Chapter 1. I'm screwed! (1)
Chapter 1. I'm screwed! (1)
A friend of mine made an adult game.
Actually, if I had to be precise, it wasn't really an "adult game."
The game screen just looked like a map of a fantasy world, and the gameplay was similar to a historical simulator from overseas. It just had a "Scenario Mode" centered on the protagonist, the "Hero," and a "Free Mode" where you could pick one of the characters in the game.
Come to think of it, my friend had compromised with reality in his own way. Since "adult games" are openly illegal in Korea, it was an appropriate method to let the player know what happened through slight descriptions without showing it explicitly.
For example, in this game, you could imprison specific characters that appeared in the story through methods like war, prisoner exchange, or kidnapping.
And you could even have children with those characters—since it was a fantasy world with a Hero and a Demon King, the process didn't just end with a simple "relationship between people."
"......Hey."
While playing in "Scenario Mode," I discovered one strange thing and asked my friend.
"How do you save the Saintess in this?"
"You can't."
"What?"
"Isn't NTR a staple in adult games?"
"......."
That was it. In the Hero's "Scenario Mode," the Saintess is always kidnapped.
And she becomes a being that gives birth to monsters. This was the very first problem the Hero had to solve at the start of the scenario.
Wandering around without a territory, gathering a "party," recruiting volunteers, receiving support from the kingdom, and somehow storming the enemy lines to complete the rescue of the Saintess—
[......Please, end my life. Hero....... Please, have mercy.]
That kind of event pops up.
It was a strategy game, and even though it proceeded from the Hero's perspective, most of the dialogue appeared in this "event" format, so there was almost no room for emotional involvement. Even so, that event was quite unpleasant. Detailed text descriptions that were just barely legal appeared frequently, too.
The Saintess herself wasn't explicitly described in terms of what exactly was done to her, but events would pop up rescuing others in similar situations on the way to her, and the fact that the descriptions within those were borderline "adult game" content was my friend's selling point.
I just quit Scenario Mode at that point. I figured it would be better to be the "one doing it" rather than the "one having it done to them."
The character I chose after ditching Scenario Mode and picking "Free Mode" was "Rosalyn von Artena"—
The young master of the duchy that shared a border with the kingdom where the Hero originated.
The villain who succeeds in kidnapping the Saintess early in the scenario, the opponent the Hero must defeat first, and the pawn of the demons who sold her soul to the Demon King—
That's right. It was me, right now.
"......."
A room dimmed by drawn curtains.
A room decorated to the brim with red and black, in what is commonly called "Goth-Loli" style, as if she were suffering from princess syndrome or slowly turning into a landmine.
Even the clothes I was wearing to sleep were a black dress with frills everywhere, and even the teddy bear I was hugging was made of black and red. This girl, who looked like she had just hit the peak of chuunibyou, was 15 years old this year.
In the game, she was just turned twenty, so this was about five years before that game.
Rosalyn von Artena, Herzogin von Artena, Gräfin von Goldfeld und Eisenforge, Großmeister des Blutrosenordens, Durchlaucht.
Her Excellency Rosalyn von Artena, master of the Artena Duchy, Countess of Goldfeld and Eisenforge, and Grandmaster of the Blutrosenorden.
That was my name.
I had lost my father just yesterday, cried my eyes out in shock, fainted, and—woke up only when it was midday today.
The first villain of the Scenario Mode who kidnaps and trains the Hero's lover, the Saintess, and creates a "legion" by "grafting" her with various monsters.
Thanks to that, she was a villain for whom an event of being "torn to shreds by the enraged Hero" would pop up, even in a strategy game where character emotional descriptions were extremely restrained.
A wicked woman who smeared the name of her father, a saintly ruler, and as a pawn of the corrupted Empire, ravaged the kingdom to the point that no one in the story pitied her even at the moment of her death.
"......."
I stared at the ceiling with my mouth hanging open, then muttered blankly.
"I'm screwed."
Why is my tone like this?
*
Okay.
Let's stay calm.
Actually, being born into this role in this world meant I was already screwed, and I didn't know if staying calm would change anything significant—but at least I could try to do something about the people around me.
It's still salvageable.
I had been scratching everyone's nerves with a nasty tone of voice since I was born, but because I had my father as a brake, I hadn't actually killed anyone.
Because it was said that in the game, Rosalyn—no, "I"—would go on a rampage only after my father, the Duke of Artena, died.
