Lord of Flesh and Blood

Without any hindrance, carrying the bouquet of roses, Bai Zhi went straight to the coffin.

However, when he looked into the coffin, it was empty, with only a delicate Golden Dagger placed quietly in the center.

After a moment of silence, Bai Zhi bent down and picked up the dagger. The instant his fingers touched the Golden Dagger, everything around him receded rapidly like a fleeting phantom.

... Time seemed to leap forward a thousand years at that moment.

When Bai Zhi looked up again, he found himself in a rather dilapidated old castle.

The Tian Kong was blood red, revealing an unsettling and ominous state. All around were ruins and rubble. The marble floor was broken into pieces, and the weeds among the ruins had grown to be more than half a person tall. The dark places were covered with moss.

"This place..."

Bai Zhi glanced at the golden dagger in his hand, then briefly looked around.

Although surrounded by ruins, he recognized from the general structure that he was in the central hall of the castle in the Rose Manor. In other words, he had finally broken free from Anna's Mental World and the layers of dreams she had constructed, and arrived in the Real World.

"This is Prince Your Highness's final test~"

Faint white light gathered and condensed into Anna's phantom Shadow Form in front of Bai Zhi. Her smooth golden hair reached her waist, and a white crown was placed on her head, perfectly complementing her white dress.

"Test?"

Bai Zhi glanced at the dagger in his hand.

"That's right, the test is for Prince Your Highness to reach the top floor and find me within the allotted time."

Anna held up a finger in front of her, her face serious.

"In this place, no abilities are usable; Prince Your Highness can only move forward on foot. Of course, if Your Highness feels unwell, Prince may Your Highness at any time, and in that case, it will still be the same..."

"Climbing stairs, right? Got it."

Nodding knowingly, Bai Zhi walked straight towards the broken spiral staircase.

Although his abilities were unusable, his physical attributes remained unchanged. Even though the path upstairs seemed blocked, climbing up wouldn't be too difficult...

"Wait, wait a minute, Your Prince, don't you feel anything unusual Your Highness your body?"

Seemingly completely taken aback by someone's incredible speed, Anna stared in disbelief as Bai Zhi began climbing the stairs without encountering any obstacles. After a moment of stunned silence, she quickly flew to Bai Zhi and asked him a question.

"Abnormal? What abnormality?"

While pondering the path up, Bai Zhi asked Anna with some curiosity.

"Well, it's just... a headache, difficulty moving around, and things like that. Don't you have those, Your Prince Your Highness?"

Anna's words were filled with worry.

"If Prince Your Highness feels unwell, please just say so. There's absolutely no need for you to force yourself."

"Hmm? Have other people been here before?"

Bai Zhi planted the dagger in his hand into the wall to secure himself, and then climbed up to the next floor, raising an eyebrow slightly.

"Yes, but they are all other people, not my Prince, so no one can reach Your Highness Finish Line."

After a moment's hesitation, Anna nodded.

"That settles it, doesn't it? They aren't, but I am."

Using his arm strength, Bai Zhi flipped himself up to the Second Floor and shrugged.

"Don't all Fairy Tale tales say that when Princess is in danger, many people want to rush to Princess rescue, but in the end only the Prince succeeds?"

"Yeah..."

After a moment of distraction, Anna fell into a long silence as she watched Bai Zhi climbing towards the top floor.

With attributes that were close to the limits of human capabilities, Bai Zhi reached the top floor of the castle in about half an hour.

The Tian Kong was blood red, and in the very center of the top floor, a small, mummified corpse was tightly bound by heavy chains.

"It looks awful, doesn't it?"

Anna's voice sounded softly behind him.

"Having made it this far Your Highness, perhaps you truly are my Prince. So, Prince Your Highness, could you please do one last thing for me?"

"What's up?"

Bai Zhi turned to look at the other person.

"Put that dagger in your hand into the head of that hideous, desiccated corpse over there."

Looking him straight in the eyes, Anna spoke earnestly.

"I've had enough of this life. I want Your Highness Prince help me escape. I want to completely immerse myself in the dream I've created and never wake up again, but I can't. I can't even understand what's happening to me..."

A hint of confusion flashed in Anna's eyes.

"Sometimes I fall into a state of confusion, and sometimes I regain my senses. When I'm confused, I feel pain, and when I'm clear-headed, the pain is even greater... I want to die with dignity as a human being while I still retain my human consciousness, rather than becoming one of those disgusting Monster later on."

Meeting his gaze, she spoke each word clearly.

"Prince Your Highness, please, kill me."

"... Do you really want to die?"

After staring at the other person for a moment, Bai Zhi asked this question.

"Prince Your Highness, do you think I look alive right now? No, I'm just moving."

Looking up at the blood-red Tian Kong, Anna's words were filled with bewilderment.

"I don't know why my father and mother did this, but I couldn't even ask them why, because they, like everyone else in the castle, were all dead... When I came to my senses, there was no one left alive in the Rose Manor."

"Later, people gradually entered my manor. From them, I learned that my country had perished, and that the entire world was rapidly heading towards destruction. I wanted to know what had happened, why everything had changed so drastically, but I couldn't leave the manor at all..."

Anna gave a slight smile.

"Actually, I should have realized long ago that I'm no longer a Princess, because I've become a Monster. Prince are there to save Princess, not Monster. You are my Prince, but I am not your Princess."

"So you still want to survive, right?"

With a smile, and to Anna's astonishment, Bai Zhi casually tossed the golden dagger in his hand to the ground.

Tell me, how can you get out of here?

"Impossible, there's absolutely no one like that..."

"You just need to tell me."

Bai Zhi interrupted the other person.

"You saw that note, right? The fact that you're here means you believe what's on it. So all you need to do is tell me what you know, and then trust me as before."

"... cut off contact."

After a moment of silence, Anna spoke softly.

"If I could sever the connection with that Monster, I could leave, but that's something no one can do."

Which one? The Flesh Monster or that Giant Doll?

Bai Zhi raised an eyebrow slightly.

"... The first one wasn't a fleeting glimpse inherited from the Curse, but rather a direct result of the other party's gaze. If I could sever its gaze upon me... that's something absolutely impossible for a human."

"All we have to do is cut off the gaze, right?"

He reached up and touched his chin, and after pondering for a moment, Bai Zhi asked Anna in front of him a question.

What is its name?

"... You can't speak."

For some reason, Anna seemed slightly lost in thought.

"If you utter its name aloud, its gaze will fall upon this place, and you will be assimilated by its gaze..."

"It's just being watched, I think I can handle it."

After briefly recalling the images he had seen in that memory, Bai Zhi looked at Anna with a serious expression.

"Just tell me, believe me, it's okay."

"..."

Meeting Bai Zhi's gaze, Anna spoke softly after a long silence.

"Its name is... [Lord of Flesh and Blood]."