𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐇 𝐈𝐒 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐋𝐘 𝐄𝐍𝐃𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐕𝐈𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐒𝐒

𝟐

In the beginning, the love interests' burdens of regret due to their complex history as well as the heroine wiggling her way into their hearts slowly as the routes progressed was enough for me to dive into this otome game and willingly drown in it.

I, who initially planned to just look at the game, was now addicted to it. Reaching the good endings was easy even though it was my first time playing these kinds of games.

It was fun—for the most part—but the normal mode was way too easy, even for a beginner like me.

From the start of the game, all the male lead's favorability towards the heroine starts at 30%. The mode should've been labeled as 'easy' instead of 'normal;' it was to the point where I saw every character's ending within a measly 3 hours.

After I completed all the endings, a card popped on the screen which said the 'Hidden Ending' was available with a drawing of a lock on it.

"A hundred dollars?! Are they insane? Why is it so expensive?"

In order to see the hidden ending, you needed to either pay a crazy high price for it or finish the hard modes of each character.

"Shit... It's already midnight, and there's..."

I thought about the class I had early in the morning–about how important it was to get some rest before then–but I ended up succumbing to temptation and giving up my studious mindset.

"Ah, whatever! Let's get this stupid game over with!"

This was completely out of character for me. I wouldn't have done anything like this usually, but nonetheless my finger excitedly tapped the hard mode button.

A different prologue video played this time with a grandiose soundtrack.

"Woah. The heroine changed."

The heroine changing in the new mode was something I hadn't expected in the slightest. The new main character was the villain from the normal mode, the fake mistress of the duke's family. The story was set before the normal mode took place so the game had an entirely different atmosphere.

"Maybe this is why this game's so popular." A detailed illustration of the heroine in hard mode appeared on my screen which woke me up for good. The unique system setup of the game only served to further my interest in the otome.

The idea of playing as the villain of the original route who had initially faced off against the angel-like heroine was exciting. As well as this, finding out a way to somehow win over the hearts of the barred off male leads caused my heart to start pounding with anticipation.

The villain who was evil to the angel-like heroine was the one who was winning the hearts of the strictly love-barricaded male leads now which caused my heart to flutter unexpectedly. Overly confident from finishing all the normal mode routes, I proceeded into hard mode. Even though it was called a hard mode, I expected that the difficulty spike wouldn't be all that bad.

However, I turned out to be sorely mistaken.

"Ugh! Why did I die again!?"

The hard mode was extremely challenging.

The heroine was the villainess of the game so raising the male leads' interest was so fucking hard.

But it wasn't only that.

The interests I had raised with all my hard work were completely eradicated by the 'game over' screen even after making just a tiny mistake. The 'deaths' of the heroine were incredibly dark and disturbing, making it even more disheartening to watch her die over and over again with each failure.

"Why does this have to be so extreme?!"

The illustrations following the bad ends depicted the violence the heroine endured in such a graphic manner that it was disturbing. I frowned at the illustration of the heroine getting brutally sliced across the neck by the crowned prince.

"This game is insane..."

I died several times due to the choices I made from purely my own judgment whilst frustration continuously built up in my chest at the game's horrible system.

What was the developer thinking, making the difficulty spike like this?

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

"Please let me live for once, please!"

My initial goal was to unlock the 'Hidden Ending' but at this point, it had long since slipped from my mind. I have to see this poor pitiful villainess live happily with at least one of the male leads and not die a cruel and painful death.

What makes the villainess deserve this treatment? The author was the one who made her a villainess in the first place!

Unlike the heroine from the normal mode who instantly earned everyone's love no matter what choice I made, the villainess was only abused and mistreated no matter how much she begged for love–it reminded me of my life in the past.

"I'm seeing this damned mode to the finish no matter what."

As I was killed again due to the hands of the two bastards that were her 'older brothers,' I grit my teeth in frustration. I can't even recall the amount of times I had died.

My two trembling hands clenched the sides of my phone, which was overheating due to the fact I had been playing for so long.

Despite the fact I knew that I was getting too emotional about this, I couldn't stop my fingers from clicking the reset button.

Restarting once again, from the very beginning.

I chose the correct lines, slowly raised their interests and got the required fame, glamor, and money to open up a new route.

"Damn it! Why?! Why!?"

But I died yet again.

I was annoyed to the point I had thought of just buying the secret ending using money. If the producer's goal was to make their dedicated player base pay for the damn thing, then they succeeded with flying colors. The game managed to drive me, who treasures money like no one else does, to want to use up my money for some stupid otome. I didn't end up swiping in the end, but I was practically in a fiery rage the whole night as a result of my desire to see the ending of at least one of the characters.

Die and start over.

Die again and start over.

Die.

Die.

Die.

And die again.

I kept dying until sunrise.

Even after all my efforts, I failed to reach a good ending.

"Fuck... Again..."

I was about to press the reset button again but my body could no longer resist the draining fatigue as I drifted into slumber with my phone in my hand, only to find that when I opened my eyes—!

"Penelope Eckart." The man with the blank gauge bar above him with the glittering letters 'Interest 0%' spoke again. "We'll withdraw our family name from you for some time."

I had become the villainess in the cruel and twisted game gameI had never reached the true ending of.