Mimi gazed at the newly-appeared status window in shock.

  Since when did this game have difficulty settings?

  She was getting the sneaking suspicion that the game she was currently playing was completely separate from Love in the Kingdom of Darkness. The objective, the gameplay, hell - even the user interface - were all totally different. After all, she was no longer playing the role of the protagonist.

  "You have been selected to participate in the first closed beta test."

  Suddenly, the system's words when she first arrived in this world came rushing back to her. If she was really in a beta test, that meant this game hadn't released yet. So, what was it? Some kind of spin-off? A sequel? Or maybe even a fan disk?

  "What are you looking at?" Ant questioned with a frown. "You've been spacing out. Weren't you preparing to negotiate?"

  Mimi quickly snapped back to attention, shaking off the remaining stupor as she leveld him with a glare. "Negotiating would be easier with a more cooperative partner."

  Ant scoffed. "I saved your life twice now. What part of me is uncooperative?"

  The villainess took a deep breath to calm herself down. It took every ounce of willpower not to shout "It's your attitude!" in the snake's handsome face. For now, she held herself back. It wouldn't benefit either of them to continue arguing needlessly.

  She neatly folded her hands in her lap, internally praising herself for her composure. "Let's just get down to business, shall we? What do you hope to get out of this partnership?"

  "I'm afraid my ambitions are not nearly as grand as yours, Miss Future Empress. I have no desire for power."

  Mimi waved a hand dismissively. "Yes, yes, I know. You only care about that girl, correct? Fortunately, having her out of the way only works in my favor."

  "Could you not talk like she is some disposable object?" Ant replied grimly.

  Mimi chuckled. "Ah, look at that. You do have emotions, after all."

  The snake spirit sighed in exasperation. "I thought teaming up would be beneficial since I believed our goals were aligned, but you have your sights set much higher than I imagined. Perhaps working together would be a mistake after all."

  "If you truly believed that, we wouldn't still be sitting here talking. Surely, you would have kicked me out by now. Mind if I take a guess as to why you haven't?"

  Ant could act tough all he wanted, but Mimi knew she had the upper hand. He wouldn't have gone through all the trouble of breaking her out of prison if he didn't need her help. His furrowed brows and prolonged silence confirmed it.

  "You don't want to enter the palace. Or rather, you can't. So, you need me, someone who can enter and also knows it like the back of their hand. Tell me, have I hit the nail on the head?"

  Ant: "..."

  "What exactly do you plan to have me do? And don't say kidnap her."

  Immediately, Mimi ruled out the previous Ant's plan from the game. That was what caused every player to hate his guts and ruined the game's reputation in one go. She was certain to fail her objective that way. Therefore, any and all kidnapping plans were off the table.

  Once again, Ant was left speechless by her deduction. However, he quickly recovered. "What better option is there? I can't go in and I don't know where they're keeping her. You can go and lure her outside somewhere and then I can take her away. Its the simplest and most straightforward plan."

  He said it with so much indifferent certainty it nearly gave Mimi goosebumps.

  Is kidnapping people such a casual thing to you?

  "Sure, it's a great plan if you want her to hate your guts forever," Mimi told him honestly. She rolled her eyes. "Seriously, what girl do you think enjoys being kidnapped!? Do you think that's romantic!?"

  "But each second we waste, she's getting closer with that insufferable prince."

  Ant's fingers tensed around the arm of the chair. His cool and calm demeanor seemed to be slipping. Apparently, he was much more frustrated by the situation than he originally let on. Mimi couldn't blame him though. The thought of Sir Arius waiting for her in the palace had her feeling equally anxious. She couldn't imagine if there was another woman involved.

  Still, she knew the importance of purging all thoughts of kidnapping as soon as possible.

  "Think of it this way. Taking her out of the palace is just the first part, right? At the end of the day, you still want her to return your affection. Well, that's never going to happen if you just take her somewhere against her will."

  Ant seemed to seriously contemplate this. "But... won't she understand once she realizes who I am and I explain it to her?"

  You fool! Do you really think love is that easy or logical!?

  Mimi suddenly recalled a cheesy line she remembered from the original game. It had come from the character of the Duke of the North (yeah, every game had one). Perhaps one of the more cliche routes in the game, it was full of dramatic one-liners. Mimi thought the line applied quite well in the current situation.

  "Trust is something garnered over time through great efforts, but it only takes an instant to be shattered completely. If you simmply kidnap Iliana, I'm afraid she will never trust you again, much less fall in love with you."

  Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

  Mentally patting herself on the back, Mimi took on the appearance of a wise sage. She nodded her head with a slight smile, as if she had just imparted great wisdom onto the man in front of her. Who cared if it was recycled from the game? She felt proud.

  Ding!

  Of course, pride was one of the seven deadly sins, and Mimi was immediately punished for it. The sound of the system window now struck a feeling of dread into her heart whenever she heard it, and she reluctantly turned her head to read whatever it wanted from her this time.

  [ SYSTEM: The user has unlocked the "Comments" feature. There is 1 new comment from the game testers. Would you like to read it? ]

  Huh? Game testers? Comments?

  [ SYSTEM: Due to the emergence of a new plotline, the beta test progress has been relayed to various 'game testers'. Their feedback is important for the success of the game. This system thought it would be beneficial for the user to view this feedback and take it into consideration. ]

  Uhhhh... alright. Show me the comment, I guess.

  [ SYSTEM:

  Comments:

  dukeofmyheart: did the game reuse dialogue? it sounds familiar... ]

  Well, so much for Mimi's pride. It was practically in pieces now.

  The game testers are also fans of the game? I guess I can't be as lazy in the future. Damn it, why does this keep getting more difficult!? Is it because I accidentally entered Hard Mode!?

  ... Wait a minute, this scene wasn't even shown in the original game! Why can they see it now!?

  [ SYSTEM: The system thought showing more of the villains' perspective could help the players to sympathize more with the character of Anteros Theron and increase his likeability in the story. ]

  A warning would have been nice.

  Not wanting to space out for too long again, Mimi glanced at Ant, who still seemed to be contemplating. Finally, his grip on the chair loosened slightly.

  "Fine, I suppose I see your point. Though I still think I could get her to understand even if I kidnapped her."

  You actually just called it kidnapping! Do you really not see the issue? You poor thing, why did the developer have to make you this way? Mimi cried out internally. No, wait. Why am I feeling sorry for him? I should be feeling sorry for myself! I'm the one who has to fix this bastard!

  "Let's just agree not to kidnap anyone for now," Mimi replied urgently. "How about I explain my plan?"

  Ant gestured at her to go ahead.

  "I can enter the palace again and promise to behave. You can enter alongside me in disguise. Once we locate Iliana, you can slowly earn her trust. Meanwhile, you use your stealth and strength to help me take down any opposition in the court. You slowly win over your love, and I slowly win the throne. It's a win-win. By the time I take over, you won't even have to worry about your romance being forbidden. I'll even let you two get married."

  Mimi thought it was a sensible plan, but Ant was unconvinced.

  "Right away, I see two flaws with your plan. First, what makes you think you can just walk back into the palace? Won't you just be arrested again? Second, I already told you. I can't enter the palace," he said with finality.

  Mimi wasn't deterred. Rather, she smiled. It was that cold, calculating smile of a villainess that conveyed that she had already thought of these things.

  "Allow me to address these concerns. As you probably determined already from my interactions with both Prince Dimitri and Sir Arius, many people in the palace still have a soft spot for me. I grew up there, after all. However, the special treatment isn't only due to childhood fondness and nostalgia. You must have wondered why they never killed me even after the crimes I committed, right?"

  Ant gazed at her in thinly-veiled curiosity. Mimi couldn't blame him. She had often wondered the same thing after experiencing the current game ending. That was until a memory of Nemesis Cain's bubbled up into the surface of her mind, and it all made sense.

  System, show me the character window for Nemesis Cain.

  [ SYSTEM:

  Character name: Nemesis Cain

  Affection Lvl: Currently Unavailable

  Character Attribute: Resilient Pest ]

  Ha! No wonder she was such a pain in the ass as a villain. No matter what, she always seemed to come back.

  Mimi threw the blanket covering her off of her legs.

  "What are you doing?" Ant asked.

  "Take a look." Mimi pointed to her ankle. There was still bloodied gauze wrapped around it, and she bent down to slowly unwind it. As it fell away, Ant's eyes widened in surprise.

  "How? I just changed the bandage a few hours ago. I saw-"

  The wound was completely healed, leaving behind not even a scar. To Mimi, everything added up. No wonder Nemesis hadn't frozen to death in that dungeon. She had gotten a fever, but it passed just as quickly. Any normal person would have gotten hypothermia at the very least. Mimi herself hadn't realized she possessed such a trait until a few moments ago.

