Chapter 54

[The first scenario, the Queen’s Elimination, has been successfully completed.]

[In the quest to find the Queen, he chose Kang Yu-ri out of the four queen candidates as the queen he must find and eliminate. However, he neither discovered the true queen leading to the true ending nor the current queen who had tormented him. As he never harbored any hostile feelings towards the other candidates as the queen, there is nothing to be negatively settled.]

[The Queen’s elimination was accomplished without an S-battle. The possibility of the Queen reappearing as an enemy has increased.]

[The main factor in the Queen’s conquest was not Erica, but a woman claiming to be Iska. As spoils of the Queen’s elimination, favorability points of 30, and for the Erica kidnapping incident, favorability points of 50, will be awarded to that woman.]

[Error detected. Favorability point award failed.]

[Upon analyzing the cause, it was determined that the favorability towards the queen he had tormented and the one who saved him from kidnapping could not surpass the intense hatred towards the woman’s true identity, preventing the rise in favorability.]

[It was previously stated that Erica’s favorability would unconditionally rise. We will not discuss the error that occurred this time.]

[The prologue role-playing first main scenario of Erica, “Queen Elimination,” has now been successfully concluded due to this event. The next main scenario will only be decided after the school trip resolves.]

[The number of believers, including the resurrected family members, amounts to 455 for Kang Yu-ri. Erica’s awakening rate is 12%. The first scenario was successfully completed before the Queen’s influence grew too strong and before her awakening rate surpassed 12%.]

[Starting now, Erica will be able to measure her own rank. Her visible ranks are broadly divided into three tiers, and her current observable rank is Extra Rank.]

[Currently, the protagonist Kim Ha-neul has chosen Student Council President Lee Seo-ra as his main heroine; as Erica, the heroine, was not selected by the protagonist, she cannot further elevate her status above Sub Heroine.]

[… If Erica sees her rank, it will show as Extra, but presently her role is Sub Heroine. Error. An issue has arisen. Cause indeterminate.]

[It is decided that the system window will not be displayed to prevent disputes regarding this error. Case closed. Completion of the first scenario’s accounting is concluded.]

*

Until now, the meals between Erica and Inna had been progressing relatively smoothly.

While Erica doesn’t actively display friendliness, she often asks questions during their private dinners.

Inna, on the other hand, exhibits a persistent friendliness akin to clinginess, responding with smiles when Erica asks something out of turn or sharing small stories.

The reason Erica only asks questions to Inna isn’t out of familiarity, but rather because her ‘childhood friend’ is the only one who could know everything about the previous Erica.

Inna harbors a bittersweet and profound affection for Erica, so it was inevitable that their private dinner times would feel awkward. However, today’s breakfast atmosphere felt much heavier due to an additional presence.

“Would you care for some of this?”

“Oh, your consideration for guests is commendable. I’ll enjoy this.”

Just before Erica had the meat brought to her mouth with chopsticks, a woman with a sacred appearance snatched the chopsticks with her mouth, swallowed the meat, and then raised her finger.

The mortifying reality that the food Inna prepared since dawn was eaten by an unexpected guest instead of the intended target caused Inna’s face to momentarily twist into a demonic look before normalcy returned before Erica could notice.

“Keep this up, will you? You want to d*e?”

This did not mean her anger subsided. Each time Inna tried to feed Erica something, the former queen kept labeling herself as a ‘guest,’ snatching and eating the items Inna had prepared.

If the former queen still believed that Erica and Inna had engaged in a private ‘encounter,’ instead of merely lowering her voice, Inna would have wrapped the former queen’s body with love and buried her behind the mountain. However, that misunderstanding has been cleared up.

Erica’s blank-faced demeanor while enthusiastically eating the offered meat hinted that nothing inappropriate had happened. If there were any such occurrences, Erica would have shown embarrassment or anger towards the former queen.

Though it’s not impossible that Erica was taken advantage of without her knowledge, given her significantly weakened protection.

Yet, this does not explain the collapsed church, supposedly the aftermath of last night’s battle.

If anything, it seems incongruent that after using up her ‘protection’ to defeat the former queen, Erica would then bring her home and fall victim despite being unaware.

“I’m called Gimisanggung, don’t ya know? I’ve been helping this girl continuously. You should be thanking me instead.”

As if reading Inna’s thoughts, the former queen’s voice teased her with a slight challenge, causing Inna to glare at her.

