Death Is The Only Ending For The Villainess

Chapter 1: Prologue

Everything was perfect.

Even the half underground house for one person which is the size of the bathroom of the house I lived before.

The fact that I had to work starting next was also not a matter to me.

I’ve finally escaped from that hell-like house and got my freedom. I could live happily just from that one thing.

But…… .

“I’m pretty sure I told you to live as quiet as a mouse without any fuss, with not even your breathing sound could be heard.”

A man opened his mouth.

His hateful gaze on me seemed as if he was seeing a hideous bug.

“I heard that you acted like an mad dog at the crowned prince’s return ceremony banquet.”

Those icy deadly gaze seeming like it wants to kick me to death was familiar to me.

It was the kind of gaze I always got from that house.

However it didn’t mean I was fine even though I had experienced it a lot.

“What was your purpose for acting like that?”

I couldn’t breathe right at his aura. My lips started to tremble in fear.

It was then.

A white chart appeared in front of my face.

And I could see the words written line by line in the chart.

1. How do I know?

2. I didn’t have a purpose.

3. (With a pitiful tone of voice) Well…… Um, that’s…… .

‘……What is this?’

I was going to ask what this was, however as if something was stuck in my throat, I couldn’t let out a sound.

The man’s voice threatened me when I just stood there without speaking a word.

“You better speak.”

I felt the deadly aura to the point it hurt my skin. I’ll die when I don’t give an answer.

I unconsciously pressed the number 3 on the white chart.

“Well…… Um, that’s…… .”

The same words on the chart automatically came out my mouth without my wills.

‘What the. What’s this?!’

My mouth opened idiotically, still not believing what I just said.

I couldn’t take guess what kind of situation I was in right now.

I was in an unfamiliar place when I woke up, and came to face these unfamiliar people whom all held deadly aura.

I couldn’t think a thing as if I just woke up from sleeping.

“Well um that’s, next.”

The man didn’t seem to like the incomplete answer as he commanded me for the actual answer with a scary face.

It was then when the new sentences eventually appeared in the chart.

1. I’m sorry. I’ll act properly next time.

2. A stupid maid was the one to start all the fuss.

3. The lowly ones treated me low. The me who is the only daughter of Eckart!

I didn’t have time to sit around, thinking of what was going on right now.

I hurriedly picked an answer while taking hint of the mood here.

Even though I know nothing, I must speak of something in this situation. This was the result of my reaction from all the painful experiences back then.

“I’m sor…… .”

“We wouldn’t have met each other like this in the first place if it was something that’d all be solved with a simple apology.”

My line was cut by him right away.

My heart reached the bottom from the stabbing tone of voice he used.

I curled my body up instinctively. Then the man spoke in an icy tone.

“Penelope Eckart.”

‘Penelope Eckart?’

“We’ll withdraw our name ‘Eckart’ from you for some time.”

The line and the name was very familiar.

I raised my head in a lightning speed.

Then I could clearly see the face of the man I couldn’t see well before.

The man who was some distance away from the bed was not one of the ‘people of that house’, but a foreigner who I’ve never seen before.

The blue eyes that reflects the ocean, and the black hair that reminds me of obsidian.

Above them was a long bar that was similar to the phone’s battery sign, with the white word that sparkled.

‘In…… terest……?’

If my eyes are perfectly fine, then the white sparkling words above the man’s head definitely said ‘Interest’.

“Definitely no parties or banquet during that time, and your absolutely not allowed to leave the room. You think over what you did wrong, and think of what you’d do from now on during…… .”

“…… .”

“Where are you looking at?”

The man’s emotionless face turned to a frown as if he was unpleasant with me staring at something else than where I was supposed to look.

However I couldn’t react to that and only kept on checking the bar above the man’s head.

[Interest 0%]

‘No way…… .’

I unconsciously shook my head couple of times.

It was really unbelievable.

Really.

“The rumours saying that you went insane was true.”

The man glared at me for a moment from my weird actions before turning away from me.

He walked toward the door with big and fast steps as if he didn’t want to stay in the same place with me for even a second more. [Interest 0%] Is moving away from me.

‘What did I do wrong?’

It was the time I think about what this situation was about while staring at the back of the leaving figure.

I felt someone’s eyes on me with the aura seeming to mock me with a smirk.

I turned my head to see another person with pink hair, standing with his arms crossed in the shadow by the door.

He had the same blue eyes as the person who just left. His face held a smile that seemed to ridicule.

[Interest -10%]

The white word sparkled above the boy’s figure.

It’s even a negative.

“Fool bitch. Serves you right.”

Unlike how he has a pretty face, he swore some nasty bad words and left the room following the man who previously left.

Thud-! The door slammed.

I stayed seated with my head blank for a long while in the room where only I existed.

My head didn’t work well and I still couldn’t figure out the situation I was in currently.

I thought for a while and realized that the place I was in and the two people I just saw were both somewhat familiar to me.

“It’s a lie, right……?”

I could finally speak what I wished to speak when I was left alone.

But I didn’t have time to notice that.

I couldn’t believe this. This was not something that happens everyday for me too.

“There’s no way though.”

It can’t be that the scene from a game I was playing before falling into sleep was replaying like it’s reality.

And with me as one of the characters in the game.

“I’m dreaming right now.”

There didn’t exist another case for this other than that.

