Disastrous Romance - Chapter 10
Chapter 10
Elijah’s eyes widened as she skimmed through her newly updated quest list. Surprise struck her for two reasons.
First, the Crown Prince storyline had been triggered unusually early. In the original game, it only activated once her character arrived in the capital. Furthermore, juggling two romance options simultaneously, especially after already being involved with Kai, was a tricky feat. Quests related to two different love interests weren’t meant to overlap; Deus’s romance system was designed to be linear, forcing players to choose one path at a time.
‘How long will I have to keep him around?’
Elijah had already achieved the OP, and she had no intention of putting herself in harm’s way. She didn’t need Kai. If anything, she feared that spending too much time together might lead to unwanted attachment, potentially jeopardizing her chances with the Crown Prince.
‘I’ll have to keep my distance,’ she decided, quickly pushing the thought aside to address the second reason for her surprise.
She was going to meet her favorite character.
Out of all the potential love interests in Deus, Elijah was most drawn to the Crown Prince. He was the epitome of a charming, golden-haired prince, and the thought of meeting him face-to-face made her heart flutter. The thrill of pursuing an unseen happy ending rekindled within her.
“But what’s with the question marks…?”
While Kai’s quest wasn’t particularly difficult, the penalty for failure was ominously vague. Experience had taught her that hidden penalties in Deus usually translated into something far more intense than she could have imagined. Her heart pounded in her chest. Failure was not an option.
She decided to address the elephant in the room. “Kai, I need to head to the capital… What will you do?”
“I’ll follow you, Mistress.”
‘Really? That’s a relief.’
Truthfully, she wasn’t sure what she would have done if he had decided to leave. This unexpected quest had made him a necessity, stirring up a storm of emotions within her.
“Is it alright?”
“Y-yeah. Have you ever been to the capital?” she responded, successfully steering the conversation away from her momentary panic.
“No. I was sold to the slave market when I was young and never left.”
His words, spoken with a serene smile, sent a chill down her spine. In the game, she had been so focused on the world’s slave-dependent society that she had never stopped to consider the implications for the characters themselves. The game developers hadn’t delved too deeply into his past, and she realized she knew very little about Kai as an individual.
‘I’ll have to get to know him better,’ she thought, nodding vaguely as she turned away from the plaza. They desperately needed new clothes, a detail she had been conveniently ignoring until now.
After purchasing new outfits and suitable weapons, Elijah was struck by a harsh reality. She plopped down in a secluded corner of the town square and emptied the contents of her worn leather pouch. A single silver coin and two copper coins clinked against the cobblestones.
“One hundred… and two Deva.”
It was all the money she had. The soup and bread they had eaten that morning had cost around five Deva, which meant their entire fortune wouldn’t even cover a week’s worth of food. The realization made her stomach rumble with renewed vigor.
In the game, she had never paid much attention to the protagonist’s hunger levels. For five years, her only concern had been keeping the character alive long enough to pursue her chosen love interest. There had been times when Elijah had intentionally starved the protagonist to the brink of death, exploiting the game’s mechanic that fully restored health after 72 hours.
‘Me starving is a whole different story!’
The journey to the capital would take at least a week. Without any immediate means of earning money, it seemed they were destined to travel on empty stomachs. For the first time, Elijah found herself cursing the protagonist’s backstory.
She was a traveling noblewoman.
For some unexplained reason, Elijah Denvier, the protagonist of Deus, was on a solitary journey. And for another unexplained reason, she had woken up in the town of Noami, where she would eventually meet the game’s love interests. The details surrounding these reasons, however, remained shrouded in mystery.
‘What was she doing?’ she muttered to herself, wishing she could ask the previous “Elijah Denvier” directly. Why would a young noblewoman from a wealthy family be wandering the continent alone? What had happened to leave her unconscious and penniless?
‘It’s just a game,’ she reminded herself, stifling a humorless laugh. It was pointless to get hung up on details that the game developers had simply overlooked. She was already getting too invested in the character, treating her as a real person with a past when, in reality, she was nothing more than a collection of pixels on a screen.
Pushing those thoughts aside, she decided to approach the situation logically. Fortunately, her character’s backstory hinted at a good relationship with her family, which meant she could potentially seek financial assistance. As luck would have it, her family’s estate was located on the way to the capital.
‘I can work on Kai’s quest on the way.’
She felt a strong pull towards her family’s estate, a gut feeling that a visit was in order. After stocking up on travel supplies with her remaining funds, she hoisted the heavy backpack onto her shoulders and stepped outside. Her destination: the Denvier estate.
