Chapter 23

“Huh? What do you mean?” Erel asked in surprise.

Barkan lowered his head and looked at her from beneath his eyelashes.

“I was going to buy a hat that would suit you,” he whispered sarcastically.

‘….What are you talking about all of a sudden?’

Erel was so stunned by Barkan’s misleading words that she didn’t notice the knights gazing in their direction with interest.

“If only the store hadn’t been destroyed….”

The man, who was guilty of burning down the hat shop, wore a sad expression on his face like he was deeply affected by the ruined shop. He reached out and gently caressed the flowing hair above Erel’s twitching eyebrows with a smile.

“I would have bought you the entire store. There isn’t a hat in existence that doesn’t suit you.”

Erel couldn’t stand it and opened her mouth. She was tempted to tell him that his heart was as black as the inside of a chimney, and ask why he was doing this, but it was a pity that she couldn’t say it out loud.

Also, there were still more trials left for her to endure.

“She must be very precious to you.”

Next to him, a knight spoke warmly in response to the seemingly heartwarming display. Having fallen for Barkan’s hypocrisy, he was smiling as if they were having a friendly conversation.

“Of course, she’s precious to me.”

Barkan did not necessarily break the knights’ illusion. Rather, he took it a step further by making a show of grabbing Erel’s hand and kissing it.

“I’m going to propose to her soon.”

The words deeply disturbed Erel’s spirit.

* * * * * * *

“I am finally convinced,” whispered the man who would soon destroy a kingdom with his lips stained red with blood and deceit. “That you are my destiny.”

He held her hand tightly and continued

“Erelle Elorance. Will you please marry me?”

Like a man who had fallen in love at first sight, his voice was sweet and full of passion. However, as he knelt before her among the burnt ashes, he glared at her with eyes that glowed with madness and murderous intent.

“…Before I kill your entire family.”

It was truly a terrifying dream. Erel woke up in a cold sweat, gasping and kicking at her blankets. She was so frightened that her heart pounded like she had just finished running a marathon.

“Ha…. ha…. ha…”

Erel clutched the blanket firmly between her fingers. The cool, soft touch of the fabric finally brought her back to reality.

‘Oh, it was just a dream.’

She felt fortunate and relieved until another thought crossed her mind.

‘What’s so fortunate about this? My nightmare is already a reality.’

At last, she had received a proposal… From Barkan Harmash, the most depraved blackened target character in the game, ‘Salvation’.

He seemed to be somewhat dissatisfied with Erel, who prevented him from killing Mirdal and was expressing it in a very unique way.

By kneeling in front of others and proposing.

“Wow… Congratulations!”

“You two will make a beautiful couple!”

Unlike Erel, who seemed to have tuned out the world, the knights watched in admiration. In their eyes, Barkan and Erel were a beautiful couple that matched perfectly. Barkan was so large that Erel seemed too thin, but even that had a strange charm to it.

“Congratulations!”

Erel, who listened to their words with a blank expression, couldn’t feel the ground beneath her feet. There was a loud ringing in her ears, her vision darkened, and her legs felt weak.

Even though she was prepared to some extent, when it became a reality, she was overwhelmed with dizziness and nausea. However, just before her staggering body collided with the ground, Barkan reached out and held her affectionately.

“You were surprised, right? I’m sorry to have kept you waiting.”

He was extremely villainous. He even wrapped it up neatly in case others found it strange by adding, “It’s okay. From now on, I will always be by your side.”

The most dangerous man in the world had taken her hand and made a false oath.

If she rejected his proposal, he had every intention of annihilating her family.

Erel struggled to breathe in the arms of a man she could not escape from. From the moment he helped her, she expected this to happen.

‘But what if Barkan wasn’t there? What would have changed?’

She probably wouldn’t have escaped Mirdal safely.

She felt like an appetizing piece of meat hanging in the air. There was no way to avoid all the eager eyes and fearsome fangs of the wild beasts coming at her from all directions.

“My love.”

Barkan gently pressed his lips against her pale temple. The touch was so hot that it felt like he was engraving her with a seal of his fire.

It was that moment when everything seemed to fall apart. Barkan kissed her ear and whispered in a voice that only she could hear.

“You know you can’t run away.”

Barkan had her in the palm of his hand. From the moment Erel left the mansion and headed for Madame DeKie’s hat shop, his minions continued to follow and report her every move.

Thanks to that Barkan was able to appear in a timely manner before she was dragged away by Mirdal. Mirdal’s reckless plan to​​ use a captured Kitan to scare her and then rescue her like a hero, Barkan, saw through it all.

‘She’s cute, too.’

