CH : 1

 The story of an orphan adopted into a wealthy noble family.

What a romantic setting, especially for a girl.

If it were a novel or television drama she would be the heroine of her own Cinderella story.

The reality was nothing like the stories. Real life isn't a novel or a drama.

When my mother died my estranged father, a wealthy businessman, adopted me.

For the crime of suddenly appearing in their lives, my two older half-brothers bullied and harassed me from day one.

They were cruel.

They insulted me and even pulled pranks with my food.

My half-brothers' torment became my new normal.

Any hope of reprieve at school was quickly dashed.

They made my school life miserable.

They made me "target number 1" for the school bullies.

The biggest bully was my second half-brother, the younger of the two.

He wasn't much older than me and we spent one year of school together.

Even after he graduated the bullying only got worse.

That's how it always seemed to go.

If ever anything changed, it always changed for the worse, never better.

It didn't help that Father's wife died from an illness.

Her death hung heavy on my brothers. Even though she died long before I was born those insane bastards blamed the young me as if I were the one who killed their mother.

Their torment was so relentless I almost began to believe I really was the one responsible for their mother's death.

Though I lived in luxury, I felt every part of the beggar in my own home.

Living with my mother in a one-room apartment or a future in an orphanage, either would have been better than the life I had with my father and brothers.

I lost a noticeable amount of weight and it seemed that with each pound lost I gained scars and bruises, as if to replace the missing weight.

The man who called himself my father, who brought me into that house, didn't even care.

He didn't give a damn about anything they did.

Why did you bring me here if all of you were going to be like that?

Just send me to the orphanage already!

I would often think to myself.

And when I did lash out with anger or complaints, they meant nothing to anyone.

For someone like me, who lived in poverty with a single mother, it was best to just give up.

I would only regret it if I resorted to begging for love and affection from people who treated me worse than a wild animal.

I wanted to leave, but I didn't have a single dollar of my own and no place to stay if I left.

So I studied hard until I graduated.

It paid off when I was accepted to a prestigious university.

It wasn't because I wanted to be recognized by those bastards.

I worked hard to get into a prestigious university just so I could have a reason to move out and escape that hellish family.

The day I received my acceptance letter I ran to my father with a bright smile for the first time in my life.

"Father! Look! I was accepted! I was accepted!" I nearly shouted with joy.

"So? Spit out the reason you came to me." He responded gruffly.

He didn't have a single word of congratulations.

I didn't really care, though, since I didn't expect anything from him.

"I want your approval to live on my own. I want to live close to the university; it will help me to succeed. You can at least do this much for me, right?"

Father frowned at this unexpected request.

I couldn't help but wonder why.

Isn't this beneficial for them, too?

The child they all hate so much tells them she'll leave on her own - how could they not be happy about this?

After a moment's pause the father continued.

"Alright. I approve."

My escape plan worked out smoothly!

There was only one problem.

Father left the job of finding a place for me to stay to the first asshole, my oldest half-brother, who was preparing to lead both the family and the family company as heir.

It's because of that miscalculation I get to live in this underground basement filled with dust and mold.

But if that was the price to pay for freedom, it was fine with me.

Nothing could make me unhappy after leaving that house.

I soon forgot about my depressing middle school and high school years.

At university I made many new friends And it was thanks to these friends I was introduced to that game.

"Lady's Love-Love Project? What the hell? That sounds so childish." I said.

It was an extremely popular phone game among my friends.

The illustrations and the title of the game were more than enough to know what kind of game it was, and it made me cringe.

I really wasn't that interested in playing it, but it was all my friends talked about at school.

Not wanting to be left out, I downloaded it just to check it out.

It was my day off from volunteering, so I had nothing else planned and plenty of time to play.

The game was divided into normal mode and hard mode.

I figured it made sense to do the normal mode first.

I clicked on the button for normal mode without hesitation.

I figured I could play a chapter or two and then go to bed.

The game started with a prologue video that introduced all of the characters.

"Lost during an accident 6 years ago, the youngest daughter of the ducal house comes back and regains her title as a Lady."

The story began with the innocent and pure female protagonist entering the stage with light, bright and happy background music.

I ignored the pretty illustrations; quality artwork wasn't anything special in games like this.

It was a classic Otome style game - you capture the hearts of the male characters by raising their interest or favorability in the heroine.

While you're at it, the heroine can also get rid of the villainess, raise her wealth, and raise her fame among the people.

At the end of the game you receive a love confession from the male character with the highest favorability.

The game was actually really fun.

The cringy-titled game that seemed so childish was actually good.

It had an intricate plot that was nicely planned-out and well written.

The game also had a lot of problem- solving so I didn't get bored.

The game system was quite advanced for a cellphone game.

