TVMF 5

Chapter: 5

[SYSTEM: Main Quest “First Encounter” has been completed!]

[QUEST: Rewards +500 EXP, +5 Coins, Penalty ‘Death of the Pale Poison Rose’ removed]

[QUEST: A new quest has begun.]

[QUEST: Complete the sub-quest and reduce the male lead ‘Adrian’’s corruption rate to 70% within 7 days.]

[QUEST: Failure Penalty: ‘The petals of the poison rose fall eight times’]

…Excuse me?

I expected to be given another quest, but the vicious-sounding penalty name made my skin crawl.

I blocked the poisoning route, and now what? Something of someone’s is falling eight times?

This sounds an awful lot like I’m going to be chopped into eight pieces and die.

Considering the original novel’s level of brutality, it wasn’t an impossible future.

And given Adrian’s strength after he grows up, he really could snap my limbs off one by one like plucking petals.

If anything, being poisoned was a relatively gentle death for the villainess Rohesia, considering her crimes. But still…!

‘Damn it, you insane administrator. That penalty is way too harsh.’

As I swallowed back tears, Adrian’s status window appeared before me.

[Status Window – Adrian J. Bellas]

Title: A Bound Beast
State: Extreme Rage
Charm: C
Reputation: B
Affection: -10
Sociability: 10
Corruption Rate: ?

It seemed Adrian’s rage gauge had hit its maximum while he was locked up. And then…

[You may use a coin to check the corruption rate.]

‘Ha…’

This is where I should use a coin.

[SYSTEM: Use 1 coin to check corruption rate?]
[Yes]

[Adrian’s corruption rate: 89]

Eighty-nine… 89. Hahaha.

Male leads aren’t born crazy.

But after meeting Lexia, they stomp on the accelerator straight toward madness.

So whatever happened during their growth, by the time the novel begins, they’re clearly all already at the stage where the slightest push sends them into corruption.

[SYSTEM: For safe progression, all characters’ corruption rates must be reduced below 50%.]

[SYSTEM: If even one character reaches 100% corruption, you will enter a Bad Ending.]

[SYSTEM: Increasing individual stats such as morality or sociability can suppress corruption.]

…So that’s how it works.

Just like Erden’s status window had “Morality,” Adrian’s personal stat was “Sociability.”

The other male lead, Nathaniel, probably has a different personal stat of his own.

Raise those individual stats, and the corruption rate goes down.

My job was to lower these bastards’ corruption rates before Lexia ever appeared.

In a novel destined for a massacre ending, that was the only path to survival.

I’d endure while respecting their personalities, then bolt from the capital the moment Lexia showed up.

‘Then I can live a peaceful life completely unrelated to this insane novel.’

Adrian was a high-risk individual.

In the original story, he escaped this storage room at a young age and slaughtered everyone involved in his confinement, including his adoptive mother, Melisandra.

After that, he inherited the ducal title and became one of the novel’s main pillars—a dangerous yet alluring male lead.

I hadn’t checked the other male leads’ corruption rates yet, but even so, it was easy to guess that Adrian’s would be the highest at this point.

He was a child pushed to the brink of killing someone.

Thinking that way made me feel a bit sorry for him.

For the sake of Adrian’s bright future and healthy love life—currently nothing more than that of an innocent child—I had to work hard to raise his sociability and lower his corruption rate.

Of course, the biggest reason was my own survival.

‘Low sociability isn’t even a flaw for a romance-fantasy male lead!’

I felt like crying, but until Lexia arrived, I’d have to take charge of this guy’s socialization.

If it meant staying alive, what couldn’t I do?

“Utel?”

“Yeah, you’ve heard of Utel the alchemist, right? I came from that household. You’re Adrian, aren’t you?”

Even in this desperate situation, I managed a fairly bright voice and smooth speech. Was this the effect of my con artist skill?

“…How do you know my name?”

Damn it. I screwed up.

I hadn’t even introduced myself, and I’d called him by name—of course he’d be suspicious. What excuse could sound natural?

“Haha. Well… you’re famous, you know? The Bellas family’s one and only son!”

Even your status window proves your reputation! A solid B rank—higher than Erden’s!

But it seemed I’d overreached.

“……”

[SYSTEM: Skill trait did not activate.]

Ah, why?!

[SYSTEM: The target finds your words absurd.]

As if confirming the system message, Adrian’s bony hand tightened around my neck. Gah…!

“Sorry. Actually, Lady Bellas told me. She said you wouldn’t listen and got locked up down here.”

I hurriedly offered another excuse, but the situation didn’t improve at all.

