I Became a Tyrant’s Maid - Chapter 50

The male lead and I came out to the passage outside the lake cave.

On the irregularly shaped cave ceiling, tens of thousands of crystals hung upside down, emitting light.

And on the bumpy path, crystal ants that had been roasted by the Leviathan’s breath were scattered messily, lying on their backs.

It was a horrific sight.

“So, what do you think we should do?”

I glanced at the male lead and thought.

‘Why are you asking me that? You should be the one thinking, Mr. Protagonist.’

I’ve done all I could.

As proof, haven’t I at least managed to extend our lives?

For a protagonist, he’s a dunce. From poisoning, to assassination, to magical beasts, and now monsters.

He’s at the peak of popularity. Yet, seeing how he’s still alive somehow, I guess that does make him seem like a protagonist.

“For now, it seems we’ve bought some time, Your Highness.”

At my words, the male lead let out a deep sigh as if he had a headache and said,

“Now that we’ve received this damned crystal, we have to find this ‘Bibi’ thing, whose identity we can’t even guess, and present it to the Leviathan.”

The male lead placed the crystal he was holding into my hand and continued.

“I’d like nothing more than to take this and escape the cave, but it’s obvious we’d be quickly discovered by the Leviathan if we did that.”

I quietly stared at the crystal he had given me.

The male lead had said that unless dark mages forcibly create them by capturing monsters, it’s nearly impossible to obtain naturally occurring crystals.

Moreover, crystals are often used in artifacts.

Like when making weapons such as swords or staffs.

In other words, crystals were essentially items solely for human use.

So for a Leviathan living in a lake cave deep underground in a barren desert, a crystal was truly useless.

The male lead wrinkled his nose as if it was difficult to think and said,

“As of now, we can only assume the Leviathan made it to protect something…”

To be honest, the use of the crystal wasn’t important to us at all right now.

So, to stop the male lead from falling into deep contemplation, I clapped my hands and praised his intelligence.

“As expected of Your Highness. There’s nothing you don’t know.”

The male lead, seemingly not very pleased with my flattery, separated my clapping hands with a dissatisfied look.

Thanks to that, I ended up looking at the male lead with my hands pressed against my thighs in an attention stance.

“There’s no soul in your voice.”

“Soul?”

“And I didn’t say that to hear your praise, so stop trying so hard with unnecessary things and let’s find that damned nest, shall we?”

Unnecessary things! Don’t you know how important habitual flattery and adulation are in the service industry?

“Well, Your Highness. There’s a problem…”

“You don’t know where the nest is?”

“Yes.”

I nodded politely with my hands clasped together. Seeing me like this, he smirked and said,

“It’s fine. We can start looking for the nest now. As you said, we’ve at least bought some time.”

And suddenly, he took a step closer to me and thrust his face in front of mine.

Surprised by the sudden face attack, I stepped back and ended up slipping on a mossy stone.

“Whoa!”

Fortunately or unfortunately, the male lead, as if seizing the moment, grabbed my waist firmly.

And bringing his handsome face close, he said,

“Of course, I’m curious about how you managed to wake the Leviathan and pull off this scheme, but that’s a separate matter.”

At the male lead’s words, I could only purse my lips tightly and stare at his red eyes, completely stiff.

Unlike my flustered state, the male lead calmly set me upright.

“Why are you so surprised?”

“It’s not a scheme, Your Highness. I’ve just always been lucky.”

“Oh, it’s the first time I’ve heard such vulgar words from your mouth. Have you finally decided to be brazen with me? Luck, huh? Not a bad excuse.”

The male lead, still with a faint smile at the corners of his mouth, took my hand as if escorting me and shrugged his shoulders.

I hurriedly opened my mouth in confusion.

“Your Highness, it’s not an excuse…”

“Why? Why don’t you act like you did earlier? All this unnecessary formality is quite uncomfortable. I’m quite merciful, so I’ll forgive your ‘impropriety’ anytime.”

And he finally started to chuckle.

‘Has this person gone mad?’

He must have lost his mind momentarily from nearly dying.

I stared blankly at the male lead with my mouth slightly open. The male lead continued to grin happily as he pulled me along.

I think it’s the first time I’ve seen him laugh so openly and happily.

I don’t remember any scenes in the original work where he was this happy.

The only times he smiled were… when the female lead complied with his demands, he would smile faintly, or when he killed someone and was engulfed in madness.

I couldn’t help but feel pity.

When I was reading it gleefully in text form, I scoffed at the male lead, whether he laughed or not, telling him to regret all he wanted. But seeing him face to face, I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

“What? Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Huh?”

At that moment, I must have looked at him with a pitying expression without realizing it.

