Late into the night, Xian was still awake. scribbling on papers at his desk. By the time he finally set down his pen, his eyes had grown languid in the dim light of the lamp.
The desk before him was filled with sheets of paper, sealed letters, and several documents borrowed from the academy registry. What had begun as a simple attempt to organize Carmillia's second day had gradually turned into something far more complicated.
It reminded him of the nights he had spent arranging his own university class schedules, except a single mistake here could result in far more than an inconvenient morning lecture.
At the center lay Carmillia's schedule.
Both of them had the same morning classes, which had already been marked, along with the time needed to travel between lecture halls. Breakfast was to be served in a reserved pavilion adjoining the residential grounds before the first bell, with enough time left for her to prepare without being rushed.
Lunch required more care. Depending on the distance between her morning and afternoon classes, it would either be served in one of the academy's restaurants or packed and delivered directly to her. Xian had left both instructions available until the academy released the complete schedule for the day.
A separate period had been reserved for afternoon tea, while the evening remained deliberately open in case another compulsory academy activity was announced.
Beside the schedule rested several instructions addressed to the servants assigned to Carmillia's quarters.
Miri should be capable of returning to work by morning. The potion she had received should have been more than enough for an injury that minor. With Miri and the maid Xian had confronted in the afternoon, Carmillia would have at least two attendants available.
Xian divided the work between them.
Miri would remain close to Carmillia, assist her in preparing for class, and attend to her personal needs throughout the day. The other maid would coordinate with the kitchens, collect meals, prepare the receiving room, and handle ordinary errands.
One instruction concerned breakfast and lunch; another listed the tea leaves and refreshments to be prepared that afternoon. The last contained several dishes for dinner, selected from what little Xian knew of Carmillia's preferences.
To the right of the schedule lay several stacks of envelopes.
It turned out that invitations had been waiting inside the locked cabinet beside Carmillia's receiving room. They had likely accumulated throughout the afternoon while Xian was occupied with his classes and everything that followed.
According to Butler Duties 101, as Carmillia's registered personal butler, he was permitted to open formal invitations and household correspondence, though letters marked private were to remain sealed.
Some had arrived from students who merely wished to be seen associating with a ducal daughter, while others came from noble heirs attempting to determine whether House Montagne remained politically approachable.
A few had been written with such excessive praise that their intentions became immediately suspicious.
Xian had sorted the correspondence according to its usefulness. Some invitations warranted an answer; others were better ignored, while a select few came from people who might prove valuable if handled carefully.
Several of those names also appeared on the Royal Class roster spread beneath the letters. Xian had spent hours comparing the information provided by the academy with what he remembered from the game, studying each student's household, entrance placement, declared Path, political affiliation, and existing reputation.
However, he could not write down everything he knew.
Future betrayals, hidden circumstances, and events that had not yet occurred would only raise questions if Carmillia ever examined his notes. Revealing such knowledge this early would be a foolish mistake.
Instead, he reduced each student to conclusions he could reasonably defend. Some were vulnerable enough to recruit, others desired recognition or resented the established nobility, while a handful possessed value but were too difficult or dangerous to approach openly.
Their number seemed substantial enough to form a small faction, giving Carmillia something to begin with.
In the farthest corner of the desk rested a thinner collection of notes. These had taken the longest despite containing the least.
The first concerned a newly established workshop that would later become known for producing specialized academy equipment.
Its young proprietor was still struggling to attract customers, accepting ordinary repairs and whatever minor commissions came his way. In the game, the workshop would struggle for years before its equipment became widely used throughout the academy.
Xian did not remember every event that led to its success, but he knew that someday it would be a worthwhile business to invest in and make waves in the city of Rozenfall.
The second concerned a merchant who operated through the academy city's black market. In the game, this merchant eventually became indispensable to players searching for rare materials, prohibited tools, and items that could not be acquired through official merchants. Unfortunately, the game punished players who approached him before receiving an invitation.
