RATBA Chapter 1

### The Curse Has a Special Cure: Physical Contact

The end of this game is always the same.

I win, my stepsister Claudia is groveling under the guillotine’s blade, begging for my forgiveness…

Our fates have never deviated from this outcome.

“Naila… No, my sister. Please… Just this once, forgive me.”

“Only now do you call me your sister, Claudia.”

Vermin, trash, a parasite leeching off the duke’s family, a loser…

These were the names Claudia had called me over the years.

It made me feel nauseous.

The same woman who had been so arrogant while abusing her adopted sister was now groveling before her impending death.

Instead of feeling any sympathy, my disgust only grew.

It seemed I wasn’t the only one feeling this way.

Regis, who was standing next to me, clicked his tongue in disapproval.

As the crown prince, he commanded the executioner.

“Carry out the execution.”

The gleaming blade fell and severed Claudia’s neck in an instant.

Thud.

The sound of her head hitting the ground sent shivers down my spine, but I did not look away from her.

It was my final respect to the enemy who had driven me to the brink of death.

[The End]

Watching the ending credits roll on my phone screen, I stretched my body.

A sense of accomplishment and liberation washed over me simultaneously.

I had just killed the villainess Claudia in the game, and witnessed the 200th ending of the mobile game “Naila” with my own eyes.

“Ugh, I’m so stiff… But I feel refreshed.”

This game could be described simply as a simulation of a medieval noblewoman’s life.

At the start of the game, the player becomes a girl named Naila.

From there, you experience love, battles, and farewells as you complete her life story.

When you start the game, there are 100 professions to choose from.

Depending on the choices made, there are 200 different endings to unlock.

As a result, the game was famous for its incredible freedom.

For instance, even if you choose the same profession, like a thief, your actions could determine whether you become a righteous thief or remain a petty criminal.

“I’ve played this game for so long.”

I have a troublesome habit of not putting down a game until I’ve seen everything it has to offer.

So, I had cleared 199 endings in this game.

The only ending I hadn’t seen was the 200th one, where “Naila becomes a happy empress,” but I had just completed it.

In other words, I had fully conquered this game.

“It’s really over…”

Yet, why did I feel so uneasy?

The image of Claudia’s pleading eyes as she died kept coming to mind.

Despite the game’s condition of clearing by killing the villainess Claudia, and witnessing her death 200 times…

[Naila… No, my sister. Please, just this once, forgive me.]

The game’s realistic portrayal of death scenes made me question the developers’ sanity.

I was sure I’d see Claudia’s ghost in my dreams tonight.

“I need to sleep.”

I glanced at the clock to see it was already 3 a.m.

I wondered if I could wake up on time for tomorrow’s lecture if I slept now.

With urgency, I prepared to go to bed.

Until a strange message popped up on my phone screen.

<Do you want to challenge the 201st ending?>

I quickly sat back up.

“This game only has 200 endings, right? There was a 201st ending?”

I had never heard of this before.

It seemed like a hidden ending, revealed only to those who had seen all 200 endings.

Moreover, the character to be played this time was not Naila.

It appeared to be the villainess Claudia.

Judging by the name “Claudia” hovering above my character’s head.

“So now I’m the villainess…”

I might be the first player to ever use Claudia’s character.

My heart raced with excitement at the thought.

Without hesitation, I pressed the “YES” button.

<Please choose Claudia’s profession.>

Merchant, politician, founder of a religion, swindler, and so on.

Many choices appeared.

But I wasn’t interested in any of the common professions.

Among the 100 professions, the one that captivated me the most was this.

<Contractor of Spirits>

This profession was one I had never seen while playing as Naila.

Having seen this, the other trivial professions no longer caught my eye.

I immediately chose it as my profession.

<As a Contractor of Spirits, you must awaken the five spirits scattered throughout the Velkynus Empire and form contracts with all of them. If you fail, you will be killed by your sister Naila’s schemes. Do you wish to proceed?>

I tilted my head in confusion at the message.

To my knowledge, Naila wasn’t the type to plot schemes.