The male lead glared at me with a displeased look.

“Enough. The path is treacherous and easy to fall on, so stay close.”

The male lead yanked the hand he was holding and held me so I could lean on him.

Startled by the sudden close contact, I opened my mouth to say something but had to close it again at his next words.

“If you start talking about status or gender again, I’ll shut your mouth myself.”

“…Hahaha, yes.”

It was terrifying.

Slightly exaggerating, I almost wet myself.

I was trembling for a different reason.

Aside from having to find that ‘Bibi’ thing, I couldn’t get used to the male lead’s attitude, whether he had given up everything because we were on the brink of death or what.

“Be careful.”

Why are you suddenly pretending to be kind!

Of course, the ground was very uneven and sloped, making it difficult to move.

Moreover, it was convenient that the male lead lifted and lowered me to avoid obstacles.

‘But it’s mentally uncomfortable! Mentally!’

Maybe for the male lead, I’m just a somewhat convenient servant, but you’re very awkward to me!

“Your Highness, you don’t need to hold me every single time.”

“If I don’t hold you every time, you’ll fall flat on your face. Don’t you care about your knees?”

Because he suddenly let go of his arm, I almost fell forward following my suddenly shifted center of gravity.

“It’s slippery, I told you.”

The male lead chuckled as he caught me before I could fall and set me upright again, while I looked at him with a coldly composed expression.

This bastard, really.

“Thank… you, Your Highness.”

“Your expression doesn’t look thankful.”

“What are you saying, Your Highness.”

I forced a bright smile and continued down with the male lead’s support.

It felt like we had been walking for about an hour or two.

The crystal really must have some effect because we didn’t see even a hint of any monsters.

But…

“Your Highness, haven’t you noticed a strange smell for a while now?”

At my words, the male lead nodded and calmly said.

“It’s the smell of decaying corpses.”

Ah, so this strange smell is the smell of decaying corpses…?

“Pardon?”

Startled by the male lead’s words, I stopped in my tracks and stared at him.

Regardless, he continued speaking as naturally as if discussing a lunch menu.

“We should head in that direction for now.”

You madman. If it’s the smell of corpses, why are we going towards it?

“Um, Your Highness, didn’t you just say it was the smell of decaying corpses? Then why are we…”

The male lead looked at me as if he really couldn’t understand.

Soon, he frowned deeply and pointed in the direction of the smell with the sword he was holding, saying,

“Would you rather keep wandering aimlessly? If we’ve found a clue, we should go that way.”

I let out a small sigh at the male lead’s words.

“If you knew, why did you ask?”

He hit the nail on the head.

Actually, I had the same thought.

After searching for two hours without finding even a hint of the nest, I was sick of this place.

Going in any direction where something had appeared was the best option.

“But the corpses…”

“You were excited to run towards the skeleton in the Griffin’s nest earlier, so what’s the problem now?”

The male lead looked truly perplexed, but I was too dumbfounded to answer.

Of course, corpses and skeletons are different! Are you asking because you don’t know?

“You see, Your Highness, corpses still have muscle tissue and decaying flesh, making them difficult to look at, but in the case of skeletons,”

“If you’re that scared, you can close your eyes. Want me to cover them for you?”

The male lead covered my eyes with his hand, and I shouted in surprise at the hot sensation on my eyelids.

“I-I’m fine! Your Highness!”

“…Is there really a need to be so startled?”

“Startled? Not at all, Your Highness.”

The male lead, seemingly displeased with my reaction, moved on with an openly upset expression.

Then, for several minutes, he walked towards the source of the smell without saying a word. I asked, wondering if it could be.

“Your Highness, could it be that you’re upset by my actions?”

“Of course not.”

“If you have any complaints, please tell me anytime. I’ll correct them.”

“Forget it.”

I felt dizzy. No way. He’s sulking, isn’t he?

‘What did I do!’

Moreover, to think that the great Calix Posman would sulk.

Theoretically, it was an impossible story.

Usually, in the original work, when the male lead was upset, he did only two things.

‘Die.’

‘How amusing. I’ll spare your life. Ah, but I should make it so you can’t speak… As if I could listen to your words.’

Of course, the male lead hadn’t gone that crazy yet, but it wasn’t completely impossible.

Should I start begging now? As I was stomping my feet in worry, suddenly the male lead blocked my way.

“Close your eyes.”

“Pardon?”

At that moment, a strong smell similar to before brushed past my nose.

I swallowed hard and looked up at the back of the male lead’s head.

“You said you didn’t want me to cover them directly, so at least close your eyes.”

But I could see it before I even closed my eyes.

Near the large cave wall made of stone, at the male lead’s feet, the protruding corpses of monsters.