Everything was going perfectly.

Even the half-buried house for one person was the size of the bathroom of my previous home.

The fact that I had to work soon was also not an issue.

I've finally escaped from that hellish house and got my freedom. I could live happily from just that one thing.

But...

"I'm pretty sure I told you to live quietly like a mouse without making any fuss, so not even your breathing can be heard."

He opened his mouth.

His glare, filled with hatred, on me seemed as if he was looking at a hideous bug.

"I heard that you acted like a mad dog at the crown prince's ceremonial return banquet."

That icy, deadly glare that looked like it wanted to kick me to death, was familiar to me.

It was the icy gaze I always received at that house.

However, that didn't mean I was fine despite experiencing it a lot.

"What was your reason for acting like that?"

I couldn't breathe right at his aura. My lips started to tremble from fear.

It was then.

A white text box appeared in front of me.

I could see the words being written line by line.

1. How do I know?

2. I didn't have a purpose.

3. (With a pitiful tone of voice) Well...... Um\, that's...... .

'

..... What is this?'

I was going to ask what is was but, as if something was stuck in my throat, I couldn't let out a sound.

He threatened me when I only just stood there, saying nothing.

"You better speak."

I felt his deadly aura to the point it pained my skin. I'll die if I don't give him an answer.

I unconsciously selected number 3 in the white box.

"Well..... Um, that's..... ."

The same words in the box came out of my mouth involuntarily.

'What the. What's this?!'

My jaw dropped, baffled myself by what I just said.

I couldn't imagine what kind of situation I was in right now.

I was in an unfamiliar place when I woke up, and came to face these strangers who all held a deadly atmosphere.

I couldn't think a single thing as I just woke up.

"Well um that's, next."

He didn't seem to like the incomplete answer as he demanded from me the actual answer with a terrifying face.

It was then when the new sentences appeared in the box.

1. I'm sorry. I'll act appropriately next time.

2. A stupid maid was the one to start all this fuss.

3. Those lesser beings treated me lowly. Me\, who is the only daughter of Eckart.

I didn't have time to sit around thinking about what was going on right now.

I quickly picked an answer while considering the mood here.

Even though I know nothing, I must say something in this situation. This reaction was the result of my painful experience back then.

"I'm sor..... ."

"We wouldn't have met each other like this today in the first place if it was something that can be solved with a simple apology."

My line was cut right away.

My heart dropped to the bottom from the piercing tone of voice he used.

I curled my body instinctively. Then he spoke in an icy tone.

"Penelope Eckart."

'Penelope Eckart?'

"We'll withdraw our name 'Eckart' from you for some time."

The line and the name was very familiar.

I raised my head with lightning speed.

Then I could clearly see the face of the man I couldn't see well before.

The man who was some distance away from the bed was not one of the 'people of that house', but rather a foreigner who I 've never seen before.

The blue eyes that reflect the ocean, and the black hair that reminds me of obsidian,

Above him was a long bar that resembled a phone's battery sign, with the white word that sparkled inside it.

'In.... terest....?'

If my eyes are working fine, then the white sparkling words above the man's head definitely said 'interest'.

"Definitely no parties or banquet during that time, and you absolutely are not allowed to leave the room. Think over what you did wrong, and think of what you'd do from now on during... ."

"..... ."

"Where are you looking at?"

The man's emotionless face turned into a frown as if he was displeased with me staring at something else instead of paying attention.

However, I didn't react and only kept on checking the bar above the man's head.

(Interest 0%)

'No way..... .'

I shook my head couple of times without me realizing.

It was truly unbelievable.

Realy, truly.

"The rumors that said you went insane were true."

He glared at me for a moment from my weird actions before turning away from me.

With long and fast steps, he walked through the door as if he didn't want to stay in the same place with me a second more. (Interest 0%) was moving away from me.

'What did I do wrong?'

It was the time I started thinking about what is going on while staring at the back of the leaving figure.

I felt someone's eyes on me with the aura seeming to mock me with a smirk.

I turned my head to see another person with pink hair, standing with his arms crossed in the shadow by the door.

He had the same blue eyes as the person who just left. His face held a smile that seemed to humiliate.

(Interest -10%)

The white word sparked above the boy's figure.

It's even in the negative.

"Stupid brat. Serves you right."

Unlike his pretty face, he said some nasty words and left the room following the previous man.

Thud-! The door slammed shut.

Being the only one in the room, I stayed seated while drawing a blank for a while.

I wasn't thinking right and I still couldn't figure out the situation I was currently in.

Thinking a bit, I realized that the [lace I was in and the two men I just saw were both somewhat familiar to me.

"It's a lie, right.....?"

