Chapter 13: Saving a Prince Who Should’ve Died

On the road leading to the orc village.

As I walked along the path where the wind howled nonstop, I replayed the original story in my head.

“…Wait a second. The Black Mask—wasn’t that guy him?”

There was a character in the novel who matched the Black Mask.

Choi Woo-hyuk.

A villain who held intense inferiority toward Wi Hajoon.

Same hair color, same eye color—but always hid his face behind a mask.

From everything I’d seen so far, the Black Mask had to be Choi Woo-hyuk—the hopeless trash-tier villain who stood firm alongside Shinqui-bug in the original story.

“He seemed like a good guy, though.”

In the novel, he was described as someone deeply jealous of Wi Hajoon.

They shared hair and eye color, but their looks were nothing alike.

Choi Woo-hyuk was said to have such a grotesque face that people called him a monster.

Maybe that background explained things.

‘If I remember right… didn’t he team up with Shin Doyoon to steal Wi Hajoon’s looks and abilities, then get taken out?’

I owed the Black Mask my life.

But I wasn’t about to walk the path of a blazing villain just to repay a debt.

“Whatever. I’ll just repay him in ways that don’t involve the protagonist.”

Besides, the Black Mask might never even show up again.

No need to overthink it.

Grass swayed in the wind along the path out of the cave.

‘This is where I ate that deer meat he hunted… it was really tender.’

I hadn’t eaten anything since then.

My stomach growled.

After a brief 고민, I decided to eat first before heading to the orc camp.

“Hmmm… where’s the lucky friend who’s about to fill this empty stomach?”

I pushed through the forest, looking for animal tracks.

It didn’t take long to find signs of a rabbit.

“Rabbit meat…”

My mouth watered.

My stomach roared loudly, like it had a beggar living inside it.

Just as I was about to dash forward—

A loud, chaotic sound reached my ears.

‘Clashing metal? Should I just ignore it?’

Getting involved didn’t sound beneficial.

I was about to walk past—

Then I heard a name.

I stopped cold.

“Did you poison me…? Why did you betray me?”

“Prince Yuriel. Do you truly not know? I never betrayed you. I was never your man to begin with.”

“I truly thought you were mine. So the Empress finally decided she can’t tolerate a bastard anymore? Is that why she ordered you to kill me?”

A chill ran down my spine.

These lines—

I’d just seen them in my recovered memories.

Emperor Yuriel.

No—right now, he was still a prince.

A bastard prince, at that.

But that wasn’t the point.

Yuriel was an incredibly useful supporting character.

After nearly dying from betrayal, the protagonist saves him.

He gets chased endlessly by the Orc Empire, grows stronger through his debt to the protagonist, and eventually becomes Emperor.

Some might say an Emperor doesn’t mean much in a Tower-based world.

But this Tower was different.

Its purpose was invasion.

Except for the second floor, other floors were placed across different regions of the planet.

That meant frequent interaction with local rulers.

And if you made them owe you?

You could collect later.

Especially Emperor Yuriel—

a character with a future growth rate of 99%.

One I’d already marked as a must-grab talent.

Sure, he eventually betrays the protagonist—

But that’s far in the future.

I’d just use him for now and disappear before that happened.

Right now, when his body and mind were at their weakest, helping him would surely return multiple times the value.

‘Classic cliché. Help someone at their lowest, and they become forever loyal.’

Though in his case, not a grateful magpie—

A grateful Emperor.

“Hehehe…”

With a scheming grin, I stepped out in front of them.

“Stop!”

Breathing was difficult.

Yuriel gasped, clutching his side, staring at the knight he had trusted until moments ago.

The knight—who had stabbed his lord without hesitation—showed no guilt at all.

“I’m grateful to you, Your Highness. Thanks to you dying so easily, someone from a lowly family like mine gets a chance to join the Imperial Knights.”

He looked at me with genuine gratitude.

My chest hurt.

More than the wound in Yuriel’s side.

“If you’re grateful—then die. Cough!”

The knight twisted the blade deeper.

Agony tore through Yuriel’s body.

“You dare curse someone with such a bright future. But I understand—

a filthy bastard born to be abandoned and die like a stray dog would obviously envy me.”

The sword was pulled out.

Blood poured out violently.