However no matter how much I pulled on my hair and pinched my face, I still couldn’t wake up from this dream.

“N, no…… No, no! No! I say no-!”

Penelope Eckart.

She was the villainess of the most popular game for girls these days, and the heroine of the difficult mode.

_______

-CatLovesTowels -Lizette^^

Hello! I’m the translator who is currently translating ‘Suddenly Became A Princess One Day’. I’ve been in a huge break these days and will be gone for the end of August.

This novel is my favourite novel of all the other novels I’ve read up until now, and thought it would be a novel that should be known to more other people. ^^

The release date, I don’t know yet. Sometimes, I won’t update in a while but sometimes, I’ll update 3-4 chapters a day.

Thank you, and enjoy ~

Important Note: Please notice me if there’s a scan doing this novel for less consequences.

Proofreader is my sister, Celina

Chapter 2: I was the villainess in the game

Them feeling regret that they bothered their sisters and the protagonist attacking their hearts little by little was enough for me to dive into this game and drown in it.

Me, who once chose to take a look at the game, was now drowning into the game.

Reaching the ending was easy even though it was my first playing these kind of game.

It was fun, I agreed on that, however the normal mode was way too easy even for a beginner like me.

From the start, all the male lead’s interest towards the heroine started with 30%.

It was to the point it could be called easy mode, and not normal.

I saw every character’s ending within 3 hours of time.

Then a card popped on the screen which said the ‘Hidden Ending’ with a drawing of lock on it.

“A hu, hundred dollars? Are they crazy? Why is it so expensive?”

To see the hidden ending, you needed to either pay a crazy high prise for it or finish the hard modes of each characters.

“Shit…… It’s already midnight though.”

I thought about the class I had early in the morning. However that didn’t go for long.

“Ah, whatever! Let’s get it done with!”

I was insane, being controlled by the game. I wouldn’t have done anything like this usually.

My fingers excitedly clicked on the hard mode button.

The different prologue video played, this time, with a grand BGM.

“Ooh. The heroine changed to her.”

It was unexpected that the heroine changed in this mode.

She was the villain from the normal mode, the fake mistress of the duke family.

The story was set before the heroine of the normal mode appeared so it felt like a whole different story from a different game.

“Maybe this is why this game’s so popular.”

The detailed illustration of the heroine in the hard mode appeared on my screen that woke me up for good.

The unique system of this game was not like any other game. This made me be more interested in this app.

The villain who was evil to the angel-like heroine was the one who was winning the hearts of the strictly love-barriered male leads now.

That gave me the excitement and heart flutters that I couldn’t quite explain.

I proceeded to the main story of the hard mode. I was overly confident about this since I finished all the normal mode routes.

Even though it was called a hard mode, I expected that the choices of lines would be just a bit more difficult to choose.

However, that was just my mistaken guess.

“Ack! Ack! Why did I die again!”

Hard mode was extremely difficult.

The heroine who was the villainess from the first place. It was set that raising the characters’ interest was freaking hard.

It wasn’t only that.

The interests raised with my hard work all dropped down to ‘game over’ after just one smallest mistake.

Not just a normal game over thing, but very disturbing ‘death’ of the heroine.

“Why did this have to be so extreme.”

The illustration was also so realistic and cruel.

I frowned at the illustration of the heroine getting sliced on the neck by the crowned prince.

“This mad game…… .”

I died several times due to the hard choices I made sincerely in the game. Frustration filled my heart at this horrible system.

What was the producer thinking, making the difficulty setting like this?

I died so many times that I started to feel the stress playing this.

“Please let me live for once, please!”

My goal was to unlock the ‘Hidden Ending’, however it was long ago since that goal was forgotten.

I will have to see this poor pitiful villainess not die and live happily with at least one of the male leads.

‘What makes the villainess the guilty one? Honestly it was the author who made her the villainess!’

Unlike the heroine from the normal mode who’ve gotten everyone’s love no matter which choice I made in, the villainess who was only abused and mistreated no matter how much she begged for love reminded me of my life before.

“I’m seeing the endings to this no matter what.”

I was killed again due to the older bastard brothers. The sound of me gritting my teeth was heard in the room.

I don’t remember how much I died here now.

My two hands which clenched my heated up phone, trembled.

I thought that I was getting too emotional to this, but I couldn’t stop my fingers clicking the reset button.

I started all over again, from the start.

I chose the lines, slowly raised their interests, and gotten fame, glamour, and money to open up the new route.

“Ack! Why! Why!”

But I died again.

I was annoyed to the point I had a thought of just buying the interest using money.

If the producer’s goal was to make others pay for the damn thing, then they succeeded greatly.

Since they made me, who treasures money like no one else does, want to use up my money for this.

I didn’t use my money ’till the end, but I was on fire the whole night to see the ending of at least one of the characters.

Die, and start over.

Die again and start over.

Die,

Die,

And die again.

I only died until the sunrise.

However, I wasn’t able to see the ending of any of them ’till then.

“Fuck…… Again…… .”

Me, who was going to press the reset button again, couldn’t handle it anymore as I fainted to sleep with my phone in my hand.

And when I opened my eyes.

“Penelope Eckart.”

Said the man with the blank gauge bar above him with the sparkling letters written ‘Interest 0%’.

“We’ll withdraw our name ‘Eckart’ from you for some time.”

I was the villainess in the game which I never got to see the ending of.

