Walking away from Violet and the prince felt like walking through wet sand. Every muscle in my new body was tense, waiting for a sword in my back or a shout of challenge. But nothing happened. Only the normal sounds of the academy filled the air—chatting students, distant classroom doors, the rustle of expensive clothes.
I found an empty bench in a quiet courtyard and sank onto it, my legs finally giving out. I dropped my head into my hands, trying to slow my racing heart.
I did it, I thought, the reality of it finally sinking in. I changed the script. I didn't insult her.
The relief was so powerful it felt like a physical thing, washing over me and leaving me weak. But underneath it, a new, sharp anxiety was growing. Cedric had seen me. He had watched the whole thing. In the original game, he only ever noticed Klaus when he was being a bully. What did it mean that he'd seen me being… neutral? Helpful, even?
I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to think. My mind, the mind of Null, was a tool for strategy. It could calculate resource management and political backstabs. But it had no data for this. I was flying blind.
If only I had my old interface, I thought, a desperate, silly wish. A menu. A stat screen. Anything to give me some data.
As if my thought had triggered something, a flicker of light appeared behind my eyelids. I opened my eyes, blinking.
There, hovering just in the corner of my vision, was a faint, shimmering line of text. It was translucent, like a ghost. It glitched, stuttering in and out of existence for a second before stabilizing.
[System Interface: Online. Status: Damaged.]
My breath caught in my throat. It couldn't be. I stared, not daring to move, as the text faded and was replaced by a new, equally faint display.
User: Klaus von Herrmann [Null]
Title: Viscount, Third Son
Fate Points: 1
Fate Points? What did that mean? Before I could even form the question, the display changed again. It was like a broken monitor, struggling to show an image. It flickered, and then I saw my own name at the top of a simple, boxy list.
Klaus von Herrmann
Favor: 5
Corruption: 85
Obsession: 0
I stared at the numbers. Favor was probably how much people liked me. A 5 out of what? A hundred? It was pitifully low, but honestly, for Klaus, I was surprised it wasn't in the negatives.
Corruption was a chilling 85. That had to be a leftover from Null. My old character's stats bleeding into this new one. It made a terrible kind of sense. It was the shadow of my old ambitions, my lust for power, still clinging to my soul.
And Obsession was zero. That was a relief. In an otome game, that stat probably led to a very bad, very stalker-y ending.
This was my old gamer ability. Broken, glitchy, but here. A laugh, half-hysterical, bubbled up in my chest. I had a user interface for my new life. It was the only piece of my old power that had come with me.
Tentatively, I focused my thoughts. Show me Prince Cedric.
The display glitched violently, lines of static scrambling the text. It resolved after a moment, the numbers faint and shaky.
Prince Cedric
Favor: 10
Corruption: 15
Obsession: 0
Ten Favor. It was low, but it wasn't hostile. He didn't hate me. Not yet. His Corruption was a modest 15, which fit the noble, just prince archetype. And zero Obsession. Good. I needed him to be indifferent, not interested.
My heart was pounding with a new kind of excitement. This changed everything. I could get data. I could measure the consequences of my actions.
I looked around the courtyard. A pair of noble girls I recognized from Klaus's memories were whispering nearby, glancing my way. I focused on the one with the red hair.
The interface flickered.
Lady Amelia
Favor: 20
Corruption: 40
Obsession: 5
Twenty Favor. She probably had a little crush on the handsome viscount. Her Corruption was 40—a typical noble, looking out for herself and her family's status. And a small, harmless Obsession of 5. Nothing to worry about.
This was incredible. I was seeing the hidden mechanics of the world.
Then I thought of Violet. I had to know. What was her status after our brief, non-confrontational meeting?
I focused, picturing her face.
The system glitched harder this time. The text flashed red for a second before settling into a unstable jumble.
Lady Violet
Favor: 15
Corruption: 5
Obsession: 0
Fifteen. It was higher than Cedric's. A warm, completely illogical feeling of pride spread through my chest. I had started at zero with her, and with one simple act of not being a jerk, I'd gained fifteen points. Her Corruption was a mere 5. She was genuinely a good person, just like the game promised.
But seeing her stats made me think of the other love interests. There was the knight, Sir Roderick, and the mysterious magician, Elian. What were their starting dispositions?
I focused on Sir Roderick's name. He was the captain of the royal guard, a man of honor and duty.
The interface didn't just glitch. It screamed. A sharp, staticky pain lanced through my temple. The text that appeared was broken, barely legible.
Sir Roderick
Favor: -10
Corruption: 20
Obsession: ???
Negative ten Favor. So he already disliked Klaus. That made sense; the honorable knight would despise a spoiled noble. But the Obsession was a mess of question marks. What did that mean? Was the system too damaged to read it, or was there something wrong with Roderick himself?
Wincing from the headache, I tried one last time. Elian. The quiet, powerful mage who kept to himself.
The pain returned, sharper. The display flickered wildly, and for a moment, I saw a string of numbers that made no sense.
Elian
Favor: 0
Corruption: 255
Obsession: ERROR
Then the entire interface vanished, dissolving into static before my eyes. A throbbing ache settled firmly behind my eyes.
I leaned back against the bench, breathing heavily. Corruption 255? What did that even mean? And an Error on Obsession? That wasn't just a low or high number; that was the system breaking down when it looked at him.
This was more than just a glitch. This was a warning.
My gamer abilities were here, but they were a damaged, unreliable tool. I could get some information, but trying to look too deep, especially at the more powerful or complex characters, caused it to fail. And it hurt.
Still, it was something. I had a compass in this confusing new world. I could see the Doom Flags not as a single bad ending, but as a collection of terrible stats I had to fix.
My high Corruption was a problem. My low Favor with almost everyone was a bigger problem. But I had raised Violet's Favor. I had lowered a Doom Flag. I had gained a Fate Point, whatever that was.
It was a start.
The bell for the first lecture rang, jolting me out of my thoughts. I stood up, my body still feeling unfamiliar, but my mind was clearer than it had been since I woke up. I had a goal. I had a system, however broken.
I needed to raise my Favor. I needed to understand my Corruption. And I needed to stay far, far away from Elian until I figured out why my interface thought he was a walking, talking error code.
As I walked towards my alchemy class, a new thought occurred to me. I had been so focused on the other characters, I hadn't looked at one more person. The one who saw Klaus every day.
Later, back in my room, as Bernard laid out my clothes for dinner, I focused on him. The kind, weary butler.
The interface flickered softly, without pain.
Bernard
Favor: 65
Corruption: 10
Obsession: 0
Sixty-five. The number hit me harder than any of the others. This man, who had every reason to be frustrated with the spoiled brat he served, still held a significant amount of favor for me. It was… humbling.
He finished his task and turned to leave. On a whim, acting on a feeling I didn't fully understand, I spoke.
"Thank you, Bernard."
He stopped, his back to me. He was silent for a moment, then he turned, a look of genuine surprise on his face. "Of course, Young Master. It is my duty."
But as he left, I saw it. A tiny, almost imperceptible flicker in the corner of my eye.
Bernard - Favor: 66.
One single point. Gained from two simple words.
A small, real smile touched my lips for the first time. Maybe Klaus von Herrmann's life wasn't beyond saving after all.