※ T/N: Hi everyone~ I changed the name to Rant and the place to Floren. Thank you so much.

CH 5

A week passed since Kaiel made a certain resolution.

During that time, Delia made more antidotes as Kaiel had instructed. Though it wasn’t a particularly difficult task, she remained deeply worried throughout the week.

“About that extremely important matter. Have you still not thought of any solutions?” 

Lisa asked with concern as she brought in a tray laden with snacks.

Delia shook her head with a gloomy expression.

“There’s no way…… No, that doesn’t mean you need to take the snacks back. Just because I’m troubled doesn’t mean I won’t eat.”

Lisa, who was about to take back the tray she brought, gently set it down in front of Delia.

Delia took a large bite of bread with a savory egg aroma wafting from it. Her chest felt as heavy as her blocked throat.

The plausibility score that had barely risen to the low 80s when she had been living carefree had now fallen to the low 70s.

‘This is dangerous…..’

Delia called out to the system after moistening her blocked throat with milk.

‘System, oh system. How much did you say the plausibility score would drop if I helped the villain?’

After a moment, as always, the system displayed the status window.

[The expected decrease in plausibility score is 10-80 points.]

Even though she already knew this, it still took her breath away. Before, she had thought it would be fine, assuming it would drop around 50 points.

However, the more she thought about it, the more terrified she became.

Tomorrow, they would go to the palace to use the antidote on his mother, Lady Rant.

Originally, this would save someone who was supposed to die from Lapocia poisoning—wouldn’t this completely change the flow of the story!

Moreover, all of this was for the sake of the villain, Kaiel Ceder.

‘The system won’t just let this slide.’

If the decrease could be anywhere from 10 to 80, that meant it could drop by 80.

To feel truly safe, she needed to raise the plausibility score to at least 80.

But how?

Delia asked with a devastated heart.

‘What are some ways to raise the plausibility score significantly at once?’

Unlike the previous response, it took a bit longer for the answer to come.

[The most effective methods to raise plausibility score are as follows:]

[Directly killing the villain ‘Kaiel Ceder’.]

‘……’

‘Is that all?’

Delia pressed her throbbing forehead and spoke again.

‘It doesn’t have to be a significant increase at once. What about decent ways to raise it?’

[The decent methods to raise plausibility score are as follows:]

[Making villain ‘Kaiel Ceder’ unhappy, provoking villain ‘Kaiel Ceder’s’ anger, causing injury to villain ‘Kaiel Ceder’, increasing villain ‘Kaiel Ceder’s’ displeasure…….]

Delia was speechless seeing these methods that so one-sidedly required tormenting someone.

She wondered how there could be such an unconscionable system, then found herself speechless again remembering her own transgression of writing the novel so carelessly without conscience.

Finally, Lisa spoke first.

“Miss. Why have you been frowning, then widening your eyes, then sighing? Has the bread gone bad? Or are you very tired?”

Delia shook her head and lowered her eyes, then suddenly lifted her head and smiled.

Lisa’s expression hardened.

“What’s with that warm smile mixed with sadness and worry?”

It was a bizarre smile that somehow even conveyed a strange excitement.

“I think I’ve found a way.”

“Oh.”

The method her mind had conceived was this:

What Kaiel hated most was, as he had said himself, someone getting hurt.

‘Then wouldn’t it work if I create a situation where Kaiel ends up hurting me?’

Adding the trump card of ‘physical contact’ to that made the plan perfect.

While there were ways to raise the plausibility score by making Kaiel unhappy, considering the pain and stress he would experience, it wasn’t an appealing option.

To begin with, the chances of her plan failing were extremely low. Since she would be implementing everything he hated all at once, it would be stranger if it failed.

“So what’s the method?”

“……It’s a secret, Lisa. Hahaha! Just quietly cheer me on.”

And that night, Delia stood resolutely in front of Kaiel’s bedroom door. Having been here several times already, it felt more familiar than ever.

Delia, with her lips firmly pressed together, kept repeating to herself.

‘This is all just for the plausibility score. It’s because of that damn plausibility score, there’s no personal desire involved……!’

* * *

The tightly closed door opened.

With no apparent intention to open it quietly, the door was boldly pushed open, revealing a figure behind it.

