I’m Trapped in a Bloody Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 153

“Since we haven’t been in contact, someone will probably come looking for us. Maybe they’ll find a way from the outside.”

Dion, who had sighed alongside me, said optimistically.

I didn’t bother refuting him, but I already knew no help would come from the outside.

Right now, the event was being driven by the system. To escape from here, I had to complete the event myself.

‘Check event.’

<Event – Character [Dion] Mansion Search – (2/5)>

Even after all that searching, the event still hadn’t ended. The first part had finished so easily, I thought this one would be simple too.

After returning to the room, I opened the system window and mulled it over seriously.

Was it a case where just finding a way out wasn’t enough to clear the event?

Then what exactly was I supposed to find?

The system doesn’t give me events I can’t solve. Even if the difficulty is high or clues seem lacking, it guides me so I can resolve it.

If I need clues, it provides them. It urges me to figure things out on my own. I had always believed that.

The system didn’t rely solely on my own power. My brother’s and Theodora’s strength were infused in it, even if only a little.

There’s no way they would set up a scenario that I couldn’t resolve.

I forced my tired body to sit up.

“Saintess?”

Dion, who had been resting, saw me get up and rose with me.

“You’re not resting—what are you doing?”

“There might be a way out… There might be something in this room that’s the key.”

“In this room?”

“Yes. Isn’t it strange that this is the only room that hasn’t changed? Everything else has, but this place stayed the same.”

<Dion’s affection has increased.>

Everything else had morphed in bizarre ways, but this room alone remained perfectly intact—that bothered me.

As I spoke, Dion’s affection ticked up, and he nodded thoughtfully. “That could be. Then I’ll check the other side of the room. Let me know right away if you find anything strange.”

“Yes, Dion.”

We split up and began examining the room.

The first place I checked was the window leading to the terrace.

The day we were trapped here, we had considered escaping through the terrace, but the window wouldn’t open, so we gave up. Naturally, breaking it had also been impossible.

But now… it looked like it might open.

I jiggled the window a few times and tilted my head.

<Clue Discovered – Window Lock Mechanism>

Ah—something popped up.

I stared at the area the system had indicated. Below the window, I spotted a small keyhole.

<You can unlock it using a key.>

Of course—so the exit wasn’t outside, it had been inside all along.

Thinking of the week we spent struggling in the maze outside this room made me feel bitter—when the exit had been right here.

While examining the keyhole, I called for Dion. “Dion, I think I can open the terrace window!”

“But we already checked it wouldn’t open, and we couldn’t break it either…”

“If we had the right key, I think it would open. Do you know where we might find one that fits this lock?”

Dion furrowed his brow as he came to inspect the window. Like I had, he studied the keyhole carefully, then shook his head.

“No. I’ve never locked it, so I don’t know anything about a key.”

<Event Updated – Mansion Search (2)>

• Objective: Obtain the window key and escape.
• If you fail to attend the welcome banquet, the event will fail.
• If the event fails, character [Dion]’s route will automatically terminate.

Finally, the event details had updated.

There were only two days left until the welcome banquet. I had already used my ability today, so I would only be able to use ‘Eyes of the Wraith’ one more time—tomorrow.

Damn it.

I cursed under my breath.

Do you know how I got this ability?! I stabbed myself forty-nine times just to reset and earn it.

There’s no way I’m doing that madness again. Gritting my teeth, I focused.

The system wasn’t offering me any new clues. Which meant I already had everything I needed to find the key.

I racked my brain, trying to recall everything related to Dion’s mansion.

What do I know? There’s what Dion told me before I entered the game, and the information I got while sleeping with him on the first day.

I had called him the lord—the head of the family, and we were set to marry in a week.

It definitely hadn’t been a consensual marriage. ‘I’ was trying to escape from the head of the family.

I thought hard, but those bits of information didn’t seem useful now.

I pushed my thoughts further.

Then what about this room—had anything changed here?

I kept thinking, pushing my brain to spin faster. As I pressed my forehead in concentration, my eyes landed on a familiar flower vase.

“Ah.”

A soft gasp slipped out of me.

It’s true—when people face danger, they can tap into superhuman recall. In that brief flash, I remembered something I had previously overlooked.

“Dion, that one. That flower vase.”

“Yes?”

“That flower vase used to be in the corridor. It wasn’t in the room.”