_______

-CatLovesTowels -Lizette

Chapter 3: “Lady. Wake up now.”

“Lady. Wake up now.”

I heard someone whispering above me.

Even though I was fast asleep, I was able to wake up even by the smallest presence of someone.

I refused to believe in what had happened to me which kept me awake all night, hoping that this was all just a dream. I wished so hard for me to wake up from it, and I think I fell asleep during the process of that.

“Lady.”

The cautious voice was heard again.

‘Is she calling me?’

The two man with blue eyes left already, and from what I remember, no one was in this room except for me ’till the very last moment I was awake.

For that reason, the one who could be called a ‘lady’ was me alone.

“…… .”

I was drowsy when I was lost in my thoughts that I couldn’t answer the call right away.

It was a moment later when I heard a rustling sound from the back.

I was somewhat awake from sleep now. I was about to put my strength to my body to get myself up from the bed.

A lightning-like pain was felt on my forearm from outside the comforter.

“Ack!”

My eyes automatically flashed open.

I screamed as I got up from the spot, kicking the comforter away. Next, I pulled my sleeves up.

It was to check my pained forearm.

‘Th, this…… .’

I was shocked to see the flesh shown under the light sky blue pajama sleeves, making my jaws drop.

The thin forearm was covered with blue bruised scar of the needles.

If it weren’t a human flesh but some kind of fabric, it would’ve had lots of visible holes on it.

It was when I was still shocked by the sight of a drop of blood on one of my forearm.

“You’re awake now.”

Unconcerned casual voice came from beside the bed.

I turned my head towards that direction to see a brown hair girl with lots of freckles. She was a maid.

In the illustrations, every maids had no faces drawn and all wore the same maid outfit.

Including the girl standing in front of me.

I don’t know where she hid the needle she poked me with, but there was nothing in her hands.

She was observing me with the face of mockery and some kind of satisfaction.

‘What’s up with her, doing this kind of thing to a person who was doing absolutely nothing!’

I opened my mouth in desire to snap at her.

“……!”

However, no words came out of my mouth no matter how hard I tried.

‘Why isn’t anything helping me out in this kind of situation? Damn it!’

When I only glared at her with no words said, the maid acted as if nothing happened.

“I’ve prepared the bathing water for you in the bathroom so go and wash yourself first, lady.”

An evil smile was reflected on her face as she started to make the bed. She seemed to be used to doing this to this body.

I sat still, biting on my lower lip, but was forced to enter the bathroom due to the maid’s push.

She told me she prepared the bathing water, but the only thing in the empty bathroom was a bucket filled with cold water.

It was freezing cold like ice water that it gave me goosebumps just by dipping my finger tip in.

‘I didn’t expect any service in helping me bathe but this, this is just too extreme.’

There were some stories about how the villainess got the worse ever treatment, but nothing explained something this specific.

I was once again, forced to realize from the overflowing feeling of reality.

That I’ve actually entered the game.

I pulled up the sleeve to see the scar with dried blood covering it again, and when I did, I sort of teared up.

‘What’s this. Nothing like this was shown in the ga…… .’

Suddenly, an image popped up in my head as a reminder.

It was an illustration of the villainess with a open-shoulder dress.

Unlike the other illustrations that had not the smallest mistakes in it, on the illustration of the villainess had several small dots drawn on the one forearm.

‘Nuts. I thought those were actual birthmarks!’

If it weren’t, then, maybe it was something important that would be mentioned in one of the stories I failed to unlock…… .

Who knew those were the traces proving all the abuses.

Though this was unbelievable, I was once again surprised of how detailed the story was plotted.

“Lady. Breakfast has been prepared. Are you done yet?”

The maid urged from the other side of the bathroom door.

‘Ugh, says her who isn’t a match for me.’

I felt annoyed but with no choice, I dipped my hand into the freezing cold water again.

To me who suffered the worse for years from my step brother bastards, this was not even tickling.

I was the villainess anyways, so while I was at it, I wanted to make needle marks on that bitch as she did to me but I had to give it more time for me to investigate everything first.

Because unfortunately, I was in a state where I couldn’t even speak freely of what I wanted to speak.

The moment I stepped out the bathroom, drying my face with the towel, I could see the table all set with some food on it like the maid had said.

Seemed like I even had to eat my meal in the room. Probably because I was grounded by the first son of the duke.

“Take a seat, lady.”

I was pulled by the maid’s hand and sat on the seat by the table. As soon as I did though, I couldn’t do anything but to frown.

The food prepared as a meal for a human didn’t look edible at all.

On the plate was a piece of blue moldy bread and on the bowl was a kind of thick grey soup with undefined solids floating around.

“Hurry up and eat. I know you’re hungry.”

The maid smiled widely as she urged me to eat. I clenched my teeth and glared at her.

A white square screen popped into view right in front of my eyes.

(Flipping the table) What’s this? You crazy?! Bring me the chef right now! Right now!

(Shove the fork in the maid’s mouth) You tell me to eat these that not even the dogs would eat? Then how about you do it first!

(Eat.)

I’ve experienced the ‘game over’ twice at this scene.

When I chose 1, every one of the workers ran to the duke acted pitiful and poor to confess the villainess’ troublesome actions.

The son who grounded the villainess hears about this and grows so furious that he prohibited anyone offering a single drop of water to me during the grounded days.

So I died in hunger.

On my next turn, I chose 2.

