‘I didn’t want to get involved in any of this shit… So, just what the hell is happening right now?’ Serein took a long time to gather her scattered thoughts before she finally realized just where her feet had led her. 

It was only a moment ago that she was hanged upside down by the Sea Empress, one of the rulers of the three realms. So, how? 

“How the fuck did I end up being in a VIP guest room?”

Facepalming hard, Serein let out a groan while standing in such a grand bedroom meant for the guests of the Sea Empress.

If she was being honest, that adventurer felt like she had been in auto-pilot mode ever since the moment the Empress took her to the crime scene, where she, Sam, and Pam ended up witnessing just exactly why the Sea Empress agreed with the possibility of dark magic being involved.

Frozen in place.

While not a single blood stain was visible, the dungeon was eerie on its own.

There are no signs of life other than themselves, but the bodies were almost scattered everywhere. The loyal guards, who were dutiful till their last breath, looked as if they were still guarding the place even in the afterlife. Their bodies were as hard as stones and bitingly cold to the touch.

Stiriacrus.

That was the first thing that crossed her mind the first time she arrived there. These bodies resembled how she imagined dying from that illness would have looked. 

While these sea creatures have no hair, it’s not hard to identify the discoloration on their fingertips and some parts of their body as unnatural frostbite. Even the Empress herself easily agreed to that presumption. It was absurd for these corpses to have this obnoxious death when this guarded place and its surroundings felt as warm as the summer lake. 

Things just don’t add up. 

That being said, Serein was not curious enough to meddle and play the hero in this questionable situation, no, she really never intended to do that. To her dismay, her attempt to woo the Empress so she wouldn’t kill her in vain seemed to have backfired on her at lightning speed.

Apparently, the more she talked, the more the Empress was convinced that she was destined to be involved in some way or another in this matter.

“With that much knowledge regarding our circumstances, I simply see it as an impossible thing to consider this situation as a mere coincidence.”

—Exactly as Serein feared it.

Previously, she had no choice but to spell out this information to get away from the raging Empress’s fury; she needed to find someone suitable to carry the blame instead of her. 

However, after pointing out a very specific group as the real culprit, everyone is just so worked up with the bizarre thought of her being one of the key informants that were sent by some kind of deity to help them with this ridiculous chaos. 

Oh, may their ever-powerful and wise royal empress continue to shower them with such good fortune. 

 ̶S̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶b̶u̶l̶l̶s̶h̶i̶t̶.̶ Ahem.

Yeah. Well. Anyhow, speaking of luck…

“Ugh…” Staring at her palm, Serein groaned, “Things just keep getting out of hand, damn it!”

And by that, she was referring to the countdown of the ticking bomb planted on her right hand.

‘Fuck this, if I had known that this would happen I should have just taken the L—’

{No, you wouldn’t}

She groaned, ‘You’re right… I won’t.’

—Despite knowing she’d end up like this, at the very least she’s still alive. It doesn’t even matter that she’s currently a laughingstock for the Ancient Spirit, she is grateful to be able to dodge her death flag. 

Staring down at her own hand with the numbers that would start decreasing by midnight, Serein laments over the conversation that occurred between her and the Empress earlier.

“I’m quite amazed by your wide knowledge of our overall situation— it was actually more detailed than what my own reliable men had gathered. Such an amazing accomplishment, I must admit. Although, as I previously stated, it begs some questions, don’t you think?”

Not knowing any other way to survive but to agree with her majesty before repeating her reassurances on how she has no intention to spread this news elsewhere and whatnot, that adventurer regretted the moment she let her mouth run a mile with the exaggerations.

Although, even with that, she is not sure if she wouldn’t end up in the same situation. 

“Very well, since you have that demeanor to even put your own life on the line, I’m sure you wouldn’t have minded much if I were to test your words, hmm~?”

And just like that, The Sea Empress planted what can easily be considered a hand bomb— literally— on her.

“If your statements were all true, then supposedly you would be able to meet that boater you’ve been talking about with no problem, right? So, I’ll give you one month to be at the merfolk lagoon and investigate. Don’t worry, I’ll pay you handsomely. I know how human greed works~”

One month. 

Serein considered everything she still needed to do, including the chaos of preventing the assassination of the Amaranth regent queen, which would hopefully prevent civil war from breaking out. 

This long chain of actions and reactions is surely going to take a very long time, one month would never be sufficient to deal with it all. Therefore, she tried to explain it to her majesty. 

“I see” she could see the slight smile forming at the corner of the Empress’s lips, which made her smile as well–

Only. She was so wrong to think that was a positive sign. Let alone get the Sea Empress’s permission to delay the time limit, instead—

“I guess for your bravery and fun attempt, I shall reward you for such an amazing treat. 21 days should be enough for you,” 

– Ziiiinggg!

And so, ladies and gentlemen, that was the quick recap on how she just messed up her own deadline when she just barely escaped her doomed, cursed fate.

“You dare to question my authority? Bitch, sit down”

While she might have not openly said that, but— ‘That damn Empress sure loves to humor…’ 

My goodness, she really just fucked herself up. 

‘Can I even be grateful that the timer would stop once I hit the lagoon and not once I found that imaginary man?’ 

Imaginary—because, like the other characters, she has no way of knowing if that person exists until she meets him. 

