If You Remove the Kind Protagonist’s Mask

He stared at Yoidel with an expression holding no emotions at all.  

His long silver hair, which couldn’t help but be eye-catching, hung right in front of her face.

“How did you get here?”

His tone was soft but his voice was cold. The look in his eyes, clear and beautiful like an autumn’s sky, was even colder than winter itself. 

His nose was straight and his eyes sharp, he was beautiful enough to be mistaken for a hierophant of beauty, but standing in that bloody puddle, he looked exactly like the devil. Bewitching humans, an oh-so captivating demon of beauty.

Just like right now, she was terrified yet she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.

Not only his sword, but even his hands were heavily coated in blood. The blood dripped down from his sword and hands, creating a long trail in the distance. It was truly a sea of blood.

And countless corpses.

As if he had survived the final battle all alone, a mountain of red was piled up behind him.

“Are you at a loss for words?”

The man smiled faintly.

He was smiling but truthfully it did not look happy, but rather like a smile that was partially cold instead.

Was this the difference in energy? He knew she couldn’t answer because of the bloodlust weighing down on her yet he asked a spiteful question.

‘Who on earth is he? What should I do? He seems crazy.’

Yoidel didn’t remember any scenes in the novel where a man like this appeared.

A blood-crazed slaughterer, a beautiful man with fluttering silver hair.

‘No, there was one. Just one.’

Yoidel thought of one possibility.

But she didn’t think that was possible. There was no way this insane person in front of her could be the protagonist of the novel.

It shouldn’t be. By all means, this man should not be ‘him’.

But unfortunately, the man’s clothes were blindingly white and were the attire of a high-class cleric.

Soft fabric that fell in long, pure whites and gorgeously crafted embroidery with golden thread.

At first sight, it looked pleasantly simple but the fancy workmanship put into the clothes proved his high status. Up until now, no one in this place looked this special.

And that huge sword he carried, there was only one person alone who could have it.

In other words, it was the token of the Holy Emperor. 

That man was probably… the kind and benevolent protagonist.

‘Ulysses.’

This Holy Nation’s master.

“That’s impossible.” 

“What is?”

At that moment, her mouth had unexpectedly spoken.

Yoidel was surprised by the words that came out of her mouth and covered them with her hand. However, the man had already heard.

He smiled with a cold expression and spoke softly.

“You seem scared.”

The hand holding her chin moved to push away Yoidel’s hand. He stared at her cracked and chapped lips and pressed down on the wounded areas. She immediately felt a stinging pain.

He smirked when his eyes caught sight of the surprised Yoidel.

“You’re a wreck.”

When the evoked blood-lust disappeared, Yoidel suddenly got up from where she was and adhered herself against the bookshelf.

Bam, bam, bam!

She beat on the bookshelf that had brought her here, but like an iron door, it didn’t even budge.

‘I ran away because I didn’t want to die, but isn’t it too much to die like this instead?!’

She felt like crying.

There was nowhere to step back or run away to.

The wound on her lips that he had pressed on earlier stung. It was a wound that was as thin as paper but her throat burned because of the pain.

No sympathy was reflected in the man’s eyes. It was a gaze that regarded her like, as he said earlier, a rat or an inanimate object.

‘Wasn’t the protagonist a good person?’

Eyes that moved listlessly and a bored gaze. Even the description of his uncommonly beautiful appearance, everything matched the protagonist.

But it couldn’t be him.

The book’s protagonist was kind and a role model to everyone at all times.

Actually, was he the protagonist’s twin?

“How pitiful.”

The lips of the man who was looking at Yoidel gently opened.

“Look at how much you’re shaking… is there anything you’d like to ask me, Mr. Yoidel?”

“H-how do you know who I am?”

When her name came out of his mouth, it felt like her heart dropped.

“Everyone in Palladium is under my command. How can I not know you?”

The man replied in a soft tone.

“And how could I forget someone like you?”

Ulysses’ expression was gentle and composed, but there was a look of contempt in his eyes.

“The time for you to be sent to the execution grounds has passed. However, you look quite well and alive.” 

“T-that’s…” 

“Were you running away?”

How did he know so much?

Yoidel was a mere priest-in-training. It was impossible for the Holy Emperor to remember the execution of a minor villain like her.

