I Became the Narrow-Eyed Character in the Little Prince Game-Chapter 141: The Drunkard (5)

"······I just sobered up."

Selena had always been intoxicated.

Whether it was alcohol.

Or longing.

Or sorrow.

She staggered with pitiful steps.

As if she would sink forever.

However.

Drunkenness inevitably fades.

Because reality exists beyond intoxication.

A drunkard was no different.

Nothing had changed.

She had simply sobered up.

From the intoxication and alcohol that had plagued her for so long.

From memories.

From her younger sister.

"I've been drunk for too long."

The woman murmured in a low voice.

The executive, who had been staring down at her for a long time, clicked his tongue.

"What a pathetic display of hypocrisy."

"······."

"I'll make sure you die in the most agonizing way possible."

The Mana Oath.

All it took was to force the engraving burned into her heart into overdrive, and killing Selena would be easier than crushing an insect.

But instead of killing her immediately, {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} the executive handed her over to his subordinates.

A sneer curled at the corner of his lips.

"A traitor shouldn't be let off so easily."

He gave the order.

"Lock her in the underground prison. The one where not even a sliver of light reaches. I will personally strip the flesh from her bones."

And so.

The figures in crimson-black robes moved busily.

The woman was dragged away without resistance.

"······."

Her retreating figure.

For a brief moment, her frail back seemed to carry a faint trace of a shadow.

Yet it soon dispersed, like a dream dissolving into nothingness.

***

A pitch-black underground prison devoid of even a hint of sunlight.

Selena was shackled in chains.

Three days had already passed in this stench-filled hellscape.

Perhaps it was because she hadn't even had a single sip of water during that time.

"······."

The woman had grown gaunt beyond recognition.

Her unfocused eyes, the blood dried dark red on her body, and the festering wound on her thigh.

She looked like a flower trampled carelessly underfoot.

And yet.

If asked whether she had broken, the answer would be no.

The drunkard was merely waiting.

For a final opportunity to strike back at them.

One last, decisive blow.

Creeeeak—.

The rusted iron bars groaned open with a scream.

A man stepped inside.

It was the executive who had locked Selena in this place.

For three days, he had done nothing but let her rot in confinement.

But today, it seemed he had finally decided to do something.

"Have you been well?"

A formal pleasantry.

In his hands were a fine saw, pliers, a knife—an assortment of torture tools.

It seemed his words about making her die in agony had not been mere jest.

Perhaps to instill fear.

The executive deliberately laid out the instruments one by one in front of her.

So she could clearly envision the torment to come.

"Then, let me make you one last offer."

Before it all began.

The man extended a final proposition.

"I don’t care about the lost data. Burning down a branch—well, I suppose those people were only worth that much anyway."

A voice feigning benevolence.

"He still has use for your abilities."

"Hah."

"If you express willingness to cooperate, he will take you back. He is offering you mercy."

"Like hell he is... it's not mercy, it's just that I still have some use left."

"That’s right. It’s not easy to plant spies within the academy’s leadership."

"Shameless bastard···."

"Choose wisely."

The saw in the man’s grip gleamed menacingly.

As if ready to strip away flesh and bone at any moment.

The executive whispered.

"His resurrection is nearly upon us. When that day comes, perhaps your younger sister will also receive his mercy. Haven’t you spent these past years yearning for your family? Are you really going to throw that away now?"

Her younger sister.

Of all things, those words pierced deep into her chest.

Without realizing it, Lianne’s face surfaced in her mind.

—"Sister!"

That voice still echoed vividly.

How could she ever forget?

Even in the depths of hell, Lianne had been her star, the only meaning she had loved in this world.

Her sister’s love had never wavered for even a single moment.

But.

"Go to hell."

Tepid tears rolled down her cheeks.

Yet her eyes remained wide open.

Because she had chosen not to be bound anymore.

Selena Drunkard.

Family no longer meant only her younger sister.

There was also the teacher who had taken her in when she had nothing.

The fellow professors who had bickered with her yet stood by her side.

The students who always greeted her with bright smiles.

Galimar Academy.

That place, and the people within it, were her home.

Her family.

A love she had realized too late.

And.