A low-level player who somehow knew of his operation was treated as a spy, a rival, or easy prey. The merchant's people would rob and kill the player, resulting in a Bad End.
Xian would have to deal with him discreetly, perhaps through intermediaries at first. Still, he was no longer merely an unknown commoner wandering alone through the city, as Adrian had been at that stage of the game.
He was a butler serving the ducal daughter of House Montagne, and that affiliation carried dangers of its own, but it also gave him a degree of protection few students possessed.
The third possibility was not truly an investment for Carmillia at all. It lay within the academy city's red-light district.
The district was more than a collection of brothels and drinking houses. It was where noble heirs spent fortunes on excess, merchants negotiated beneath the cover of entertainment, and students revealed things they would never say within academy grounds.
One particular establishment later became valuable less for its profits than for the information passing through it. By the middle stages of the game, it had become a central hub where players could receive quests, establish connections to the Main Scenario, and uncover hidden lore.
If Xian involved himself there, he would have to do so independently and through an intermediary. Publicly connecting Carmillia's name to the district would damage the very reputation he intended to rebuild.
The final note concerned the restaurant where they had eaten lunch earlier that day.
It was not yet especially famous, but once Fahna had accumulated enough funds, the protagonist was tasked with visiting the promising businesses on a checklist she had prepared, and this restaurant had been one of the better long-term investments in the academy city.
In time, it would become a favored meeting place for students, professors, merchants, and visiting nobles because of changes to its ambience and the quality of its food. Xian was merely taking advantage of that knowledge in advance.
Unlike the black-market merchant or the establishment in the red-light district, it was an investment Carmillia could support openly. A respected restaurant near the academy would provide profit, social access, and a neutral location where people from different factions could meet and be observed without attracting suspicion.
None of these were recommendations yet. Xian lacked the current prices, debts, owners, and circumstances necessary to present them properly. Investigating those details throughout the academy city would be one of his future duties.
'I'll need an aide for this. I'm not exactly well versed in clerical work, and handling everything myself would take too much time.'
In the game, investments had been as simple as selecting an option and confirming the amount, but reality involved negotiations, ownership, contracts, debts, competing interests, and people who might refuse even an excellent offer. For now, these were merely possibilities.
Carmillia already possessed wealth and status. What she lacked was influence that belonged specifically to her rather than to her father.
Serika and Lucinelle were already hers. Perhaps Miri would eventually become one of her favored servants as well.
And lastly...
'Maybe I'll be one of them, at least in her eyes.'
If she sponsored the right students, invested in the right businesses, and made herself responsible for the rise of people who would otherwise remain unnoticed, then her name would come to mean more than fear.
She would become a coveted patroness and accumulate loyal subordinates.
The influence she could exert would gradually spread as the people and businesses she supported became successful. The true rewards would not appear immediately, but years later, when those students entered positions of authority and those businesses became established throughout the academy city.
There was another purpose behind the plan, one that would benefit both him and Carmillia.
He intended to cleanse the stigma attached to her name without denying who she was or erasing her villainous tendencies. Instead, he would replace the image of a petty villainess with that of a formidable noblewoman whose judgment carried weight, whose favor could elevate someone, and whose hostility could destroy them.
A noble lady valuable as an ally and terrifying as an enemy.
Xian leaned back and stared at the paper-strewn desk.
In a single night, he had at least found the long-term purpose of his service to Carmillia, taking her future into account through the guidance imparted by the Academy Head Butler.
Build her faction, restore her reputation, and establish influence within the academy city that did not depend entirely upon her father. The pieces were still crude and incomplete, but she could begin placing them as early as the first week.
All that remained was for Xian to steer her decisions without allowing her to realize where he intended to lead her.
'This should be more than enough.'
He gathered the documents into separate folders, placed Carmillia's schedule on top, and finally allowed himself to lie down.
