3. Demon Cult
3. Demon Cult
"This is...."
"Shh."
Imperial Princess Bella looked at me with her finger pressed to her lips. At that gesture, I couldn't say a word and slowly took my hand off the maid.
"Gasp...."
The maid collapsed, as if her tension had suddenly released. The head butler and the other servants standing behind the Imperial Princess looked at the maid with pity and glared at me like I was trash, but I stood tall.
'That bitch is acting.'
If I hadn't known, maybe, but now that I knew she was from the Demon God Cult, every single one of her actions was disgusting. It was all an act to get out of the situation where she was caught trying to poison everyone. It was obvious.
Imperial Princess Bella approached the collapsed maid.
"There, there, you must have been very startled."
"Your Highness, this is...."
"No, there is no need to explain."
Imperial Princess Bella looked at me.
"That piece of trash must be the problem."
Saying that, Imperial Princess Bella stood up.
"I made a mistake. Captain of the Royal Guard?"
"Yes."
At Imperial Princess Bella's words, a knight clad in massive armor stepped forward.
"Arrest Haeil Cartis right now."
"Understood."
With those words, the Captain of the Royal Guard slowly approached me.
I racked my brain while watching him. How on earth could I get out of this situation?
My gaze fell upon the Captain of the Royal Guard and the Imperial Princess approaching me, and the maid still lying on the floor. A teacup was sitting next to her.
'The teacup!'
Yes, the red mark was still clearly visible on that teacup. I was going to die if I stayed like this anyway. I had to struggle, do something.
"Wait."
I said just before the Captain of the Royal Guard reached me. At my words, the Royal Guard glanced at Imperial Princess Bella. Imperial Princess Bella nodded as if to say she would hear me out.
"Before I'm arrested, I must drink the tea that Your Highness bestowed upon me."
At that, both the Captain of the Royal Guard and the Imperial Princess looked at me as if asking what I was talking about. At the same time, the maid's expression stiffened.
'Yeah, you thought I'd lie, didn't you?'
It was half a gamble. It really could have been something the Imperial Princess bestowed upon me. But the Imperial Princess Bella I knew wasn't the type of person to gift such things.
"What are you talking about? I bestowed tea upon you?"
"Was it not Your Highness who bestowed it? But that maid clearly said it was from Your Highness...."
At that, Imperial Princess Bella looked at the maid.
"Th-that is...."
As the maid seemed terrified, Imperial Princess Bella turned her head.
"Head butler, did you order this?"
"No, Your Highness. I did order refreshments to be brought to the guests, but I did not instruct anyone to use Your Highness's name."
The air in the room changed at those words.
"Impersonating the Imperial Family is a capital offense punishable by death. Did you truly do that?"
"No! It's all a lie!"
At that, Imperial Princess Bella looked at me. Her face seemed to say, "Go on, explain yourself."
The Captain of the Royal Guard, the head butler, and the other servants behind them were all looking at me. No, they were looking at me like I was trash.
As if they were looking at someone trying to get out of a situation with an absurd excuse.
Hah.
Fine, you want to play it that way?
I didn't say anything. Even if I spoke here, they wouldn't believe me. I just walked slowly. And approached the maid.
There was only one thing I had to do. Prove it.
The maid flinched, but she wasn't my target. I picked up the teacup filled to the brim next to the maid.
"Did you say it was all a lie?"
The maid's expression changed as I picked up the teacup. Did she not even imagine I would do this in such a situation?
"Then drink this tea. If there is nothing wrong with the tea you served, I will admit my guilt."
I lowered my posture to match the eye level of the maid collapsed on the floor. Then, I took the maid's hand and made her hold the teacup. I even adjusted her fingers so she wouldn't drop it.
"Now, drink up?"
As I smiled and made her hold the tea, the maid's expression changed. It was for a split second, but I clearly saw that face. Not the face of a naive, clueless person, but the face of an assassin waiting for an opportunity.
Seeing that expression put me at ease. Yes, I wasn't wrong. The maid's assassin persona vanished in an instant, and only bewilderment remained. Yeah. Keep acting. You have no way out of this anyway.
It's over. With this, I'll take care of this Demon God Cult maid. At the same time, I can escape this crisis. It's a perfect move.
No, it was a move.
"What the hell are you doing right now?"
