“The banquet hall is probably too chaotic right now for anyone to notice the signal you sent. My brother’s obsession with that mage girl turned out to be stronger than I thought. By now, he’s probably swinging his sword at the Hero in a fit of rage.”

“So you’re using your own brother to achieve this...”

“Using him? You talk about dishonor, but didn’t you try to seduce the Hero and the saintess to lure me into a trap? It seems like this was the right move after all.”

“...”

“You must have planned to rely on that Hero and mage for help, didn’t you? Otherwise, there’s no way you’d have attended such a suspicious noble gathering with such a peculiar group. In this situation, it would be impossible for the Hero or the mage to arrive here without drawing attention. Without them, I have no reason to be afraid of you, isn’t that right?”

...As much as she hated to admit it, he was right. Even though McHart hadn’t fully awakened as a demon yet, he was not an opponent she could defeat without the protagonist’s buff.

If Cerista showed up to help, it would only buy some time. Of course, that would still be better than trying to stall alone.

As she had mentioned earlier, Ethan would have a hard time slipping away unnoticed, thanks to the attention she had drawn to him at the last moment.

“Didn’t you think things were going a little too smoothly?”

“What...”

“Isn’t it strange? A bunch of new faces suddenly showing up at a noble gathering with such unsavory intentions, when they had never attended before. And you, who were always so cautious at the academy, suddenly creating conflicts and isolating yourself from others? Did you think I wouldn’t realize it was a trap?”

“...”

“But if I missed this opportunity, you would have run back to that annoying noble and the mage girl, avoiding me again. So I decided to make the most of this chance. Although, I didn’t expect you to go so far as to pretend to fight with that noble prince you’re so attached to, just to lure me out.”

McHart sneered as he finished, clearly pleased with himself. Lillis wanted nothing more than to carve a vertical line into that smug face, but she lacked the strength to do so.

As McHart’s words made her realize the flaws in her plan, regret began to set in.

‘That fool couldn’t have figured this out on his own. It must have been Ebelin’s doing.’

Ebelin wasn’t exactly a genius strategist, but if she was able to manipulate McHart, it meant she was at least smarter than him.

In the end, it was the flaw in Lillis’s plan to deceive a single prince. If she had considered Ebelin’s involvement, she might have devised a more sophisticated strategy—or perhaps even attempted a direct confrontation.

Trying to lure McHart into a trap by analyzing his psychology alone was her mistake. It was a shaky plan, and she should have created a more reliable safety net.

Even if she had just gotten help from one or two more people, the situation might have turned out differently. Although she hadn’t informed Seraphine due to the sensitivity of suspecting another royal, in hindsight, it might have been better to ask for her help.

Huff!

“...!”

McHart suddenly lunged at her again using a magical leap. Lillis’s instincts kicked in, and she managed to dodge, but she was reaching her limit.

Dodging him without using magic was exhausting her, and she could feel her strength waning in her legs.

...And she had a strong feeling that if this kept up, she would soon be captured and dragged into his mental world again.

‘Maybe I should have joined Ethan’s party from the start.’

She regretted not teaming up with them at least until the final story arc of dealing with McHart. At least then, she wouldn’t be facing such a hopeless end here.

In the end, she might have dragged Agnes and Cerista into this mess unnecessarily. If she ended up in a bad situation here, they would carry the guilt of failing to help her for a long time.

...And she especially felt guilty toward Ethan. She had created a situation where he had to participate in a fake lover’s quarrel. If she didn’t make it out, how much would he blame himself for not being there to protect her?

As these thoughts flooded her mind, the chase continued in the backyard, with her stamina almost depleted.

“What’s this? Why are you slowing down? At this rate, I’m going to catch you soon!”

“Huff, huff, huff...”

“Are you finally giving up, realizing no one’s coming to save you? If so, feel free to surrender!”

...If she were going to die, she’d at least stab that bastard’s face once before she went down.

Unable to bear the thought of dying without even that satisfaction, Lillis stopped in her tracks and turned to face McHart, charging at him with her dagger.

Swish!

“What...?!”

Caught off guard by her sudden change in direction, McHart was surprised as her dagger quickly entered his reach.

‘Please, let this be enough to finish him!’

The sharp, gleaming blade, boosted by her desire to end this, flew toward McHart’s forehead, aiming to slice through the boundary between his left and right brain.