As he lay down, he recalled everything that had happened so far. His first official day at the academy had been a mixture of tension, dismay, and fulfillment.
Once he closed his eyes, exhaustion quickly lulled him into a deep sleep.
When Xian opened his eyes again, the first light of sunrise was barely emerging from behind the clouds on the horizon.
The second day of his academy life had begun, but so much had already happened.
As though the world could not allow him to rest, the System's rarely heard notification rang in his ears.
[Main Scenario Quest: First Academic Year]
[Difficulty: Mandatory]
[Description: Meet the minimum requirements necessary for promotion and advance to Year Two.]
[Requirements:]
[Meet the Attendance Requirement: 0/1]
[Meet the Academic Grade Requirement: 0/1]
[Pass the Practical Evaluation: 0/1]
[Meet the Merit Requirement: 0/1]
[Pass the Promotion Examination: 0/1]
[Failure:]
[Loss of the Duke's Sponsorship]
[Dismissal as Carmillia Montagne's Butler]
[Expulsion from Rozenfall Academy]
[Deviation from the Main Scenario]
[Rewards:]
[Main Scenario Continuation]
[Performance-Based Rewards]
[Rank-Based Rewards]
Xian's tired glare lacked its usual intimidation.
'Continuation?'
His eyes moved through the list of penalties again.
'And what's with all of these? Can't I just regress and start over if I fail?'
Then his eyes returned to the line at the very bottom of the quest window.
[Regressions: 6/7]
That number tore the last trace of sleepiness from him.
'Seven?'
Xian suddenly shot upright. That number used to be a lone six, with nothing beside it.
'Why is there a counter now? What happens when it reaches seven? Is seven the total number of times I can regress?'
If so, his next regression would be his last.
Surely, his regression wasn't something so half-assed. The entities that had sent him here had never warned him about a limit. If this were all he had, then their claim that his punishment would be to experience what he loved over and over again made no sense.
"Why... Why is there a limit?"
His heart, which had remained mostly at ease ever since he had died twice and regressed, began pounding hard enough to send tremors through his body. Xian could not tear his eyes away, unable to believe what he was seeing before him.
'No, calm down. At least I still have one more left.'
"This can't be it. A single retry isn't enough."
'Besides, didn't the entities promise that I'd be living the life I wanted over and over?'
"Shit... What in the fucking depths of hell? What do you mean I only have one regression left?"
'There's not even a fraction of the Any Ending in sight. Are seven regressions really my limit?'
"Why are you only telling me this now, you fuckasses!?"
Xian stood up, letting out a loud, feral howl into his room. His hands were trembling, veins bulging from the tension, while his face bore the expression of an enraged beast.
"Isn't this too much of a difficulty spike?" In the end, he flopped back onto the bed and rested his face in his palm.
'Who am I kidding? Hasn't the game always been hard unless the player knows ahead of time what happens?'
"...That's right. Am I not exactly that kind of player?" Amidst his anguish, Xian was struck by a realization. However, his unsteady gaze betrayed his true mental state.
"Hey, System! What does that counter do? What happens when I reach '7'?... You'd better fucking respond right now..." However, nothing changed in the window before him, and no additional message appeared.
"Tsk. Shit."
He felt even more incensed, knowing that his anger was useless against entities he could do nothing to, especially when they might be laughing their asses off at him.
Xian left the bed and headed straight to the bathroom to wash his face. The splash of water cooled his head, and he took a deep breath to calm himself.
He was a player of Rozenfall. He had completed two routes, Fahna's and Gumin's. He had also discovered their Ruin Ends and knew what they were capable of in their 'complete' and strongest states.
Only after that did he become obsessed with Carmillia, a character who had captivated him from her first appearance. He searched for online guides, only to find a trail of players who had given up. He even partially played every other heroine's route that might have led him to her.
There was no way he was going to let this reality slip away or allow this opportunity to escape him, even if it was merely a dream or a prank orchestrated by unreachable entities.