Then the son of the duke who was just coincidentally passing by, jumped in to get the villainess off of the maid.

During the process, the villainess who was pushed roughly, fell, and the fork which fell on her afterwards stabbed her neck.

It was really a ridiculous way to die.

‘In the end, there’s only one to choose.’

This scene is probably the episode which held the story about the relationships between the villainess who became the heroine and the workers here who worked in the mansion for a long time.

However, me who didn’t want to see the scene where the heroine is mistreated from the start, just skipped the episode to the next one after dying twice.

It was because there were tens of episodes I had to unlock anyways even if it weren’t this one.

Right now though, in front of my eyes, there were no ‘Return’ buttons that would take me to the page that enabled me to choose the episodes from.

‘Damn…… .’

I sorrowfully glared at the maid standing next to me as I powerlessly clicked the number 3.

Once I did, as if someone was controlling my body, I started to move automatically without my wills.

My hands held onto the spoon and scooped up a spoonful of rotten soup.

My wills of me not wanting to eat this may have affected my movements as my hands with the spoon started to tremble on its way to my mouth.

The drops of grey liquid fell on the table.

No matter how strong my wills were, I couldn’t stop my body from moving on its own.

In the end, the spoon with the soup was shoved into my forcefully opened mouth.

“Ugh.”

The warm sensation of the grey liquid was felt on my tongue. At the same time, the horrible taste of it was sensed.

This wasn’t food. It was the taste of the boiled cup of organic garbage.

My body continued to act on its own as it forcefully gulped down the garbage water which has entered my mouth, down my throat.

“Gasp!”

The maid who watched, gasped, as if she didn’t expect me to really eat it.

‘Urgh, I feel like I’m going to vomit!’

I gagged. I was trying so hard to forget the feeling I was currently feeling.

‘I’m guessing that once is enough.’

I wouldn’t die just by consuming a spoonful of organic garbage.

I let out a sigh of relief since I’ve safely got over an episode.

It was my misunderstanding.

My hand which held the spoon with didn’t stop.

‘What’s it doing! What’s–!’

Even afterwards, I had to keep on shoving the moldy blue bread and the grey soup in my mouth.

It was not due to my wills.

The maid’s face paled at the sight of me forcefully eat the overdued foods.

My body which repeated those crazy motions came to a stop when the duke’s son happened to come in.

“What’re you doing?”

“Y, young master Reynold!”

The maid came to panik at the sudden appearance of a figure.

“Urgh, ugh!”

Me, on the other hand, didn’t have the time to focus on that. I had to cover my mouth with both my hands so fast.

I gagged so much. I felt as if everything I’ve consumed today was going to come flooding out any moment now.

‘Why do I have to experience these things?’

I’ve already experienced these things enough even before entering the game.

How many time did I have to suffer all the pains given by the two bastards in that hell-like house.

But I have to experience these things over again even in this fictional world?

“Uhh, ugh…… .”

A strand of salvia escaped my mouth, out through my palms.

I felt myself tearing up due to this unfair situation and the disgust.

I groaned like a person who just drank poison. Seeing that, the pink hair approached me with a shocked expression on his face.

“Hey, are you oka…… .”

He stopped in his words. He froze still with more shock shown on his face as he looked at what was set on the table.

“This…… .”

Moldy blue bread, rotten soup.

It was a mess. No one would be able to guess that this was served to a lady from the duke family. Not even the commoners would eat these garbage for breakfast.

The sight of the half of those foods gone and his pale younger step sister covering her mouth.

The face of the pink hair who turned his face to look back at the maid, changed to a horrifying frown.

“Hey, what did you just feed her?”

“Y, young master! Th, this is, well…… .”

The maid turned pale at the deathly aura and started to shiver in fear.

‘He obviously wouldn’t have guessed.’

How would an extra who was just passing by, have guessed that the fake lady who was always making a fuss of one or another would be eating the rotten food, purposely prepared, without any complaints.

The pink hair snapped at the maid who wouldn’t properly answer.

“This is more than enough humiliating to dare mock our family! A mere maid like you, doing these things to the one she’s serving……!”

“Young master! That, that’s a misunderstanding! Young master!”

“Get lost!.Scram from this room!”

“Y, young master!”

“I’ll kindly explain this whole thing to my father and brother. Is there someone out there? Butler!”

_______

-CatLovesTowels -Lizette ☆

Chapter 4: 'Thinking that this life was a gift..'

‘Thinking that this life was a gift from the god for the pitiful me…… .’

However I succeeded in enduring and finally escaping the dang house.

I was accepted into the famous university that everyone in the world knows about.

There was a house I could fully relax in even though it was small and dirty.

There were nothing left but things that would help me on the way to the brightest future after I left the 2 bastards.

What I’m trying to say is that Penelope’s life which every littlest mistakes takes me to my death, isn’t any better. Never mind. Far worse.

It would be a different matter if I at least was the heroine of the normal mode whose every decision lead her to walk the flower path.

“……But why?”

But why, to me, who’ve j.u.s.t succeeded in escaping the hell-like house.

“Just why!”

Slam-!

I screamed, slamming on the sink. The girl’s beautiful face reflected on the mirror showed a horrifying expression.

The sight of her looking more furious than sad, certainly made her look like the greatest villain in the game.

“Hah…… .”

I sighed deep and ran my hand through my hair to flip it. I thought of things about Penelope.

