Chapter 26
Chapter 26
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Aurora's True Face
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I asked around and made my way to the top floor of the mansion's annex.
Whether it was because the lord had left the reception room with an incredibly pleased expression or not, the servants and maids showed attitudes completely opposite from the start.
There wasn't the slightest hint of disdain toward me, every word they spoke was polite, and they even brought out refreshments without me asking and set them on the table.
'Well, you have to be quick on the uptake to work under a guy like that. The ones who weren't probably all died.'
This city's lord was one of the few innately evil NPCs in Brenalk 4.
That was the reason I felt no guilt about my plan to trick him with all sorts of lies and ultimately frame him for contracting with a demon before killing him.
He'd betray me anyway.
For now, my goals had shifted since I'd obtained the book inhabited by the demon, so I'd put the original plan on hold. In the game, the moment the player faithfully carried out the lord's orders and sold out the Silver Dawn Knights, he betrayed the player.
He'd drive the now-useless player out of the city and even frame them for conspiring with the Silver Dawn Knights to assassinate the empress' kin.
That locked the entire playthrough into a bad ending.
All the event branches users classified as happy endings were completely blocked, and from the normal ending branches, only the two most dismal ones could barely be selected.
Everything else went straight to a bad ending.
On top of that, every single human-side subquest vanished, so to play the game properly, you either had to quickly witness the bad ending and move to the next round or just start a new game.
'That guy's just an NPC that's more helpful to kill early on.'
It's true.
Killing him lets Aurora take over as both family head and lord, and if you build a friendly relationship with her early, you can get quite a bit of help.
It was no exaggeration that when Brenalk 4 released stats for its 10th anniversary, he crushed second place by an overwhelming margin to claim first in the 'NPC most frequently killed by players' category.
'More importantly, why isn't Aurora here yet? She didn't actually run away, did she?'
Anxiety started to rear its head when the refreshments on the table ran out and the sun, teetering on the horizon, began to sink away.
If Aurora had really fled or killed herself, then even after offing the lord, handling the fallout would be insanely difficult. If luck was even worse, the Silver Dawn Knights would disintegrate.
It was unnerving because this was an unprecedented situation. Meaning I couldn't prepare for it with my game knowledge.
Just sitting alone on the bed staring blankly, ominous thoughts began chaining together one after another. Forcing my mind elsewhere didn't help.
*Knock knock.*
Right as I decided I couldn't wait any longer and headed out to look for Aurora, a knock came at the door, followed by a polite woman's voice from outside.
"Excuse me. Are you inside?"
It was Aurora's voice.
'Good. She didn't run.'
I let out a silent sigh of relief. Since my hand was already on the doorknob, I turned it and opened the door. Sure enough, Aurora stood there outside.
'What the fuck.'
I was stunned by the clothes draped over her body. What Aurora wore was something with an absurdly small amount of fabric.
A design that barely covered the pink tips of her breasts and just hid her privates. Fabric whose exposed area overwhelmingly dwarfed the covered parts. Minimal straps holding it in place.
It was what they called a micro bikini.
Even if you added up every scrap of covering fabric, I doubted it could cover a single one of my fingers. She walked all the way from her room to mine in that?
'Fuck, what is this? The mod's influence too?'
As I stared down at her in disbelief, Aurora flinched, her face flushing red. Then, as if daring me to look more, she put her hands behind her back and thrust out her chest a little.
Shit. I quickly turned my head away and gestured for her to come inside.
Unlike the knight commanders who wore skin-tight white sleeveless tops and dolphin pants without a shred of shame, Aurora clearly knew she was wearing something embarrassing.
The micro bikini itself might be the mod's doing, but it seemed her common sense hadn't been altered.
The original was probably something like a negligee with moderate exposure, not this ridiculous scrap of fabric.
*Click.* As I closed the door, Aurora flinched at the sound but scurried over to lock it. Then she went to the window, drew the curtains, and lit the candles placed around the room.
Perhaps because it was a room meant for such purposes to begin with, lighting the candles filled the space with a lewd yet dreamy atmosphere.
Aurora, who had set that mood in the room, took my hand and led me to sit on the bed. Then she backed away a little, trembling, to a distance where her entire body was fully in my view.
"M-Me, this lowly one...... th-thank you for, t-taking me in l-like this...."
With her face beet red as if it might burst, she slowly began to kneel on the floor.
"My body is now, a-all yours...... p-please, use it as you w-wish, freely...."
