Become A Character Who Dies Within Three Chapters-Chapter 25: Joshua’s Welcome Game for Louis

Joshua widened his big, round eyes, tilting his head as he looked at Louis.

He knew perfectly well just how cute and harmless he appeared. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

"I’m not your slave."

Louis pressed his lips together, frowned, and spoke before shutting the door.

Joshua quickly stopped him, his tone carrying a hint of anger. "No! We’re just going out to play, I won’t do anything to you! But I’ll throw you to Leo if you don’t listen!"

Those words stir up some memory in Louis. He froze momentarily, his eyes dropping with resentment, before finally giving in with a quiet, "Fine."

Joshua hadn’t expected Louis to agree so easily. Overjoyed, he looked at him with delight, feeling as if he had just discovered the trick. Louis wasn’t swayed by kindness but folded under pressure—if Joshua acted a little angry, Louis would obediently comply.

All that stubbornness? Just a paper tiger! So cute. Why wouldn’t Sister Athena hand Louis over to him? She seemed to pamper him, yet she always snatched away the best things—first the assistant, then Sylus, and now Louis!

So unfair!

Joshua grabbed Louis’s hand and tugged him through the corridors until they finally reached the garden.

A glasshouse, a skylight opening at the very center of the dome, enclosed the garden. A full moon hung high above, its gentle glow washing the blossoms below in silver.

Calling it a garden was almost an understatement—it was larger than a football field, filled with countless flowers Louis had never seen before, dazzling his eyes.

Joshua led Louis to the only table in the garden and said, "Alright, today I designed a brand-new game just for you, so make sure you enjoy it!"

The butler wheeled over a cart stacked with tea and pastries at that moment. He looked identical to the butler who had once been thrown into Leo’s cage—apparently, such things were nothing unusual here.

"Go on, try some. A top-tier chef makes these cakes from Zone 5. One bite and you’ll be hooked."

Joshua drawled in an exaggeratedly cute tone, swinging his little legs back and forth.

Hooked after one bite? Now that sounded dangerous.

Louis thought to himself, but kept his face stern as he shook his head. "I’m not hungry."

But right then, his stomach growled loudly.

Louis: "..."

Joshua: "..."

Joshua burst out laughing. "Ha ha ha, how pathetic! Did Sister Athena not give you dinner? Oh, right—of course she didn’t, she’s so busy handling everything! See? I’m the best one here!"

He laughed boisterously, and as Louis’s face gradually reddened, Joshua’s grin grew even wider.

Then, with a sudden flourish, he lifted a soft cream cake drizzled with bright red sauce and pressed it toward Louis’s lips.

But Louis was faster—acting on instinct, he slapped Joshua’s hand away. Fluffy and fragrant cake fell straight to the ground, splattering into a messy heap.

For a moment, the air seemed to freeze. Joshua rubbed his wrist lightly and sighed. "Sister Athena was right—kittens really do know how to scratch. But it’s fine. Someone, come lick this clean."

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a slave crawled out from who-knew-where and hurried to lap up the ruined cake from the floor. They had no human rights, no dignity; even being allowed to live was already a privilege.

Louis’s face twisted with anger. He stared at Joshua in disbelief. "You... you people... they’re human! How can you treat them like this?!"

Joshua blinked at him—and then suddenly burst into wild laughter, clutching his stomach and laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face.

Louis pressed his lips tightly together, glaring at Joshua in fury, unable to understand what could be so funny about his words.

By now, Joshua had stopped laughing. He wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes with one finger, his lips curling high like a devil’s, his gaze full of mockery as he looked at Louis.

"Ha ha, you know what? If Sister Athena hadn’t been interested in you, you’d be like one of them. Oh, but if it were you, I might be generous enough to give you a collar—wherever I go, I’d drag you along."

