Was he really the same person?

Freezing river water flooded her nose and mouth. Her lungs felt as though an invisible hand had clenched around them, and her oxygen was rapidly running out.

In her last moment of consciousness, Lilith Kahn, the Kingdom's second princess, felt only the sickening coil of a slippery tentacle around her ankle and the despair of being dragged into bottomless darkness.

Then a powerful force suddenly seized her wrist.

Splash-

The instant she broke the surface, fresh air rushed into her burning lungs. Lilith coughed violently, spewing water from her nose and mouth.

She lay sprawled on a rough rock, drenched from head to toe, her uniform clinging to her skin as she shivered with cold.

I'm saved.

The realization nearly brought her to tears.

But her pride as a princess forced her to suppress her vulnerability after that narrow escape. She pushed herself up and spoke in a voice that still trembled:

"Cough, cough... tha-urgh..."

Her thanks caught in her throat.

When she raised her dripping face and focused on the person who had saved her, her red pupils abruptly contracted.

That all-too-familiar face.

"...Greg?!" Her eyes widened as she choked and coughed. "Why is it you?!"

His blond hair looked darker when wet, several strands plastered against his forehead, and droplets slid down his sharply defined jaw.

He was Greg Sass, the man who had once been engaged to her older sister.

Fortunately, her father had soon discovered that he had no talent for magic and canceled the engagement in time.

The facts had since proved her father's decision correct-Greg Sass truly was a handsome face with nothing behind it.

Not only had he cheated on the entrance test for new students, but after running his mouth at a freshman, he had hidden in the Dungeon, not even daring to attend classes.

His disgraceful behavior had even driven his family to publicly announce his expulsion... utterly contemptible.

Although anyone would praise his handsome face, Lilith had no idea why she found it so unappealing. She even felt a faint disgust.

"You know me?"

Greg was a little surprised. He had no recollection of the girl he had rescued, and the band around her wrist marked her as a first-year student, making it even less likely that their paths had crossed.

Only then did Lilith remember that she was in disguise, so Greg apparently couldn't recognize her.

She quickly adjusted her expression and tried to sound like an ordinary first-year student:

"Yes. You're quite famous among the freshmen too, Greg, so of course I know you."

"Famous? Heh. Infamous, more like."

With that self-deprecating remark, he let go of her hand and stopped looking at her. He turned and headed deeper into the cave, leaving without hesitation.

Huh?

Lilith froze, still half sitting up, and stared blankly at the figure gradually disappearing into the darkness.

He... just left?

He saved someone, made sure she was all right, then turned and left without another word?

None of it matched anything she had imagined.

As far as she knew, Greg Sass was the sort of person who would seize the opportunity to make all kinds of demands.

He would ask for a reward, or at least put on an air of "I saved you, so you owe me."

That sort of thing was all too common among nobles. Expecting repayment for a favor was practically an instinct bred into their bones.

But he hadn't.

He had even openly mocked himself as "infamous" when she called him "famous."

Was this really the arrogant idiot from the rumors?

Lilith braced herself against the damp rock and stood, water still dripping from the hem of her uniform skirt.

Watching Greg's back as he was about to disappear around a bend in the passage, she felt something surge in her chest. It wasn't just gratitude; part of it was her pride as a princess.

As the second princess of the Kahn Kingdom, Lilith Kahn would never allow someone to save her and then simply walk away as though nothing had happened.

It was a matter of principle, regardless of who he was.

Lilith gritted her teeth and hurried after him.

Her soaked boots slapped against the uneven ground, the sound especially clear in the silent cave.

"Hey, wait!"

She caught up and stepped into his path.

Greg stopped and looked down at her.

He was nearly a head taller than her, forcing Lilith to tilt her face up.

"Greg, who do you think you just saved? I'll have you know, I'm the esteemed-"

She slammed the brakes on her words, nearly exposing herself.

Greg blinked in confusion. "The esteemed?"

"...The esteemed daughter of a wealthy merchant, Lily Carlo!" she improvised, forcing herself to keep going.

"A wealthy merchant's daughter, huh."

The title reminded Greg of the fourth heroine, who was in his year. The only difference was that she was the daughter of the richest man in the Kingdom's largest merchant association, truly born with a silver spoon in her mouth.

"So?" He started walking again, stepping around her and continuing onward.

It took Lilith two seconds to realize he was responding to what she had said earlier.

She jogged after him. "So I want to repay you! You saved me, and I, Lily Carlo, never leave a debt unpaid!"

Greg stopped again. His expression turned peculiar, the corner of his mouth twitching as though he had heard something unbelievable.

"Wait..." he said, clear confusion in his voice. "You're saying... you want to repay me?"

"Yes!"

Greg paused, his tone growing even stranger. "You're really not going to use this to extort me, or accuse me of taking advantage of you?"

"Of course not. Would anyone really treat the person who saved their life that badly?" Lilith said rather helplessly.

Greg asked, "Are you sure no one would?"

"..."

Lilith suddenly found herself speechless. She remembered some rumors she had heard before, and apparently there really had been people who turned on their rescuers.

In the end, she could only say slowly, "At least I wouldn't."

"You're actually a surprisingly nice girl!" Greg's opinion of her instantly soared.

"..."

Lilith's feelings grew complicated. He had saved her, and she wanted to repay him, yet somehow he was praising her. What was that supposed to mean?

Grrrrumble~

Just then, Lilith's stomach betrayed her with a rumble. After all, to escape those three maids, she had entered the Dungeon without even eating dinner.

Greg naturally extended an invitation. "I was just about to make something to eat. Want to join me?"

Although she was only a background character he didn't remember, her goodwill had won him over, so he didn't mind letting her into his camp.

"You can cook too?!" Now Lilith was even more surprised.

Nobles generally didn't set foot in kitchens.

Cooking was a servant's job, a skill for the lower classes.

A duke's son like Greg shouldn't even know how to hold a kitchen knife.

"How else do you think I've survived here all these days?" Greg turned to lead the way, his stride casual.

Just then, several low-level monsters burst out of the shadows, their sharp teeth gleaming coldly.

"Watch out-!"

Lilith hadn't even finished her warning.

Greg didn't so much as turn around. He merely raised a hand casually, a flicker of fire glinting at his fingertips.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Three fireballs shot out with virtually no windup, striking the monsters squarely in the head.

Before the monsters could even howl, they collapsed to the ground, charred black.

Greg walked over, picked up one of the ingredients that had been roasted just right, and nodded in satisfaction.

"The skin's already crispy. That saves some prep work. It'll taste even better when I cook it later."

"..."

Lilith stood where she was, watching the blond boy calmly discuss cooking while holding a monster's corpse, and thought again of the stupid, domineering young thug described in the rumors.

...These two images didn't match at all!!

Was he really the same person?!