Chapter 3

A tall, well-built figure and handsome features.

An aura that immediately drew people’s attention even when he was surrounded by a crowd.

He truly possessed the overwhelming presence befitting a male protagonist.

There was an air of absolute superiority in his impassive expression. His face was so extraordinarily beautiful that it almost seemed unnatural, and Lydia found herself staring at him without even realizing it.

She came to her senses the moment she noticed what was lying at Ludwig’s feet.

A corpse.

The corpse of a human being lay sprawled beneath him, blood pouring from its body.

The moment she realized that its form was strangely abnormal, the hairs all over Lydia’s body stood on end.

Right… This was that kind of world.

Lydia felt another headache coming on and sighed.

This was another reason why Lydia had no choice but to desperately continue researching the Purifier drug.

Damn this dark-romance world.

Surprisingly, The Lady in the Cage had a fairly solid worldbuilding system.

The setting of the original story, the Kalesdo Empire, appeared peaceful on the surface, but in reality, it was facing a tremendous crisis.

All because of an invasion by Creatures that threatened human civilization.

Creatures.

These otherworldly beings, who resembled humans in appearance, continuously attacked the human world in an attempt to conquer it.

This damn original story had a typical K-romance-fantasy setting, complete with high society and villainesses, yet for some reason it was unnecessarily grim and serious.

The Creatures primarily invaded through Rifts.

Creatures that crossed through Rifts connecting different dimensions could only be fought by Awakeners.

And among those Awakeners, the male leads of the original story were Transcendents who possessed overwhelming combat abilities.

…If this weren’t a dark-romance world, I’d just let the male leads die.

Unfortunately, they were the only ones capable of preventing the Empire’s destruction.

But no matter how much the survival or destruction of the world was at stake, Lydia couldn’t exactly throw her younger sister at the male leads and tell them to sacrifice her.

So why not develop a Purifier drug and let the male leads fight and save the world themselves?

That was Lydia’s grand plan.

This is the best path for everyone. I can’t just sit around and wait to die.

The corpse sprawled beneath Ludwig’s feet was larger than the average human, with unnaturally long arms and legs. Most importantly, its facial features were bizarrely distinctive, almost alien-like.

It was unmistakably the body of a Creature.

Just then, Lydia suddenly felt a piercing gaze and was pulled from her thoughts.

She looked up.

At some point, Ludwig had begun staring directly at her.

…Huh?

Calm blue eyes. An impassive face devoid of any expression.

Lydia instinctively flinched.

Is he looking at me?

There was no reason for him to be.

Ludwig was a male lead, so naturally he attracted attention even when he did nothing. But Lydia had deliberately suppressed her presence as much as possible because she had been visiting the information guild.

More importantly, why would he have any reason to look this way?

Trying to suppress her uneasy feeling, Lydia glanced around.

Let’s get out of here. Quickly.

It wasn’t simply because he was one of the male leads from the original story.

She simply felt an instinctive aversion toward the man named Ludwig Claudewitz himself.

He’s too dangerous.

Ludwig was one of the men who proudly occupied the main male-lead position among all the insane men in the original story.

In other words, even among those lunatics, he was exceptionally crazy.

And on top of that…

“Lady Lydia, I believe it would be best if you made an effort not to stand out.”

…he didn’t particularly like Lydia.

Looking back, Lydia had attended the military academy alongside the four male leads from the original story.

She had wanted to avoid getting involved with the male leads as much as possible, but she had no choice if she wanted to survive in this world.

During her time there, she had become relatively close to one of the male leads, while she had barely crossed paths with the others.

And then there was one who openly disliked Lydia.

That last one was Ludwig.

“Because you’re irritating.”

Remembering the chilly words he had said to her one day when they happened to be taking the same class, Lydia felt a chill run down her entire body.

Watching Ludwig cautiously, Lydia slowly prepared to slip away.

Ludwig Claudewitz.

The current Emperor’s much younger half-brother and the Empire’s sole Grand Duke.

Elegant and dignified, with a beautiful appearance and overwhelming supernatural abilities. He possessed everything—wealth, status, talent, and looks—yet was also a gentleman who always treated others with courtesy.

And yet, for some reason, he always reacted sharply to Lydia.

…Is it some kind of instinctive rejection toward the original villainess?

If so, Lydia could only feel wronged.

I haven’t even done anything!

Just then, she heard someone’s voice.

“Big Sis?”

Sylvia?

Lydia hurriedly turned her head.

Sure enough, she saw a flash of brilliant silver hair peeking around in the distance.

