When I was about to die, I proposed to five cruel princesses.

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✦ Chapter 7 – Third Princess, Solana (1) ✦

"Sure, I'll take one."

In the end, the first words that escaped Barton's mouth were those. It would probably be prudent to naturally sink into the atmosphere and gauge it first.

Soon, Ezekiel handed over a sunweed cigarette, which Barton rolled around in his fingers for quite a while with a look of novelty.

"I didn't think so but this really is a genuine sunweed cigarette. Definitely the real thing."

Barton didn't readily ask for the sunweed just to savor it. He was merely curious if the one Ezekiel was casually smoking was authentic.

Ezekiel exhaled a puff of smoke while looking at Barton, "I have no reason to bother with fakes, do I?"

"Sunweed is the highest grade drug — how did you manage to bring them all the way here? I'm curious about your smuggling methods."

"Well… I just brazenly smoked them on my way here."

"Hah, right. You wouldn't easily divulge trade secrets."

Is he specialized in concealing things?

In any case, it was clear the man across from him was being cautious of Barton to a certain degree; then his outwardly nonchalant demeanor must just be an act as well.

Meanwhile, Ezekiel asked Barton something rather unexpected, "Say, do you know how to cook at all?"

Suddenly changing the subject? Seems rather weak compared to expectations. 

"Why do you ask?"

"There are ingredients and cooking utensils on the second floor. Use them if you get hungry."

"Is this your house?"

"It was pretty much like that for me once upon a time."

Compared to him, the man had only arrived a mere half-day earlier — the ludicrously feeble claim of seniority that nearly made him laugh outright.

'No, come to think of it, a sunweed addict couldn't be normal.'

Vivid hallucinations were one of the most common symptoms experienced by sunweed smokers. It meant their ramblings were often incoherent nonsense. Inferring from that, everything now made sense. The man's excessive casualness, his seeming disconnect from rationality.

Ezekiel then gestured with his chin toward the ceiling.

"It's the rule of the Palace of Penance, check it out."

"Rules?"

Barton's gaze followed to the ceiling.

『Announcement to the Palace of Penance』

One, a total of three will be lodging at the Palace of Penance today. 

Two, reduce the number to two by tomorrow.

Three, if the above conditions are not met, the Palace of Penance will be destroyed.

"Hmm, quite an interesting set of rules," Muttering so, Barton looked around.

A sunweed addict, and a tense woman wound up tight…a simple but concise conclusion presented itself. The strongest one here was undoubtedly Barton himself.

'I expected formidable opponents, but this isn't bad either!'

There was certainly amusement to be had in tormenting the weak. Perhaps this was the feeling a chef had placing ingredients on the cutting board. He was already giddy imagining how he would harass and defile the hapless pair.

Barton took out the dice he had nestled in his pocket, "If those are the rules, no need to drag things out, right friends? Let me propose an entertaining method to start things off!"

"Entertaining?"

"Yes! Since someone has to die in this space anyway, let's fairly decide with dice who that one will be. Whichever of you two rolls higher, I'll let live."

As he spoke, Barton didn't forget to exude an overwhelming aura of dark magic. The reason, naturally, was to physically impress upon the two that he was overwhelmingly stronger.

For a while, silence hung in the air, the man and woman across from him exchanging glances a few times and nothing more. Thanks to that, Barton reaffirmed his conviction once more.

'As I thought, without a doubt I'm the strongest one here right now.'

Wouldn't it be entertaining to see them fight each other?

Eventually, it was Ezekiel who picked up the dice first.

"Quite the peculiar fellow has shown up. I'll go first."

"Go ahead. Don't hold back, roll comfortably."

As Barton muttered these words, he subtly cast a dark magic spell on Ezekiel. It was the infamous 'Weakening' curse.

'The value of this cursed dice is proportional to the strength of the person who rolls it.'

The weakened Ezekiel would roll a low number, and Barton would immediately kill him. He had already made a rough plan to spend the rest of the time having fun with the woman.

"Now, I wonder what number will come up? I'm really looking forward to it."

Just as Barton licked his lower lip with his tongue, 

*Whack!*

Something he hadn't noticed had struck his chest with great force.

"Guh…!"

Barton immediately straightened his violently whipped-back head.

