Chapter 84: Katarina (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 84: Katarina (4)
The day of Ronwell’s birthday banquet.
In the dancer’s waiting room, several dancers were waiting for their turn.
Most of them were beaming, delighted to be at such a grand event, but one among them was not.
Katarina. She was staring at the floor, her face dark and lifeless.
He never came back...
Cloud hadn't returned for the past few days.
On the first day, she figured something must have come up. By the second, she started to feel a little anxious. On the third day, she couldn't stand it anymore and rummaged through his belongings.
His bag was full of miscellaneous items, but important things like money were gone.
She shook her head, trying to soothe her anxious heart. They’re important, so of course he’d carry them with him. He’ll be back soon. But he hadn't returned, not even today.
Faced with this reality, she had no choice but to accept the truth.
He was only after my body...
She remembered a fellow dancer crying about a man who had run off. Back then, she’d thought it was someone else’s problem.
She never imagined it would happen to her.
You bastard. I was serious...!
A surge of emotion brought tears to her eyes.
“Is the dancer, Katarina, here?”
“Yes. I’m here.”
“You’re next. Get ready and come out.”
The butler who had come to call her name left the waiting room.
Katarina wiped her tears and picked up her curved swords. As she stepped out of the waiting room, she made a vow.
After I kill Ronwell, you’re next, Cloud.
That was her resolve...
But the moment she saw Cloud standing next to Ronwell, it shattered.
What the hell? Why is he over there?
Was he one of Ronwell’s men? Does that mean he’s been toying with me this whole time?
As confusion threatened to overwhelm her, Ronwell noticed her gaze and spoke.
“Dancers these days... I call them here to liven things up, and every single one of them is distracted by a man.”
“I guess I’m just that good-looking.”
“Tsk... This man is an adventurer I’ve hired as a guest and an escort.”
“Hey there.”
Cloud waved with a smile.
An escort? An adventurer?
Only then did Katarina realize he hadn't been playing with her. The resentment that had filled her heart subsided, though a little remained.
You could have at least told me before you left!
Katarina shot him a glare, and Cloud gave a bitter smile. She suppressed a sigh.
I’ll save the lecture for later...
“What are you doing? Hurry up and dance.”
Katarina looked at the man with the dry, emotionless expression.
First, I need to end this long, twisted fate.
Her two curved swords, filled with long-held resentment, began to move.
*
Act 1: <Butterfly Dance>
The moment the dance began, Katarina’s aura changed. The girl's youthful innocence vanished, and the desperate struggle of a caterpillar for survival captivated the atmosphere.
Desperate, but not ugly.
That strange contrast seized the audience’s attention.
As Katarina continued her dance, she glanced at Cloud out of the corner of her eye.
Her own life had been as desperate as the caterpillar in her dance.
She dreamed of revenge, but her reality was bleak.
Ronwell was the highest of the upper class, while Katarina was a commoner, living day to day.
Just when her mother’s dance, her only hope, began to falter and she wanted to give up on everything...
That’s when you appeared.
You helped me up when I was about to fall and lent me your shoulder.
Thanks to you, I could look up again.
The caterpillar that had desperately survived became a chrysalis, shedding its thick shell to emerge as a beautiful butterfly, taking flight.
“Ah...”
Ronwell let out a gasp of admiration.
Such a fluid and beautiful dance.
A dance that could change the very atmosphere of the room—it was undoubtedly Anneliese’s.
She had perfectly inherited her mother’s dance.
All preparations are complete.
Once Ronwell was dead, Cloud would take Katarina and escape the banquet hall amidst the ensuing chaos. After that, a fictional rival of Ronwell’s, a character he had created, would become her sponsor.
There was nothing more for him to worry about.
All that was left was to savor the lingering impression of Anneliese’s dance one last time.
Katarina’s sword dance reached its climax.
Her blades, which had once expressed the beauty of nature and the ferocity of beasts, now began to depict something that was not of life.
Final Act: <Dance of Death>
All things, in the end, converge to one point: death.
The distance between them had closed until they were right in front of each other.
A blade embodying death flew toward Ronwell’s neck.
Finally.
Years of effort are about to bear fruit.
I can finally escape these painful memories.
The girl rejoiced.
Finally.
The end of my sinful life is approaching.
The man accepted it.
Just as the two of them, for their own reasons, awaited the execution of revenge...
Clang!
With a clear metallic ring, the curved sword aimed at Ronwell was sent flying. Katarina and Ronwell stared, wide-eyed, at the one who had struck the blade—Cloud.
Stepping between the two, who were dumbfounded by the unexpected turn of events, Cloud spoke.
“Katarina, say hello. He’s your biological father.”
*
In the game, Katarina and Cloud meet after her revenge is complete.
The story goes that after finishing the revenge she had dedicated half her life to, she feels a sudden emptiness and sets out on a journey to soothe her heart, which is when she meets Cloud.
Just as she carries the pain of losing her parents, Cloud carries the pain of losing his comrades.
The two, sharing a similar pain, got along quite well and slowly began to see each other as more than friends.
But this is an NTR game.
And a particularly despair-inducing one I handpicked to screw over a friend who wouldn't pay me back.
Would the latter three heroines, obtained after losing the first three, bring the protagonist happiness?
Not a chance.
If it were that kind of game, I wouldn't have chosen it.
Though I never imagined I’d be transmigrated into such a damn game.
In any case, Katarina’s NTR trigger is the truth about her revenge.
A revenge she had spent half her life to achieve.
But as the story progresses, it’s revealed that the target of her revenge was her biological father, and that he had been helping her from the shadows all along.
