chapter 03
“Special ability?”
Isael frowned and repeated.
“What ability are you talking about?”
“X-ray vision.”
“X-ray… vision?”
“Yeah. With that ability, I saw the princess locked on the lowest floor of the tower.”
As I spoke confidently, Isael shot back as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“X-ray vision… ha. I’ve never even heard of such an ability existing in this world.”
“Then how do you think I saw the princess on the very bottom floor of the tower?”
“Because everything you’re saying is just something you made up.”
Isael spoke in a cold voice.
“Seeing my younger sister is probably just another lie you’re spouting carelessly.”
“No, why would I lie to you right now?”
“Because—”
The boy, glaring at me fiercely, moved his lips as if he had more to say, then closed his mouth again.
I met Isael’s gaze directly and said,
“It’s not a lie. It’s the truth.”
After all, it wasn’t strange at all that I knew what the princess looked like.
The Marquis heir Dominic Grace, childhood friend and playmate of the First Prince, was my older brother.
In fact, I had often entered the imperial palace holding Dominic’s hand since I was young.
‘Of course, I never actually met the princess or this guy there.’
I had met the First Prince a few times and even spoken with him, but I had never seen the Second Prince in front of me—or Princess Beatrice.
He had unexpectedly claimed earlier that he had seen me before, but at least for me, this was my first time seeing him in this tower.
However, there was no way for Isael to determine whether I was lying or not.
That was the important part.
“Blonde like mine, blue eyes. I saw her clearly. The one trapped on the lowest floor was definitely the princess.”
I said firmly, as if sealing it in place.
As though I had no doubt at all in my own words.
“Then can you also see what’s on the floor below with that amazing X-ray vision of yours?”
“Of course.”
The answer came easily.
I didn’t actually have X-ray vision—but I knew the original story.
Which meant I understood exactly how this tower was structured.
“There’s nothing on the next floor.”
“Nothing?”
“Yeah. Literally nothing. No monsters, no beasts. Just an empty space.”
Seeing how certain I sounded, Isael stopped pressing further.
Instead, he just stared at me with a doubtful expression.
As he studied me as if measuring my worth, I studied him as well.
When I first saw him, I had been too busy trying to survive to notice much—but now that I looked closely, he was undeniably handsome.
Black hair that could look deep navy in certain light, and striking red eyes.
Every feature of his face seemed sharp and self-assertive.
So this was the protagonist of the world—he really did have an extraordinary appearance.
Impressed, I nodded slightly.
Then he asked,
“…But how did someone with such a special ability end up collapsed like that?”
He emphasized the words special ability, clearly mocking me.
Yeah, that was fair enough.
I answered casually.
“I was traveling with people from the Camelot Empire. But they abandoned me.”
“…Abandoned you?”
“Yeah. I was injured. They said they couldn’t all get stuck here because of me, so they left me behind.”
So my ride on the protagonist bus had failed spectacularly.
Now I had to catch another one.
‘And that bus is you, Isael.’
It was possible I could escape the tower alone—or maybe not.
Rather than relying on uncertain chances, it was wiser to secure another foothold.
No, I needed to hold onto every possible chance I could get.
‘Isael’s escape from the tower is a fixed fate in the original story.’
That was exactly why I was clinging to him, the future villain who had tried to abandon me.
With a small groan, I pushed myself up and said,
“Anyway, I understand why you don’t trust me.”
“…”
“But we’ll be able to prove whether I’m telling the truth soon, so don’t worry.”
If what I said about the lower floor being empty was true, then Isael would have to believe I really had X-ray vision.
“And if what I said turns out to be a lie… then you can decide what to do with me afterward, right?”
After saying that, I held out my hand to him.
But Isael only stared at me like a wary beast bristling with hostility.
I let out a small sigh.
“If you want to know whether I’m telling the truth, we have to go down first.”
My voice softened almost unconsciously, like I was trying to persuade him.
“You need to see what’s down there with your own eyes, right?”
This wasn’t easy.
Of course, it would be stranger if he just trusted me outright.
‘But we can’t afford to waste time like this.’
We had to reach the 9th basement floor before that damn hypocrite Leonad.
Only then could we save Beatrice and escape the tower together with Isael.
We would block Leonad’s path, screw him over, and save Isael’s sister as well.
That would benefit both of us.
There was a reason the saying the enemy of my enemy is my ally existed.
‘Of course, I plan to part ways with him once we leave the tower.’
Leonad was the protagonist of this story, after all. Even without Beatrice, he might still manage to escape somehow.
And then Isael, the villain, might meet the same tragic fate as in the original story—defeated and killed while fighting Leonad.
‘But I’ll help as much as I can until we get out.’
Maybe you could even live differently from how you did in the original story.
I’ll do everything I can, so let’s get along until then, alright? You little budding villain.
“So let’s hurry and go down.”
Only then did Isael finally stand up.
He ignored the hand I offered and rose on his own.
Then he muttered almost to himself,
“Fine. For now.”
Our journey together began rather smoothly.
“So why do we have to pick that up?”
“Just pick it up.”
“….”
“You were going to pick it up anyway, so why complain from the start?”
At my grumbling, Isael clenched his fist tightly.
The veins on the back of his hand bulged, looking rather intimidating—but I ignored it.
“Be careful not to fall!”
“You’re good at talking.”
Despite complaining, Isael successfully pulled up a flower growing at the edge of a cliff by its roots.
Satisfied, I smiled brightly and patted his shoulder, then promptly snatched the flower from him.
“We need this to safely clear the next floor.”
Isael stared at my smiling face and muttered darkly,
“It better be.”
“….”
Naturally, he didn’t trust me at all.
Well, that would improve over time.
“Anyway, we’ve gathered everything. We can go down now.”
“So we’ll finally see whether you really have X-ray vision.”
“…Right. Let’s hurry.”
Seriously, stop saying it like a threat…
Though, in a place like this, caution wasn’t a bad thing.
‘I wonder if I can really get along with this suspicious guy.’
I sighed inwardly and started walking.
Leonad had already gone down long ago.
Meanwhile, I had stayed on this third floor for several days with Isael while recovering and gathering supplies.
If I wanted to surpass Leonad, I had to hurry.
In this story, the tower wasn’t meant to be climbed—it had to be descended.
Once you passed the trial of the final 9th basement floor, you could leave the tower.
I stood with Isael in front of the door leading to the next floor.
Then I took out a stone from my bag and pressed it against the nearly healed wound on my abdomen.
Isael immediately grabbed my wrist in alarm.
“What are you doing?”