Even though high quality illustrations aren't uncommon in games like these, I found myself drawn into it; it was clear the illustrator put their heart and soul into the artwork.

It also didn't hurt that the story matched my own circumstances with the heroine being the long-lost child of a wealthy household.

So in a way I was personally invested in the game.

Among the male capture targets there were the two older brothers of the heroine.

The main story was set within the ducal mansion.

The two brothers didn't welcome their younger sister who appeared out of nowhere, but instead they only bothered her.

Similar to what I went through.

I thought to myself. Though the treatment I received was as different as night and day compared to the heroine of the game.

Over time the brothers felt guilty for how they treated their sister.

Watching the protagonist captured their hearts little by little had me diving deep into the game. Me, who only wanted to try the game, found myself now drowning in it.

Even though it was my first time playing a game like this I reached the end easily.

I had to agree with my friends, it was fun.

But the normal mode was way too easy, even for a beginner like me.

From the start all of the male characters' favorability towards the heroine started at 30%.

At that point they may as well have called it easy mode instead of normal mode! I couldn't put the game down and saw every character's ending within three hours.

After beating all of the normal mode endings a box popped on the screen that said 'Hidden Ending' with a lock on it.

I clicked it.

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

To see the hidden ending, you needed to either pay a ridiculous price or finish the hard mode of each route.

"Shit..... It's already midnight though."

For a brief moment I thought about my early morning classes.

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

I had to be insane, controlled by a game like that. I never would have done something like that before.

I excitedly clicked on the hard mode button.

A different video played for the prologue.

Grand music began to play as the characters were introduced.

"Ooh, the protagonist changed to her."

The villainess from normal mode, the fake young lady of the ducal house brought in to replace the real daughter who went missing when she was young, now graced the screen.

The hard mode story was set during the time before the heroine appeared in normal mode.

It felt like a completely different story.

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

If I thought I was tired before, the appearance of the hard mode protagonist's detailed illustration on my screen woke me up for sure.

I only grew more and more interested.

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

It was exciting in a way I couldn't quite explain.

Since normal mode was so easy I thought, how hard could hardmode really be?

I expected the choices would be a bit more difficult and that was all.

How wrong I was!

"Ack! Ack! Why did I die again!?" Hard mode was extremely difficult.

The villainess's story was set up such that raising the capture targets' favorability was extremely hard.

It wasn't only that - the favorability raised would instantly drop to 0% and you would get a game over after just one mistake.

Game over wasn't just a normal game over, either. Every game over was a very disturbing death for the villainess-turned-protagonist.

"Why did it have to be so extreme?"

The illustrations were realistic and cruel. I frowned at the illustration of the protagonist losing her head by the crown prince's sword.

"This crazy game....."

Though I tried to sincerely make good choices, I still died several times.

I was so frustrated! What was the producer thinking making hard mode like this?

This was horrible game design! I died so many times I was getting stressed out.

"Please let me live for once, please!"

At first my goal was unlocking the hidden ending, but that goal was long forgotten and replaced with a new goal: to see the poor pitiful villainess not die and live a happy life with at least one of the male leads.

What makes the villainess the guilty one?

She looked so evil in normal mode, but if you look at it from her perspective, she didn't really do much wrong.

Why is everyone treating her like this?

Honestly, it was the author who made her the villain!

The heroine in the normal mode earns everyone's love too easily.

No matter what choice I made favorability went up.

On the other hand, the abused and mistreated villainess only became more miserable, no matter how much she begged for affection.

Her circumstances reminded me of my life before.

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

I was killed again by those bastard older brothers.

My grinding teeth could be heard throughout the room.

I died so many times I couldn't even remember!

My hands trembled, clenching my warm phone.

I was getting too emotional.

It's just a game.

But I couldn't stop myself from pressing the reset button again and again.

With each reset I started again from the beginning.

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

"Ack! Why!? Why!?" I died again.

It was so annoying.

I might be better off just buying the favorability using real money.

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

They even made me, a person who values money like no one else, want to buy favorability and the hidden ending.

In the end I did not use my own money.

But I was on fire all night playing to see the ending with at least one of the capture targets.

Die, start over.

Die, and start over again.

Die,

Die,

And die again.

I kept dying until sunrise. I played all night but I was never able to see the ending for any of the routes. "Fuck..... Again....."

I almost pressed the reset button, but I just couldn't handle it anymore.

I was exhausted.

I fainted and fell asleep with my phone still in my hand.

When I opened my eyes next a man addressed me.

"Penelope Eckart." The man stood before me.

There was a long empty bar that resembled a phone's battery bar with a white word that sparkled inside of it - Favorability 0%.

"As punishment, we'll withdraw our name, 'Eckart', from you for some time."

I was the villainess in a game I could never beat.

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