Episode 54
Translator: RaidenTL
Episode 54
What in the world had just happened?
Elysia frantically opened the menu for <You'll Fall in Love> and began tapping on every option.
♥ error;community;null ♥
♥ error;replay;null ♥
♥ error;login;null ♥
♥ error;logout;null ♥
null. Meaning undefined, or non-existent.
What did that mean? That everything was gone? But these were clearly options in the menu.
Just then, she heard the sound of footsteps in the distance. It was just the ordinary sound of dress shoes, but it was as cold as the crunch of thin ice by her ear. She whipped her head around, her sharp gaze fixed on the entrance to the main building.
There, a man stood before the pitch-black maw of the entrance. His platinum blonde hair, half-soaked in the sunset's crimson glow, shimmered. Without thinking, Elysia stumbled a step back. Only too late did she realize the stairs were right behind her.
"Ack—"
Her body, about to tumble backward, was stopped in an instant. A man had strode forward and caught her, his hand supporting her back. He slowly pulled her upright from her precarious angle.
The chill from his hand on her bare skin, exposed by the low back of her dress, sent an involuntary shiver through her. A slow smile spread across Cain’s lips as he stood right before her eyes and murmured.
"You should be careful. You're so fragile."
“……”
"You must have been so distracted you missed a step. Lucky for me, though."
Her head was spinning. She didn't even have the energy to get annoyed at the red eyes looking down at her with amusement. Her gray eyes narrowed with suspicion.
The fact that the same type of drug from <Panic in the City> was circulating was suspicious enough. But now, all the game elements, including the main story, had vanished. Vanished, despite being clearly listed in the menu.
They were there at first, but at some point, they disappeared… Why? And how?
At that moment, the man’s hand slowly stroked her hair. The touch, which seemed both tender and mocking, startled her. She gasped and looked up at him.
With a gentle, unreadable smile, he asked her.
"What are you looking for?"
"None of your—"
"Why, did you lose something?"
Her heart sank. Elysia stared directly into his red eyes, their emotional depth impossible to gauge.
What the hell are you? How much do you know? And what's with that look? Do you despise me, are you curious, or is it both?
She stared blankly up at his face, so close to her own. Far from being displeased by her blatant observation, Cain simply waited, as if giving her time.
Finally, with a feigned look of distress, the man chuckled and took a step back.
"Are you trying to seduce me? It's hard not to fall for it when you stare at me for so long, especially in that dress."
"What a load of bullshit..."
Only then did Elysia realize she hadn't changed out of the clothes she'd been wearing when she left Siene's Exhibition Hall. The presence of her completely bare shoulders was undeniable. A cool, rather than chilly, breeze swept by, and her body instinctively tensed.
Worse, when she remembered the effect placed on the dress, the color drained from her face. The applied effect was an increase in attractiveness to the opposite sex, and a higher probability of an R-R-R-rated event… Her face went pale as she ducked her head and muttered.
"Ugh, to hell with R-rated events, this fucking son of a bitch system..."
Annoyed, Elysia tried to push Cain away, but he didn't budge. Puzzled, she leaned back as he moved his face even closer to hers.
Just as she was seriously contemplating emptying her inventory full of firearms, she read the emotion simmering in his narrowed red eyes and froze.
♥ SYSTEM: ‘Cain Ror’ Favorability +300 | Maximum Favorability Exceeded >0< | No Route in Progress ♥
♥ ?Findin?! a rout?! ♥
♥ error;notfound ♥
A ferocious ecstasy raged, radiating heat. Elysia violently shoved Cain away as he leaned in, looking as if he were about to bite her lips, and let out the breath she’d been holding.
Cain made no attempt to compose his expression as he stared at the woman before him. The intensity in his eyes was less of a gaze and more of a glare.
Her prominent collarbones, shadowed by the moonlight, rose and fell with each breath. His palms tingled as if his blood were boiling. He clenched and unclenched his fist, an idle thought crossing his mind.
Can I have her?
"You have plenty of women, so why are you bothering someone who's not interested? Get the hell off me, you psycho!"
