Episode 77. Doubts (4)

“When someone acts like they know nothing, spewing all kinds of nonsense, and then suddenly claims ignorance, do you think anyone would believe that?”

“T-that’s…!”

Beth stammered, her lips trembling. Even now, she refrained from saying what Percy wanted to hear. She was confused, unsure if she could even reveal the truth.

‘It’s a secret that I’m the female lead and that this is a game world. If I tell him, who knows what the system might do to me.’

Beth’s penalty was to have time rewind, but the length of time that was rewound was never consistent. It always took her back to moments that were the most distressing and troublesome.

‘This time will be no different.’

In the inescapable despair, Beth’s face grew increasingly pale. Percy, who had been watching her intently, shrugged his shoulders.

“It seems you’re not in enough pain yet. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to test just how much you can endure.”

He was threatening to kill her again. Beth, terrified of death, opened her mouth to speak.

‘I’ll tell you everything! Everything I know!’

But no sound came out.

“……!!”

Her breath came out in ragged gasps as a new set of choices appeared before her eyes.

▶ Trying to rule people with fear is futile.
▶ No matter how much you hurt me, I will never put Daniel in danger!

‘Oh, damn it! Damn it!’

Faced with death, why was she only presented with such righteous words? Why?

And Percy, facing her, smiled coldly.

It was a smile devoid of warmth, sending chills down her spine.

* * *

Beth felt like she was losing her mind. Lying on the floor, she could only blink. Normally, she would have been disgusted by the cold feeling of the floor against her face, but today, she couldn’t even move a finger.

She thought numbly to herself.

‘How many times have I died?’

She had lost count of how many times her life had ended. Just like pressing a faulty power button on a broken computer, the man had watched her die and come back to life over and over again. His gaze was that of someone looking at an object, not a person, and it made her entire body tremble.

‘I’d rather be dead.’

How could a person’s life be so easily ended?

‘I always thought this game had sloppy settings!’

As with most simulation games, battle scenes were always just glossed over with text. After some sound effects and screams, Daniel would appear, blood-stained, saying something like, “I won for you.”

The game never showed the actual fight scenes or what it was like for the people dying.

‘But how could my life be snuffed out so easily?’

Percy hadn’t lifted a finger to kill her. He had simply looked down at her coldly, as if she were a bug.

And yet, every time, she writhed in pain and her breath would stop.

This time was no different.

“…..This is getting boring.”

Then just stop this, you bastard!

She wanted to scream that, but even in this insane situation, the choices given to her were pathetic.

▶ I won’t be broken by this!
▶ You’re being too cruel.

Both choices were infuriating.

After hearing another unsatisfactory answer, Percy snapped his fingers without hesitation.

A powerful shock struck Beth’s abdomen, causing her to cough up blood. Her body convulsed violently, as if she had been electrocuted. And then, all of a sudden, her body went limp.

Her unfocused eyes stared blankly at the floor.

At that very moment, something happened.

As if time were rewinding, the blood spilled on the floor vanished. Beth’s twisted body realigned itself.

And as her body parts fell back into place, her chest heaved.

“Huff!”

She gasped for air like a creature emerging from the water for the first time.

But then, something different happened. A system window popped up.

※ A critical error has occurred in the system. The program will temporarily cease operation.

Beth clenched her fists tightly. She wanted to curse, but her throat was too sore for her voice to come out. It didn’t even make sense that her throat was intact after all the screaming and blood she’d coughed up.

‘Damn it, they notice now?’

The system only now realizes there’s an error when a character is killing the female lead?

‘But at least it’s a relief. If the program is being halted, maybe I won’t have to die at the hands of this lunatic anymore.’

But Beth’s relief was premature. The program might be stopping, but that didn’t mean the world itself was coming to a halt. Contrary to her expectations, Percy continued to approach her fallen form, showing no sign of noticing anything unusual.

“What’s the principle behind this, I wonder? Are you some kind of mysterious being with abilities I don’t know about? Or perhaps a sorcerer? An undead?”

