Once hailed as the top candidate for the next Emperor, the Second Prince Orent lost everything in an instant and was thrown into the abyss.

The Emperor showed no mercy, even to a direct member of the imperial family.

In the end, it was only by proclaiming that Duke Hamilton had committed all the crimes of his own accord that Orent was able to keep his life.

However, his life was the only thing he could preserve.

He lost everything else.

He lost his father, was stripped of his status as a member of the imperial family, lost his hair due to deteriorating health in prison, and lost Sedrick.

Losing his hair was something that happened while he slept, with Anselot slyly coming and going, but Orent, unaware of this fact, believed it to be inherited from his father.

Even more devastating than losing his hair was losing Sedrick.

Sedrick, who had been his assistant, was his greatest talent in helping him.

It was none other than Sedrick who told Orent and Duke Hamilton how to obtain the horn flute.

However, as soon as they were caught by the Emperor’s soldiers, Sedrick disappeared without a trace.

It was obvious. It would have been difficult to escape the crime, so he fled outside the Empire alone to survive.

“Luibel, that stupid wench! If only she hadn’t appeared with Mother at that time and talked about the horn flute!”

Orent, unable to think of the bad things he had done himself, blamed all his misfortunes on Luibel.

He heard that the wench had entered the martial arts tournament and made it to the finals.

While he had lost everything like this, hearing the news of Luibel’s success made him feel like he was going crazy.

“I can’t be the only one to collapse like this, alone.”

Determined not to die alone, Orent shook off those guarding him, snuck into the arena, and caused a commotion.

“I will kill and eliminate them all! You too! And that damn Empire!”

Orent took something out of his pocket.

The knights who rushed to capture him were shocked to recognize the identity of the black mana orb in his hand.

“That, that’s…!”

“It’s a monster-suppressing binding orb! Everyone be careful!”

“Damn it, seize the former prince!”

Orent threw it straight towards the arena.

However, in his haste due to the knights coming to capture him, he failed to aim properly, and the black mana orb flew towards the spectator seats instead of the arena.

“Ahhhhh!”

As people’s screams poured out, Luibel rushed towards the spectator seats at the speed of light.

Klaus, whose attention was entirely focused on Luibel, quickly assessed the situation and chased after her.

“Princess Luibel…!”

And then, soon—

Boom!

With the sound of an explosion, the surroundings turned pitch black.

[This is the timeline separator]

Going back in time a few days before the day of the martial arts tournament finals.

The day Luibel handed Klaus a proposal ring and confessed, “Be my knight!”

As Luibel ran away from Klaus, she spotted a familiar name on the mini-map.

It was none other than .

It was said that he had been stripped of his status as a member of the imperial family, and the surname “Azester” that had been attached to his name had disappeared.

‘Why is someone who will be sent to a monastery in 2 weeks wandering around here?’

Suspicious, she kept an eye on where he was headed.

Orent stopped by the dark guild shop.

‘Even if he goes there, he won’t be able to buy anything since his assets have been confiscated…’

Then, she suddenly remembered that when she visited the dark guild shop, they gave additional rewards based on the exchange ranking for the .

‘It’s a kind of marketing! If you achieve the 1st place in the ranking, we’re giving out monster-suppressing binding orbs as an additional reward!’

‘Monster-suppressing binding orbs? Those are sold in ordinary weapon shops too, right?’

‘Of course, it’s different from ordinary binding orbs. What we’re giving out is an S-grade item that allows permanent binding unless the binding orb is shattered.’

Monster-suppressing binding orbs were mana orbs used when facing multiple monsters.

It was a tool that swallowed monsters and trapped them in this dimension for a certain period of time, but using it on humans was obviously illegal.

It wasn’t a particularly interesting reward, so she had listened to it lightly.

‘Did he go to receive that? But what does he intend to do with it?’

If it was Orent who had faced monsters at the border, he would have used monster-suppressing binding orbs many times, but he was now a former prince.

‘Given Orent oppa’s personality, it doesn’t seem like he would be kicked out of the Imperial Palace quietly…’

She thought that he might be sharpening his blade by now.

Since Orent oppa was a cowardly person, he wouldn’t be able to do anything to Mother, who was strong, so his blade would be directed at me, the weak one.

So, out of anger, using the binding orb…

“Oh, no way. He wouldn’t do such a thing.”

I deliberately muttered to myself out loud.

But soon, silence returned.

…

Whether it was truly Duke Hamilton’s arbitrary action or not was never revealed, but Orent had already done things that shouldn’t have been done at the border.

Would he, who had turned a blind eye to people getting hurt and dying for the sake of his own reputation, and who now had nothing more to lose, leave the Imperial Palace quietly like this?

With the suddenly risen question, I had been paying attention to Orent’s movements ever since that day.

“If Orent really tries to do something bad to me using the binding orb, never try to save me.”

I told Anselot about Orent’s suspicious movements that I had seen and made a request.

Then he raised one eyebrow crookedly and made an expression demanding an explanation.

“If I get trapped in the binding orb, someone outside will need to find and shatter the binding orb.”

