Mimi didn't know how long she was unconscious. It felt like she was floating in an endless black abyss for some time. After a while, she heard a familiar beeping sound and the unmistakable voice of the system in her head.

  [ SYSTEM: The character Nemesis Cain has passed out from a fever. ]

  Mimi wept in her heart. Of all times, it had to be when Sir Arius showed up! This thing is really rigged against me.

  [ SYSTEM: Negative. This system is unfamiliar with the term 'rigged'. The user has already deviated from the original game. ]

  What do you mean? Mimi was surprised. So far, she felt like she'd hardly done a thing. How?

  [ SYSTEM: In the original plotline, the characters Nemesis Cain and Anteros Theron never encountered the character Arius Sylvan after escaping from the dungeon. ]

  What? Then why did we run into him this time?

  Mimi felt a bit of hope swelling up. Could it be... fate? However, that hope was immediately crushed.

  [ SYSTEM: In the original plot, Nemesis Cain fainted shortly after escaping and was carried by Anteros Theron to safety. He was able to remain undetected by all other characters and no one knew who had freed the villainess. ]

  ... Are you implying that I held him back by not passing out sooner!?

  [ SYSTEM: This system apologizes. It was not meant to be an implication. This system was merely stating a fact. ]

  Not for the first time, Mimi felt that the system had an attitude problem.

  Is there going to be a user satisfaction survey at some point? I have some feedback I'd like to share...

  [ SYSTEM: There will not be a survey. However, if you would like to report feedback, the user may speak to the system directly and it will be taken into consideration. ]

  Somehow, Mimi felt that anything she said wouldn't actually be considered. She decided to give up for the time being.

  Forget it, I have a more important matter I'd like to ask you about. How many Villainess Points do I currently have?

  [ SYSTEM: Current VP Total: 3 ]

  That's it!? I thought I took out more guards than that...

  [ SYSTEM: In fact, the user defeated five guards in the dungeon. However, only three of them were through sneak attacks and qualified as evil. ]

  So, just fighting normally wasn't enough. For some reason, Mimi got the impression that the system was judging her use of sneak attacks. But if it gained her more Villainess Points, she willed herself not to care too much.

  What else can the VP be spent on?

  [ SYSTEM: As mentioned previously, VP can be used to purchase benefits or upgrade the Quicksave feature. However, the user's current level is not high enough to upgrade the Quicksave feature. ]

  Of course not. Then what about the benefits?

  [ SYSTEM: Viewing Character Attributes is one such benefit. More benefits will be unlocked as the story progresses. ]

  Seriously unhelpful, Mimi thought helplessly. Then she realized something. Wait a minute, why didn't Arius's character window pop up when I saw him just now?

  [ SYSTEM: Due to the character's physical state, the processing power of the system was momentarily affected. ]

  So the system's ability to function is reliant on my wellbeing?

  [ SYSTEM: ... ]

  Mimi had learned a useful piece of information after all. Conversing with the system hadn't been a complete waste of time. Just as she felt she had nothing more to say, the black abyss began to gradually fade to white. It seemed her time was up anyway.

  When Mimi opened her eyes, she was greeted by the thatched roof of a hut. She quickly realized that she was lying on a lumpy mattress, and a cool strip of cloth was draped across her forehead. She slowly sat up and the piece of cloth slipped off. It landed in her hands, and she played with the damp material with a strange expression on her face.

  I didn't think he would actually take care of me.

  "Oh? Finally awake?"

  Ant stood across the hut at an old-looking stove. Wood was burning in the bottom and he seemed to be boiling something in a pot. The hut was small, so even though he was on the other side, the distance was really only a couple of meters. Mimi glanced around and took in the surroundings, but there wasn't much to look at.

  The hut had only one bed which she was currently occupying. On the other side was the stove and a small counter along with a few storage chests. The only other furniture in the house was a tiny nightstand next to the bed, an old wooden table, and two chairs.