Penelope Eckart. A villainess of one game, the heroine of the hard mode.

Penelope was actually a commoner with no surname.

[Penelope who grew up going from place to place with her poor mother, catches the interest of the duke who was desperately searching for his lost makne daughter.

When her mother who suffered an illness, passed away, she was adopted to the Eckart duke family.]

There was only reason she was able to turn into the lady of the duke family.

It was thanks to her appearance that matched the lost daughter of the duke.

The pink hair inherited by the dead duchess, and the clear blue eyes which symbolized the Eckart family.

I thought of the second son of the duke whom I just saw not too long ago.

His hair was the colour of the lovely pink.

However the hair colour of the women in the mirror was more towards flame colour than pink.

And the turquoise coloured eyes that slightly differed from the rest of the family members.

“He should’ve continued finding the his daughter, why did he have to take in a random kid?”

As Penelope grew, she did not to look like his daughter anymore. The duke soon lost his interest for her and locks her out of his sight.

All that was left for Penelope who lost the duke’s interest was her two step brothers and the worker’s abusing.

“Its so similar to my life to the point it feels unpleasant…… .”

Penelope’s life and the treatments she got was awfully like mine.

It was something I didn’t notice when I was playing it as a game.

I suddenly started feeling down.

‘Fake lady.’

Every workers working in this mansion called Penelope, fake.

Penelope herself was breathtakingly beautiful, but to other’s eyes, she was only a mere clone that didn’t even look like the original.

Maybe the story flowed differently if she acted cute towards others, but her personality hit the bottom even though she was only a girl who just coincidentally happened to enter the family.

Flashing back to the prologue of the story, it was explained ‘She was always on guard towards everyone like a hedgehog with spikes up, and always caused trouble where ever she went to no matter the place or the situation.’.

“I wondered why the choices of lines were all something that would surely cause a fuss.”

I nodded my head, finally understanding why all the choices I had to choose from were that insane.

Penelope was actually a villain who seemed powerful just by her name.

Unlike how naive the normal mode heroine looked like, she looked so keen and sharp.

But I sort of understood Penelope.

Just today. No, just a few hours. I’ve experiences the treatments she got for only for few hours, yet I think it was enough for me to understand how her life must’ve been.

‘Even though she’s called a fake.’

How could they wake her up, poking her with needles? Even so, she’s a girl picked up by the duke himself.

Not even one maid would wake the other maids that way.

It was when she was 12 when Penelope was adopted to the duke family.

If she was abused from that day and on…… .

There weren’t that much things a little kid could do to the adults who wouldn’t even listen to her words no matter how hard she shouted.

“Is this a proof trying to prove she’s a meant-to-be villainess?”

Nothing could change the fact that she was abused all the time even until today.

No characters were the least merciful towards Penelope, and the motions that killed Penelope inside were rough and insane.

“I feel a bit sorry for her.”

I raised my hand and stroked Penelope’s fragile soft cheek.

The figure with strong shade of pink hair reflected in the mirror looked sorrowful.

However, I got rid of the feeling of pity towards the other.

“Ha, who’s sorry about who.”

It wasn’t the time to think about things in peace.

I was Penelope now.

It meant that I could die in the male characters’ hands anytime like that Penelope did in the game.

It was fear that I felt when I reminded me of that.

_______

-CatLovesTowels -Lizette ^^

Chapter 5: I searched for a pen and a piece

I searched for a pen and a piece of paper as soon as I got out of the bathroom.

I needed to figure out a way to survive as long as I’ve become Penelope.

In this hard mode, it was hard to raise the interest of one, and a drop to a negative leads to death.

It was even worse for the duke’s second son. His interest was already in the negative. It would be death that’ll come for me if his interest didn’t rise to a positive soon.

There was a need for me to organize some information about the game.

It was fortunate that the fake lady at least had some things she deserved as a lady.

In the large room stood a luxury bookshelf and a desk.

I didn’t hesitate to go to it and take a seat. I dipped the end of the quill into the ink.

“Characters first.”

There were 5 male characters in total in the game.

The 2 sons of the duke and the crowned prince, the wizard, the knight.

The hard mode started with their interests at 0% or negative unlike in the normal mode where it started with 30% of interest in each one.

I started to write down everything I remembered, on the blank sheet of paper.

First, Derrick Eckart.

(Korean Pronunciations: Derrick Eckart)

He was was the first son of the duke, technically the young duke of the family. Derrick was a typical noble man.

He was generally uninterested towards Penelope as he was too busy preparing to be the next duke of this family.

However there were strong and intense contempt and hatred towards her for taking his blood-related sister’s place.

In the game, Derrick killing Penelope himself was rare. However, he didn’t forget to punish her whenever she made a fault.

Then the player will be given a penalty and their choices of lines to choose from would be restricted.

Just like today, I cannot leave the room due to the punishment given yesterday.

Anyways, next. The youngest son of the duke, Reynold Eckart.

(Korean Pronunciations: Re Nuhld [Rennald] Eckart)

This kid, well, there’s really nothing much to explain.

A very wacky and active guy with a bad -temper, having a critical personality and is always picking a fight with Penelope on every single thing whenever he encounters her.

As he’s the leader to those who abuse Penelope, him being first to abuse Penelope is not even surprising. What is surprising is that he’s always the one who brings Penelope to her death through some unexpected weird ways.

