Chapter 43
The Transcender and the Purifier—an impossible pair, sworn enemies…
And yet, he clearly wanted to torment her however he could.
“And it’s not like I hate her that much,”
Shion’s voice sounded as though the words themselves were strangling him.
Uh-huh. Sure. I get it. You’d have to really hate someone to say it like that. Classic reverse psychology, right?
Max, in the end, sided with the head of the household rather than the wicked woman.
To him, it looked like two pretty pieces of trash were having a power struggle.
And if that’s the case, well, better the pretty trash he was friendly with came out on top.
[Checking ‘Shion’s Hatred Level.’]
[Hatred: 50]
That bastard…
Odette clenched her teeth inwardly.
A gut feeling had told her he was nearby, so she opened her pendant—and sure enough, the hatred level appeared.
Hatred level could only be confirmed if the target was within a 20-meter radius.
In other words, Shion was somewhere inside this building.
That damned bastard. He definitely made me sit here just to mess with me.
Odette was exhausted both mentally and physically from using her spiritual power on the Fenrir clan all day.
Sitting around in a drawing room for ages felt like torture.
That time-obsessed freak should’ve left the moment he was even a minute late.
She’d stayed, worried that if she left first, he’d find some petty reason to complain. And now look at the result.
Anxiously biting her lip, Odette checked the watch embedded in her pendant.
It was well past the time she should have returned to the mansion. She had resolved to wait as long as she could before deciding to stay at a nearby hotel.
What made it worse was the persistent alert popping up since 11:30 p.m., every single minute:
[‘Stamina Debuff’ danger zone.]
[You will enter stamina debuff status in 14 minutes. It is recommended that you move to a safe zone.]
Ugh. What was I expecting anyway?
Still, things weren’t as bad as in her past life. At least they shared a sense of vengeance. A common enemy.
Maybe meeting in person was his way of extending an olive branch… I must’ve been out of my mind.
Odette rose from the velvet chair in the drawing room with a bitter smile.
She scribbled something across the envelope that had contained her letter and pulled out a handkerchief from her sleeve.
Staring at the handkerchief with a bitter expression, she thought:
This should be enough to pay for Karl’s information. Karl isn’t worth much to Shion, but this handkerchief probably means something to him.
There was no time left to waste. Rather than fume pointlessly, she decided to leave.
But the moment she went down to the stables and met the coachman, Odette was instantly furious again.
“His Grace ordered me not to release any horse belonging to a guest who came to see him.”
The coachman, addressing her veiled figure, added:
“His Grace’s commands are more important to me than imperial edicts.”
What the hell? What kind of bastard pulls something like this?
She’d been deliberately blocked from using her horse and forced to wait endlessly—only to be completely stood up.
If this wasn’t harassment, what was?
Odette clenched her jaw.
He made me wait, and now expects me to walk home in the dead of night. Piece of garbage.
It would take at least an hour on foot to reach even a half-decent hotel.
But there were only 14 minutes left until the stamina debuff kicked in… She would collapse and fall asleep on the street at this rate.
And if that happened, something bad could easily happen. Worse, if someone recognized her, it would be discovered that she was sneaking out of the count’s mansion.
She couldn’t go back to the bank either. The system had flagged it as a “stamina debuff danger zone.”
[‘Stamina Debuff’ danger zone.]
[You will enter stamina debuff status in 9 minutes. Please relocate to a safe area.]
Then it happened. As if responding to her rising panic, a new alert appeared.
[‘Stamina Debuff’ danger zone.]
[Would you like to delay the debuff timer?
YES / NO]
What the hell is this?
Odette read the new window carefully.
I’ve never seen or heard of this feature before.
But this time, the hidden function seemed helpful—unlike when she’d tried checking Karl’s status and got metaphorically smacked for it.
She selected “YES.”
[Searching for the nearest male protagonist…]
[Closest male protagonist: Shion]
[Would you like to spend Shion’s “affection points” for Odette?
Each 1 affection = 10 minutes delay]
Ugh… nothing ever goes smoothly.
There’s no way the guy who just pulled this crap would have any affection for her.
Being a dark romance game, <Reverse Harem Survival> allowed both affection and hatred to coexist.
You could even max both affection and hatred to 100 at the same time.
If you kept lying while pursuing the reverse harem route, you’d hit the bad ending too.
Of course, most male leads were absolute suckers for the female protagonist, so unless you seriously trolled, their hatred melted away fast.
But so what? Even if it’s possible to coexist, there’s no way Shion has any affec—
[Shion has affection points for you.]
Seriously? Why?
A sense of relief washed over her… but the whole thing was still irritating.
[Because you selected to track “hatred” when binding the pendant, affection values are not visible.]
What if the actual affection is less than what I try to spend?
[Affection will be marked as negative (-) and repaid using future affection.]
So even if I overspend affection, it doesn’t increase hatred?
[Correct. Hatred and affection are completely separate metrics.]
[However, if affection goes into the negatives, pendant usage costs will double until the debt is repaid.]
[Debuff duration x2 (24h → 48h)]
The hotel’s an hour away at most…
Odette did the math.
I’ll spend 6 affection to delay the debuff by 60 minutes.
[Spend 6 affection points?
YES / NO]
There was no way she had six points.
Losing two days to debuffs sucked, but she had no better option.
[Debuff delayed by 60 minutes. Stamina/Mental debuff will apply from 01:00 (Duration: 24 hours)]
[6 affection points deducted (remaining points: hidden)]
But to her surprise, the debuff was still set for 24 hours. So I actually had exactly 6?
She exhaled in relief.
She had no idea why that lunatic had any affection for her—but still, it was fortunate.
At least I didn’t really lose anything.
What endangered her life wasn’t affection—it was hatred.
“Young Lady!”
The coachman called out nervously behind her, but Odette didn’t turn around.
She was utterly drained from enduring such a maliciously cruel day.
Shion hadn’t been able to sleep properly ever since witnessing Odette’s sleep talk.
She appeared in every dream.
And the dreams always ended the same way: obscene and disgusting.
Odette, smiling brightly, would draw close with a seductive grin. Her scent, like blooming peach blossoms, would send him reeling with ecstasy.
After that… well. Hmph. Let’s just say he’d commit acts so filthy they would make his obsessive-compulsive self shudder.
What am I, some horny teenager?
He’d never even had dreams like this during puberty. And now, he was wasting what little sleep he got every night.
That’s why…
He simply couldn’t bring himself to meet her.
