The Heroines Who Framed Me Are Clinging to Me

Chapter 46 - The Seven Kill Squad (3)

Looking down below, Lloyd let out a deep sigh.

"I told you to be careful."

The hallway had caved in completely.

In the pitch-black pit, two pairs of eyes gleamed.

One pair likely belonged to the village chief, the other glowing blue even in the darkness—those were surely Princess Yulia\'s.

— "Hey! Lloyd! I knew you\'d come through!"

The chief\'s voice sounded muffled, as if it were blocked by an invisible barrier.

…This is why I can’t deal with physical types.

If only they used their heads a little more.

Lloyd had plenty to say, but with Princess Yulia beside him, looking up at him in the same way, he held his tongue.

"Just wait a moment."

Without further ado, Lloyd hurled himself into the black pit.

— "Lloyd!"

— "What are you doing!!!"

Their shouts of shock echoed.

Not that it mattered.

— Thud.

Just before he could fall into the deep pit, Lloyd hovered in midair.

It wasn’t like he could fly or anything, so that wasn’t it.

"As I thought, it\'s a barrier."

He tapped his foot.

The barrier beneath his feet was dense.

This confirmed that one of the two whose heads he\'d just severed must have been an exceptional barrier master.

The pit itself had been conjured using sorcery.

Lloyd stomped his foot.

— Boom!

The sound reverberated, but the barrier didn’t budge.

— "I already tried that! It\'s pointless!"

Of course, a barrier that even the chief’s physical power couldn’t break wouldn’t crumble so easily.

Lloyd propped his chin up with his hand and let out a low hum.

"Hmm."

Even using magic, this barrier seemed impenetrable.

Barriers, after all, were fundamentally the same as protective shields.

A shield absorbs, reflects, and softens both magic and physical impact. If the shield’s area expands enough, it becomes a barrier.

‘If I can break a shield, then I can break a barrier too.’

Stripping away a couple of layers of shield wasn’t a challenge for Lloyd.

The issue lay in cases like this.

‘Looks like there are at least dozens of layers here.’

The barrier surrounding this area was something that had been meticulously constructed by a barrier master over the course of months, with significant durability.

— "You won\'t break through! You should go on ahead and deal with Ilsal!"

The chief shouted, but Lloyd casually ignored him.

‘I need these two if I want to take down Ilsal safely.’

When dealing with assassins, you have to overwhelm them with sheer force. A single misstep could lead directly to death. They wouldn’t hesitate to take you down with them if it came to that.

The problem now was how to break the barrier.

‘Brute force is out of the question.’

Truth be told, he could force his way through if he really tried… but then he’d be left with little energy to deal with Ilsal afterward. He needed to conserve as much as possible.

Muttering to himself, Lloyd surveyed the area.

— "It\'s no use! Even if you destroy the surroundings, the barrier will remain!"

The chief’s muscle-bound suggestion rang out, but Lloyd ignored it again.

‘That\'s not the right approach.’

There should be something symbolic.

For example... yes.

"Found it."

These metal nails.

A smirk spread across Lloyd’s face.

— "What are you doing?"

The chief instinctively shouted.

Lloyd picked up a nearby mace.

Without hesitation, he swung it down onto the nail.

— Boom!

Dust rose from the impact, the ground dented where the mace had struck.

One layer of the barrier peeled away.

"Phew."

Lloyd wiped the sweat from his forehead with his arm.

Using mana, he scanned the area and counted at least twenty nails embedded around them.

"Looks like I’ll have to put in some effort this time."

◆

"I knew you’d pull through, Lloyd."

"Indeed, Lloyd. Thank you."

The village chief and Yulia, who had jumped out of the pit in one leap, bowed their heads.

Lloyd waved his hand dismissively as if to say it was nothing.

"Let’s move quickly. With all this commotion, Ilsal must’ve noticed by now."

No, in fact, they were probably being watched from the moment they set foot in this place.

So, the real question was:

‘Why is she waiting quietly in her room?’

It was unsettling.

Was there another trap, like in the hallway earlier?

Or was she planning something?

One thing was certain—meeting her would be the key to resolving everything.

"Lloyd."

Lloyd turned his head toward the voice.

Yulia was holding a box she had picked up from the floor.

Judging by the glow in her blue eyes, she must have determined there were no traps involved.

Click.

As the box opened, a pungent medicinal smell wafted out.

"I’ve seen boxes like this in the Imperial Palace. It seems clear now—they really are distributing drugs."

It had been sealed so tightly that even Lloyd’s keen senses couldn’t detect it.

‘If they’re this meticulous, they could easily slip it past palace security.’

Just how many of these were out there, scattered around like this?

"We should be careful. This is no ordinary operation."

Lloyd nodded in agreement to Yulia’s warning.

Before them now stood a massive door.

Beyond it was Ilsal.

