Chapter 1
Clang.
A sharp dagger fell onto the cold floor with a clear, ringing sound.
“Ugh… w-why…?”
“…”
On the floor, Crown Prince Daimon lay bleeding, his breathing growing rougher as he looked up at me.
Even after hearing his question, I simply stared at him without saying a word.
“Ugh…!”
I looked back and forth between the prince dying in front of me and the hem of my dress, now stained red with blood, quietly waiting for his final breath.
“Do you… want to know why?”
“…”
I whispered softly to him as his eyes were half-closed and only faint breaths escaped his lips.
“Don’t feel too wronged.”
“…”
“You killed me first.”
“W-What…?”
“And… maybe this is the ending.”
Unable to understand a single word I had said, he died with a confused expression on his face.
“The beastman… the Tower Master… the Crown Prince…”
“At last… I’ve killed… all of the male leads.”
It sounded like the ramblings of a madwoman, but this world was inside a game.
One day, I opened my eyes and found myself inside the adults-only game I used to love, God’s Beloved Child.
It was a game where the heroine, Lady Diana Pomern, pursued the male leads. Aside from a few major events, there was almost no fixed storyline, allowing players to take the story in any direction they wanted.
However, despite that freedom, this brutally difficult game had only one ending.
The heroine the player controlled would always be murdered by the obsessive male leads.
Before I was transported into this world, I had never seen a strategy guide, nor had I ever heard of anyone reaching a happy ending.
And the heroine who always met such a miserable death—
That was me.
Lady Diana Pomern.
“Why did it have to be God’s Beloved Child…?”
I tried winning over each of the male leads one after another.
Every single route ended with my death.
After being trapped in this insane game, killed by the male leads over and over again through countless regressions…
This time, I killed them first.
Maybe it was because I had repeated these regressions too many times.
Or maybe because I had started seeing them as nothing more than game characters instead of real people.
I wasn’t sure.
I simply tried something I had never done before.
“You crazy game! What are you going to do now?!”
I shouted into the empty night sky.
“Hmm… So this wasn’t the answer either?”
Just then.
A rectangular window appeared in the air, and bright red letters slowly filled it.
[System Error! System Error!]
[All romance targets have been killed. A system error has occurred.]
“…Error?”
My eyes widened as I stared blankly at the floating system window.
Despite dying and regressing countless times, this was the very first time a system window had ever appeared before me.
[Starting update.]
[30%… 55%… 78%… 100%. Update complete.]
Holding my breath, I watched the window carefully, hoping this might finally be my chance to escape this world.
[From now on… romance… affection… can be… checked…]
“What’s wrong with it?”
After the update finished, the window began flickering with static, looking as though it might disappear at any moment.
[Quest… New… Male Lead… Romance… Please.]
*[Reward: Return.]
*[Failure: Infinite Regression.]
As I read the message, my eyes immediately landed on the word written in red.
Reward: Return.
“…Return.”
The moment I saw that word, hope burst inside my heart.
I could go home.
My heart pounded wildly.
I completely ignored the failure penalty.
Instead, I looked back up to read the quest itself.
“…A new… male lead?”
The system window kept glitching, cutting off parts of every sentence, making it impossible to read everything clearly.
Still, I could roughly guess what it meant.
“…So I have to romance someone?”
[Wish… player’s… happy… ending…]
“Wait! Hold on!”
Without even telling me who I was supposed to romance, the system window wished me a happy ending—
And disappeared.
“So who am I supposed to romance?!”
And just like that…
I returned once again to the beginning of the game.
To sixteen-year-old Diana Pomern.
* * *
“My Lady, it’s time to wake— Ahhh!”
Emma, who had entered carrying a basin of water, froze in the doorway as she stared at me.
A moment later, she hurried over with a shocked expression, carefully examining me from head to toe.
“E-Emma…”
“My Lady, did something happen last night?”
“I just couldn’t sleep.”
Her reaction was understandable.
After the system window suddenly appeared, I spent the entire night pulling at my hair while trying to understand everything it had said.
My hair had become a complete mess, and my eyes were bloodshot from lack of sleep.
“My Lady… are you in a good mood?”
“Why do you ask?”
“You barely slept, but you look incredibly happy.”
“Do I?”
“Yes. Did something good happen?”
“I guess… I’m just in a good mood today.”
Emma was naturally curious and clearly wanted to ask more questions.
But instead, she quietly picked up my tangled long hair and gently brushed it.
Feeling the soft strokes of the brush, I closed my eyes and thought back to yesterday.
If I organized everything the system had told me…
Because I had killed all the romance targets, the game encountered a system error and updated.
To return to my original world, I now had to romance someone new.
And…
I could now see the affection levels of the romance targets.
At least, that was my guess.
The system had glitched so badly that I had pieced together its meaning from the words I managed to catch.
“Yawn…”
“It’s all done, My Lady.”
“Thanks, Emma.”