I could finally speak when I wanted to when I was alone.

But I didn't have time to realize that.

I couldn't believe this. This is not something that happens to me everyday.

"There's no way though."

It couldn't be that scene in the game I was playing before falling asleep. It was replaying like it was real.

And now with me as one of the characters in the game.

"I'm dreaming right now."

There couldn't be any other explanation for this besides that.

But no matter how much I pulled my hair and pinched my cheeks. I still couldn't wake up from this dream.

"N, no..... No, no! No! I say no-!"

Penelope Eckart

She was the villainous of the most popular game for girls these days, and the heroine of the hard mode difficulty.

Me, who wanted to try the game, was now drowning in it.

Reaching the ending was easy even though it was the first time playing these games.

I agree, it was fan. However, normal mode was way too easy even for a beginner like me.

From the start, all the male characters interests towards the heroine started with 30%.

It was to the point it could be called easy mode, not normal mode.

I saw every character's ending within three hours.

Then a card popped on the screen which said 'Hidden Ending' with a drawn lock on it.

"A hu-- hundred dollars?! Are they crazy? Why is it so expensive?"

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

"S***... It's already midnight though."

I thought about the early morning class. However, that didn't last long.

"Ahh, whatever! Let's finish it!"

I was insane, being controlled by the game like that. I wouldn't have done anything like this before.

Excitedly, my finger clicked on the hard mode button.

A different video played for the prologue, the time was a grand BGM.

"Ooh, the protagonist changed to her."

The protagonist unexpectedly changed in this mode.

She was the villainous of the normal mode, the fake young lady of the duke family.

The story was set before the heroine appeared in the normal mode so it felt like a completely different game and story.

"Maybe this is why the game is so popular."

The appearance of the hard mode protagonist's detailed illustration on my screen woke me up for good.

The unique game system wasn't like any other. This made me more interested in the app.

The villainess who was evil to the angelic heroine was now the one who was winning the hearts of the strict love-guarded male leads now.

It gave me the excitement and thrill that I couldn't quite explain.

I proceeded to the main story of hard mode. I was overly confident about it since I finished all the normal mode routes.

Even though it was called hard mode, I expected the choices would be just a bit more difficult and that's all.

However, that was just a bad guess.

"Ack! Ack! Why did I die again!?"

Hard mode was extremely difficult.

The protagonist who was the villainess in the first place. It was set so that raised the character's interest was freaking hard.

It wasn't only that.

The interest raised with my hard work all dropped to 0% until it was 'game over' after just one mistake.

Not just a normal game over, but a very disturbing 'death' of the protagonist.

"Why did it have to be so extreme?"

The illustration was so realistic and cruel.

I frowned at the illustration of the protagonist getting sliced on the neck by the crown prince.

"This crazy game..."

I died several times due to the difficult choices I sincerely made in the game. Frustration filled my heart from this horrible system.

What was the producer thinking, making hard mode like this?

I died so many times that I started to feel stressed playing this.

"Please let me live once, please!"

My goal at first was to unlock the 'Hidden Ending', however that goal was forgotten long ago.

I needed to see this poor pitiful villainess not die and live happily with at least one of the male leads.

'What makes the villainess the guilty one? Honesty, it was the author who made her the villain!'

Unlike the heroine from the normal mmode who had received everyone's love no matter which choice I made, the villainess who was only abused and mistreated no matter how she begged for love reminded me of my life before.

"I'm seeing the endings to this no matter what."

I was killed again due to those bastard older brothers. The sound of my teeth grinding was heard in my room.

I don't remember how many times I died here now.

My two hands, which clenched my warm phone, trembled.

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

I started all over again, from the start.

I chose the lines, slowly raised their interest, and received fame, glamour and money to open up the new route.

"Ack! Why!? Why!?"

But I died again.

I was annoyed to the point that I thought of just buying the interest using money.

If the producer's goal was to make others pay for the damn thing, they greatly succeeded.

Since they made me, who treasures money like no one else, want to use my money for this.

I didn't end up using my money 'till the end, but the whole night I was on fire to see the ending of at least one of the characters.

Die, start over.

Die, and start over again.

Die,

Die,

And die again,

I kept dying until sunrise.

However, I still wasn't able to see the ending of any of them.

"F***... Again..."

I, who almost pressed the reset button again, couldn't handle it anymore as I fainted from sleep with the phone in my hand.

And when I opened my eyes.

"Penelope Eckart."

Said the man with the blank bar and sparkling letters written 'Interest 0%' above him.

"We'll withdraw our name 'Eckart' from you for some time."

I was the villainess in a game which I never got to see the ending of.

"Lady. Wake up now."

I heard someone whispering above me.

