"I mean, have we known each other before?"
At Attar's completely unexpected question, Presepe could not answer. She couldn't.
"..."
Attar's gaze, staring at the stiffened Presepe, was incredibly sharp. It was the very same gaze that had stared at her, writhing in agony with her limbs shackled.
It was a gaze she had always seen.
"Judging by your reaction, it seems I haven't completely lost my mind."
"..."
“Answer me.”
Is this also part of the event? Presepe looked up at Attar's head out of habit, but...
[Attar Hanan/Affection???]
His likeability was still just full of unknown question marks.
Furthermore, not a single option appeared that was always visible when talking to the characters.
"..."
Attar's pink eyes, filled with Presepe, gleamed sinisterly.
Attar's behavior was not without reason. Attar, too, was confused and bewildered.
And understandably so...
"It’s something I haven’t even started yet, but it keeps coming back to me so vividly. As if I had actually done it."
"W, what is that..."
"At first, I thought I was dreaming, but that wasn't it either."
...The day he first met Presepe.
[Would you be okay with that? You stupid bastard.]
It was right after hearing that bullshit.
[I... I can go by myself. I have truly committed a breach of etiquette. I apologize once again. And thank you... Yes. Then I will be going now.]
Attar thought as he watched Presepe's retreating figure walk away very quickly, as if something urgent had happened.
Her white, slender ankle that he held in his hand...
It goes perfectly with thick, hard shackles.
[Yeah, there was one I had custom-made recently, a very thick one.]
Since her frame was generally slender, it was obvious she would suffer even more if crushed by heavy iron. That is why he wanted to fill that void. By any means necessary.
However...
[Attar, it hurts...]
That sobbing voice and deep moans.
[...]
Presepe's face, leaning helplessly against the wall like a withered flower, staring blankly into the void, her whole body shackled.
That was the beginning. Attar heard countless conversations and saw countless scenes.
Poor Presepe, who smiled at him with a flushed face without even knowing what kind of person he was, or the moment they boarded the ship leaving Ateloia together. And even the look of bewilderment in her eyes on the day he first shackled her.
Is this just his own memory? For example, like a hallucination or mental illness.
But could something like that be this vivid?
Attar could not find the answer on his own.
"..."
Unable to find a suitable answer, Presepe looked at Attar with a shocked expression.
Judging by what he says, Attar is definitely...
It was as if he had a memory of the ending from the previous episode.
It wasn't that she didn't think something might have changed.
However, she had no idea it would end like this.
So this is also a bug?
Strange options pop up, and data flies away bizarrely.
Since <Presepe in the Cage> was originally a game prone to bugs, even if she conceded a hundred times and understood up to that point.
This was so strange.
Attar Hanan before her eyes felt just like a person with a self. Not a simple game character spouting fixed lines and performing predetermined actions...
"I'm not sure if you don't remember properly or if you're deliberately not answering."
Attar spoke with a distorted face.
"Then, shall we do the same thing? So that you can speak properly."
"What... What? Argh!"
A short scream escaped through Presepe's lips. It was because of Attar, who had suddenly snatched her wrist.
Attar firmly grasped Presepe's wrist like that, and with his other hand, took something out of his bosom.
It was something Presepe knew very well.
[I’ll shackle your neck, your ankles, your wrists... and lock you up in a cage with mirrors. That would be really cool.]
...Those shackles.
For a moment, it felt as if the pain she had felt during the ending with Attar was coming back to life.
"What are you doing! Stop it!"
In a state of panic, Presepe struggled to free her wrist, but there was no way to overcome the man's brute strength from the start.
Just like that, a cold shackle, chilling like Attar's gaze, touched Presepe's skin.
Presepe squeezed her eyes shut.
Then, she kicked Attar's leg with all her might.
"..."
Perhaps taken aback by the sudden counterattack, Attar staggered slightly.
At the same time, the dreadful shackles in Attar's hand rolled on the ground, making an unpleasant sound...
Slap!
With a sharp noise, Attar's head snapped back.
"..."
A multitude of emotions were etched on Presepe's face as she slapped Attar's cheek. It was humiliation, fear, and shame.
Presepe still vividly remembered everything that had happened on Attar's route. She could recall it.
How miserable she had been, unable to resist or even utter a single word.
Remembering it alone was a story of vastly different natures than remembering it together with the other person.
No. Perhaps...
It might be the difference between 'someone who can commit such acts in the future' and 'someone who has already committed such acts.'
It felt as if her vulnerabilities had been exposed, albeit belatedly.
"What are you doing...!"
Attar stopped shouting loudly and paused slightly. The reason was simple. It was because of the tears welling up slightly in Presepe's eyes as she glared at him.
"Presepe!"
He tried to catch Presepe again, but Presepe was a little faster. She started running without looking back.
"...Ha."
Attar let out a sigh with a face full of irritation.
He was just as frustrated. But judging by the reaction she just showed, it seemed he wasn't the only one delusional...
“Damn it.”
Anyway, it was that woman who held the key to the secret. Since he was planning to stay in Ateloia for a while even after the celebration ended, there was still time.
Whether tied up with leg restraints, ropes, or even threatened and beaten... there must be a way, one way or another.
With that thought in mind, Attar slowly bent his legs to pick up the fallen shackles.
"...Hmm?"
But suddenly, he heard a presence behind him.
Attar instinctively turned around.
"..."
And a dark shadow fell over Attar's face as he held the shackles.
***
Presepe, who had been running frantically, stopped in her tracks, gasping for breath only after completely leaving the flower garden.
"Gasp, huh..."
Presepe, her face pale, clutched her chest and caught her breath. She repeatedly looked back to see if Attar was chasing her, then looked back at the guards waiting ahead.
Still, it seemed like she had managed to get out safely.
Of course, the problem was that wasn't all there was to it.
"..."
Presepe's limp white hand trembled. Not knowing what to do, she repeatedly covered her mouth and fiddled with her hand.
"It's, it's twisted..."
The appearances of Noah, Attar, and Dietrich all went awry. Dietrich didn't even show up at all after leaving the banquet hall.
What's this?
Why on earth does this keep happening?
I didn't even choose the wrong option this time.
...What if, at this rate, all the other characters regain their memories as well?
What will happen then?
What Presepe found some solace in amidst countless deaths was that she could still control their actions to some extent. After all, if she chose the options she knew, nothing would change.
But what if everything ends up like that? I can't control anything. Everything I know becomes useless. And I can't even save anymore...
As everything she knew crumbled down as if to show off, it felt like her mind was collapsing as well.
Fear washed over her. She needed a place that was at least somewhat safe. It was the first time she had desperately needed that damn tower.
"Let's go back, let's go back..."
No, wait a minute.
Where should I go back?
The tower?
Or like the original plot, the banquet hall?
It was a moment when Presepe was in a daze, unable to do anything.
“Ugh-!”
From afar, a sudden scream was heard...
The scream came from the path Presepe had run along.
So, the flower garden side.
"What's the matter!"
Perhaps sensing that something was amiss, the guards standing up ahead approached, murmuring amongst themselves.
“Hey, guard!”
And not long after, a male nobleman in a disheveled state was seen running breathlessly.
"A person, a person died!"
The terrified man screamed in a daze.
"What do you mean by that!"
"Attar, Prince Attar..."
...What?
"Prince Attar is dead!"
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