Roxanne looked at the key, then up at the four furious, shocked faces.
Her brain did not have a witty conclusion ready.
She was stuck.
She couldn’t exactly say, “Oh, a fucking pink screen in my head gave it to me because I held your hands while running away from a giant lizard.” They would think she was either lying or completely insane, and both options ended with her back in chains.
“I found it,” Roxanne said bluntly, keeping her face completely deadpan.
She took another bite of the pickled plum, chewing deliberately to buy time.
“It was in my room.
Before your fucking guards dragged me out, and get me executed.” “That is a lie!” Alistair stepped forward, his massive frame blocking the firelight.
His grey eyes were full of a deep, painful conflict.
“The Duke’s estate was searched top to bottom by my finest men, Roxanne.
We found the forged documents, we found the green ink, but we did not find ‘that’.
A solid gold relic of the first king does not just slip past an imperial search.” “Well, your men clearly suck at their jobs, Alistair.
They should’ve looked harder.” Roxanne shot back, her voice rising in irritation as she set the wooden spoon down with a sharp click against the iron table, together with her leg down.
“They missed a giant gold key, didn’t they?
Maybe they were too busy stealing my expensive perfumes and looking through my underwear drawers to notice a literal historical artifact sitting in a box.
Don’t fucking blame me for your men’s incompetence.” Julian’s jaw tightened with her harsh words.
He reached out, his fingers hanging just inches away from the key in her hand, but he didn’t touch it.
It was as if he was afraid the golden light would burn him.
“Do you have any idea what that key unlocks, Roxanne?
The Secret Vault of the First King is located directly beneath the foundation of this very guest palace on the Western Hill.
The ancient texts say it contains the true heart of the earth seals.
The core stones that keeps the dragon asleep.
So, how the hell did that thing is in your room?” Roxanne’s heart did a weird, cold flip inside her chest.
[Oh my gosh, Host!
The plot is thickening like a delicious meal!] the System squealed, a bright pink text box dropping right into her field of vision, cutting off her view of Julian’s judging face.
[The legendary item you won is the exact key to the main questline!
The boys think you are a master thief, but really you are just a girl with great reverse harem luck!
If you open that vault, you can save the world and make them all fall in love with you forever!
Generating your next High-Stakes Quest right now!] “Get that text out of my fucking face, you stupid machine,” Roxanne screamed in her mind, her fingers clenching around the gold key until the sharp edges bit into her skin.
“This isn’t luck!
This is a setup!
A curse!
If the key unlocks the core stones, and the entire empire thinks I stole the core stones, having this golden key in my hand makes me look guilty as hell!
You just handed me to my death sentence!
Why would I even have a shitty system like you?!
You’re an absolute BIMBO!” [Main Event Quest: The Vault of Hidden Desires.
Objective: Lead the four love interests into the secret basement of the guest palace, use the Royal Key of the First Land to open the Secret Vault, and touch the Core Earth Stone while looking back at them with a sweet, confident smile.
Tell them that you will protect them all with your life.
Targets: Julian, Alistair, Ethan, and Malakai.
Time Limit: 10 minutes to reach the vault entrance.
Penalty for Failure: Your voice will become a high-pitched, squeaky cartoon voice that makes you sound like a tiny field mouse for the next forty-eight hours.
Reward for Success: 1500 Bimbo Points, Active Skill: Piercing Truth Eye, and a Permanent 20% Increase to Magic Resistance.] “A mouse voice?
Are you fucking kidding me?
I just died like hours ago!
HOURS Bimbo, H-O-U-R-S!
It’s not even a day passed by, and you’re making me do all those cringy stuffs, and now you want me to have a mouse voice if I fail?
Well, good news, I fucking hate you, system!
To the bones!” Roxanne’s right eye twitched violently.
She could already imagine trying to yell at the four men with a squeaky voice.
It would completely ruin her bitchy authority.
She would rather face a wall of spears than lose her ability to cuss effectively.
“Roxanne,” Ethan spoke up, his voice dangerously soft.
He stepped closer, the white light from his staff reflecting off the gold key.
“If you are the one who has the key, then you are the only one who can open the vault.
If the real traitor wanted to destroy the world, they would need that key to break the core stones completely.
Why do you have it?
Answer me.
With the truth.” Roxanne stood up from the iron table.
She slid the gold key back into her pocket, her movements slow and deliberate.
She looked at the four of them, her deadpan expression hardening into something cold and solid.
“You want the fucking truth?” Roxanne said, her voice dropping its sharp edge and becoming steady.
“Well brace yourselves, since you already judged me like a fucking theft.
The truth is that I am the only person in this room who actually wants to solve this problem instead of shouting about rules and royalty.
The man in the snake mask, the one who tried to blast my chest with green magic in the alleyway, he wants this key.
He framed me so you would fucking cut my head off, and while you were all celebrating my fuckin’ execution, he would have walked into this empty guest palace and taken whatever is down there.