Bewilderment came first, followed by a split second later by pain. As he tasted the metallic tang of blood, he moved his tongue and realized that his mouth was strangely empty. His front teeth had all been knocked out by the blow.

And then, that casual voice ringing in his ears—

"Well, is this how you're supposed to roll it?"

Ezekiel.

He was smiling leisurely as he rolled the dice back and forth.

"You dare…! What did you just…!"

"Your mouth is still plenty functional. Guess I overcompensated on the force."

As he finished speaking, a large piece of ice exploded from Ezekiel's palm, and countless crystals formed into the shape of dice and shot out.

*Whack! Whack! Whack!*

Moving at speeds difficult for the naked eye to even track.

All Barton could do was helplessly endure.

"Guh…! Aaargh…!"

*Whack! Crunch!*

"Stop! Stop…! At least stop for now…!"

Unable to withstand the unbearable agony any longer, Barton soon dropped to his knees, and ultimately crumpled into a fetal curl on the ground.

…Such torment, such humiliation, was utterly unprecedented in his life.

"W-what… a mage? Just what are you? You were definitely hit with the Weakening curse…!"

Barton was simply puzzled.

His mind was filled with only one question — 'Why?'

It was extremely well-known that dark mages held a decisive advantage against ordinary mages. Yet even with the Weakening spell cast on him, how could he have such power?

"You're… You're a mage! How against a dark mage like me…!"

"Matchup advantages?"

Ezekiel just snorted and laughed outright.

"That's only something that matters when you're evenly matched. Isn't that right?"

*Crunch!*

The last ice dice that was fired pierced the crown of Barton's head, who was still lying face down. It was an overwhelming victory.

Ezekiel's gaze turned to Agnes beside him.

"Congratulations. To think a newbie like you survived this Palace of Penance, that's incredible."

"...…."

However, Agnes could not utter a single word.

She remained expressionless, but in truth her mind was a whirling storm of complexity. Ezekiel's magical prowess she had witnessed firsthand far exceeded her imagination. She could only feel utterly dumbfounded.

It was quite a while before she looked back at Ezekiel.

"…Just what exactly are you?"

Unfortunately, she could not receive an answer.

*Thump Thump!* 

— Hear, Palace of Penance! The time has come!

For the appointed time had finally arrived.

*Shaaaaaah!*

A blindingly strong light burst out like a flash inside the space.

◇──◆──◇

*Beeeeeeeeep*

I lowered my head, feeling a strong ringing in my ears. It was the side effect of the teleportation that is activated when the Palace of Penance time is over. I've experienced this a few times, but it's always unpleasant.

'This place… The reception room?'

Thanks to my past experience in the imperial palace, it was easy to recognize. Currently, I found myself situated in the middle of an empty reception room.

However, I was alone.

There was a chair across from me, and two teacups clearly set on the table in front, yet no one else was present besides myself.

'Where is the Third Princess?'

Should I go out and search directly? It shouldn't be too difficult to find her. Just look for the most emaciated woman in the imperial palace.

Just as I took out a new sunweed cigarette to light up,

*Creak*

*Clack Clack*

A woman entered through the opening reception room door.

Hair of such pure gold that its mere color proved its preciousness, undulating in waves like molten gold whenever it swayed. And beneath that, deeply gleaming red eyes.

A stranger, yet simultaneously familiar. 

But also familiar, yet simultaneously a stranger.

What could this woman be, bearing both familiarity and alienness? As I fell into complicated contemplation, the golden-haired woman took a seat across from me.

Up close, the curves of her figure were shockingly, excessively voluptuous.

No matter where my gaze landed on her body, I couldn't help but feel awkward. Our eyes naturally met face-to-face.

*Whew*

The woman let out an abrupt sigh first. 

However, it was unmistakably a sigh of relief, not displeasure.

"I'm truly relieved you are unharmed. My heart sank when His Majesty the Emperor forced you into that Palace of Penance trial. But rest assured, this brief conversation with me will surely be safe."

"......."

I silently regarded her. 

For her extreme dissonance was incredibly jarring.

"You…"

"Yes. I am Solana, the Third Princess of the Vaith Empire."

*Whew-woo-wooo*

I ended up exhaling a cloud of smoke directly into her face.

You're Solana? 

…You are?

The same you who was scrawny and haggard?

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