A beautiful voice came from behind me. I turned my head and red eyes were looking at me. It was Imperial Princess Bella.
Imperial Princess Bella slowly approached me and snatched the teacup away.
"I don't know what on earth you're doing, but are you trying to pull some cheap trick? Haeil Cartis. A noble should rightfully...."
At that moment, the maid moved. The naive act from before was gone, and the face of a cold-blooded assassin surfaced.
In an instant, the maid kicked off the ground and reached for Imperial Princess Bella. A sharp dagger was clutched in her hand.
The Captain of the Royal Guard noticed it and moved, but it was too late. I knew what this maid wanted.
The one supporting the Empire right now is the Imperial Princess. I don't mean competence or administrative ability or anything like that.
'The only imperial family member, excluding the effectively vanished Emperor.'
The only bloodline of the current Imperial family.
But if such a person dies?
It's obvious what would happen to an Empire where all direct bloodlines and legitimate figures have disappeared.
The Empire would immediately be engulfed in a horrific civil war. Everyone would reveal their greed to become Emperor. The Empire would be torn to shreds, and the Demon God Cult would never miss that opportunity.
'The Imperial Princess must not die.'
If the Demon God is resurrected, it's over. Not metaphorically, but a real end. Possession or whatever, I'd be wiped out of this world. No. That can't happen.
I reached out my hand. I have to stop her, even with my own body. At that moment, I saw something strange.
'Huh?'
A yellow trajectory appeared on the maid's body.
'This is....'
There is a system called Combat Guide.
It's a system that shows the direction to attack or the hit points during combat in the game. If you followed the trajectory that appeared when facing an enemy, even a beginner could pull off expert-level moves.
I moved my body along the yellow trajectory. My hand blocked the maid's hand. At the same time, something fell with a ting sound.
A small dagger came out of the maid's hand and fell.
The maid seemed shocked for a moment when I swatted her hand away, but soon she moved her hand to catch the falling dagger.
But I was faster. The yellow trajectory had indicated to reach for the spot where the dagger would fall a long time ago.
My hand grabbed the dagger and thrust it straight out.
And.
"Ugh!"
The dagger embedded itself precisely into the maid's neck. When I let go, the maid grabbed her neck and looked at me with disbelief.
She tried to say something, but blood bubbled up, preventing her from speaking. No, even without the blood, she wouldn't have been able to speak.
The Captain of the Royal Guard appeared and grabbed the maid. Other knights grabbed my body.
I was instantly surrounded and captured by the knights.
Thud.
Imperial Princess Bella approached me, captured as I was.
"You... what are you doing right now...?"
The Imperial Princess shouted as if she couldn't believe what she had just seen.
I was dumbfounded by that. Does she even know who I just saved? It wouldn't be enough even if she thanked me right now, but look at my state. Both my arms are dangling, held by the knights.
'Right, it's a class society, isn't it.'
Commoners to nobles, nobles to royals.
You can't defy them, and if you do, your head and body get separated immediately. Then I should act accordingly, too.
I recalled the business smile I used to put on for difficult customers in the past. The smile I wore when I was really angry and annoyed but politely asked them to please get lost.
Is a smile enough? No. I need words filled with sincerity.
'Right, she's an Imperial Princess, not a knight, so she might not know what just happened.'
I looked at the Captain of the Royal Guard holding the maid over there. That Captain of the Royal Guard must have clearly seen it. The scene where I blocked the maid trying to harm the Imperial Princess.
So this is an appeal to the Imperial Princess. That I protected you. That instead of treating me like this, you should show gratitude.
I said it with a face full of smiles on the outside, while cursing all sorts of things on the inside.
"It was all for you, Your Highness."
At that moment, Imperial Princess Bella's world stopped.
The shock, the anger directed at me, no, even the breath she was exhaling, all stopped.
What was reflected in Imperial Princess Bella's red eyes was clearly Haeil. But it wasn't just the current Haeil that she saw.
The maid's blood soaking the floor red. The cold dagger rolling on the floor, stained with that blood. And overlapping on top of it, the smile from the past, infinitely tender yet cruel, exactly the same as when he used to hand her flowers.
"It was all for you, Your Highness."
The phantom of the past that had made Imperial Princess Bella live in a terrible nightmare dozens, hundreds of times, was perfectly overlapping with the smile of Haeil in front of her.