'Fuck!'
This time, Xian managed to rein in his mouth and curse internally.
Instead, his mind spun and made the most plausible way he could think of to greet the lady.
"I greet her highness, princess Carmillia Montagne." He bowed in 180 degrees with utmost respect.
'She's displeased.' One look and he knew right away what her current mood is from the many playthrough he experienced.
Why?
Because right over her head floated a black heart with a number in it: 19.
Just like in the game.
In Romance and Ruin, affection was color coded. Red meant love. Then it went pink, purple, blue, green, yellow.
Gray was neutral and the starting point for everyone.
Black meant animosity. And finally dark crimson. A level of hatred where kill on sight often occurs. Anyone who have this will kill the protagonist on sight to the point of going insane.
The number tracked her mood, low was dangerous and high was safe.
And 19 is dangerously low.
If he messed up, he might just regress for a third time.
"Hpmh." She huffed before tilting her head to the side with a frown. "The head butler will teach you what you need to learn. I expect no less than a week of preparation."
'A week?' Xian only knew of butlers only from the media he consumes and wanted to complain. However he chose to stay silent.
"As you wish."
Carmillia narrowed her eyes, before turning away, followed by her two guards. Of course, he took a glance at the woman who had beheaded him and looked for any distinction he could remember.
A gray heart hovered over her head with the number '50'. She was surprisingly in a stable mood.
With their all black attire and armor, it was hard to notice anything. But he gathered that from now on, he will be seeing her often. He would be sure to return the favor.
"Hah!" When they were finally gone, he gasped in relief. His chest heaved like he had just done a long run. Then sweat and coldness ran through his body as he trembled.
It was his first time experiencing 'death'. Although it was painless, the feeling of disconnection in his neck lingered. He didn't even get to see the speed at which he was beheaded.
'Shit! Shit!'
He couldn't get up and shook on the ground.
At the same time he wanted to punch someone because of this situation.
He took a moment to finally calm down and think over things.
Right now he was in a game he last played for hours on end and the cause of his death.
Rozenfall Academy, Romance and Ruin. It wasn't exactly a popular game, but was quite reputed in the genre it belongs to.
Because the developers were lunatics who gave players too much freedom, branching routes, brutal endings, and near-infinite replay paths.
There were some characters who had five endings per arc. The fanbase was niche but obsessed, dissecting every interaction, compiling guides, and chasing endings like treasure hunters.
Among them was the villainess as the hottest topic, Carmillia Montagne, dubbed as 'The Guillotine Flower'.
She gained the title for being the only character involved with the most beheading as bad ends.
If you engage with her? She'd wreck your run.
If you avoid her? She'd show up mid-game as a surprise boss with an unbalanced game mechanic.
Somehow, you lost either way.
The players thought the game devs were trolling them, making such a beautiful villainess an annoying adversary. But players discovered that under very specific conditions, you could get her own ending paths. Tragic ones. Vain ones. But still routes nonetheless.
But, the devs, as mad as they are put in great work and effort to the game. Hence the game withheld its popularity, and was treated like the dark souls of dating sim action games.
And eventually he found the game. Got addicted and died of exhaustion while playing it.
'At least I got through.'
He already died twice. Wasn't it too much to die that easily? The consequences for staring agape at her and cursing were the same.
Her being in a bad mood only made things worse.
But that isn't the most important thing right now.
Xian couldn't help but smile. Time turned back upon his death. He regressed! On top of that he retained the system's way to distinguish affection!
Still… this wasn't a casual playthrough. Every choice could end him. Every fight had stakes. He had no protagonist buffs, just knowledge.
Because the developers made sure to keep in mind to make the subsequent events parallel to each other, so that they won't cause the other event to be jeopardized and change things too much. Although there were still a lot of prerequisite and interconnecting events, players can mostly experience 80% of everything before the famous bad end.
He could experience the life of the protagonist in real time!
And he was at the earliest stages of the game. There was still some time before everyone met in the academy. Exactly a month from now. A time that the protagonist skipped in order to train his stats that will determine his class.
What he was most looking forward to… were the special events with the heroines upon being 'conquered'.
Yes, it was exactly that kind of game, where at some point in your progress, intimacy with characters were possible.
Of course, his priority right now was to survive in this household.
"Are you the new butler?"
Xian saw a thin and emaciated old man with neatly combed hair and slightly tired eyes. He looked the part of a typical butler, except for not having a muscular body. Unlike the butlers with deep and toned voice, this man talked like he was tired and lazy.
But Xian wasn't fooled. The household of Montagne contained many complicated and dangerous individual.
Including this butler. The head butler of the dukedom's patriarch himself.
"Yes." Xian replied carefully, keeping his tone polite and short.
They say that when in Rome, do as the romans do.
"Then fill out your name and this contract."
He took a parchment of paper that felt rough to the touch. Holding it, he realized that it was made from some high quality leather.
The contract terms was tight and he had quite a huge salary for a butler… Something he never had in the mundane world.
"I will train and teach you, how to attend to the young miss. Do mind, that a mistake may cost you your life."
He warned me plainly.
Death, from failing at chores.
What a world.
"I'll be in your care."
He signed simply: Xian.
No surname. A sign of his commoner status fitting for the protagonist's background.
"Xian is it?"
The butler gave him a look, unreadable, before stowing the contract.
"Follow me."
What followed was a tour of the estate where Carmillia will stay before going to the academy. In this world, nobles who disliked sharing dorms often bought lands near the academy. Instead of going to the Royal Dorms, they went home to each of their own estate.
So Rozenfall's surroundings were packed with minor courts, power plays, and intrigue. Becoming the eye of the storm where politics of leaders and significant figures had a powerplay.
Gradually it garnered population around it until it became an academy city. But outside, nobles still ruled over the commoners.
"Rest. Training starts at dawn."
Xian's eyes twitched. Its not that the time was too early for him. But he was more familiar with staying awake at dawn then sleeping until the afternoon. A sleeping schedule of a true waste.
"…"
The door was shut and he was left alone.
At least he got a personal room. That alone put him above most servants.
The room was ironically bigger than the one he lived in before. As he stepped in, a mirror caught his eye.
That's when he noticed it.
He didn't look like himself.
Or the protagonist.
The man in the mirror was taller and broader than him. Red hair cut cleanly on the sides. Sharp, menacing eyes that provoked trouble. His face naturally arrogant even in its natural expression.
He looked like a thug that will bully his fellow students and smoke in the back school.
'It's me.'
He tried smiling but reflection he saw was of a threatening man.
'No wonder the young miss is so pissed.'
He was completely the opposite of her type.
Compared to the protagonist.
"Hmm?"
But if he didn't look like the protagonist, and is currently here, what about him? Whos role did he play as?
Is he actually going to make an appearance in the future?
Because if he does… thing will be very complicated.