Chapter 44: Otome Game

“Huh…”

“Are you looking for a boyfriend, Ye Lu?”

Ye Lu blushed.

“No!”

Her mother’s answers always missed the point.

She just turned back with a confused look and then immersed herself in the joy of teasing her husband again.

“…”

Ye Lu was dumbfounded in an instant… her face sank to rock bottom.

‘Hey, Mom, weren’t you telling me yesterday that I needed to change for the better?’

‘What are you doing…?’

Seeing her father about to be bullied again, she couldn’t take it anymore.

She stomped her foot hard.

Her mother jolted.

Turned around… then bolted away.

She ran to the water dispenser and made a second cup of goji berry tea.

After feeding it to him, she blinked, looked at Ye Lu with an innocent expression, pretending nothing had happened.

“…”

Hopeless.

It seemed… she couldn’t count on them.

Speaking of which, the idea of sterilization was absurd to begin with.

As a succubus, her self-healing abilities were naturally strong.

Even if she grit her teeth and had it cut off, it would probably grow back the next day and keep her starving.

In an instant, she abandoned that idea.

She glanced at the empty dining table.

It was almost noon, and breakfast hadn’t been prepared yet.

On the other side, her mother covered her mouth, looking flustered like she’d done something wrong, and raised her hand.

“Five minutes!”

“No need.”

It was already 9:00.

It seemed those two had gotten carried away again.

Ye Lu refused her.

Breakfast didn’t really appeal to her anyway—it was just tree bark.

Realizing there was nothing to do outside and she’d only be force-fed a dose of couple PDA, she decisively turned back and went into the house.

Back in this small bedroom that was boyish yet faintly carried a girl’s scent.

Her heart couldn’t calm down.

She always felt like this place didn’t quite belong to her.

That feeling… like nothing was real…

Like a dream.

…She just stood there dumbly, hesitating for a long time before finally moving.

She took off her shoes, knelt on the carpet, and picked up the game console she’d bought jointly with Bell at the start of the semester.

Fumbling, she turned on the screen and found her favorite game.

The Yongzhe’s Training

A cool cover.

The game was roughly about a Yongzhe clad in heavy armor, wielding the Hero’s Holy Sword, walking the path to defeat the Demon King, cutting through obstacles, and finally achieving breakthrough and victory.

As for why it wasn’t the Demon King defeating the Yongzhe—that disc had been stolen from the human kingdom.

She clicked start.

The pixel Yongzhe entered the game, holding a sword, with an empty stat screen.

The first goblin blocking the way appeared, meaning the Yongzhe could now begin the campaign to defeat the Demon King.

…Mhm, very interesting.

But… how strange.

After becoming a girl, why did she have so little interest in these exciting games?

It was like a woman with a sexual aversion to them—a change that was subtle and gradual.

The goblin came and attacked the Yongzhe.

HP:

-1

-1

-1

The Yongzhe died.

Ye Lu felt she’d done a great job protecting the nation.

…

Just kidding.

She just didn’t feel like moving.

Quietly, she exited to the main menu and looked for other games.

So, she swiped right… then right… then right… again…

Why were they all monster-fighting games?!

Swiped… swiped again…

Whoa?

She stopped.

A girls’ dress-up game!

One of the bonus games that came with the disc she’d bought.

Ye Lu looked at it for two seconds, felt a sudden flutter, but thought it over: this game didn’t seem suitable for her to play.

So she reluctantly swiped past it.

She swiped many times…

The game library was almost at the end.

Aside from that dress-up game, she hadn’t found anything else interesting.

Just as she sighed and was about to swipe back to surrender to her female genes, she saw the cover of the very last game.

She sat up abruptly, her pale face flushing again.

An otome game?

The cover featured a man—anime style, very tall… and handsome… wearing a bathrobe that made her heart race.

He was pushing a frail heroine onto a bed, his fingertip pressed against her lips.

The girl struggled, but her eyes were fixed on him, full of longing…

‘That looks so fun…’

She crossed her legs, clicked on it, and her heartbeat quickened.

Quietly, she turned the volume to the lowest setting and locked the door.

When she came back, she grabbed a pillow from the bed, hugged it tightly to her chest, and looked up at the screen without blinking.

[Game Start]

A soft girl’s voice rang out.

[Select perspective: Male, Female]

[Female]

[Please confirm again]

[Confirmation successful]

The game began in a small bedroom.

The heroine was putting away clothes when suddenly two thick arms wrapped around her from behind—in a very inappropriate spot.

The heroine let out a whimper.

Then the man with a sharp jawline and a teasing expression leaned close to her face and said in a low, husky voice: “Ailisi, today… let’s do something special, okay?”

“N-no… don’t… we’ve only just… eee~~”

“Hmph, not a bad voice.”

“Like my cat that just turned a month old.”

“…”

The conflict was direct.

The next scene had the heroine forcibly dragged onto the bed, forced—but, since it was an interactive game, Ye Lu could still determine a small part of the plot.

“Come on, say it… what exactly do you want?”

“Y-you idiot… ugh…”

[1. Get off me right now!]

[2. Please… please…]

She chose option two.

Then, from the room, the shameful sounds from the game came through.

Ye Lu’s face turned red.

She quickly turned the volume down a bit more.

Slowly, she hugged the pillow even tighter and switched to a side-lying position.

One hand pressed against her lips as she breathed softly, the other controlled the game… and yet… even though she was playing… her eyes couldn’t help but grow moist?

Game in progress…

A very thrilling game.

The plot had little dragging.

She was having a lot of fun.

When the CG came up, every time Ye Lu closed her eyes to doze off, she subconsciously turned the male lead’s face into the Prince’s.

Playing… playing on, though happy, she was so tired, panting heavily.

When the first major chapter ended, she came back to her senses.

The real-time clock in the upper right corner had already changed to 12:00 noon—right on the dot.

Outside, her mother knocked on the door calling her to eat.

Ye Lu just gave a quick reply and clicked on the next chapter.

And so… nonstop, nonstop, the mark always stayed highlighted.

Although she could realize that a succubus’s constitution might be tricked by a “cheat meal,” the aftereffects were no joke either.

By the time she came to, the sky outside the window had already darkened.

In the room, the curtains were drawn tight, the light unique, with only the screen on the wall providing illumination.

She didn’t know how many times she’d indulged.

She only knew that when she stood up to pull the curtains, she took just two steps before her calves felt like they had no muscle support, lost balance, and fell onto the carpet.

Her head hit the corner of the table.

The pain made her grovel and roll around on the carpet, holding her forehead with one hand.

During that, she accidentally knocked the peacefully sitting Demon Core—covered in dirt—off the carpet and under the bed.

She panicked, immediately forgetting the pain.

Spotting the glowing bead under the bed, she crawled in, reached out, and pulled it out.

Done.

Sitting on the bed, she protected the Demon Core against her chest.

Her face felt hot.

Looking at the mess on the carpet.

‘My body really is special…’

After cleaning everything up, she opened the door and left the room.

She felt a need to talk to someone about something.

But she found the living room empty.

This time, however, the table was full of untouched dishes.

As for where they were, Ye Lu looked toward the bathroom.

“Honey~~”

“…”

No way!

That voice was way too obvious!

Couldn’t they suppress it like she did?!

With no other choice, she sat on the sofa and waited.

About half an hour passed… the two finally came out, but their posture was a bit off.

Her dad was tall and had a princely air.

He wore a loose, floor-length bathrobe and was barefoot, carrying her mother in a princess carry.

Her mother, asleep, clung to his shoulders.

She looked exhausted.

It seemed her father had finally won once.

But…

“Hmph…”

Ye Lu turned her head away.