His silver hair sank into my arms. As I lovingly stroked his hair, the soft texture winding around my fingers felt pleasant.

When I pulled his head tightly toward me, he pressed his lips deeply against mine and wrapped me in an embrace. His large hands, full of warmth, transmitted their heat to me and then traced the shallow curves of my spine with his fingertips.

It seemed that the shyness melted away quickly. I liked the ticklish sensations spreading all over my body so much that nothing else mattered anymore.

The only thoughts in my slowly surrendering mind were like these.

Ah, this is teasing. Maybe I should just pounce. Should I rush at him right now?

At the moment when I was about to rationalize my choice by blaming my body weakened by the temptation of the Seven Deadly Sins,

[ Notification. The Countess is slacking off.]

[ Notification. The Countess is slacking off.]

[ Notification. The Countess is slacking off.]

“...Reid, what time is it now?”

“Eight o’clock.”

“What...!”

Startled, I was stopped from getting up by him wrapping his arms around my waist. While still pressing his lips to mine, he said,

“You barely managed to sleep at dawn. You must be tired, so just lie down some more.”

“No, but still...”

“You don’t have to do anything.”

At that moment, something strange happened. The system window that had been bustling suddenly fell silent, and the message changed.

[ Notification. Today is the Countess’s day off. Please enjoy your rest.]

That’s good...?

Immediately relaxing my body, I lay down gently as Reid’s lips traced along my skin.

I felt the mood soften again, but a serious problem arose.

Growl. My stomach loudly made its presence known. Since his gaze and my belly were at the same level, I felt embarrassed.

For a while, we just stared blankly at each other, frozen. I calmly grabbed a pillow to cover my stomach and warned Reid.

“Don’t laugh.”

“Okay, I won’t.”

His lips were already curved, but I decided to let the smile slide.

He kissed my cheek briefly, then dressed. Before leaving the room, he told me to rest.

By the time my hair began to tint pink, the door opened again.

He returned pulling a cart full of food. Setting it down in front of the bed, he personally offered me a morning roll.

“Eat, Ai.”

“...Okay.”

Carefully taking a bite of the bread, he took it back. While I melted and chewed it with my tongue, he served food onto plates.

Soon, a spoonful of soup and forkfuls of vegetables were offered one after another.

As if not allowing me to do anything, he busily moved the utensils. I think this is the first time in my life I’ve had such a blissful pretend play.

“Eat a lot, Ai. You need strength to have energy.”

“Strength... yeah. I have to... yeah.”

“That’s right.”

“Then you eat too, Reid.”

“Shall I?”

Since the amount and variety of food on the cart were considerable, just feeding each other one by one took a long time.

Despite the cute game continuing, surprisingly no physical contact happened, so my hair color stayed pink.

Still, I don’t know why I occasionally felt myself weakened by the temptation of the Seven Deadly Sins.

While sharing one morning roll between us, our eyes met closely.

Aware that we were doing something childish, we both laughed at the same time in our throats. The vibration traveled along our lips and felt like it reached my heart.

I bit into the morning roll hard, snatching more than half of it, then gazed at Reid. He looked puzzled.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

I was curious.

My gaze shifted just above his handsome face.

[ World Destruction Meter 9% (▼10%p)]

‘Single digit?!’

Wow, that was really unprecedented.

“Ai?”

Before perceptive Reid could get suspicious, I quickly adjusted my gaze and looked deeply into his sea-colored eyes.

“Reid, are you happy?”

“Yeah. Because you’re here.”

He answered immediately and smiled brightly. His white appearance made me stare absentmindedly.

“You need to eat, Ai.”

“Ah, yes.”

Only after hearing his gentle warning to stop looking at his face and focus on eating did I come back to my senses.

Murmuring bacon, I glanced at the top of my head when Reid wasn’t looking. My thoughts grew heavier.

How long will the world destruction meter stay this low? Even if we go outside the dungeon, can it be maintained this low? It will, right? It has to.

With hopeful thoughts, I carefully started a topic I felt I should bring up.

“Hey, Reid.”

“Yeah.”

“Did you know it’s already been eight days since we came to the mansion?”

Reid lowered his gaze.

“...I see.”

“We originally planned to stay here about fifteen days. Time is passing quickly. Half of it’s already gone.”

“True.”

“If we stay here one more week, it’ll be safe outside. I was thinking maybe we could start preparing our escape gradually.”

“Is that so.”

After I spoke, Reid’s short, [N O V E L I G H T] subdued replies continued for a while.

‘Huh, what is this. Something’s off.’

The warm and sweet atmosphere that had filled the room moments ago was gone.

Instead, a strange discomfort pierced my mind. I quickly realized what it was caused by.

Reid’s attitude.

He answered as if indifferent and inattentive to a topic he had no interest in. It was strange that Reid was the one acting this way toward me.

If it were me, I’d never treat you like that. You wouldn’t do this to me without reason.

Then why?

“Reid?”

When my voice, tinged with unease, called him, the sound of Reid putting down utensils rang unusually loud.

In a strange tension, I met his eyes. He smiled just as before.

“Yeah, Ai. Do you have something to say?”

“...”

He was acting as if what I said never happened. Something was really going wrong.

“If you have nothing to say, I’ll say it.”

“...”

“About the escape... do we really have to do it?”

“...”

‘Really have to.’

There could be no bigger discord than that.

Instead of a dumb question, my mouth took a deep breath.

‘No way.’

Leaning toward my frozen form, he gently cupped my cheek with one hand and spoke.

“Why would you think I’d cooperate with your escape?”

“...!”

Though his affectionate gaze and gentle touch were no different from before, the feeling was totally different.

“...”

“...”

Silence flowed. At that moment, I truly felt that he had taken the opposite side.

“Why... all of a sudden?”

“Suddenly?”

His low laugh, resonant and charming, sounded even in this situation.

“The word escape is nonsense. For me, this mansion is a safe zone escaped from the world. And... did you forget? I read this novel to the end because I wanted to see the third ending.”

“So you intend to realize that ending here? Even if I hate it?”

“Oh, Ai.”

He put on a mock pitiful expression.

“Of course not. I hate being hated by you more than saving the world, so why would I do that?”

“Then tell me why. Something I can understand.”

“That’s the best I can do.”

“What?”

In the end, my mouth blurted out a dumb question. Reid explained carefully.

“Ai, do you want to get out of here? Then there’s only one way. You have to kill the protagonist. Whether by breaking the taboo or physically.”

“Why kill the protagonist to escape?”

“Only the protagonist can escape. If you escape, the Countess will be trapped alone in the mansion. The Guest will be left waiting endlessly in loneliness for the Countess to return.”

“...!”

My head buzzed as if hit hard on the back.

‘We can’t go out together?’

Thinking about it, it made sense.

The Countess is the villain who imprisons the protagonist. The protagonist has no reason to go out with the villain. Escaping is to avoid the villain.

His deep, resonant voice continued.

“You noticed too, right? Actually, the Countess wants to kill the Guest. Even the temptation is just a means. For the Countess, that’s the only way to escape the mansion. But...”

“...”

“Ai, you can’t kill me, right? Then there’s only one ending left.”

His upper body leaned backward. When he briefly closed and opened his eyes, I was lying on the bed sheets.

He pressed the sheets down with his forearms, trapping me in his embrace, and confessed.

“If I can be with you, even if this tiny world is all I have, that’s fine. So...”

“...”

“Say you love me.”

[ Notification. Imprisonment route achievement is imminent.]

At this moment, I fully realized it. This genre.

‘Wow, this is definitely a dark, destructive story.’

From gentle kisses to deep penetration, this place was the perfect wasteland.