I’m Trapped in a Bloody Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 100

Is he angry? No, it isn’t anger—it is resentment.

Studying Adrian’s expression, I calmly spoke up.

“Calm down.”

“Calm down? Do you think that’s an appropriate thing to say right now? I just found out that you’ve been pretending not to know me and playing with me this whole time!”

“Adrian! What do you think you’re doing?”

Adrian started shaking me with both hands, prompting Dion to rush over. It wasn’t until Tricia joined in that they managed to separate Adrian from me.

“What’s going on here?”

“I don’t know. Should we knock him out or something? Stop it!”

With both arms restrained by Dion and Tricia, Adrian struggled violently, forcing Tricia to frown and tighten her grip on his arm. Hella, who had been pushed aside by Adrian, got up and stood protectively in front of me.

“Saintess.”

“Let’s leave this place.”

As Hella and Dahlia tried to lead me away, Adrian began yelling. His bloodshot eyes and loud voice drew a puzzled look from Dion, who silently mouthed a question to me: ‘What did you do to Adrian?’

Although they were holding Adrian back, Dion’s suspicious gaze lingered on me. As Dahlia pulled me away, I shook my head.

Dion frowned further and tightened his grip on Adrian.

“Saintess, please hurry and go!”

“No, wait… Dahlia, hold on.”

Adrian was agitated, and this was far from the heartfelt reunion I’d envisioned. Still, I couldn’t just leave him like this.

Running away wouldn’t solve anything—I needed to address this now.

“Adrian.”

“Haniel, step back.”

“Do as Sir Dion says and stand back, Saintess.”

When I moved toward Adrian, Dion and Tricia tried to stop me. As they stepped back to speak, Adrian twisted his body and glared at me.

“Is this some kind of joke to you? You just grab anyone, lure them into the palace, and then pretend they don’t exist?”

“When did Haniel ever lure you…?”

“Is it your hobby to give hope to abused children and then leave them behind? Is that it, Saintess? Is that your idea of fun?”

Dion muttered in disbelief, but Adrian kept his gaze fixed on me, shouting relentlessly.

“Do you enjoy shaking up someone’s life and then ignoring them?”

“Saintess, step back.”

His gaze carried a mixture of emotions. Even with his affection level maxed out, I could feel the overwhelming resentment he harbored toward me. He must have thought I was mocking him as I waited for the right moment to reveal my scars.

That wasn’t my intention…

Seeing Adrian’s face, usually so composed, now twisted in anger, I felt a pang of guilt.

Yes, I had told him to come to the palace…

Rubbing the arm Adrian had grabbed earlier, I focused on his words.

“If you were meant to be a Saintess, you should have asked me to come to the Holy Kingdom. If you had no intention of meeting me, you shouldn’t have said I’d see you at the palace!”

“At that time…”

“I came here believing in those words. But now, you’re saying the same things to someone else?”

Listening to his outburst, I finally understood the heart of Adrian’s frustration.

“When Hella grows up, who will you say those same words to next?”

In short, Adrian had overheard me comforting Hella and felt hurt. Seeing me repeat the words I once said to him, his pent-up emotions from years of not seeing me had erupted.

Since this game was prone to dead and bad endings, his emotions had led to a route with a high likelihood of a dead end.

Lowering my gaze, I noticed the scarred back of Adrian’s hand under the arm Dion and Tricia were holding. Carefully, I reached out and touched his hand. Adrian immediately fell silent.

“I’m listening. Calm down and speak slowly.”

“You… because of you, I…”

“Yes?”

“I came to the palace to see you. You said we’d meet here.”

“And we did meet, didn’t we?”

“Did you enjoy pretending not to know me?”

Adrian’s voice grew quieter as he spoke, his head gradually lowering. Tears slid down his chin, falling to the ground.

“Are you… crying?”

“While pretending not to know me… did you enjoy it?”

Although his eyes had filled with tears before, they hadn’t fallen until now. Alarmed by Adrian’s tears, I hurriedly stepped forward, pushing Dion and Tricia aside.

“Dion, Tricia, let go of him! Adrian is crying!”

“What?”

“Adrian, I wasn’t pretending not to know you.”

The confusion on everyone’s faces showed they didn’t understand our conversation. Dion’s expression was especially noteworthy, but there wasn’t time to explain my connection to Adrian.

Reaching out, I placed a hand on Adrian’s face and spoke calmly.

“At first, I really didn’t know.”

“So I left no impression on you?”

“No, that’s not it…”

How could I forget Adrian? His personality and appearance were unforgettable.

“I met you after I came to the palace.”

“Of course you did.”

As I began to explain, Dion interrupted abruptly, cutting me off. Frowning, I turned to him.

“Dion, can you step aside for a moment?”

“What? Why should I?”

“Please take everyone here and leave. I need to talk to Adrian alone.”

With so many eyes on us, it was hard to say what I needed to. Asking Dion to take everyone outside, I watched as his face twisted in displeasure.

