sickly chapter 2

Chapter 1

“I want to break the engagement.”

My fiancé, Oswin Lyndon, spoke coolly. They were words I had never expected to hear from him, a man who had always been so keen on my family’s fortune.

No, this can’t be happening!

I was so shocked by his words that my jaw dropped. The memory of my agonizing decision late last night to finally participate in the game flashed through my mind.

It worked this quickly?

My eyes went wide as I stammered, “Wh-what did you say?”

Oswin’s face crumpled in annoyance as he let out a long sigh.

“Don’t pretend you didn’t hear me. I’ll be sending the annulment papers soon, so be prepared.”

Wait, hold on. Can breaking up be this easy just because I joined the game? Don’t you need a complicated process or at least a valid reason?

I had devised so many plans to end things with him! If it had been this simple, I would have kicked him to the curb ages ago.

“I can’t believe breaking up was this easy…” I murmured, overcome with emotion, not even trying to hide the smile tugging at my lips.

Oswin shot me an irritated look.

“Don’t blame me, and don’t you dare refuse.”

“Why would I refuse?”

I was planning to rush back to my room and draft the papers myself. I beamed at Oswin, and he made a gagging sound before whipping his head away.

“I have someone I like, so give up and stop following me around. I’m leaving.”

“What is he talking about…?”

What fresh nonsense was this? Who was following whom?

I stood there, dumbfounded and speechless, as the narcissistic Oswin Lyndon vanished from sight.

In his place, a gray status window appeared. These had started popping up incessantly since I’d agreed to join the game last night.

It was still strange and unfamiliar, seeing these odd windows before me, but it wasn’t an entirely unwelcome development.

However, the text that appeared in the window quickly soured my mood.

[You’ve been dumped by your fiancé, Oswin Lyndon! Charm -10]

…Wait a minute, I was the one who got dumped?!

Staring at the status window in frustration, I started running back to my room. I had to write and send my own annulment papers first!

Who in their right mind would like that narcissist?

“‘Stop following him,’ he says. Don’t make me laugh.”

That would happen when pigs fly. Absolutely never.

And yet, the thing I swore would never happen, not even if I died and came back to life, occurred that very evening at dinner.

I was, as usual, stuffing my face with delicious food. Watching me, my mother spoke gently.

“Catherine, dear, are you sure that’s enough? I worry you’ll collapse. Please, eat more.”

I nodded at her words, my jaw working diligently. My older brother, Hamilton, who had been watching me quietly, added his voice to the chorus of concern.

“She’s right. Eat this, and that, just eat everything.”

“Even I can’t eat that much.”

“But what if you collapse again?”

Hamilton Haith. In the game, he was the character who filled the kind and mature older brother role.

That description was more or less accurate. However, it was missing one crucial line: he was a man who worried excessively about his younger sister. A moderate amount of concern would have been fine, but his was beyond excessive. He took it way too far.

I was ignoring Hamilton’s muttering about how my wrist looked like it would snap when my father, who had been silent until now, spoke up.

“By the way, Catherine. Are you feeling all right these days?”

“Yes, of course. Please don’t worry. Ah, and there’s something I need to tell you…”

My parents had always worried about my frail constitution, so much so that they kept me practically under lock and key, rarely letting me leave the house.

Fortunately, however, I hadn’t collapsed once in the last three years—not since the strange game-related windows started appearing.

They really didn’t need to worry about me anymore. With that thought, I reached into my sleeve for the annulment papers I had prepared.

“Father, I…”

But before I could hand them over, he continued.

“Good. I’m glad to hear you’re no longer ill. Which brings me to my point, Catherine.”

“Yes?”

He set down his knife and looked between me and Hamilton with a serious expression before he spoke.

“Catherine. I’ve decided to send you to the academy Hamilton attends.”

“…Pardon?”

Stunned by my father’s unexpected announcement, I could only blink and tilt my head.

“Father!”

At the same time, Hamilton, who had been keeping his mouth tightly shut, cried out in disbelief.

“The break is almost over, isn’t it? Catherine, you will go with Hamilton when he returns to the academy.”

“The academy?”

My senses finally returned, and I repeated his words. My father nodded briskly.

The academy? Me, at the academy?

Wait, the same one Hamilton attends? That was the main setting of the game—the place where the heroine and the love interests would cry, fight, fall in love, and cause all sorts of chaos.

But there was one fact even more important than that.

The academy was where my now ex-fiancé, Oswin Lyndon, was a student.