—Professor.

A certain boy.

The student who had taken so many of her firsts.

One whom she felt both gratitude and guilt toward.

Even if this was the end, she wanted to leave behind something worthy of his kindness.

Even for a teacher like her.

"Because I'm the disciple of a good person."

This 𝓬ontent is taken from fгeewebnovёl.co𝙢.

"That itself is proof."

"Proof that, though he appears indifferent, his heart is warm."

For the voice that had once called her a good person.

Selena looked straight at the man before her.

For the first time, a flicker of life shone in her once-clouded red eyes.

"I’ve been under your control for five years. That’s enough."

"You're beyond saving."

Perhaps realizing that persuasion was useless, the executive clicked his tongue in irritation.

In the end, he reached for the fine saw.

Her fate was being decided.

"Fine... If that’s your choice, then I’ll send you to meet your beloved little sister."

"You won’t be able to. Lianne is in heaven."

The woman laughed, as if relieved.

She knew her end was near.

"A bitch like me will probably go straight to hell, though."

"What a shame."

"And you lot will be falling into that hell with me."

"...What?"

The executive was caught off guard.

Selena did not miss the opportunity.

This was the final trick she had kept hidden.

"Urk...!"

She poured mana into the engraving on her heart.

A mechanism she had carved into herself with her own magic just before arriving here.

Fwaaah—!

A violent surge of power roared through her body.

Her internal circuits overloaded.

The energy coursed through her at a breakneck pace.

The first engraving of the Oath and the second engraving of Resistance clashed with wild intensity, amplifying each other.

"You... don't tell me—!"

The executive’s eyes widened in panic.

It was an explosion born of magic synthesis.

By sacrificing all the mana residing within her, Selena triggered an artificial detonation—either a suicide attack or a self-destructive burst.

It was enough power to reduce this entire branch to rubble.

Selena sneered.

"Let’s go. To hell."

Time slowed.

She closed her eyes.

Her body was burning. Soon, she would be scattered into nothing—no, not even a trace of ash would remain.

Feeling the mana raging within, she smiled.

If.

A meaningless hypothesis.

But in one’s final moments, such thoughts naturally arise.

As she reflected on her long life’s end.

If things had been different.

At the end of that thought was none other than a golden-haired boy.

The boy who had always been so kind.

If I hadn't been drowning in sorrow...

If.

If we had met without this tangled past, could Yuda and I have been something better?

I thought I had made peace with dying... But you're the only regret I have.

I never once told you how grateful I was, or how sorry I was, or how much I cared.

Like an unsent letter, those feelings linger, unwritten.

How ridiculous.

Perhaps... I—

Her final thought never reached its conclusion.

At the very brink of death. Just as she exhaled her last breath.

Snap!

"That’s enough."

A crisp sound, like fingers snapping.

Then, a voice followed.

"Shatter."

Crash—!

With the sound of glass breaking, jet-black darkness engulfed the drunkard.

Shadows seeped between the cracks of her skin.

And then.

The rampaging energy—vanished without a trace.

As if someone had simply lied about its existence.

"······?"

Selena’s mind reeled in confusion.

She had braced for the agony of being torn apart.

Yet her limbs were still intact.

Even the excruciating pressure on her heart was gone.

Something was wrong.

Behind her, warmth enveloped her.

As if she were being held in familiar arms.

She opened her eyes.

And the first thing she saw—

"Professor."

"Yuda... Student?"

Was none other than the boy she had just been thinking about.

The boy to whom her unsent words had been meant.

Their eyes met—brief yet infinitely long.

"I came to rescue you."

The snake whispered.

His usual gentle smile rested at the corners of his lips.

"I told you, didn't I? That I would take responsibility."

Why was it?

A memory replayed in her mind.

A night at the banquet.

A conversation they had shared alone in the garden.

For a moment, past and present overlapped.

—"Who knows? Maybe."

—"If that’s true... will you take responsibility for it, like some superstition?"

—"Gladly."

—"If that is what you wish."

Just like that night.

The snake held the drunkard tightly.

As if he had no intention of letting go.

"I came to keep my promise."

His eyes, beneath his slightly raised eyelids, glowed brightly.