KFBRV Ch 43
- Jan 25
- 6 min read
Their relationship was said to be so antagonistic that no one would ever guess they were a Transcendent and a Purifier. It seemed he was determined to torment her by any means necessary.
[Zion] "And besides, I don’t find that woman all that repulsive."
His voice sounded as if the words themselves were strangling him.
Sure, sure. I understand. You must find her quite repulsive to speak in such a strained tone. It’s sarcasm. It has to be.
In the end, Max took the side of his cousin rather than the villainess. To him, this was simply a battle of wills between two pieces of beautiful trash.
If that were the case, it would be better for the piece of beautiful trash he was actually friends with to win.
[Checking Zion’s Loathing level.]
[Loathing: 50]
This absolute bastard.
Her teeth were grinding together.
Following a gut feeling that he was nearby, she had opened her necklace to check, and sure enough, the level was displayed. The loathing level could only be confirmed if the target was within a twenty-meter radius. This meant he was currently inside this very building.
That wretched man. He really did leave me sitting here just to toy with me.
She was already physically and mentally drained from dealing with the Fenrir children all day. Waiting in the reception room for this long felt like nothing short of torture.
I should have left the moment that time-obsessed freak was even a minute late.
She had stayed only because she feared he would use her early departure as an excuse to cause trouble, but it had led to this.
She bit her lip anxiously and checked the watch inside her necklace. The time to return to the mansion had long since passed. She was currently waiting until her absolute limit, thinking she would just have to stay at a nearby hotel.
What made her even more anxious was the status window that had been popping up every minute since 11:30 PM.
[Stamina Debuff: Danger Zone.]
[You will enter a Stamina Debuff state in 14 minutes. It is recommended that you move to an area where safety is guaranteed.]
Sigh. What was I even expecting?
She tried to reason with herself. Their relationship wasn't as bad as it had been in her previous life, and they were, in a sense, comrades bound by a desire for revenge.
I actually thought that meeting me in person might be a sign of his goodwill...
I must have been out of my mind.
She stood up from the velvet chair in the reception room with a bitter smile. She scribbled something on the envelope of the letter she had written and then pulled a handkerchief from her sleeve. She looked down at the cloth with a somber expression.
This should be enough to pay for the information on Karl. Karl isn’t worth that much to Zion yet, and this handkerchief will have meaning for him.
She could not afford to waste any more time. Rather than indulging in meaningless anger, she decided to leave.
However, when she made her way down to the stables and met the groom, her fury reached its peak once again.
[Groom] "The Marquis gave strict orders never to release the horse of any guest who comes to see him, my lady."
Odette, who had put her veiled hat back on, stared at him. The loyal groom added another barb to her frustration.
[Groom] "To me, the Marquis’ orders are higher than a royal decree."
Is he insane? What kind of person acts like this?
Preventing her from using her own horse, making her wait indefinitely, and then never showing up—if this wasn't harassment, she didn't know what was.
She clenched her jaw.
He’s making me wait, and then he expects me to walk home in the middle of the night.
What a piece of work.
It would take at least an hour to walk to the nearest hotel. But she only had fourteen minutes until the Stamina Debuff hit. She was on the verge of falling asleep right in the middle of the street.
If she fell asleep in public, anything could happen to her. If even one person recognized her, the Count would find out she had been sneaking out of the mansion.
Returning to the bank wasn't an option either. The status window had explicitly labeled it a "Stamina Debuff Danger Zone."
[Stamina Debuff: Danger Zone.]
[You will enter a Stamina Debuff state in 9 minutes. It is recommended that you move to an area where safety is guaranteed.]
It was then that a new status window appeared, as if answering her desperation.
[Stamina Debuff: Danger Zone]
[Would you like to delay the debuff time? YES / NO]
What is this?
She read the floating window carefully.
I’ve never seen or heard of a function like this before.
Fortunately, it seemed this hidden feature was actually going to be helpful this time, unlike the "Karl's status window unavailable" incident that had felt like a slap in the back of the head.
She selected "YES."
[Searching for the nearest male lead...]
[Closest male lead: Zion]
[Would you like to pay with Zion’s 'Favorability' toward Odette?]
[Every 1 point of Favorability allows for a 10-minute delay.]
Ha... nothing ever goes smoothly.
She doubted that a man who was currently treating her this way would have any favorability toward her at all.
Since The Only Savior was an angst-filled game, favorability and loathing could coexist. It was possible to max out both at one hundred simultaneously. If one played the "Reverse Harem Route" while telling constant lies, it was even possible to see a Bad Ending this way.
Of course, the male leads were usually such pushovers for the heroine that their loathing would normally melt away unless the player was intentionally trying to ruin things.
But what does that matter? Whether they can coexist or not, there's no way he has any favorability toward me—
[Zion possesses 'Favorability.']
Really? Why?
She felt a sense of relief at being saved, but the fact itself was unpleasant in its own way.
[Since 'Loathing' was selected at the time the necklace was bound, specific favorability values cannot be confirmed.]
What happens if the actual favorability is less than what I try to pay?
[Favorability will be displayed as a negative (-) value, and you will repay it with future favorability.]
So even if I use more than I have, the debt won't be added to my loathing level?
[That is correct. Loathing and Favorability are independent domains.]
[However, while a negative (-) balance remains unpaid, the cost of using the necklace will be doubled.]
[Debuff duration: Double (24 hours -> 48 hours).]
I should be able to reach a hotel within an hour at the latest.
Having finished her calculations, she gave the command in her mind.
I’ll pay 6 points of favorability to delay it by 60 minutes.
[Would you like to pay 6 points of Favorability? YES / NO]
She assumed he wouldn't actually have six points. It was a waste of time to lose two days to a debuff, but she had no other choice right now.
[The debuff start time has been delayed by 60 minutes. Stamina/Sanity debuff will apply from 01:00 (Duration: 24 hours).]
[6 points of Favorability deducted (Remaining favorability undisclosed).]
Contrary to her expectations, the parentheses indicated twenty-four hours.
What? I guess he had exactly six points.
She let out a sigh of relief. She had no idea how that madman had come to have a favorability toward her, but it was a stroke of luck.
It doesn’t matter. Practically speaking, I haven't lost anything.
Loathing was the only stat directly related to her death, not favorability.
[Groom] "My lady!"
The groom called out to her, looking restless, but she did not look back.
After a day filled with so much malice, she was truly exhausted.
Zion had not been able to sleep properly since he witnessed Odette talking in her sleep. That version of her appeared in every one of his dreams, and the ending of those dreams was always tawdry and shameful.
In the dreams, a brightly smiling Odette would embrace him with a seductive smirk. He would lose his senses to a mesmerizing scent of peach blossoms, and after that...
Well..... he would end up doing things so disgusting and filthy that he, a man with severe germaphobia, had never even imagined them.
I’m not some adolescent boy.
He complained to himself.
In reality, he hadn't even had dreams like that when he was a teenager. Thanks to her, he was wasting his already short sleeping hours every single day.
That was the reason. That was why he couldn't bring himself to go down and face her.
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