In addition to the fact that she can’t recall some parts of it, this world doesn’t exactly follow that draft she wrote anymore. There are some signs her words were true and justified, which makes her feel a little better, but it doesn’t mean she was completely safe to say that man certainly exists in this world. 

Sighing to herself, Serein took a seat on the queen-sized bed, trying to calm herself for at least the rest of the night.

‘Sam-min and Pam-min should be next door…’ 

The Empress has assigned them to stay within her territory for a while. She made some concessions, including helping them heal from their injuries. Serein couldn’t care less about the pirates that were not spared; it’s not like she could be sympathetic with everyone, however, Cevahir and Cherry would definitely need care after that brutal ambush.

Earlier, the person who led her to this room mentioned that the three rooms they’d occupied tonight were the only ones available for air-breathing creatures such as humans and similar creatures. While that person wasn’t particularly chatty, Serein manages to learn a little bit about where she’d be placed as the Empress’s hostage—guest. 

Apparently the room that Cevahir and the two hatchlings would be using was where the Imperial Prince of the Qirith Kingdom lodged during the sacred ceremony.

“…”

‘Wait a minute…’

Now that she thinks about it, ‘Doesn’t this mean this room or the third room would likely be the place where one of those skelly-punks stayed?’

As that realization sets in, Serein starts to wonder if that’s what the Empress wanted of her. After all, for a stranger, she seemed to gain a lot of trust. In fact, it’s actually quite suspicious that the Empress seemed to get along with her story far too easily.

Maybe she was only paranoid. Maybe everything was just in her head. But if there’s even a moment of truth behind her overthinking, then she must make the move if she doesn’t want to miss out.

‘Maybe she couldn’t check it herself after knowing that there are sea creatures with intelligence, such as those straying Sirens, who are not on her side.’ 

Who knows if there are others among the workers who were spies for the enemy.

‘Or maybe her movement is bind by political play?’

This one is less likely, although not exactly impossible. Because, unlike the Mutant King, Aidou, who rules nature on land entirely on his own, the Dragon Lord and the Sea Empress have something resembling a social ladder that exists under their leadership, 

For example, because of those counselors under her, the Sea Empress cannot make a rushed decision without the agreement of most of them, especially since it has now been discovered that the Qirith Empire might have been involved. And in the same way, despite being the strongest, she still needs to watch out in case any rebellious people start to have some thoughts. 

Well, no matter what the exact reason might be—

‘Let’s just hope that this was indeed what her majesty wanted me to do.’

It’ll be bad if she misunderstands this and creates more chaos for her already chaotic journey. After all, self-sabotage appears to be a recurring theme in her current joke of a life. She doesn’t even know if laughing over it would somehow make her feel any better.

{Don’t worry I’ll laugh at you instead, pffft-}

Serein rolled her eyes in response to the Ancient Spirit’s sudden chiming, holding back a snarl of “oh, fuck off”—despite the fact that she was fully aware that he would have found out about it by now because they’re spiritually sharing the same mind. 

In any case, she’ll take a look around the room for now and maybe follow up with a more thorough search after his companions arrive here. 

“hmm…”

Through a quick glance, she can see that the room is all clean and neat, befitting of being the VIP guest room, although the lighting is rather dim. Then again, given that they’re at the bottom of the sea, she’s already impressed that there’s any light at all.

‘The natives seemed to be okay navigating through the dark’

The small light orbs seemed to be exclusively created for her, the two hatchlings, and maybe some other creatures like the selkie and the merfolk who live on a shallower part of the ocean.

Ignoring that, she proceeded to inspect other items, primarily the furniture. Looking through the wardrobe, under the table, and literally every nook and cranny of the room in search of any strange object that looked out of place. Her efforts, however, were futile.

‘I guess it’d be strange if something were hidden here, huuuu… I’m being too hopeful.’ 

Then, where should she search? It was merely a VIP guest room, no matter how amazing it is, it’s still only a guest room. If there’s any hidden place or path installed somewhere, she doubts that anyone who’s only ever been here once would know. 

‘I mean, if there are rats, then it’ll be possible.’

And just as she thought so, much to her luck, she noticed something when she checked under the bed.

‘Oh, hell no…’ She could feel how one of the tiles was rather shaky— properly installed tiles aren’t supposed to be shaky.

It didn’t help that when she knocked on it, she could tell it had been tampered with. 

“Is this for real?”  In disbelief, she lowered herself and moved the bed slightly, she then broke the tile using the tip of her dagger and found something wrapped in a cloth. 

‘Fuck, I really found something???’

She then carefully got that cloth out and opened it, inside was something that appeared to be a magic device with some projection coming out of it. 

“Well, I’ll be damned…”

Smiling a bit crookedly, she stared at the purple letters in disbelief. 

‘Did I just find a fucking grenade???’

In the midst of her chaotic thoughts, Aiston’s voice could be heard along with a breeze, {It seems like my help was not needed after all, congrats!}

Laughing dryly at that, she could only facepalm, which, ironically, was done by her hand that would act like a time bomb once midnight hit.

—

Author Note: Heyya folks! Anemic Bunnicula here~! Here goes another update for the week! Hope you all would enjoy it, and I’ll see you again in the next chapter, Chao~!

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