Cursed Villainess' Obsession-Chapter 42

Whether it was an epidemic, poisoning, magic, or a curse, even the academy faculty could not uncover the cause of this sudden death.

Emily gets involved in that incident when one of her classmates dies.

An acquaintance she knew suddenly meets death, and in her anger, Emily takes on the investigation.

“But I’m the first victim…?”

I was prepared for this event to happen.

But I never expected that I would be the one affected from the start. Damn it.

‘No, maybe it’s better that it’s me the first time…’

If someone else were to be sacrificed first, it would be better for me to be the initial target instead.

‘I’ve already made preparations.’

In the original event, the first person to be sacrificed is an unnamed student with no connection to Emily.

Afterward, it’s Emily’s classmate.

Then, a random character with a high favorability rating toward Emily.

Finally, Emily herself becomes cursed.

The way to clear the event is to find and eliminate the culprit before Emily dies.

The problem is that finding the culprit is far too difficult through normal means.

This event is designed as a high-difficulty mystery game based on save loading.

“Raphne, I need to talk to you seriously.”

“…W-what? Did I do something wrong?”

Calling Raphne with a serious tone, she cautiously approached me with a scared expression, having been cooking.

“Listen carefully. Just to let you know in advance, I’ll be fine.”

“Uh, okay?”

I said this considering the possibility that Raphne might go on a rampage.

After giving her a moment to process my words, I slowly opened my mouth.

“I’m going to die in three days.”

“……Huh?”

Despite my warning, Raphne’s face fell in shock.

After a moment, she exclaimed,

“No! No, no, no━!! If Ken dies, I’ll die too━! Ugh, I’m sorry! It’s my fault, please don’t die, Ken━! You can’t die━…!!”

Raphne sobbed, burying her face against me.

“Is something tough happening? Are you trying to give up on life? Don’t do that…! Ugh, you’re the only hope I have to keep living…! Just tell me! Who is it? Who is making Ken suffer? Just say the word, and I’ll kill them all!!”

‘…As expected, it’s turning out like this.’

I stroked Raphne’s hair as she clung to me and spoke.

“So… I’m going to die, but it’s not really dying, you see?”

Actually, I could prevent death by using Raphne’s pendant right now.

But fortunately, since I was chosen as the first victim, it would be foolish to avoid the curse.

That’s because I could use this curse to clear the event quickly.

“Raphne, calm down and listen to me until I’m done.”

“Ugh, uhh, sniff.”

I held Raphne’s shoulders, still teary-eyed, and looked into her eyes seriously.

“If I die in three days, there will definitely be chaos. …But don’t worry, I’ll be back in a week.”

After hearing my explanation, Raphne continued to tear up, staring at me blankly.

“Sniff, …so you won’t die?”

“…Um, it’s not that I won’t die. …So, don’t be too surprised if I die. I’ll be back soon.”

This event of finding the culprit shouldn’t be carelessly discussed since I don’t know who the culprit is.

But I felt it would be fine with Raphne.

This event is one of the Demon Lord’s invasion events.

Which means the culprit will be looking for Raphne.

Raphne will never become the culprit.

Therefore, the only person I can reveal that I’ll come back after dying is her.

“…Ugh, so I’ll be without Ken for a week?”

Ah, come to think of it.

“Well, a week isn’t so bad, right? Emily and Mary are here too!”

“But I want to be next to Ken…”

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The look on her face mixed with sadness was weakening my resolve.

“Ah, or can’t I just die in my room? Then we can be together for a week…”

So she wouldn’t mind even if I were a corpse.

“Then Raphne would be accused of murder. Absolutely not.”

“Waaah…”

The downcast Raphne buried her face in my embrace again.

“Then… let’s stay together until the day I die. Let’s sleep here.”

She lifted her head, gazing at me with moist eyes.

…As long as it’s until the day I die, I guess it would be fine.

During the previous survival event, I hadn’t lasted five days before leaving the tower.

Now that I have the pendant, and since I mentioned dying, she wouldn’t think I would be abandoned.

I gently stroked Raphne’s hair, which looked gloomy.

The feel of her silky hair running through my fingers was comforting.

“Alright. But you can’t stay here the night before I die. I die after falling asleep.”

“……Okay.”

I thought she would smile at the acceptance of this condition, but instead, she looked even sadder at the mention of dying.

Then she cautiously looked up at me.

A brief silence stretched as she stared at me without speaking.

Soon, her cheeks flushed as she gently closed her eyes.

…Hmm, this is…

Suddenly feeling shy at the sight, I hesitated for a moment.

“…Uhm.”

I closed my eyes and kissed Raphne’s lips.

I felt her moist lips and her warm breath.

Soon, Raphne wrapped her arms around my neck and hugged me tightly.

…Somehow, it seems she’ll keep asking for this until I die.

The next day.

After finishing training with Ziegfried, I briefly returned to my dorm room.

Standing in front of the bed that would soon be my resting place, I pulled something out.

It was the hidden item from a street vendor I had found during the festival outing with Mary.

A Resurrection Scroll.

As the name suggests, if used in advance, I can return to life after a certain period following death.

For reference, I had asked Raphne to preserve the body.

