The Insane Regressor: Throne of Pride

”W-Why are you telling me this?” Mirai asked, staring at Ravian with disbelief in her eyes.

Ravian regarded her with a bored expression that seemed to ask one thing: Seriously?

”Mirai, please come closer. I don’t like raising my voice,” Ravian said.

Mirai was slightly taken aback by the request, but she eventually complied and stepped forward, closing the distance she had created when she backed away earlier.

Once she was close enough that Ravian would not have to raise his voice much for her to hear him, he slowly exhaled.

Then he raised his gaze to meet hers.

”Have you really not noticed it yet?” Ravian suddenly asked.

Confusion was plainly visible on Mirai’s face.

”You ordinary survivors no longer have any chance of winning, Mirai,” Ravian said with complete calm and confidence.

”What?” Mirai replied with a frown. ”Do you really underestimate us that much, Rayan?”

Ravian shook his head.

”No. I don’t underestimate you, and I never will—though after hearing that answer, I’m seriously considering it,” Ravian said, deepening the frown on Mirai’s beautiful face.

When Ravian realized that Mirai still did not understand, he decided to explain.

”How many participants are left now, Mirai?” Ravian asked, posing a simple question.

”Four. That’s obvious, Rayan,” Mirai replied.

Ravian nodded in agreement.

”And how many more people need to die for whoever holds the Killer role to win?” Ravian asked.

”You’re the Killer. You admitted it only a moment ago,” Mirai said, poking him in the chest.

”Tsk. Just answer my question,” Ravian said, irritated by her persistent interruptions. ”How many more deaths does the Killer need to win now?”

”One,” Mirai answered with a bored expression.

”That’s right,” Ravian said as his distinctively confident smile began to return to his face. ”Then let me ask you another question, Mirai.”

At that point, Mirai focused intently, beginning to sense that there really was something she had failed to notice.

Then Ravian asked, ”When, exactly, are you allowed to make an accusation?”

Mirai fell silent for a moment as she considered what might lie behind the question, but so far, everything still seemed perfectly ordinary.

”After the White Bell rings in the morning and before the first toll of the Black Bell at night,” Mirai replied.

Ravian took another step toward her, making the difference in their heights even more apparent as he looked down at her.

Then he gazed deeply into her eyes as he asked his next question.

”And do you think making an accusation will do you any good tomorrow, Mirai, when only three participants remain?”

When she first heard the question, Mirai thought it was ridiculous, but then she repeated it in her mind.

’Would making an accusation do us any good tomorrow, when only three participants remain?’

Mirai’s eyes opened as wide as they possibly could, and she recoiled so quickly that she stumbled and fell to the floor.

’That’s right,’ Mirai thought. ’We don’t even know who died last night, let alone which one of them he killed, and we certainly don’t have two living witnesses who could testify that he was the last person to communicate with his victim.’

She raised her head and looked at Ravian as tears filled her eyes and streamed down her cheeks.

’Which means accusing him now would simply mean death.’

Mirai finally realized how naive she had been in dealing with him until now, as well as why he had been so indifferent about admitting that he was the Killer.

’And tomorrow, even if he kills someone and two people witness that he was the last person to communicate with them...’

’There will already be only three participants left.’

”And then I win. Simple as that,” Ravian said, finishing her thoughts for her.

Tears of despair and sorrow poured from Mirai’s eyes like a waterfall, yet her face remained completely expressionless, as though the sheer intensity of her grief had robbed her of the ability to express it.

Ravian approached her as she sat on the floor, then crouched in front of her and looked into her eyes.

There was no pity in his gaze, no sorrow, no regret, nor any other negative emotion.

Then he spoke.

”From the moment the Traitor appeared, you no longer had any part to play in this game, Mirai—neither you nor the other survivor,” Ravian said, stating the facts and nothing but the facts. ”From now on, this game is nothing more than the Killer against the Traitor.”

With every word, Mirai’s tears fell faster.

Despite the indifferent expression on his face, Ravian gently patted her hair.

”Do you understand now why I admitted it so easily in front of you? Because even knowing my identity, you simply can’t do anything about it,” Ravian said.

At that moment, Mirai’s blank expression shattered, and she broke down sobbing like a little girl.

”Waaah!”

Mirai wailed like a child as she buried her face in Ravian’s shirt, muffling her cries against his chest and sending their vibrations through his skin.

Although Ravian had expected her to break down, its intensity still surprised him slightly, and he began patting her even more gently as though trying to soothe her.

After all, she had just discovered that her fate was certain death, and there was nothing that could change that truth.

Or so Mirai thought, at least—until Ravian gently whispered into her ear, ”But what would you say, Mirai, if I told you that I have a way to get you out of this nightmare alive?”

At that exact moment, Mirai froze, and her loud sobs against his chest abruptly ceased.

She lifted her face from his shirt and looked at him with beautiful blue eyes brimming with tears, listening with desperate hope.

”I-Is that really possible, Rayan?” Mirai asked in disbelief.

Ravian’s smile widened.

”Of course, my little Mage. I may do plenty of terrible things, but I never make false promises,” Ravian said, gazing deeply into Mirai’s eyes as though he meant to imprint his gaze on her mind more deeply than his words.

The trembling in Mirai’s gaze stilled for a moment when she heard the word Mage leave his lips, but she paid it little mind; her role was no longer of any use to her in a situation like this anyway.

Instead, she decided to listen to what Ravian had to say.