“Niel...?”

  “...!”

  The reaction confirmed that the figure behind the curtain was indeed Niel.

  “Hahaha, it is you, Niel! What are you doing back there?”

  “Uh... this is part of the Queen’s Room upgrade conditions...”

  “What? Upgrade conditions? What kind of upgrade conditions involve you working part-time?”

  “Your Majesty, as I mentioned, please don’t respond and just read the script.”

  At that moment, the real narrator’s voice whispered.

  “Ah... okay!”

  "Don't respond to me either."

  “Uh... How could you, a princess who enjoyed only the best of the kingdom, say such things?”

  “The feverish princess had no idea the kingdom was built on such horrific sacrifices.

  Had she known, she would have renounced her title long ago.

  She decred that to rectify the kingdom’s injustices, even the queen must be dethroned.

  Hearing this, the queen quietly replied.”

  “How dare a princess defy the queen? My beloved feverish princess, no matter how much I love you, treason is punishable only by death, even for a princess. Therefore... I sentence you to death!!”

  Niel delivered her lines with all the drama she could muster.

  Naturally, Rumi had to match her performance.

  “S-save me! Queen Niel!!”

  Rumi screamed pitifully, straining her voice.

  “The feverish princess was shocked by the death sentence. She couldn’t believe her own mother would truly try to kill her.

  Moreover, seeing the queen truly trying to kill her, she became frightened and began begging the queen. However, the queen, without a drop of pity or remorse, sentenced the princess who had rebelled against her to death..."

  The narration continued, whether it was part of the original story or a reflection of Rumi’s acting, it was hard to tell.

  Wait, could this have been a role-pying event where our actions influenced the story?

  If so, a wave of regret hit her that she hadn't tried to make it more interesting.

  “Now, press this button.”

  Meanwhile, whispers kept coming from behind the curtain.

  “This button here? What about this one?”

  “Don’t press that one.”

  “Oh, I already pressed it.”

  “What? Why would you press that?”

  “...?”

  “What? What did you press, Niel?”

  “Sorry, Rumi...”

  Rumi grew anxious, wondering what Niel had done this time.

  At that moment, a golden disc opened beneath Rumi’s feet, and she was instantly sucked into the hole below.

  “Ahhh! Ahh!”

  Rumi screamed, closing her eyes, thinking she was about to die in such a ridiculous way... but then she felt a thrill coursing through her body.

  That’s right. Rumi was enjoying the process of “execution” because she was actually sliding down the world’s longest water slide.

  “Ah... ahhh... this is amazing!”

  Rumi burst into ughter. She had never experienced such a well-designed water slide in her life.

  The slide featured 360-degree spins, sharp turns, and even near-vertical drops, offering an insane course.

  “Whoa! This is awesome!”

  After what felt like an eternity, Rumi was spat out at the end of the slide.

  But then a problem arose.

  Rumi had fallen into the red water all by herself.

  Panicking, she filed helplessly.

  Rumi couldn’t swim at all. In fact, she had a deep aversion to water.

  “Glub glub! I’m dying! S-save me!”

  Rumi began swallowing water, genuinely feeling the terror of death.

  But then, someone cut through the water, swimming toward her.

  They grabbed Rumi's nape and pulled her along.

  Rumi, half-conscious, was dragged to safety.

  They arrived at an endless beach.

  “Ru... Rumi? Are you okay? Can you hear me?”

  Eve spped Rumi’s cheeks as she spoke.

  Rumi y there, unresponsive.

  “Gasp! Rumi...”

  Eve pressed her ear to Rumi’s chest and immediately began performing CPR.

  "Ugh... urk..."

  “Rumi! Wh-what do I do?”

  “J-just stop!”

  As Eve leaned in to give Rumi mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, a sp nded on her cheek.

  Smack!

  “...?!”

  Eve looked down, stunned, to see Rumi, who had just opened her eyes, pushing her face away.

  “Hey... that’s enough...”

  Eve’s eyes widened as she saw Rumi awake.

  “You... you weren’t dead?”

  Rumi spat out red water and replied, “Cough cough, even if I were dead, I’d have come back to life.”

  “...”

  Rumi got up and looked at Eve, only to notice that Eve’s eyes were slightly teary.

  "Um... thanks for saving me. Ow... my heart's beating fine, why did you do CPR and make my chest hurt? And were you trying to kiss me just now?!"

  “K-kiss?! Are you out of your mind? That’s called artificial respiration! And if you were conscious, you should’ve said something!”

  “I couldn’t talk because you were pressing on my chest...”

  Rumi exaggeratedly groaned, clutching her sternum.

  “Ugh, I’m dying...”

  Then she suddenly looked around.

  “By the way... where are we?”