“Now that I see, these two are somewhat similar to the bastards in our house, aren’t they?”

I clicked my tongue, going over the information of the two that I’ve written down.

These two had the easiest routes to master in normal mode.

It was because these two had ‘family love’ and not ‘lover’s love’ for her since they were blood related.

That being said, Penelope was not the least related to the two through blood. Therefore, it had the higher chance of having a different ending than in the normal mode.

However I shook my head.

I scribbled a big ‘X’ on their names I’ve written.

“They have no answers. These two are hopeless.”

Adding to that, Reynold’s interest starts at a negative.

Not even a 0, but a negative.

Why would negative be a negative.

This was what the producer was telling me:

There’s no hope in the first place, so just give up on an ending with Reynold.

Besides, I was a person who go nauseous even just hearing the word ‘Oppa’, so I decided I’d fully give up on them.

“Next, the crowned prince.”

Callisto Régūlus, the crowned prince.

(Korean Pronunciations: Callisto reguleuce)

The only information I have about him were all from the normal mode.

The crowned prince who depreciates his life due to his unfortunate childhood events, meets the angel-like protagonist and heals his heart before he punishes the villainess Penelope.

That was a justice-has-been-done but from Penelope’s perspective, the crowned prince was a grim reaper.

He was the one who killed Penelope the most in the hard mode.

I pressed the reset button so many time during his route that I don’t even remember what happened in the whole game.

“Let’s not even go close to where this guy is.”

I remembered the illustration with Callisto slicing my neck several times.

I felt chills down my spine.

Criss cross. I drew ‘X’ on the crowned prince’s name many times.

Then I quickly moved onto the next.

The next was Buinter Verdandi. He was a wizard and a marquis.

(Korean Pronunciation: Vuinter [Bwinter] Berudandi)

As a wizard, he works with his identity as a marquis, hidden.

He exchanges information and mysterious objects, and thanks to that, he is able to find out that the protagonist is the duke’s lost daughter.

After that, he gains information about the villainess making evil plans. He either warns the protagonist or blocks the danger himself.

Besides that, he was a character who was the most helpful in getting her honors and glamors.

He presented romantic magics in normal mode. He was a sweet man who helped the protagonist from behind.

But I don’t know how he was in the hard mode.

I was already busy, dying from the crowned prince and the 2 sons of the duke before Buinter’s route even started.

Anyways, he had some high possibilities and hopes unlike the three previous brats so I decided to let it be for now.

“And last, Eclipse.”

(Korean Pronunciations: Eclise)

Being a knight of the duke family, Eclipse was a commoner.

The duke, who went out to the town at night, happened to see Eclipse who was outstanding in swordsmanship, bought him at a high price to bring him in and make him into a knight-in-training.

Later, he becomes the youngest sword master and is given a status as a noble. He wins the title of ‘young and handsome guy’.

Eclipse was the one character you can most expect an ending from, out of the five males.

He was the only one who felt sympathy towards Penelope until the end.

Penelope was his last master he had served, and I think that’s why he was the one, least to stop Penelope from bullying the protagonist.

Even though I never even met him in the hard mode…… .

“Hahh…… There’s nothing much that’d help me at this point.”

I let out a deep sigh, looking at my finished list.

I didn’t know much about the hard mode since everything blocked the way in it.

Even if I did, I don’t know if it’d be useful or not since I don’t know how the system may differ from the game in reality.

The one thing I know for sure though, is that I die when the male character’s interests reaches negative and that there’s a time limit I have to reach an ending in.

Penelope’s coming-of-age ceremony.

I must finish the route of at least one of the capture characters before that day.

That’s because it is that day when the protagonist makes her debut in the story.

‘Poor Penelope.’

She loses everything due to the real daughter of the duke appearing just when she becomes an adult.

That was the start of the normal mode.

If I didn’t end up with anyone until then, then I was most likely to die from one of them even if I don’t act like a villainess.

Of course, there wasn’t a guarantee that I wouldn’t die before that even starts.

“……I can’t die.”

I clenched my teeth thinking about my sorrowful future.

Yes. I can’t die.

I’ve just escaped from that rotten house. I can’t just die in a game like this.

“I’ll not die no matter what.”

My morning class at school is waiting for me.

I’ll live and go back to where I belong.

I decided, blankly staring at ‘I don’t know what’, that I’d live.

It was then. Knock knock-.

I heard the knocking sound from the door, twice. Before I even had the time to hide the papers with the information I’ve written down, the door opened abruptly.

“Lady.”

The person who appeared in front of me was an old white hair butler.

He didn’t come in but stood by the door as he spoke.

“His grace is commanding for your presence.”

I knew that the words written on the paper wouldn’t show in his eyes, but I felt unpleasant at his rude attitude.

There was a manager when I lived at a house.

Even though that manager didn’t seem to like me, he didn’t open the door like the butler did just now.

Moreover, this world wasn’t based on democracy but classism.

(Democracy: Citizens vote for who gets the power over them.)

(Classism: Power is by social class- Duke, Marquis, Commoners, ect.)

I was deciding on rather I should just deal with it or do something about it.

But before I decided on what to do, a white box appeared in front of my eyes.

1. (Throwing the objects in the room) You dare open the door to my room without my permission? Do you wish for death, oldie?!

2. If he has something to say, tell him to come himself!

3. (Glares at him for 5 seconds, then gets up) Okay.

