Chapter 10: Three times

[Bad End]

Darkness invaded her vision.

“Ah!”

Inside the carriage, which had been silent all along, Yao Xing’s sudden fright was especially conspicuous, causing even the guards to glance at her with concern.

Yao Xing looked down at her hands.

She was actually inside a carriage now.

The clatter of horse hooves and the guards’ footsteps continued to echo in her ears without end.

‘I’m back…’

“Are you alright?”

Following the voice, she saw Huan sitting beside her, wearing a deeply worried expression.

“Hero-sama, is the carriage too bumpy? Are you feeling nauseous?”

“No… it’s nothing…”

Yao Xing’s eyes locked tightly onto Huan.

‘Right, last time, Huan was injected with dragon blood, and under the King of Lin Qi’s orders, she… ate me.’

“Let’s stop by the shore. We can—”

Yao Xing quickly refused.

“Sorry, I’m fine. You don’t need to accommodate me… Just follow the original route to White Tower Restaurant, okay?”

Huan blinked, then nodded.

After a few seconds’ pause, the carriage started moving again.

‘I’ve returned to this point in time again…’

The rhythmic sound of the carriage wheels grinding over the stone pavement now sounded to Yao Xing like the countdown of death.

Inside the carriage, the faint, high-class woody scent still lingered—the smell that always clung to Huan.

Yet in Yao Xing’s nostrils, the thick, rancid, despair-inducing stench of dragon blood from her previous life seemed to still be there.

She subconsciously touched her neck—it was smooth and intact, not pierced by sharp claws, nor wracked by the excruciating pain of being gnawed by a beast.

‘This time…’

Yao Xing forced herself to calm down.

She shifted her gaze away from Huan’s face—full of tenderness and worry—and looked out the window at the fast-receding street scenes.

‘I must protect them.’

“Hero-sama?”

Seeing her silent for so long, Huan tentatively reached out a hand, wanting to cover Yao Xing’s icy fingers.

“Your complexion is really pale. If you think the food at White Tower Restaurant doesn’t suit your taste, we can change places anytime, or… perhaps return to the palace to rest?”

“No… no need.”

Yao Xing abruptly withdrew her hand, her movements stiff.

‘I can’t go back to the palace. Going back means entering the cage the King of Lin Qi has set up.’

She took a deep look at Huan.

The woman before her was still the princess with ideals, wanting to send the hero away.

But who would have thought that under that man’s scheme, this warmth would become the sharpest blade, burying both of them together?

….

Inside White Tower Restaurant.

Under the strict surveillance of the guards, Yao Xing and the princess were both surprisingly quiet, not saying a word.

But in truth, Yao Xing was constantly thinking, trying to find other possibilities to break the situation.

‘I need to find Anuo. He might have a way—maybe there’s a tunnel that could let us escape Lin Qi quietly…’

But that was an overly idealistic guess.

So Yao Xing continued her brainstorming.

‘Is there anyone I’ve overlooked…’

She replayed every experience from her loops, all of them, several times.

“Wait.”

‘The first time I came to this world, I accidentally ate the Demon Luring Incense, was forced to flee through the underground passage with Anuo, and was finally killed by Yue…’

Memory: In that pitch-black darkness, a pair of scarlet vertical pupils slowly opened, accompanied by an extremely heavy, inhuman breathing sound.

Memory: The owner of those red pupils seemed to be watching this girl—whose body emitted an enticing magical glow—with great interest, from beyond the layers of darkness.

‘But in between, I remember! There was someone in that passage who kept staring at me and Anuo, and his affinity kept skyrocketing!’

That flash of scarlet vertical pupils struck like a thunderbolt, shattering the chaos in Yao Xing’s memory.

‘In those fragmented loops, besides the gentle but helpless Huan, the violent but sister-controlled Yue, and the vengeful Anuo… that gaze that had always been fixed on me from deep in the passage—I finally pulled it out from my subconscious at this moment.’

‘That being… just what is he?’

Outside the window of White Tower Restaurant, the setting sun was slowly sinking below the horizon.

The golden-red afterglow spilled onto the delicate porcelain plates on the table, but it could not reach the cold logic within Yao Xing’s mind.

“Hero-sama?”

Huan gently put down the silver fork in her hand.

She keenly noticed that Yao Xing’s expression had changed—no longer just fear or confusion, but a kind of extremely focused, almost frantic thought process.

“Did you just… think of something?”

Yao Xing did not answer immediately.

Her mind raced, retrieving the detail she had overlooked.

‘Anuo seemed to know the details last time. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have resolutely taken me to escape to…’

‘Once I find Anuo, I must ask him directly!’

During that escape through the dark passage, even though she had been so pathetic, even though she hadn’t spoken a single word to that person, he had—alone in the darkness—developed an extremely strange interest in her unilaterally.

‘I hope he is the key to breaking the situation.’

Seeing Yao Xing distracted, Huan did not show the slightest displeasure.

On the contrary, Huan found it interesting.

