🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 15
I could more or less guess why Sergei had spread rumors about me.
He probably wanted to date Charlotte, the untouchable goddess herself—but since that was impossible, he’d settled for me instead. And because even that wasn’t going smoothly, he’d decided to isolate me within the Shashamo community.
The plan was likely to push me out, make me ostracized in Shashamo, and then have me rely on him so he could lure me in like that…
‘As if that would ever work.’
It was so ridiculous I was left speechless.
I hadn’t achieved anything particularly impressive academically during my college years, but I had definitely acquired the life wisdom needed to weed out insignificant people like this. I had no intention of falling for such a transparent scheme.
Still, the thought that I must have looked that easy to him made me feel a bit depressed. Perhaps to suppress that feeling, I deliberately raised my voice.
“Mr. Sergei, you’re the one spreading these rumors about me, aren’t you?!”
“Pardon?”
Apparently he hadn’t expected me to confront him on the spot, because Sergei looked flustered.
“Why are you going around talking about sensitive things concerning me without my permission? Or do you usually go around spreading other people’s stories like that?”
“What—what are you talking about?! And it’s not like I made anything up! Why are you reacting so sensitively?!”
With a series of absurd excuses, he ended up admitting what he’d done. Seeing him not even bother to deny it made anger surge up from deep inside me.
So much so that I even felt an impulsive urge.
‘I really want to punch him. Just once.’
As I felt my fists clench with rage while staring at Sergei, an enticing idea crossed my mind.
‘Should I test it out while I’m at it?’
There were several “game over” conditions in Serra Arnshardt.
Physical death, reaching 100% affection with the capture target, being exposed as a possessor—
And reputation dropping to zero or below.
‘This one might actually be worth trying.’
It was the simplest game over condition, one that didn’t require enduring the pain of dying, grinding affection up to 100%, or dealing with the aftermath of being exposed.
‘It’s not like my head will be chopped off the moment my reputation hits zero.’
If this could forcibly end the game, that would be ideal. Even if escape failed, the risk was minimal. I could just return to the save point and continue the route.
Since there was clearly a [Load Save File] button in the game menu, it seemed worth trusting. Having made up my mind, I took off the lace gloves I was wearing.
“Miss Serra?”
Seeing this, Sergei looked puzzled.
If I disappeared from this world right now, how would it continue? What would happen to the relationship between Charlotte and Angela?
Those questions flickered through my mind for just a brief moment—but I deliberately ignored them.
I couldn’t gamble my life on curiosity. Nothing mattered if I wasn’t alive. Escaping this game was the top priority above all else.
With that desperation—and a touch of revenge—I slapped Sergei across the face. His head snapped to the side with a sharp sound.
“Miss Serra!”
The Shashamo members, shocked by my action, tried to pull us apart, but I paid them no mind and focused only on my reputation score.
It dropped sharply to 8 points from that single incident. That wasn’t enough. I shoved aside the hands trying to stop me and stepped forward.
And then—
Smack!
I put all my strength into slapping the other cheek of Sergei, who was staring at me in shock.
“Aaagh, Miss Serra!”
Sergei screamed, having been struck on both cheeks in an instant.
Due to my physical limits, I hadn’t hit him that hard, but it certainly wasn’t painless enough to ignore.
Sure enough, Sergei clutched his throbbing left cheek and glared at me.
It didn’t take long for the greed in his eyes to turn into contempt. At the same time, my reputation score plummeted rapidly.
Then an unfamiliar sound effect rang in my ears. I withdrew my gaze from Sergei and looked up.
[Warning: Reputation score is about to reach 0!]
[Warning: If reputation reaches 0, the game will end. Please be cautious.]
[System: Reputation score has reached 0.]
[- GAME OVER -]
[Continue / From Beginning / Main Menu]
“……”
A system window overlaid the frozen world.
At last, the long-awaited moment had arrived. It felt almost anticlimactic how easily it had happened.
But—
[Main Menu]
The Main Menu button, which should have returned me to the start screen, was grayed out like a logout or exit button and couldn’t be selected.
The [From Beginning] button was the same. I hadn’t planned to press it anyway, but why was it disabled?
Glaring irritably at the two buttons, I had no choice but to select [Continue].
[System: Moving to the last save point.]
[Caution: Repeated ‘game overs’ or abnormal play patterns may result in account suspension.]
With that unsettling system message, the screen began moving again.
Since this game had an automatic save function running at all times, I didn’t need to save manually—but it was hard to tell exactly when it saved.
Still, since my reputation had tanked because I slapped Sergei, it should at least send me back to a point before that.
[Loading… 100%]
After a slight lag, the screen reconstructed itself.
My body was adjusted to match the situation—and somehow, my right hand was raised in the air.
Sergei, making eye contact with me, jumped in surprise.
“M-Miss Serra?!”
“……?!”
I, too, startled and stepped back. No wonder—it was the exact moment right before I slapped his face.
Not the moment I decided to do it, not the moment I took off my gloves, but literally 0.1 seconds before my hand would have made contact.
‘Don’t tell me it saves right before death? And you can’t make extra save files?’
To confirm, I hurriedly opened the menu and selected [Load Save File].
Here, I could check the playtime of each save file, which essentially indicated the save point. My eyes urgently scanned the numbers next to the file name.
[ days ** hours ** minutes 32 seconds……]**
After closing the menu, I immediately opened the screen again to recheck the save point.
[ days ** hours ** minutes 33 seconds.]**
‘What kind of ridiculous game is this?’
Even as I stood there dumbfounded, my reputation score continued to drop—because of Sergei. Of course, the decrease wasn’t as drastic as when I actually hit him.
“Miss Serra, were you trying to slap my face just now?”
Sergei, who had nearly been struck, angrily demanded an explanation. Naturally, I had no choice but to deny it.
“…What are you talking about? I didn’t touch you. Is the cheek you didn’t even get hit on hurting?”
“That’s not it, but your hand suddenly flew at me! Of course I was startled!”
When I fell silent, unable to find a response, he grew even more aggressive and shouted,
“Well, my mood’s been thoroughly ruined, and you go raising your hand without warning—just what kind of etiquette education did you receive? The absence of the former Count and Countess of Arnshardt is particularly regrettable.”
At that sudden insult directed at my parents, my head went cold as if doused with icy water.
‘What did you just say?’
Of course, the former count and countess he was referring to weren’t my real parents, and I’d never met them in person.
But it was hard to remain unaffected by such unfiltered, insulting remarks.
“Mr. Sergei, that’s going too far… Please, both of you, stop.”
The Shashamo president stepped in to mediate, but it was already too late.
“So only what you suffered matters to you, Mr. Sergei, while the wounds I received don’t even register.”
As if my earlier cold-headedness had been a lie, I barely suppressed the boiling fury inside me and turned to the president.
“Even if something is true, it’s still rude to go around spreading someone else’s business when it’s not your own. Isn’t that the most basic courtesy?”
They say that those who endure humiliation are only given greater humiliation.
I no longer had the confidence to keep associating with such ill-mannered people in a place like this.
“I’m sorry, but no matter how much I like Lady Charlotte, I don’t think I can possibly continue alongside someone this unreasonable. So as of today, I’ll be leaving Shashamo.”