Even though I was fast asleep, I was able to wake up even by the smallest presence of someone.

I refused to believe in what had happened to me which kept me awake all night, hoping that this was all just a dream. I wished so hard for me to wake up from it, and I think I fell asleep during the process of that.

"Lady."

The cautious voice was heard again.

'Is she calling me?'

The two men with blue eyes left already, and from what I remember, no one was in this room except me 'till the very last moment I was awake.

For that reason, the one who could be called a 'lady' was me alone.

"....... ."

I was drowsy when I was lost in thoughts that I couldn't answer the call right away.

I was somewhat awake from sleep now. I was about to put my strenght to my body to get myself up from the bed.

A lightning-like pain was felt on my forearm from outside the comforter.

"Ack!"

My eyes automatically flashed open.

I screamed as I got up from the spot, kicking the comforter away. Next, I pulled my sleeves up.

It was to check my pained forearm.

'Th, this..... .'

I was shocked to see the flesh shown under the light sky blue pajama sleeves, making my jaws drop.

The thin forearm was covered with blue bruised scars from the needles.

If it wasn't a human flesh but some kind of fabric, it would've had lots of visible holes on it.

It was when I was still shocked by the sight of a drop of blood on one of my forearm.

"You're awake now."

Unconerned casual voice come from beside the bed.

I turned my head towards the direction to see a brown hair girl with lots of freckled. She was a maid.

In the illuistrations, every maid had no faces drawn and all wore the same maid outfit.

Including the girl standing in front of me.

I don't know where she hid the needle she poked me with, but there was nothing in her hands.

She was observing me with the face pf mockery and some kind of satisfaction.

'What's up with her, doing this kind of thing to a person who was doing absolutely nothing!'

I opened my mouth in desire to snap at her.

".....!"

However, no words came out of my mouth no matter how hard I tried.

'Why isn't anything helping me out in this kind of situation? Damn it!'

When I only glared at her with no words said, the maid acted as if nothing happened.

"I've prepared the bathing water for you in the bathroom so go and wash yourself first, lady."

An evil smile was reflected on her face as she started to make the bed. She seemed to be used to doing this to this body.

I sat still, biting on my lower lip, but was forced to enter the bathroom due to the maid's push.

She told me she prepared the bathing water, but the only thing in the empty bathroom was a bucket filled with cold water.

It was freezing cold like ice water that it gave me goosebumps just by dipping my finger tip in.

'I didn't expect any service in helping me bathe in this, this is just too extreme.'

There was some stories about how the villainess got the worst ever treatment, but nothing explained something this specific.

I was once again, forced to realize from the overflowing feeling of reality.

That I've actually entered the game.

I pulled the sleeve to see the scar with dried blood covering it again, and when I did, I sort of teared up.

'What's this. Nothing like this was shown in this ga.... .'

Suddenly, an image popped up in my head as a reminder.

It was an illustration of the villainess with a open-shoulder dress.

Unlike the other illustrations that had not the smallest mistakes in it, on the illustration of the villainess had several small dots drawn on the one forearm.

'Nuts. I though those were actual birthmarks!'

If it weren't, then, maybe it was something important that would be mentioned in one of the stories I failed to unlock.... .

Who knew those were the traces proving all the abuses.

Though this was unbelievable, I was once again surprised of how detailed the story was plotted.

"Lady. Breakfast had been prepared. Are you done yet?"

The maid urged from the other side of the bathroom door.

'Ugh, says her who isn't a match for me.'

I felt annoyed but with no choice, I dipped my hand into the freezing cold water again.

To me who suffered worse for years from my step brother basterds, this was not even tickling.

I was the villainess anyways, so while I was at it, I wanted to make the needle marks on that bitch as she did to me but I had to give it more time for me to investigate everything first.

But unfortunately, I was in a state where I couldn't even speak freely of what I wanted to speak.

The moment I stepped out of the bathroom, drying my face with the towel, I could see the table all set with some food on it like the maid had said.

Seemed like I even had to eat my meal in the room. Probably because I was grounded by the first son of the duke.

"Take a seat, lady."

I was pulled by the maid's hand and sat on the seat of the table. As soon as I did though, I couldn't do anything but to frown.

The food prepared as a meal for a human didn't look edible at all.

On the plate was a piece of blue moldy bread and on the bowl was a kind of thick grey soup with undefined solids floating around.

"Hurry up and eat. I know you're hungry."

The maid smiled widely as she urged me to eat. I clenched my teeth and glared at her.

A white square screen popped into view right in front of my eyes.

(Flipping the table) What's this? You crazy?! Bring me the chef right now! Right now!