After a brief moment of confusion, Adrian’s aura sharpened again.

“Then did that woman send you down here?”

“That’s—!”

“To mock me? Or did she order you to humiliate me too?”

From Adrian’s perspective, it made sense.

In a mansion where the lady of the house had enough influence to imprison the duke’s heir, there was no other reason he could imagine for my visit.

“Get out. Before I kill you.”

“Ghk!”

“If Utel’s daughter dies, the one who’ll suffer is Melisandra. Not me.”

For someone already nearing a 90% corruption rate, his potential was truly something else.

His unnaturally warm fingers wrapped easily around my neck and pressed down.

‘What a lunatic…’

But the strength was just slightly lacking for killing someone.

It wasn’t the merciless grip he’d used when he mistook me for Melisandra. If I surrendered, I could probably break free at any moment.

Feeling that insufficient force, I realized something: if his corruption rate hit 100%, I wouldn’t be able to expect even this much mercy.

At that point, Adrian would kill without hesitation—and the biggest victim would eventually be me.

If I backed off now, saying “Sorry, I’ll leave!”, my ending would be that eight-petals-whatever death.

So at this earliest moment when I could intervene, I had to stop him.

“Adrian. Adrian.”

As I called out desperately, my voice came out thin under the pressure.

“Just a second… cough. Please listen to me. I—”

His grip loosened slightly. I didn’t miss the chance.

“I came to help you.”

“…Ha.”

His large hand slowly withdrew. But rather than feeling relieved, Adrian seemed even more miserable at my words.

“I’ll let you say one last thing. Hurry up with your nonsense and get out.”

‘I need to see his face.’

There was no way to have a trustworthy conversation without even seeing each other’s faces. The basement he was locked in was pitch-black, without a single ray of light.

Was there anything that could help?

As I thought through the items I carried, an idea struck me.

‘Coins.’

Squinting, I scanned the faintly glowing system window in the darkness. I spotted the “Coin Shop” and activated it. As expected, a variety of items appeared.

There was no time to browse carefully. Skimming past imperial currency, shiny-looking items, and voucher-like things, I searched for something that could act as a light source.

‘Found it.’

[Mana Luminescent Orb]

[A fragment of condensed mana light. It gradually dims over time and disappears after about 3 days.
Cost: 0.5 coin]

There were decimal prices too?

I only had 1 coin left, but in a pinch, I bought two orbs.

[Purchase successful.]

When I selected “Yes” to materialize them immediately, two softly glowing spheres tinged with pale gold appeared in midair.

Warm light illuminated the space between us.

Indeed, the face of a future romance-fantasy male lead. Even the long shadows of the bars couldn’t erase his beauty.

The boy’s face was strikingly handsome—but extremely gaunt.

“…!”

“Don’t be startled. This is, um… kind of like my emergency light.”

Adrian froze, glaring with his eyes at the sudden light.

Those blue eyes landed on my hair.

‘Ah.’

Red. Vivid and flamboyant.

Melisandra didn’t openly dye it, but she clearly favored red adornments. Worried I might remind him of her, I pushed my hair back unnecessarily.

“I wanted to talk face to face.”

First rule: smile. They say you can’t spit at a smiling face.

Since my opponent was Adrian Bellas, I didn’t expect much—but surprisingly, it worked.

—Ding!

[SYSTEM: Due to the effect of Lv.3 ‘Con Artist Skill,’ ‘A Face So Slick Even Flies Slip’ is activated.]

[‘Charm’ stat temporarily increases by one level.]

[Your shamelessly calm expression gives the target a faint sense of favorability.]

I had to admit—it was a surprisingly useful skill.

‘Past me, you did great!’

After mentally patting my self from two hours ago on the head, I calmly began fabricating a plausible narrative.

“I thought it was strange. No matter what a child does, locking them in a basement… that’s not something parents should do.”

“……”

“I’m glad I came to see you. Now that I’ve seen you myself, I really think the lady went too far.”

Adrian didn’t deny that he’d done nothing wrong. Instead, thick hatred filled his blue eyes.

“I want you to come outside. If Lady Bellas doesn’t change her mind, I’ll help you.”

I added a smile to my gentle expression.

The boy, who’d been as still as a frozen lake, let out a short laugh. His meaning was obvious: And how exactly would you do that?

“Done talking?”

“Y-Yeah…”

“If you’re done, then get lost.”

“O-Okay.”

To buy some time, I checked the new quest I’d received earlier.

Under the entry labeled ‘Sub Quest’, this was written: