<Wasn’t This a Strategy Game? Episode 7>

Eden stole a glance at the spear casually.

No matter how many times I saw it, the amazing odds made my neck tingle, but Asmun would never become a tyrant.

I’ll make sure of that.

“What’s going on?”

Eden asked angrily as Asmun’s gaze subtly shifted downwards.

Noticing that he was looking at the bandaged left hand, Eden instinctively hid her hand behind her back.

Asmun then turned to look at Eden again.

“…….”

Eden, covered from head to toe in monster blood, was a sight to behold—absolutely a mess.

The blood on her face looked like it had been cleaned by a physician, but there was nothing to be done about the blood on her hair and clothes.

The basement reeked of blood, yet Asmun didn’t so much as wince and slowly stepped forward.

As he approached, Eden unintentionally took a step back and held her breath.

The flickering flames illuminated his breathtakingly handsome face. In his eyes, there was a lazy kind of menace.

He stared into Eden’s eyes as if to bore into her and slowly parted his dry lips.

“That’s the question I want to ask.”

“…….”

“Who are you?”

His chilling question weighed heavily in the cold air. Eden knew, as expected, that Asmun was suspicious of her.

Although fainting and getting left behind in the imperial palace wasn’t on the agenda, Eden had always known that Asmun would eventually come looking for her. She just hadn’t anticipated such a harsh place and atmosphere.

“I’m Eden Liliat, an apprentice priest from the Great Temple.”

“…….”

Even with Eden’s answer, Asmun’s eyes remained frostily cold.

He probably already knew her name and was aware that he wasn’t looking for such a mundane response.

Eden wasn’t planning to drag this out either. She swallowed hard and, meeting Asmun’s gaze confidently, blurted out the words she had prepared for a month.

“And I’m the one who will make His Highness the Emperor.”

At her outrageous declaration, the frost in the basement’s air completely seized up for a moment.

Asmun stared in disbelief at the apprentice priest who boldly spouted such nonsense in a situation like this, tilting his head slightly as he moved his lips.

“Are you confessing?”

“……What?”

Eden reflexively replied to his unexpected question.

“That you’re involved in the low-grade plot that occurred at today’s banquet.”

Asmun said this in a polite tone, a slight smirk creeping up on his lips. Yet the coldness in his eyes had intensified, sending a shiver down Eden’s spine.

“Are you confessing, I said.”

Eden forced a small smile, trying not to be intimidated by his demeanor.

“No way. If that were the case, why would I have saved you, Your Highness?”

Asmun’s smile that had been hovering vanished instantaneously. His face showed he disagreed with the notion that she had saved him.

Eden decided to directly point things out to him.

“Your Highness was in two dangerous situations today. First, there was the risk of being ripped apart by a monster, and second….”

The two glared at each other as if engaged in a battle of wills.

“There was the danger of being targeted by the 1st Prince after defeating a monster.”

This made Asmun raise an eyebrow. Eden continued without concern.

“And I thwarted both problems.”

Asmun stared at Eden with a fierce glare.

“First, I prevented the 1st Prince from testing you and undermining your reputation, and second, I stopped the 1st Prince from defeating a monster you couldn’t handle and receiving the title of ‘savior’ instead.”

Eden smiled proudly, a bit smug at her accomplishment, but Asmun didn’t share in her amusement.

“As you may have already guessed, the one who likely dragged the monster to the banquet hall was the 1st Prince. The objective, of course, was to test you.”

“…….”

“He’s probably been growing suspicious lately due to the increased monster-hunting activities of your brigade. He’s been the one most irked by you from the start. Although the 1st Prince isn’t particularly clever, he has a knack for instinctively recognizing threats.”

Eden skillfully recited words from the character description of Kiris.

Just from dragging a monster into the founding banquet, it was clear that Kiris wasn’t someone with deep thoughts. However, he occasionally displayed animal instincts and was indeed a formidable threat.