Yoidel frantically searched through her memories.

What crime did Yoidel commit to earn a death sentence? According to what others said, her crime was having tried to kill the Holy Emperor.

At that moment, fragments of her memory suddenly pieced back together.

‘I’m in love with Your Holiness! Your Holiness is caring towards everyone! Please love me too! Why does everyone hate me?!’

Gripping the carpet so fiercely their fingernails could be torn off, the voice wailed. It was a sharp and agonizing cry.

She was lying at someone’s feet, grabbing tightly onto their ankles as her nails dug in.

‘…this man. She tried to hurt this man.’

It was an astonishing fact.

‘She must be crazy!’

Yoidel wanted to dig a hole, jump in it and live there for the rest of her life. What has she done?!

“I’ll applaud your willpower.”

What on earth did she do with her life if these were the only memories she had?

She tried looking through her memories a bit more. But all the memories related to this man were of her acting like an obsessed maniac.

Stealing his clothes when he went to take a bath, taking and collecting the chairs he sat on, watching him in every way possible, trying to kidnap him and last but not least, attacking him during a great procession.

‘Oh god, are these my memories? Tell me this is a lie, please.’

Memories that she did not want to believe repeatedly appeared in her head.

She felt embarrassed as if she had done these things herself and immediately wanted to sink into the ground.

She understood all the hatred shown towards her now.

She had wondered why she got the death penalty, but she understood when her memories emerged.

‘She was just a perverted stalker! What do I do with a past like this?!’

She wanted to tear her hair out and roll on the floor. Why did she have to have such unordinary memories? And why did she become Yoidel of all people?

She wanted to scream in the air and ask why.

This must be a dream, it has to be a dream!

“My ankle still feels numb from how you grabbed me a few days ago.”

But his voice told her that this was real. His words contained obvious disdain but his tone was as calm and gentle as the ambiance.

Step by step, he drew closer, blood still dripping from the hand holding the sword.

Then, his hand moved towards the wall behind her.

When his hand touched her, she flinched and he stroked the back of her head like he was petting her.

As if comforting her with an angelic smile, he whispered in a kind tone.

“Don’t shake. I’ll kill you quickly.”

She trembled hearing the words said next to the rim of her ear. The weather wasn’t cold but it felt like her body temperature dropped.

Tears she couldn’t hold back filled Yoidel’s eyes. The man spoke while facing her and receiving her gaze.

“Are you thinking of begging for your life? If so, then stop. It’s not a very good idea.”

How could he laugh so cruelly?

Not even the slightest hint of emotions was shown in his eyes.

She knew very well that begging for her life would never work. Now that she thought about it, it was really funny. To think that she held hope that the protagonist would save her.

She had already seen his real self but now she truly knew. The fact that he wouldn’t save her.

Yoidel knew how to stop him.

Just one way.

‘The protagonist has a fatal weakness.’

This was her last resort. If she were to do this, it’d be the same as acting like the original Yoidel.

But if she didn’t do it at this very moment when the protagonist was lifting his sword again, he’d kill her.

There’s nothing she could do after being slashed by a sword. In the end, she only had one option.

Falling into this strange place and becoming a death-row inmate made her feel like she had experienced all of the misfortunes one can in their life. So, even if an even bigger misfortune were to fall on her, she had nothing to lose.

If she failed then at least she tried. Dying like this or dying like that, it was all the same so she decided to try.

Yoidel firmly clenched her fists. It seemed like sweat was gathering in her hands.

It was an escape she went ahead with because she wanted to live. While making two sacrifices.

So Yoidel needed to live somehow.

She needed to survive this man.

“I’m sorry.”

The man listened to her and smiled calmly.

He didn’t need an apology from her. Anyhow, it was useless.

All he needed was the rat’s death. It was only proper to kill and get rid of whatever could be the source of rumours.

His blue eyes, containing a cold look in them, faced Yoidel. Finally, he lifted his sword. She made her decision when she saw that image.

If ‘that method’ worked.

If this was really the novel she read…

“I said it in advance. I’m sorry.”

Yoidel grabbed him by the collar and with all her strength, pulled him closer.

The lips of the two roughly pressed against each other.