The uneasy peace of the last six months shattered on a cold, wind-whipped night. Selena had successfully navigated the treacherous first phase of her six-year sentence, using her coded prophecies to neutralize three major threats: the northern rebellion, the assassins, and a clandestine trade route being used by corrupt nobles. She had established herself as the Sorcerer King's indispensable seer, a tool too valuable to discard.
The price of this success was a life of suffocating isolation. Her chamber was her gilded cage, Kaelus her silent warden. Her only connection to the outside world was the magical ledger, a book she filled nightly with predictions, careful to choose subplots that advanced her status without making her a direct target. She hadn't seen the Sorcerer King since their first encounter, a deliberate absence that only amplified his terrifying presence.
Tonight, the mission was different. The translucent blue screen flickered before her eyes, more urgent than usual.
"Task: Identify and neutralize the immediate threat to the Sorcerer King within the next hour. Failure will result in immediate termination."
The simplicity of the command was terrifying. An immediate threat? The System was forcing an explosive confrontation, giving her no time for cryptic prophecies or careful planning.
A moment later, a terrifying realization struck her. She wasn't an assassin; she was a seer. The System was forcing her to act in a way that exposed her to mortal danger. This was a trap designed to fail.
She plunged her mind into her memory of the manhwa. The timeline. Six months into the Cursed Princess's story, there was a minor event: an attempt on the Sorcerer King's life by a disgraced former court mage who specialized in shadow magic—a type of magic undetectable by Kaelus. The assassin would be disguised as a servant delivering a late-night report to the King's private study.
She didn't wait for Kaelus. She threw open the heavy door to her chamber and raced out into the long, silent corridor. Her new body was still frail, but the adrenaline of survival lent her a frantic speed. The castle was a labyrinth of shadows and silence, a perfect hunting ground for a shadow mage.
She found him in the East Wing, near the King's private study. He was a small, unassuming man in a servant's tunic, holding a scroll, but the air around him shimmered with a cold, malignant energy. He was exactly where the plot said he would be.
Her mind screamed at her to run, to let Kaelus handle it, but the translucent blue screen was throbbing with an urgency that promised immediate death if she hesitated. She had to act.
She didn't have magic, but she had a mind capable of exploiting the smallest variables. She noticed a massive, ornate suit of ancient armor standing guard near the study door, an antique relic with a perfectly polished breastplate.
The assassin moved first, a blur of shadow magic coalescing into a spectral dagger aimed at the study door.
"The King knows you're here, Master Dargon!" Selena shouted, her voice echoing in the dead silence of the corridor, using the assassin's actual name from the manhwa.
The shadow mage froze. His cover was blown, and by a cursed princess he believed to be a simple pawn. His surprise gave her the fraction of a second she needed.
She didn't attack him. She didn't even touch him. With a desperate lunge, she grabbed the antique sword from the armor's gauntlet and swung it, not at the mage, but at the polished breastplate of the armor.
CLANG!
The heavy, resonant sound exploded in the corridor, a blinding flash of reflected light hitting the shadow mage directly in the eyes. Shadow magic was notoriously vulnerable to sudden, intense light.
The assassin screamed, his shadow dagger dissipating into smoke as he recoiled, his disguise momentarily dropping.
It was in that same instant that Kaelus appeared at the end of the hall, drawn by the deafening clang. He saw the cursed princess standing near the shining armor, and the fully revealed assassin, momentarily disoriented, staggering backwards.
Kaelus didn't hesitate. He summoned a bolt of crackling energy, a raw expression of the Sorcerer King's power, and struck the shadow mage. The assassin crumpled to the ground, neutralized instantly.
Kaelus rushed forward, his eyes blazing, not with gratitude, but with suspicion. He looked from the unconscious mage, to the reflecting armor, to Selena, who was leaning on the massive sword, breathing heavily, her heart hammering wildly.
"How did you know?" Kaelus demanded, his voice a dangerous growl. "How did you know his name? And why did you strike the armor?"
Selena met his gaze, her entire body shaking, but her voice was a steady whisper. "My visions are not just of the future, Mage Kaelus. They are of the vulnerabilities. I saw a weak point in the shadow, and I knew a true metal must strike the dark to reveal the hidden serpent." She winced, rubbing her shoulder. "As for his name... the fates are rarely subtle."
She was tired, terrified, and slightly bruised from the unexpected swing of the heavy sword, but her words were perfection. The System had forced her into an action, but she had twisted the narrative. She hadn't defeated the assassin; she had used logic and physics to create a vulnerability that Kaelus then exploited. Kaelus was the hero, and she was the unpredictable seer who made the impossible possible.
The translucent blue screen shimmered, now a confident green.
"Task Progress: 100%. Immediate Threat Neutralized. Reward: Survival."
Selena managed a weak smile. She hadn't just survived; she had gained a new, dangerous layer of respect from the most powerful mage in the kingdom. But the thrill of survival was immediately replaced by a chilling realization. The tasks were getting more active, more immediate. The System had tried to kill her, and it would keep trying. Her war of wits had just escalated into a war of survival.