Rose was in a great predicament.
To her right was the third prince of the Astor Kingdom, prideful and— apparently— fiercely possessive.
To the left was the crown prince of the Yale Kingdom (usually as calm as the ocean) glaring at the third prince's hand that held her shoulder.
Their swords were about to clash.
'Wtf!?'
All she did was give them some lip service [two times] from this d*mn game, and they were already fighting for her? Since when was life this easy?
Rose stared– stupefied– at the two 'ikemen', and two choices popped out in front of her screen.
"How about I just walk away and forget anything happened? Can I do that?"
Before Rose could make her impossible choice, her phone started ringing.
*Christine Calling*
"He—"
"SO?? Do you like it?" Christine screamed in excitement. She was referring to the game Rose was playing.
No. No, she didn't like it, actually. Her precious vacation time had been wasted on this cheesy Otome Game Christine recommended. That time could've been spent reading war tactics!
How can she say it without hurting Christine's feelings… "I hate it."
"Aww, you didn't have to be so blunt about it, haha! Don't worry, it gets better!" Here goes her friend's infamous line.
Rose sighed. Since Christine got engaged, she's been pestering her to also 'live her life' and 'find a man' already.
Christine didn't expect Rose to have such a low EQ when it comes to dating and repel all the people who were even remotely interested in her. In the end, she resorted to forcing her to play Otome Games as a form of 'training.'
This game, 'Chamillet's Ball', is one of the most popular otome games in the market right now. It was set in a fantasy world with Seven Kingdoms. Five Princes of those kingdoms happen to fall in love with the oh-so-loveable Female Lead.
Rose stared at the pink-haired faceless character to the left of the game's dialogue box. This female lead was a commoner adopted into nobility. When she turned of age, she attended the biggest ball in the land and instantly intrigued the male leads with her powerful aura. Her name was also Rose.
Roseanne Blanc (or Rose Blanc) was labeled as one of the most powerful mages in the land.
She was really powerful.
So fking powerful that she was even able to hurt this Rose's eyeballs from seeing her cry so d*mn much. It's such a disgrace that they share the same name.
'Powerful my a$$! What use is that power for if she can't even protect herself from being assaulted by the male leads? Does her power suddenly drain itself at the sight of hot men?'
Rose turned her attention back to the quarreling princes and the choices the game was forcing her to pick from, "option 1 or 2?"
"Huh? Which route are you on? Which scene?"
"It doesn't matter. Just answer it," Rose heard a sigh at the other end of the line.
"Fine… option 2 then," Christine said, and Rose quickly chose 'Call Delbert'. Delbert was the cold and calculating prince of this game. He was also the female lead's fiancé. It certainly made sense that she would side with him.
["Delbert! It's okay, I didn't get hurt,"] the female lead scurried to Delbert and hugged him before he had the chance to unsheathe his sword.
This man just declared a full-out war with the Kingdom of Astor because the third prince abducted the female lead and forced her to go on a date with him.
Let alone the weird politics of this world, does this Delbert prince not care about the lives of innocent people they'd be shedding if war happened? Does he have to be so dramatic? Can't he think of other ways to punish the third prince for abduction? Rose complained to Christine as she clicked through Delbert's dialogue.
"It might be hard for you, but don't think too much about the war and politics of this game! It's gonna save you a lot of headaches," Christine said.
For someone who grew up in a military family with a few four-star generals, it was truly difficult not to think about war and politics. It didn't help that she was actually interested in them.
"Then tell me what's so great about this game."
Christine fake coughed before saying, "there's a lot of flirting."
"… really?"
"Yup! Let me tell you how you're supposed to flirt with each character…," Christine didn't wait for her to say anything and bombarded her with information. Then, she finally hung up.
Rose's computer screen turned black, and she stared at her reflection. She allowed herself to be lost in her thoughts.
She was curious about this whole romance thing. As one of the rising intellectuals of the military, all her time has been spent learning about tactical strategies and improving her physical condition.
She loved what she was doing, but it always felt like she was isolated. She never minded a little loneliness until she came across one recurring dream.
The dream was like a warning about what would happen ten years into the future. During what would be one of the Great Wars in history, her trusted team betrayed and killed her right before she could claim her victory against the allied enemies.
She was then labeled a tyrannical leader who mistreated her soldiers and extorted her allies throughout the history books.
She had never mistreated anyone, but it was easy to bend the truth about her because she rarely interacted with anyone outside of what was necessary.
After that dream, she tried being friendlier to the people around her, but it was like a lock had been placed to guard her emotions and prevented her from getting close to anyone.
There was always this distance from others that she could never cross. She realized how terrible her impression was to other people, but she didn't know how to correct it.
She didn't want to end up in a miserable position.
When Christine bugged her about playing Otome Games to gain the targets' affections, she agreed because she thought it could help her understand how to gain people's favorability.
At least she won't be making a fool out of herself if she made mistakes.
After all, it was just a game.
After the conflict between Prince Delbert Yale and Prince Alastair Astor, the female lead was finally free to do her own thing. Rose had her come home to rest and refill her energy bar.
Rose Blanc walked into her bedroom and triggered another scene.
A book fell from her pastel pink shelf and landed at her feet. Its musty brown cover seemed out of place in this tidy room.
Rose Blanc flipped the book. On its front page, it read:
Huh?
Rose Lee sucked in cold air when she read her name in the game. She re-read it two— no three more times to make sure she wasn't hallucinating.
Lee is a very common last name. Surely, it's a coincidence that the creators of this game chose the name Rose Lee to put on the book,
right?
She hoped that Rose Blanc would read that book. She wanted to know more about it. Just read one page, hurry!
Rose Lee wasn't disappointed as her screen soon changed into a CG where Rose Blanc was on the floor— reading.
The background music halted as if the game was terrified of distracting the female lead.
Whispers of an unknown language filled the silence. Then it stopped.
Rose Blanc turned to the screen as if she was aware of the person behind it.
'What?'
Rose Lee immediately reached for her laptop's power button. She pressed it, held it, and tapped it multiple times. Yet the screen remained unchanging.
The female lead's faceless avatar formed a smile.
Slam!
Rose Lee slammed her laptop shut. Her eyes widened as she tried to make sense of what just happened.
"... no way."
But before she could even make any solid reasoning, a voice echoed in her head.
"Dormio."
Rose Lee's eyelids felt heavier, and sleep soon overcame her.