I'm a Supporting Role in a Horror Game, Don't Kill Me

Unable to overcome my frustration, I closed the newspaper, opened it again, read some more, and then closed it again when I felt Luke’ eyes staring at me.

I slowly turned my head nervously and saw him looking at me, lost in thought.

“They say they found out the kidnapper’s identity, but you don’t seem happy.”

‘…Are you looking at me now?’

Luke clearly said they did not know the identity of the kidnapper.

‘But why do I get the strong impression from his face and tone now that he knows that Morrison Alter is not the culprit?’

I hesitated for a while about what to say, then shook my head.

“Just like that. There are children here, so let’s talk about it later.”

Luke’s eyes fell on two children counting cabbage salad with their forks. He nodded his head as if he understood.

“Then I’ll see you in my room after dinner. You must come alone.”

I remembered the invitation he gave me yesterday.

‘I don’t know what on earth you’re doing to invite me in such a meaningful way, but I’ll go.’

As I solemnly made up my mind, my gaze suddenly met with Amber, who was serving the last dish. Even without saying a word, I could clearly guess what kind of rumor Amber, with flushed cheeks and dreamy eyes, would start spreading as soon as she returned to the kitchen. Amber covered her mouth, put down the fruit plate, and left in a hurry.

I sighed again at the misunderstandings that were piling up.

‘…Somehow, all I feel is a sigh.’

As I was coming out after breakfast, Amber approached me with hasty steps, wiping her hands on her apron.

“Miss Arbice!”

“Huh?”

“Are you going to the Duke’s room right now?”

“Uh, but…?”

Light sparkled again in Amber’s clear brown eyes.

“What should I do if you keep going like this! Come on, I’ll help you, so quickly go to Arbice’s room.”

…’Like this’? I looked down at my clothes. All I wore was Arbice’s clothes, which were out of style but clean and neat, and my long emerald hair tied up tightly so as not to interfere with my meal.

“Why don’t we just go like this?”

“Hey, it’s still a date. Of course, since you’ve just experienced something big, you might not be in the right mood to worry about such things… Still, it’s good if you feel good about it.”

“No, it’s not like a date.”

Amber burst out laughing, wondering what was so funny about what I said. Then, her eyes sparkled even more and she whispered to me in a very low voice.

“If I spread information about the mansion carelessly, I will lose this job as well, so I will absolutely keep it a secret, but in fact, I was the one who served Miss Arbice’s guests yesterday.”

“Oh my, did you do that?”

“This is the first time I’ve seen the duke get jealous, right? really… I guess people change when they fall in love. Arbice, you have many corridors. Someone as beautiful as our Duke… ha.”

“…You’re jealous.”

‘Who is jealous of who? Luke, me?’

Where else can you hear such a scary sound? I waved my hand to tell her not to say anything strange, but Amber was already heading towards my room at a high speed. I didn’t know what on earth she was going to decorate and how much she was going to decorate, but I could already feel the excitement in her steps.

‘…I did a week’s worth of decorating work just by putting on the dress last night.’

I felt my shoulders drooping and I continued to follow Amber. Since I was so reluctant to wear any kind of decoration, all Amber could do was skillfully braid my hair and decorate it with a thick red ribbon.

‘I feel like I’ve become a gift…’

I muttered that and headed toward Luke’s room. His door was left slightly open without any need for knocking. Luke, visible through a crack in the door, was still reading today’s newspaper.

“I’m here.”

As I entered, trying my best to divert my attention from Luke’ handsome appearance, which matched the atmosphere of his room extremely well, Luke stood up when he saw me and led me to the bookshelf.

“I was waiting. Come this way.”

Luke walked over to the bookshelf and started pulling books off the shelf.

‘…What are you doing?’

I remember finding a revolver on Luke’s bookshelf the other day, so I just watched what he was doing, wondering if there were bullets in the other books. In a familiar manner, as if he had done it many times, he picked books from high and low places one after another and placed them in different places, then pulled them out again and placed them in different places. I took advantage of the opportunity when his back was turned to secretly record the order in which the book was changed in the empty space of the incident notebook. Because my hands moved so quickly, it was not easy to write things down properly without losing track of things.

