The cold night air brushed past her head, bringing with it a chilling sensation that settled into her mind like a frostbite-inducing shiver.

The moment she tried to recall the conversation she had just had with Ethan in the banquet hall, her heart plummeted.

"What was that about? Why didn't you move away when that lady's lips came so close to Ethan's nose?"

"Do you prefer a smaller, more manageable chest over this annoyingly large one?"

She couldn't fathom why she had uttered such things in front of Ethan. Especially the second remark—it wasn't the suspicion of a fiancée worried about her partner’s fidelity but the irrational jealousy of a madwoman complaining about not being loved.

"Damn it. How embarrassing. Why did I even say that?"

As the night wore on and the cold air cleared her head, the shame from the conversation made her face flush, not because of the lingering summer heat but from pure embarrassment.

"Sigh... how humiliating."

She should have stuck to her original plan and just played the role of a spiteful, hysterical lady. Whether or not Ethan had any intention of avoiding that woman’s kiss—what did it matter?

Well, if she was being honest, it did matter. If Ethan's lips had touched that woman’s, it would have been awkward to kiss him again, with the image of that pale-faced wench stuck in her mind.

Given that, of course, she had to stop it. And in that sense, what Ethan did was a bit... odd.

"No, no, no, no, no."

Why was she so naturally assuming that she would be kissing Ethan again?

The frequency of their kisses had recently become unnecessarily high, and her mindset seemed to be loosening because of it.

Somehow, she had come to perceive kissing as a somewhat acceptable level of physical intimacy. But really, since when was any kind of physical contact between a man and a woman "acceptable"?

She couldn’t afford to let this kind of thinking become familiar. Otherwise, she might end up concluding, absurdly, that anything goes as long as it doesn’t involve losing her virginity.

"...Well, in the end, it’s a relief that everything went smoothly."

In the end, she had managed to create the impression that her relationship with Ethan was strained, as planned, making it clear to McHart. Although Ethan had been taken aback at first, he quickly regained his composure and played along with her performance, leading to an even more convincing display of discord between them than she had initially planned.

Now, when McHart approached her, believing she was alone, she could call in the others and swiftly deal with him. No matter how powerful McHart's demonic strength was, he wouldn’t stand a chance against a coordinated attack.

"The signaling device is prepped and ready."

The one-way, single-use signaling device had been expensive, but given the stakes, it was worth the cost. If McHart tried to attack her, she would channel her magic into the device, summoning the others from the banquet hall. With Ethan, the hero, Agnes, and Cerys, they would be more than enough to eliminate McHart before he could fully utilize his demonic powers.

Then, she would use her saintly authority to prove in front of everyone that McHart had been tainted by demonic power and disguise it as the work of Cerys. The plan she had spent over a month crafting would finally be complete, and everything would fall into place.

"It’ll work. It has to work."

If it didn’t, she would have no choice but to abandon everything and rely on the hero's party.

Even if she had spent over 2000 hours playing "Luminor Academy" in her previous life and memorized the game’s plot, that didn’t mean her strategies were infallible.

If her plan didn’t work, she would have to switch to a simpler approach: join the hero’s party and focus on killing McHart. If that meant years of grueling battles after graduation, so be it—it would just be the price she paid for getting entangled with McHart in the first place.

With these thoughts swirling in her mind, she quietly awaited McHart’s appearance in the garden outside the palace's rear gate.

Suddenly, the conversation she had with Ethan in the banquet hall resurfaced in her mind.

Specifically, the harsh truth Ethan had thrown at her during the climax of their staged argument.

"Did you think becoming engaged to a duke's family would make you something special? Without me, you're just a lowly noblewoman with no real backing, Lillis."

...Well, he wasn’t wrong.

She had become so immersed in her academy life that she had momentarily forgotten. Ethan was a powerful scion of the Blackwood dukedom, while she was just the daughter of a viscount—a fake one at that.

Knowing this, she had always made a point to address Ethan with utmost respect, emphasizing her role as his "personal maid." But with everything that had been happening recently, their relationship had become far too relaxed.

Perhaps it was because she had grown too close to people of such high status—like the future Red Tower Master, the hero, and even the saintess.

"It might not have been meant as a genuine insult, but..."

Still, the fact that he had called her a "mere viscount’s daughter" meant that, on some level, he really thought of her that way. Otherwise, the words wouldn’t have come out so naturally.

Being alone made her thoughts spiral into negativity. If only she could just finish this mission quickly and rid herself of these troubling thoughts.

As she played the role of a "young lady abandoned by her fiancé" in the garden outside the rear gate, the person she had been waiting for finally showed up.

...Half of her didn’t want to meet him, but it was an inevitable encounter.

"Well, well, such a lonely sight, milady."

"..."

The one who appeared with a nauseatingly cliché line, along with the sound of footsteps, was none other than Prince McHart, tonight’s target.

He must have followed her the moment she left the banquet hall. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have found her so quickly.

While everyone else was inside, busy securing their partners for the night, she had been moping around in the garden outside the rear gate.

And that damned McHart had been sending her unwanted attention for nearly two months, making it impossible for him to ignore the bait she had laid.

"For now, I just need to buy some time."

She channeled her magic into the signaling device in her pocket, alerting the others in the banquet hall to converge at the rear gate.

It would take about 20 seconds for the signal to transmit, and considering how long it would take for the others to discreetly make their way there, she estimated it would be about one or two minutes before they arrived.

They had to be careful not to make it look like a group ambush on an innocent prince, so they would each use stealth magic or cloaking abilities, which would take time.

In the meantime, her job was to avoid being drawn into a "private" space with McHart.

"What, do you think you deserve credit for making me look lonely?"

"Not really. But I can certainly make sure you don’t feel lonely anymore."

"Oh, shut up. You just show up out of nowhere the moment I start to forget about you..."

Suppressing her rapidly beating heart, she continued to act as nonchalantly as possible.

She couldn’t afford to let fear show or reveal that she was hiding something—she had to act just as she always had with him.

Any deviation from her usual behavior could tip him off, and he might flee before they had him trapped.

"So, how have you been, Lillis?"

"Don’t call me by my name. It makes me sick."

"Then how about a pet name? Lily?"

"You bastard!"

The moment "Lily" came out of his mouth, she couldn’t help but lose control of her emotions.

Calm down, calm down. Don’t let him get to you.

"I've been so lonely. Usually, when I find a woman I like, I can’t rest until I’ve gotten her into my bed within a week. But your guard is so damn high, Lily."

"Is that so?"

"You’re always being watched—by that young master you serve and by the lady of the Blaze family."

"..."

"My power isn’t exactly suited for dealing with multiple people at once... Honestly, managing the power of a demon is tricky."

McHart was now openly admitting to using demonic power, not even trying to hide it anymore.

He probably figured there was no need to hide it from someone who already knew, confident that he could silence her afterward. His arrogance was likely because there were so few people who would listen to a mere viscount’s daughter, which explained why he hadn’t been caught yet, even though nearly two months had passed since he first attacked her.

In the end, the only way to resolve this was to gather people who believed her and deal with it themselves. By now, the others should have received her signal, so she just needed to stall for time until they arrived.

"So, why are you alone now, after being so well protected? Can I take this as a sign that you’re finally opening up to me?"

"Think what you want. It’s a free world."

-Ssssshh.

"Of course, you might find that today is the last day you indulge in such foolish thoughts."

The Blackwood-engraved dagger she had hidden beneath her dress gleamed coldly.

The confrontation with McHart was about to begin, sooner than anticipated.