“Kyaak!”

I screamed while hurriedly dodging the incoming arrows and throwing stars.

“Why, at me! I’m not a bug or whatever, I’m not!”

Despite my protests, the attacks aimed at me did not cease. One of the imperial palace servants charged at me, swinging an axe.

“They provoked it first, so why me…… Uwaak!”

“They usually attack the weaker ones first. Unlike monsters, they’re cowardly.”

Anselot explained in a calm voice as he stabbed the palace servant who was rushing at me with his white spear.

“And, the young lady looks weaker than me.”

The palace servant who was trying to attack me collapsed towards me.

“Kheuk!”

“Kyaak!”

Thanks to Anselot, who immediately snatched my waist with one arm, I was able to avoid the man who was about to fall on me.

“Huk, huk……”

I looked at the fallen man, breathing heavily. He was already dead.

It was the first time I had witnessed someone’s death before my eyes.

I was so scared that tears were about to well up, but there was no time to cry leisurely.

Anselot immediately parried the sword of a man wearing imperial knight uniform who attacked next, and pierced his abdomen.

“I’ll clean up these ants and be back. Don’t get hurt.”

With that brief remark, Anselot left me and jumped into the midst of the administrators.

My heart was pounding at the brutal battle unfolding before my eyes.

The administrators were falling helplessly to Anselot’s swinging spear, but there were too many of them.

At this moment, my eyes met Roana’s.

“……!”

In that instant, Roana came running towards me with a dagger. It was as fast as Hezen running away using a skill.

‘Damn, if only I had a weapon. Ah, a shield. Even a shield……’

I tightly gripped the pendant around my neck, recalling the time I had created a shield while facing Anselot in the western garden of the imperial princess’s palace.

However, despite my desperate wish, the pendant did not respond.

‘Please……!’

As I closed my eyes tightly and opened them, I saw Roana’s fierce face right in front of me, holding the dagger high to stab.

“Heek!”

I rolled on the ground once to dodge Roana’s dagger, and immediately grabbed her ankle that came into view.

As a result, Roana fell to the ground and lost her grip on the dagger.

Clang!

At that moment, Roana and I both looked at the dagger.

But I was a bit faster.

I grabbed the dagger that had fallen to the floor first.

Then Roana, having lost her weapon, hesitated for a moment before turning around and starting to run away.

“Aak!”

However, she didn’t get far before falling with a death cry.

It was because Anselot had thrown a spear made of light towards Roana’s back as she fled.

The white spear that had pierced Roana disappeared into the air with a whoosh.

Anselot, who was lightly dusting off his hands, paused when he saw me frozen at Roana’s death.

“Ah, this.”

“……”

“If we let her go, she’d gather her comrades and come back. Once they’ve seen us, we have to kill them in one go.”

I glanced at Anselot as he said this. It felt a bit strange, as if he was making excuses while looking at my reaction.

“……I’m not exactly blaming you.”

It was clear that Roana had tried to kill me.

I wasn’t foolishly kind or romantic enough to ask why he killed my maid when I had just faced a life-threatening situation.

“That’s a relief.”

Anselot chuckled with what seemed like a relieved expression at my response.

“I was worried that the young lady might misunderstand me as a lunatic who kills anyone, but I’m glad that’s not the case.”

‘I do think you’re a lunatic, though…..’

But there was no need to correct his words.

I took a short breath and checked my appearance.

Unlike me, who was a mess from rolling on the ground, Anselot looked completely unruffled. Despite having faced so many people.

“Just what are they?”

“[System Cleaners]. The system’s minions who capture and kill [bugs].”

“But I’m not a bug or anything……!”

“Because you tried to deviate from the scenario.”

“……!”

Unlike Anselot’s casual reply, I was startled as I recalled that brief moment when I tried to break free from the system’s compulsion.

That horrible feeling when my body reacted beyond my will, and the relief and sense of liberation when I broke free from it.

“This world is flowing according to one grand scenario created by the system. And the system defines those who try to deviate from the framework it created as bugs.”

“……”

As I listened to Anselot’s explanation, I thought it was a bit strange.

I am clearly a living, breathing individual with my own free will. The idea that I should be eliminated the moment I deviate from the framework created by the system.

It felt like a denial of my very self.

‘But how does Anselot know all these things?’

My lips trembled at the question that came to mind. I hesitated, wondering if I should ask him.

“Shall I help you?”

Anselot suddenly asked me.

“Help me with what?”