(Shove the fork into the maid's mouth) You tell me to eat these that's not even the dogs would eat? Then how about you do it first!

(Eat)

I've experienced the 'game over' twice at this scene.

When I chose 1, every one of the workers ran to the duke acted pitiful and poor to confess the villainess' troublesome actions.

The son who grounded the villainess hears about this and grows so furious that he prohibited anyone offering a single drop of water to me during the grounded days.

So I died in hunger.

On my next turn, I chose 2.

The the son of the duke who was just coincidentally passing by, jumped in to get the villainess off of the maid.

During the process, the villainess who was pushed roughly fell, and the fork which fell on her afterwards stabbed her neck.

It was really a ridiculous way to die.

'In the end, there's only one to choose.'

This scene is probably the episode which held the story about the relationships between the villainess who became the heroine and the workers here who worked in the mansion for a long time.

However, me who didn't want to see the scene where the heroine is mistreated from the start, just skipped the episode to the next one after dying twice.

It was because there were tens of episodes I had to unlock anyways even if it weren't this one.

Right now though, in front of my eyes, there were no 'Return' buttons that would take me to the page that enabled to choose the episodes from.

'Damn....... .'

I sorrowfully glared at the maid standing next to me as I powerlessly clicked the number 3.

Once I did, as if someone was controlling me body, I started to move automatically without my wills.

My hands held onto the spoon and scooped up a spoonful of rotten soup.

My wills of me not wanting to eat this may have affected my movements as my hands with the spoon started to tremble on its way to my mouth.

The drops of grey liquid fell on the table.

No matter how strong my wills were, I couldn't stop my body from moving on its own.

In the end, the spoon with the soup was shoved into my mouth forcefully opened mouth.

"Ugh."

The warm sensation of the grey liquid was felt on my tongue. At the same time, the horrible taste of it was sensed.

This wasn't food. It was the taste of the boiled cup of organic garbage.

My body continued to act on its own as it forcefully gulped down the garbage water which had entered my mouth, down my throat.

"Gasp!"

The maid who watched, gasped, as if she didn't expect me to really eat it.

'Urgh, I feel like I'm gonna vomit!'

I gagged. I was trying so hard to forget the feeling I was currently feeling.

'I'm guessing that once is enough.'

I wouldn't die just by consuming a spoonful of organic garbage.

I let out a sigh of relief since I've safely got over an episode.

It was my misunderstanding.

My hand which held the spoon didn't stop.

'What's it doing! What's-!'

Even afterwards, I had to keen on shoving the moldy blue bread and the grey soup in my mouth.

It was not due to my wills.

The maid's face paled at the sight of me forcefully eat the overdued foods.

My body which repeated those crazy motions came to a stop when the duke's son happened to come in.

"What're you doing?"

"Y, young master Reynold!"

The maid came to panic at the sudden appearance of a figure.

"Urgh, ugh!"

Me, on the other hand, didn't have the time to focus on that. I had to cover my mouth with both my hands so fast.

I gagged so much. I felt as if everything I've consumed today was going to come flooding out any moment now.

'Why do I have to experience these things?'

I've already experienced these things enough even before entering the same.

How many times do I have to suffer all the pains given by the two bastards in the hell-like house.

But I have to experience these things over again even in this fictional world?

"Uhh, ugh..... ."

A strand of saliva escaped my mouth, out through my palms.

I felt myself tearing up due to this unfair situation and the disgust.

I groaned like a person who just drank poison. Seeing that, the pink hair approached me with a shocked expression on his face.

"Hey, are you oka.... ."

He stopped in his words. He froze still with much shock shown on his face as he looked at what was set on the table.

"This.... ."

Moldy blue bread, rotten soup.

It was a mess. No one would be able to guess that this was served to a lady from the duke family. Not even the commoners would eat these garbage for breakfast.

The sight of the half of these foods gone and his pale younger step sister covering her mouth.

The face of the pink hair who turned his face to look back at the maid. changed to a horrifying frown.

"Hey, what did you just feed her?"

"Y, young master!" Th, this is, well.... ."

The maid turned pale at the deathly aura and started to shiver in fear.

'He obviously wouldn't have guessed.'

How would an extra who was just passing by, have guessed that the fake lady who was always making a fuss of one or another would be eating the rotten food, purposely prepared, without any complaints.

The pink hair snapped at the maid who wouldn't properly answer.

"This is more than enough humiliating to dare mock our family! A mere maid like you, doing these things to the one she's serving....!"

"Young master! That, that's a misunderstanding! Young master!"

"Get lost! Scram from this room!"

"Y, young master!"

"I'll kindly explain this whole thing to my father and brother. Is there someone out there? Butler!"