“Your Highness, what color dress should we prepare?”

“A more vibrant color would suit you well…”

“Should we put your hair up or leave it down?”

The maids bustled about for the rare ball.

Amidst the commotion, I glanced at Seira’s head above me.

3rd Princess’s Maid
Favorability: 538

In the meantime, Seira’s favorability had decreased significantly. It was because I kept touching on her sense of guilt.

‘But it’s still not a low number by any means.’

I stared intently at Seira’s favorability, which was still over 500, and thought.

Over the past few days, after various attempts, I was able to discover a few more functions related to the system window.

First, those letters above people’s heads that show their names and status!

If you stare at them intently, a detailed information window pops up with a clicking effect, listing detailed information about the person.

Ding!

Just like now.

[Closest confidant of 3rd Princess Luibel Azester. The niece of Countess Arlia, the princess’s wet nurse, she entered the palace as the princess’s playmate at age 5 and became a maid at 15.

▶Health: 138

▶Mana: 72

▶Attack Power: 20

▶Defense: 161

.

.

▶Ideal Type: A righteous and kind man

▶View on Love: Dreams of an honest and sincere relationship with a lover without lies.]

The player could use the game’s characters as [Helpers] in each scenario, and those numbers were probably reference information for that.

And peculiarly, it even showed the ideal type and view on love unrelated to the scenario progression, which was thanks to the effect of the [Ring of Miriam] item that Hezen possessed.

‘What a terrible guy. To think he’d even spend real money to build a harem.’

The [Ring of Miriam] was an item that could only be obtained through paid purchases and had no combat effects whatsoever.

I was even more angered by his will to somehow become the protagonist in this game and flirt with female characters.

‘Well, thanks to that, I was able to obtain necessary information…’

Seira had a high morality score and held an upright view on love that true love meant guiding the other person on the right path.

So I stimulated her sense of guilt.

‘Seira, tell me honestly even now. Are you hiding your feelings for Hezen because of me?’

‘Y-Your Highness, I-I was wrong, sob…’

Every time I uttered a word, Seira’s favorability dropped.

I didn’t stop there, and whenever I had the chance, I went to see Sister Elizabeth.

Sister Elizabeth’s ideal type, as confirmed through the [Ring of Miriam], was a muscular man overflowing with masculinity.

‘I’m worried about Hezen, sister. Actually, Hezen…’

‘What? Lord Hezen’s lower belly is protruding because he’s been neglecting exercise?’

‘Yes, all those firm muscles have disappeared… Oh, right! This is a secret I’m only telling you! Because we’re sisters!’

Sister Elizabeth couldn’t hide her disappointment at the secret I revealed.

The real-time drop in favorability showed just how disappointed she was.

I even went to see my nemesis Sylvia with a straight face.

‘Sylvia, do men usually not wash their hands after using the bathroom?’

‘Oh my, how unsanitary! Who on earth…’

‘Hezen does that. I only know Hezen as the man I interact with, so I’m asking you who has male siblings…’

‘Goodness! How horrible and dirty!’

Sylvia, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, had her favorability plummet at the mention of Hezen not washing well.

Her favorability soon plummeted to the bottom.

Seeing the dropped favorability of the people around me that Hezen had targeted, I snorted.

‘Heh. Let him be shocked when he sees the shattered favorability at the ball.’

But these petty tricks weren’t enough.

That damned guy had been so diligently targeting various women that this much only had a minor effect.

I wanted a big hit.

A really big hit that would drastically lower people’s favorability towards him!

“Your Highness, you look so beautiful today!”

“You’ll be the brightest at the ball tonight, Princess!”

At the maids’ fussy voices, I glanced at the mirror.

I was now dressed in a red wine-colored dress that exposed my shoulders.

The maids draped a black shawl over it.

“Thank you.”

I smiled briefly and headed to the ballroom.

“Her Highness, Third Princess Luibel Azester, has arrived!”

The loud voice of the attendant guarding the door announced my entrance.

People’s gazes gathered on me for a moment and then slowly dispersed.

As I moistened my throat with a drink while wearing an elegant smile on my face, sure enough.

“Lulu…”

Hezen approached me with a grin.

For the past few days, Hezen had been circling around me, trying to raise his favorability again by striking up conversations.

‘Lu, Lulu… About what happened a few days ago…’

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation!

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation!

[SYSTEM] begins to feel terrible hatred the moment she hears your voice…

But every time, my anger and power level rose along with it.

‘Eek!’

It seems the memory of the day he first got punched in the mouth by me and lost his teeth left quite an impression.

Because of this, Hezen would approach me but then use his skills to flee ungracefully at the emergency alert message.

His skill effect was so good that I could only snort angrily at Hezen’s retreating back.

“Have you been well?”

Hezen asked me in a friendly voice.

‘You’re approaching boldly knowing I won’t attack with so many people watching?’

I clicked my tongue at Hezen’s cunning.

As I got closer to him, the quest window rang noisily again.

‘So noisy.’

I turned to look at him with a face that didn’t bother hiding my irritation.

When I was in the same space as Hezen, I could share his quest window and system notifications.

And when I got within 1m…

Ding!

The interface popped up.

I could see various buttons to check the player’s status and skill/item usage information.

It made me realize once again that this was inside a virtual reality game.

I glanced at the golden letters that said [Player Exclusive Shop] among them.

Then I smiled brightly at him and greeted him.

“It’s been a while, Hezen. Have you been well too?”

Pause.

He seemed taken aback by the unexpected response.

“Lulu, are you… no longer angry?”

He asked me in a suspicious voice.