I had been concentrating hard on writing, and the moment his movements stopped, I quickly folded up my notebook.

Widely.

After inserting the last book, I heard a noise as if something was clicking.

Kirilik.

And when the bookshelf started to open like a door, I got a little scared and took a step back.

‘Isn’t the rooftop not a secret space, but this is Luke’s secret space? While making mechanical devices like this, what on earth could be in the hidden space…?’

But before I could think of any specific doubts, the bookshelf opened wide, revealing a new space. The place had a completely different feel from Luke’s living room, which was designed with turquoise wallpaper, and the study, which was decorated in calm beige tones.

I opened my eyes wide.

‘…What the hell is this?’

Even though this old mansion was very large, it was quite large for a secret space. It was as big as two classrooms glued together, and there were no windows at all. The entire room had no design elements and was just a barren gray wall. The wall’s supplementary material seemed to be made of soundproofing material and was unusual in that it protruded like an egg carton. The only thing in that room was what looked like a dart target hanging on one wall and several large boxes on the floor.

“Please follow me.”

Luke spoke to me and set his foot there first.

As I entered there, the door we entered through automatically resealed with a clattering sound. The space was different from any space I expected.

‘It’s not a bloody place with plastic wrap everywhere and chainsaws, nor is it a place where a list of victims is displayed and photos are kept one by one.’

Maybe I’ve been watching too many investigative dramas…

“This place… well… is like…”

Like… It’s like a shooting range. Very neat.

“Why is there a place like this?”

“Why do you think it is?”

“…If I knew that, I wouldn’t have asked, right?”

As I straightened my frightened shoulders and looked around with nothing to see, Luke looked at me, smiled, and opened the lid of the box on the floor.

Rumble, thud.

Although it was large, it was just a box, and the sound of opening the lid was shockingly loud. But what was even more surprising was inside the box. The large box that reached up to my thighs was filled with firearms.

Luke saw me looking inside in confusion and nodded as if they could choose something.

“…This is it…”

“You have to get ready to go to the royal banquet, right?”

Only then did I realize why we came here. I thought he was just saying that he would teach me how to use a gun… He was sincere.

I started laughing without realizing it. It’s funny that the ribbon Amber put on my hair has become meaningless.

‘Yes, actually, this is what I want to prepare when I go to the royal banquet. It’s not culture or dancing as a young lady making her debut in society.’

Among them, I picked up the gun that was on top. The wooden gun, which was a little shorter than the length of my arms outstretched, was quite long, but also quite heavy. When I held the gun with both hands and looked closely, the gun’s item description window appeared before my eyes.

[Dreize: A rifle with a long range. Takes 30 seconds to reload. Flint (30/30). Uses (12/12). You can look up how to use it.]

‘…Wow, seeing as they use flint and balls, it must really take a lot of work.’

I put the gun down again. The power seemed considerable, but it seemed like the consumables in the gun were depleting quickly and it seemed difficult to manage.

I picked up the slightly shorter gun next to it.

[Semi-automatic rifle: A rifle that loads automatically. 4 dedicated bullets. You can look up usage instructions.]

‘It looks simpler this way…It’s too heavy too.’

I looked at a box full of guns, but there was nothing I liked. There were many small guns, but none had special abilities or additional functions, and many of them were difficult to use. When I looked at this and that carefully, I looked up and saw Luke leaning against the wall, looking at me. His face looked like a parent happily watching his child choose a toy, so I quickly straightened up with embarrassment.

‘…Since when have you been looking at me like that?’

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Do you remember how annoyed Miss Green was when I took her to the boutique? Unlike back then, you look incredibly happy now.”

I was a little embarrassed.

Even though Luke had said that he would teach me how to use a pistol for self-defense, and that I could also choose a different gun, I didn’t think it was right for me to get excited and look around for guns in front of him.

‘…However, there is nothing more important in the game than item farming. It’s a really important situation.’

Cold sweat ran down my back.

 

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