Back on Earth, Saintess Chronicles had garnered intense controversy. Originally marketed as a romantic fantasy otome game, it had taken a dark turn with the revelation that the heroine and her male leads were, in fact, monsters in disguise, morally bankrupt and deeply flawed. The backlash was immediate and widespread. Players flooded forums, social media, and fan sites with hate, accusing the creators of glorifying abuse, manipulation, and elitist cruelty under the guise of "justice."
In response, the game developers launched a website called "The Wailing Grave" an online archive dedicated to cataloguing the countless side characters, NPCs, and innocent souls who perished or were ruined due to the heroine Eri and her harem of male leads.
To further appease their angry audience, the developers created a limited-time event: "The Fallen Souls Anthology." Participants were asked to write a biography of one ruined soul. The winner would be featured on the homepage and receive a small monetary prize.
The gesture was meant to show empathy toward the victims… but instead, it came across as tone-deaf and insulting. It turned the dead into a sideshow, and the fans, who had hoped for justice, only grew more furious.
One of the nominated entries came from a user named "Zer0Hope." Their piece was a chilling exposé on Countess Adeliza Falkenrath, a woman whose story had haunted a few obscure side quests in the game but was largely ignored.
Biography Excerpt – Countess Adeliza Falkenrath (Submitted by: Zer0Hope)
"Adeliza was the daughter of a merchant and had dreams of opening a flower shop with her childhood sweetheart, the son of an innkeeper. But those dreams died the night Count Wilhelm Falkenrath forced himself on her during a party she was never meant to attend.
He paid off her parents, who in turn pressured her to marry him, branding her a disgrace. To maintain his pristine image, Wilhelm publicly claimed Adeliza seduced him and forced herself on him. Her name was dragged through the mud. Her former lover abandoned her, and society turned its back.
Despite everything, Adeliza gave birth to twin boys, Lucien and Leo. She vowed they would never become like their father. But fate, it seemed, had other plans.
Lucien, the elder twin, inherited Wilhelm's hunger for power and gold. By sixteen, he was already managing his father's trafficking routes: drugs, humans, non-humans, demons, even rare magical beasts. He operated like a prince in shadow, cold and methodical, with a snake's smile and a tongue dipped in honey.
Leo, his father's shadow in lust, left a trail of scandal wherever he went. When the Saintess met Adeliza during a side quest, the latter remarked bitterly that Leo had likely fathered more than fourteen children by the age of seventeen, with only a handful of victims having the courage to come forward.
When Eri met Adeliza in the game, the countess was a broken woman. She confessed to praying for years to Goddess Erma, begging for the strength to steer her sons onto a righteous path. But nothing worked.
Her final downfall came with her third child, a daughter, at five years old caused the deaths of three people simply because she 'didn't like their faces.' One rainy morning, Countess Isolde Falkenrath walked into the lake behind the estate and never came back.
The entry was one of the most-read on The Wailing Grave. Despite the website being seen as a mockery, Zer0Hope's biography resonated deeply. It painted Adeliza not just as a victim, but as a mother torn apart by her own bloodline, a woman fighting a losing battle against fate, nature, and the cruelty of nobility.
Selene, formerly Eun-Ji, was the one behind the screen name Zer0Hope. She had written Adeliza's story, every word laced with fury and grief. An orphan herself, she had poured her soul into the piece, despising the twins who had driven their own mother to suicide.
She only joined the nomination event because a friend had desperately needed money. She never imagined she'd ever meet the twins, let alone while temporarily blind.
Her thoughts spiraled into panic.
"Victoria," she hissed internally, "Why didn't you write who the damn guests were in that letter?!"
She opened her Store Interface, squinting through the haze in her eyes. Everything was a blur, but she quickly typed in eye drops, selecting the first item that popped up and slamming the purchase button. She turned to Magnus, whispering urgently.
"Read the label. Help me apply it. They're getting closer!"
Magnus grabbed the vial, scanned the instructions, and winced. "...You have to keep your eyes closed for ten minutes after applying."
"What?!"
Selene reached out to cancel or buy another brand, but Magnus gently and firmly applied the drops to her eyes. She flinched.
"Don't worry," he said, brushing hair from her cheek. "I'll protect you."
Reluctantly, she nodded, leaning slightly into him as footsteps approached. Still blind, she stiffened as two presences loomed directly in front of them.
But then...
They didn't stop at her.
Instead, they halted right beside her Miranda was quietly sitting all along.
Selene didn't even notice the girl beside her.
A voice laced with smug cruelty broke the air.
"Well, well, well. Miranda Bridge," Lucien drawled. His words slithered through the air, venom-tipped. "Looks like your dear daddy might be going to jail. For a long time, too."
Miranda slowly raised her head, her usual composed expression twisted into one of cold fury. Her voice came out raspy, likely from inhaling the mansion's cursed stench. "What do you want, Lucien? I don't have time to entertain roaches."
Selene flinched, half-impressed, half-fearing for the girl's life.
Lucien only laughed, sharp and mocking. "Still acting tough, huh? You should drop the act. You're not climbing any ladders now. From today, you'll just be a commoner. No titles. No glory. Just another pitiful face in the slums."
Miranda narrowed her eyes. "And since when was that your problem. It's none of your business. So, why are you even telling me this?"
Lucien tilted his head, amused. "Because I'm done playing pretend."
Leo stood silently beside him, a shadow with a charming smile. His eyes scanned Miranda with a predatory curiosity.
"I'm calling off the engagement," Lucien said finally, loud enough for all nearby to hear. "I wouldn't want to sully my name with yours."