Louis trembled, staring at Joshua in disbelief. But deep down, he knew Joshua spoke the truth. These nobles really were this reckless, this lawless. In their eyes, the lives of lower-class citizens were worth no more than garbage!

"Don’t cry now. Your tears would only make me want to bully you even more."

Louis instinctively touched his face—his skin was dehydrated.

He glared at Joshua, wanting to show his defiance. But he didn’t realize that his eyes were already rimmed red.

Like a rabbit, Joshua thought smugly.

He felt he had scared Louis enough. Now was the time to feed him a little sweetness. Training always worked that way.

Joshua lifted a biscuit to Louis’s lips and chuckled, seeing him press them tightly shut. "Eat it. I won’t make the slave lick this one off the floor again. How about that?"

Louis’s gaze shifted to the gleaming body of the slave still prostrate on the ground. At last, as though conceding defeat, he parted his lips slightly and took a small bite.

Joshua looked at the leftover biscuit in his hand and exaggerated a sigh. "Louis, taking such a tiny bite... You really are a kitten!"

Louis pressed his lips tightly together, his fists clenched in frustration. He hated that title, but what good was hating it?

Joshua laughed boisterously, waved his hand to dismiss the attendants, and then said, "Alright, let’s get to the main event—Louis’s special game I arranged just for him!"

He clapped his hands, and immediately many slaves entered from outside. They split into two groups—one wearing black collars, the other wearing blue.

Unlike before, they were moving on two feet rather than crawling on all fours, because in their hands they carried rifles, each with ammunition pouches colored black or blue to match their collars.

Still, they wore no clothes. Their naked bodies—whether male or female—were exposed without a hint of shame. Perhaps they had long since grown numb to it.

"Begin."

At Joshua’s command, the two groups immediately scattered. Gunfire rang out nonstop throughout the garden. Paint rounds splattered against the once-beautiful blossoms, staining them with garish colors, petals scattering across the ground.

It was clearly paint ammo, yet the slaves fled and fought as though their very lives depended on this game.

They were covered in dust and flower petals, filthy and gray, their skin even torn in places. Joshua swung his legs back and forth, shouting excitedly without pause.

Louis had shut his eyes, as though trying to cut himself off from this world.

"Ah, got him!"

Joshua suddenly cried out, making Louis instinctively snap his eyes open. He saw a black-collared slave struck by a blue paint round, the mark glaringly obvious on the slave’s body.

The slave’s eyes went wide, his mouth opened as if to say something, but then—

"Boom!"

The collar around his neck exploded. His entire head was blown off, mangled to pieces, blood and brain matter spraying everywhere. The headless body staggered for a moment before collapsing, fresh blood gushing endlessly from the stump of his neck.

"Clap clap clap!"

"Excellent! Wonderful! Hahaha!"

Beside him, Joshua was clapping wildly in delight, then feigned regret. "Impressive, really impressive. Usually, the black team always takes the first kill and wins in the end, but who’d have thought the blue team would be this strong today? Haha!"

"Come on, Louis, say something—share your thoughts. You like it, don’t you? You like the gift I prepared just for you, right?"

Joshua leaned in, eyes wide with mock innocence as he stared at Louis. But there was no innocence there at all—only pure malice.

He grinned at the sight of Louis sitting frozen in place, trembling uncontrollably, his eyes locked on the slave’s corpse. Tears streamed silently down Louis’s cheeks, dripping onto the hands clutching tightly at his shirt’s hem.

My God... how can someone look this adorable even while crying? His tears even sparkle... could they be diamonds?!

Joshua leapt onto the chair and wrapped Louis in his arms, pressing him against his chest. He gently stroked Louis’s hair and cooed, "Don’t cry, don’t cry. Did those filthy slaves scare you? I’ll kill every last one of them for you, okay?"

As he spoke, Joshua could feel Louis trembling in his embrace. That sensation filled him with such satisfaction that he laughed with joy—so pleased he was, even more so than when he’d watched that slave’s head explode.