I wouldn’t want to risk someone opening up the corpse to investigate the cause of death.

‘…Is this how it’s used?’

I sent my magical energy into the scroll, just like using any other magical item.

Then blue flames erupted, consuming the scroll.

[ System: The magic scroll has been used. Effects are granted. ]

“Oh, it worked properly.”

With this, I was somewhat relieved.

This Resurrection Scroll might seem like an item that allows you to respawn at any time in a game, but in reality, it’s a special item that can only be used for this event.

In the original game, dying meant starting over with a save load.

However, this culprit-finding event occurs randomly, and most players meet death at the start.

Finding the culprit without dying from the very beginning is that difficult.

Thus, the game developers prepared this item for those in hardcore mode who couldn’t use save loads.

To skip the event quickly.

“Okay, I’ve made my preparations, so let’s head to the academy.”

I wondered how the others would react.

In this event, since I don’t know who the culprit will be, I can’t carelessly say, ‘I’ll be coming back to life!’

Others would probably genuinely believe I had died.

Suddenly, a close friend they had grown fond of was gone.

‘…A week, huh.’

There was no helping it.

While I could stop the curse, this was the best method to find the culprit quickly without sacrificing others.

If I avoided the curse, I wouldn’t know who the next target might be.

But it’s just a week.

Even if it’s sad, I just need to endure a little.

With a heavy heart that I tried to push aside, I smiled and headed toward the academy.

Then.

“…Hey, Ken. Do you have time in two days?”

Suddenly, Emily asked me that.

“Uh, huh? In two days?”

“…Yeah, remember the meal voucher we got from the survival competition?”

Thinking about it, I did remember that.

We must have competed for it, and it had ended in Emily’s victory when she formed an alliance with me.

I had forgotten amidst the chaos brought on by Raphne’s sudden appearance.

No way…

“What about two days from now? Is that day alright for you?”

Emily asked carefully, her face slightly flushed with shyness.

‘How should I respond to this?’

Of course, it was awkward.

Haha, sorry Emily. I’m actually planning to die that day, so let’s have the meal another time.

…I couldn’t possibly say something like that.

As I struggled to find an answer, Emily, noticing my hesitation, asked again.

“Is it that you can’t make it…?”

“Ah, …well, I have plans that day.”

“I see…”

Emily looked slightly disappointed.

But fortunately, she seemed to understand before I even had to make excuses.

Phew, I managed to slip past this…

“Then how about the day after that?”

But Emily wasn’t ready to give up.

She seemed to be determined, her previous shyness replaced with a confident smile.

But I felt really bad.

I was planning to be dead for a week.

“Sorry, …I have plans that day too.”

“R-really? …Then how about four days later?”

“Um, that day too…”

“……Then how about five days later?”

“……”

I couldn’t bring myself to answer.

Not with Emily’s expression changing from hopeful to disappointed with every refusal.

Her initially shy face had become bold, but with each continued rejection, it darkened further.

Eventually, tears began to gather in her eyes as she glared at me.

This is bad; I should at least come up with a schedule to say…!

“…Why are you being like this? Just say you don’t want to!”

But before I could even speak, Emily’s voice trembled as she spoke, on the verge of tears.

“…E-Emily, that’s…”

I tried to open my mouth to make an excuse, but—

“Forget it, you idiot! Just die!”

Emily’s fury was faster than my reflexes.

Then she turned and ran away.

“……Ah.”

I watched as Emily’s retreating figure grew distant.

Beside her as she ran, small droplets glistened.

No, …I’m really going to die.

Two days after being rejected by Ken,

Emily woke up to a gloomy morning in her bed.

If things had gone according to plan, today would have been a day filled with excitement from going on a date with him.

But having been completely turned down, Emily felt down from the start.

‘…Yeah, …he might not want to eat with me.’

She hadn’t forgotten what she had done to him.

She remembered the words he had spat out in anger towards her.

She had no intention of pretending what she had done was non-existent just because he had forgiven her.

She simply wanted to treat him to a meal out of her regret.

‘……No.’

Emily stopped brushing her hair and lowered her head.

Tears that she had been holding back from the morning began to drop, soaking her knees.

The truth was, she wanted to go on a date with him.

She wanted to have a cozy meal together as an excuse to apologize.

But was that simply her selfish desire?

He had indirectly turned down her invitation.

“…Huh, if that’s the case, …he could just say he doesn’t want to.”

His kindness in not easily refusing her made her heart ache even more during times like this.

Having cried for a while, Emily took a moment to calm herself before leaving the dorm.

‘…Today, I’ll talk to him.’

She hadn’t spoken to him for the past two days.

Of course, she knew it wasn’t his fault.

But she felt like she would burst into tears if she faced him, making it hard for her to approach him.

If this continued, their hard-earned relationship would surely fall apart again.

Today, she resolved to greet him with a smile.

However.

“Emily━!”

On her way to the academy.

On that familiar path that seemed less crowded than usual, Adrian rushed toward her.

“W-what’s wrong?”

Unlike his usual calm demeanor, he looked hurried.

He stood before her, seeming oddly hesitant.

“…Emily, …I don’t know how to say this, but.”

As he finally managed to speak with difficulty,

Emily dropped the bag she was holding.