“‘A special ability?’
Isael frowned, knitting his brows as he asked back.
‘What kind of ability is that supposed to be?’
‘Clairvoyance.’
‘Clair…voyance?’
‘Yeah. With that ability, I saw that the princess is trapped on the lowest floor.’
When I answered confidently, Isael reacted as if it were absurd and pressed me.
‘Clairvoyance? Ha… I’ve never heard of such an ability existing in this world.’
‘Then how do you think I saw the princess on the very bottom floor of the tower?’
‘Because everything you’re saying right now is a lie you made up from the start.’
Isael spoke in a cold voice.
‘Seeing my sister— that’s probably just another lie you’re spouting carelessly.’
‘No, why would I lie to you right now?’
‘Well—’
He glared at me fiercely, his lips moving as if he was about to say something more, but then he shut his mouth.
I met his gaze directly and said,
‘I’m not lying. It’s the truth.’
And honestly, it wasn’t strange at all that I knew the princess’s face.
My older brother was Dominic Grace, the heir to a marquisate and the childhood friend—also the playmate—of the First Prince.
In fact, ever since I was young, I often went in and out of the imperial palace holding Dominic’s hand.
‘Of course, I’ve never actually met the princess or this guy at the palace.’
I had met the First Prince a few times and even spoken with him, but I had never seen this guy—the Second Prince Isael—or Princess Beatrice.
He had unexpectedly said earlier that he’d seen me before, but at least for me, this was the first time I had seen him in this tower.
But there was no way for him to determine whether I was lying or not.
That was the important part.
‘Blonde hair and blue eyes, just like me. I saw her clearly. The one trapped on the very bottom floor is definitely the princess.’
I spoke firmly, as if driving the point in.
As though I had no doubt whatsoever in what I was saying.
‘Then with that amazing clairvoyance of yours, can you see what’s on the floor below us?’
‘Of course.’
Answering wasn’t difficult.
I didn’t have any such ability, but I knew the original story.
That meant I knew exactly how this tower was structured.
‘There’s nothing on the next floor.’
‘Nothing?’
‘Yeah. Literally just an empty space. No monsters, no magical beasts.’
Since I spoke so clearly, Isael didn’t press further.
He only stared at me with a doubtful expression.
While he observed me as if trying to measure me, I looked back at him.
When I first saw him, I was too busy fighting for my life to notice, but now that I looked properly, he was quite handsome.
Black hair with a deep navy tint, and vivid red eyes.
Each of his sharp features seemed to assert its presence strongly.
As expected of a central figure in this world—his appearance was extraordinary.
I nodded slightly in admiration when he asked,
‘…But if you really have such a “special” ability, how did you end up collapsed like that?’
Spe. Cial.
He emphasized the word, clearly intending to mock me.
Well, that was fair enough.
I answered casually,
‘Up until now, I was traveling with people from the Camelot Empire. But they abandoned me.’
‘…Abandoned you?’
‘Yeah. Because I got injured. They said they couldn’t all get stuck here because of me, so they left me behind.’
Since I had failed spectacularly to board the protagonist’s bus, I needed to catch another one.
‘And that bus is called—Isael. You.’
Maybe I could leave the tower on my own, but maybe I couldn’t.
Rather than relying on uncertainty, it was smarter to secure another option.
No—better to grab hold of every possible chance.
‘After all, Isael leaving the tower is a fixed fate in the original story.’
That was exactly why I clung to this future villain who had tried to leave me behind.
I let out a small groan and pushed myself up, then said,
‘Anyway, I understand why you don’t trust me.’
‘…’
‘But it won’t take long to prove whether I’m telling the truth or not, so I’m not worried.’
If the lower floor was truly empty, just as I said, Isael would have no choice but to believe in my “clairvoyance.”
‘And if what I said turns out to be a lie, then you can decide what to do with me afterward. Right?’
After saying that, I held out my hand to him—offering to help him up.
But Isael only stared at me like a wary beast with its fur bristling.
I let out a small sigh and said,
‘No, but to find out whether I’m telling the truth, we have to go down first, don’t we?’
My voice softened naturally, as if coaxing him.
‘Go and see for yourself what’s down there, okay?’
This really wasn’t easy.
Of course, it would be stranger if he trusted me immediately.
‘Still, we can’t just keep wasting time like this.’
No matter what, we had to reach the ninth underground floor before that damn hypocrite Leonard.
Only then could we rescue Beatrice and leave the tower together with Isael.
That way, we’d block Leonard’s path, screw him over, and save Isael’s sister.
A win for me, and a win for Isael.
There was a reason people said “the enemy of my enemy is my ally.”
‘Of course, I plan to part ways with him as soon as we leave the tower.’
Leonard was the protagonist of this novel, so even without Beatrice, he might still manage to open the door and escape somehow.
And then Isael—the villain—might end up fighting him and dying miserably, just like in the story…
‘But I’ll help you as much as I can until we get out of here.’
Maybe, just maybe, you’ll get to live differently from how things went in the novel.
I’ll give it everything I’ve got, so let’s make this work, alright? You fresh little sprout of a villain.
‘So for now, let’s hurry down to the next floor.’
Only then did Isael stand up.
Ignoring my outstretched hand completely, he rose on his own.
Then, as if speaking to himself, he muttered quietly,
‘Yeah. For now.’
Our journey together began like that, and it went fairly smoothly.
‘So why do we even need to take that?’
‘Ah, just take it already.’
‘…’
‘You’re going to take it anyway, so can’t you just quietly do as I say from the start?’
I saw Isael clench his fist tightly at my grumbling.
The veins on the back of his hand bulged menacingly, but I ignored it.
‘Be careful not to fall!’
‘Easy for you to say.’
Even while complaining, Isael managed to pull up the flower growing at the edge of the cliff, roots and all.
Smiling brightly, I patted his shoulder and quickly snatched the flower from him.
‘We absolutely need this to safely get through the next floor.’
Isael stared at my smiling face and muttered ominously,
‘You’d better be right.’
‘…’
Naturally, he didn’t trust me at all.
Well, that would change over time.
‘Anyway, we’ve gathered everything we need, so let’s head down now.’
‘At last, we’ll find out whether you really have clairvoyance or not.’
‘…Yeah, I guess. Let’s go quickly.’
I get it, okay? Stop saying it like a threat…
Though, in a place like this, being suspicious of everything was actually a good attitude.
‘Can I really get along with someone this paranoid?’
Swallowing a sigh, I started walking.
That annoying Leonard had already gone down ahead of us.
Meanwhile, I had stayed on the third floor for several days with Isael, recovering from my injuries and gathering necessary items.
If we wanted to get ahead of Leonard, we had to hurry.
In this novel, the tower wasn’t something you climbed—it was something you descended.
If you passed the trial on the final level, the ninth underground floor, you could leave the tower.
Together with Isael, I stood before the door leading to the next floor.
Then I took a stone out of my bag and pressed it against the wound on my abdomen, which had almost healed.
Isael immediately grabbed my wrist in shock.
‘What are you doing?’