‘Ah.’

I forgot about it again. That I’m not in the state where I can get angry over things however I want…… .

However I also didn’t want to act like what any of the three choices that are given to me are forcing me to do.

I thought while choosing the third one as my option, annoyedly.

Interest or whatever, I need to do something about this option chart.

“…… Okay.”

It was fortunate that the duke was calling me at this time.

I hid the papers I wrote on, deep in the drawer before getting up from the spot.

Then I followed the butler out my room.

I only knew about this mansion through just a few illustrations, so I took this chance to carefully look around the places.

The mansion was gigantic in size just like some buildings you can see in a movie that showed a castle in Europe.

Penelope’s room was on the second floor.

Inside the mansion seemed busy. I met quite a lot of workers while walking through the halls.

The gazes of the workers who glanced at me when I walked by, didn’t seem kind.

However I ignored them without any fuss.

These kind of gazes don’t even bother me the least since I’ve felt these gazes way too much before I even came here.

The butler who was leading the way, got down to the first floor and soon arrived at the well-decorated door.

It seemed to be the duke’s office.

Knock knock knock.

“Your grace. I escorted the lady here.”

“Come in.”

Creak- The door opened with the butler opening the door.

I stepped in the room, feeling a bit nervous.

Chapter 6: It's only a single scene from a game..

Actually there wasn’t anything to be nervous about.

‘It’s only a single scene from a game…… .’

Even so, my hands continued to quiver a little.

It was due to me subconsciously being reminded of my blood-related dad, remembering the attitude of the duke towards Penelope in the game.

I was fully in the room now but the duke didn’t even raise his head.

I hesitantly approached his desk and stood.

I hid my quivering fingers and bowed down for a greeting.

There weren’t this much details within the game.

However my voice didn’t come out so there was no way I could show my presence through speaking. Also, I felt like this is what I had to do, judging by the aura.

“You’ve come.”

The duke finally took a glimpse of me by slightly raising his head.

He had the same black hair and blue eyes as those that Derrick had.

His face showed no emotions just like the high-status -nobles shown in the illustrations in the game.

At the same time, a white box popped up in my view.

1. Why have you called?

2. I’m busy. Please get straight into the point.

3. (Glare without any words said.)

I pressed on the choice number 1 out of the rest of the insane answers.

“Why have you called?”

“I heard there was a fuss today morning.”

As soon as his sentence reached the end, the choices in the box quickly shifted to some new choices.

1. Your grace has nothing to do with it.

2. You probably want this fuss happening.

3. It wasn’t my fault. This was all that stupid maid’s doing!

I lost control of my mentality reading those choices.

‘Ha…… These insane choices…… .’

Of course, this was something I’ve experienced once before.

When I was playing the game in the other world, I was happy to press on the second one as my choice, my plan being ‘I will make Penelope a Sassy Chic Femme Fatale!’.

However thinking that this came back to me in this reality left me speechless.

‘Even though I still am titled as a villainess…… .’

Which father on earth would treat his ‘not even blood -related’ daughter so well. Shit.

Tap-.

When I didn’t speak for a while and just stood on the spot, the duke put down his pen he was holding and lifted his head up to see me.

He held a sharp and keen aura within his eyes as he looked at me.

‘I hope this decision does no harm to making a death flag…… .’

I chose number 1, trembling inside. I clenched my teeth to try and not say ‘that’ word out.

“Your grace has nussing tu du with it.”

However I couldn’t stop that word in the end, and instead, came out really weird.

“Penelope.”

The duke opened his mouth. His voice was as cold as ice, holding no warmth what-so-ever.

There was no change of the story flow no matter how much I tried like this.

“Has it already been 6 years since you came to this house?”

I went back in my memories, searching for the right information about the game setting.

The heroine on both normal and hard modes were at the same age, 18.

Penelope had been adopted to the duke house when she was 12. That meant that, yes, he was correct.

I remembered the one thing I’ve forgotten about the game.

The 18th birthday is when the coming-of-age ceremony is held for everyone here.

That means that there were not much time left until the day of the coming-of-age ceremony for Penelope, right?

‘Then how long do I have?’

It was when I was working my brain at the suddenly remembered information.

Thankfully, the duke continued with his words without me having to choose one of the 3 choices.

“I don’t know if you know but it’s not easy to step a foot in this house. Only the ones who’ve proved that they can be of use to our house can go through the gates of our Eckart mansion after several strict inspections.”

“…… .”

“I didn’t hesitate or save anything to provide you support. I accepted everything, even after seeing you in your luxurious life, doing inexcusable things.”

“…… .”

“However, I can’t seem to figure out what good you have brought to our family these past six years.”

True.

I would’ve held a sliver of his interest if I at least looked like his blood-related daughter in appearance.

However Penelope’s hair and eye colour turned into a colour too different from the right shade of pink and the colour blue.

I wanted to nod while saying that his words were all true, however my body didn’t move an inch after the duke started speaking, from the system controlling my body.

The white box, which had disappeared from my silence, popped up again.

1. So what do you expect me to do? Are you going to kick me out of this house now?

2. I’m not the one at fault!

3. (Kneel down.)

‘Finally!’

I was glad to see an actually normal answer I could choose without hesitation. It was an excitement I’ve never felt since coming to this place.

I knew it wouldn’t but just in case they disappeared, I quickly pressed on 3.