Asmun, whose supporting faction was weak, couldn’t hold a candle to him.

“You mustn’t get caught yet. Be cautious.”

When Eden finished speaking with a brazen kind of skill, Asmun’s expression had turned even more sinister.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m giving you advice.”

“You, an apprentice priest lacking in Divine Power and Magical Power, dare to give me advice by risking your life to draw the monster’s attention?”

Asmun coolly pointed out the absurdity, grinning maliciously. His face was one of utter disbelief.

Soon he dropped the smile and whispered with a completely serious look,

“If you tell me what scheme you’re trying to pull, I’ll spare your life.”

For the first time, Eden felt a chill run down her spine at his steady voice.

That low tone of voice was sincere.

Only then did Eden remember the quest assigned to her.

It seemed that literally, survival was the key here.

How insane, facing death threats twice in a single day.

But there was no time to complain. Eden took a slow, deep breath and pulled out what she had prepared.

“Yeah, let’s be honest.”

“…….”

“You won’t believe me, but I received a revelation.”

As Eden acted with a pitiful and serious expression, Asmun’s eyes turned even colder. Eden didn’t back down and continued.

“It was a revelation to make Prince Asmun the Emperor.”

It felt like she had become some kind of cult leader, but there was really no other way to explain it.

I couldn’t very well tell him the truth that I’ve entered a game and need to make him the Emperor for a clear win.

“I foresaw everything that would happen at this founding banquet through a dream. That’s how I was prepared. I learned through a revelation that the monster reacts to the smell of blood.”

Eden casually held up her bandaged hand.

Almost all monsters react to the scent of blood, but Tannir’s responsiveness was precise and rapid. But Asmun was covered in blood just like Eden.

The reason she could capture Tannir’s attention instantly was thanks to the ‘200-Year-Old Monster’s Blood’ item she received as a reward last time.

Sure, the blood Kiris spilled on Asmun was probably putrid enough, but it couldn’t compare to something that had been rotting for 200 years, and generally, monsters are more excited by the blood of their own kind.

Of course, the drawback was that she still smelled rotten.

“…….”

Staring at Eden as she sold her story, Asmun suddenly reached out and grasped her left hand, the one that was bandaged.

When Eden gasped in surprise, he pulled her hand closer, pressing his nose slowly against the blood-soaked bandage.

“…….”

Eden’s heart dropped, pounding wildly at Asmun’s unexpected actions.

She forgot to breathe, staring at Asmun, who buried half his face in her palm with his cold gaze fixed on her.

This wasn’t exactly the right moment to think such a thing, but still…

Eden swallowed hard.

He’s handsome.

“So this smell, is it the smell of the priest’s blood?”

Asmun asked indifferently with disbelief. At his slow question, Eden felt a twinge of panic.

There was no way this horrific stench could come from a person. Any attempt to lie would surely backfire.

Eden hesitated for a moment, then decided to be honest.

“No. I knew something like this would happen, so I came prepared.”

“You saw in a dream that the monster reacts to putrid blood?”

“Of course.”

“And you didn’t hesitate to stab your own palm with a shard of glass to avoid suspicion.”

Asmun gently pressed her, revealing his sharp awareness of her actions.

The bit about Eden pretending to accidentally injure her palm was specifically to deflect Kiris’s suspicions.

However, there was one more person she needed to deceive.

Asmun.

If she only pretended to offer her blood without sacrificing it, the sharp-eyed Asmun would catch her lie instantly.

It’s not odd for a priest following the will of the deity to sacrifice herself to save others. Especially if it’s a devout priest who has received a revelation.

“In carrying out the divine revelation, what’s the big deal about this little palm?”

Eden retorted with a confident voice, roughly pulling her hand free from Asmun’s grasp.

Asmun let go of her hand but continued to watch her intently.

“Since I received a revelation, I will do my utmost to assist you, Your Highness. Please allow me.”