Episode 2
The otome dating simulation game, ‘Heart-Pounding Love in Akane♡’
The female protagonist was Lucy Adelstein, the imperial princess of the Akane Empire.
Originally bright and gentle in nature, she gradually lost self-esteem and became timid after receiving her father, the emperor’s, hatred.
Unlike Lucy, her half-sister who enjoyed the emperor’s favor regarded her as a thorn in her side and constantly tormented her.
In fact, the half-sister—who would later ascend to the throne—even schemed to send Lucy away as the second wife of some elderly noble from a foreign country in order to keep her in check.
The player had to build favorability with four male leads so that Lucy could avoid an unhappy marriage and successfully marry one of them.
A game with an ordinary story, low-quality art, and not even a single word of voice acting.
After its release, it sank into oblivion without anyone noticing—yet there was one person who played this trash game all the way to the ending.
That was the previous-life Lucy.
She had even left a review on an internet community.
With the sincere hope that no one else would suffer the same fate, she had carefully written each and every word: that it was filthy just being together and that they should never meet again.
‘That’s definitely what happened.’
And now she was possessed inside that very trash game?!
“Haa.”
Whether Lucy was in shock or not, when she gave no reply, Cecil let out a sigh.
Ding!
[Favorability change detected!]
[Cecil’s favorability has decreased.]
[Favorability: ?? → ???]
[Tip: Favorability values can only be viewed after escaping the ‘Charm status abnormality.’]
‘Wait a second.’
It was understandable that Cecil’s favorability dropped, but something felt off.
‘It dropped, but why did it go from two digits to three digits?’
No way.
‘Did it go from -99 to -100?’
When she played in her previous life, it definitely started at 0.
‘This difficulty is just way too much!’
Did I do something to make the system hate me?
Could it be because of the harsh review I left?
While Lucy was making a perfectly reasonable suspicion, Cecil opened his mouth.
“Since you’re awake, I’ll take my leave now.”
As Cecil turned around without any lingering attachment, ding! Another notification sound rang out.
[Cecil Auden is about to leave.
It is unknown how long it will take to meet Cecil again, as he resides in the temple.
If you let him go like this, capturing Cecil may become significantly more difficult.
Will you stop Cecil?]
[-Yes]
[-No]
Even though a choice was given, it was practically already decided.
Moreover, the system window had no intention of giving Lucy any time to think; it even displayed a ticking clock icon.
[Time limit: 5]
Five minutes?
[4… 3…]
With the mindset of at least trying something, Lucy selected ‘Yes.’
Then, regardless of her will, her body moved.
As if someone had pushed her from behind, Lucy stepped out of bed and tried to steady herself by putting strength into both legs.
No—she tried to.
Beep—!
[Warning! Event cannot proceed!]
[Due to Health status abnormality, movement is restricted.]
Are you kidding me.
‘Then why even give me the choice?!’
Lucy flailed her arms belatedly, but she couldn’t stop her body from falling closer to the floor.
Thud!
Riiip!
Having fallen flat onto the floor, Lucy heard the sound of something tearing.
‘What?’
A bad premonition rising, Lucy looked at her hand.
In her grasp was a piece of white fabric.
She must have grabbed whatever she could on the way down.
And that whatever was…
Slowly raising her head, Lucy’s lips parted in shock.
The elegant, dignified cloak that had been draped over one of Cecil’s shoulders was now reduced to a rag.
Gasp. As Lucy swallowed hard, Cecil slowly turned to look at her.
“…What are you doing right now?”
His ice-cold gray eyes looked down at Lucy.
Though his face appeared as expressionless as before, Lucy could tell he was extremely angry.
And for good reason: the thin white cloak Cecil wore was no ordinary garment.
It was a symbol of honor that only high-ranking healers were permitted to wear.
Having played the game, Lucy knew very well how secretly proud Cecil was of that cloak.
‘I’m in big trouble.’
She couldn’t say sorry, nor could she clasp her hands and beg for forgiveness.
All Lucy could do was look up at Cecil with as much apology as possible in her eyes.