It was the vase I’d seen in the corridor the day I came here. I remembered thinking it didn’t match the corridor at all.

Back then, it definitely held a single large fresh flower.

At my gesture, Dion began picking up the vase and turning it this way and that.

“Even if it wasn’t originally in the room… this can’t be the key…”

Just as he said that, a small key dropped out of the vase. Dion stared blankly at the key lying on the floor before snapping out of it.

<Dion’s affection has slightly increased!>

The eyes he turned toward me, now holding the key, were filled with affection. Looking at me with sparkling eyes, he opened his mouth.

“There’s a key in here.”

Dion spoke in a joyful voice. But instead of sharing his excitement, I furrowed my brows.

There’s no way the key would come out this easily.

“I’ll try opening it.”

“Okay.”

What was the objective again? Acquire the window key, and—

When Dion inserted the key and turned it, a soft click came from the lock. The window that hadn’t opened no matter how hard we tried swung open easily.

“So it was the window key after all.”

“Looks like it.”

Standing in front of the wide-open terrace, we looked at each other for a moment.

The objectives the system had provided were: obtain the window key, and escape.

I shut my mouth as I searched for the garden that should have been beneath the terrace. Instead, the garden was filled with a maze far more complicated than the corridor.

Will I really be able to solve this in two days…?

<Dietrich’s affection has greatly decreased!>

Huh?

I frowned at the sudden system window that appeared while I was silently thinking.

What the—why is Dietrich’s affection dropping all of a sudden?

No way… did Dietrich come to this mansion to find Dion and me?

***

In front of the main building of the mansion, Dietrich stared at the butler with a grave expression. The butler couldn’t even lift his head.

“You’re saying that since Dion went into the room with the Saintess, he hasn’t come out even once? Not a single person checked in the meantime?”

“He ordered that no servants enter while the Saintess was staying here, so no one has checked.”

“Ha.”

Dietrich let out a short, incredulous breath at the butler’s answer.

‘What in the world are they doing that they haven’t stepped outside in a week?’

He had expected the Saintess to come to the Empire for some gain, but he hadn’t imagined she’d show her true colors in just a week.

To think she’d seduce Dion and hole up in a room with him. She had to be a cunning woman who knew exactly how to prey on the weakest.

He should’ve stopped her back in the carriage, when she first approached Dion with strange words.

Now regretting it was too late, Dietrich brushed past the butler and headed into the main building. The butler hurried after him to guide the way.

“Is it here?”

“Yes, this is where the two of them have been staying.”

“I’ll go alone from here. Leave.”

Hesitating for a moment at the narrow corridor, Dietrich dismissed the butler and went up the stairs by himself.

He didn’t know what Dion and the Saintess had been doing alone, but the fewer people who knew about the situation, the better.

Depending on how things went, he might need to subdue the Saintess.

***

“I figured the mansion had changed strangely, but it’s more twisted than I thought. As far as I know, there’s no maze like that in our garden.”

“Yes, I don’t remember ever seeing one either. When I dropped the sheet, it was just a normal garden.”

“What shall we do?”

Dion, who was also looking out at the garden from the terrace, asked in a defeated tone.

“It might be better if I check things out first, and then come back to get you—”

“No, that’s not an option. Dion, did you forget what happened in the corridor? You can’t avoid danger without me.”

“That’s true, but… Saintess, didn’t you say your eyes hurt just now?”

“It’ll get better soon.”

“If you’re in pain, you don’t have to come. I can manage on my own.”

I checked how much time was left before I could use the ability again and responded. If we waited a little longer before setting out again, I should be fine.

“I’d worry too much if you went alone, Dion.”

<Dion’s affection has increased!>

When I replied firmly, Dion fell silent and nodded. He tilted his head, avoiding eye contact, then sneaked a glance up at me.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“…I think I misunderstood you.”

Dion spoke in a heavy tone, like someone confessing their sins.

“To think that you’d stay here, going through all this trouble to protect me… when there’s nothing for you to gain.”

Technically speaking, that was a misunderstanding.

What I’d originally been after was Dion’s body. If anything, I was worse than he imagined, not better.

Still, since Dion was raising his own affection score all on his own, I had no reason to stop him.

Smiling gently, I listened to him.

And as Dion solemnly began his confession, I offered him a saintly smile and thought to myself:

Choosing to pursue Dion first really was a great decision.