Crack!

“...Huh?”

Thud.

“Finally, I’ve got you.”

In a split second, McHart twisted his neck in an unnatural way, dodging the blade and catching her hand instead.

‘Damn, he’s already partially demonized...!’

The moment McHart grabbed her, the surroundings began to darken rapidly. It was as if the colors were being drained from the world, turning it into a black-and-white scene.

With that ominous sensation, McHart was pulling her into his mental world again. Once he had her in his grip, it was nearly impossible to escape.

...She knew she wouldn’t survive this time. Last time, she had only managed to escape because of his carelessness, but there wouldn’t be a second chance.

‘Is this really the end?’

So, this was it. She had managed to survive for seven years, inhabiting Lillis’s body without succumbing to Ethan’s advances, fighting and struggling to stay alive. She had done everything she could.

She had given Agnes the Fire Spirit, prevented Ethan and Caraham from becoming mid-bosses, and provided the justification to eliminate McHart before he fully demonized. She had played her part in the story.

Even if she exited the stage now, it shouldn’t disrupt Ethan’s path to victory.

The Hero would defeat the Demon King and return to the real world. Agnes would become the Master of the Red Tower, Seraphine would ascend to the throne, and Cerista would awaken as a true saintess. In a few years, they would all find their happy endings.

Ethan, too, had lost weight and become much more handsome than in the original story. After her death, he would move on, marry a proper fiancée, and carry on the Blackwood lineage.

After a few years of their epic journey to defeat the Demon King, all she needed was for them to remember her for just a brief moment.

‘If I had known it would end like this, I might have gone ahead and taken Ethan’s virginity...’

If she had known she wouldn’t be able to defeat McHart, she might have done it as a final act of loyalty. But it was too late for regrets now. All she could do was cover the bleak reality with a bit of wishful thinking.

No, if she was going to be used in this damned mental world as McHart wanted, maybe suicide was the better option—to die before she could be manipulated.

“Lillis...!!!”

Just as the last remnants of light were fading, and McHart’s power was about to engulf her in darkness, she thought she heard Ethan’s voice calling her.

It was such a vivid voice that she wondered if she was seeing something like her life flashing before her eyes. But then Ethan’s voice transitioned from mere sound to a tactile sensation, grounding her in reality.

Thud.

“Lillis!! Are you still okay?!”

“...Ethan?”

A familiar hand reached through a small gap that McHart’s magic hadn’t fully closed, grabbing her wrist and trying to pull her out of the mental world.

...Or rather, he was trying to.

Crack!

“Lillis! It’s you, right?! Answer me!”

“W-Wait, wait!! My arm! My arm’s going to dislocate!!”

“Oh.”

His attempt to pull her out of McHart’s mental world was commendable, but his brute force approach was about to tear her left arm off.

Just as she was gripped by a new kind of fear—one of losing her arm rather than her life—another sharp blade tore through the space in front of her.

...And I don’t mean that metaphorically. I mean literally, right in front of her eyes.

Stab!

“Eek?!”

A razor-sharp blade burst out right in front of her face, narrowly missing her temple, sending a wave of realistic fear through her body.

The terror of being dragged into McHart’s mental world was one thing, but this was a different kind of fear—a very real one. Losing an arm could be fixed by Cerista, but becoming a headless ghost would require a suspicious mortician, not a doctor.

However, before she could fully register her fear, Ethan’s sword continued to slice through McHart’s mental world, tearing the space apart. From the gap, the light she thought she’d never see again began to filter in.

‘Wait, is this...’

The blade, radiating a steady flow of blue energy, cut through the otherworldly dimension with ease. It didn’t take long for her to realize that Ethan had triggered the awakening flag to become a Sword Expert.

Slice!

In an instant, Ethan had cut through half of the space surrounding her and shredded the remaining barrier, pulling her out of McHart’s mental world.

When she finally regained her senses, she found herself in Ethan’s arms, being held in the “princess carry” position.

“Lillis, are you alright?! Are you hurt?!”

“...Yes, yes.”

...Who would have thought Ethan would arrive before the Hero? And that he would awaken as a Sword Expert?

For a brief moment, Lillis found Ethan more reliable than the Hero, but she quietly buried that thought deep in her heart.