TVMF 2

Chapter: 2

Additional information was displayed as two bars, each with a maximum value of 100. Reading the numbers, they were as follows:

Affection: 30
Morality: 15

[ADMIN: Due to the constant nagging you have endured since your younger sister was born, your Morality stat has been adjusted.]

[When Affection is high, the probability that the character will listen to you increases.]

[However, if the Corruption Rate is high, the effect may be reversed. Please exercise caution.]

[Total Corruption Rate: ?]

[You may use coins to check the Corruption Rate.]

…Was that really “adjusted”?

Leaving aside the fact that I had an Affection of 30 with my own sibling, all the painstaking nagging I’d done had only earned me a Morality score of 15. That was an absurdly poor return on investment.

And the explanation about Affection…

If you thought about all those obsessive male leads in romance novels who never listened to the heroine, it was easy to understand.

I should only raise it to the point where they listen a little.

Raising a brother’s Affection to the maximum value was… horrifying just to imagine.

Anyway, it seemed that increasing Morality would lower the total Corruption Rate—but in an impressively evil move, checking the Corruption Rate itself required payment.

Isn’t this basically a monster born of capitalism?

[Coin: 3]

In the status window, I could see the coins I’d just received as a quest reward. Beneath it, a button labeled “Check Corruption Rate” glimmered in gold.

Apparently, pressing it would consume a coin and temporarily reveal the Corruption Rate.

But I left it alone for now.

You always regret spending resources carelessly in the early game.

—Ding!

What now?

[QUEST: A new quest has arrived – “First Encounter.”]

[Meet the male lead, “Adrian,” who is imprisoned and starving in the basement, within 24 hours.]

[Main Quest. Failure penalty: “Death of the Pale Poison Rose.”]

[TIME LIMIT: 23:59:58]

…What?

I could only stare blankly at the window floating before my eyes.

“Death of the Pale Poison Rose” was clearly referring to Rohesia’s horrific death from the original story.

Poison would seep through her body, turning her skin blue as she collapsed in agonizing pain.

All while Adrian mocked her death right in front of her.

And now you’re telling me that if I don’t meet Adrian within 24 hours, that’s how I die? No matter what I do afterward?

You damn status window! Completely devoid of business ethics!

The Duke of Bellas’s family—Adrian’s house—and the Marquis of Utel had barely any connection.

In the first place, after earning merit through alchemy, Utel had effectively retired from politics into an honorary position.

So how was I supposed to meet Adrian right now? Especially when he was locked up?!

“Rohesia.”

I turned my head while trembling to see Erden, still wearing his indifferent expression, holding something out to me.

It was a small vial filled with black liquid.

“What’s that?”

“You look like something’s wrong with your head. But don’t worry.”

I glared at him, demanding to know what he meant. His green eyes—so similar in color to mine—met my stare.

“It’s a potion I made myself. It should help stabilize your nerves.”

True to his status as the eldest son of the Utel family, Erden had been studying alchemy since he learned to walk.

By adulthood, his skills would fully bloom—and he’d later feed the heroine, Lexia, various potions to carry out all sorts of suspicious acts…

“……”

At the deep distrust in my gaze, Erden’s pupils wavered slightly.

—Ding!

[ITEM: An alchemical potion made by 13-year-old Erden. Effects unknown.]

A brief description appeared when I looked at the black vial. I accepted it, but had no intention of drinking it.

“Medicine should be made by a pharmacist,” and this was something a kid had brewed. Besides, I wasn’t even sick.

Hiding the vial in my palm, I asked:

“Hey, Erden.”

“Hm?”

“I want to go outside. There’s something I want to buy at the market.”

If I didn’t leave the mansion, I couldn’t go meet Adrian anyway.

I was tense, worried he might say something like, “Drink that first and then go,” but his response was different.

“You probably can’t go out right now. There’s a guest.”

“A guest?”

“The Duchess of Bellas, I think.”

“!”

The current Duchess of Bellas was Adrian’s stepmother—the very person who had locked him in the basement.

This might actually work out more easily than I expected.

As a ten-year-old child, going out required Father’s permission, but since he was entertaining a guest, I couldn’t leave.

Still, my concern was no longer about going out blindly.

There was a ticket to the Bellas household sitting inside this very house—why bother going elsewhere?

“I want to see the guest too!”

I tried speaking like a typical ten-year-old. Surprisingly, Erden turned away without much hesitation.

“Suit yourself.”

It looked like he’d decided I seemed stable enough and was heading off to work on the alchemy assignment Father had given him.

Still, his sister had collapsed earlier—shouldn’t he be at least a little more concerned?

Hmph…

Judging from his Morality stat, he wouldn’t understand even if I said anything.

“Erden.”

The boy, who was about to open the door, looked back at me.