  There were only two small windows on opposite sides and a plain wooden door. On one side, Mimi saw thick forest foliage, and on the other was a wide open meadow. She could imagine the field would look quite nice filled with flowers, but currently, it was dry and barren. The incoming winter had left it sapped of color.

  Mimi had a guess but she still asked anyway. "Where are we?"

  Ant was watching her with that unimpressed stare. He turned his back as he answered, carefully removing the pot from the stove. "My home."

  Mimi figured as much. Truthfully, she had seen this place before. The protagonist was taken to Ant's house at the end of the horrible bad end route. Therefore, it wasn't entirely unfamiliar. However, it would've been strange if she acted knowledgeable about a place she'd never been. To avoid unnecessary questions, Mimi decided it was best to play dumb in these situations.

  The junction of the forest and the meadow, along with the fact that there seemed to be no other people living around, seemed like a perfect spot for a solitary snake spirit to hide. Also as expected, Ant didn't say any more than necessary. He wouldn't divulge any details willingly.

  Suddenly, something else occurred to Mimi as she gazed out the window. When she had passed out, the sun had been setting. Now, it looked to be high in the sky and was probably around midday.

  "How long was I unconscious?" she quickly asked.

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  Ant pretended to hum in thought before shrugging nonchalantly. "Probably around a day and a half."

  A day and a half!? Mimi expected it to be a few hours at most. Was it another case of video game logic at work? Any normal person unconscious with a fever for that long in the real world would be rushed to the hospital. But somehow, Mimi thought that she actually felt better after having slept so long.

  Ant approached with a small cup of steaming hot liquid and placed it on the nightstand. Mimi spotted a few herbs within and couldn't hide the surprise in her voice. "Tea?"

  "It's medicine," he corrected. "Drink it after it cools down a bit."

  Mimi had never seen any of these events in the game, so each new reveal caught her off-guard. She would never have predicted that Nemesis had fallen ill and that this coldhearted man took care of her. Truly, what a strange pair they made.

  There wasn't much information about Ant available in the game. He was a new character and didn't have a known backstory yet since his route hadn't been released. The players only saw him in the very beginning and at the very end of the bad ending of Dimitri's route.

  However, upon a person's first playthrough, they would never even know they encountered Ant at all until the end. Mimi remembered being shocked by the revelation at the time. It was the one positive most people agreed on about the bad ending. At first, she thought Ant just appeared out of nowhere. Later on, she realized that it was a clever seed planted early on. She had actually met him at the very beginning of Dimitri's route.

  Why didn't she remember him? Simple. Because the player first meets Ant as a snake. When the protagonist was a child, she found an injured snake by the side of the road. The player is then given a choice to ignore the snake or take it with them to try and nurse it back to health. It seemed like an inconsequential choice simply made to establish the main character's morals through the player early on.

  But the reality was that this choice had the most consequences in all of Dimitri's route. If the player ignored the snake, they got a happy ending. If they chose to help the snake, they got a bad ending. How the hell did that make sense!? Now it was understandable why many people were upset by this. Seemingly doing the right thing had actually cost them in the end.

  That snake was, of course, Ant in his snake form. He was also a child at the time and wasn't good at controlling his transformations. He had been hurt and stuck in snake form so no one was willing to help him, left on the side of the road to die. If the player chose to save him, he would eventually be released once he returned to full health in an unceremonious manner that was hardly even mentioned in one line of the game's text.

  But the character of Ant would never forget that kindness. He would spend much time searching for the protagonist, his savior, convinced that she was the love of his life. Only when they were older and she had already fallen in love with Dimitri would Ant find her again. Determined that she would love him too once she realized who he was, Ant teamed up with Nemesis, kidnapped Iliana, and took her back to his home. That was the infamous 'Bad Ending' that was the final nail in the coffin of the reputation of Love in the Kingdom of Darkness.

  Overall, the players still didn't know much about Ant outside of the hijacked route. He was never mentioned in the game until he showed up to kidnap the main character. Mimi didn't know what he was doing all that time until then. She only knew him as a snake and then as the crazed kidnapper.