There is someone behind the death of the Duke of Artena. Of course, I hadn't seen the "ending" of the game, so I didn't know that far. In fact, the game itself was a one-man indie production, and it was an early build that wasn't even pre-alpha, so I couldn't have seen it even if I wanted to. I had just participated as a kind of tester at my friend's request.
A Western-style grand strategy game set in a Japanese anime-style world. That was the picture my friend wanted.
"......Okay."
I took a deep breath and spread out a piece of paper in front of me. Then I picked up a quill and started drawing.
The world map as best as I could remember. And the territories on it. I noted down every single resource scattered here and there, and the figures who ruled those territories.
Naturally, I wrote in Korean. Even if someone saw it, it would probably just look like some meaningless scribbles drawn by an ignorant young lady who didn't know any better.
It was only when I finished the drawing that two problems came to mind.
First. This place is not the background of the "game." It is "5 years before" that. If so, I have no way of knowing if these resources will exist in a similar way five years from now. Granaries or iron ore mines wouldn't change, but the "Magic Stones," an important resource that starts appearing as the Demon King moves, would almost certainly not exist at this point.
Since it's a resource that appears as "magic encroaches on this world," if the Demon King's movement location changes, those locations would all be wrong too.
"......Still, the major resources should remain the same. Next."
Second.
I am Rosalyn.
That's right. The daughter of a father who, although a saintly ruler, was too soft on his daughter. Whenever I tried to do something truly serious, my father would stop me, but I was still a wicked woman who consistently spoke rudely and acted atrociously toward the important figures in this territory.
Actually, when I selected Rosalyn in Free Mode, all the relationship maps within the territory were in red text. Not only was the happiness of the vassals, subordinate nobles, and the people of the territory low, but the State Church didn't even dispatch any clergy. This was because Rosalyn was suspected of murdering a parish deputy who was quite famous for his good deeds within the duchy.
And that is also the reason why Rosalyn becomes a pawn of the Demon King.
Because without that kind of power, she couldn't control everything within the territory.
Unlike a typical grand strategy game where you operate while maintaining relationships between characters, the way Rosalyn operated was through "fear" and "submission." She suppressed the dissatisfaction within the duchy solely with force and honed her magic to go out to the battlefield and fight herself.
You could say she was the first executive of the Demon King that the Hero meets.
"......."
That's right.
Even though it hadn't really started yet, I could think of over ten nobles who would want to strangle me just from the memories in my head. And I could think of even more servants who wanted to slit my throat.
"I'm ruined......."
Because my head was muddled from regaining my past life's memories due to the shock a moment ago, I couldn't recall it immediately, but in that game, Rosalyn used a very vicious, polite tone. Of course, she almost never used words like "sawayo."
However, you can find out if you select Rosalyn in Free Mode within the game.
Rosalyn used a speech pattern ending in "sawayo" when speaking to the Demon King. That was Rosalyn's unique tone when sending letters to the Demon King.
When I was playing the game, I just thought it was a flattering tone.
......This, it was just the tone Rosalyn used when she was terrified.
It was a tone I hadn't used even once in this life.
Was it just because there was no one to be afraid of!
I was groaning while clutching my head when, knock knock. I heard a knock on the door and flinched, my shoulders trembling.
[Your Excellency, Duke of Artena.]
The voice heard from beyond the door was such a grand title.
Naturally, it meant me.
Until yesterday, my father was "Your Excellency, Duke of Artena."
Rosalyn von Artena, Herzogin von Artena, Gräfin von Goldfeld und Eisenforge, and Grandmaster of the Blutrosenorden.
Starting today, I had ascended to that position.
"Ha, haha......."
What would I have thought if I hadn't realized the memories of my past life?
It probably wouldn't have been very different from now. Though, I wouldn't have realized the reality at all.
I would have just been thrashing about on the bed, shouting, "I can't do it!"
To be honest, that's what I'm like right now, too.
"......."
But I can't just sit still.
Now that I know, I have to avoid it.
At the very least, I must avoid having my throat slit by the Hero.
I cleared my throat as much as I could and answered.
"Come in."
At my answer, the door opened cautiously.
And the maid who entered through that door—
Was the niece of the "Parish Deputy" priest whose throat I would cut in the future.
"Hick."
"......?"
Seeing me terrified all by myself the moment we made eye contact, the maid blinked.