I’m Trapped in a Bloody Reverse Harem Game - Chapter 121

“Haniel.”

More than the blaring warning alarm ringing in my head, it was Orias’s voice that caught my attention. His voice sounded more melancholic than usual.

Ignoring the system windows that kept popping up, I turned my gaze toward Orias.

As expected, his complexion didn’t look good.

Seeing his face, I spoke to Hella, “Hella, can you give us a moment?”

“Yes, call me if you need me.”

“You came all the way here because of me… I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. You know I’m uncomfortable around the Pope. Giving you space is much more comfortable for me.”

Hella glanced at Orias and added in a small voice after hearing my apology. She smiled as if to keep me from feeling guilty, then gave a brief farewell and left.

I waited until Hella’s figure was completely out of sight before approaching Orias.

“Orias, did you have another nightmare? What’s with that expression?”

I had already been worried after hearing that he had been plagued by nightmares for some time.

He let out a sigh before answering, “Yes. I had another nightmare today.”

His voice, devoid of its usual strength, filled me with pity. I looked at his face and spoke with concern.

“Then sleep with me tonight. Adrian gave me some tea leaves—if you drink it, you might be able to rest a little better—”

“Haniel.”

I had been thinking about the tea Adrian gave me when Orias’s voice cut me off.

Ah, that’s right. Orias hated hearing other people’s names.

Every time I mentioned someone else, his expression would contort terribly.

This time was no different.

Avoiding his piercing gaze, I lowered my head.

I just made him feel worse. What should I do?

Unlike Ardal, Orias wasn’t the type to be cheered up by something as simple as taking a walk together.

I had only made things worse while trying to console him.

Biting my lip, I dropped my gaze.

At that moment, I noticed that his clothing was disheveled.

The waist cord securing the hem of his garment looked loose, as if it would come undone at any moment.

Grateful for the excuse to change the subject, I eagerly reached for his waist cord.

“Oh, Orias. Your waist cord is coming undone.”

Standing close to him, I pulled on the loose end of the cord as I spoke. The soft fabric coiled around my palm.

As I tightened the cord around my hand and gave it a firm tug, Orias stepped closer to me. He was now standing too close for me to adjust his waist cord comfortably, but he didn’t step back.

It was uncomfortable, but if I moved away, it might upset him even more.

I should just finish tying it like this.

“I see.”

Since I didn’t step back, Orias’s voice softened slightly as he responded.

I continued tying his waist cord while keeping the conversation going.

“I’ll fix it for you again tomorrow morning.”

I made sure to add the remark as I noticed his mood slightly improving.

Orias nodded in satisfaction and added, “Help me at night too.”

“Haha, sure.”

His immediate response made me let out a dry laugh.

Helping him at night?

What clothing would he possibly need help fixing at night?

This was just his way of saying he wanted to roll around in bed with me.

Orias always took care of his own attire. The only times he asked me for help were when he was trying to seduce me.

If that was the case, it seemed unlikely I would get any sleep tonight. Maybe I should take a nap in advance.

After securing Orias’s waist cord tightly, I took a step back.

<Character [Orias] deletion recommended!>

The moment I moved away from Orias, the system window appeared as if it had been waiting.

“Ugh.”

The glaring red light made me frown, and Orias reached out his hand.

Before his fingers could touch the corner of my eye, the system window vanished in an instant.

I narrowed my eyes and stared into empty space.

What was that?

The system had changed.

“Haniel?”

“The sunlight is too bright… Orias, let’s move into the shade.”

“The sunlight isn’t that strong, though.”

I had instinctively made an excuse while staring at the empty space where the system had been.

Following my gaze, Orias glanced backward and muttered. As he said, the sunlight wasn’t strong enough to make me squint.

Quickly, I grabbed his hand and led him toward the shade. Orias followed, though he frowned suspiciously.

As we moved toward a shaded spot nearby, I silently called the system.

I was still holding Orias’s hand tightly.

‘System, activate.’

The system did not respond.

This had never happened before. It was as if the system didn’t want Orias to know I was using it.

Why? All of the capture characters were aware that I could use the system. So why was the system now treating Orias as a threat?

My mind, accustomed to peace, struggled to process the situation.

Gripping Orias’s hand tighter, I fell into deep thought.

‘What is going on?’

***

‘System, activate.’

<[Orias] status abnormal>

<Character [Orias] deletion recommended.>

The system only reappeared after Orias had left.

The ominous messages remained unchanged. The recommendation to delete Orias did not disappear; instead, it shifted to the corner of my vision.

Unless I manually shut the system down, it seemed determined to stay there.

“Hella, give me your hand for a moment.”

“Yes.”

I had been glaring at the system window when I reached for Hella’s hand. With our hands clasped, I manipulated the system, closing all the windows before reopening them.

It had been a long time since I last opened the inventory window. Everything was functioning properly.