Xian looked at his reflection in the mirror. Without his glasses and with his hair disheveled, the fierce features of his face appeared even more dangerous than usual.
"I can't die." A defeated sigh escaped him. What was someone given a second chance complaining about, anyway? Even if he was merely their plaything... He was never supposed to be here in the first place.
"So that's the challenge, huh? Fine." It was only the second day, yet he already felt incredible pressure from the events awaiting him.
He especially had to watch out for the first term's Preliminary Field Examination, where most students would be exposed to genuine danger for the first time.
Xian found it within himself to recover from the shock and calm down. He was not going to fall easily, especially in his current state.
'Besides... would an audience want to end the show so soon?'
Once he had calmed down, Xian no longer believed that reaching seven would simply end his regressions. Still, the existence of the limit had thoroughly infuriated him.
"Even if it does end, so what? I'll just curse every last one of you." It was the final act of spite available to a powerless human facing strange beings. Whatever happened, he would never give them the satisfaction of watching him despair.
Xian was still trying to process the sudden change in his situation when he remembered one very important thing he needed to confirm.
'Carmillia!'
If he truly had only one regression remaining, he could no longer tolerate leaving her safety unconfirmed for even a moment.
Xian hurriedly prepared himself and put on his academy uniform. He left his room, slamming the door shut and causing every servant and student walking through the hallway to steer clear of him. Despite his glasses, the ferocity of his expression remained on full display.
Once he reached the women's dormitory, he found the student stationed at the entrance, who had become familiar with him by this point. She stiffened at his arrival.
"I-It's you again!" The girl pointed at Xian as her face reddened, seemingly remembering his late-night departure with his mistress.
"Move." That one word alone was enough to make the girl shriek and scramble out of his way.
Xian blitzed through the busy halls, and no female student or servant dared to stop him despite their shock and protests. When he finally reached the door to his mistress's quarters, he could no longer wait. He knocked and called out to the villainess he adored in a rather urgent tone.
"Lady Carmillia?" There was no answer for a while. If it weren't for the rustling he could hear inside, Xian might have forced his way in. Fortunately, the door opened to reveal a maid he could trust.
"Sir Xian? You're quite early today, hehe." Miri cheerfully greeted him and opened the door wider.
For privacy, each dormitory suite included a receiving hall where visitors could wait briefly while the host prepared herself. This prevented a noble lady, her belongings, clothing, and private informal attire from being exposed whenever the door was opened.
"Mm. Did any other maids come with you?"
"Yes. Um, three other maids were assigned to Lady Carmillia this time."
"What about you? Are you all right with serving her again?"
"Uhm, yes. I thought I'd be afraid once I faced her again, but it turns out I'm not." Miri hesitated. "Maybe it's because Father used to lose his temper like that? I'm somewhat used to drunk people losing control... So, um, it turned out fine in the end."
"It's good that you're all right." Hearing that she had grown used to her father's outbursts, he patted Miri's head out of habit, but Xian didn't forget to check her affection. It remained at [Blue Heart: 90], only ten points away from the next Heart Level, which at least pleased him.
"I-I have to go. Milady is currently getting dressed." The maid bashfully pulled away from Xian's touch as if afraid of being swept away any further.
'Getting dressed, she says?' His thoughts naturally wandered in the wrong direction. Since Carmillia was fine, Xian had calmed down enough to feel assured that she was not in immediate danger of suddenly dying while outside his sight. If there was only one regression left, he needed to know exactly when Carmillia was in danger of dying.
He could predict the dangers originating from the game well enough. The problem was that ever since he had become attached to Carmillia, she had encountered deaths unique to her circumstances and unrelated to most of the game's events.
In other words, they were scenes he knew nothing about.
'I can't just let it happen this time. I'd better prevent every possible threat by any means available instead of relying on regression.'
Xian sat for a while, contemplating the situation as he waited for Carmillia to come out.
"Hm? You're unusually early today, Butler."