Cain stared directly into the gray eyes of the woman who swore at him without hesitation.
That ashen color, reminiscent of a city that didn't exist here. That resilience that wouldn't break even if thrown into the mud and denied a single ray of sunlight. The wolf-like slant of her eyes, which never let go of their prey once caught, made his mouth go dry.
He chuckled, tilting his head.
"Women? I don't have any this time."
He watched Elysia brush off her dress as if his touch had been disgusting, his lips slowly turning down.
"I'm not engaged, I obviously don't have a wife, and I don't have a lover. I don't even have a woman I spend the night with... Elysia, I thought you had no interest in me. I wonder where you heard such a baseless rumor."
"Interested? I don't give a shit!"
"Then why do you speak as if you've done a background check on me? Me, having many women. Did you hear it from somewhere? I'm honored you were so interested in me."
There was no way she could have heard it from anyone. Aside from the fact that she hated Cain, her social circle was pathetically small. A hint of anticipation flickered across the man's excited, smiling face.
His vaguely probing words made Elysia's blood boil. She wanted to scream at him, to demand just how much he knew.
But what if, in doing so, she ended up confessing something he didn't already know? She couldn't take it back. She chose to keep her mouth shut.
"I'm not interested enough in you to listen to gossip about you. Get over your delusions."
Elysia turned away curtly and hurried down the stairs, heading toward the dormitory.
After putting some distance between them, she paused and, as if to vent her frustration, changed her clothes with a flick. Cain clearly saw her outfit change in an instant, but he didn't question it.
Watching her disappear into the darkness, now back in her school uniform, Cain swiped a finger across his lips, amused.
"Well, I suppose... you wouldn't have heard it. You would have read it."
His unreadable red eyes curved into a smile. He watched the woman's retreating back as she shuddered and instantly changed back into her uniform, then slowly stroked the blue cover of the book in his hand and murmured.
"Why struggle so desperately? It's not even real."
A smirk spread across his face as he added.
"But that's what I like about you."
The man sighed and shook his head. Honestly, he didn't understand. His initial animosity had long since faded; now, he was growing curious about Elysia.
"I'm starting to feel a little hurt."
At the same time, a faint irritation rose within him. Why is she trying to get away from me?
He recalled her sharp, constricted pupils as she glared at him and chuckled.
"To think I like you this much, and you just see me as some shallow guy..."
The image of a man who had angrily told him not to treat her as casually as he did everyone else flashed through his mind. A dry, humorless laugh escaped him.
From the memory of that man, who had been acting as meek as a beaten dog, suddenly staring him down, he pulled out another thread of memory.
He irritably took out his pipe and put the end between his teeth. After inhaling the harsh smoke, he muttered.
"I don't understand."
"Don't you dare touch her. Don't you dare think of her as casually as you do everyone else."
The moment he heard those words from Evan, Cain had felt a rage so intense he wanted to pluck out his steadfast green eyes and crush them. As if practicing the act, he ground a blade of grass under the heel of his shoe and muttered.
"Coming all the way to where I am, just to say..."
With a flat expression, he considered his options. There were many. He could kill the man who was starting to get on his nerves, or he could warn Elysia.
Tell her that she should trust me, not him. That she needs to learn to tell friend from foe.
"Her head isn't so stupid that she can't accept a piece of advice like that, is it?"
Considering her personality, she might just grab him by the collar and tell him he was spouting bullshit. He wouldn't mind that. Whether she got angry and slapped his cheek or whatever else, she would have to admit it.
He exhaled the pipe smoke he had drawn in. The moonlight fell through the thick white smoke, bathing his face. The terrible boredom and anger on his handsome face mirrored Elysia's, yet the underlying exhaustion resembled Evan's.
"You were too lonely to deny me, weren't you?"
And in truth, the same applied to him. He closed his eyes, trying to release the excitement that filled his body, and let out a long, slow breath.
Then, as if rewinding a terrible memory, he furrowed his brow and murmured.
"Why don't you understand... that I am your salvation."