Chapter 1

Prologue. Effort to be Loved

The villain shouted harshly at the pitiful heroine.

["I'll kill you!"]

["Can't you stop, Theresa Squire—!"]

However, the heroine was not about to be a victim.

This was the scene where the villain, who was also the half-sister, was eliminated.

["Ah, Father."]

["Trying to kill your own sister, you've finally gone too far! I can no longer tolerate you, even if you are my child."]

Thud!

I paused the game and checked the playtime.

"Hmm... I'm dying too quickly again."

My long hair, which I had cut and tied up haphazardly, hung loosely.

A black hoodie and jeans that I couldn't remember how long I had worn.

Pale skin from not seeing sunlight and sunken eyes from staring at the monitor all day.

I might look like a shut-in, but I'm a game developer.

In the small studio of a game company, where all the team members had left, I was alone, pulling all-nighters for days.

The name of the game I was currently developing is <God's Play>. It was a reverse harem game.

A simple story where the protagonist, a lost daughter of a duke, finds her family again, receives love, and builds affection with handsome male protagonists.

The game, which I had invested a lot of passion into over a long period, wasn't bad in many ways, but there was a problem.

The villain was dying too quickly.

I had set up the villain simply.

To maximize the position of the beloved protagonist, it was easiest to insert a jealous half-sister.

Unlike the protagonist who had suffered in the slums, the villain was a noble from birth, with deep-seated elitism and authoritarianism.

A temper that quickly turned cruel when things didn't go her way, selfishness, rudeness, arrogance...

I had put in all the negative traits.

That's why the villain was too easily eliminated during gameplay.

This way, it was impossible to create any tension.

The male protagonists also lacked opportunities to shine.

"I need to balance it so that it at least reaches the mid-story..."

I rubbed my tired eyes and stared at the villain [Theresa] on the monitor.

A woman with black hair and silver eyes, a masterpiece of beauty.

A villainess who seems to have everything but is not loved.

I chuckled.

Does one have to be unloved for the other to be loved?

Is that why love is special?

My gaze naturally fell on [Revi].

The beloved protagonist I created, who was loved by everyone, despite never being loved by anyone myself.

That's why I couldn't really empathize with her.

The villain's narrative seemed more plausible.

"...Sigh, I must be tired. Getting lost in such pointless musings."

I was the eldest daughter of a remarried family.

My mother married a man from a good family with an 8-year-old daughter.

My stepfather had two children: a daughter and a son.

They acknowledged the existence of a stepmother but never accepted me.

The more I tried to prove to my stepfather that I was a useful daughter to avoid being abandoned, the more my siblings hated me.

It was a difficult thing to understand.

I gave in to my siblings in everything, cared for them when needed, endured their unreasonable demands, and tolerated unfair treatment.

I willingly became a convenient daughter and an easy-to-use older sister.

No, I had no choice.

No one wanted me or loved me.

I had felt many times that they wished I would disappear.

So I became even more desperate to avoid being abandoned.

It was a disgusting time.

I had become a daughter who listened well and was easy to use, not only to my stepfather but also to my mother.

One day, I asked myself,

"Are you tired?"

...

It wasn't a simple yes.

I had been tired since my childhood, when I learned to give up after my third birthday passed without any recognition.

I had tried to say I wanted to be loved many times.

But when I saw the old dolls and broken game consoles in the cabinet that stored my siblings' childhood memories, my words would die in my throat.

There were no toys of mine there.

That's when I realized.

I was the only one who felt regretful and the only one who made efforts in the relationship.

When I turned 20, I took revenge on those I didn't even want to call family and left home.

But the painful memories didn't fade easily.

I grew older as a child who was never loved, 'Shin Ji-woo'.

I felt like a defective product with an indelible mark.

Thud!

I shook off the busy thoughts in my head and returned the game to the starting point.

To check the villain, who was destined to die no matter which route was taken.

[...Loading...]

The opening song, which I had heard so many times that it was tiring, played through the headphones.

That's when it happened.

"Wh... Why is it so dizzy...?"

Before I could finish speaking,

Thud!

The sound of my head hitting the floor echoed faintly in my ears.

That was the last sound I heard on 'Earth'.

* * *

"Wake up."

It was a deep voice.

The language the man used was unfamiliar, but I understood it before I realized it.

Splat!

"Phew!"

I sat up abruptly from the sudden splash of water.

"What, what is it?!"

"Are you awake now?"

