Villains Are Destined to Die

Chapter 3

“My lady. It’s time you got up,” someone whispered above me.

I was only lightly sleeping still, and the quiet whisper was enough to wake me. I’d spent a sleepless night hoping that I’d wake from this nightmare, but somehow, I eventually managed to fall asleep.

“My lady,”said the cautious voice again.

Is she talking to me?

No one else had come into my room after the two blue-eyed men had left. That meant whoever was saying “my lady” was addressing me.

“...”

Still only half-awake, I didn’t reply right away. I heard something rustling behind me, and only then did I wake up completely. I tensed, preparing to sit up, when I felt a sharp stab of pain in my exposed arm.

“Ow!”

My eyes flew open. Screaming, I kicked the sheets off me and stood up. I quickly rolled up my sleeve to check the source of the pain.

Wh-what the...

I gaped when I saw the skin under my airy pajamas. My arm was covered with needle marks, blue and bruised. If it were fabric rather than skin, I don’t doubt it would have been full of ragged holes. I stared, appalled, and saw that one of the needle marks had a droplet of blood welling up, like it was fresh.

“You’re awake,” said a calm voice from beside the bed.

I turned and saw a brown-haired girl with a face full of freckles. She was a maid. Perhaps to save on development costs, all the maids in the game had worn the same clothes and shared similar faces. This woman, accordingly, was very plain looking. She seemed to have hidden away the needle she’d been poking me with, as her hands were now empty. But I could see dark mockery and delight in her eyes, which were carefully observing me.

What the hell is this woman doing? I didn’t do anything to her!

Filled with rage, I opened my mouth to speak.

“...!”

No words came out, as though my tongue were suddenly made of lead.

Why don’t I get any dialogue choices? Damn it!

I had no choice but to glare at her. The maid acted like nothing out of the ordinary had occurred.

“I’ve prepared a bath for you. Please go freshen up, my lady.”

There was an evil smile on her face as she gathered up the sheets. She seemed to be used to this routine.

I sat there, biting my lip, before the maid hurried me into the bathroom. There was no tub inside. The room was completely empty, except for a wash basin filled with water. It was ice cold. Dipping just my fingers in was enough to make my hair stand on end.

I never wanted a bath in the first place. This is ridiculous.

The game did mention the villains being treated poorly from time to time, but no scene had been this detailed. The excruciating reality forced me to accept once more that I was actually inside the game. I rolled up my sleeves and saw the bloody puncture holes again. Tears stung my eyes.

This isn’t right. I saw nothing like this in the— That was when a memory flashed through my mind. I remembered seeing the villain wearing an off-the-shoulder dress. The other illustrations had been flawless, but one of the villain’s arms had been sprinkled with small black dots resembling moles or freckles.

That’s insane. I thought they were just freckles, or an important element of the story I hadn’t gotten to yet...

Who would have guessed them to be marks of abuse? I was flabbergasted, and also shocked once more at how fleshed out the story was.

“My lady. Your breakfast is ready. Are you not done yet?” said the maid outside the bathroom, pushing me to hurry.

That little snake.

I grew irritated, but I had no choice but to dip my hands into the icy water again. I’d lived through years of harassment from my stupid half-brothers. This was nothing. Since I was a villain now anyway, I had the urge to prick the girl full of holes like she’d done to me. But I decided to wait a little longer and feel things out.

Sadly, I did not have agency to do or say what I wanted.

My face tingled as I wiped it with a towel. When I stepped outside, I saw that an actual meal had been prepared on a table next to a large window. Perhaps because of the confinement the duke’s first son had ordered, it seemed that I was to eat even meals in my quarters.

“Sit down, my lady.”

The maid led me to a chair. I immediately frowned. The “food” on the table wasn’t fit for human consumption. There was a green, moldy piece of bread in a bowl, and next to it was a gray-colored soup in which unidentifiable ingredients floated about.

“Go on and eat. You must be hungry,” said the maid with a grin. I gritted my teeth and glowered at her.

A white rectangle appeared in front of me then.