"...How do we get inside? The security’s bound to be tight."

The chief stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Yulia chimed in as well.

"Based on everything we’ve seen, she’s definitely more cautious than she seems."

"We’ll need to proceed very carefully."

As they whispered among themselves in front of the door, Lloyd calmly walked past them.

And then.

Knock, knock.

He rapped on the door, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

The two of them turned to stare at him in disbelief.

Lloyd simply shrugged.

"They already know we’re here, anyway."

As if in response to his words.

— Creeeak.

The door opened.

◆

The room had ceilings twice as high as those in the rest of the building.

Dull, ashen walls.

Luxurious, yet ominously dark furniture.

It resembled a torture chamber in some ways, and an elegant study in others. The faint scent of blood lingered in the air.

It felt like a room that belonged to the GreyDuchess.

Lloyd’s eyes shifted toward where the room’s owner would likely be seated.

"Welcome."

A deep, pleasant female voice greeted him.

Despite the resonant force and authority in her tone, Lloyd’s gaze soon found her.

Jet-black hair that contrasted starkly with her pale white skin.

Eyes as red as blood.

Her long, slender arms, bare and showing off her provocative figure.

Her crossed legs revealed little, thanks to her short, functional shorts that left no place for the eye to wander.

Of course, Lloyd scrutinized her entirely.

‘She’s strong.’

Her relaxed demeanor, the subtle tension in her muscles—everything about her indicated power.

"Are you Ilsal?"

"That’s right. And you must be Lloyd. Heh."

Ilsal gestured casually toward a chair.

"Take a seat."

"Oh, my legs are a bit stiff. I’ll stand, thanks."

Lloyd casually crossed his arms, and Ilsal’s lips twitched into a small smile.

"As bold as I’ve heard."

"Who told you?"

"That’s a bit delicate, isn’t it? You seem to know quite a bit about me too."

"I heard about you from Claire."

"...It’s usually best to protect one’s clients, don’t you think?"

"But then again, you were already planning to kill her, weren’t you?"

Lloyd shrugged, and Ilsal’s smirk grew ever so slightly.

"You’re quite the amusing one."

"You’re not bad yourself."

"So, what brings you here?"

Ilsal asked nonchalantly.

Lloyd swallowed nervously on the inside.

‘Something’s off.’

Their conversation seemed casual, but the reality was far different.

With every word Ilsal spoke, Lloyd could feel a subtle vibration in the air.

A sharp wave, as if it wanted to pierce directly into his eardrums. He analyzed and dismantled it.

Yulia’s eyes, glowing blue, indicated she was using her Reverse Eyes as well.

It was clearly a form of sound-based attack.

Ilsal’s calm demeanor was a front, concealing this sound-based weapon behind her words.

But that wasn’t all.

‘There’s something more.’

Something even he and Yulia, with their heightened senses, had missed.

— Clink.

Ilsal stirred the spoon in the teacup on the table in front of her.

"!"

At the same moment, Lloyd’s eyes shot wide open.

— Flash!

The world was swallowed in darkness.

An unrelenting wave of black crashed down.

"Wha... What is this...!"

"L-Lloyd... snap out of it...!"

Far away, voices grew distant.

Like sinking deep into the ocean, Lloyd plunged into the abyss.

The scene before him shrank, growing smaller and smaller.

Until finally, it was nothing but a small, white dot suspended in the air.

No.

I’m the one sinking.

As the darkness swallowed him whole, Lloyd’s feet touched the ground, and he stood up.

"...What is this?"

Even now, he had no idea what had hit him.

There had been no significant surge of mana.

It didn’t seem like he’d been drugged, either.

His senses had been on full alert.

"...Hmm."

One thing was clear—he had been hit.

Lloyd cautiously scanned his surroundings.

Nothing but darkness. He couldn’t see a thing.

Even when he reached out, there was nothing to touch.

Running forward blindly was risky.

"It’s probably best to extend my aura and feel around first."

Just as he was about to close his eyes.

— Clap, clap, clap.

Suddenly, the sound of applause echoed.

Lloyd’s brow furrowed.

The eyes he had been about to close snapped open.

He looked around.

There was nothing.

— Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

But the applause grew louder and more intense.

What the hell is going on?

His calm began to crack.

Lloyd searched his pockets.

But they were empty.

Had he dropped them when he fell?

He hadn’t felt anything like that, though.

"...What the."

His muttering was quickly swallowed by the darkness.

— Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

— Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

— Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

— Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap.

The applause multiplied.

"...Enough."

He bit his lip.

Suddenly, a burst of light forced him to squint.

In an instant, the scenery changed.

An all-too-familiar smell.

An all-too-familiar noise.

And the unforgettable sensation of kneeling and looking around at his surroundings.

— "We now commence the execution of the demon from another world, Lee Han!"

Somehow, Lee Han had returned to the moment of his execution.