Chapter 2
…Alright, to be honest, I had underestimated this game.
Even though I had suddenly woken up inside it.
And the game was far from simple.
Just as I was about to answer, “Come in,” a set of choices suddenly appeared in front of me.
▶ How dare you wake me from my sleep? I should rip out your tongue.
▶ You decide. Should your wrist be cut off, or your tongue?
What kind of options are these?!
“Wake me up? I’ve been awake this whole time!”
And saying something like that to a maid? It was a completely unreasonable accusation.
“Can’t I just give a normal morning greeting?”
I opened my lips to say something else.
But it felt like my throat was blocked—no voice came out.
“…?!”
After several attempts to force a sound from my clogged throat, I ended up grabbing my hair with both hands.
What is this?! Does that mean I have to choose one of these options?
Either choice would make me sound insane.
I stared at the options in despair.
Then another knock came from outside.
“Princess, you must wake up.”
So clueless! If there’s no answer, just assume I’m asleep!
I wanted to shout that.
But no sound came from my throat.
And while I hesitated, the options changed.
Ah… do they disappear if time passes?
…Nope.
Fake.
The choices were upgraded.
Unfortunately, in the worst way possible.
▶ Guards! Cut off this woman’s head and bring it to me!
▶ It’s been a while since I personally demonstrated the taste of a whip.
Aaaagh!
Why are the options like this?!
Now I had only two choices.
Either someone else kills her, or I hurt her myself.
If I tell them to bring her head… that means I’d have to see it, right?
And whipping?
Suddenly the genre felt like it changed from romance fantasy to psycho horror.
Just choose quickly! Even worse options might appear!
I stared intensely at the choices.
“…Ugh.”
But no matter how serious I tried to be, it was impossible.
How was I supposed to pick between those two?!
I don’t even know what a whip looks like.
Could I even swing it?
What if I tried and ended up falling down awkwardly?
No, that can’t happen! A villainess tripping while swinging a whip? That’s not villainess-like!
And when you break character, you’re erased from existence.
Aaagh! Getting erased because I can’t use a whip?! What kind of ridiculous survival game logic is that?!
While I was struggling with this life-or-death dilemma, the maid called out again.
“Princess—”
No!
At this rate an even worse option would appear!
In a hurry, I finally chose.
Of course I couldn’t order her head to be cut off.
So I chose the second option.
And as a result—
On a refreshing morning, I whipped a maid I had never met five times.
Nooo! My body is moving on its own!
Regardless of my internal screams, the whip lashed out like a snake, tearing into the woman’s back.
Crack!
Crack!
Screaming, the woman soon fainted.
Her back was torn open as she was dragged away.
Watching her disappearing figure, I bit my lip until it bled.
This game…
was no joke.
* * *
Because of Princess Sienna’s rampage early that morning, the entire imperial palace was buzzing with talk about her.
Whenever maids gathered in groups of two or more, they whispered about her.
“Princess Sienna whipped another maid half to death.”
“What if they assign me to serve Princess Sienna?”
“During roll call, never lift your head. If you make eye contact with the head maid, you’re finished.”
For the maids, their lives were at stake, so their fear was natural.
And their whispers reached the ears of a young knight waiting to have an audience with the Emperor.
He was Princess Sienna’s fiancé.
Daniel Bohanan.
That woman again.
Daniel clenched his fist.
Sienna Riata.
A venomous beauty with blood-red hair and pale green eyes.
But anyone who exchanged even a few words with her would realize she was simply a cruel fiancée whose very existence caused stress.
She must have forced this engagement just to torment me.
Sienna had a terrible personality, but her deadly charm had earned her quite a number of followers.
Some fools even wished she would rule like a queen.
With those supporters, she could have easily lived comfortably while reigning over them.
So why choose someone who clearly hated her?
She pressured His Majesty the Emperor into forcing this engagement.
And afterward?
She acted like she didn’t care at all, constantly postponing talk of the wedding.
