2. Grace Period of Peace

“Miss. Miss Erna!”

“Mmm…… Ten more minutes. Just ten more minutes of sleep, Masha……”

Despite Erna’s whining, her personal maid Masha’s attitude remained firm.

“You said the exact same thing an hour ago. Did you forget that Miss Violet and Master Zenon are coming today? Get up quickly.”

Masha forcibly helped Erna up, who was wriggling deeper into the fluffy feather comforter. Dragged to the bathroom in a half-asleep state, Erna didn’t wake from her drowsy sleep until after she had bathed and was drying her hair.

Thanks to the skilled maid’s touch, her puffy face and hair that had stuck up like a bird’s nest were transformed beyond recognition.

Fine rose-pink hair that reached her waist and fresh green eyes that seemed to contain verdant foliage. Erna nodded satisfactorily at her reflection in the mirror. Dressed up like this, she was unmistakably a noble young lady.

‘As expected. For an extra, she has quite a pretty face.’

It had been about two years since she possessed the extra ‘Erna Lizbeth’ from the game 『To Escape the Tyrant’s Shadow』 that she had played only once. Though she had been absorbed in the game, burning the midnight oil, she was briefly shocked by the ending where the female protagonist, tormented by the tyrant male lead, finally slit her wrists in the bathroom and committed suicide.

Absurdly, she had been dragged into the game world.

[One day you possessed the female protagonist’s childhood friend! To return to the original world, you must perform one important quest.

That is to save the female protagonist, who is destined to meet a miserable death through marriage to the tyrant, and help her safely unite with the lover she truly loves!

Upon failure: Eternal death]

‘Are you insane? What kind of game is this?!’

She hadn’t even enjoyed her fresh university freshman life for more than half a year. What? Eternal death?

After hurling all sorts of curses at the status window floating in the air, she eventually had no choice but to accept reality before long. And she gritted her teeth, clenched both fists tightly, and made a resolution.

She would somehow clear this damn quest and escape from this shitty game. Then she would sue the company that made this game.

***

Eventually running a bit late for the appointment, Erna hurried her steps toward the garden. Through the white pergola where tea and refreshments were set, she could see the two familiar figures.

“Erna, you’re here?”

“What kind of kid are you to always oversleep? You’re not a newborn.”

At Zenon’s teasing reproach, Erna snorted.

“Don’t you know the saying that beauties are sleepyheads?”

“Not a beauty, but a bear hibernating in winter.”

When Erna glared with fierce eyes, Zenon slyly averted his gaze.

After chatting away without noticing the time passing, it was already well past noon.

Erna looked at the two people across from her with fond eyes. The original female protagonist Violet and the sub-male lead Zenon, who was still her unofficial lover. Anyone could see they liked each other.

Watching the two of them being lovey-dovey, a mischievous urge arose in Erna, so she feigned ignorance and asked in a subtle tone.

“Tell me honestly. Are you two secretly dating behind my back?”

“What? That’s absolutely not it!”

“Cough, cough.”

While Violet waved her hands in shock and denial, Zenon beside her choked and coughed repeatedly.

“Denying it so vehemently makes it more suspicious.”

“Erna Lizbeth!”

Thinking Violet might burst into tears if she went further, Erna stopped her teasing and reached for a cookie on the tray.

‘Honestly, they do suit each other well.’

There was unfortunately a good reason why these two always chose the Lizbeth mansion as their dating spot. It was because Violet’s parents, the Marquis and Marchioness of Plessen, didn’t favorably regard Zenon, the second son of a viscount family, as a son-in-law.

Erna sighed inwardly in frustration, propped her chin on one hand, and sucked her drink through a straw.

When she first possessed this body, she had been so heated up that she was frantically focused only on completing the quest. Now, apart from the game, her desire for these two people’s happiness had also become earnest. Having shared joys and sorrows together for two years, she had unknowingly grown deeply attached.

‘Anyway, I need to safely marry these two off……’

The difference from playing the game on a mobile phone was that the countless choices that had been given didn’t exist here at all.

The status window that had infuriated her with its ridiculous quest hadn’t shown even a trace since the first day of her possessing this body. Even when she shouted at the air demanding it appear immediately, nothing changed.

A situation where she gained freedom of action but couldn’t expect any external help until the ending.

A user who had played this game multiple times would have no problem, but she had only played it once.

‘And even that was a bad ending.’

The scene where Violet slit her wrists in the bathtub in the original story, the terrible scene where the blood flowing from her wrists stained the bathwater red, was still vivid.

“Ugh.”

As she shivered from the goosebumps rising all over her body, Violet’s worried voice reached her.

“Erna, are you sick somewhere?”

“Huh?”

“I thought you might have caught a cold.”

“No, I’m just a bit cold. Did I dress too lightly? I’ll go get a blanket from my room real quick!”

Avoiding Violet who was trying to feel her forehead, Erna jumped up and hurried into the mansion before anyone could stop her. Having just recalled that terrible death, it was hard to meet Violet’s eyes.

‘Since it’s come to this, I’ll give those two some time to enjoy their date intimately.’

Erna, who had been about to go up to her room with some snacks, widened her eyes at Eleanor’s early return as she entered the entrance lobby.

“Mother?”

Eleanor, who smiled as she removed her hat and gloves, discovered the snacks in Erna’s arms and narrowed her eyes thinly. Skipping meals for snacks was one of Erna’s bad habits.

“Haha…… You’re home early?”

When Erna glanced around and slowly hid the snacks behind her back, Eleanor replied with a face that said she’d let it slide just this once.

“The gathering was canceled midway.”

“Did something happen?”

“Her Majesty the empress urgently summoned Marchioness Plessen to the palace. What could we do when the host was called away? We had no choice but to stop the gathering.”

The moment the empress was mentioned from Eleanor’s mouth, Erna’s expression hardened.

“What was the reason Her Majesty the empress suddenly called for her?”

“Well, it seemed even the marchioness didn’t know. She’ll tell us when she returns from the imperial palace.”

If following the original story, the crown prince would return from the battlefield next spring. A private meeting between the empress and the marchioness at this point when winter was almost over……

She had a bad feeling.

***

And bad feelings never miss their mark.

Early in the morning, Violet who visited the mansion was haggard unlike a few days ago. Whether she hadn’t eaten or slept properly, her face was pale without a trace of color, and her platinum hair that had been lustrous was disheveled and dull.

“Sob, sniff…… What do I do now, Erna? An engagement with His Highness the crown prince. Zenon…… what do I tell Zenon?”

“Calm down first, Violet. You’ll collapse at this rate. Okay?”

Erna supported Violet, who was sobbing miserably in her arms, and carefully laid her on the bed.

“I don’t even know that person. No matter how important interests are in noble marriages, what about my feelings having to spend my whole life with someone I don’t love?! I resent mother so much!”

“Violet……”

Erna bit her lips hard.

On the day the empress commanded Marchioness Plessen to enter the palace, some kind of deal must have passed between them. Otherwise, there was no way they would announce an engagement ceremony so suddenly……

‘The timing has been moved up from the original. Originally, talk of the engagement ceremony should have been mentioned much later after the crown prince returned from the battlefield.’

Since she had possessed an extra from the start, it would be difficult to change the major flow of the original story.

To prevent Violet and the crown prince’s marriage, she had to meet the crown prince at the victory banquet before the engagement ceremony was held.

Erna firmly grasped the sobbing Violet’s hand and made a resolution.

‘It’s okay. I’ll somehow stop it.’

Her green eyes shone with determination.