Of course, my favorability towards him was still -999.

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation! begins to harbor strong murderous intent towards you!

Ignoring the alert sound that rang as usual when he and I got close, I smiled sweetly.

“Oh my, angry? Someone might think we had a fight if they heard.”

Then I picked up a dessert plate from the table and held it out to him.

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation! ‘s murderous intent towards you is deepening!

“More importantly, Hezen, would you like to try this?”

On the plate was a sticky dessert made with honey.

[SYSTEM] Emergency situation! ‘s murderous intent is immeasurable! Be careful of !

Hezen’s face turned very pale upon seeing the system window saying the murderous intent was immeasurable.

“You want me… to eat this…?”

* * *

“Ugh, urk… S-Save me…”

The servant who had collapsed on the floor pleaded in an agonized voice while writhing in pain.

However, bound by an invisible force, the servant could not escape from that spot.

Above the servant’s head were the words ‘Servant of the Azester Imperial Palace ‘.

“What’s wrong? Who’s trying to kill you?”

Anselot approached the servant with a grin.

“I’m just.”

With each step he took closer, sheer terror spread across the servant’s face.

“Going to treat you. With that precious tea water that the Azester prince sent me, that is.”

In his left hand was a teapot.

It was what the servant had brought just moments ago.

Anselot firmly grasped the servant’s lower jaw with his right hand.

“Gak!”

Despite the strong grip, the servant resisted by shaking their head vigorously while keeping their mouth tightly shut.

“Why? Don’t you like it?”

“Uu, uup!”

Anselot tilted his head at the sight of the servant resisting violently.

“Strange? Didn’t you say it was a precious tea that only the Azester royalty could drink? I said I’d specially share this precious thing with you.”

“Uu, uubup!”

“Hmm… Well, if you don’t want it, I guess it can’t be helped.”

Soon, he grinned and tilted the teapot over the servant’s head.

Splash.

The moment the lukewarm tea water wet the servant’s head.

“Uu, uwaak!”

The servant fainted right there.

“Tsk.”

Anselot nudged the unconscious servant’s body with his toe.

It was no fun for them to faint with just this much.

Anselot carelessly threw away the teapot he was holding.

His keen sense of smell caught a whiff of paralysis poison.

It was a very faint scent that ordinary humans wouldn’t be able to distinguish.

After kicking a few more times, a dagger hidden in the servant’s chest fell out.

It seems they were planning to paralyze him and then kill him with that.

Anselot picked up the dagger with a snort.

The sharply honed metal pierced through the servant’s body.

The servant died on the spot.

Rumors would spread that the murderous prince of Luenhart had killed another person, but Anselot didn’t particularly care.

There was a more concerning existence than bothering with such trivial matters.

‘Luibel Azester. The 3rd Princess of the Azester Empire…’

The woman who fluttered like a spring flower that caught his eye at first glance.

And… perhaps a woman who had broken free from the [System] of this world.

He first encountered Luibel on his way to have an audience with the Emperor as an envoy of Luenhart.

He paused unknowingly the moment he saw her.

It wasn’t simply because of her appearance that caught his attention.

She had a strangely familiar scent.

Then he soon discovered the pink window above her head.

Anselot frowned unknowingly.

‘Is that woman the sacrifice for awakening this round?’

The pink window meant a romantic relationship with the player, and he was well aware that the damned player would awaken through [Death of a Lover].

He had no particular intention of intervening in the player’s awakening.

But somehow, that ‘999’ favorability seemed unpleasant.

The favorability of all the women he had seen here was 999.

He had let out a few bitter laughs at that fact.

And he felt an inexplicable disappointment at that woman’s favorability, which was also 999.

‘She’s no different from the others.’

He deliberately turned his gaze away from her coldly and left the place.

The strange trembling he felt when their eyes met for a moment made him feel odd.

And shortly after, he realized that the cunning woman, like a thieving cat, had stolen his pendant.

At first, he thought of killing her.

But then he learned that she used ‘that power’ and could see the [System].

Anselot became strongly interested in Luibel.

So he decided to let her live for now.

Perhaps she could be the one to fulfill what he had longed for all this time.

“Shall we go meet her soon?”

Anselot stood in front of the mirror, humming a tune.

Today was the day of the ball for guests from foreign countries.

He was late for the start of the banquet because of that unexpected guest.

Although he didn’t like noisy gatherings, Luibel would be there.

He couldn’t help but smile as he recalled Luibel dodging him here and there over the past week.

For instance, pretending to be sick as soon as she spotted him while stomping around the palace.

‘Cough, cough… Sorry, I’m not feeling well today… Let’s make an appointment and meet again next time.’

‘Weren’t you running around just a moment ago saying you’d catch that player bastard and beat him up?’

‘…’

Or using her maid as a shield to pretend she wasn’t there when he visited the next day under the pretext of checking on her illness.

‘I’m sorry, Prince. The Princess is currently absent… Oh my!’

‘What’s that sitting on the windowsill?’

‘…I am Princess Luibel’s afterimage.’

Or fleeing out the window with nonsensical excuses.

‘Goodness, Princess! I’ve told you countless times that jumping from the third floor is dangerous!’

‘…’

He left her alone because her mouse-like behavior was amusing, but it seemed it was about time to collect the debt for the borrowed pendant.

“I miss her too.”

Somehow, he felt joyful thinking of Luibel, who would open her eyes wide like a frightened rabbit whenever their eyes met.

As Anselot snapped his two fingers, letters immediately appeared above his head.

Prince of the Kingdom of Luenhart

Glancing at the letters, he walked out with a satisfied smile.