They were the eyes of a puppy caught in the rain, yet Cecil’s face showed no emotion whatsoever.
“Princess Lucy. I have no idea what you’re scheming.”
Cecil knelt down in front of her.
“I healed you completely, so you should be fine. Yet you’re pretending you can’t speak or move.”
“…….”
“I have no interest in the rumors circulating about you.”
“…….”
“But at the very least, please don’t cause harm to others.”
Even though Lucy was already unable to move, it felt as though her entire body had frozen solid.
The clear contempt in Cecil’s eyes stabbed into her like an awl.
In her previous life, she had never seen Cecil display such blatant hatred toward her.
Lucy was once again vividly reminded of the power of negative favorability.
Cecil roughly yanked the cloak piece out of Lucy’s hand and stood up.
As he left the bedroom, the system window appeared.
[Favorability change detected!]
[Cecil’s favorability has decreased.]
[Favorability: ??? → ???]
I know, I know already!
[Please don’t be too discouraged. Favorability can be raised as much as you put in effort.]
[However, it would be wise to stay alert. If you fail to reach the true ending, you will lose the chance to end the game.]
‘…What?’
[In that case, you will continue living as ‘Lucy,’ controlled by the actions of the next player who enters.]
Lucy’s mouth fell open in disbelief.
Not only was she possessed in this trash game, but she might have to live forever as a puppet…?
* * *
The next day, Lucy—who had fallen into a death-like sleep due to her terrible stamina—opened her eyes and immediately checked her status window again.
[Intelligence: -50 (Insight status abnormality)]
[Stamina: -50 (Health status abnormality)]
[Reputation: -100 (Charm status abnormality)]
The unbelievable -200 stats were still there, more unreal than the fact that she was inside the game.
“Haa.”
A sigh escaped naturally.
How was she supposed to reach the true ending with these stats?
According to the system, the true ending meant marrying one of the male leads.
‘An ending I gave up on even in my previous life.’
For reference, the ending she had achieved was the execution ending.
Because capturing the male leads was so difficult, she took a shortcut and ended up that way.
‘If it weren’t for that absurd difficulty.’
Maybe she wouldn’t have left that harsh review, and she wouldn’t have been possessed into this hardcore mode.
But regrets were too late now.
Lucy absolutely had to reach the true ending.
Living trapped in the game forever, controlled by someone else—that was something she wanted to avoid even if it killed her.
‘I have to find a way to survive.’
Lucy clenched both fists tightly.
Who was she?
The person who had played this trash game with no strategy guide by creating her own guide and clearing it.
‘Even thinking about it now, I was obsessively dedicated.’
The reason was simple.
Among the countless landmines and flaws in the game, there was one single advantage that had completely captivated her.
This game sometimes required subjective, open-ended answers instead of multiple-choice options.
‘The first time it happened was when I tried to go somewhere in the palace and a knight blocked my way.’
She couldn’t help but be surprised by the unexpected degree of freedom.
Excited, she jokingly typed in random nonsense.
Even so, part of her thought that only the predetermined answer would let the game progress.
But then…
[There’s no helping it. Since you’re in such urgent need of the restroom, I’ll make an exception and escort you this once.]
Expecting at most a “I didn’t understand, please say it again” response, she was instead swept away with excitement.
A game where you could actually communicate with an NPC like it had real artificial intelligence!
‘And it was a Korean-made game, no less!’
Overwhelmed with patriotism, she ended up playing the entire game with stars in her eyes, convinced it was a masterpiece.
But gradually, she realized something.
Such vast freedom came with equally massive consequences and responsibilities.
From the moment she became captivated by the open-ended answers, the game began spiraling in an uncontrollable direction.
‘And that led to the execution ending.’
Lucy shook her head vigorously.
But in the current situation, if used well, it would definitely be a huge help.
With renewed determination, Lucy fell into thought about what she should do first.
‘As expected.’
Based on the experience and know-how she had gained in her previous life, Lucy came to a conclusion.
‘I need to become known as an idiot.’
•♡━━━━━━•♡•━━━━━━♡•
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