I Became a Tyrant’s Maid - Chapter 48

“Your Highness, do we really have to leave right now?”

I gritted my teeth and tugged at the male lead’s sleeve.

The male lead looked at me as if I was strange, probably because I was so terrified, and I awkwardly glanced at the passage outside the lake cave.

“Well, as Your Highness said, there might be monsters out there now……”

“You’re the one who said we should leave.”

The male lead looked straight into my eyes and said.

He was right. Yeah, didn’t I say we should leave? Haha.

Damn it.

As the male lead said, we needed to get out of here.

We had to at least reach the Desart Empire to put out the urgent fire.

What if we don’t arrive at the ceremony on time? Then it’s obvious that the 1st Prince and 2nd Prince’s factions would question the Crown Prince’s qualifications.

Above all, it would cause diplomatic issues.

“Yes…… that’s true, but……”

“Stay behind me. I’ll figure something out.”

The male lead said with a rather responsible voice.

I held up the tin can containing the Big Horn Mushroom juice that I had prepared in advance.

But should I tip off the male lead about the crystal ants that will appear ahead?

Won’t he ask how I knew? Besides, if we’re dealing with ants, the male lead’s sword might be useless.

But contrary to my worries, the ants that appeared before our eyes were…….

“Kirik, kikkik!”

I almost collapsed on the spot. Crazy, they said ants!

“Dodge!”

Kwaddeuk! The male lead’s sword strike shot towards the ants.

I saw the 1-meter ant that had been mercilessly cut in half and fallen.

Fluorescent blue fluid was flowing from the freshly dead ant.

“Your, Your Highness, is it normal for ants to be this big?”

I trembled in fear, unable to continue speaking. He sighed briefly and said.

“Damn it, it’s full of high-risk monsters.”

The male lead swallowed hard and regained his posture.

“For crystal ants, this is a small group. So stick close behind me, if you don’t want to die.”

Should I think this is fortunate?

If they were small ants, we might have died covered in a swarm of ants like in Amazon documentaries.

Still, well, if they’re this size, it’s creepy, but at least the male lead can cut them with his sword.

It’s not entirely hopeless.

But looking ahead again, it seemed hopeless.

“Your Highness, perhaps.”

“You’re right. We’re properly screwed.”

Tens of thousands of insect eyes flickered towards us in the dark cave interior.

“Damn it, run!”

The male lead urgently grabbed my hand and ran forward. I quickly racked my brain.

Surely there must be a reason why the diary mentioned the Leviathan.

I grabbed the male lead’s hand that was shooting forward and pulled him sharply in the opposite direction.

“What are you doing, now!”

“Either way we go, we’ll die, so isn’t it better to go where there’s a slightly higher chance of not dying, Your Highness!”

“What the, damn it!”

The male lead shook off my hand.

I fell face-first onto the ground due to the recoil, and the male lead stabbed his sword into the crown of a giant ant that was rushing towards me, then slashed horizontally.

Kwajijik!

The ground split from the sword strike, and the giant crystal ant corpse killed by him flew forward.

The corpse crashed into the heads of the ant swarm with a deuddeuk-! sound, breaking the formation of those rushing towards us.

‘Damn, I almost died.’

The male lead picked me up and asked.

“What are you trying to do!”

“To the lake! Let’s go back, Your Highness!”

At my words, the male lead immediately ran at an insane speed.

The unpleasant chirping insect sounds echoed throughout the cave.

They moved their six creepy legs at high speed, surrounding us.

“Your Highness, you can’t handle all of them, can you?”

At my words, the male lead spoke as if in disbelief.

“Do you think I’m a dragon?”

That means he can’t.

“Then, between ten thousand crystal ants and one Leviathan, which one are you more confident in dealing with?”

At this extreme comparison, the male lead glared at me with an angry face for a moment.

“Are you trying to joke with me right now?”

“No? Your Highness, I’m in a hurry, so could you answer my question first?”

“Of course, one Leviathan would be… Wait. What are you,”

As soon as I heard the male lead’s answer, I immediately threw the tin can I was holding into the lake.

“Kieeeeek! Kirik! Kirik!”

Let’s think about the consequences later!

“Your Highness! In front!”

“I know!”

The male lead’s sword struck the crown of a crystal ant.

Ppagak! With the sound of the hard surface breaking, he immediately stepped on the crystal ant’s back and leaped high.

‘Chiiik-!’

Then, an ant opened its relatively small pincers and spat something at the male lead who had jumped into the air. The male lead twisted his body to avoid the attack.

The crystal ant’s acid dropped onto the spot where the male lead had been.

As the stone floor began to melt, it seemed to act as a signal flare, and the cave started to vibrate.