She propped her chin on her hands and silently observed the person in front of her lost in thought.

Yao Xing snapped back to reality.

“Hmm? Aren’t you going to eat anymore?”

Huan withdrew her gaze, smiled, and said quietly: “I’m full. Later, Yue will come to help. We’ll take the chance to slip away. Please cooperate~”

….

At the top of the bell tower.

The unbloomed frostgrass on the bell tower emitted a faint, elusive fragrance.

They had escaped from White Tower Restaurant once more and arrived at the “secret base”—the top of this bell tower.

‘This is the second time I’ve come here.’

Yao Xing obediently sat still, observing Huan’s every move.

Huan smiled and said: “This was my favorite secret base when I was little. Before my sister was injected with dragon blood, we often played here. Mother was always worried about it when she was alive.”

“But now… Haha… Mother has passed away, and Father forcefully injected dragon blood into my sister. Now she can barely keep her sanity.”

‘Dragon blood… that damned King of Lin Qi again!’

“Let’s get to the point?”

Huan walked slowly up to Yao Xing.

“To be honest, the Seven Demon Generals are terrifyingly powerful. Given Lin Qi’s current military strength, falling into crisis is probably only a matter of time.”

She took a step closer and looked straight into Yao Xing’s eyes: “I said before, I’m very willing to help you escape. But… could you… defeat the Demon King?”

Yao Xing was silent.

Huan sat down beside her and continued, “Actually… I don’t want to be bound by the throne. Rather than becoming king, I wish for harmony among all the nations.”

‘This is the third time I’ve heard your ideals…’

‘But you only know it’s the first time, and your ideals have never changed…’

‘The world hasn’t changed. You haven’t changed. The only one who’s changed seems to be me…’

Huan went on, “I can’t claim to sympathize with the Hero’s plight, so I know I don’t deserve to ask for your help.”

“But—”

“Okay.”

“But please let me—ah?!”

Huan was startled by the sudden answer, a rare expression of astonishment appearing on her face.

“You agree?”

“You just said… okay?”

Huan’s blue eyes, once full of worry and determination, now trembled with extreme shock.

She even unconsciously leaned back, unable to believe that this girl—forcefully summoned and always as skittish as a startled bird—would so readily give a promise as heavy as a mountain.

“Yeah, I agree.”

Yao Xing repeated calmly.

The wind slipped through the gaps between the bell tower’s gears, stirring her hair.

She looked at Huan’s familiar yet unfamiliar face, a wave of bitterness rising in her heart.

‘Because I’ve already seen it—when all your ideals were corroded by dragon blood, and in the end you could only go mad and weep in despair.’

‘That kind of ending is enough once.’

“But…”

Yao Xing turned her head and gazed deeply at the dimly lit Lin Qi Royal City below.

“I have a condition.”

Huan had not yet recovered from her surprise.

She asked blankly, “What condition? As long as it’s something I can accomplish…”

‘If I escape, Huan and Yue will definitely stay in Lin Qi.’

‘And if they stay here, there’s only one outcome: being completely devoured by dragon blood and becoming mindless heirs to the throne.’

‘Therefore…’

“My condition is this: I want you and Yue to run away with me!”

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere fell quiet.

“Actually… Lin Qi cannot be without an heir for even a day…”

Slap.

The same excuse could no longer hinder Yao Xing’s steps.

“If you become the heir, your father will forcefully inject you with a large amount of dragon blood, turning you into an inhuman heir! That outcome doesn’t match your ideals at all!”

Huan’s eyes wavered, as if she had long understood all this: “But… without an heir… Lin Qi would…”

That reason was completely irrelevant!

“Why? The king can be someone else. But not you. I don’t want a single drop of dragon blood to touch you!”

Huan lowered her head, deep in thought.

‘It feels like my persuasion failed…’

Yao Xing’s worried expression grew heavier: “Huan, rather than a fleeting moment of glory sealed by death, I want you—like a hero—to continue shining light for others.”

Huan’s steps trembled imperceptibly.

“I’m sorry, Hero-sama. I do understand your kindness… but please allow me a little more time to consider…”

‘Still failed…’

Huan looked up.

What met her eyes was Yao Xing’s shattered hope and a look of helplessness faintly glimmering in her gaze.

“The day after tomorrow… can you give me two days? Yue and I will decide and give you a satisfactory answer!”

‘Two days…’

Yao Xing’s heart sank heavily.

The most painful lesson she had learned from those fragmented loops was this: In this royal city full of conspiracies and dragon blood, “waiting” often meant death—or something worse than death.

“Two days is too long, Huan.”

Yao Xing’s voice trembled slightly.

She stepped forward and unconsciously grabbed Huan’s cold hand.

“The King of Lin Qi won’t give us two days—”

The wind blew through the bell tower, making a sharp whistling sound, as if urging something.

The two women said no more.

They simply stared at each other’s expressions in silence.

“I’m sorry…”

Yao Xing slowly let go of her impulsive hand.

Huan nodded, grateful for her understanding.