Katarina falls into deep confusion, caught in the irony of having avenged her parents only to find out the target was her own flesh and blood...
Well, I don’t need to explain what happens after that.
And, of course, I have no intention of letting that happen to me.
That’s why I met her before her revenge began.
“Katarina, say hello. He’s your biological father.”
I told her the truth before her revenge could be fulfilled.
“What...? What kind of nonsense is that? More importantly, move. I have to kill that man.”
Katarina narrowed her eyes, glaring at Ronwell.
Yeah, that’s the normal reaction.
What are the odds that the man who ruined your parents’ lives turns out to be your biological father?
But what can I do? It’s the truth.
I stood my ground, blocking the path between Katarina and Ronwell.
She let out a deep sigh.
“There’s no time for this. Explain later...”
“There’s plenty of time.”
“What? What’s that supposed to...”
My words finally seemed to make Katarina sense that something was off. She turned her head, scanning her surroundings. Ronwell had nearly been killed, yet no one was moving.
Not the guests, not the guards.
“What in the world...”
Katarina’s eyes widened in confusion.
I continued.
“Have you ever compared your daily wage to what other 3rd-class dancers receive? Isn’t your pay higher than theirs?”
My investigation revealed that a normal 3rd-class dancer’s wage isn’t enough to feed five younger siblings.
But Katarina had managed it.
She’d even provided them with three meals a day.
“Th-that’s because I’m the best dancer among the 3rd-class, so they pay me more...”
“You know that doesn’t make sense. And if you were the best among the 3rd-class, you should have been promoted to 2nd-class. You’re more than skilled enough. But you remained a 3rd-class dancer. Why do you think that is?”
“Because my skills were lacking...”
“No. It’s because 2nd-class dancers have to reveal their faces.”
Katarina’s looks were exceptional.
Despite her youthful personality, her body was mature, and her face was the most beautiful I had seen among all the dancers.
Would there be any noble who wouldn’t covet her?
That’s why Ronwell made sure she remained a 3rd-class dancer.
“You were also rejected from the Starlight Hall. That place doesn’t just sell dances.”
On paper, it’s an establishment that sells dances.
But no one knows what happens between a dancer and a guest inside a private room.
“You lived deep in the slums but were never robbed, right? The kids stayed safe and sound, too. Honestly, you know that doesn’t make any sense, don’t you?”
There was no way she hadn't noticed these things. She probably just didn't want to think too deeply about them. Just getting by day to day must have been overwhelming enough. She might have just considered herself lucky.
But no matter how lucky one is, the world isn’t that convenient.
Katarina frowned.
“So! You’re saying that man did all of that? For me?!”
“Yes.”
I nodded and called out.
“Shedia.”
Shedia shot out from Katarina’s shadow and swiftly subdued two guards who were leaning against a pillar. It was such a sudden ambush that they couldn't react.
Shedia removed the guards’ helmets and tore off the fake leather faces they were wearing.
As their real faces were revealed, Katarina’s complexion turned deathly pale.
“Grandpa..? Grandma..?”
She took a step back in disbelief. I grabbed her hand.
This must be a huge shock.
Still, we have to start by accepting it...
“So you were all in on it, just playing with me.”
She’s taking this a bit extremely.
“It’s not like that...”
“What do you mean, it’s not like that!”
Katarina yanked her hand away from mine.
“According to you, that bastard has been helping me from the shadows all this time? Because he’s my real dad? And Grandpa and Grandma were following his orders to look after my siblings? Ha, fuck...”
She sighed and ran a hand through her hair, as if she was too dumbfounded to speak.
“And I entrusted my siblings to them without knowing a thing. I was such an idiot.”
She mocked herself in a choked voice. Tiny droplets began to form in her eyes. She scrubbed them away with the back of her hand.
“Katarina, dear. That wasn’t our intention...”
“Shut up! I don’t even want to hear your voice!”
The old man’s lips pressed into a thin line. He lowered his gaze, dejected. Katarina, on the other hand, glared at me, her face scrunched up as if she were about to burst into tears at any moment.
“Are you one of his men, too?”
“I’m not.”
“Right. But you’re still standing there, aren’t you?”
Thump. Katarina’s weak fist hit my chest.
“Why are you stopping me?”
Thump.
“Why didn’t you tell me if you knew?”
Thump.
“Did that bastard offer you a lot of money? Is that why? Answer me!” she yelled, her face fierce.
Finally, unable to hold back, tears streamed down her face. She rested her head against my chest and began to pound on it with her fists again.
“You bastard. I liked you so much. You were the first person I ever truly liked. But that’s not how it was for you, was it? To you, I’m just one of the many women who’ve passed through your life, right? You were only after my body from the start, weren’t you?”
Her voice grew more agitated with each word.
I gently pushed her away. Her expression said, I knew it. I ignored it and kissed her.
Her eyes widened.
But her lips were sealed tight, a reflection of her closed-off heart.
That’s fine.
What’s closed can be opened.
I licked her lips.
Slowly. Patiently. Gently.
Then, her lips parted ever so slightly.
I knocked, as if on a door.
May I come in?
She seemed confused, unsure whether to let me in.
I knocked again.
Her lips trembled for a moment, then opened. I slipped my tongue between them and caressed her shy tongue, like a pearl in a clamshell. Just as she, in her shyness, was about to move, I pulled away.
“Ah...”
Katarina seemed slightly disappointed.
I pressed my forehead against hers and met her eyes.
“Katarina. I’m on your side.”
“...”
“I’ll always be on your side. I swear it. I will always, always be on your side. So.”
I took both of her hands in mine and said,
“Let’s talk.”
After a moment of silence, Katarina answered.
“...Okay.”