Players Don't Redeem Themselves, They Prefer the Forced Route

A player buys a high-difficulty conquest game, Kill Those Dragon-Slaying Protagonists. You must make these tragic heroes fall in love with you after starting out hating you.

Stage One: The character you receive is a fallen young master who takes you by force. This morning, he gave you a gut-wrenching poison and has just pushed you into a river. (The first world is a modern high-martial-arts setting, not an ancient one.)

Today is your wedding day. You climb out of the river, your red wedding robes soaked through, the corners of your eyes tinged red, making you look as alluring and eerie as a vengeful ghost.

Facing the male lead, whose sword is pointed at you, you lick the bright red blood from your lips, press them against his upper lip, and smile. "What a joke, my husband. How can the groom be absent on our wedding day?"

Stage Two: The character you receive betrays the people who trusted him, leaving the male lead's family ruined.

At night, the male lead is fighting the corruption. He sees the husband he killed that morning rise from a mirror and embrace him from behind, blood smeared across his face. Cold fingertips trace his features.

"Did you miss me, darling?"

Stage Three: The character you receive was trained for seven years by the era's top investigator. You repay his kindness with betrayal, setting up on your own and taking the male lead's opposing side.

After the battle, the male lead is victorious. On the day of your execution, he asks whether you regret what you've done. With a greatsword hanging over your head, you lower your eyes and ask only, "Wasn't I your best student?"

The player faces every conquest target who hates him to the bone in an unconventional way, and somehow ends up achieving the perfect route with all of them.

When asked what he learned, the player thinks for a moment and says:

Can you really force things to work out? Or do you just end up torturing each other?

Even a bitter fruit is still a fruit.

That's the lesson the player realizes only afterward.

Theme: Study hard and make progress every day.