Sweetcrasy

I was overwhelmed by a sense of despair, realizing that I hadn’t been able to change anything in the novel’s storyline.

Then… does that mean no matter what I do, I’m destined to die and serve as nothing more than a tool to push Johan’s into darkness?

With my downfall right before my eyes, I could no longer sleep. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw myself standing before the guillotine. I could barely manage two hours of sleep a night.

Moreover, the imperial knights who had seized the royal palace showed not even a sliver of sympathy or favor toward me. They acted as if the mere fact that I hadn’t been dragged out and slaughtered like the other servants was some kind of mercy.

By that point, I had nearly given up on avoiding death. At the very least, I wanted to escape torture, so I pretended to be in shock, feigning idiocy and keeping my head down…

“This way, Your Excellency.”

In order to interrogate me, Cedar Valencia himself come down to solitary cell

Creak— Bang.

The thick iron door swung open, and dim light spilled in, revealing the man’s face. Despite his infamous reputation, his features were delicate and refined—an elegant face ill-suited to his notoriety…

“I don’t want to die… I don’t want to die!”

To me, he is nothing short of a grim reaper.

When our eyes met for a brief moment, a shiver ran down my spine and my hands trembled with fear.

Yet, neither Cedar nor the knights who entered the interrogation room with him spared me a second glance. Their utter indifference made one thing painfully clear.

“I… am not even worthy of being a living royal hostage…”

At best, I would serve as nothing more than bait to lure out the escaped Johan.

The cold gaze Cedar fixed upon me felt like he was measuring and evaluating my worth.

If this continues, I really will die.

At that moment, Cedar finally opened his mouth.

“…Is this the Third Prince of Milos?”

It was my first time hearing his voice. It was low, monotone.

Combined with the inherent arrogance of an aristocrat from the imperial capital, it was impossible to discern any emotion from it.

“Yes, Your Excellency. When we took the palace, we found him imprisoned in the underground cells. His health was already frail, and it seems he lost his mind from the shock… He barely reacts to anything.”

I was the highest-ranking prisoner the empire had captured. On top of that, I was already known for having a weak constitution.

So I decided to pretend to be an idiot.

Because… honestly, I had nothing to say.

Since I didn’t know anything. If someone questioned me, I’d have to evade answering somehow. But standing in front of armed men and saying “I don’t know” took an immense amount of courage. So I thought if I just acted completely out of it, unable to respond properly, maybe they’d accept it… That’s how I started my act.

“All I know is that this is inside a book andI don’t have any of “Louis’s memories”!”

In other words, my mind held no valuable information that only Louis might have known. After all, I wasn’t actually Louis.

Actually, I wanted to be more cooperative to at least preserve my life. But the only thing I truly knew was the plot of the novel.

And that was basically a prophecy of the future—if I revealed too much, I could die that very day.

So whenever the questioning dragged on, I just kept acting out of my mind and unresponsive…Thankfully, it worked. They didn’t resort to torture or harsh interrogation.

But the problem isn’t because the Imperial Army saw me as a valuable prisoner…

“Honestly, there’s no more useful information to extract from this one. He probably doesn’t know much anyway.”

“Indeed. We’ve already secured the secret passage, and we’ve narrowed down John’s whereabouts. Unless he has a mage assisting him, he couldn’t have reached the Pheresia territory yet.”

“As for the Dragon’s Relic, Johan is the most likely one to have information on it. I hear Milos only passes knowledge of the relics to its heirs.”

In short, Louis isn’t even worth torturing or interrogating.

So, what happens to a useless prisoner…?

Obviously, they die.

Even the trashy meal they brought me once a day was still a drain on resources. Keeping me alive meant wasting supplies… Most likely, in the original story, Louis was used as bait to lure out Johan and then executed—because the man standing so confidently in the center of those knights, Cedar Valencia, had deemed him useless.

“Fuck… but I have nothing to bargain with!”

