Noelle stumbled through the door of her cramped apartment and slammed it shut behind her.
Her hands were shaking. Her chest was tight. Her head was spinning with a thousand terrible scenarios, each one worse than the last.
He knew.
That blonde-haired stranger with the emerald eyes knew her real name. He knew she was a Lespinasse. And if he knew, who else? How long until the guards kicked down her door? How long until she and Lelia were dragged before the Great Houses and executed like the rest of their family?
She'd gotten permission from her boss to take the rest of the day off. She'd mumbled something about feeling sick—which wasn't even a lie.
Now she sat on her threadbare mattress, knees drawn up to her chest, fingers clutching her hair like she could physically hold herself together.
Any second now. Any second, there would be boots in the hallway. Shouts. The crash of her door splintering inward.
Any second.
The bell rang.
Noelle's heart stopped.
"Noelle! It's me, Lelia! Open the door!"
The breath rushed out of her lungs in a ragged gasp. Not guards. Not yet. Just her sister. Just her infuriating, selfish, oblivious sister who had no idea what was happening.
Noelle dragged herself to her feet, her legs still trembling, and opened the door.
Lelia swept in with a smirk already plastered across her face—the smirk of someone who thought she was about to deliver wonderful news and expected gratitude in return.
"Noelle! I have good news for you!" She clasped her hands together, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "I found you a perfect match! His name is Loic Leta Barielle, from one of the Great Noble Houses. He's wealthy. He's handsome. He's been asking about you, and he's very eager to meet you. Please come with me—he's waiting!"
The name hit Noelle like a physical blow.
Loic Leta Barielle.
The name the stranger had whispered in her ear. The name she'd been turning over in her mind all afternoon, trying to figure out what it meant, why it mattered, why a complete stranger would bother to warn her about some noble she'd never even met.
And now Lelia was standing in her apartment, grinning like an idiot, trying to set her up with him.
Noelle's hand moved before her brain caught up.
The slap cracked across Lelia's cheek hard enough to snap her head to the side.
"NO!" Noelle's voice came out raw and shattered, hysterical, nothing like the composed mask she wore at the café.
"Don't look for me! I don't want this! I don't want any of this!"
Lelia stumbled back, one hand pressed to her stinging cheek, her smirk completely gone.
Her eyes were wide—not with anger, but with genuine, bewildered concern.
"Noelle...? What's wrong? What happened?" Her voice was smaller now.
Less confident.
"Sister, talk to me. Please."
"He threatened me."
Lelia went still.
"He knows our surname, Lelia." Noelle's voice was shaking, her eyes bloodshot and wild. "He knows who we are. He knows we're Lespinasses. And now—"
She pointed a trembling finger at her sister. "—now he's approached you. He's using you to get to me. Do you understand what that means?!"
The color drained from Lelia's face.
Her mind was racing, calculations and scenarios and game routes crashing against each other in her head.
This wasn't supposed to happen. Loic was supposed to be a capture target. A route. A potential love interest who could be guided toward the good ending. He wasn't supposed to know their surname. He wasn't supposed to be threatening anyone—not yet, not like this, not when Noelle was only fifteen years old.
Fifteen.
Lelia looked at her sister—really looked at her. The trembling hands. The bloodshot eyes. The way her whole body was coiled tight like an animal expecting to be struck.
If Noelle were older, Lelia might have told her to get along with it. Play the game. Get close to Loic and steer him toward the right ending. That was how the otome game worked. That was how you won.
But Noelle was fifteen.
A little girl. Terrified. Shaking in apartment because a man Lelia had introduced into their lives had already become a threat.
And Loic knew their surname.
What else did he know? Who else had he told? If his father—Bellange Leta Barielle, one of the Six Great Nobles—found out that the Lespinasse twins were still alive, they wouldn't just be executed. Execution was too clean for what the Great Houses did to traitors.
Unless...
Lelia's eyes hardened.
Unless Loic had already killed everyone who knew.
He was a yandere. In the game, his obsession made him possessive, dangerous, willing to eliminate anyone who came between him and the object of his fixation.
If he'd discovered the twins' identity and wanted Noelle for himself, he might have already silenced anyone else who knew.
Which meant the secret was contained. For now.
But Loic was still a threat.
Still a ticking bomb.
Lelia had seen that bad ending.
She'd watched it play out on her screen in her past life, the pixels of Noelle's face contorted in terror as Loic's hands closed around her throat.
If Loic was already like this—already making threats, already using Lelia to get closer—then there was no "good ending" to work toward.
There was no route to clear. There was only a predator circling her sister, getting closer every day.
No matter how perfect the game's ending was supposed to be, it didn't matter if she and Noelle didn't live long enough to see it.
Loic couldn't stay.
The only good Loic...
Was a dead Loic.
Lelia's expression settled into something cold.
Something resolved.
Sorry, Loic.
Who told you to threaten my sister? Who told you to learn our identity?
Don't worry.
Tonight is going to be your last peaceful night.
High above the city, Arthur stood at the edge of a rooftop, his cloak billowing in the night wind.
Beside him, Morgan le Fay watched the scene below with the calm, detached interest of a witch who had orchestrated exactly this outcome.
"You did me a favor, Morgan." Arthur's voice was quiet. "Thank you."
"It was no trouble, my little brother." Morgan's lips curved into a faint smile. "But I have to ask—are you not angry with this result? You wanted something more ambiguous. A path where that girl and Loic never crossed paths. Where they both lived their separate lives."
She tilted her head, studying his profile.
"My plan killed him instead."
Arthur sighed.
It was a heavy sound—not angry, not disappointed, just... tired.
"There will be no next time, Morgan."
"I know."
"I mean it." He turned to face her, his emerald eyes meeting her blue ones with quiet intensity. "I really like you, Morgan. I really do. You're my sister. My partner. My anchor in this strange world. But don't do something stupid. Don't make decisions like this without telling me."
Morgan's smile didn't waver. "I will always do everything within your best interest, Arthur. Always. Every plan I make. Every action I take. Every life I end. All of it is for you."
"That's what I'm afraid of."
"You shouldn't be." She stepped closer, her hand finding his. "I'm not going anywhere. I'm not going to become someone you can't recognize. But I am going to protect you—and the future you're building—whether you like my methods or not."
Arthur looked at her for a long moment.
Then he shook his head, a rueful smile tugging at his lips despite everything.
"You're terrifying, you know that?"
"I've been told." Morgan squeezed his hand. "Now come. Let's watch the night unfold. This is the part where the story gets interesting."
Below them, in the shadows of the Barielle estate, a figure moved silently toward the heir's chambers. Lelia had made her decision.
Loic's fate was sealed.
And somewhere in a cramped apartment on the wrong side of the capital, Noelle Zel Lespinasse clutched her knees to her chest and waited for the dawn, unaware that the monster who would have destroyed her was already drawing his last breaths.
...
Note:
Yeah, I finally have time to update my Patreon page. My Leviathan fanfic and Great Red fanfic will also be posted soon. For now, you can only read ahead for this story and my yandere story before I start uploading Great Red and Leviathan.
Here's the link if you want to read 15 chapters ahead of this story: patreon.com/councilofevil
As a spoiler, the MC has already lewd Morgan in the very latest chapter.