After greeting my mother and stepping back, people approached me to offer comfort.

Among them were Elizabeth unni and Sylvia, who until recently had their affection for Hezen at its peak.

“Luibel, are you alright? To think Lord Hezen would hide such a crucial fact and get engaged to you…”

“Oh, Your Highness. I sensed that man had a major flaw when I heard he doesn’t wash his hands after using the restroom!”

“What a close call! You almost married an impotent man!”

“Ah, haha… Indeed.”

I gave perfunctory responses and tried to slip outside. But Sylvia suddenly grabbed me.

“Your Highness is truly pathetic.”

“Huh?”

Then she unexpectedly picked a fight.

“You need to improve your eye for men in the future.”

Despite her sharp words, her face was slightly flushed as she kept talking and poking me.

‘What’s this? Could she…?’

I briefly suspected something from her attitude.

“I agree with Miss Sylvia’s words, Lulu. Your eyes are terrible, and if left alone, you’ll become a disgrace to the imperial family.”

Elizabeth unni also chimed in with a couple of fake coughs.

‘Did she just call me Lulu instead of Luibel, using a nickname?’

I blinked at them, feeling strangely elated for no reason.

But I soon shook my head.

‘Nah, it can’t be.’

Mistakenly thinking they liked me once was enough.

At that moment, a commotion was heard.

‘Huh!’

I instinctively turned my head towards the sound and froze.

“Oh my, it’s Prince Salto!”

Sylvia whispered excitedly beside me.

Salto… no, Anselot, whom I had been diligently avoiding for the past week, was just entering the banquet hall.

But his condition seemed a bit strange.

On his snow-white hair and white formal attire, there were speckles of something red and lumpy that looked just like…

“My goodness, isn’t that blood?”

“…”

I quietly swallowed at Sylvia’s fuss.

Anselot entered nonchalantly, covered in blood, disregarding people’s murmurs.

Then, as if looking for someone, he glanced around before his eyes met mine.

“Ah, Princess Luibel.”

He called out to me precisely, his eyes curving gently.

He approached me, who was stiff as a board, and bowed his head elegantly in greeting.

“I’m late. Please forgive my rudeness for not escorting Your Highness.”

He said with a grin.

I could feel people looking this way with interest at his intimate attitude.

“A gift arrived, so I was delayed in receiving it.”

At the moment he murmured “gift,” a flash of bloodlust flickered in his eyes.

I sensed people gasping and rolling their eyes here and there upon seeing that.

My gaze was involuntarily drawn to the bloodstains on his head and clothes, but I certainly didn’t want to know what “gift” he was referring to.

I felt like I would end up like that gift the moment I learned its identity.

“…Rudeness? Not at all.”

I answered awkwardly, curling up the corners of my mouth.

“How kind of you.”

Anselot smiled happily and tilted his head towards me. Then he whispered in a soft voice near my ear.

“But why do you keep avoiding me like a little mouse when you said you’d let me stay by your side?”

* * *

Hezen barely managed to reattach his dentures.

Fortunately, there was some [Sticky Mucus of the Honey Snail] left in his inventory.

However, even after reattaching his dentures, his charm didn’t fully return.

Perhaps it was because his reputation had fallen along with his disgraceful display in front of many people.

“Damn it. How did this happen?”

His body trembled as he recalled the humiliation from earlier.

The dropping affection levels from various places and the whispering gazes directed at him wouldn’t leave his mind.

It was at this moment.

[SYSTEM] You have acquired the title 【(Rare) Seedless Watermelon】.

[SYSTEM] You have gained 2490 experience points as a reward for acquiring a rare title.

[SYSTEM] Experience points have exceeded the maximum. Level is limited to 10 or below during the tutorial stage.

[SYSTEM] Your honor has decreased by −600 due to the effect of the new title. (Honor: 199)

His mouth fell open for a moment.

“Se-Seedless watermelon?”

Could it possibly mean what he thought it meant?

[SYSTEM] Your charm has decreased by −500 due to rumors of you being impotent. (Charm: −1)

“…!”

This time his eyes opened so wide they looked like they might pop out.

“Im-im-im-im-impotent?”

What on earth was happening in the ballroom while he was away?

“My remaining honor and charm…”

Everything he had built up so far had been extinguished in one go to a depressing degree.

At this point, he didn’t even feel like trying to recover his fallen honor and charm.

“This damn game!”

Hezen no longer wanted to continue playing the game at all.

With anger rising to his head, Hezen searched the interface and found the [Exit] button.

But something was strange.

The color of the [Exit] button, which had been bluish, had changed to a grayish color.

“Wh-What?”

He thought something was odd, but Hezen stubbornly pressed the [Exit] button. Then…

[SYSTEM] Game exit is not possible during scenario progress. Please complete the scenario.

“What the hell is this?”

Hezen was bewildered.

Unable to exit the game?

He tried pressing it several more times, but the system window only repeated the same message.

Hezen’s expression turned pale as he realized he couldn’t exit the game.

It had been suspicious from the start.