If you hastily touched it at the moment the monster-suppressing binding orb was used, you would also be swallowed by the binding orb and trapped in this dimension.

So, if Orent tried to attack me using the binding orb, the best way was not to save me on the spot, but to wait until the binding orb swallowed me and settled down, and then shatter it.

“It would be easier to just eliminate him before he causes trouble.”

Anselot said in a somewhat disgruntled tone.

There was no direct object, but I could tell that the person he was talking about eliminating was Orent oppa.

“You can’t do that.”

“Why? Because he’s Princess’s family?”

I didn’t particularly think of Orent oppa as family.

He probably wouldn’t consider me his sister anyway.

However, even though Orent oppa disliked me, he was still Mother’s son.

I didn’t want to hurt him over something uncertain and make Mother sad.

So I still wanted to believe.

That even though Orent oppa had a bad personality, he wasn’t evil enough to harm innocent people.

And that the incident at the border was truly Duke Hamilton’s arbitrary action, not Orent’s.

I wanted to believe that, not for Orent, but for Mother’s sake.

“If Orent really turns out to be such a heinous person, I will step up and punish him then.”

But if he betrayed our trust again and made Mother sad.

Then I would personally judge him with my own hands.

“Alright.”

Anselot, who had been silently listening to my determination, slowly nodded his head.

“But if Princess gets even slightly hurt because of that bastard.”

His gaze swept over my body.

“I will be really angry.”

Anselot added in a slow tone and smiled softly.

“Anselot…?”

“When that happens, no matter what I do, Princess, don’t try to stop me either.”

Unlike his smiling eyes, his pupils were cold.

“Why, why would you be angry if I get hurt?”

When I asked in bewilderment, he retorted in a nonchalant voice.

“Of course I would be angry.”

“Why is it obvious?”

“Well, because Princess is the protagonist of the prophecy who will fulfill my long-cherished desire?”

…Ah, that’s right.

I immediately understood and nodded my head.

‘I absolutely must not get hurt.’

.

.

.

And today.

The day of the martial arts tournament finals.

While waiting before the match, I spotted Orent’s name on the mini-map.

It seemed he had snuck in here, blending in with the crowd.

Orent cursed my name in front of people, spewing profanities.

The flimsy last bit of trust I had for him shattered.

“That heinous bastard.”

I spat out a curse without realizing it.

There was no sense of betrayal.

Perhaps I had subconsciously anticipated that he would turn out like this.

Since I had already prepared for the situation with Anselot, I wasn’t surprised or flustered.

I calmly grasped the sword at my waist, intending to wait for the moment Orent attacked.

But there was an unexpected variable.

Orent’s aim, which was meant to attack me, went astray, and the binding orb he threw flew towards the spectators.

“Piya! Luce’s Steps!”

Swish!

—Lulu, be careful!

[SYSTEM] Activating the skill .

[SYSTEM] Your movement speed temporarily increases by +500%.

I immediately threw myself towards the spectator seats.

My actions preceded my thoughts.

At that moment, my eyes met Anselot’s.

His body reflexively flinched and turned towards me.

However, he soon stopped trying to rush towards me, silently chewing on a curse.

‘Innocent people must not get involved.’

Just before the binding orb fell on the spectator seats, I leaped into the air and struck it with my sword.

The binding orb, upon impact, began to glow black and swallow the blade.

As I watched the black binding orb slowly devouring the blade, I thought.

Only I should be caught up in this.

Destruction was impossible anyway. Then the only way was to stimulate the binding orb to swallow me and extinguish its light.

I unleashed sword energy towards the binding orb.

Receiving a strong stimulus, the binding orb engulfed me with a flash of black light.

“Princess Luibel…!”

And at the same time, a man who stepped in front of me.

‘Huh? Klaus?’

Klaus’s platinum hair fluttered before my eyes.

That was the last scene I saw.

[This is the timeline separator]

Klaus and I ended up trapped in the black dimension.

As we were sucked into the binding orb, the light and noise from outside were instantly cut off.

[SYSTEM] You have been trapped in this dimension. Skills and inventory cannot be used in this dimension.

The system window rang out as if in warning.

‘Hm? Piya isn’t here.’

Piya, who would normally be bouncing around or displaying messages in this situation, was quiet.

The connection with Piya must have been severed as we crossed over to this dimension.

But I was at ease.

Anselot would soon find and shatter the binding orb anyway.

‘Anselot had such a murderous expression…’

I clearly saw it.

The shape of Anselot’s mouth silently chewing on what was definitely a curse.

Even though I knew he wasn’t a good opponent to worry about, why was I concerned about Orent?

His gaze was so murderous that I was worried he might disrupt the plan and rush towards me, getting swallowed by the binding orb together.

Unlike ordinary monster-suppressing binding orbs, the only ones who would know that the binding could only be released by shattering the orb were Anselot and Orent outside.

‘By the way…’

I glanced at Klaus, who was swept up with me.

‘Getting trapped with Klaus wasn’t part of the plan.’

How did we end up trapped together?