The sky was already tinged with a very faint orange hue, signaling the approach of late afternoon.

The prince, with a tired expression, walked ahead, swinging his sword.

I followed him, my body tense, clutching the dagger tightly in my hand. I couldn’t help feeling uneasy after hearing him mention goblins earlier.

I kept silent and tried to distract myself by moving my legs.

Under normal circumstances, I would have babbled something because the awkwardness was hard to bear, but the person in question was the crown prince.

It was not my place to try and alleviate the awkwardness by asking him what his hobbies were.

However, continuing to move for more than ten minutes without saying anything was really hard.

“Your Highness, may I ask how many times you have participated in the birthday festival?”

Ah, just hold on a little longer.

I couldn’t bear it.

But the male lead glanced at me and, surprisingly, continued the conversation normally.

“Since the year I turned 14. I became a victim of this damned festival.”

With a self-deprecating smile, he casually picked up a stone from the ground.

And whoosh!

He threw it towards something.

I naturally thought that a rabbit was the victim of the male lead’s stone-throwing.

“Kwuk!”

That was until I heard that thick and pathetic scream.

“…….”

“……Run.”

* * *

I was flabbergasted.

“What? Run?”

the male lead snatched my hand and pulled me in the opposite direction of the sound.

But regrettably, by that time, green monsters had already swarmed us, surrounding us and snorting.

That’s right. They were goblins.

Honestly, this was entirely the fault of the male lead’s damned senses.

His unnecessarily sharp instincts caught even the slightest rustle, and here we are as a result.

Had he not yet received the protagonist’s buff since it was before the original story?

I seriously wanted to shout, “Hey, you lunatic!”

Contrary to his usual image, he surprisingly positioned me behind him and drew his sword.

His expression was quite troubled, which made me unnecessarily anxious.

As long as it’s not the leader, it’s fine, he said.

Why am I nervous?

“Damn, the leader is…….”

Ah.

Crazy?

I quickly rolled my eyes.

Not only were we outnumbered, but the leader had also appeared.

No matter how much of a munchkin the male lead is, unless he’s like ‘the world’s 0th ranked poker face and half-blood’……

Wait, when was the book released?

‘That’s right! 2010!’

The male lead indeed possessed the attributes of a Half-Blood!

Look at him now, his sleek black hair flowing, exuding the scent of Cool Water!

“What are you doing!”

Swoosh!

The male lead’s sword cut through the air, slicing a small goblin in front of him into two.

Being a Half-Blood was not something to be happy about.

‘It’s brutal!’

I couldn’t help but gag at the sight of goblin heads being severed and green blood spurting out.

“Damn.”

As expected, the male lead, fittingly bearing the title of the protagonist, elegantly swung his sword, easily dealing with the goblins that charged at him.

I tried to regain my composure as I quickly surveyed the surroundings.

I had to find a way out.

“Your Highness! There’s an exit on the right!”

“I’ll cover you if you go first,”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, someone grabbed me and covered my mouth.

I glanced sideways to see a hand that restrained my wrist.

It was a man’s hand, thin and pale. It wasn’t a goblin.

“Damn!”

When I moved my gaze forward, I saw the male lead with a surprised expression.

Was he always capable of making such a face?

“If you want to live, keep quiet.”

“Ugmpff!”

A man with a thick voice stuffed something like cloth into my mouth to prevent me from screaming.

Then he hoisted me up like a sack of rice and started running wildly.

My head went blank.

Who is this?

Who could it be?

The person doing this to me now must undoubtedly be someone from the side of the Third Prince, who recently had a conflict with the male lead.

‘Wait, isn’t this mountain restricted to only specific people?’

Who was it that came with the Third Prince?

‘Count Alcas.’

No, this madman has taken the wrong hostage.

‘He thinks he can threaten the male lead by kidnapping me, but does he really think that bastard will blink an eye, you idiot!’