After thanking her with a smile, I turned toward my bed.
My head was no longer working after spending the entire night planning and thinking.
I just wanted to sleep for a little while.
“My Lady? Where are you going?”
“I’m taking a nap.”
“But today is the weekly breakfast with the Duke.”
“…Oh.”
Was that today?
The Duke of Pomern.
My father.
The head of House Pomern.
The Emperor’s Sword.
The Hero of the War.
Kairo Pomern.
He was a cold-hearted man.
Unable to bear the emptiness left by the death of his wife, who died giving birth to Diana, he abandoned his newborn daughter and left for the battlefield.
He had never shown even the slightest interest in his daughter.
No matter what I did, he always remained indifferent.
The only reason we even had breakfast together once a week was because my nanny constantly nagged him to spend at least a little time talking with me.
“…I can’t skip it, can I?”
“You can… if you’re willing to be scolded by Lady Maria.”
“…Sigh. Let’s go.”
Even Duke Pomern himself had surrendered to the nanny’s lectures.
There was no way I could resist them.
So I hurried after Emma toward the dining room.
“We don’t even talk anyway… Honestly, Nanny worries too much.”
Lost in thought, I soon arrived at the dining room doors.
* * *
Clink.
Clink.
Inside the dining room, only the sounds of silverware and quiet chewing echoed through the air.
No conversation.
Only heavy silence.
“You look tired.”
The first person to break the silence was Duke Pomern.
I stared at him with wide eyes.
“…Your Grace?”
“My goodness…”
The nanny looked back and forth between the Duke and me with an expression full of emotion.
There was a reason she reacted that way.
Throughout every regression…
Not once—
Not a single time—
Had the Duke ever spoken to me first.
“As His Grace said, our young lady does seem rather tired today. Are you feeling alright?”
When I failed to answer, the nanny poured me some water and asked again.
“I’m fine. I drank too much coffee yesterday and couldn’t sleep.”
“I see.”
“Mm. Nanny, could you prepare dessert now?”
“You’re not eating any more?”
“I don’t really have an appetite after staying up all night.”
“Of course. I’ll bring it right away.”
Maybe because I had ignored his question and answered the nanny instead…
The Duke’s already cold expression seemed even colder.
I silently prayed breakfast would end as quickly as possible while forcing the remaining food into my mouth.
“My Lady, today’s dessert is bouncy custard pudding.”
“Thank you.”
Maybe it was because I hadn’t slept.
Or because of the nanny’s description.
I suddenly wondered whether the pudding really was that bouncy.
So I lightly poked it with my spoon.
Normally, I would never do something so childish.
But I immediately regretted it.
Whether my grip had weakened from lack of sleep…
Or the pudding really was that springy…
The spoon slipped from my fingers.
And flew—
Straight toward Duke Pomern.
“Oh dear…”
“…”
The Duke simply stared expressionlessly at the spoon lying in front of him.
“Haha… Nanny was right. The pudding really is incredibly bouncy.”
Feeling awkward, I hurried over while laughing nervously.
“…Haha… I guess it’s because I didn’t sleep last night.”
Without even daring to look him in the eye, I quickly picked up the spoon and rushed back to my seat.
This time, I gripped it tightly and hurriedly finished the pudding.
“Whew… That was delicious. I’ll be—”
“Wait.”
Just as I tried to escape the situation, the Duke stopped me once again.
All this time, I had always been careful not to give him any reason to criticize me.
This was all because I hadn’t slept.
My mind was still foggy.
I quietly sat back down and waited nervously for whatever he was about to say.
“You should stop drinking coffee from now on.”
“…”
This was exactly why people shouldn’t lie carelessly.
Apparently, because I had implied my lack of sleep caused me to throw the spoon, the Duke had decided to ban coffee altogether.
Someone as perfect as Duke Pomern could never understand that some people needed coffee just to survive the day.
“I only drank too much yesterday. I’ll only have one cup from now on.”
“No.”
“I promise.”
“…”
That was the kind of person the Duke was.
He believed I couldn’t be trusted.
He simply didn’t want me embarrassing the House of Pomern because of another mistake.
“I know you don’t trust me, but… what happened just now was really an accident.”
I looked at him with the most pitiful expression I could manage, hoping to win back even a single cup of coffee.
“That… isn’t…”
The Duke began to say something but stopped.
Unable to watch any longer, the nanny sighed heavily, patted her chest, glanced at me, and then spoke to him.
“Your Grace… you’re worried about Lady Diana, aren’t you?”
Even if he had spoken to me first today…
There was no way Duke Pomern was actually worried about his daughter.
Nanny… that’s not it…
I shook my head slightly while sipping the warm tea she had served with dessert.
“…Yes.”
After a brief pause, the Duke nodded.
“…?”
Thinking I must have misheard him, I stared at him with wide eyes.
“I’m worried about Dia.”
The moment those words left his mouth…
The hot tea I was swallowing went straight down the wrong way.