Even though the misunderstanding regarding Inna has been cleared, it’s still not evident that the former queen has stopped targeting Erica. Whether it’s even something that can or should be cleared remains questionable.

Despite the intense eye contact between the two women, Erica ate the prepared meat on the table without interference, silently hinting that she too had her own hands.

Regardless of their relationships, Erica has school to attend soon, and she needs to eat to keep up with her efforts.

Eventually, the girl who had prepared the side dishes had to abandon the pleasure of feeding Erica today, maintaining a slightly sullen expression but still watching Erica eat contentedly, thinking that the former queen wouldn’t follow to school.

However, if things were left this way, the former queen, who is supposed to be strong, wouldn’t be referred to as Queen Kang Yu-ri.

“Hey house owner, what do you think? I’m specially doing a poison check for you, yet some people have issues with that.”

‘Should I really put poison in then?’

The sudden thought was rather appealing but couldn’t be acted upon, lest by some chance Erica ends up eating it.

With clenched fists unnoticed by Erica, Inna quietly calmed herself. Observing Inna briefly, the white-haired girl swallowed the bite of meat and then spoke.

“Stop pestering.”

Erica needs the queen as a teammate if she’s to gain any edge in the battle that’s already one year late.

Though persuaded by Iska’s words, there’s no reason to abandon Inna, who has shown her kindness since she entered this world, for Kang Yu-ri.

Inna is one of the two women who stood by Erica since the start. Though her intentions seem impure, Inna’s network cannot be overlooked.

It’s foolish to discard existing connections for new ones. Erica therefore declared to the woman who kept meddling in what she already had.

“If you’re going to be my ally, Inna is already my best friend.”

Their ranks are quite different. That’s what Erica’s words implied, but strangely both women had curious expressions. Inna didn’t seem overly pleased, and Kang Yu-ri, despite being placed in a lower rank, seemed genuinely happy.

Even though Erica expected some unpleasant reactions to her method of categorizing people, she didn’t expect their peculiar responses. Unsure what was said wrong, Erica wanted a moment to reflect but the intended appeased party nodded enthusiastically.

“Best friend, great~. Got it. I won’t bother our eternal best friend anymore.”

She won’t make two statements with one mouthful, so Kang Yu-ri teasing Inna won’t happen anymore. It seemed things concluded satisfactorily, but…

Erica glanced at Inna sitting across from her. Annoyance at being called “eternal best friend.”

However, as Inna was observing Erica’s face while holding back her words, they both shared silence.

It’s natural when two people spare each other’s feelings for the third who does not, and during their silence, the former queen spoke again.

“Since the spot of ‘best friend’ as a childhood friend has been taken, I’ll need to find another place to stay, right?”

“…Go outside.”

“Why? I was merely suggesting to get closer to our adorable Erica in a different way. Are you thinking something strange?”

This, after saying she wouldn’t be bothersome. Inna glared with snake-like eyes, her voice brimming with restrained anger.

Since fighting here would inconvenience Erica, the request was to take it outside, but naturally, the former queen had no reason to comply.

“And you should call me ‘older sister.’ I’m older than you after all. Though, I don’t want to hear it from you either.”

The incessant bickering between the two continued, prompting the white-haired girl to yawn midway through eating her meat. She thought by speaking reasonably, they’d stop, but even with moderation, they didn’t listen.

[It will take 23 hours and 20 minutes for protection to recover.]

With Iska’s threat still needing time to recover, Erica rose from her seat and left the arguing pair to their quarrel, finding mediation the most annoying task.

However, just as Erica took a few steps, her wrist was caught.

As declared by the system, both Inna, who troubles Erica for possessing her, and Kang Yu-ri, who desires to see Erica cry, had simultaneously grabbed Erica’s wrist in different directions.

“Isn’t that what you want, to have that kind of relationship with me? Where do you keep trying to go? Will you just leave me behind?”

“Just kick this woman out. Okay? I’ll take care of everything I intended through her.”

The girl, clearly unhappy with being dragged into their continuous conflict, had no choice but to start mediating, despite it not being her nature.

“Hey, are you ignoring me again? Pretending not to hear me? How about I clean your ears? I’ll buy you earplugs; just wait a little longer?”

“How about this—she leaves, and I’ll just skip school for the day and don’t open the door to her again? Isn’t that a great idea?”

Though it wasn’t an easy task…