Now, are we done with the interrogation?!” The men looked at each other.
The logic was clean, cold, and hard to argue with.
Irritation is visible in her face, and they all can see it, with how her brows meet and both of her hands are in her waist.
“She…
she might be right,” Malakai said, leaning his head back against the stone wall.
His amber eyes narrowed as he thought.
“The masked assassin was too prepared.
He knew exactly when to strike.
If Roxanne was the real mastermind, she wouldn’t have stayed in the capital after being caught.
She would have used that pink magic of hers to cross the border weeks ago.” “But how did she get the key?” Julian demanded, his blue eyes fixed on Roxanne’s pocket.
He looked torn, his royal duty fighting against the strange, gut-level feeling that she was telling the truth.
“Only those with the blood of the first king should even be able to hold it without being turned to ash by the earth magic.
The Duccat family is old, but they are not royal.” “Maybe I’m just too special for you to handle, Goldie, not like you.
Or if you still don’t accept the fact that I am special, then maybe I am the long lost daughter of the first King.
How was that?
Duh!” Roxanne shrugged and rolled her eyes, her sharp attitude returning as she started walking toward the door of the kitchen.
“Now, according to your little history lesson, the vault is in the basement of this guest palace, right?
The bimbo system, I mean, my common sense, says we need to go down there right now.
If the seal above is breaking, the snake guy is probably already on his way to this hill.” Alistair grabbed his broadsword from the pillar, his face set in a hard line.
“If the vault is breached, the entire capital will slide into the earth.
I am coming with you.
Not to guard you, Roxanne, but to see what is down there myself.” “I am the leader of this investigation,” Julian said, drawing his gold sword with a sharp hiss of metal.
“I go first.” “The holy light will guide the path,” Ethan said, walking past the Prince without asking for permission.
His silver staff hummed with a quiet, protective energy that pushed the cold shadows of the kitchen away.
“After you, milady.” Malakai gestured towards her.
“Yeah, right.
Whatever.” Roxanne said boredly.
The five of them walked out of the kitchen and headed down a narrow, winding stone staircase that led into the deepest parts of the guest palace basement.
The air here was different from the upper halls.
It didn’t smell like dust; it smelled like heavy, wet clay and ancient iron.
The torches on the stone walls were old, their oil long since dried up, but Ethan’s staff provided enough white light to see the rough steps.
As they went deeper under the hill, the rumbling from above became quieter, but a new sound took its place.
It was a low, rhythmic thumping, like a massive heart beating slow and steady deep within the earth.
With every beat, the golden key in Roxanne’s pocket grew warmer against her thigh.
“The time limit is five minutes,” Roxanne thought, checking the internal clock of the system.
“We’re moving too slow.
These guys have heavy boots and too much pride.” “Hey, move your asses!” Roxanne shouted down the stairs at Julian and Ethan, who were leading the way.
“This isn’t a royal parade!
Walk faster or I am going to start pushing you down the steps!
I dare!” “Roxanne!
Show some respect!” Julian snapped back, but his pace quickened anyway, his heavy metal boots clattering against the damp stone.
“That’s not how a noble lady should act.” “Really now, Princey?
You want me to act noble?
Should I still act as a noble when my life is in the line?
Any moment, you’ll have my throat and you expect me to be a GENTLE, NOBLE LADY??!
Seriously, Goldie?
Where’s your head?” “Shut up, Malakai!” Julian roared to Malakai as he was laughing his ass off like there’s no tomorrow.
“Can’t help it, Your Highness.
Lady Roxanne is really interesting, haha.” They reached the bottom of the stairs and entered a massive, circular chamber.
The walls were made of rough black stone, completely covered in old moss and glowing green veins of magic that looked like spiderwebs.
In the very center of the room stood a giant door made of solid iron, twice as high as Alistair.
The door had no handle, no hinges, and no decorations except for a single, small keyhole in the exact middle, shaped like a twisted vine.
The green veins of magic on the walls were pulsing rapidly, their light harsh and toxic.
The air inside the room was thick, making it hard to breathe.
“The dragon’s corruption has already reached the hill’s foundation,” Ethan warned, raising his staff to keep the green light from touching his robes.
“The core stones are under attack from the outside.
The seal is failing faster than I calculated.” “Roxanne, the key,” Julian said, turning to her with a tense, pale face.
“Quickly.
Before the chamber collapses.” Roxanne didn’t hesitate.
She pulled the gold key from her pocket, stepped up to the massive iron door, and slid the key into the vine-shaped hole.
It fit perfectly, the metal sliding in with a smooth, heavy click.
She turned the handle.
A loud, deep sound of grinding metal echoed through the circular chamber.
The giant iron door didn’t swing open; it split down the middle, the two halves sliding back into the stone walls with a heavy thud.
Inside the vault, the air was completely different.
It was bright, warm, and smelled like fresh spring rain.
