The eyes of Hezen that I saw that night were clearly deranged. Enough to harm me and have some left over.

‘It would be better not to go to crowded places for a while.’

One of the conditions for clearing Hezen’s awakening quest was [A crowd of 100 or more people].

Among the upcoming official events, the only one that met that condition was the main banquet held on the day of mother’s birthday.

‘I must attend the main banquet for mother’s birthday, but……’

It would be difficult to find a suitable excuse to skip it like today.

Should I pretend to be sick that day?

Although I might receive some dirty looks for not attending, it would be better than dying……

“Your Highness, is something troubling you?”

At that moment, Sylvia addressed me.

Sylvia wasn’t too young to attend the hunting competition, but she was here with me today, citing poor health as the reason.

However, seeing how enthusiastically she was enjoying the boat ride, it seemed her poor health was just an excuse.

“Lady Winster, why are you asking such an obvious question? Of course she has a lot on her mind. You know about Lord Hezen’s situation.”

Elder sister Elizabeth chided Sylvia.

“Indeed, what happened that day was truly shocking. That Lord Hezen……”

Another young lady who was huddled together chimed in.

I quickly glanced at the favorability ratings above the young ladies’ heads.

While they all boasted 999 favorability at Lady Elizabeth’s tea party last time, now it had significantly decreased.

Well, it was understandable. No woman would like a man who had even earned the rare title of [Seedless Watermelon].

“More importantly, Your Highness. What’s going on with that person?”

A baroness’s daughter who had been visibly contemplating how to address me asked.

“Which person?”

As I tilted my head and responded, the baroness’s daughter’s eyes lit up as she exclaimed.

“Why, Prince Anselot Luenhart, of course!”

“Uh, huh?”

I blinked and stared at the baroness’s daughter who had asked about Anselot.

‘Why is she asking me about that Salto?’

“Yesterday, as soon as Prince Anselot arrived at the ballroom, he sought out Your Highness first!”

As if answering my question, the baroness’s daughter exclaimed, clasping her hands together as if in prayer.

“He’s usually expressionless and rarely smiles, but he smiled kindly in front of Your Highness……”

I think I knew when they were talking about.

‘Why do you keep avoiding me? Like a little mouse.’

He had definitely said that with a bright smile and a gentle voice.

Well, it was rather kind for a threat directed at a mouse……

“After that, didn’t you go out for some fresh air and return together? You know, when Your Highness was feeling down because of Lord Hezen……”

“That’s right, you came back together then. Did Prince Anselot console Your Highness?”

“My goodness, how kind of him.”

Other young ladies beside her chimed in agreement.

‘No, it wasn’t as romantic as you’re thinking!’

I was dumbfounded and incredulous as I silently listened to what they were saying……

“Is Prince Anselot really crazy as the rumors say?”

“What does it feel like to have such a dangerous and thrilling romance?”

Eventually, even the word romance popped up!

“What? Romance?”

I exclaimed, appalled.

“What romance! It’s a life-or-death survival game!”

Remembering the fierce battle I had fought last night, I involuntarily shuddered and let out an “Ugh” between my teeth.

“Oh my! Is it a love worth risking your life for!”

“It’s just like a novel!”

However, my terrible sincerity didn’t seem to reach the young ladies.

“Then will you be partners with Prince Anselot at the Emperor’s birthday banquet too?”

“No, wait, I……”

I was about to strongly deny that Salto and I were in that kind of relationship.

Thud.

A man appeared in that space where only women had been gathered.

“Oh my!”

The young ladies who recognized the newcomer hurriedly opened their fans to cover their faces and turned their heads away.

“Hezen?”

I squinted at him. The one who appeared was none other than the seedless Hezen.

“Lulu.”

Hezen called my name, acting familiar.

“I heard you were here, so I came.”

Why did he appear here instead of going to mother’s hunting competition?

I looked at him with eyes full of wariness.

There were only about eight young ladies and their attendants here. All together, not even thirty people.

‘So Hezen won’t try anything here.’

However, I kept my guard up as I looked at Hezen.

Hezen also glanced around at the heads of the surrounding young ladies, then looked back at me.

His neat smile appeared no different from usual at first glance, but……

‘No. He’s deranged. Especially those bloodshot eyes.’

I clenched my fists as I stared at him.

If Hezen came looking for me, there could only be two reasons.