"Milady." Xian greeted her with a slight bow. "Have you had breakfast yet?"
Carmillia paused and looked him over, then smirked as she remembered the previous day's arrangement.
"Why? Are you going to surprise me again?"
"I hope it will be a pleasant surprise, milady. I arranged breakfast in advance, just in case." This time, Xian had prepared everything beforehand.
"Hm. Then let's see where you'll take me."
It turned out that breakfast was being served in one of the plazas adjoining the First-Year residential grounds, where several elegant pavilions stood across the open space, divided by low hedges, decorative pools, and stone paths.
Students of sufficient standing could reserve them for private meals, meetings, or small social gatherings. In the game, it had merely been part of the background, a location he had never gotten to explore. Hence, he had not even known it existed.
Xian had already secured the best pavilion in the plaza before returning to his room the previous night. He had strongly implied to the maids in charge that there would be repercussions if he arrived to find it assigned to someone else.
The dishes laid across the principal table were deliberately light. There were several varieties of bread, soft rolls, sliced fruit, mild cheese, and preserves, but not a speck of oil could be seen among them. Xian recalled that Carmillia never ate greasy food in the morning back at the academy estate.
A small pitcher of milk and a freshly steeped pot of tea had also been prepared to wash everything down.
"What are you two standing around for? Eat if you haven't eaten, and keep yourselves useful for the rest of the day," the villainess said upon seeing Xian and Miri merely standing to the side and looking at her.
Carmillia took her place at the center of the pavilion while two of the newly assigned maids began serving her. A third remained near the path leading toward the kitchens, receiving the remaining dishes and directing the academy servants delivering them.
A smaller table had been placed several paces away for personal attendants.
Xian sat there with Miri. The other maids had either eaten before beginning their morning duties or would take their meals once someone relieved them. Miri had already eaten a little earlier, but she still accepted a roll and some tea while keeping herself available to Carmillia.
Even after some time, Xian barely touched his food, only taking occasional bites of bread spread with soft butter. He was also seated far enough from the table that standing would not impede his movements.
His gaze repeatedly traveled across the plaza, moving from the surrounding pavilions to the students, servants, hedges, and every open path leading toward them.
"Hiek!"
"Heuk!"
"...Ugh."
Anyone who looked in Carmillia's direction remained under his scrutiny for several seconds longer than necessary, prompting the spectators to look away uncomfortably. Most of them were noble ladies, since the plaza adjoined the women's dormitory grounds.
Carmillia noticed his behavior, but beyond glancing at him once over her teacup, she paid it little mind and continued her breakfast.
Miri, however, tilted her head curiously, sensing the man she had become increasingly attracted to was on edge.
"Are you looking for someone, Sir Xian?"
"...What?" Distracted by Miri's question, Xian took a moment to realize that he had been too obvious. "No, I'm just making sure no one tries to be a bother."
"Hm, well, with Sir Xian's glare, I'm sure no one would!" Miri innocently remarked as she bit into a round roll, leaving a small bite mark.
"..."
***
After breakfast, Carmillia, dressed in her white-and-gold uniform, made her way toward the Royal Class classroom, with Xian following behind her. Even then, Xian's glare did not ease as he met the gaze of anyone who dared to look at Carmillia for too long, especially the male students.
When they finally reached the atrium, several familiar faces happened to be approaching from the opposite side.
Adrian appeared once again, but this time, three others were with him.
'Kyrin and Ruminaria... even Castreyja. Is this "Adrian" already trying to surround himself with his main team?'
Adrian seemed to expect something from Carmillia, but Xian stepped forward to block his view. Carmillia also stopped in her tracks and locked eyes with Castreyja, whose obvious displeasure carried the same hostility she had shown before the entrance examination.
The two parties stopped in acknowledgment of one another. Fahna, who had been approaching the Royal Class from another corridor, paused off to one side and covered her mouth in amusement.
"Oh my... What's with this tension?"