Chapter 4

"Nadia York, don't think I'll let you off just because you're acting like this.

"This house will be mine sooner or later. You're nothing more than a baby-making machine for Steven. Once he gets tired of you, you'll be nothing."

I smiled at her.

"You're right."

She was visibly taken aback.

Then she marched upstairs in her heels and pushed open the door to the master bedroom.

"Since you're the one who invited me to move in, this room is mine. You can sleep in the guest room!"

I leaned against the doorframe and nodded with a smile.

"Okay."

She stared at me for two seconds before continuing arrogantly.

"And another thing. From now on, I make the rules in this house. You need my permission before you do anything."

"Sure."

"You..."

Molly faltered.

She opened her mouth, seemingly trying to think of something even harsher to say.

I kept smiling.

"Whatever you want."

Her eyes widened.

A moment later, her face turned red.

"System, why do I feel like this is going in a really weird direction..."

[I have the same feeling...]

"Don't tell me she's actually lost her mind. I'm being this awful to her, and she keeps saying yes?

"What if she's secretly planning something huge?"

[Host, there's no need to worry excessively. Just continue following the villainess storyline.]

Irritation suddenly crept into Molly's voice.

"Easy for you to say. Weren't you the one who told me I could only survive in this world by earning one hundred favorability points from the main characters?

"And now the female lead is being so tolerant that the male lead is practically ready to give her a gold star. How am I supposed to earn favorability points? How am I supposed to survive?"

[Host, please remain calm. Although the female lead isn't following the script, the male lead's favorability toward you just increased by five points. That means we're on the right track.]

"Only five points? And you're conveniently ignoring the fact that his favorability toward the female lead went up by twenty points after she agreed to everything?

"So, this is your brilliant plan? You wanted me to follow the villainess storyline, make the male lead dislike the female lead, and his favorability toward me will double. But look what happen now!"

[...]

Molly exploded.

"System, don't play dead. You'd better give me a reasonable explanation!"

Just as they seemed ready to start arguing again, I couldn't help cutting in.

"Um... how about collecting favorability points from someone else instead?"

Molly's eyes widened.

"Y-You can hear us?"

When I nodded, she immediately shouted at the empty air.

"System! And you keep insisting there aren't any bugs! I haven't even finished my mission yet, and she's already heard all my inner thoughts!

"What do we do now? What do we do?"

The system fell silent for several seconds.

[I can erase her anomalous memories and return her to the normal storyline.]

I remained where I was, but my heart clenched.

They were going to erase my memories?

Make me forget everything I'd heard today?

Wouldn't that turn me right back into the lovestruck fool they could manipulate however they wanted?

The next second, Molly's voice shot up.

"That's low! She heard it fair and square. What gives you the right to erase her memory?"

[...]

While they were at a standstill, I quickly spoke up.

"You said the mission is to collect favorability points from the main characters. I'm a main character too, aren't I? Why not collect mine?"

Molly froze.

The system fell silent as well.

A few seconds later, the electronic voice sounded again.