Beth had no idea how she kept coming back to life, so Percy’s words felt strange to her. But to Percy, Beth appeared utterly bizarre.

‘Even an undead doesn’t heal so perfectly, as if time itself has rewound.’

Beth seemed to erase the very fact that she had died in the first place.

In this case, there was only one plausible explanation. Percy tapped his chin thoughtfully as he spoke, breaking the silence himself since it didn’t seem like she would.

“Or could it be that the story must go on? After all, there are no stories where the female lead dies and the narrative continues.”

“H-how do you know…”

Beth turned pale at Percy’s mention of the protagonist. Then she realized her mistake.

‘Oh no!’

Normally, such talk would trigger a system warning. Beth quickly covered her mouth with her hand, tension building inside her.

But, to her surprise, no warning appeared. Beth’s eyes widened in shock.

‘There’s no warning. The system is down.’

The earlier notification that the service was temporarily suspended really meant that the game itself was on pause.

‘The system has never gone down before.’

Since Beth had never been in a situation where she’d lose control of herself like Sienna might after drinking too much, there had never been a reason for the system to crash.

Percy also noticed the shift in Beth’s demeanor, his eyebrows rising slightly.

“You’re still not in the mood to talk, I see. Well, how should I kill you this time?”

“W-wait!! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything!”

“Oh?”

Beth was desperate. No matter how many times she revived, she still felt the pain each time she died. She couldn’t just shrug it off. Besides, she had no loyalty left for the system. She hurriedly spilled her story, fearing Percy might change his mind.

“I swear, it’s not that I didn’t want to talk. I can only say certain things. I can’t speak words that don’t fit with my character.”

Percy’s lips twitched at her words. A discomfort, like a snake slithering up his spine, made him shudder.

Her ability to only say certain things…

Oddly enough, that statement reminded Percy of someone. Narrowing his eyes, he asked cautiously,

“Must you only say wicked and malicious things?”

“No, it’s not like that. I’m a good character, so I can only say things that are kind and protective.”

Character.

Despite being alive, she described herself strictly as a character in a story.

‘The opposite of Sienna.’

This implied that Sienna was set as the villain.

‘So, what role do I play in this theater?’

Since childhood, Percy had been tormented by the idea of a predetermined fate. The woman in front of him seemed to know what that was. A mix of excitement and unease washed over him. After hesitating for a moment, Percy asked in a low voice,

“Do you know who I am?”

Despite the careful tone of his question, Beth’s answer poured out without hesitation, as she too felt wronged.

“I don’t know! I’ve never seen a character like you before… And then you suddenly interfered with the story and ruined everything.”

“What story are you talking about?”

“What do you mean, what story? It’s my story, where I defeat the villainess Sienna and find happiness with Daniel.”

Her story, where she and Daniel end up in love. It seemed too trivial to be the fate of an entire world. Percy felt a wave of disgust rise within him but suppressed it. There was still more he needed to hear.

“And who exactly is this villainess Sienna that you’re talking about?”

“Are you seriously asking? Sienna, the Imperial Princess. Daniel’s fiancée, Sienna. She’s still notorious as a villainess in society, isn’t she?”

“But she’s no longer Daniel’s fiancée. You’re aware the engagement was broken off, right?”

“That’s the problem!”

Perhaps because she hadn’t been able to speak freely in a while, Beth forgot that the person in front of her was Sienna’s fiancé as she continued to rant.

“To complete the story, Sienna has to cling to Daniel, act villainously, and then be punished! But now that she’s removed herself from the story, it can’t progress! There are only a few days left until the story’s ending!”

“Punishment.”

So Sienna was supposed to fall in the end. What kind of love could be achieved by forcibly turning Sienna into a villainess and sacrificing her?

“Then what is the ending of this story you’re talking about?”

Beth answered lightly, as if Percy should already know.

“My marriage to Daniel, of course. Isn’t that how all love stories end? We’ll pledge our eternal love in front of everyone.”

The very thought made Percy feel sick to his stomach.