Episode 41: Monopoly Desire (4)
‘You’ve got me.’
Today is D-day 85. It took more than ten days to find clues about the choices of the system. But still, it felt somewhat elusive.
‘Until the Dead Ending, there are still 85 days left, right?’
Now that I know how to lead the dialogue with my will, I can reduce the probability of reaching a Dead Ending, even if it’s just a little.
‘But in my conversation with Daniel, I didn’t say anything particularly spiteful, and yet I was given freedom.’
I clapped my hands.
‘So, if I choose the crucial branching point with my will and use a villainous tone as usual, I can speak without the constraints of the system!’
The problem is not knowing when the crucial branching point is.
But that wasn’t much of a problem. There didn’t seem to be another branching point as important as the one where my connection with Daniel is severed.
Even if you’re a character with a predefined position in the game, as long as you follow some rules, you can move freely. Thinking of freedom, the heroine Beth I met earlier naturally came to mind.
‘Could Beth’s lies earlier be in that context?’
Thinking of Beth lying in a difficult situation made my teeth grind. I don’t know why Beth said what she did, but if the guards had caught up even a little later and Percy hadn’t surrounded me, I might not have known what would have happened.
Frustrated inwardly, I clenched my fist and let out a long sigh.
‘To conclude like that is premature. I might not have really seen it.’
It’s true that Beth and I made eye contact, but she was talking wildly, and there were plenty of people around anyway. It’s entirely possible that I didn’t witness the scene where Beth stabbed the guards and ran away.
‘Anyway, she’s the heroine. Beth is a character who appeals to her brothers with a particularly quiet and righteous personality. She wouldn’t lie just because she’s afraid of the empress or thinks the situation is disadvantageous to her.’
Beth’s character exists, and rather than jumping to conclusions, this side seemed more understandable.
As I nodded my head in thought for a moment, I bit my lip. No matter how much I racked my brain, there was still a lingering unease in the corner of my heart.
‘…Still, I should consider the possibility that she may not be a completely flawless saintly heroine.’
Yeah. That much can be considered a reasonable conclusion.
As I mentally organized the events of the day in my own way, a voice calling me from outside was conveniently timed.
“Your Highness, the bath is ready.”
“Hurry up then.”
I replied nonchalantly. The words flowed out just as I had thought.
‘As I expected. If I speak spitefully, the words come out smoothly.’
Now I understand the trick! I stood up excitedly from my seat. With my nonchalant voice and indifferent attitude, the maids burst into laughter.
“Your Highness, you’re just like our grandmother. Our grandmother used to secretly find us adorable, but she’d say something else when she met us.”
Am I a foul-mouthed grandmother?
‘No, maybe it’s better to be seen as just that, a foul-mouthed grandmother, than to receive hurt from every single word I say.’
Isn’t that the best positive image you can get from a villain who always speaks unpleasantly?
I shrugged my shoulders as I didn’t particularly feel bad. Just not having to wield a whip in the palace was satisfying enough, like the first time I woke up in the palace.
The maids gently led me to a different room than my own. It was a room different from my room.
“Please come in here.”
“You can undress here.”
As I obediently took off my hunting clothes as they instructed, I smirked.
“Am I not bathing in my room today?”
Last time, they had put a bathtub in my room for me to bathe in.
In response to my question, the maids smiled mysteriously and said,
“Now that you’ll be the mistress of this household, you should also use the grand bathhouse.”
“The grand bathhouse?”
As expected, it was a grand mansion. It seemed to have a very luxurious bathroom separately.
Completely bare, without any hesitation, I followed the maids into the bathroom. As I opened the door, a thick white steam covered my sight. I grimaced.
“Don’t you guys know the meaning of moderation? Isn’t the water too hot? It’s so steamy that I can’t see anything in front of me.”
It wasn’t a joke; there was genuinely so much steam that you couldn’t see a thing. Carefully feeling the slippery bathroom floor, the maids cheered me on from behind.
“Go straight ahead. All the way.”
‘No, why do I have to go alone?’
Obeying their instructions, I was going inside obediently when I suddenly felt a sense of confusion and stopped. But by then, it was already too late.
