Nightmare Game
Copyright© 2025 by CaffeinatedTales
Chapter 45
With that headache resolved, Ethan’s focus returned to the castle. Tomorrow marked the final day; he needed prep work today for the wrap-up.
Some time later, he returned to his room and slept straight through to evening.
Tonight’s banquet guests were just Ethan and Serena.
Curious about Lucas’s absence, she asked; Ethan explained he’d triggered Butler’s kill rule and died.
Serena fell quiet, head bowed, body trembling slightly in apparent fear.
“Just us two left alive now.”
Ethan agreed.
“Yeah, down to us.”
The mood grew heavy. After eating, the routine drawing followed.
Ethan and Serena pulled slips from the box, one after the other, and unfolded them.
Seeing his Order, Ethan frowned.
[Go to the winery to brew wine]
Three death sentences in six days. Without Albert’s sacrifice, tonight could have been his end.
“Ethan!”
Serena’s voice cracked with sobs.
“What do we do? Mine’s [Take out the trash at the incinerator].”
Daisy vanished after that task, and Grace returned traumatized, refusing to leave her room.
For Serena, it screamed certain doom.
She had one rejection left, but another killer draw tomorrow meant ending like Grace.
Agitated, she grabbed his wrist to peek at his slip.
“This, this, Ethan, you...”
She looked lost, staring blankly at the words, disbelief etched on her face.
Unaware of Albert’s stand-in, she thought Ethan had no refusals remaining.
“It’s fine.”
Unconcerned for himself, he comforted her.
“Stay put till tomorrow. With your luck, you might pull through, maybe snag an easy one.”
“I’ve noted all the castle commands in my notebook. If I don’t make it tonight, grab it from my room tomorrow.”
Serena bit her lip, tense and reluctant. “But...”
Ethan just smiled.
“Don’t fret. No one’s done the winery brewing yet; maybe we’ve wrongly assumed it’s fatal.”
His carefree attitude left her speechless, words caught in her throat.
Finally, she managed, “Okay.”
She watched worriedly as he headed down the inner corridor, face full of regret and helplessness, until darkness swallowed him.
Only then did she drop the act, head lowered, chuckling softly.
“Dying for me? At least that loser served some purpose.”
Shedding her fragile facade, she beamed, hands behind her back, skipping upstairs cheerfully.
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