That figure approached the bed in an instant with very quick steps.

‘I can do this, I can do this, I can do this.’

The figure that had abruptly climbed onto the bed straddled the room’s owner who was lying quietly.

Kaiel, who had opened his eyes, couldn’t properly see what was in front of him as his vision went dark.

The figure straddling him had raised their soft hand and somewhat roughly covered his eyes.

There was no need to confirm who it was. There was only one person brave enough to invade his bed in the middle of the night.

“What are you doing?”

Seemingly with no intention to answer, Delia took a long breath in and out. As if making a big decision.

Kaiel spoke quietly.

“Remove your hand and get off.”

Though he could have removed it himself, the fact that he was waiting patiently showed how his patience had grown considerably while living with her.

However, she remained unmoved.

Just as Kaiel was about to sit up, it happened.

Delia immediately bent down and moved straight toward him.

Though he couldn’t see what was happening due to his blocked vision, Kaiel could sense something approaching right in front of his face through his animal instincts.

He quickly lay back down from his attempt to sit up, instantly creating distance from whatever was in front of him.

Before he could even open his mouth about her previous action, her next move completely silenced him.

“……!”

An unfamiliar sensation spread across his lower lip. Though it was very brief, the afterimage was powerful.

After a moment, Delia, who had been almost completely overlapping with Kaiel’s form, slowly raised her body.

She still covered his eyes with one hand.

Wiping her mouth with her other hand, Delia took small breaths.

Then she asked in a slightly excited voice.

“Why aren’t you resisting?”

“……”

When there was no answer, Delia scratched her head awkwardly.

“This isn’t right……”

Delia muttered to herself, too quietly to be heard, then bent down again to bring her face close to the person lying down.

Her soft, tender skin touched him lightly once more before parting.

“Aren’t you angry?”

Still receiving no answer, Delia finally pressed her face completely against his, covering him, and didn’t pull away for a long while.

Her red hair, which had been draped softly over her curved back, spilled to the side.

As if trying to hide what she was about to do, her abundant hair fell like a curtain, concealing both their faces.

When Delia, who had naturally cupped the lying person’s cheek with one hand, raised her head again, her face was flushed red enough to be visible even in the darkness.

The moonlight streaming through the window gap happened to illuminate her red lips that had just been pressed against his.

The sharp jaw and lips visible beneath his hand covering his eyes seemed strangely provocative, making her heart flutter even more.

Delia finally removed his hand from his face, as if unable to bear the frustrating situation any longer.

At that moment, she unconsciously drew in a breath.

As soon as her hand left, his slowly opened eyes were glowing with frightening depth.

Even in the dim moonlight, those gray-blue eyes remained coolly blue. Eyes calm without any sign of surprise.

Those eyes stared directly at her.

At last, a voice, deeper and thicker, spoke.

“……Delia.”

Delia, hearing her name called, flinched like a child caught doing something wrong. In truth, it was wrong.

The problem was that despite committing this wrongdoing, what she had ambitiously planned hadn’t been realized at all.

Delia asked in an aggrieved voice.

“Why aren’t you resisting or getting angry?”

She waited to see if perhaps a plausibility score increase notification would appear, but the system remained silent.

In her plan, he shouldn’t have been like this.

Especially if it was him from her novel, this definitely shouldn’t have happened.

He should have become furiously angry as soon as she climbed on top of him, should have roughly pushed her away or shoved her far when she attempted to kiss him.

The more intense and deep the kiss became, the stronger that reaction should have been.

If it was the Kaiel she knew.

‘I was trying to increase Kaiel’s displeasure through skinship, and make him hurt me to raise his anger.’

If that had worked, she could have accomplished both methods the system had indicated: ‘Raise villain Kaiel Ceder’s anger’ and ‘Raise villain Kaiel Ceder’s displeasure’ at once.

After all, his anger trigger was always someone getting hurt because of him.

However, her plan, which she had been confident was quite plausible, seemed to have completely turned to bubbles at this moment.

Facing reality, Delia, whose embarrassment had instantly reached its limit, hurriedly climbed off his body.

She really couldn’t understand it.

If he had felt displeasure or anger but suppressed its expression through deepened patience, the system should have shown a notification anyway. Because his true emotions would have been real regardless of his outward appearance.