“This is strange. Why isn’t Big Sis here either?”

“My lady, I think it would be best for you to stay home today. The atmosphere in the streets is quite unsettled, probably because a Rift appeared.”

“But Big Sis has been gone for so long…”

Why is she here?!

Seeing Sylvia together with her maid, Beth, Lydia screamed inwardly.

I specifically told her to wait at home!

Since Sylvia’s innocent nature often led her into trouble, Lydia frequently restricted her outings.

It hadn’t even been that long since Lydia had grounded her because of a major incident.

And yet she had gone out anyway and was wandering around!

To make matters worse, today was particularly dangerous.

If even Ludwig, a Transcendent rather than an ordinary Awakener, had been dispatched, there was a high possibility that the Creature emerging from the Rift was an especially dangerous type.

This won’t do. I need to get her home quickly…

Suddenly, a sharp scream rang out.

“Eeeeeek!”

Lydia, who had been about to call out to Sylvia, abruptly turned her head.

“A-Rift!”

What?

Lydia turned her gaze toward the direction everyone was looking.

The sky was splitting apart.

Crack.

A bizarre fissure appeared in midair.

A black shadow writhed within the opening, and soon, a gigantic hand shot out and grabbed the edges of the Rift.

“Eeeeeek!”

“Get out of the way! W-We need to run!”

The crowd instantly descended into chaos and fled.

No way.

Normally, Rifts didn’t appear near other Rifts.

A secondary Rift?

However, on rare occasions, another Rift could open in the same location.

“Kiieeeek!”

And when that happened, there was a greater chance that an even more ferocious Creature would emerge.

At last, the Creature completely burst out of the Rift and let out a horrific shriek.

The street instantly descended into pandemonium.

…It’ll be okay. Ludwig is still here!

Separate from her dislike of Ludwig, Lydia had to admit that his abilities were second to none.

So if I just get Sylvia somewhere safe, he’ll take care of the rest…

But then Lydia noticed something.

The red eyes of the Creature that had just emerged were fixed on the glittering silver hair in the distance.

Damn it!

“Sylvia!”

Lydia shouted desperately as she ran toward her sister.

“Big Sis…?”

Only then did Sylvia notice Lydia’s presence. She blinked her round eyes and looked at her.

Lydia wasn’t an Awakener.

If anything, like her younger sister Sylvia, she was closer to being a Purifier.

Which meant Lydia couldn’t fight a Creature using her own abilities alone.

This isn’t the time to weigh the pros and cons.

…Even though she really didn’t want to use it.

Lydia stepped in front of Sylvia, blocking the Creature from reaching her, then quickly removed the ring from her left hand.

She squeezed her eyes shut and poured her power into it.

Please work…!

The power of Purification was related to the supernatural abilities used by Awakeners.

While developing the Purifier drug, Lydia had realized something.

With the proper device, it was possible to convert Purification power into a supernatural ability.

And finally, just as the Creature raised its sharp claws to strike her—

Lydia thrust forward the hand holding the ring and shoved the Creature away.

BOOM!

“Kiieeeek!”

With a tremendous explosion, the Creature was sent tumbling backward.

It worked!

Watching the Creature howl in pain, Lydia realized that her attack had landed successfully.

And immediately afterward—

Her stomach churned, and something suddenly surged up from within.

Lydia instinctively covered her mouth.

Ah, damn it…

A terrible pain shot through her body, and blood poured between her fingers as something red came up with it.

“Big Sis…!”

“Don’t come any closer!”

The Creature wasn’t the only one that had taken damage.

Lydia had also suffered internal injuries from the backlash of using power that wasn’t hers.

“Go home! Hurry! Don’t stay here!”

At that moment, the Creature began moving again, letting out another terrifying shriek.

Lydia swallowed a groan.

As I thought. It wasn’t enough.

Lydia hadn’t possessed much Purification power to begin with.

And since she had converted it into another form, there was inevitably a limit to how much power she could produce, no matter how much she consumed her own life force.

Her attack had landed effectively, but it seemed to have only driven the Creature into an even greater frenzy.

I don’t have any more power to draw out.

“Kiieeeek!”

The Creature charged straight toward Lydia.

It was moving too quickly for her to dodge.

Realizing what was about to happen, Lydia squeezed her eyes shut and clenched her fist.

…I’m not going to die, right?!

Just then—

Shhk.

A chilling sound came from right beside her.

And then the Creature’s head, severed cleanly from its body, dropped heavily to the ground.