I had to get my act together. I meticulously searched for his vulnerable spots.

Unfortunately, due to the armor he was wearing, the only exposed skin was his neck and face.

I relaxed my entire body.

He seemed to have noticed that I had given up, so he loosened his grip on me.

Thanks to that, I was able to open my eyes slightly and look around.

“…….”

The place he brought me to was right next to a waterfall with strange trees growing around it.

What, is he planning to throw me into that waterfall if I make trouble?

I swallowed hard and tightly clenched my fist.

Even if you’re caught in a tiger’s den, you can survive if you just grab its jaw! The man threw me to the ground and let out a rough sigh of irritation.

“Ha, you’re darn heavy.”

“Ow!”

I let out a short scream and fell to the floor. Right after that, I quickly spit out the cloth in my mouth.

The man’s blonde hair fluttered in the wind. I reached into my pocket and grabbed the glass bottle containing the special homemade tear gas I had stolen from the kitchen.

I wasn’t worried about the male lead’s tracking ability.

‘The question is whether he’ll just leave me behind or take care of me…’

I decided not to think about the cold future.

“Unfortunately, I’ll have to make it look like you were killed by goblins.”

“Wait, just a minute!”

I rolled to the left, terrified by his dreadful statement. And I looked at him with wide eyes.

A silver steel sword was stuck in the place where I had been lying, boasting its majesty.

‘No, why is this crazy bastard trying to kill me all of a sudden!’

My heart pounded.

“Just die quietly.”

“I don’t want to be a hostage, aah!”

Rose’s body was more agile than I thought.

Is it because she’s young? To dodge a sword swung by a man.

I got up quickly and started to run.

Damn it.

I shouldn’t be getting away from the male lead.

“Damn it, won’t you stop? Where do you think you’re running off to in your madness!”

Who’s the one out of their mind here? Right now, I was saner than anyone else.

I clenched my teeth and turned around.

Then, I aimed a bottle filled with pepper spray precisely at the count’s face.

I wasn’t sure how effective it would be, but it would at least temporarily immobilize him.

“Take this, you wretched bastard.”

Koreans, the descendants of the tiger.

My customary pepper spray settled on his face in a parabolic arc.

“Ah! You b*tch! Damn it!”

“Who are you calling a b*tch! Take this, You transformer made of pure crap and sh*t.”

I flipped him the middle finger with both hands and dashed forward.

I was gasping for breath.

I had to find the male lead. If I got lost here, it would be the end.

“Stop there!”

Despite being hit with my concentrated extract of pepper spray and whole black pepper double combo, he chased after me with eyes bloodshot, coughing.

I immediately picked up a stone from the ground and threw it hard.

“You’re done for, you bastard.”

I hesitated a bit to exert force since I had never hit anyone before, but I didn’t have the luxury to care about that with my life on the line.

“Your Highness! Your Highneeeess-!”

I screamed with all my might, calling for the male lead. My throat felt like it was going to burst.

I hoped he would just pop out on his own after all this, but it seemed like I only managed to stir up the anger of the damned Third Prince’s lackeys.

“Stop following me, you crazy bastard!”

I cursed and threw stones in fury, but he dodged my attacks and followed me relentlessly.

Was he professionally trained in combat?

“Your Highness! There’s a murderer here! Your Highness! Crown Prince-!”

“That madwoman! Do you intend to attract all the different races around here?”

“I won’t die alone, you stubborn bastard. Your Highness-!”

I was gasping for breath. Did I provoke him unnecessarily?

I grabbed my chest, feeling like it was going to burst, and ran like a madman.

A bitter taste rose from my throat.

It was then.

“Were you always this talkative?”

With a thud, I heard a quite familiar, charming voice.

Turning around, I saw the male lead, looking as if he had rolled in mud for three days, and Count Alcas, who had been knocked out by him.

For a different reason this time, cold sweat ran down my face.

“You were calling for me so desperately.”