In the center of the small room, floating three feet above a white stone pedestal, was a massive crystal the size of a carriage wheel.
It was the Core Earth Stone.
Usually, it was supposed to glow with a steady, deep orange light, but right now, the center of the crystal was filled with a swirling, angry mass of dark green fire, identical to the eye in the sky.
“The core…
it’s already infected,” Alistair gasped, his broadsword lowering in horror.
[Host!
This is your moment!
Touch the stone!
Give them the most sweet smile!
Do the line!
And look at them with your pretty eyes.
Be cute, Host!
That they will fall in love with you even harder, let’s get this harem blossom!
The time limit has 30 seconds left!] the System screamed, the pink screen flashing a bright yellow warning light that filled her head with noise.
Roxanne didn’t care about the romance or the smile.
She just didn’t want to squeak like a mouse either for two days.
She marched right up to the floating crystal, ignoring the hot green sparks that flew off the surface.
She reached out her right hand and slammed her palm directly against the smooth, warm surface of the Core Earth Stone.
“I’ve got this” Roxanne whispered and let out a sigh of frustration, her voice sharp and full of her natural, bitchy confidence.
She didn’t look back at them yet; she just gave them a hard, sideways glare over her shoulder, “Stop staring like a bunch of idiots and get ready to fight.
I am going to clean this piece of garbage crystal right now.” The moment her skin touched the stone, her passive skill ‘Sweet Rose Smell (Level 2)’ and her ‘Pink Dark Magic Shield’ exploded outward at the exact same time.
A massive wave of bright pink energy and the thick, intoxicating scent of fresh roses blasted out from her hand, slamming directly into the dark green fire inside the crystal.
She slowly turned her head with a big smile on her face, while activating her sweet and soothing voice, “I will protect you my heroes, with all my life.” Damn!
I looked completely stupid, it makes me vomit!
It’s so cringy!
I look like I have some kind of bipolar disorder!
Eeeehh.
The green fire let out a high-pitched shriek, like a dying animal, as the pink light began to squeeze it, forcing the corruption to shrink back into the center of the stone.
The orange light of the earth seal began to fight back, glowing brighter and brighter until the entire vault was filled with a warm, blinding sunset glow.
Julian, Alistair, Ethan, and Malakai stood in the doorway, their faces illuminated by the intense orange and pink light.
They looked at Roxanne giving who’s giving them the sweetest smile, she looked like an innocent angel, her wet dark hair blowing in the magic wind, her small hand holding back the apocalypse with nothing but raw, unexplained power.
[Quest Complete!
Oh my gosh, Host, you are the ultimate savior!] the System cheered, making a happy bell ring inside her head.
[Look at their faces!
They are completely, utterly ruined by your dominant beauty!
They’re all stunned by you, Host!
So pretty and lovely, you just pierced all their hearts!
Ahh!!
The Prince is trembling by your sweetest smile, the Knight looks like he wants to kneel to marry you, the Priest is staring like he’s seen a miracle like he just saw an angel, and the Shadow King is smiling like a lunatic!
Damn, girl!
Your harem is coming to life!
Ahhh so excited!
You won 1500 Bimbo Points and the Active Skill: Piercing Truth Eye!] Roxanne let out a breath, her hand staying on the stone as the magic stabilized.
“Shut up, bimbo.
We survived.
That’s all that ma—-” Before she could finish her thought, a cold, heavy hand clapped down directly onto her shoulder from behind.
It wasn’t Julian.
It wasn’t Alistair, or even the other two, who still also looked stunned by her dumb decision she made in life.
Roxanne froze, her eyes widening as she looked down at the hand on her dress.
The skin was pale, bony, and covered in thin, dark green veins that leaked a foul, rotting ink onto her purple fabric.
A dry, hollow laugh echoed from the deep shadows behind the floating crystal core.
“Thank you, Roxanne von Duccat,” a voice whispered right against her ear, sounding like grinding teeth and dry autumn leaves.
“You opened the door for us.
The first king’s blood is so easy to trick.” “What the!” Roxanne snapped her head around, her new skill ‘Piercing Truth Eye’ activating automatically.
The pink light in her vision shifted, and through the shadows behind the stone, she saw a massive, towering figure dressed in a royal shroud, its face completely hidden behind a cracked stone mask of a dragon.
But it wasn’t the snake assassin.
This creature was ten times larger, its body radiating a dark, crushing pressure that made the entire vault floor crack open instantly.
With a brutal rip, the creature pulled Roxanne away from the crystal, throwing her body back toward the doorway where the four men stood, while its bony fingers wrapped directly around the glowing Core Earth Stone.
The orange light of the vault vanished instantly, replaced by a total, pitch-black darkness as the creature began to pull the stone into its chest.
“Roxanne!” Julian screamed into the dark, his hand reaching out blindly as the floor beneath them began to drop into a bottomless pit.