AMLA 09

Chapter 9

“Ah, I-I’m Felice of House Luchellonia.”

I stammered as if startled and grabbed the hem of my dress to offer a proper noble greeting, just as etiquette demanded.

This was the best response I could give, having already experienced this test in the game.

“Hmm…”

Dustin tilted his head, looking disappointed by my behavior, which was no different from the other young ladies.

‘Good. Let’s keep going like this.’

“If you look at me like that, it’s embarrassing. Please, have a seat first.”

I lowered my head shyly and guided him to the sofa.

Dustin leaned back comfortably into the sofa and crossed his legs.

‘How arrogant.’

His posture was anything but respectful, and I almost frowned, but instead, I forced an even sweeter smile.

“May I call you Felice?”

“Yes. As you please.”

Hold it in. Just endure.

I’m the very picture of a noble lady right now.

I encouraged myself silently.

“Really? Then can I speak casually too? I’m just not the formal type.”

‘Sure. Do whatever you want.’

I already knew exactly what Dustin was trying to do.

He wanted to be as rude as possible to break down my noble façade.

Having faced this exact situation in the game, I smiled with ease.

“Yes. Whatever makes you comfortable.”

At that, Dustin immediately dropped all formal speech.

“Felice, is ‘whatever makes you comfortable’ all you know how to say? You speak casually too.”

‘Nope. Absolutely not.’

Speaking casually naturally shortens the distance between people.

Me? Speaking casually with Dustin?

Absolutely not.

“I’m more comfortable like this.”

I softly shook my head and lowered my gaze.

“Really?”

Dustin seemed less enthusiastic, as though the fun had gone out of it.

“But Felice, you met my brother before, right?”

Seeming bored, he finally brought up the reason he came.

“If you mean Lord Kainis Spencer, yes. I met him two days ago at my father’s birthday banquet.”

“What did you talk about then?”

At the mention of Kainis, Dustin sat up, now curious.

‘Talk? What talk.’

After I slapped Zeron, your brother seemed to like it.

Of course, I couldn’t say that out loud.

“Not much. We just exchanged greetings.”

“Really? That’s all?”

“Yes.”

Dustin gave me a quick once-over.

He seemed to be trying to figure out why his brother was interested in me, unlike with the other young ladies.

Apparently not finding an answer, he leaned back on the sofa again, looking deflated.

“Did you know our family sent a marriage proposal to yours?”

“Yes, my father told me.”

“But it’s not decided yet who you’ll marry between the two of us. What do you think? Who would you rather marry?”

“I plan to follow my family’s decision for the sake of our house.”

“You don’t have a personal opinion?”

“I was taught that nobles should prioritize their house over personal feelings.”

“Then you’re fine with marrying me?”

‘What… What did you just say?’

Have I lost my mind? Marry you?

Swallowing the words I couldn’t possibly say out loud, I gritted my teeth and answered,

“Yes, if it’s for the family.”

“Ugh, boring. Why did my brother agree to this marriage?”

Dustin stood up as if disappointed, having only heard typical answers no different from any other young lady.

“Why did he…”

He tilted his head again, looking at me seated gracefully.

“You’re leaving already?”

‘Yes, please leave. Go on.’

While inwardly beaming with joy at his departure, outwardly I lowered the corners of my mouth slightly to feign regret.

“Yeah. This was a waste of time. So boring.”

“I’ll see you out.”

“No need. Oh, here—this is the invitation. One for Count Luchellonia, and one for you.”

“Thank you for delivering them.”

‘Now hurry up and go. What are you still doing here?’

I quickly snatched the two invitations from his hand.

“Then I’ll be off. Bye. See you soon.”

Dustin walked out of the parlor with a blank, disinterested look.

That final ‘see you soon’ was odd, but…

I stared at the closed door of the parlor.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1…

Ding!

“I did it!”

No annoying notification sounds. No game system screen I wanted to smash.

“His favorability didn’t go up!”

My plan worked, and I couldn’t contain my excitement. I jumped around the room like a child.

Yes! This is how I’ll do it. Even with a membership, some players must fail to see the game through to the end.

I had been anxious about how the game wasn’t progressing like I knew it should, but now I could finally breathe a little.

‘Okay, Dustin’s no longer interested, so that’s one down. Let’s do the same with Lian. And after that…’

Realizing I had achieved a small victory, I felt like I could finally see a faint thread of hope in front of me.

“Oh, I need to tell Hyunjae!”

I ran out to Felice’s room terrace like yesterday to talk to Hyunjae. Opening the terrace door and gazing at the bright sky, I shouted,

“Hyunjae! Hyunjae! Can you hear me?”

Worried someone else might hear, I lowered my voice and called for him, but got no response.

“Hyunjae! Operator chat! Turn on the chat!”

I tried commanding like I would to an AI, but still nothing.

“Why won’t it activate…”

Puzzled, I thought back to last night when I’d been able to connect with Hyunjae via chat.

‘Could it be…’

Could it really be?

I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Hey, you damn Hyunjae?”

Ding!

System

Your message has been delivered to the operator.

A 1:1 chat with the operator has started.

If no conversation occurs for more than 1 minute, the chat will automatically end.

“What the… ‘You damn Hyunjae’ is the command?”

What a ridiculous command.

But it weirdly suits this game.

I let out a hollow laugh at the absurdity.

Hyunjae:
Subin, what’s going on?

“Hyunjae! I just met Dustin, and… his favorability didn’t go up!”

Hyunjae:
Really? That’s weird. If you’re on a membership…
Ah—no, that’s great!

He typed something, then quickly deleted it.

“Huh?”

Hyunjae:
Never mind. What did you do differently?

“I tried doing the opposite of the strategy guide.”

Hyunjae:
Smart move.

Something in his exhausted tone made me uneasy.

“How about you? Any progress on your end?”

Hyunjae:
Well… Sani said he once heard a similar story from a college senior while drinking.

Sani—Hyunjae’s friend and the one in charge of this game’s graphics.

When I heard someone had experienced something similar, my mouth fell open.

“Really? So I’m not the only one?”

Hyunjae:
Seems like it. I was going to reach out to that senior…

“And? You can’t reach him?”

Hyunjae:
He disappeared after that day.

“So if we find that senior, we might find a way out of this?”

Hyunjae:
Can’t say for sure. Sani was drunk at the time, and the senior was kind of mumbling to himself.

“I see…”

Hyunjae:
Don’t worry too much. I’ll find a way somehow.

“Okay. Thanks, Hyunjae.”

‘Yeah. I can go back someday.’

If they could find that senior, maybe there was a way out of this hellish game world.

For the first time, I felt a sliver of hope in what had been a bleak future.

Hyunjae:
Subin, just in case… what if you tried learning magic?

“Magic? That means I’d have to meet Lian.”

Lian Luchellonia—another male lead in this game.

Abandoned by his parents as a child, Lian grew up in an orphanage.

Around age ten, he was adopted by Count Luchellonia, who needed a successor since his own son, Antoni, lacked mana.

Lian grew up in the same house as Felice, and they used to be close, but drifted apart when he entered the Magic Tower a few years ago.

A born mage with immense talent, Lian shut himself away to focus on study and now held a high reputation at the tower.

To increase his favorability, Felice had to go to the tower under the pretense of wanting to learn magic.

Since Lian only cared about magic, that was the only way to get close to him.

‘So if I go to learn magic and approach Lian…’

That would be extremely dangerous.