1. (Flip the table) What the hell is this? Are you out of your mind? Call the chef right this instant!

2. (Shove a forkful into the maid’s mouth) This isn’t even fit for the dogs! Why don’t you try it yourself?

3. (Eat the food.)

I’d gotten the game-over screen two times at this point in the game. When I chose the first option, the duke’s servants had all run to the duke to tattle on the villain. The duke’s first son—the same person who’d ordered her to be confined—had been enraged and forbidden her even water. She ended up dying of dehydration.

In my next attempt, I went with option two. The second son, who had been passing by the room, had rushed inside to separate the villain from the maid. In the process, she was pushed roughly and fell. A fork tumbled after her and buried itself in her throat. It was the most idiotic death ever.

So that leaves only one choice.

This episode in the game was probably meant to show the strife between the villain and the long-time servants of the duke. Not wanting to see the protagonist struggling so helplessly like this from the very start, I’d moved on to a different episode after seeing two deaths.

I’d had dozens more episodes I needed to clear. However, I couldn’t see a [Back] button that would let me go back to the episode selection screen.

Damn it...

I glared at the maid and forced myself to go with the third option. My body jerked into action like someone was controlling it. Picking up the spoon, I scooped a mouthful of the rotten soup. I didn’t even want to smell the horrifying mixture, and my hand trembled violently as the spoon slowly approached my mouth.

Gray droplets dripped onto the table, but I couldn’t stop my hand. My mouth was forced open, and the spoonful of rotten soup went in.

“Eurgh!”

The soup was lukewarm as it met my tongue. A terrible smell rose from inside my mouth. This wasn’t food. It tasted like someone had gathered old food scraps and boiled it. My body was acting of its own accord though, and I was forced to swallow the liquid.

I gasped.

The maid seemed shocked, probably not expecting that I would actually eat it.

Yuck, I feel like throwing up!

I was gagging. Trying to keep myself from retching, I considered.

That should be enough.

I would not die from only a spoonful of rotten food. This was probably the end of the episode. I gave a sigh of relief.

But I was mistaken.

My hand did not stop.

Wait, wait!

I continued to cram moldy bread and gray soup into my mouth, and none of it was of my own doing. The maid grew paler and paler as she watched me scarf the spoiled food down like a pig. The insanity only stopped when the duke’s second son, who had been passing by, came into the room.

“What’s going on?”

“L-lord Reynold!” The maid seemed terrified to see someone come into the room.

“Ugh!” I choked. I wasn’t paying attention, being too busy covering my mouth. I couldn’t stop retching, and the contents of my stomach threatened to come back up at any moment.

Why must I endure something so disgusting? I wondered. I’d experienced plenty of things like this before I’d even entered this game world. I’d had to endure many a meal of rotten food because of the two fiends that lived in the same house as me. And now I was being forced to endure more of the same, this time in a virtual world?

“Ugh...”

Clear drool dripped between my fingers, and my eyes were filled with tears of resentment and pure disgust. I tottered and groaned as if I’d been poisoned, and the pink-haired man standing in the doorway approached, face shocked.

“Hey, are you all—” He froze when he noticed what was on the table. “These are...”

He saw the moldy bread and spoiled soup. The food was not fit for human consumption, much less the daughter of a duke. Not even commoners would eat such garbage for breakfast. But over half of it was gone, while his adoptive sister stood pale, her mouth covered.

The pink-haired man scowled heavily as he turned to the maid.

“What did you just give her?”

“M-my lord! This... This is...” The maid trembled, her face ashen, at the look of rage on the man’s face.

To be fair, I suppose she had no clue.

How could an unimportant side character have known that the fake lady with her terrible personality would actually eat the rotten food?

The maid was at a loss for words. The pink-haired man shouted at her.

“How dare you disrespect our family like this! To think a mere maid would dare serve something like this for us to eat!”

“My lord! Th-that’s not true! My lord!” she stammered.

“Get out this instant.”

“B-but m-my lord!”

“I shall speak to my father and brother about this myself. Is anyone out there? Pennel!”