“Kirik, kiririk!”

The group of crystal ants that were rushing towards the male lead trembled their antennae at the vibration sound, then quickly retreated with a rustling sound.

I quickly pulled the confused male lead close to me.

“What did you do?”

The male lead asked me.

I just rolled my eyes and laughed, “Haha.”

“Well, Your Highness said that one Leviathan was better than tens of thousands of crystal ants……”

The pond started to bubble.

“I trust Your Highness.”

That’s when it happened.

“Grwooooooo!”

I quickly covered my ears at the deafening roar. He urgently embraced me and headed behind a large rock wall.

『Human who woke me from my sweet slumber, who is it this time-!』

Enormous body, blue scales, and even an intense aura that strangely stings the skin.

“Are you crazy?”

I struggled to move my trembling hands and gave a thumbs-up to the male lead.

“Haha, fortunately, there’s only one Leviathan, Your Highness.”

The natural enemy of crystal ants was indeed the Leviathan.

The Leviathan brought its huge body out, opened its mouth wide, and shot something like a hot cannon from inside its mouth.

Maybe that’s what they call a breath or something? I hugged my luggage tightly.

The overwhelming difference in power made even my toes curl in fear.

“What are you?”

The male lead gritted his teeth and whispered.

I just laughed awkwardly and gently pushed away the male lead who had come close to me.

“Your Highness, shh.”

I peeked out to survey the situation inside the cave.

Unexpectedly, a savory smell of cooked ant carcasses filled the air.

The surprisingly delicious smell made me feel even more nauseous.

Fortunately, as the diary had said, the Leviathan was decimating the tens of thousands of crystal ants.

The ants trembled their antennae and fled with their tails between their legs, but they were sucked into the Leviathan’s maw.

The crunching sound hit my ears.

“Did you wake it up?”

At the male lead’s words, I shrugged awkwardly.

“So you asked me to choose between ants and a Leviathan?”

“Your Highness, I don’t think that’s the important issue right now.”

He was dumbfounded, and grabbed the back of his neck. Soon, as if trying to regain his senses, he closed his eyes tightly and then opened them wide, glaring at me.

“Hahaha. Anyway, isn’t it fortunate that the ants seem to have been dealt with, Your Highness?”

“You’re talking about fortune. Are you in your right mind? Or is this a new assassination plan? Both of us die together?”

Startled by his harsh words, I hurriedly waved my hands.

“How could that be, Your Highness? My goal is to live a long and quiet life.”

“Why do you keep giving me a thumbs up?”

The male lead gritted his teeth and smiled back.

Then he kindly pressed down on my thumb, making me form a fist.

“It’s sign language expressing Your Highness’s greatness.”

“You know yourself that what you’re saying doesn’t make sense, right?”

“……Hahaha.”

I glanced at the male lead’s right hand.

He must have been quite tense, as the veins in his forearm were bulging.

We’ve put out the urgent fire. But the problem is that an even bigger fire remains.

“Your Highness, I’ve heard that Leviathans can communicate with humans.”

“Of course they’re intelligent, being of the dragon race.”

The male lead said to me as if it was obvious.

“Well, how about we try to resolve this through dialogue?”

“Has your brain finally left home, Rose Estanya?”

“How could that be, Your Highness? My brain is always in its place.”

I stroked my head and chuckled.

I was fully aware that I was spouting nonsense.

How must the male lead feel, being on the listening end?

He must think I’ve gone mad.

“But we don’t have any other options, do we, Your Highness?”

“Do you know how dragon-kind views humans when you say that? It’s obvious we’d evaporate without even leaving bone dust, hit by its breath before we could even start a conversation.”

“Isn’t it a stereotype to say all dragon-kind is violent, Your Highness?”

I wanted to cry. Honestly, everything the male lead said was right.

“Shut up. We’ll wait until it runs out of energy. You stay here. I’ll figure something out.”

The male lead said with a resolute expression.

Like a general of a losing country going to a war they’re bound to lose.

I briefly imagined a battle between the male lead and the Leviathan.

‘Was it you who woke me, human?’

‘Shut up, monster!’

‘How dare you tell me to shut up. Die, human!’

For a moment, my vision went white.

Absolutely not. The moment that man starts talking with the Leviathan, forget about dialogue or whatever, he’s just going to provoke it more and they’ll both end up dead.

“Protecting Your Highness is my duty as your subordinate, Your Highness. I’ll go.”

“Are you insane, Rose Estanya?”

“Regrettably, I’m in my right mind, Your Highness.”

The male lead grabbed my wrist tightly and said.

“Stop talking nonsense and stay put.”

“I will go.”

“This isn’t a suggestion, it’s an order.”