  Rumi was lying on an artificial beach in a corner of the massive red pool.

  “Sigh... this is part of the underground dome pool. Over there...”

  Eve turned her head and pointed to the right, where an array of enormous water coasters stood.

  “What is this, a water park?”

  “Yeah, seems like it. But weirdly, we’re the only ones here.”

  “Then those people over there...”

  "All those hotel guests are ghosts."

  “...?”

  “Is this some kind of ghost hotel?”

  “Yeah, you could say that... But how did you end up here? What happened up there?”

  “I don’t know. I reached the top floor, ran into Niel, and then she pressed some weird button, and I fell here.”

  “What? Niel? Wasn’t she living it up in the Queen’s Room?”

  “I don’t know the details, but she was working part-time there... Anyway, it’s clear now that this whole thing was a hotel event. And it seems like it’s over since I fell here.”

  “Oh... so what now?”

  Eve, momentarily dazed, spoke up.

  “Since we’re here, wanna try that?”

  Rumi pointed at the water coasters.

  “Are you okay? You just nearly died!”

  “Hey, there are life jackets and tubes over there! And you’re here with me. I won’t die again. And if I do fall in the water, you’ll just have to save me again.”

  Rumi pushed herself up, leaning on Eve’s shoulder.

  Eve stood up with a slightly annoyed expression, following Rumi.

  “You should just learn how to swim. Don’t act so carefree after almost dying.”

  “No, thanks. I hate swimming!”

  What started as a single water coaster ride turned into a full-blown tour of every water coasters in the park.

  Rumi and Eve spent a long time sliding through the water, enjoying their impromptu vacation.

  After thoroughly enjoying the water activities, the two made their way back to the hotel room.

  As Rumi walked down the hallway, she wondered what had become of the hotel room where all that craziness had happened.

  But the room was back in its original spot, clean and tidy as if nothing had ever happened.

  “Is this part of housekeeping...?”

  Rumi and Eve were still confused, wondering if they had dreamed it all, when they noticed another letter lying in front of the TV.

  Rumi immediately opened it and read the contents.

  ‘On the eve of her execution, the feverish princess narrowly escaped the kingdom and came to Saint Angelicus’ Vilge, where she built this hotel, dreaming of revenge against the queen. And she met a prince and lived happily ever after.’

  “Huh? A sudden happy ending?”

  “...What execution? What happened in the middle?”

  Eve asked from beside her.

  But Rumi didn't feel like expining the story she didn’t really care anyway.

  “Eve, aren’t you starving after all that swimming? Wanna order room service with Medina’s money?”

  "That's... a good idea.“

  The next day, Rumi and Eve checked out and waited in the hotel lobby for Niel to appear.

  "Hey guys..."

  Niel walked over to Rumi and Eve, but someone unexpected was following behind her.

  “What? Malcolm? What are you doing here?”

  Rumi immediately asked, her tone sharp.

  “...”

  Malcolm ignored Rumi again, and Niel answered instead.

  “Uh... actually... this hotel is run by Malcolm’s family.”

  “Whaaat?”

  “What...?”

  Both Rumi and Eve were stunned.

  “And I was originally invited here.”

  “S-so that means, you were in on the Queen’s Room thing the whole time?”

  Eve asked, slightly excited.

  “Yeah...”

  “...?!”

  “Hey, what about that part-time job? Were you staying here while working?”

  “No, the regur queen role employee was sick, so I was just filling in.”

  “...?!”

  “So, I’m pnning to stay here for the rest of the summer break... Is that okay?”

  "Uh... um..."

  Rumi was too shocked to respond properly. Especially the part about Malcolm running the hotel...

  “Ma... Malcolm, you... actually had a legitimate reason to look down on everyone.”

  “What...?”

  Malcolm seemed slightly taken aback.

  “So, uh... do you have any rooms left here?”

  “Rumi, what are you talking about? Don’t forget why we came here...”

  Eve nudged Rumi at that moment.

  “No... I know that, but... do you really want to go back to that dump?”

  Rumi whispered into Eve’s ear.

  “Ugh...”

  Eve made a disgusted face.

  “Well... if we could stay in Niel’s room... that’d be nice...”

  “If you want to stay, you’re free to do so. But you’ll have to pay.”

  Malcolm cut them off firmly.

  Rumi and Eve’s moods instantly soured.

  "What the hell, you think we’re broke or something?!"

  Rumi blurted out.

  “Rumi, let’s go. I’m never coming back to this hotel again.”

  Eve, her pride hurt, started leading Rumi out of the hotel.

  "Guys..."

  Niel tried to stop them, but Rumi didn’t even look at her.

  “This stupid hotel, go bankrupt already!”

  Rumi and Eve left Hotel Hylence, their steps in sync.