"Welcome, players, to the Death Simulation System."
A sluggish, monotonous voice echoed directly inside his head. It wasn't the crisp, clear voice typical of a standard AI, but rather a dry, grating tone that was instantly irritating.
Liu Feiyang opened his eyes to find himself enveloped in darkness. He couldn't move; his hands and feet were tightly bound to a plain wooden chair. His initial reaction wasn't fear, but an overwhelming wave of frustration.
"Let me go," Feiyang muttered, his voice raspy and dry.
There was no verbal response. Instead, a cheap-looking, faded yellow hologram screen popped up right in front of his face.
**[ Role Selection Completed ]**
**[ Your Role: The Villainess ]**
Feiyang knit his brows. He looked down at himself. The t-shirt and jeans he had been wearing were gone, replaced by a voluminous, bright red ballgown—the kind old European nobles used to wear. The long, frilly lace sleeves were so obnoxiously dramatic they were annoying. And more importantly... he could feel a distinct weight on his chest that shouldn't be there.
"Hey..." Feiyang growled under his breath. "System, are you blind? I'm a guy."
**[ Warning: System errors cannot be rectified. Please immerse yourself in the role flawlessly. If the Protagonist discovers that you are not the actual 'Villainess'... you will be immediately erased from existence. ]**
One by one, the lights around him flickered on. Feiyang realized he was sitting at the far end of a long dining table alongside nine other players. Everyone was tied to their chairs just like him, and everyone was staring right at him... or rather, staring at his 'bright red dress' with utterly bewildered expressions.
"What kind of messed-up nonsense is this?" a massive guy sitting at the opposite end of the table shouted. "Why is that dude wearing a dress? And what even is this crazy game? I was literally just eating dinner at home!"
"Quiet down, please," a girl with thick glasses sitting next to him said, her voice trembling violently. "That screen just now... it said if our points hit zero, we die for real."
Feiyang paid no attention to the panicking voices around him. He struggled against his restraints, trying to pull his wrists free from the ropes. The coarse hemp rope bit into his skin, leaving raw, red chafing marks. This pain was real. This wasn't an illusion.
Suddenly, the heavy double doors of the dining hall swung wide open.
A young man stepped into the room. He was breathtakingly handsome, looking as though he had been pulled straight out of a painting, with pitch-black hair and cold, golden eyes. In his hand, he held a longsword smeared with a dark fluid that dripped onto the floor, one drop at a time... drip... drip...
The system screen popped up in front of Feiyang once more, flashing blood-red text.
**[ The Protagonist: Prince Edward has entered the hall. ]**
**[ Round 1 Survival Condition: Do whatever it takes to ensure he orders your execution as late as possible. ]**
Prince Edward stopped walking. His razor-sharp gaze swept over every single player before locking onto Feiyang in the red dress. The corner of the prince's mouth curled into a twisted, unhinged smile.
"Ah... there you are, my beloved fiancée," the prince said in a flat tone, lifting his sword to point it directly at Feiyang's face.
Feiyang stared at the tip of the blade, which hovered barely inches from his nose. His heart pounded so violently it felt like it would burst through his ribs, but his brain forced his lips to curl into a mocking, defiant smirk.
*If you want me to play the villainess so badly... fine.*
"Hello there, Your Highness," Feiyang said, adjusting his voice to a slightly higher pitch, though his eyes locked dead into the prince's without a single trace of fear. "Are you really planning to kill me with a blade that dull?"
The prince's golden eyes narrowed, and the atmosphere in the room instantly turned ice-cold...
An absolute silence enveloped the dining hall, broken only by the ragged, terrified breathing of the other players. Prince Edward took another step forward, the razor-sharp tip of his blade rising to rest lightly right under Feiyang's chin. The slight pressure sent a sharp sting through his flesh.
"My, how your tongue has sharpened," the prince whispered, his voice low but thoroughly drenched in bloodlust. "Weren't you usually the one weeping and groveling at my feet, Liu Feiyang?"
Feiyang forced his expression to remain completely unbothered. One half of his brain was working at overdrive, processing the information he had just received. His in-game name was his actual name, and it seemed this psychotic prince knew him... as an incredibly annoying, clingy fiancée.
**[ Warning: Prince Edward's Hatred Gauge has increased by 5% ]**
**[ Your Life Points remaining: 95 ]**
*It drops that easily?* Feiyang thought, thoroughly annoyed. If this gauge hit zero, he was definitely going to end up a corpse rotting in this dining hall.
"People change, Your Highness," Feiyang forced a cold smile, staring dead into those golden eyes. "Or would you prefer the old, annoying version instead?"
Prince Edward paused. A flicker of genuine surprise flashed across his eyes before vanishing, replaced by a completely unreadable stare. He lowered his blade from Feiyang's chin and turned his gaze toward the other players, who were currently shaking like terrified leaves.
"Who are these sewer rats?" Edward asked, flicking his sword. Droplets of the dark fluid splattered onto the carpet. "Did you bring them into my palace?"
"We have absolutely nothing to do with this! That woman in the red dress is the one who—" the massive guy at the end of the table screamed out, desperate to save his own skin.
*Slash!*
Before the man could even finish his sentence, a silver flash cut through the air so fast it was barely visible. The massive man's head rolled onto the dining table, and his body immediately shattered into gray light particles, evaporating right in front of everyone's eyes.
"Ahhhhh!" the girl with thick glasses shrieked, completely losing her mind.
**[ Player No. 1 has been eliminated for attempting to leak system information. ]**
The dry, raspy system voice echoed in everyone's heads once more, a stark reminder that this game pulled no punches. Death was real.
Prince Edward didn't even bother to look back at the spot where the man had vanished. He walked back, stopping right in front of Feiyang. His longsword pointed toward the floor, his posture casual, yet infinitely more terrifying than before.
"I will give you until tomorrow, Liu Feiyang," the prince said flatly. "Give me a good reason why I shouldn't take your head along with the rest of these rats."
Edward turned on his heel and walked out of the dining hall, leaving a suffocating pressure behind. The double doors slammed shut with a heavy thud, and the hemp ropes binding Feiyang snapped open automatically.
Feiyang stood up, pulling his obnoxious lace sleeves back to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He looked around the room. There were only nine players left now, and every single one of them was staring at him with pure terror and suspicion.
This messed-up game had only just begun, and there was no way in hell he was going to die wearing a dress.