Giving out various items with special event wins and whatnot, even providing in-game currency coupons, and now he couldn’t even exit freely.

“Th-Then how do I…”

Could he be trapped in the game like this?

The thought sent chills down his spine.

“No, there must be… there must be a way to exit the game.”

He hurriedly scanned the system window’s message once more.

[SYSTEM] Game exit is not possible during scenario progress. Please complete the scenario.

“Complete the scenario…?”

Gulp.

A breath caught in his throat.

For now, quickly clearing the scenario was the urgent priority.

He needed to awaken in order to complete the scenario.

And the condition for his awakening was [Death of a Lover].

“Luibel, I need to find Luibel!”

Hezen flung open the door and rushed out of the lounge.

Originally aiming to build a harem, he had no intention of quickly progressing the scenario to achieve awakening.

It was more enjoyable to conquer female characters in a world where he was the protagonist than to defeat the Dragon Emperor and see the ending.

But now that he learned he couldn’t exit the game, it was different.

He just wanted to hurry and finish the scenario to end this damned game.

Fortunately, Luibel was easy to find.

Unlike an extra, she always stood out.

* * *

“But why do you keep avoiding me like a little mouse when you said you’d let me stay by your side?”

“…”

I felt the blood drain from my face at the soft whisper.

‘In exchange for lending you this, please allow me to be by Your Highness’s side.’

‘Exactly as I said. While staying in the Azester Empire, I wish to serve Your Highness from the closest position possible.’

Anselot had said that while looking at me with eyes that seemed like he would kill me if I refused his proposal.

Needing Anselot’s pendant to deal with Hezen, I had no choice but to accept his offer.

However, no matter how polite an attitude he showed now, his essence was still Salto.

A murderous X who tried to kill me!

Moreover, a suspicious X without even a system window above his head!

I’ve been avoiding him for the past week, making various excuses to not run into him as much as possible.

But I played dumb.

“A-Avoid? What are you talking about?”

“You did avoid me.”

He replied, staring straight at my face.

I stuttered before quickly changing the subject.

“Th-Then what’s with all this blood?”

“Are you curious?”

“No! I’m not curious!”

He chuckled when I blurted out the answer.

“How cute.”

“…”

Why does that ‘cute’ sound to my ears like ‘I’ll kill you if you act cute one more time’?

At that moment, Orent approached us.

“Prince Anselot. What’s with that appearance?”

There was no way he couldn’t see me talking right next to him, but Orent completely ignored my presence and only greeted Anselot.

An annoyed look immediately crossed Anselot’s face.

Fortunately, he couldn’t stay by my side continuously.

As an envoy from Luenhart, he had to go greet my mother.

“Phew…”

While Orent guided Anselot to my mother, I caught my breath and quickly slipped outside.

The cold night air brushed against my cheeks.

‘What could be his intentions?’

My head was complicated, unable to understand Anselot’s motives in pretending to be friendly.

He was someone I absolutely didn’t want to get close to.

Setting aside the fact that he was a madman who killed people at the drop of a hat, there were numerous suspicious points about him.

I’ve spent over a decade living on eggshells within the imperial palace. And my instincts were telling me.

Anselot Luenhart is dangerous.

‘I don’t want to get involved unnecessarily.’

But I had a more pressing issue than the suspicious and dangerous murderous prince of Luenhart.

Even at this moment, my remaining lifespan was decreasing.

‘By now, he should have reattached his dentures with the sticky mucus of the honey snail.’

It was about time for Hezen to reappear.

He needed to recover his fallen honor, after all.

‘Perhaps his honor has fallen even further due to my statement earlier.’

As I stood lost in thought under the moonlight…

“Lulu!”

Hezen appeared with an urgent voice.

‘Oh ho, he’s here.’

I turned to him with a grin.

“Hezen, did you reattach your teeth well?”

“You, what rumors have you been spreading about me…!”

Hezen shouted, grabbing my collar.

As we got closer, I could see his interface.

I curved my eyes gently, looking at his skill [Rus’s Footsteps] which still had a five-hour cooldown remaining.

Pause.

Hezen briefly lost his words and stared at me blankly at my eye smile.

‘Tsk. He still can’t come to his senses even in this situation.’

Hezen, unable to use that skill, would not be able to avoid my attack with my anger at MAX.

[SYSTEM] ‘s anger has reached its maximum.

[SYSTEM] ‘s strength temporarily increases dramatically.

Happily, my anger had once again hit MAX the moment I faced him…

“Ah…!”

Hezen, who came looking for me blinded by anger and lacking in ability to learn, belatedly grasped the situation and hurriedly tried to let go of me and run away, but.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

I grinned as I grabbed the wrist of the fleeing Hezen.

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation!

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation!

[SYSTEM] is feeling strong murderous intent towards you!

[SYSTEM] This is bad! is aiming for your groin! At this rate…

This time, I really kicked his groin with all my might.

“Aaaaaaaargh!”

Along with the agonizing scream, alerts poured in.

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation! It burst!

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation! You have become impotent!