  His behavior then had been so different from the person in front of Mimi now. All she knew before was that he was an evil snake spirit, but now she felt as though she uncovered another piece of information. Maybe he was more fleshed out than she originally thought.

  "You know how to make medicine?" she asked.

  Ant sat in one of the chairs and faced the bed. "A bit."

  Well, he was certainly not the talkative type. Mimi made sure to add that to her mental character portfolio. Speaking of which...

  Let me see his character window.

  On command, the window popped up with a Ding!

  [ SYSTEM:

  Character name: Anteros Theron

  Affection lvl: 0%

  Character Attribute: Currently Unavailable ]

  Mimi had just picked up the cup of medicine to take a sip when she nearly sputtered. Luckily, she hadn't taken the sip yet or she surely would have choked. Ant leveled her with a glare as if to say "I made it so don't you dare spill it".

  It wasn't Mimi's fault! She could have never expected the Affection Level to not increase even a single point. How had he been taking care of her for almost two days and he still didn't feel a thing? She wondered if his heart was as cold as the blood pumping through his veins.

  Mimi quickly composed herself and blew on the liquid before taking a sip. However, she had to stop herself from recoiling a second time from how bitter it was. It must have shown on her face because she actually heard an exhale that sounded strangely like a laugh from the person across from her.

  She must have misheard, right? There was no way this person actually laughed at her. Mimi felt the strong urge to throw the cup of hot medicine in his face.

  "It's bitter," she muttered unpleasantly.

  Ant looked mildly amused. "You didn't seem to have any complaints about the taste while you were sleeping."

  "You fed it to me while I was sleeping?" Mimi was once again astonished by the snake.

  He, however, just looked at her like she was stupid. "How else would you have recovered so quickly? Hurry up and drink it."

  This snake really didn't have any manners. Mimi grumbled but reluctantly drank the concoction, eventually setting down the empty cup with a pained expression. Despite his attitude, Mimi didn't doubt the sincerity of Ant's words. After drinking it, she could already feel her physical condition improving. "Thank you."

  His expression didn't change. "Why are you thanking me? I need you for my plan. You've already caused me enough trouble. Now that knight has seen my face."

  Mimi was about to swear to never thank the man for anything ever again, but at the mention of Sir Arius, her demeanor did a one-eighty. How could she have forgotten!? Right before she passed out, Arius was about to catch them!

  "How did you escape him?" she asked eagerly. She knew that Arius was the strongest of the knights. Still, Ant had managed not only to get away but also to take Nemesis along with him. It couldn't have been easy.

  At first, she suspected that they fought. However, Ant didn't appear to have any injuries. She worried that Arius had been injured instead but thought it wasn't possible. He was supposed to be one of the strongest characters in the game. There was no way he was so thoroughly beaten one-sidedly.

  "I beat him." Ant's words made Mimi's thoughts come to a screeching halt. It was said so matter-of-factly that it left no room for doubt. Mimi couldn't help but sputter this time.

  "B-but how? He's so strong..." she asked in disbelief.

  Ant scoffed. "That idiot wasn't strong. He took one look at you passed out and hesitated. I was quicker. Once I dropped you, it only took a second."

  Mimi: "..."

  Mimi vaguely remembered someone catching her as she fell to the ground. It was no surprise that that person was Ant. But what was the point of catching her if he was just going to drop her again!? Was it because of Arius's hesitation?

  Though she was a bit tunnel-visioned at times, Mimi considered herself pretty smart. She quickly put the pieces together. Even before Mimi passed out, she could see some hesitation from Arius's actions. If she noticed, then Ant definitely noticed as well.

  After all, Nemesis was Arius's childhood friend. No matter what terrible things she did later on, those memories and time they spent together weren't easily erased. Seeing the girl looking sickly in front of him had likely caused him to become a little soft-hearted.