Discovering a familiar silhouette through the hazy steam, I screamed.
“Oh!”
“…?”
Turning my head in confusion, even through the mist, I could see sharp red eyes piercing through. The moment I recognized who it was, I crouched on the floor, screaming while covering myself as much as possible.
“Ah!! Why are you here?!”
In contrast to my extreme embarrassment, Percy didn’t even blink an eye. But why is he approaching so closely? Surely, he’s not undressed too, right?!
‘Oh my god! He’s really undressed!’
His skin was flashing. I blushed like a tomato and tightly closed my eyes. Percy, who had come very close to my feet, tilted his head and calmly replied.
“Why are you so surprised? This is the bathroom attached to my room.”
“What did you say?”
The maids said it was a grand bathhouse!
Is it because of my betrayed expression that Percy chuckled lightly? And with a playful tone, he muttered.
“It seems like they did something they weren’t asked to do.”
“….”
That’s an understatement.
The faces of the maids who used to say, ‘You’re going to get married anyway!’ while nudging my thumb, easily came to mind.
‘But this is way beyond a mere hand-holding or a single lip touch! We’ve barely held hands and had a single lip smack.’
It’s not the affectionate relationship you guys are thinking!
“Th-this, um, well.”
Just when I finally figured out how to freely move my lips, my voice didn’t come out as if it got stuck like a record. The situation was so embarrassing that my thoughts halted.
Over my bewildered head, a large towel fell with a thud.
“For now, put this on.”
I reflexively looked up, but seeing only the towel, I screamed, burying my head between my knees.
“Cover yourself first!”
“Well, okay.”
Percy, with his hand on his waist and a shrug of his shoulders, seemed like someone who didn’t feel an ounce of embarrassment.
Quickly getting up from my seat, I wrapped myself in a large towel. It was large enough to be called a blanket, so I could cover myself completely except for my shoulders.
Feeling a little more comfortable with myself covered, I sneakily glanced at Percy’s body. It was still misty all around, but because we were so close, his smooth body looked vividly clear.
There were spiderweb-like scars in a dark brown color, intricately and densely woven over well-defined muscles.
“Are those scars?”
I squinted my eyes to stare at the scars intently.
‘They seem like very old wounds. What could have caused such severe injuries to such a precious body?’
Even if it’s a culture that sees scars as beauty marks, he should have been more careful if that’s the case.
Handsome men usually have a lot of stories, but what could be the story behind this man? I was thinking about this when Percy, who had suddenly turned back, whispered in a mischievous tone.
“If you keep staring like that, I’ll want to snatch the towel away.”
“Gah! Don’t say such ridiculous things!”
I turned around abruptly. Come to think of it, I wasn’t showing my body, but I was observing him closely. Scratching my cheek awkwardly, Percy gestured to me.
“Come over here.”
“Yes? Why do I have to go there?”
“Since you’ve come in, you need to bathe. I’ll wash your hair.”
“Huh?”
Feeling dumbfounded at such an absurd statement, my body stiffened. Percy pushed me as I stood there staring blankly. After a few steps, there was a huge bathtub filled with hot water.
When I looked back at Percy, he shrugged as if to say, “Go in quickly.” I frowned and dipped my foot into the water.
‘Is this really okay?’
As I hesitantly settled into the bathtub, Percy swept my hair out of the tub. I blinked my eyes dumbly.
‘He’s being too easygoing, I seem like a strange person. It feels like I’m just imagining strange things by myself.’
In the awkwardness, hair washing began as he said.
“Does it hurt?”
I thought he’d be awkward, but his long fingers gently massaging my scalp felt better than what the maids did. ‘It stretches like rice cake.’
But as I tried to say that, the options came to mind.
▶ You’re pretty good at massaging.
▶ I’ll stay still this time, but I won’t next time.
‘Surely enough, when I try to say something decent, choices pop up like ghosts.’
How much does he want to make me look bad? But even in this moment of complaining, his fingers were delicately sweeping through my hair. I murmured in a grumpy tone.
“You’re pretty good at massaging.”
Percy chuckled at my words and replied.
“That seems very satisfying indeed.”