Thud-!

My body was automatically moved to kneel down from some kind of force kicking my back side of the legs hard, and pushing my shoulders downwards.

‘Ack! Why is it so strong!’

I was expecting this but it hurt more than expected that my eyes slightly watered.

“You, what are you doing?”

The duke seemed more shocked from the thud sound than I was. His eyes widened.

I never chose this as my decision when I was playing this. I mean, it didn’t make sense.

‘Why would a cheap gourd kneel down?’

I don’t know if the producer was lazy or thought it was a waste of time, but they made the next decision overlap with the choices in normal mode.

1. Is me kneeling down the only way to make you satisfied?

2. (Glare with no words.)

3. I’m sorry for everything, father!

I hurriedly pressed on 3 like I did before.

“I’m sorry for everything, father!”

The voice that came out of my mouth was loud, probably because I chose 3 as if I was certain and confident 3 was it.

“……What?”

The duke asked as if nothing made sense.

It was then the white box, which was now familiar to me, popped up.

Hidden Quest [The Lost Title Of A ‘Father’]

Mission Complete!

As a reward, the function [Choices ON/OFF] is given.

Do You Want To [OFF] The Choices?

[Yes. / No.]

With nothing holding me back, I clicked on the [Yes.] without hesitation.

The Choices Is Now [OFF]. If You Wish To See The Choices Again, Shout [Choices ON].

And finally, that annoying white square box disappeared completely from my view.

‘Awesome!’

I celebrated inwardly while clenching my hands into a fist.

The hidden function [Choices ON/OFF] had permitted me to call the duke, ‘father’.

If I choose [OFF] for the choices in the game, the lines are gone and only the number 1, 2, and 3 are the only ones shown on screen.

At times, the simple replies or the answers could be typed with the phone keyboard. By simple answer or replies, I meant ‘YES/NO’, the character’s names, and etcetera.

It was an easy function to gain in the game when it’s played on normal mode.

I think the purpose of it is to prevent the repeating situations depended on by the lines chosen, and also to project the flexibility of the game and the encouraging speedy play.

However, even with the given function, I rarely used them.

There was no use of using it. That was how easy and fast the normal mode was.

That’s why I didn’t pay much attention to this scene in the hard mode.

It was because I only chose the aggressive lines.

‘I didn’t know the hard mode would work the same as the normal mode.’

I wasn’t able to get the [Choices ON/OFF] function due to me choosing the wrong lines, but it wasn’t a needed function to me who was addicted in choosing the right lines for the villainess.

‘I didn’t know back then. That the addiction would become a poison to me later on, and that later on would be right now…… .’

I heaved a sigh at my foolishness back then, as I recited the words by my will, and not from the 3 lines I had to choose from before.

“Fa. Th. Er.”

Hearing the words coming out of my mouth by my will was so touching to me that I could cry.

The tears literally lingered in my eyes from that.

And the duke who never seemed to have heard the word ‘father’ from Penelope, didn’t seem to believe that I had just said that as his already widened eyes widened even more.

I continued with my words, not the least effected by the duke’s reaction.

“I apologize for making a fuss during my grounded days. I wasn’t able to show the manners as superior to the lower ones and that caused this scandal to occur.”

“…… .”

“I will deeply reflect on my actions for the remaining time I’m grounded for. There won’t be a fuss like this happening next time so please forgive me this once, father.”

I begged, kneeling on the ground.

When you think of it, the fuss made in the morning wasn’t my fault.

A maid bullied me. My fault my ass, it was the situation where I had to beg for help from someone.

However the past actions that Penelope had made before I became her had forcefully made me do this without a choice.

I was in a situation where I couldn’t live without kneeling down.

My life wouldn’t be in danger right away even if the duke doesn’t like me.

However if I don’t take this situation seriously just because I got the function to turn the choices off, there’ll be a high possibility of me taking the route where the penalty would be the only thing waiting for me.

It was an obvious thing. Penelope was already grounded right now after creating a fuss, and made another one during it, too.

The so called ‘young master’ (AKA Derrick) was the one to ground me this time, and I know that acting stubborn and aggressive right now would only lower his interest towards me.

“I understand how immature I’ve acted up until now.”

“…… .”

“If you give me another chance, I’ll do my best to show my use to this family until the day of my coming-of-age ceremony.”

I didn’t move an inch from the ground even after I was done talking.

I’ve never begged, kneeling down on the ground even to my real birth parents.

This proves just how shitty this game is.

‘I’m begging with my body down to the ground. Just hurry and say okay already.’

I was slapping myself mentally straight after waking up while I was tired. I needed my rest.

“You…… .”

The duke looked down on Penelope as if he was seeing some stranger. He wasn’t able to easily let out words.

His jaws moved but didn’t mumble out a sound for a while before he managed to let out a sentence.

“……I get what you’re saying. Get up from the floor now.”

“Yes.”

I got up without hesitation.

My legs were too tired to the point that I couldn’t keep my position any longer.

“The words spoken by Eckart family are heavy, Penelope.”

The duke spoke in a low tone, still looking at me. Those words had a lot of meaning to it.

“Thank you. I won’t let you regret forgiving me today, father.”

“You should leave now.”

I hurriedly moved my body at the same time his words ended.

It was due to me worrying what if the route changes because I acted slowly.

_______

-CatLovesTowels -Lizette