I wondered if the system might shut down whenever I came into contact with a key character from the game. But then again, it had worked just fine this morning when I was with Ardal.

“It works, though…”

“What does?” Hella tilted her head and asked as she extended her hand to me.

Instead of answering, I patted her head and spoke, “I need to go to my room.”

“Right now?”

“Yeah, there’s something I need to check.”

To accurately assess the system’s condition, I would need to test it with Lucius, another person capable of detecting the system.

But he was in the Empire.

I couldn’t conduct the experiment immediately. For now, I needed a quiet place where I could properly organize my tangled thoughts.

Hella looked puzzled but followed closely behind me.

Once I returned to my room, I sat down at my desk without hesitation. Noticing my intent, Hella thoughtfully brought me some paper and a pen.

“Saintess, I’ll be off to the training grounds for a bit! I left something there.”

“Alright, take care.”

After Hella left, having thoughtfully given me some time alone, I picked up my pen.

One by one, I organized the thoughts that had been clouding my mind onto paper. As I wrote them down, the tangled ideas gradually began to settle.

From previous gameplay, I recalled that there were only two reasons why the system ever acted on its own.

The first was when I tried to log out using an exploit.

The second was when the character ‘Haniel’ was in danger.

“I never attempted to log out this time, so…”

I drew a line through the first reason and continued my thoughts. If there was a reason for the system acting on its own, it was likely the second one.

The system was trying to protect ‘Haniel’s’ body.

But right now, I wasn’t inhabiting Haniel’s body. I had returned to this world in my real body.

It was difficult to deduce why the system was still trying to protect me.

[Why is the system trying to protect me when I’m not in Haniel’s body?]

I filled the paper with question marks but couldn’t find an answer.

For now, I set that question aside and continued thinking. Even if I didn’t understand why the system wanted to protect me, deducing its current state based on that assumption was simple.

I wrote down Orias’s disposition on the paper.

[Evil++]

Throughout my playthroughs, Orias’s nature had always been ‘Evil.’ He was the character with the highest number of dead-end routes.

If the system was trying to protect me, it was probably because of this.

It seemed that Orias was having some particularly dangerous thoughts right now.

I set down my pen and let out a sigh.

“What the hell is he thinking for the system to be making such a fuss?”

<Character [Orias] deletion recommended!>

The system window, which had shrunk, suddenly reappeared in large text right in front of me.

I clicked my tongue and dragged the system window aside, muttering, “You think I’d just delete him without any explanation?”

<Status uncontrollable>

A response came back to my offhand remark.

Wait… Did the system just answer me?

I frowned in annoyance and cautiously asked another question.

“…What do you mean by uncontrollable?”

<Information unavailable.>

<Unlocked upon obtaining Orias’s single route.>

A meaningless response.

I pressed my fingers against my forehead as I read the words ‘Information unavailable.’ That’s just another way of saying ‘No.’ And now, I had no way to start a new playthrough either.

“So that’s why that guy said that back then?”

“You are a second-playthrough player.”

“Most players who make it this far choose in-game rewards.”

“You must not have known.”

I muttered, recalling an old memory.

When I had visited for compensation regarding a game error, the staff had mentioned that most players had gone through multiple playthroughs. Since I had only played twice, they had accommodated me in their own way.

Looking at the text on the system window, I let out a regretful sigh.

If I had known this would happen, I would have been more careful back then.

But how could I have predicted this?

“I should have at least done a third playthrough…”

[SYSTEM] [Administrator (—-) authority delegated]

<Administrator (—-) authority now available.>

As I lamented, a new system window appeared in front of me.

Administrator (—-) authority?

Something was written after the word ‘Administrator,’ but it was encrypted.

I couldn’t read it.

I blinked blankly.

<Would you like to restore character data?>

“Uh… What?”

As I stared at the system window in a daze, it changed its message as if asking me a question.

Before I could respond, my vision flashed brightly.

Everything turned gold.

I blinked, dumbfounded, as multiple system windows appeared simultaneously.

There was too much information for me to take in all at once.

For a brief moment, I glimpsed system logs displaying details of my first and second playthroughs, appearing and disappearing in an instant.

The messages came and went so fast that I didn’t even have time to read them properly.

Every time I blinked, another system window popped up, only to vanish again.

After a while, the number of appearing system windows began to decrease.

Now, the system was displaying messages at a pace slow enough for me to read.

<[Administrator Mode activated] Restoring playthrough data…>

<Upon starting a new playthrough, the character ‘Haniel’ will be available for use.>

.

.

.

<The Saintess Is a Spy! – Third Playthrough – Now Available>

<Would you like to carry over data from the previous playthrough?>

.

<Carry Over>

The option blinked enticingly, as if urging me to log in immediately.

I stared at it, my mouth slightly open in disbelief.

So… I can log into the game again?

“What the hell… How…?”

But… I’m already inside the game.