting your head?”

“No! Not that either!”

I rejected very quickly this time too.

What if he pretends to pat my head but actually tries to burst it?

“How about holding hands?”

“No!”

I shouted, hastily hiding both hands behind my back.

‘My hands are precious!’

Then Anselot removed the faint smile from his face and asked.

“You allowed it last time though.”

The last time he was referring to was probably when he kissed the back of my hand while introducing himself in the western garden of the Princess’s Palace.

‘That was before I knew you were Salto!’

Unable to answer like that, I just pressed my lips tightly shut.

“Then what is allowed?”

Anselot tilted his head.

“You said you’d let me be by your side… Was I scammed?”

It was clearly a normal tone, but why did it sound to my ears like ‘You dared to scam me? Do you want to die?’

“Scam? What are you talking about! There are so many things we can do!”

When I strongly denied it, Anselot stared at me and asked.

“For example?”

“T-talking like this?”

I answered with an awkward smile, and he let out a small exclamation.

“Ah, like this.”

By now, the distance between him and me was quite far. I had unconsciously kept backing away during the conversation.

“We did this with that guy earlier too.”

Anselot said as he stepped towards me.

“No, you had a more intimate conversation at a closer distance with that guy, right?”

“When did I…! Heek!”

I was about to protest that I never had an intimate conversation with that guy, when I let out a shrill scream in surprise at him suddenly appearing right in front of me.

“How about not being afraid of me first, Princess?”

Anselot asked me with a smirk.

“I know what kind of rumors are going around about me.”

“…”

“But I don’t just kill anyone. I’m not a psycho.”

‘You are a psycho! You’re Salto! You tried to kill me in the garden!’

As if he understood my silent, fervent protest, Anselot stepped back with a deflated laugh.

“I’m serious.”

“…”

“You don’t believe me.”

Anselot smiled bitterly, muttering in a somehow dejected voice.

Whether it was due to the moonlight, his face shining particularly pale looked lonely.

‘Why is he smiling so sadly.’

My heart softened a little at that sight, and I carefully spoke to him.

“…No. I believe you.”

“Really?”

Then he removed his lonely expression and smiled brightly.

As I was unconsciously captivated by those rounded eyes and staring at them, he met my gaze.

“Then, Princess Luibel Azester.”

Anselot called my full name and asked in a deliberately polite manner.

“May I come a little closer to you?”

“…”

However, I was still uncomfortable with narrowing the gap with him, so I couldn’t bring myself to nod when.

“Found them!”

Suddenly, a group of people rushed over with noisy footsteps.

“Bug detected!”

“Walking path behind Crystal Hall. Two bug entities.”

“Surrounding the bugs.”

People of various appearances threateningly surrounded me and Anselot.

“What…”

I blinked in bewilderment.

Among them were servants working in the Imperial Palace, knights with swords, and even Roana, the maid of the 3rd Princess’s Palace whom I had conversed with just hours ago.

“Roana?”

“Surrounding the bugs.”

Roana repeated mechanically in a stiff voice, as if she didn’t recognize me.

Roana’s eyes were tinged with a dull gray color. She didn’t seem like the Roana I knew.

As I was backing away hesitantly, I felt a firm hand gently grasp my shoulder.

“The tiresome lackeys of the system.”

Anselot muttered, looking at the people surrounding us with a bored expression.

“System lackeys…?”

“Yes, the system cleaners.”

Bugs, cleaners… My confusion grew with these incomprehensible words.

White spheres appeared around Anselot. It was the same white spheres he used to attack me in the western garden of the Princess’s Palace.

The white spheres changed into elongated shapes, becoming long spears.

When Anselot grasped a white spear in one hand, the [System Cleaners] who saw it flinched and assumed combat stances.

Among the weapons they were holding were not only sharp throwing stars and daggers, but also huge axes and bows that I had no idea where they had been hiding.

‘Those are real.’

In all twenty years of life as Luibel Azester, I had never seen such weapons before.

“They’ve swarmed like ants. How unlovely.”

The corner of Anselot’s mouth curled up provocatively.

And simultaneously,

“Eliminating the bugs.”

“Eliminating the bugs.”

“Eliminating the bugs.”

The System Cleaners unleashed their attacks all at once.

Not at Anselot, but at me!