Either to raise his favorability to prevent the engagement from being broken off. Or before preventing the engagement……

“Lord Hezen.”

At this moment, elder sister Elizabeth stepped forward, blocking me protectively.

“What’s the meaning of this, coming uninvited?”

Hezen frowned openly, showing his displeasure.

“Mere extras……”

“Ex… what? What did you just mutter?”

“Why would I come? I was worried about Luibel, of course.”

Elder sister Elizabeth also got angry at his arrogant tone.

“Nothing to worry about would happen if you weren’t here. Leave at once.”

“……”

Hezen glared at elder sister Elizabeth, pressing his lips tightly together.

At that moment, a system window popped up in front of him.

[SYSTEM] Using item .

‘What? A horn?’

I was startled for a moment.

The horn was a special item from , a paid item created to summon boss-level monsters, kill them, and receive rewards.

Because of its monster-summoning characteristic, it was used as a meme like “Who blew the horn?” whenever an unwelcome face appeared, making it famous enough for even me, who had never played this crappy game, to know about it.

Since the monsters that could be summoned varied depending on the item characteristics and class, I couldn’t know what kind of monster would summon, but……

[SYSTEM] Summoning intermediate water attribute monster.

‘An intermediate monster?’

I gaped in disbelief.

Hezen was still in the tutorial state, not even having achieved awakening yet.

And not just a beginner monster, but an intermediate one?

‘Besides, even boss-level monsters are hard to defeat alone!’

At this moment, numbers appeared in the air, announcing a countdown,

5

4

3

2

1

[SYSTEM] Intermediate water attribute monster has appeared!

From the calm lakeside, a with an inescapably flat, bald head and eight giant legs with tentacles jumped out.

“Kyaaak!”

“A, a monster…!”

“It’s a bald Kraken!”

The young ladies sitting by the lake screamed and ran away.

In an instant, the peaceful lakeside turned into pandemonium.

[SYSTEM] Using item . Your voice will echo throughout the system for 1 minute.

Taking advantage of this chaos, Hezen used the megaphone item to mobilize the knights in the imperial palace.

“A monster has appeared at the eastern lakeside! All imperial knights assemble at the eastern lakeside to protect the people from the monster!”

At the summons of the imperial knight commander, knights began to rush over one by one.

‘It’s just as Anselot said.’

I felt my chest grow cold as I thought.

Hezen was deliberately summoning a monster in secret, using it as an excuse to mobilize the knights.

The moment 100 or more people gathered, he intended to kill me in the midst of this confusion.

Realizing his intentions, I felt strangely calm.

I thought I just had to endure until the engagement was broken off, but if Hezen was going to act like this……

‘I have to log him out somehow.’

Thinking this, I watched the roaring face off against the knights.

“Come this way, Lulu!”

Hezen called out to me, reaching out his hand.

I remembered the conversation I had with Anselot not long ago.

‘Then what should I do now?’

‘Use a bug to blind the system’s eyes. Then that bastard won’t be able to do anything. Like how he just ran away from me without saying a word.’

‘What do you mean by using a bug?’

‘I told you. I’m the bug.’

When I asked how to stop Hezen, Anselot answered with a soft smile.

‘Use me, Lady Luibel.’

I almost nodded unconsciously at that seductive voice whispering under the moonlight.

‘I controlled myself well. I almost got entangled with Salto because of Hezen.’

Anselot wasn’t just Salto.

He was a Salto too dangerous to get close to, being chased by strange guys calling themselves system cleaners or whatever.

Whether it was because I saw Anselot’s handsome face yesterday, or because the rose-colored glasses had come off, Hezen smiling at me and reaching out his hand didn’t look attractive at all.

However, I approached Hezen and took his hand.

At that moment, I saw Hezen’s lips curl up in a smirk.

Anger welled up seeing what this so-called knight commander was doing while his subordinates were getting hurt facing off against the , but I forced myself to endure.

I took his hand to check the interface.

[Visible population: 23] [Visible population] was written in small letters in the corner of the interface.

[Visible population] was a term referring to the number of people who could be visually confirmed in the same area in the game.

‘If Hezen’s goal is really to kill me, he’ll try to buy time until 100 people gather. Then he’ll target me the moment it reaches 100.’

In other words, it also meant I was safe until the [Visible population] reached 100.

‘So I need to log Hezen out before then.’