I asked, puzzled by his abrupt proposal without a subject or object.

He grinned and answered.

“To break free from the scenario.”

“You removed the system window. All the system cleaners are dead too. Isn’t that enough?”

Instead of answering, Anselot smiled meaningfully.

And at that moment.

Ding!

, 3rd Imperial Princess of the Azester Empire

Attributes: Lover, Time-limited (Remaining lifespan: Unknown)

That dreadful pink name window appeared above my head again.

“Why is this……!”

“Unfortunately, it wasn’t gone, just temporarily paralyzed.”

“……”

I bit my lower lip hard as I glared at the letters above my head.

The damn lover status was still not removed, and the time-limited attribute remained. The remaining lifespan was still ‘Unknown’……

‘I need to hurry with the engagement cancellation.’

A drop of cold sweat trickled down my spine.

‘If I can just prove that Hezen is infertile, I can cancel the engagement……’

“It won’t be easy.”

As if he had read my mind, Anselot suddenly said.

“That guy will also receive a bad ending penalty if the engagement is canceled, so he’ll try to prevent it somehow. Or he might try to kill you directly to complete his awakening before the engagement is canceled.”

“Kill… me…?”

“Moreover, if you try to deviate from the scenario, the bugs will immediately chase after you.”

“……”

“Once you’ve become a player’s target, there’s no escape. Either that guy meets a bad ending, or you become a sacrifice for awakening.”

“So you’re saying I’ll die no matter what I do?”

I shouted angrily.

The life I had lived as Luibel Azester had been nothing but peaceful.

But in the past few weeks, I’ve faced the betrayal of my trusted fiancé, no, the betrayal of this world I trusted, a sudden time-limited fate, and now death threats from these so-called system cleaners.

‘Why do I have to die like this?’

I felt deeply wronged.

“That’s why I said I’ll help you.”

“Who are you to do that?”

Something I had been curious about but couldn’t ask.

A man who had no letters above his head, as if he had broken free from the system.

A man who could see Hezen’s system window despite not being a player, and without the help of a suspicious pendant like mine.

A man who had neutralized the system’s compulsion and disrupted the flow of the scenario.

“Well, to borrow their expression……”

Anselot, who seemed to be pondering for a moment, tilted his head before bursting into a dry laugh and introducing himself.

“The most terrible and vicious bug?”

Under a splendid chandelier, a man with a handsome face and tall stature was tilting a champagne glass.

The man was the [System Administrator] in charge of the Azester Imperial Palace and the capital city of Brillanta.

As a high-ranking system official overseeing the [System Cleaners] in this area, he was responsible for ensuring that this world flowed smoothly according to the system’s order.

“Hmm.”

Making a slightly displeased sound, the man brushed back his hair that had fallen over his forehead.

Just a moment ago, the signal from the cleaners connected to him had been abruptly cut off.

This also meant that they had all died.

“Some vermin has crawled into the imperial palace, it seems.”

He didn’t even have a chance to find out who had killed them.

“Who could it be.”

He languidly murmured as he briefly scanned the people in the banquet hall.

Foreign dignitaries, Azester nobles, and even the imperial family including Emperor Christine Joanna Azester.

Familiar blue name windows above people’s heads were displaying their names and status.

There was no one particularly eye-catching.

But perhaps that insolent vermin who had invaded his jurisdiction was right here, nonchalantly sipping wine with an innocent expression.

And why is this [Player] so incompetent?

He couldn’t help but click his tongue at the thought of Hezen, who couldn’t even manage a simple awakening.

At this moment, his eyes fell on Luibel, who alone had a pink name window above her head.

The powerless 3rd Imperial Princess of the Azester Empire, who was also the sacrifice for the player’s awakening.

Next to her was Prince Anselot Ruenhart, visiting from the Kingdom of Ruenhart.

Had they gone out for some fresh air together?

He hadn’t heard of any friendship between the two, so they must have grown close during this recent visit.

The two standing side by side indeed made a well-matched pair, but……

The man’s eyes narrowed as he silently observed them.

It was not a very desirable scene.

Luibel, the sacrifice for awakening, being together with a man other than the player.

‘It seems that incompetent player is about to lose even his sacrifice now.’

An irritated sigh escaped as he thought of Hezen, who couldn’t even solve the awakening scenario on his own at the tutorial stage.

“In this case, I’ll have to move directly to assist with the awakening.”

The man muttered in a voice clearly conveying his annoyance as he handed his empty champagne glass to a passing servant.