“You came to give me that potion because I collapsed, right?”

“So?”

Considering his rock-bottom Morality, that much effort for his sister was actually commendable.

“Thank you.”

Good deeds should be acknowledged.

When I smiled softly, a familiar electronic sound rang out.

[SYSTEM: Erden Utel’s Affection has increased by 1.]

Since my mother, the Marchioness, died giving birth to me, there were only three direct family members in the Utel household.

My father, the Marquis of Utel.
Erden.
And me.

Despite being home to only three people, the mansion was enormous.

Partly to uphold the dignity of a founding contributor to the empire, and partly because it was a place where alchemical research—befitting the family’s reputation—was constantly conducted.

So, what exactly was alchemy?

In the world of The Sacrifice of the Thorned Golden Flower, there were two forces capable of defying the laws of the world and bringing about change.

One was holy magic, overseen by the Mage Tower.

A power said to have been bestowed upon humans by gods and angels out of love.

Mages who learned magic from angels applied it to every aspect of human life.

As a result, life became more convenient, and the Mage Tower—the heart of all mages—gained immense wealth and reverence.

The other force was alchemy.

A discipline that explored and controlled matter using human power alone.

Unlike holy magic, which only certain people were born able to use, alchemy was open to anyone willing to study it diligently.

And when it came to alchemy, Utel was synonymous with it.

Leaving the siblings’ living quarters, I saw researchers walking around in robes bearing the Utel family crest.

“Lady Rohesia.”

They stopped to greet me whenever we crossed paths.

I waved back as I walked, then gradually picked up speed until I was almost running.

If the Duchess of Bellas had already finished her business and left, I’d be in serious trouble.

“Huff, huff…”

Why did this damned mansion have to be so unnecessarily large? I cursed internally as I walked for what felt like ages.

Thankfully, it seemed the guest hadn’t left yet—voices could still be heard from the reception room.

“I’ve already told you everything I can do for you.”

That was Father’s voice.

“Please, Marquis Utel.”

A high-pitched woman’s voice—this must be the Duchess of Bellas.

From the sound of it, the duchess was making some sort of request, and Father was refusing.

I considered listening in a bit longer to grasp the situation, when something in the corner sparkled along with a small sound.

“What is it?”

I muttered, and a small popup appeared.

[SYSTEM: Acquire the necessary skill to overcome the situation!]

Oh.

Of course—it was the status window again. They never expected you to manage things empty-handed.

Following a white arrow, I opened the skill window, and a list far longer than the stat window appeared.

Most skills were grayed out and inactive, but those I could obtain immediately with skill points glowed in a soft gold.

[SKILL: Eavesdropping – Passive. Increases your ability to perceive conversations you are not participating in.]

What kind of petty skill is that…?

I couldn’t honestly say it was useless, but it wasn’t what I needed right now. Instead of eavesdropping, I needed a way to get to the Bellas estate.

[SKILL: Aegyo – A powerful weapon used on people who find you cute.]

……

I still remembered my adult life from my previous world, but my current sense of self was much closer to ten-year-old Rohesia Utel.

Wouldn’t this be useful on Father when asking permission to go out? Judging by how quests were handed out, I’d probably need to leave the house often to meet male leads.

I stared back and forth between the skill window and the words “Available Skill Points: 9” before lowering my gaze.

[SKILL: Deception – Hang it on the ear, and it’s an earring; hang it on the nose, and it’s a nose ring.]

This was even worse than Eavesdropping.

Weren’t I supposed to prevent the protagonists from corrupting? Why raise me to be a con artist instead?

As I looked at it suspiciously, the status window blinked insistently, as if urging me to hurry.

Ah.

I widened my eyes, focused, and hastily selected a skill.

Even in my next life, my “hurry hurry” mentality hadn’t gone anywhere.

After choosing the skill, I crouched in a secluded corner and strained my ears.

“There is no such thing as—!”

Father’s raised voice echoed out. In the brief moment I’d been selecting a skill, the adults’ conversation had grown heated.

“Anything—anything you want, I can give you! In this empire, the only thing I do not possess is—”

At that moment, I heard footsteps approaching the reception room. Glancing over, I saw Hieronymus, the head alchemist of the household.

I quickly hid behind a large rose planter by the door.

Thanks to my small size, Hieronymus didn’t notice me and knocked on the reception room door.

“Master. There is news from the Imperial Palace.”

Father immediately stepped out. After Hieronymus whispered something to him, Father replied in a noticeably colder tone.

“I will go at once.”

The tall man’s shadow stretched over the planter where I was hiding, then receded.

“Duchess Bellas, please excuse us for a moment.”

Hieronymus followed after him.

I waited, calming my pounding heart, and once the sounds of footsteps faded, I dashed into the reception room.