TIRS 14

CHAPTER 14:

 Use Me, Princess Luivel

—

Hezen’s eyes that night were unmistakably unhinged. They had the look of someone who could absolutely hurt me.

“I’d better avoid crowded places for the time being.”

One of the conditions to clear Hezen’s Awakening Quest was having [an audience of over 100 people].

Of the upcoming official events, the only one that met that requirement was the main banquet on Mother’s birthday.

“I have to attend that banquet no matter what…”

But unlike today, I wouldn’t be able to get out of it with a simple excuse.

Maybe I should pretend to be sick?

People might scorn me for not attending, but that was better than dying…

“Your Highness, is something troubling you?”

Just then, Sylvia spoke to me.

She wasn’t too young to attend the hunting competition, yet she had claimed she wasn’t feeling well and joined me here instead.

But judging by how enthusiastically she’d enjoyed the boat ride, I doubted she was actually unwell.

“Lady Winster, that’s a rather obvious question, don’t you think? Of course Her Highness is troubled. You know what happened with Lord Hezen.”

Elizabeth scolded Sylvia gently.

“Indeed, that incident was quite a shock. That Lord Hezen…”

Another young noble lady chimed in.

I glanced over the affection scores floating above their heads.

At Elizabeth’s last tea party, they’d all proudly displayed affection scores of 999, but now most were drastically lower.

Understandable. No woman would want a man who had acquired the rare title of “Seedless Watermelon.”

“By the way, Your Highness, what’s your relationship with him?”

A count’s daughter who had clearly been trying to find a way to talk to me finally gathered the courage to ask.

“Him?”

I tilted my head in confusion, and she eagerly clarified, eyes sparkling:

“Why, Prince Ancelot of Luenhart, of course!”

“Huh?”

I blinked, staring at the young lady who’d brought up that lunatic.

“Yesterday, when Prince Ancelot arrived at the ball, the first person he asked for was you, Your Highness!”

She clasped her hands together as if in prayer, excitedly recalling the scene.

“He rarely smiles, always so serious, but he smiled so sweetly in front of you…!”

I had a good idea of what moment they were referring to.

‘Why do you keep running away? Like a little rat.’

He had smiled sweetly and said that in a soft voice…

Well, I suppose for a death threat, it was on the gentler side.

“And afterward, you two stepped out for some fresh air and returned together, didn’t you? That was when you were heartbroken over Lord Hezen…”

“Yes! You came back together! Did Prince Ancelot comfort you, Your Highness?”

“So romantic! Just like a novel!”

The other girls joined in excitedly.

“No, it really wasn’t the kind of romantic situation you’re imagining…”

I stayed quiet, stunned by how far off their interpretation was…

“Is Prince Ancelot really as crazy as the rumors say?”

“What’s it like, a romance with someone so dangerous and edgy?”

They were even calling it a romance now!

“What? Romance? It’s a survival horror!”

Thinking about the life-or-death struggle from last night sent a shiver down my spine, and I accidentally let out a horrified groan.

“Oh my! A love you risk your life for?!”

“Just like a fantasy novel!”

Clearly, my horror wasn’t getting through to them.

“Then at the Emperor’s birthday banquet, will Prince Ancelot be your partner again?”

“Wait, I—”

Just as I was about to firmly deny any such relationship with that lunatic, a sound interrupted us.

Step.

A man entered the space that had previously been occupied by only women.

“Oh my!”

The noble ladies hastily opened their fans and turned away when they saw who it was.

“Hezen?”

I squinted at him.

It was none other than the Seedless Watermelon himself.

“Lulu.”

Hezen greeted me casually.

“I heard you were here.”

Why wasn’t he at the Empress’s hunting competition? What was he doing here?

I eyed him warily.

There were barely eight young ladies and a few attendants—less than thirty people in total.

“That means Hezen probably won’t try anything here.”

Still, I kept my guard up and studied him.

Hezen scanned the affection scores above the noble ladies’ heads, then looked back at me.

His composed smile looked like his usual self, but…

“Nope. He’s cracked. Especially those bloodshot eyes.”

I clenched my fists and stared him down.

