TYLSA 01

Chapter 01

I have become the protagonist of a game

<Sonnet for the Lady>, also known as “Sowiso.”

This game was a romance fantasy dating simulation game where you could enjoy a sweet romance with handsome and capable male leads.

With vivid illustrations, a lavish voice actor cast, and a solid story.

It was a well-crafted masterpiece in many ways, but unfortunately, its ratings weren’t particularly high.

Was there a problem with the story? No. Was it an issue with the characters? That wasn’t it either.

‘Well, occasionally.’

There were people who said the villainous stepmother and younger sister characters were too annoying, but that wasn’t enough to have a decisive impact on the ratings.

There were also reviews saying that because they put too much care into making it, they fumbled the difficulty adjustment, but even that wasn’t the biggest problem.

This game’s most fatal flaw was none other than the epilogue after the ending.

No matter which male lead you chose and ended with, in the epilogue, the final boss would rise up and sweep through the empire, and the female protagonist would end up being murdered.

<“However, in the year 215 of the Imperial Calendar, the peaceful empire was engulfed in the flames of war due to the invasion of Grand Duke Loen, and Yuri Elrose — the female protagonist — lost her life in that war…….”>

……That brief epilogue caused countless gamers to clutch the back of their heads in frustration.

‘I was one of them too.’

At first, I couldn’t believe it, so I tried pursuing other male leads, but the result was the same.

In a word, this game was a crazy game where no matter what ending you got, you were destined to be killed by the final boss in the end.

And now I…….

“……Lady Elrose, are you feeling unwell?”

—

<system> Entering ‘Episode 1: First Meeting’!

<system> Encountered ‘Cedric Esteban’!

<system> Tutorial Tip: When you dance with Cedric, his affinity increases.

—

Along with the ding-dong sound effect, the words floating up before my eyes, of course.

The face of the handsome man looking at me in front of my eyes was just like the detailed illustration I had seen so many times, now become reality.

I stared blankly at his gray eyes and thought.

‘I’m screwed. I think I’m done for.’

This place, I think it’s inside that game……

I wanted to scream out loud right away, but this was the middle of a ballroom.

Right in front of me, one of the conquest targets was extending his hand toward me.

I suppressed my urge to cry and barely managed to open my mouth.

“I suddenly feel dizzy……. I apologize, Marquis Esteban. Would it be alright if I postponed the dance for now?”

“Are you alright?”

Marquis Esteban nodded politely.

“If you’re feeling unwell, I can accompany you to the休息室.”

“No, I appreciate the offer, but…….”

As it was the game’s first scene, Marquis Esteban withdrew his hand without lingering at this point.

“I understand. Then.”

“Yes, thank you.”

—

<system> You did not dance with Cedric.

<system> Failed to increase Cedric’s affinity.

—

I had no time to pay attention to the system messages appearing in succession.

Of all the games out there, why did it have to be this one!

‘No matter what ending you get, the conclusion is being murdered……!’

The moment I covered my mouth with my hand and swallowed a scream.

“Hey, Yuri! Are you okay?”

I turned around to find the female protagonist’s aunt, Countess Eliza, standing there.

“Good heavens, refusing Marquis Esteban’s dance invitation from the very start! Yuri, are you really planning to remain a spinster for life?”

“Aunt, that’s not it…….”

When I vaguely explained that I felt dizzy, my aunt nodded readily.

“Now that you mention it, you do look pale. Alright, let’s get up now.”

“Yes, Aunt…….”

As I answered obediently, I inwardly chewed over one word that came out of Aunt Eliza’s mouth.

‘……Spinster?’

At that moment, it struck me like lightning.

‘There it was!’

A way to escape from this crazy game’s absurd epilogue.

There was one.

—

* * *

—

It was widely known that no matter which of the four male leads you ended with, you couldn’t avoid death, but nevertheless, “Sowiso” had a considerable cult following.

‘If you just turned a blind eye to the insane difficulty and the epilogue, it was a decent game…….’

But now that things had come to this, the problem was that I could no longer turn a blind eye to the epilogue.

‘Straight down the road to the afterlife…….’

No, wait. The afterlife, you say!

Let’s not even think such ominous things even inwardly. It wasn’t as if there was no way at all, was it?

Admiral Yi Sun-shin had twelve ships, and I had one way to survive.

‘That is…… the Bad Ending.’

In this game, there was only one official Bad Ending.

If you ignored the fact that practically all other endings were also bad endings in effect, that is.

Anyway, in this game, there was officially only one Bad Ending.

‘The Spinster Ending!’

In this ending, which players called the “Spinster Ending,” the female protagonist ends up with no one, eventually emigrates to a third country, and survives the civil war.

‘It’s also the only way left for me to survive.’