‘She’s so cute that I want to bite into her flesh and devour her bit by bit. How dare some weak little kid covet what is mine.’

Therefore, he hated foolish things. Mirdal would pay the price for daring to challenge his authority. In the bloodiest way imaginable, until it was engraved into that immature head of his.

But before that, there was something he must do first. He needed to place shackles on his beautiful prey, so she could never escape.

“You’re mine,” Barkan whispered.

‘Because that’s what I have decided.’

As he held her close, his hands gripped her tightly as if they would never let go.

Erel couldn’t endure the stress any longer and fainted.

When she opened her eyes again, she was in an unfamiliar place.

“Where am I?”

Erel, who muttered words that were usually only heard in the dramas, touched her forehead. Perhaps because she didn’t sleep well, a slight migraine now made her uncomfortable.

[Ding! The side quest ‘I don’t want to die in a place like this!’ has been completed! Random items will be given as a reward. You can check the detailed options by shouting the command “Check Item”]

“A random item?”

Fortunately, it wasn’t too difficult to check the rewards. Suddenly, there was a flash of light coming from her hand, and her finger became heavy.

When she looked down, she noticed that there was a ring on her right index finger. The ring had a deep blue turquoise jewel engraved with thin gold strings that twisted like a vine.

“…Check item.”

After awkwardly shouting the command, system windows containing information about the ring popped up one after another.

[Druid’s Ring: The Druids of the forest have long been familiar with nature and have the mysterious ability to communicate with animals. With this ring, you can draw upon the favor of animals with the magical powers of the Druids.]

‘….What is this? Why didn’t it give me something that would help me escape….?’

Looking down at the ring for a moment, Erel sighed and then looked around at her surroundings.

The unfamiliar bedroom was decorated in red tones with dim lighting throughout. The golden chandeliers and lighting were luxurious, but it gave off an obscene and dangerous aura that was too difficult to describe.

‘At the very least, I know I’m not at home.’

As far as she could remember, the Elorance Manor had no such red room. The representative colors of her family were green and blue, so all the rooms in their home were consistently decorated in the same tone.

“Is there anyone here?” She called out loudly.

There was no response, so Erel cautiously got out of the bed.

As soon as she stood up, there was a feeling of unfamiliar fabric brushing against her skin. Looking down, Erel saw that she was now dressed in a pale white chemise instead of the clothes she wore previously. Of course, the gown wasn’t hers.

‘Who changed my clothes?’

She didn’t have a good feeling. She had been moved to an unfamiliar place without her knowledge, and even her clothes had been changed. Although she was unconscious at the time, this was all done against her will.

When she recognized the fact, a new sense of wariness rose. She cautiously approached the bedroom door and opened the heavy mahogany door. She briefly looked around and then stepped out into a hallway.

“What is…. this place…”

The high ceilings of the hallway gave the surroundings a cold and majestic atmosphere. Which caused a new sense of intimidation to weigh upon her.

In addition, there were statues of roaring lions lined up on either side of the extensive marble passageway. As she walked past, her figure reflected in the gleaming eyes of the statues, which left her with the chilling sensation of being watched.

‘Do people really live in a place like this?’

Erel glanced around as she walked along the hallway. She intended to keep going until she ran into someone.

But her resolve soon faded. The hallway darkened a little bit each time she went around a corner until it was almost completely dark.

All she could see was a sparsely lit candle in the middle of the hallway, which was barely enough to illuminate her surroundings. As the unique coldness of the marble hallway gradually permeated, Erel paused and seriously pondered.

‘What should I do? Should I just turn around and head back?’

Then, she noticed something white move in the corner of her eye. Erel quickly turned her head towards the movement. The moment her mind began to process the sight, her eyes widened.

‘What is that?’

In the distance, there was a pale man dressed completely in white. His hair, eyebrows, and skin were as white as the snow that covered an arctic tundra.

In the dark hallway of the mansion, he alone seemed to emit light. Erel squinted as she gazed at the white man from afar, wondering if she was seeing things correctly.

Then, as if he felt her gaze, he turned around.

Their eyes met from a distance. After a moment she noticed that the man’s face was transparent, not white.

It wasn’t just an exaggeration to say he was so transparent that the candles were visible through his body.

Erel’s eyes grew even wider when she saw him pass through a wall.

‘What did I just see? Am I still dreaming?’ 

Erel pinched her cheeks, but the tingling pain and the chill seeping through her thin clothes were very real.

‘There are ghosts in this world, too…?!’

Erel was so terrified that the hair on the back of her neck stood up. Suddenly, a status window message popped up before her bewildered eyes.

[Ding! You have found the target character, John Louis Harmash.]