“No, I refuse. I need to understand what’s going on first.”

“Tricia?”

“Yes. I’ll wait outside.”

“Thank you, Tricia. You’re the best.”

Hearing Tricia’s agreement, Dion glanced at her and sighed. Smirking confidently, Tricia turned to look at him, her lips quirking to one side.

Though brief, the exchange was striking. Dion let out a dry laugh at Tricia’s expression and turned to me.

“The only reason I’m staying is because I’m worried about your safety.”

“Sir Dion, leave.”

“No! Adrian’s behavior is strange. I can’t leave you two alone!”

“The Saintess can handle it. Don’t you trust her?”

“No, I don’t. If that’s what you think, fine, but I’m staying.”

Rolling her eyes, Tricia grabbed Dion and dragged him out of the scene. Once their figures disappeared from view, I turned back to Adrian.

“It seems there’s been a misunderstanding. Let’s resolve it through conversation. You can hear my voice now, can’t you?”

***

Communicating through spoken words was much smoother than exchanging written notes. Despite Adrian’s current agitation, he was fundamentally a rational character.

“To summarize what you’re saying, Saintess, you met me while on a mission to the village with Sir Dion, correct?”

“That’s right.”

“And before that, you didn’t even know who I was?”

While I knew of the character Adrian, I feigned ignorance and replied, “No.”

“Hard to believe, but fine. Then why didn’t you acknowledge me when you returned?”

I had plenty to say about that. While I hadn’t shown him my scars outright, I had dropped several hints for him.

“Do you think you would have believed me if I suddenly claimed to be the person who took care of you?”

“That’s…”

“And I tried to give you clues. Didn’t you find anything odd about what I said?”

“…Yes.”

Adrian replied with a hint of shame. Though his assertiveness had diminished, I pressed on.

Now was the time to take control by being more assertive.

<The progress of Adrian’s route ‘Aberration of Virtue’ has decreased!>

• Progress: 50%

<If Adrian’s ‘Resentment’ emotion decreases, a new route will triggered!>

“Right after returning from the village, I moved quarters and noticed you tried to distance Sir Dion from me. What could I possibly say under those circumstances? You would’ve thought I had been investigating you, not helping.”

Back then, I was genuinely frustrated. Despite my efforts to help and even getting hurt in the process, my affection points kept plummeting!

Raising my voice as I recalled those memories, I noticed Adrian clamming up.

“Am I wrong?”

When he didn’t respond, I pressed him again. Adrian hesitated briefly before nodding slightly.

“…You’re right. That’s probably how it was.”

Adrian finally conceded. Seeing his downcast expression, I moved closer to him.

“Even so, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize my words would shake you so deeply. I didn’t think I’d mean that much to you. But Adrian, even if I hadn’t said those things, you would’ve come to the palace eventually.”

“No, if I’d known the person who saved me was the Saintess, I would’ve gone to the Holy Kingdom instead.”

“Then I missed my chance to turn you into a devout believer.”

I joked playfully, and Adrian responded with a faint smile and a question.

“Do you regret it?”

“No, I don’t. You’re well-suited to the Imperial Palace. Still, I am curious. If you had become a believer, many things might have changed.”

I meant it. If I had shared my identity as the Saintess with Adrian, I wondered how the game’s story would’ve unfolded.

Would it have been like in time-travel novels or movies, where the future changes entirely and our meeting never happens? Or would the story shift to Adrian being a representative of the Holy Kingdom?

It’s intriguing. Could a route like that exist? If so, when the event ends, would the number of Holy Kingdom characters increase from two to three? Adrian could become a scribe for the Holy Kingdom instead of the Empire. Such a change might not have a significant impact on the story.

The possibilities were endless.

No, wait—if that were the case, it would mean the system knows my future choices and adjusts the settings accordingly… But the system isn’t some divine entity capable of predicting the future.

While it’s simple to adjust settings according to ongoing choices, creating pre-set scenarios based on future predictions seems impossible.

“Saintess?”

“…It’s a relief.”

Lost in thought, I looked up to see Adrian staring at me curiously. Smiling warmly, I shook off my nonsensical worries.

Now wasn’t the time to get caught up in such frivolous musings.

“Ever since returning from the village and seeing you again, there’s something I’ve always wanted to ask.”

“Go ahead. Whether I answer depends on the question, though.”

Adrian’s tone matched my serious demeanor. Maintaining my composure, I asked him a question.

“What did you write in the journal you told me not to read?”

“What could you possibly be curious about in a diary written by a child? Why ask such a serious question?”

“You told me not to read it, so I didn’t. But I’ve always been curious.”

“I thought you were trying to extract some classified information.”

“Would you tell me if I asked?”

“…No.”

Adrian hesitated briefly before answering. The way he avoided my gaze made it seem like he might reveal the contents if I pushed further.

While it would be a significant misfortune for the Empire, it’d make my tasks for the Holy Kingdom much easier.