The silence in the underground corridor felt heavy enough to choke a man.
Holy Night stood motionless, his eyes darting between the bound assassin on the floor and the blood-red gaze staring down at him from the stone pillar. The cheerful, heroic smile he had worn for years was nowhere to be seen. In its place was a rigid, cold expression of pure disbelief.
"A scholarship student...?" Holy Night muttered, his voice losing its usual melodic charm. "No... what kind of scholarship student possesses mana this corrupted?"
*Ping!*
**[Reading Holy Night's Thoughts...]**
*‘This makes no sense. The reports said she was a weak wind-attribute user from the slums. But this pressure... this isn't human magic. She isn't an academy student—she's a catastrophe!’*
I chuckled softly beneath my hood, adjusting my posture.
*Of course you're confused, you fake hero. You calculated every noble in the capital, but you forgot that a yandere's devotion ignores the laws of magic entirely.*
The translucent comment screen flickered into view above my head, flashing rapidly with excited messages.
* **[User_YuriSimp]:** *LOOK AT HER! CHLOE IS STANDING ON A PILLAR LIKE A BATMAN YANDERE! BEST GIRL!*
* **[User_OrangeCat]:** *Holy Night's reaction is priceless! Bro thought he was the hunter, but he just walked into a dragon's den!*
* **[User_LocalObserver]:** *Observe Chloe's footwork. She didn't just ambush him; she systematically cut off all three escape routes in the corridor.*
* **[User_OlympicShip]:** *Rosel, don't just stand there! Team up with your girl and show this fake hero what true terror looks like!*
"Chloe," I called out, keeping Rosel's tone sharp, distant, and commanding. "I explicitly told you to stay in the dorms."
The terrifying aura surrounding the girl vanished in a single instant.
Chloe leapt down from the pillar with unbelievable grace, landing softly right beside me. The crimson glow in her eyes faded back into a warm, sparkling emerald. She hid the bloodied dagger behind her back like a child caught holding a stolen sweet.
"I... I couldn't sleep, Lady Rosel," Chloe whispered, looking down at her shoes with a guilty blush. "My bandaged hand felt cold, and I thought... if I helped you clean up the trash, you might hold my hand again."
*Ping!*
**[Reading Chloe's Thoughts...]**
*‘She spoke to me! She used my name! Ah, her voice sounds so regal when she's annoyed... I want to crush every obstacle in her path so she never looks at anyone else!’*
*PLEASE STOP LINKING HAND-HOLDING WITH MURDER!*
Holy Night drew the golden sword at his waist, the blade ringing sharply against the stone walls. Holy magic began to hum around him, casting a bright, heavenly glow over the dark corridor.
"I don't know what kind of game you two are playing," Holy Night said, his voice dropping into a sinister thread. "Portraying yourselves as victims while harboring dark magic? If the Royal Knights see this, both the Arcadelt family and this peasant will be executed for treason."
"The Royal Knights?" I stepped forward, pulling back my hood just enough to reveal Rosel's sharp, icy blue eyes and silver hair. "Do you truly believe you will leave this corridor alive to tell them?"
Holy Night sneered. "You think a ruined villainess and a unstable girl can stop an S-rank Hero? My light magic purifies all dark attributes!"
He lunged forward with explosive speed, his sword trailing a blinding beam of golden light aimed straight for my chest.
He was fast—far faster than any normal human. But to a guy who had memorized every character's attack pattern from reading the original novel three times, his movement was completely predictable.
"Chloe. Three paces to the left. Wind wall," I ordered calmly.
Before Holy Night's blade could reach me, Chloe reacted instantaneously. She didn't even look at the attack; she simply trusted my command blindly. A compressed gale of dark green wind erupted in front of us, forming an impenetrable barrier.
*BANG!*
The golden sword hit the wind wall, triggering a massive shockwave that cracked the stone floor beneath our feet. Holy Night was thrown backward, landing heavily on his boots, his hands trembling from the recoil.
"How... how did you predict my path?!" Holy Night gasped, his composure completely shattering.
"Because you're cliché," I replied coldly, taking a slow step toward him. "You rely on high speed and flashy lights to blind your targets, but your stance is completely open on your left side. You haven't improved your sword technique since you bought your title five years ago."
Holy Night's eyes widened in horror. That was his deepest secret—his title had been purchased using black-market funds generated from his illegal businesses.
"You... what are you?!" he shrieked.
"Lady Rosel is everything," Chloe chimed in, her voice sweet yet dripping with dangerous malice as she stepped out from behind me. Dark wind magic swirled around her fingertips, shaping into dozens of razor-sharp daggers floating in mid-air. "And you... are just an eyesore."
*Ting!*
**[System Notification!]**
**[Combo Skill Triggered: 'Villainess Command & Yandere Execution'!]**
**[Enemy Morale: Decreased by 80%!]**
Holy Night took a step back, his back hitting the cold stone wall of the dead-end corridor. For the first time in his life, the celebrated hero felt genuine, paralyzing fear.
I raised my right hand, looking down at him with absolute disdain. "Now... let's talk about those thousand gold coins, shall we?"