Declared Dead, Exiled, and Betrayed— Now I Walk Away, but I'll Save One Who Cared - Chapter 18

“Eranda?!”

“Is that you, Eranda? What happened to the stampede?”

There they were—two of the worst people I knew.

Jekyll, my so-called fiancé.

Alessandro, the casino owner.

And Claire was there too… lying naked on the floor, completely drained.

Disgusting.

Even in times like this, these two were indulging in their filth.

Jekyll awkwardly moved to stand between me and Claire, trying to block my view.

Alessandro didn’t even bother pretending to care.

This was the man I had chosen as my fiancé.

And this was the man who could have been my future fiancé.

I could almost laugh at how pathetic it all was.

“The middle-layer monsters were taken care of, but when the lower-layer monsters emerged, I evacuated,” I said.

Even now, I was still lying.

Still trying to protect myself.

“The middle-layer monsters? You mean to tell me you defeated an Orc King and an Elder Wolf?” Jekyll scoffed.

“You didn’t even see what came out? What about my casino?” Alessandro asked, uninterested in anything but himself.

Even now, the only thing on their minds was their own failures.

Not a single thought spared for the city they left behind.

Not a single thought for the people who fought and died there.

Shifa, Lax—neither of you would ever be like this.

You both had power, so you never needed to resort to this.

But I had none.

I could only cling to others, manipulate them, and deceive when necessary.

There was no turning back for me.

“Michelle recovered and led the fight against the middle-layer bosses. After that, the guild sealed off the dungeon entrance. But before I fled, I saw the entire area explode.”

Jekyll’s face twisted.

Alessandro, however, merely smiled.

“It seems I made the right choice taking my assets and leaving,” he said, turning toward the exit.

A flicker of movement in the distance caught my eye—a massive creature with black wings.

A dragon.

The very monster of legend.

No one could win against that.

“Wait, Alessandro! Take me with you!” Jekyll pleaded.

Alessandro didn’t even turn around. “Come if you want. But Eranda—you stay. If I take you with me, I’ll have to explain myself to my father. That’s too much trouble.”

His parting words were as worthless as the man himself.

If only the stampede had taken him too.

Jekyll’s expression turned to shock. “I gave you all that money—!”

Alessandro’s cold gaze cut him off.

“Money?” He laughed. “That was mine to begin with. Right, Eranda?”

Jekyll snapped toward me. “What? That was supposed to be our emergency fund!”

I said nothing.

This was it.

Everything had fallen apart.

One mistake, and it all collapsed.

Alessandro smiled mockingly.

“As if you’d ever admit it. That money? It wasn’t some emergency fund. It was the debt you racked up years ago, Eranda. The losses you caused when you got too addicted to my casino.”

Jekyll paled. “What…? Do you have any idea how much money was in there?!”

I felt nothing anymore.

No anger.

No sadness.

Just emptiness.

When I was a child, I lived a sheltered life.

As the daughter of a viscount, my days were filled with lessons and etiquette.

I rarely ventured outside.

This city was built around a dungeon.

It was full of adventurers—wild, unruly men who only cared about money and strength.

The city was prosperous, but it was never safe for women and children to wander freely.

My father worked tirelessly to train the guards and impose order, but the reality was cruel.

No matter how well-trained a guard was, they could never match an adventurer who had grown stronger in the dungeon.

And when guards entered the dungeon, they never came back—at least not as guards.

The wealth within the dungeon was too tempting.

Many guards simply quit and became adventurers themselves.

Even my father couldn’t stop it.

Regular city guards focused on escorting nobles, hunting stray monsters, and gathering resources from the nearby forest.

It was dangerous, yes, but it was nothing compared to the insane rewards waiting inside the dungeon.

Why risk your life for mere silver, when a single successful dungeon raid could bring in gold?

The system was broken.

Even though my father was respected, he still had enemies.

People who hated his authority.

People who caused trouble for our family.

Some even attacked him directly, leaving him wounded.

Others had taken his relatives’ lives.

I understood it all.

And yet, when I was a young girl reaching adolescence, I saw my protected life as nothing more than a cage.

I wanted to visit the guild.

I wanted to walk through the city.

And that’s when I met Alessandro.

The very man who was now abandoning me without a second thought.

I had been introduced to him at a banquet hosted by my father.

It was a celebration—a reward from the king for my father’s successful governance of Riofendarl despite the dungeon’s dangers.

Naturally, the entire family had to attend.

I was there.

My young sister was there too.

And that was when Alessandro approached me.

Back then, he was charming.

He was the third son of Duke Horneld, but he carried himself like a prince.

I was entranced.

He treated me like a lady from a fairytale.

And he introduced me to his world—the casino.

Since he was a noble’s son, my father couldn’t object when he invited me.

And so, for the first time in my life—

I stepped outside my cage.

I played games I had never seen before.

At first, he kept it innocent.

I won some, I lost some.

But most of all, I had fun.

When I returned home that night, I was dizzy with excitement.

For the first time, I had been treated like a princess.

And I had been free.

It was a fleeting dream. If it had ended there, nothing would have gone wrong.

But once I returned to my daily life, I couldn’t forget the thrill.

I kept going back in secret.

I shouldn’t have.

Looking back now, it’s obvious Alessandro knew exactly what I was doing.

He must have seen me as a convenient little fool—not even worth a proper scheme, just an easy mark that had landed in his lap.

I was reckless.

I kept chasing that rush.

I kept losing.

And before I knew it, I had piled up a debt with no means of repayment.

The first time, Alessandro covered for me—or so I thought.

And that only pulled me deeper into the pit.

Now, I can see how perfectly he played me.

He welcomed me, treated me like a princess, fed me delicious food, let me play and indulge, and sent me home with a smile.

Even when he mentioned my debt, I laughed it off.

“I’ll win it back someday.”

I was naïve.

I didn’t even understand what debt truly meant.

I was a fool.

Over the course of five years, my losses grew exponentially.

Then, when the stampede hit—when my mother and brother were killed—he finally struck.

“I can’t be reckless, you know. A scandal like this would be troublesome, but…”

He had said it with a troubled look, as if he truly cared.

As if he weren’t reveling in the moment.

As if he weren’t laughing at me inside.

I was the perfect fool—a noble lady, trapped with nowhere to run.

“I’ll lower the interest to the bare minimum and hold onto the debt for five years. That should be enough time for you to marry, right? That way, no one will ever find out. All you need to do is… adjust the city’s budget a little. Redirect some of the dungeon’s revenue. It won’t even be noticeable.”

“I thought you covered it for me?”

Even then, I still clung to his lies.

I was desperate to believe that he had saved me, that he wasn’t a predator waiting for his meal.

Alessandro merely shook his head.

“That was only for the first time. After that, everything was recorded as a tab.”

I must have trembled then.

For the first time, I realized how deep I had fallen.

“You understand, right? As the casino owner, I can’t just pay off a noble’s debt. You have to repay it. Properly.”

I looked up at him, hoping—praying—that this was all some cruel joke.

But his smirk told me everything.

It was never a game.

It was a trap.

I had already been caught years ago.

I finally understood.

This wasn’t just about me.

He had kept me in his pocket, knowing that Lax and the others would continue making the city flourish.

He had simply been waiting—holding onto my shameful little secret until the perfect moment.

And when the city was on the verge of recovery, he chose to strike.

If word got out that I had squandered a fortune, it would ruin everything.

The city’s stability.

My position.

My father’s reputation.

I couldn’t let that happen.

I signed the contract.

I had no choice.