“A non-villainess Naila plotting schemes…? Has the whole story changed because the protagonist character has changed?”

Anyway, I pressed the “YES” button to start the game.

Soon, an opening song played.

Unlike the bright and cheerful opening song of Naila, this one was a solemn classical piece.

At the same time, a dreamlike, fairytale-like illustration appeared on the screen.

“A battlefield…?”

In the center of the picture was an emperor who seemed to have just come from a fierce battle.

In front of the emperor, a knight was swearing allegiance.

White text scrolled across the bottom of the picture.

<The emperor spoke to his loyal knight.
“You bravely threw yourself before the enemy’s blade and saved my life. Tell me what you wish for, and I will grant it.”
“I desire nothing. I wish for nothing.”
“But I cannot rest easy if I grant you nothing. Therefore, I promise you this: if you have a daughter, I will ensure she marries one of my two sons.”
The emperor promised. He would marry the knight’s daughter to one of the princes.
Even if that daughter was neither beautiful nor wise.
The knight was overwhelmed by the excessive gesture, but the emperor did not retract his promise.
When the knight returned home victorious, he heard joyous news.
His wife, who was pregnant when he left for the battlefield, had given birth to a daughter.
The knight named the child Claudia and began to raise her as a future empress.
However…>

At this point, the illustration changed.

This time, it was a picture of a sickly girl lying in bed.

<Claudia was born with a congenital illness.
Seeing his daughter too frail to even go outside, the knight brought in a healer.
But the healer shook his head and left, saying only that Claudia would not live past the age of ten.
The knight was troubled.
Even if he informed the emperor that his daughter would not live long, the emperor would not withdraw his promise.
Desperate, the knight tried to have another daughter, but failed repeatedly.
In the end, he chose a last resort.
He adopted a girl from a fallen noble family.
That girl’s name was Naila, a daughter of a fallen house and Claudia’s substitute.
Naila diligently prepared to become an empress.
However, just when it seemed her life would go smoothly, an obstacle appeared…>

The new illustration showed Claudia, now more grown up.

Oddly enough, she looked healthy.

There was no trace of her previous illness as she glided through the ballroom in a glamorous dress.

<Contrary to expectations, Claudia recovered her health.
As she gradually shed her sickly appearance and blossomed into a beautiful woman, Naila became a discordant note in the otherwise harmonious family.
Pushed to the brink, Naila had only one choice left…>

Ambiguously, the prologue ended there.

What followed was neither a picture nor a narrative, but a single question.

<Do you wish to start your story?>

Beneath the question were the options “YES” and “NO”.

Once again, I unhesitatingly pressed the “YES” button.

—

A month had passed since I entered the game.

Yet, I still regretted my choice.

Why did I press “YES” back then?

If I had chosen “NO,” I would be peacefully worrying about my grades now…

Every day, I regretted my decision, tearing my hair out in frustration.

The day after watching the prologue, I woke up under an unfamiliar ceiling.

A medieval European-style ceiling with painted murals.

I wandered around in a daze until I saw my reflection in a full-length mirror.

[Aaaahhhh!!]

It was natural for me to scream.

My real appearance was gone, replaced by an extremely foreign-looking woman in the mirror.

Almost cream-colored blonde hair and sky-blue eyes…

The person in the mirror looked exactly like the illustrated Claudia from the game.

So, it wasn’t hard to understand that I had somehow entered the game and possessed Claudia’s body.

Even now, fully adjusted to this new reality, I would get startled by my reflection.

“Who is this?”

I would wonder, tilting my head, only to remember that this was my new appearance.

This morning, too, I couldn’t tear myself away from the mirror for a long time.

“I can’t get used to this…”

I had to admit, she was incredibly beautiful.

If she existed in reality, she would undoubtedly become a movie star or model.

Her skin was fair, her figure perfect, able to pull off any outfit.

Even my eyesight had improved, eliminating the need for my previously essential glasses.

But… The problem was, I simply couldn’t get used to it.

“Miss, the tea is ready!”

Just as I was lost in my thoughts, Claudia’s maid, Maria, entered the room to inform me.