TDFOC 08

Chapter 08

Of course, it was too late.

Facing the look in the boy’s eyes that seemed to say, If you hesitate for five more seconds, I’ll really knock you out, Daisy immediately rolled off him.

She went rolling away.

“……”

What? Why?

The boy looked at her pathetic appearance as though he found it utterly pitiful, then slowly got to his feet.

He brushed the bits of stone off his hands.

“……”

They were remarkably large hands.

About this big.

Daisy looked down at her own hand.

He had grabbed it so tightly that the skin where his fingers had been was red.

When she raised her head, she could clearly see a maze corridor beyond the boy.

It was definitely not heaven.

Staring blankly into the dark corridor, Daisy asked,

“Were you the one who pulled me up?”

The boy turned around.

Pale skin.

Jet-black hair.

Pale gray eyes.

Sharp features.

Under the faint candlelight, the beautiful boy’s face shone, yet there wasn’t the slightest trace of humanity in it.

“Yes.”

“Why?”

By then, she had already been falling.

No matter how strong he was, pulling someone upward against gravity was by no means easy.

Perhaps he had fallen too.

Down beneath the collapsing floor of the dormitory hall…

“……because.”

The voice that slipped between his barely moving lips was extremely quiet.

“What?”

Daisy took a step closer to hear him properly.

But she didn’t get any closer.

The boy had already turned around without hesitation and started walking deeper into the maze.

Step. Step.

Watching his back rapidly disappear without the slightest hesitation, Daisy suddenly came to her senses and shouted,

“Thank you!”

She hated teamwork, and she absolutely despised group projects.

But she had no intention of ignoring someone who had helped her.

The boy stopped for a moment and remained silent for a while.

Thinking that he probably hadn’t heard her, Daisy was about to speak louder when—

“Tsk.”

Tsk?

“What a pathetic fool.”

This bastard?

The boy continued walking without even looking back.

“…Huh?”

Watching his back disappear around the corner, Daisy let out an incredulous laugh.

No matter how much he had looked down on her, did he really have to click his tongue at someone thanking him?

“What a rude bastard.”

Daisy came to a firm conclusion.

He really was an incredibly rude bastard.

“Just like a future villain…”

Wait, villain?

“Ah.”

Daisy’s exclamation echoed through the empty maze corridor.

“I remember now.”

Felix Arderon.

The villainous duke who inherited his mother’s madness and became the nightmare of the Empire.

Although he only appeared once in the original story despite all the rumors surrounding him, Daisy had never forgotten his striking appearance.

Because he had nearly killed Daisy Sableheart’s husband.

[He appeared from within the darkness.

“Daisy.”

His hands, as he called Daisy’s name, were covered in blood.

Was he injured?

Yet his movements as he slowly approached her were impossibly graceful.

His gray eyes glimmered strangely in the darkness.

It wasn’t difficult to realize who he was.

Felix Arderon.

The fallen duke.

‘What duke? He’s a monster.’

Her husband, who claimed that the number of people killed by his hands exceeded several thousand, didn’t bother hiding his disgust.

But even so, she never expected him to personally come to eliminate another duke.

“Daisy Sableheart.”

Those gray eyes looked strangely affectionate—

She felt as though she had encountered them somewhere before.

A very long time ago.

Daisy’s lips slowly parted.

“Fel…”

But Daisy couldn’t finish saying his name.

“Madam!”

“Duchess!”

“Are you all right?!”

At that moment, the knights came rushing in.

And when she turned her head—

Felix Arderon was nowhere to be seen.]

Incidentally, while reading that part, Kwon Doyohan had thought one thing.

No matter how he looked at it, calling Felix a ‘villain’ seemed a little unfair.

A villain who tried to assassinate another villain?

Wouldn’t it actually be more appropriate to call him an angel?

Honestly, he even looked a little like one.

Even if he was somewhat lacking in color…

The satisfaction Daisy had felt for the first time when Felix beat that bastard half to death had been incredibly refreshing.

Ah, of course, Daisy had then devotedly nursed her husband back to health, and the horrible suffering had started all over again…

That single sip of refreshing relief had only made her thirst even greater…

The bright smile that had appeared on Daisy’s face instantly faded.

It really was a miserable novel.

What kind of riches and glory did I think I was going to gain by reading something like that?

Then Daisy suddenly shook her head.

“…No. I just have to live differently from now on.”

The maze, where the students had scattered in all directions, was extremely quiet.

Yes, the original story was just the original story.

From now on, all she had to do was live like she was living now.

Quietly and peacefully.

Alone.

“Ugh.”

Stretching her stiff body, Daisy absentmindedly muttered,

“Peaceful.”

She shouldn’t have said that.

“—sy!”

A faint echo traveled through the damp air from somewhere far away.

“—syyyy!”

“Sy?”

“—aisy!”

“What? Who the hell…”

“Daisy!”

The brown puppy, Milo Everett, suddenly appeared at the end of the previously quiet corridor.

Ignoring the damp air, he came running toward her at full speed, his fluffy curls bouncing wildly.

Seeing that he didn’t appear to have a single injury, a proud smile appeared on Daisy’s face.

Although her voice was still gruff.

“You bastard, if you could run that fast, you should’ve done it earlier—”

“Daisy!”

“Huh?”

“Run!”

Daisy frowned and looked behind Milo.

There was nothing there.

Well, one thing.

A tiny cockroach was running after him at incredible speed.

“Ha.”

Daisy let out an incredulous laugh.

How cute.

“Oh, dear. So you were that scared of a cockroach? I’ll kill—”

At that moment, the cockroach grew to 180 centimeters tall.

“…I can’t!”

Why was Gregor Samsa here?!

Daisy barely managed to hold onto her fading consciousness as she remembered the protagonist of the novel who woke up one morning to find himself transformed into a giant insect.

A pair of antennae the size of forearms waved around above the head of the cockroach, which was the size of a human.

“Ugh.”

I don’t want to call you a 180-centimeter cockroach, so I’ll just call you Mr. Gregor for now!

Chirrrrk!

Mr. Gregor began charging toward them, moving all six of his enormous legs independently as he made the characteristic sound of an insect.

Dear God!

Daisy quickly turned around and ran while praying.

I feel like I’m about to faint…!

The excessive detail was so disgusting that it went beyond being merely gross and became downright overwhelming.

Running with her teeth clenched, Daisy shouted,

“Damn it, why did you have to bring something like that with you, you damn bastard!”

Chirrrrk!

“I wasn’t talking to Mr. Gregor!”

“Aaaaah! It’s disgusting!”

“This way!”

Avoiding Mr. Gregor’s antennae as they brushed dangerously close to her, Daisy turned the corner and regretted everything.

I never should have said it was peaceful!