My gaze turned to the side, where the voice had come from.

A middle-aged man with black hair and silver eyes, with a dignified appearance, was looking down at me coldly.

I opened my lips weakly and mumbled the name of a very familiar man.

"Raul...?"

Raul Squire, Duke.

The head of the Squire family and the father of the female protagonist in <God's Play>.

"Calling your father by his name, you must still be drunk. Pour another glass of water on her."

A servant standing next to Raul poured a glass of cold water over me.

"Wait!"

I called out to Raul, my face filled with confusion.

"Ah, Father...?"

Raul is my father?

'Then who am I?'

Raul looked at me with cold eyes and asked in a disappointed voice.

"Are you sober now?"

I flinched and looked around.

The room was filled with the smell of alcohol, and bottles were scattered everywhere.

I felt like my head was going to explode, thinking that I had drunk all of this.

That was as far as my understanding went.

I couldn't imagine anything beyond that.

'What the hell is going on here?'

As I was silently screaming, a chime sounded.

[Set a channel name to start the broadcast.]

※Recommend: BJ Villainess [▶Confirm]

'...A system window?'

I rubbed my eyes.

But the system window didn't disappear.

'This is too cliché.'

When I opened my eyes, I saw a foreign ceiling and a familiar face.

And my body felt different.

As a game developer familiar with subculture, this was not an unfamiliar scenario.

'Could it be... I've been transported into a game? Is that even possible?'

I had imagined this before.

What if I could escape my miserable reality and be transported into a game or a novel?

But it was just imagination.

Something that could never happen, so I could indulge in it without worry.

'But this... is definitely not just imagination.'

The sensation of water droplets running down my jawline.

The headache from the hangover.

The strong smell of alcohol in my nose.

All my senses sharply awakened me, mocking my attempt to deny reality.

I pressed the confirm button.

Following the system window's instructions without hesitation was a long-standing cliché.

[The broadcast has started.]

...But what does it mean to start a broadcast?

From the situation, it seemed I had been transported into the game I was developing, <God's Play>.

This game had no setting for broadcasting like a Nertube channel.

So this must be real...

[The thrones have entered.]

It really feels like 'God's Play'.

[Throne 'Face Identifier' applauds the BJ's appearance.]

I stood there, dazed.

Clearly, something was happening, but I couldn't understand anything.

'Ah, right.'

I widened my eyes.

I had forgotten to check the most important thing.

'So, who am I?'

My heart pounded fiercely.

My father was Raul Squire, and the channel name was 'BJ Villainess'.

That means, could it be, could it be...

I stumbled to a full-length mirror.

"Come here right now and stand straight! Just how much more are you going to disappoint me with this engagement break?!"

[Throne 'Mad Mania' is satisfied with the BJ's arrival at the noble family.]

My actions seemed bizarre to Raul, who shouted at me, but I didn't hear him.

"No way."

I ran my trembling hands over my cheeks and hair.

My face, a masterpiece of beauty, was slightly sunken from the hangover.

But it was still a perfect appearance, even in its decadent beauty.

Raul had two beautiful daughters and a youngest son.

Theresa, the eldest daughter and villain, from a political marriage where his first wife died in childbirth.

Revi, the protagonist of this world, from his remarriage to a woman he loved.

And the youngest son, Giuseppe.

The important part was the 'daughters'.

Raul approached me with a very angry face.

He grabbed my hand, which was rubbing my skin red, and shouted furiously.

"Can't you stop, Theresa!"

I was Theresa Squire.

Not the protagonist Revi, but the unloved villain who dies in all routes.

"Theresa Squire. You are forbidden from going out until the end of the vacation."

Raul's voice sounded distant, muffled.

My head was numb from shock, my ears ringing, and I couldn't properly recognize anything.

It must be a lie. A dream. Yes, it must be a dream.

There's no way I could become the unloved eldest daughter again.

"Haha. Haha... Haha..."

The hollow laughter soon faded.

Instead, a hot, indescribable, and unpleasant feeling welled up.

"Ah, ugh... Sniff..."

I clutched the chest of my crumpled dress tightly and collapsed.

Overwhelmed by intense emotions, I cried uncontrollably.

I had never felt such intense emotions in my life, to the point of being bewildered.

It couldn't be helped.

"Why... Why..."

'Why did I have to be transported into the villain?'

With that, for the second time, thud!

My vision went black, with Raul's very confused face as the last thing I saw.