  Once she fainted, Ant initially caught her to lower Arius's guard. He wouldn't expect someone with their hands full to act so suddenly. However, Ant didn't care for Nemesis as Arius did. He quickly dropped her, shocking the other and creating an opening, effectively catching him by surprise. If Ant had a system, he surely would have been rewarded some Villain Points for such a performance.

  After realizing what likely transpired, Mimi found herself becoming angry. She wasn't angry that she had been dropped. No, she was angry that this snake bastard dared to hurt her precious knight when Arius was clearly concerned about her! Didn't that mean she had a chance!?

  "Was he injured?" Mimi asked. Her voice had taken on a demanding tone.

  Her apparent fury didn't phase Ant at all. In fact, something strange happened. He smiled. "Of course. I had to make sure he couldn't follow us."

  "He was only concerned about my wellbeing! You didn't have to be so harsh!" she snapped at him.

  Ant chuckled. "As I suspected. You didn't even bat an eye when I confessed to dropping you, but you're worried about that knight's safety? Even the way you talked and looked at him was completely different than your interaction with the prince. I suppose I was wrong all along. He's the one you really want, isn't he?"

  Mimi was astounded at being called out. Though it was true, she didn't exactly hide her feelings very well. She just didn't expect it to be picked up on so quickly. "So what?" she said defensively.

  "I'm just confused. If you aren't in love with the Crown Prince, then why did you repeatedly attack Iliana Callista? She did nothing wrong to you, correct?" His smile had become cold and his eyes were piercing. The way he spoke had also changed, sending a shiver up her spine. Mimi immediately realized that she had made a mistake.

  Firstly, she had just inadvertently created a plot hole. If she didn't love Dimitri, her character's past actions made no sense. It really seemed like she was attacking Iliana for no reason. She just made herself appear even more like an evil villainess.

  Secondly, Ant was in love with Iliana. By basically admitting to tormenting her without reason, she had practically signed her death sentence. The Ant in front of her now appeared sinister. He much more closely matched his appearance in the game. He had likely overlooked Nemesis's past actions because they had a common goal and could help each other, as well as the fact that he understood her.

  Ant would also commit horrible acts in the future in the name of love, so while he wasn't happy about it, he couldn't fault Nemesis for it. He wasn't entirely unreasonable in that regard. After they joined forces, one of the conditions was that Nemesis would no longer harm Iliana, and he let past grievances go.

  But now, Mimi basically just confessed to doing all that stuff for no reason. Knowing Ant's personality, he wouldn't be able to tolerate it. She had to think quickly. As she thought through her options, she came up with a solution that could solve both problems she created at once. The entire decision was made in less than three seconds.

  "Dimitri has been my betrothed since we were children. Yes, I might be in love with Arius, but do you know what I care about more than love?" Mimi looked Ant dead in the eyes and matched his sinister smile with one of her own. "The throne. And that girl took it away from me. You will help me get it back."

  Go big or go home, right?

  Ant's anger seemed to dissipate a bit, and internally Mimi breathed a sigh of relief.

  Her outside demeanor remained cold and calculating, exuding an undeniable display of confidence. Though it wasn't as satisfying of an answer as acting for love, it seemed to be enough to temporarily subdue Ant's bloodlust.

  That's right. In order to get everything I want, there is only one thing I can do. I must become an even greater villain than the original.

  Just then, the sound of the system rang in her ears.

  Ding!

  [ SYSTEM: + 1 Villainess Point ]

  Mimi thought that would be all, but surprisingly, another notification popped up immediately after.

  [ SYSTEM:

  Character name: Anteros Theron

  Affection Lvl: 5%

  Character Attribute: Currently Unavailable ]

  Mimi couldn't help but laugh at that, even though it made her look a little crazy. What the hell? Was this guy really that twisted? In that case, she didn't need to be afraid anymore.

  "So," she leaned forward with a smirk. "Are you ready to negotiate?"

  Ding!

  [ SYSTEM: New Plotline Unlocked - The Enemy of My Enemy (Difficulty: Hard) ]