  A while after waking up, she noticed that her ankle didn't hurt at all anymore. Given the state of the wound before she passed out, it should have still been recovering. But the area wasn't numb from medicine, either. It was more like she didn't feel anything, like the ankle was completely normal. She even flexed it a few times under the blanket to be sure, and it functioned perfectly well. That was when a memory of Nemeis's appeared in her mind.

  When she was younger, Nemesis had fallen out of a tree she had climbed and broken her arm. Her father was so distraught when he heard the news, he brought the best physician from their manor to treat her right away. Even with all his efforts, the physician told them it would still take weeks, maybe even months to heal completely.

  However, after only three days of bedrest, Nemesis's arm had completely healed. It was as thought it was never broken to begin with. The physician was stunned, and in a panic, Nemesis's father ordered him not to say anything. Such news would only make Nemesis an even bigger target than she already was.

  Word must have gotten out at some point over the years though. It seemed the Prince, and most likely the Emperor, were aware of Nemesis's extraordinary healing properties. It was why they kept her alive, but only barely so. By keeping her in those conditions on the brink of death, it would be enough to weaken her, but they knew she wouldn't die so easily. She was too valuable to kill.

  In the game Love in the Kingdom of Darkness, character attributes played an important role. They were more than just titles. Each character attribute came with an inherent trait. They were kind of like unconscious abilities that suited each character's type and personality, hence why the system mentioned they could change over time. Many of them were negligible, especially those of NPCs. Mimi never imagined that Nemesis would possess such an incredible attribute. She hadn't even thought to look before now.

  It made sense why she had to spend VP to unlock such valuable information. Still, the system only showed her the titles of the attributes. She couldn't see the descriptions of the traits themselves. What could 'Childhood Friend' possibly entail?

  Stupid scam. Why is it so half-assed?

  "Do you get it? I have a few valuable cards of my own," Mimi said with a wink. She had to set aside her anger with the system for now. "As for your second concern, I believe I have a solution for that as well. You probably can't enter the palace because you're afraid someone there will recognize you."

  Ant scoffed. "I'm beginning to suspect you also have the ability to read minds."

  "If an ability like that exists, it would be bad for us both, don't you think?" she replied blankly. "Anyway, there's an easy solution. Just enter as a snake and I'll say you're my pet."

  "..."

  "What?"

  "You seriously want me to pretend to be your pet?"

  Mimi crossed her arms indignantly. "What's wrong with that? I'll have you know I'm a very good pet owner. In my old- I mean... when I was younger, I used to raise a few animals. They all grew up well."

  Ant raised a brow in amusement. "You know you won't actually have to raise me, right? Even as a snake I can take care of myself."

  "So you agree?" Mimi asked, eyes sparkling.

  Ant's amusement quickly faded and he sighed. "I suppose it makes the most sense." Despite his concession, he rubbed his temple like he felt a headache coming on.

  "Great. Tomorrow, we head back to the palace, my little snake. Oh, now that you're my pet, what should I call you? I never had a snake before, let me think..."

  Ant just rolled his eyes and went back to the stove. He started making a fresh pot of something, but Mimi was no longer paying attention, too focused on naming her new pet snake.

  "You're a white snake, so how about Snowy? Or maybe Icey? Oooh how about Silky? Or since you have a bad personality, maybe Salt?"

  "You're terrible at naming things," Ant said from the other side of the room.

  "Shhh I'm thinking. Ghost? Reaper? Slinky?"

  Mimi kept uttering names in rapid-fire succession, unaware of the growing sense of foreboading in the person she was supposed to be naming.

  "What the hell is a slinky?" Ant muttered under his breath, stirring the pot in front of him with a frown.

  [ SYSTEM:

  2 New Comments:

  waterfilter: I like the way the story's progressing now. How interesting!

  empressyuri: I didn't expect the villain pov would be so funny lol ]

  AUTHOR'S NOTE: Comments unlocked!

  [ SYSTEM: Hello, game testers and welcome to the comments section. The ongoing beta test will now be more interactive for the users. Please leave your username and feedback. This system will do its best to relay the comments to the character Nemesis Cain in order to better improve the story. This system thanks the game testers for their cooperation. ]

  Leave a comment with a fake username and I'll try to include it in a future chapter of the story! Of course, this is entirely optional but I thought it could be fun for anyone interested. I hope you're enjoying so far! See you soon! ;)