There could only be two reasons he came here:

Either to raise my affection score and prevent the breakup—or to kill me before the breakup happened.

“Lord Hezen.”

At that moment, Elizabeth stepped in front of me protectively.

“What’s the meaning of this uninvited visit?”

Hezen immediately scowled in displeasure.

“An extra dares to speak to me…”

“Ex… what? What did you just mumble?”

“Why else would I be here? I was worried about Luivel, of course.”

His arrogant tone made Elizabeth angry.

“Nothing would be worrying her if it weren’t for you. Leave at once.”

“……”

Hezen pressed his lips together, glaring at Elizabeth.

Just then, a system window popped up in front of him:

[SYSTEM] Using item: .

“What? A horn?”

I flinched in shock.

That horn was a rare item in Oblivion Banquet, used to summon boss-level monsters to defeat for rewards.

It was so infamous for spawning unwanted enemies that it became a meme—“Who blew the damn horn?”—even I, who’d never played the game, knew about it.

Different items and classes summoned different monsters, so I didn’t know what exactly would summon, but…

[SYSTEM] A mid-tier water-element monster is being summoned.

“A mid-tier monster?!”

My jaw dropped.

Hezen was still in tutorial mode—he hadn’t even awakened yet.

And he was summoning a mid-tier monster?

“And boss-level monsters are hard to take down even with a party!”

A countdown appeared in the air:

5…
4…
3…
2…
1…

[SYSTEM] Mid-tier Water Monster <Lv.49 Bald Kraken> has appeared!

From the peaceful lakeshore emerged a grotesque beast: a hairless dome-shaped head and eight massive tentacled legs—the Lv.49 Bald Kraken.

“Kyaaa!”
“A-a monster…!”
“It’s the Bald Kraken!”

The noble girls at the lake screamed and scattered.

In an instant, the tranquil lake turned into total chaos.

[SYSTEM] Using item: . Your voice will echo across the system for 1 minute.

Hezen used a loudspeaker item to summon all knights within the palace.

“A monster has appeared on the east lakeshore! All Royal Knights report to the east shore and protect the citizens!”

At the command of the Royal Knight Commander himself, knights began rushing to the lakeside.

“Ancelot was right.”

My chest tightened with dread as I realized what Hezen was doing.

He’d summoned the monster on purpose, to create an excuse for summoning the knights.

Once more than 100 people gathered, he’d use the confusion to kill me.

Realizing this filled me with a strange sense of calm.

I’d thought I only needed to hold out until the engagement was broken—but if Hezen was going this far…

“I need to force him to log out somehow.”

I watched the Bald Kraken clash with the knights while contemplating my next move.

“Come here, Lulu!”

Hezen held out his hand toward me.

I remembered the conversation I’d had with Ancelot not long ago.

“Then what should I do?”
“Use the bug to hide from the system. He won’t be able to touch you. Just like he ran away from me earlier.”
“What do you mean, ‘use the bug’?”
“I told you—I’m the bug.”

When I’d asked how to stop Hezen, Ancelot had smiled softly and said:

“Use me, Princess Luivel.”

Under the moonlight, his seductive whisper had almost made me nod without thinking.

“Good thing I held back. I nearly used Hezen as an excuse to end up with that lunatic.”

Ancelot wasn’t just any lunatic.

He was being chased by those strange system janitors or whatever they were—far too dangerous to get close to.

Maybe it was because I’d seen Ancelot’s handsome face yesterday, or maybe the infatuation had finally worn off, but…

Hezen, holding out his hand and smiling at me, didn’t look charming at all.

Still, I approached and took his hand.

At that moment, I saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward.

Even as his subordinates were being injured fighting the Kraken, the Knight Commander himself was here grinning—and that made my blood boil.

But I swallowed the anger.

I had a reason for taking his hand.

I needed to check the interface.

[Visible Population: 23]

At the corner of the interface, I saw the label: [Visible Population].

This was a game term referring to how many people were currently visible within the same area.

“If Hezen’s plan really is to kill me, then he’ll wait until 100 people are present. Then, he’ll strike.”

Which meant…

“Until [Visible Population] reaches 100, I should be safe.”

So—

“I just need to force Hezen to log out before that happens.”