Survival Guide After Accidentally Kissing a Demon - chapter 7

Beili’s eyelid twitched, and she hurriedly replied, “I’m not quite sure… Sir… Maybe it just fell somewhere…”

Her steps faltered slightly.

The young man walking ahead of Beili seemed to let out a brief, low laugh.

There were three carriages in total, parked in front of a European-style old castle.

Armored men drove the people from the carriages toward the building.

They pushed open the heavy arched oak door.

The moment they stepped inside, the burning fireplace instantly dispelled the chill from everyone’s bodies.

The spacious room was decorated with suits of armor, tapestries, antique weapons, and oil portraits.

One side of the shelves was filled with clothes-soft fabrics, smooth silks, and perfumes whose bottles alone looked expensive.

On the other side, a long dining table was covered with exquisite desserts, freshly cooked steaks, fluffy bread, and all kinds of fresh fruit.

A man stepped forward.

His eyes, visible through the slits of his mask, stared at them coldly.

“All thirty of you will participate in His Majesty the King’s Thorn Game. As participants, you are entitled to use all the resources in this room.”

His voice was cold and heavy, like a winter wind rustling through dead branches.

“Now I will begin checking the list. When your name is called, step forward.”

With that, he shook open the parchment in his hand, his fingertip sliding across a name as he read out the information.

The moment Beili heard the words “Thorn Game” from within the crowd, her mind buzzed.

The original book did mention the Thorn Game.

A group of people locked together, forced to kill each other until only one remained.

Such a cruel survival battle was favored by His Majesty the King and the old Nobles.

The emphasis on “old” was because the story in the original book began with a wave of opposition to the Thorn Game rising among the young Nobles.

And the heroine Susanna was on the opposing side, which led her to meet and develop relationships with four of the male leads (except for the fifth, Ashera).

The atmosphere in the room was tense and oppressive.

As each name was called, people in the crowd had their hoods removed and the iron locks on their hands and feet undone, gaining their freedom. They moved cautiously around the room.

“Valentin,” the man called.

Seeing no one step forward from the crowd, the man on the steps raised his voice and repeated the name.

“Valentin-”

Still, no one responded.

The man lifted his eyes from the parchment, and the gaze beneath the black iron mask grew sharp.

“Who is Valentin Wood?” he asked.

By the time Beili came back to her senses, she saw the young man beside her move and step forward.

The man glanced at him, then returned his gaze to the parchment.

Beili: …?

Valentin Wood?

Who?

She couldn’t recall the villain Ashera ever having such a name in the original book.

While Beili was still trying to remember details from the book, the iron locks on the young man’s hands and feet had already been undone, and the black hood on his head was roughly pulled off.

His body swayed slightly, and his silver hair became a bit messy.

“Olive.”

“Olive-”

The man on the steps repeated, a trace of impatience in his voice.

Suddenly, Beili felt an invisible force gently push her lower back, and her feet involuntarily stumbled forward.
The man lifted his eyes from the parchment once again.

His gaze locked onto Beili as he asked, “Are you Olive?”

Before Beili could answer, the boy beside her spoke up for her: “Y-yes… she is O-Olive…”

His voice was weak, his words faltering, but his tone was resolute.

Beili: …

Beili finally understood.

No wonder she had suddenly gone from Thorn Prison to this place in the blink of an eye-it turned out this villain was behind it all.

Yet the man ignored the boy’s words. Beneath the black iron mask, a pair of cold eyes stared at Beili.

He asked again, “Are you Olive?”

Beili sighed inwardly. “Yes, I am Olive.”

Upon hearing her reply, a subtle, fleeting smile appeared on the boy’s face.

After the chains were undone, Beili walked over to the boy, full of questions as she looked at him.

Just as she was pondering how to ask, the blind boy tilted his head up.

“Is… is there something flying… up above?”

He asked, his beautiful silver hair still messy.

Beili sighed helplessly in her heart. She reached out to tidy the boy’s hair before following his gaze upward.

Several round, white orbs of light floated in the air.

As they slowly rotated, they revealed shapes resembling pupils, as if silently observing everything below.

“Hmm…” Beili stared for a while before saying, “They look like eyeballs?”

“Eyeballs…”

The boy’s lips curled slightly. He uttered a word Beili couldn’t understand, then said, “I thought… cough… I thought they were bats.”

Meanwhile.

A grand banquet was being held in the hall of the Royal Palace.

The towering dome, crystal chandeliers shimmering with golden light, and walls adorned with exquisite oil paintings framed in red gold.

Nobles dressed in splendid attire gathered in the hall, holding glasses of red wine, savoring aged grape vintages, their eyes all fixed on the enormous Magic Screen floating in the center of the hall.

On it was projected a scene from a room in the ancient castle-after being freed from their restraints, the crowd rushed to the dining table, grabbing meat with their hands and stuffing it into their mouths, even shoving each other to fight over the same piece of food.

“Oh-such uncouth commoners…”

Someone chuckled with undisguised contempt.

“His Majesty the King hasn’t arrived yet…”

“I heard His Highness refuses to attend the banquet and is arguing with His Majesty…”

“His Highness is really being unreasonable…”

…

When all those who had been brought here had their chains removed, the armored men prepared to leave.

Seeing them about to go, someone asked, “Sir, when does the game you mentioned begin? And what are the rules?”

“The moment you set foot on this land, the Thorn Game has already begun.”

The man spoke as he walked out the door.

“The rules of the game are simple… Only one of you can leave this house alive.”

As his words faded, the heavy arched door slowly closed.

The atmosphere inside instantly plunged into dead silence.

Thirty people in the room stared at each other, their expressions shifting from post-meal satisfaction to wary alertness.

Those seated at the dining table gripped their knives and forks tightly.