As if her only goal had been to tie a rope around Daniel’s neck.
What a disgusting woman.
Just as Daniel’s nails dug into his palm—
A cold, rigid voice called out to him.
“What are you doing there?”
Just hearing it made his nerves tighten.
Daniel turned with an awkward smile.
“My apologies, Your Grace.”
Standing there was a man with a cold expression.
Among his golden curls, crimson eyes like blood stared at Daniel without emotion.
Red eyes…
The color red stirred unpleasant feelings within Daniel again.
He shook his head slightly to shake off the spreading emotion.
What am I thinking with Duke Stuart right in front of me?
All of this was because of Sienna Riata.
Just as Daniel was once again blaming the woman who wasn’t even here—
“Follow me.”
The golden-haired man turned sharply.
Daniel pressed his lips together and followed.
Though he was the future Count Bohanan, in front of this man he was little more than a child.
Both as a knight and as a noble.
The man was one of the Five Dukes of the Empire and the Commander of the Imperial Knights.
Percy Stuart.
* * *
Only three hours had passed since I woke up inside the game.
And the only thing I had done since waking up
was whipping a maid five times.
But even that alone exhausted me.
I collapsed onto the bed like a jellyfish.
Villainesses in games are incredible people.
I had always thought that before.
Whenever something happened, they had to gather supporters.
They had to constantly plot ways to bully the heroine.
But I didn’t realize they also needed mental strength and stamina.
And I never knew whipping someone required this much emotional energy.
My shoulders were stiff.
My wrist throbbed.
I could still see blood in my vision, and it gave me chills.
But I couldn’t stay like this forever.
Starting today, I only have 100 days until my head gets cut off.
If I wanted to change the ending, I had to act quickly.
Just thinking about the ending where my cheating fiancé brutally killed me made my body sit up despite the exhaustion.
To change the ending, the most important thing was preventing the heroine from entering the Bohanan household, thereby preventing her from meeting Daniel.
While thinking of ways to block it, I suddenly jumped up.
Let’s request a meeting with Count Bohanan.
If I did that, he wouldn’t be able to go pick up the heroine as a tutor.
Honestly, the heroine would probably prefer living as a commoner rather than entering a gloomy place like the Bohanan household.
If I say I want to discuss the engagement, Count Bohanan will meet me.
The important thing was simply keeping him from leaving the house.
And if I could go one step further—
I’d like to break off the engagement with Daniel too.
The villainess seemed interested in Daniel Bohanan.
But I valued my life more.
I didn’t know what Daniel Bohanan looked like, but the fact that he cheated with the heroine while being engaged to the princess meant there was clearly no love between them.
So I set two goals.
First: Prevent the heroine from entering the Bohanan household.
Second: Break off the engagement with Daniel.
Shake off the whip trauma and get moving.
Thinking that, I stepped out of bed to send a message requesting a visit to the Bohanan estate.
And then—
A strange status window appeared, and my body froze.
※ A villainess must receive nail art and a massage once a week. It’s standard practice.
W-What? Nail art and massage?
Standard practice?
What kind of nonsense was that?
My head was about to be chopped off, and they were worried about my nails and skin?
What is this?! Move, body!
While I struggled to move my frozen body, the maids knocked on the door.
“Princess, it’s time for your massage.”
No!
I needed to go save my life!
I don’t have time for massages. I’m going to the Bohanan estate today.
I wanted to say that.
But my tongue wouldn’t move.
“Then we will come in.”
As the maids poured into the room, I made a miserable face.
“Th-This is insane!”
The moment I barely managed to curse, the maids stared at me with wide eyes.
Another status window appeared.
※ A villainess does not use cheap vulgar language.
“……”
If it was going to nitpick like this, why not just seal my mouth entirely?
What kind of game kept contradicting itself like this?
With this little freedom, how am I supposed to escape the original storyline?!
In the end, I lost half a precious day getting a massage and nail art.