Through Yuriel’s fading vision, he saw the blade glint sharply as it rose again.

‘Is this… the end?’

His life had been stubbornly persistent.

Born as the son of a maid the Emperor took on a whim.

If he had no talent, he’d have lived unnoticed—

But his undeniable ability drew the attention of the Empress and his half-brothers.

Spirit Resonance.

The Emperor’s authority.

‘I was stupid… I didn’t realize what it meant for a powerless prince to show potential.’

Under the Emperor’s silent approval, assassination attempts never stopped.

He survived them all—only to be exiled to a remote forest.

A harsh life, no matter how you looked at it.

No one to welcome him.

Betrayed by the one he trusted.

At death’s edge, not a single person came to mind.

‘Regret…’

I want to live.

I want to fulfill the dream I whispered under blankets as a child.

The poison interfering with his spirit connection was fading—

But the descending sword would kill him before his power returned.

“Hah… hah…”

The blade rushed down.

This was truly the end.

As he closed his eyes—

A clear voice echoed in his ringing ears.

“Stop!”

“…?”

Damn it.

I got too excited after spotting a walking gold mine.

I stepped out openly—

like an idiot.

A complete failure for someone whose best stat was agility.

“Ah. Just continue what you were doing.”

I quietly stepped back.

“A pathetic assassin.”

The knight moved again, planning to kill the prince first—

But his blade suddenly veered off course.

Ting—

“Not pathetic. Just baiting you. As you can see—I’m pretty competent.”

I knocked the blade aside and slipped into the knight’s range, stabbing with a dagger.

Clang!

“An exposed assassin only meets death.”

The difference in strength and skill was obvious.

The knight was confident of victory.

Fast, sure—but small.

The outcome was already decided.

“…Is it?”

Thud.

A cold blade pierced straight through his heart.

The knight hadn’t worn armor to lure Yuriel into lowering his guard.

Thin fabric offered no resistance.

“…?”

The knight looked down with trembling eyes.

A dagger had appeared in the assassin’s previously empty left hand—embedded in his heart.

“Inventory. Ever heard of it?”

Of course not.

A climber-only trump card.

“P-please… spare—”

Even if I wanted to, he was already dead.

I pulled the dagger out of his cold body and extended my hand toward the stunned prince.

“Are you alright?”

“…Who are you?”

“My name is Shin Doyoon. Just a righteous adventurer passing by.”

“A righteous adventurer… I see.”

He didn’t look convinced.

More like someone watching a man hiding his true identity.

“Are your wounds okay?”

“Yes. I expelled the poison—thanks to you buying time, I survived. Thank you.”

“It was nothing. Just doing what anyone should.”

Yuriel smiled bitterly.

“Doing what’s natural…” he murmured.

A mask-like smile returned to his face—then shattered.

“Ugh… huff…”

Painful breaths.

His chest rose and fell violently.

Sweat slid down his neck, soaking his collar.

Blood continued spreading across his clothes.

“Illun.”

He whispered softly.

A small bird-shaped mass of water appeared in the air.

“That is…”

Without a doubt—

A spirit.

Yuriel’s power.

Judging by its tiny bird form, this was still early in the story.

“Please… heal me.”

Illun fluttered to his side and formed droplets of clear water, which soaked into the wound.

“Fuu…”

His expression relaxed.

The flesh regenerated cleanly—far beyond modern medical explanation.

‘No wonder his siblings feared him.’

Spirit Resonance was rare—and terrifyingly powerful.

Once fully grown, he could summon rain, storms—

Burn the world to ash,

or raise massive earthen walls in a single day.

“You’re not asking anything.”

Even after seeing spirit healing, my lack of reaction made him suspicious.

“Incredible ability. Ever think about giving one of them away?”

“…Giving away?”

“I’ll feed it, take it for walks. I’ll raise it well.”

Yuriel chuckled and shook his head.

“As you can see—it chooses its owner.”

Illun flew to Yuriel and rubbed its feathers against his face, puffed up like an angry pufferfish.

‘Don’t tell me… I got rejected because of my face?’

That’s brutal.

I used to get compliments in my past life.

This face is useless.

Orcs distrust me.

Spirits reject me.

“Fine. I don’t want something that hates me anyway.”

I shrugged—

BOOM!

The ground beside us exploded, leaving behind a massive crater.