With those words, Aurora knelt on the floor, clasped her hands in front of her forehead, and bowed her upper body deeply. It was what they called a dogeza.
I stared at her blankly for a moment before snapping out of it at the sight of her black hair cascading down like waterfalls on either side. Come to think of it, I couldn't just stay like this.
Her mod-altered appearance was one that no one would ever make kneel anywhere, yet her actions were pure lewdness itself—I'd lost myself for a second. I forcibly suppressed the boiling lust.
Showing any desire here would be the end.
"Aurora-nim."
"Y-Yes! ......Huh?"
When I called her name, Aurora reflexively lifted her head and answered, only to notice my use of honorifics and put on a puzzled expression.
"The reason I came here isn't to take Aurora-nim as a wife."
"......?"
Even deeper puzzlement rose on her face. I met her eyes straight on and spoke.
"By any chance, are you interested in the family head position?"
"......So, to summarize what you're saying."
Hoo. White smoke rose from Aurora's mouth.
The shy expression from moments ago, when she'd done dogeza to offer herself, was completely gone. In its place was a sharp, rigid look.
She held a pipe in her left hand, rested her right elbow on the armrest, tilted her body slightly to the right while propping her face in her palm, and crossed her legs in a pose that was utterly seductive.
Her outfit was still a micro bikini, though.
"You want to kill that pig bastard, put me in the family head seat, and while you're at it, make me this city's lord too. That's it, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"How do you plan to kill him? That fucker's fat as hell, but his head's sharper than most. He didn't survive alone while the empress was chopping off his relatives' heads over 'no rebellion risk' for nothing."
"That's why I'm here."
"Ha, full of confidence, aren't you?"
Aurora smirked and set the extinguished pipe down on the desk. A thin wisp of smoke rose lazily from the end.
"Just one question. Why are you so unfazed seeing me like this? No shock, no awkwardness. It's like you think this is how it should be."
She asked with clear curiosity. Well, her personality had shifted to almost a different person compared to moments ago, so it was natural she'd wonder why I accepted it so readily.
'Because this is the personality I knew from the start.'
The lord's daughter was an NPC with massive ambition for the family head position and more than enough ability to back it up.
If a friendly player informed her of the lord assassination plan in advance, giving her time to prepare, she'd inherit the headship in the blink of an eye and sort out the city's chaos.
Even without advance notice, she'd handle the entire aftermath on her own. Relations with the player might get a bit rocky afterward, though.
That's why I was far more familiar with this confident side of Aurora.
"Who knows. Why do you think?"
Of course, being familiar and telling her about it were two different things. I played it cool.
"If you don't want to say, just say so outright. Don't beat around the bush. I hate that shit."
Aurora clicked her tongue at my cheeky response.
"Fine, you're right. I want that pig bastard dead. I want to kill him and take the family head seat. I want to rule this city in his place."
Her tone started calm but grew more heated toward the end. Anger flickered across her face. Her eyebrows trembled, and her lips twisted.
"Don't you feel even a little pity because he's your father? Not in the slightest. Not even a tiny bit. Never. Do you know how many times I've wanted to kill that pig? He leers at my body every chance he gets, schemes to make money off it, thinks of using it as a bargaining chip! And then he actually sold me off? Do I have to call a bastard like that 'father'?"
*Bang!* Unable to contain her rage, Aurora finally slammed the table. The pipe tipped over, scattering gray ash across the surface. Her tightly clenched fist trembled.
"To him, I wasn't a daughter—I was a tool. So I'll treat him not as a father, but as a worthless piece of shit. Hell, even that's too good for him."
Her agitation subsided a little, and she tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling, letting out a long, long sigh. A deep *hooooo* echoed.
When her face turned back to me, her golden eyes looked utterly weary.
"......If I hadn't caught on early and acted accordingly, I'd be under that pig bastard panting away right now, or sold off as a concubine to some old fart, spreading my legs for him, or rolling in a whorehouse until my back snapped. That's why I played fragile and weak all this time. I had to act like the obedient daughter who listened well without getting into the dirty stuff."
Aurora shuddered as she spoke. The fake personality she meant was probably the frail, delicate act she'd put on for me until just now.
Paradoxically, by playing the part of a fragile daughter he could control at will, she'd survived this long without suffering any harm.
If she'd shown her real personality, who knows what he'd have done to break her spirit.
"But you know."
Her golden eyes fixed on me again. The weariness was gone, replaced by blazing emotion.
"How can I trust you?"