It’s not like I could suddenly recall Louis’s memories. The kingdom’s treasures were all plundered… The Dragon’s Relic? Johan would be the one to find it—I had no clue where it was…

And even if I told them, “This is actually a world inside a book !”…he wouldn’t believe me…!

It isn’t like I have any groundbreaking knowledge from modern Korea that would interest Cedar, either. I wasn’t an expert in any field. I was just an ordinary job seeker.

“If only I’d been born as a princess… at least then I could’ve tried seducing him.”

Of course, that is just a joke. In the novel, Cedar wasn’t interested in women.

Not because he was particularly ethical, but because he preferred war and hunting over lust. He had a savage, bloodthirsty nature.

“Especially when it came to Milos… he was absolutely ruthless. The Milos kingdom kept flaunting their so-called ‘dragon bloodline’ and looking down on their neighbors. Meanwhile, the empire, which had repeatedly failed to unify the continent because of those damn relics, saw them as an intolerable nuisance.”

The empire didn’t try to exterminate the royal family for no reason.

So even if I had been a princess, Cedar would have killed me anyway.

But waiting around for my execution wasn’t an option.

As discreetly as possible, I glanced at Cedar while my mind raced furiously.

“What does Cedar want?”

Most likely… Johsn’s whereabouts.

At this point in the story, I know where John is hiding. But from the knights’ conversation earlier, it seems like Cedar already has a rough idea.

More importantly, Johan has an ally. A high-ranking mage still loyal to the Milos royal family would help him escape using teleportation magic.

In the original novel, Johan successfully screwed Cedar over and fled.

“And because that plan failed, I ended up at the guillotine… Cedar, that insane bastard, got so pissed about Johan escaping that he executed Louis for no reason!”

So giving Cedar this information… would be digging my own grave. Because Johan is definitely going to escape.

“Then, how about leaving this one’s fate to Your Excellency’s discretion?”

At that moment, one of the imperial knights suddenly brought me up to Cedar, who had been holding his breath. Cedar looked at me with an expression that seemed to say, Oh, you were there?—completely indifferent.

“No…! I worked so hard to erase my presence…!”

I cursed the knight who had just triggered a death flag for me, grinding my teeth.

“Fate? What fate?! I’m getting executed the moment John escapes anyway…!”

Desperation seized me, and my hands trembled. But I didn’t dare look directly at Cedar. If our eyes met, he might just order my immediate execution.

“What do you all think?”

The man who now held my life in his hands spoke with utter indifference. His voice was flat—detached, as if this matter wasn’t even worth his attention.

“Well, didn’t his Majesty say there is no need for prisoners?”

“We haven’t even properly interrogated him yet… Perhaps a more intensive approach is worth considering?”

The knights only offered half-hearted responses. To them, I was just… an inconvenience. Like a piece of trash that someone would eventually have to take out.

“The Milos royals are said to have an unusually strong sense of familial loyalty, aren’t they?”

Then, one middle-aged knight came up with a truly horrific idea. I felt my entire body freeze in sheer terror.

“Johan… That man is said to have cherished his youngest sibling above all else. If we publicly announce that Prince Louis will be executed, wouldn’t he at least come near the capital to confirm the news?”

“Fuck, fuck…!”

I cursed that bastard knight in my head, but…

It was like trying to hold back a flood with bare hands. A suffocating sense of dread swallowed me whole.

“Not a bad idea. If it works out, we can rid it of the disgusting dragon bloodline from the world once and for all.”

“It would also serve as a fine warning to the remaining rebels who still refuse to bow to the empire.”

And with that, Cedar gave a casual nod, utterly uninterested. My fate had been sealed.

From that moment, I was too mentally shattered to even wipe away the tears welling in my eyes. I just sat there, blankly thinking.

‘Is it the end now…?’

At the same time, I couldn’t help but swear.

“Fuck, in the end…”

Because the words were blurted in the brief pause in conversation, the imperial knights clearly heard my little insult.

“What did the prince just say?”