However, unlike other games where Bad Endings usually occur when you haven’t achieved much, in this game, the conditions for triggering the Bad Ending were quite strict.

First, you needed to have moderately high affinity with all the male leads but not be in a romantic relationship with any of them, and additionally, the female protagonist’s stats had to be high as well — it was a special ending.

Because of that, it was informally also called the “Friendship Ending.”

Naturally, I too had tried to achieve this ending, drawn by the fact that it was the only ending without an epilogue.

It was quite a struggle to raise the affinity of four male leads in turn, when even one was hard enough.

After all that hard work, I still couldn’t get the ending. Ridiculously, it was because I was slightly lacking in one stat.

‘Just thinking about that time still makes my blood pressure…….’

As you can see, this Spinster Ending was the most difficult ending in the game.

Other endings could be achieved by leisurely pursuing just one person over the course of a year, but the Bad Ending required you to accomplish much more within the same period.

Achieving this ending even unlocked the ridiculous achievement called “Guardian of Harmony and Balance.”

‘No, no. Let’s not think too negatively.’

Still, having even one way to survive was something, wasn’t it?

Besides, I didn’t have much attachment to the ordinary life of Yoo Yuri — yes, I had the same name as this game’s female protagonist — that I had lived in Korea.

It’s not like I had family; my mom and dad had passed away when I was very young, and I didn’t even have any notable relatives.

All I had achieved was a job I’d been working at for five years and a small apartment I’d gotten through winning a housing lottery…….

‘……Wait a minute.’

I snapped back to my senses.

‘Now that I think about it, I think I do have some attachments.’

Even if I generously concede the job at a major company, what about the apartment? What about my apartment?!

‘I’ll just close my eyes tightly and hope that when I open them, I’m back in Korea.’

Of course, that didn’t happen.

“……”

I looked at the mirror before me and let out a deep sigh.

The reflection in the mirror was no longer the face I had seen every day.

Silver hair that shone like moonlit pure silver, a porcelain-white face, and blue eyes embedded like a lake.

It was a face I was seeing for the first time, yet it wasn’t unfamiliar.

‘Because it looked exactly like the illustration from the game I’d been wrestling with for a whole week.’

An angelic female protagonist with a pure and kind appearance, just as the game depicted.

In every way, I now looked exactly as if the female protagonist of the game “Sowiso” had appeared in reality.

‘Haah.’

I decided to first assess my current condition.

To do that……

‘Status Window!’

I quietly called out in my mind, and sure enough. The status window I had seen when starting the game appeared just as it was.

Fortunately, the status window wasn’t very complicated.

—

<Status Window>

<Name: Yuri Elrose>

—

Along with the female protagonist’s name like this.

—

Fame: 0

—

……Only a simple fame value sat there alone.

I carefully pressed the left arrow on the status window. Then, just as in the game, the <Relationship Window> appeared.

The relationship window was also simple. Alongside Cedric’s name, next to it was written: ‘Not sure yet.’

Instead of showing the affinity value intuitively, this game would describe the state with such ambiguous phrases.

‘I used to frequent the relationship window because it was fun to see the comments change from moment to moment.’

I returned from the relationship tab to the status tab.

When I pressed the arrow under Yuri Elrose’s name there, golden-glowing letters appeared.

—

Talent: ??? (Unmanifested)

—

Looking at the question-marked part, I smiled thinly.

What mattered now was precisely this part.

Once again, there are four male leads in this game.

The kind and gentle Crown Prince.

The stoic Knight Commander.

The irritable Tower Master of the Magic Tower.

And lastly, the prickly younger brother.

(Of course, with the younger brother, you get a heartwarming ending where you live happily as a family, not a romantic one.)

Anyway, this unmanifested talent part was related to the four male leads.

In this game, Yuri’s stats are sealed in the initial state.

In that state, as you meet the male leads and experience certain episodes to manifest your talents……

The setting was that one by one, your stats would increase.

‘Speech, intelligence, mana…… and what else was there? Anyway.’

Among them, the stats that manifest first are mana and intelligence.

Because in the second episode, Yuri Elrose gets caught up in an accidental incident with the Tower Master and ‘blooms’ as a mage.

It was a story about the irritable, people-hating Tower Master and the female protagonist growing close through magic as a medium.

‘But that story is no longer my concern.’

The important thing was that to raise stats, manifesting talents was essential.

And to manifest her talent as a mage, she had to meet the Tower Master.

Fortunately, that wasn’t too difficult.

Before long, Yuri Elrose would go on a picnic outing to the suburbs for a social gathering.

The first meeting with the Tower Master would occur naturally there, so there was no need to worry.

The moment I finished organizing my thoughts.

Knock knock, a neat knocking sound jolted me back to awareness.