“I’m so wronged… I absolutely won’t die… I can’t die.”
“Yeah.”
Delirious with fever, I rambled nonsense.
But there was someone by my side who answered me every single time.
“…Those bastards. I’ll definitely… get my revenge… I’ll make them regret abandoning me… I swear…”
“Alright, I get it.”
The voice was somewhat indifferent, but still pleasant to hear.
Like that, I drifted on the edge of death, repeatedly losing consciousness and waking up again.
I’m alive.
That was the first thought that crossed my mind as soon as I opened my eyes.
“Ugh…”
As I struggled to sit up, something that had been covering me slipped off my body.
It was a coat I didn’t recognize.
I stared blankly at the coat that had fallen over my legs, then came to my senses and looked around.
‘A cave.’
It was a dark, cold cave.
The one who had brought me here and taken care of me until now was sitting far away, leaning against the wall.
With his arms crossed and his head lowered, completely still—it seemed he was asleep.
I knew that boy’s name.
Isael Carlton.
Someone destined to become a villain who would one day stand in the protagonist’s way.
Another central figure of this world.
It wasn’t long before he opened his eyes.
“Oh, you’re awake?”
I spoke with an awkward smile, and Isael looked at me like I was ridiculous.
“Um… well, thank you. For stopping the bleeding and taking care of me.”
Right now, strips of cloth were wrapped tightly around my abdomen.
It looked like he had torn a long piece from a skirt, wrapped it around my waist, and used it to secure a handkerchief over the wound.
It was a shame my skirt had been shortened and left in tatters…
But in this environment, I had to be grateful even for this much treatment.
Fidgeting with the now-shortened hem, I continued.
“Really, thank you. I lost a lot of blood… You saved my life.”
“Forget it.”
He answered flatly, then fell silent, staring straight at me.
After a long pause, he spoke again.
“I know who you are.”
“…Huh?”
“Rosette Grace.”
“Uh…”
“Right?”
“Y-yeah. That’s right.”
I nodded blankly.
I, of course, knew who he was—but I hadn’t expected him to know me.
“I’ve seen you a few times before. In the imperial palace.”
Isael continued in a low voice.
“And… I saw your name on the sacrifice list.”
…A sacrifice list.
So there was such a thing.
As I processed that absently, he went on.
“You know who I am too, don’t you.”
I had already told Isael that I’d seen his younger sister.
Knowing who his sister was meant I had to know who he was as well.
I quickly nodded.
“Yeah, I know.”
“…I see.”
Silence followed.
Not knowing what he was thinking, I quietly watched him.
After a while, Isael broke the silence.
“Everyone from the Lionesse Empire except us is dead. You know that, right?”
The Lionesse Empire.
It was the country I had lived in before coming to this tower.
And it was Isael’s homeland as well.
“…I figured as much, vaguely.”
I answered honestly.
“The last time I saw anyone from Lionesse was on the first floor.”
Two empires had unified the two continents of this world.
Camelot and Lionesse.
From Camelot—the homeland of the protagonist, Leonard—six children had been offered as sacrifices.
And from Lionesse, where Isael and I were from, ten.
Originally, it should have been nine, but it became ten because Isael entered the tower.
‘He jumped onto the altar to save his sister.’
Isael was the legitimate heir of the Lionesse Empire—a prince.
Which meant he was never meant to be a sacrifice in the first place.
The one chosen by the imperial family was the princess, Beatrice.
The emperor had planned to sacrifice someone else in place of his own child, raising Beatrice—a distant relative—as a princess for that purpose.
But when Isael learned the truth, he couldn’t accept it.
He truly saw Beatrice as his real younger sister.
He cherished her. Loved her.
So he tried to stop the ritual.
In the end, he embraced Beatrice and burned with her atop the altar—only to be transported to this tower.
In other words, Isael was climbing the tower solely to find his sister.
‘And the reason he becomes a villain is because he awakens after Beatrice’s death.’
There was only one reason Isael would eventually stand in Leonard’s way as the final antagonist.
It had to do with a choice Leonard made on the final floor of the tower—one required to open the last door.
“Choose. The countless lives outside… or the life of the woman standing before you. If you could save only one, which would you pick?”
Before the final door, a demon posed a single question.
And Leonard chose without hesitation.
“I will save the greater number of lives.”
“That’s the answer I expected. Very well, you may pass.”
Satisfied, the demon opened the door, and Leonard left the tower with his companions.
But that choice—
The one woman sacrificed in place of countless lives—
Was none other than Beatrice, Isael’s sister.
Later, Isael reached the final floor and found her there, already dead.
As he collapsed in grief before his beloved sister’s body, the demon spoke to him.
“Leonard of Camelot—the one destined to become a hero—sacrificed this woman’s life and left the tower.”
Then it asked him:
“Offer me your soul, and I’ll grant you the power to take revenge. What do you say?”
Without the slightest hesitation, Isael accepted.
He sold his soul to the demon, vowing revenge against Leonard.
And to make his parents—and his empire—pay for sacrificing Beatrice.
That was how he became a villain.
‘Sigh… His life really is cursed in every possible way.’
Anyway, Isael only opposes Leonard after leaving the tower.
Which means his survival is a fixed future in the original story.
Unlike me, who was nothing more than an extra.
From the beginning, none of the other sacrifices besides the main characters were meant to survive the tower.
They were all destined to die here.
But I wanted to live.
‘If I want that, then first…’
I stood up and walked toward where Isael was sitting.
Perhaps because I suddenly approached him, he looked at me with clear suspicion.
Carefully, I spoke.
“Why aren’t you asking?”
“Asking what?”
“About your sister.”
I had expected him to immediately ask where Beatrice was as soon as I woke up.
But contrary to my expectations, he hadn’t brought it up first.
That was a bit strange.
After all, he must have helped me to find out about his sister from me.
If I died before telling him, that would’ve been a problem for him—so that must’ve been why he saved me.
“…The moment you saw me, you brought up my sister.”
“Yeah.”
“How did you know I was looking for her in the first place?”
Isael looked at me with suspicion.
Even under that gaze, I calmly continued.
“Well… I’ll start with what you’re most curious about.”
At that, Isael crossed his arms as if to say he’d at least listen.
Meeting his eyes directly, I spoke.
“Your sister… the princess… is trapped on the very bottom floor of this tower.”
“And how would you kno—”
“As for how I know… I saw it with my own eyes.”
“…What?”
Isael looked at me like I was spouting nonsense.
That was fair.
Before truly beginning my con, I laid the groundwork.
“Well… the truth is, I have a bit of a special ability.”