The System's silence after her victory was more unnerving than its rage. She had fulfilled the command without fulfilling its intent, and it had granted her the points. But she knew this was just a temporary truce. The clockwork heart had been denied its dramatic climax, and it would not rest until it had forced her into a corner she couldn't escape. The threat of a new world, a new, more hostile prison, was a chilling promise that she could not ignore.
Three days later, the new screen appeared. It was simple, devoid of the usual warnings, which made it all the more terrifying.
"Task: Recover the Valerius Family Heirloom. Reward: 300 points."
Her family heirloom was a priceless diamond necklace known as "The Serpent's Heart." According to the manhwa's plot, it had been stolen by a minor villain, a rogue noble named Lord Julian. The original Selena, driven by greed and a desire to impress Duke Cedric, would have tried to recover it herself. She would have been lured into a trap and captured, only to be dramatically rescued by the Duke, a plot point designed to bring the two closer and show his heroic nature.
This time, the compulsion to act was immediate and powerful. She felt an invisible pull toward the slums, toward the secret hideout where Lord Julian was said to be hiding. But she resisted, her mind a fortress of logic. She was not a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued.
She went to her study and wrote a letter. She didn't write to Duke Cedric. She wrote to Liam.
That night, Liam appeared on her balcony, not with his usual small finch, but with a large, intelligent-looking raven perched on his shoulder. "This is Corvus," he said, his voice a low whisper. "He's better for long distances."
Selena quickly explained the new mission and the threat of being rerouted. Liam's eyes, usually so calm, narrowed with concern. "A new world… the System is desperate. It wants you to fail in a way that's so catastrophic it has no choice but to terminate your file. The 'rescue' mission is a high-risk plot point. There are always accidents in those."
"So we avoid it," Selena said, a fierce resolve in her voice. "We don't go to him; we bring him to us."
Their plan was a daring subversion of the System's narrative. Instead of a rescue, they would orchestrate a heist. They wouldn't recover the necklace; they would simply swap it with a fake. This would get the System to award the points, and the real heirloom would remain safe.
The next day, Selena sent a message to the Archduke's office, a formal request for a meeting. Using her "Archducal Relations" skill, she secured an audience within the hour. She lied with chilling precision, fabricating a story about an anonymous tip-off regarding a planned theft of the royal treasury's jewels. She even dropped a false name, a minor noble who had a known gambling problem. The System's commands were focused on her, not on the NPCs she was manipulating. It couldn't see the full scope of her plan.
While the Archduke's guards were busy pursuing the false lead, Liam, with the help of his birds, would carry out the real mission. They had no interest in the jewels, only in the chaos they would cause. Liam's birds were trained to act as scouts, finding weaknesses and vulnerabilities. A flock of sparrows would create a distraction, a perfectly timed squabble that would draw the guards' attention away from a specific back entrance. The small, white finch, her personal spy, would remain hidden, watching the movements of the guards.
That night, she stood on her balcony, her eyes on the distant lights of the city. A small, white bird landed on her windowsill, a tiny scrap of parchment tied to its leg. The note was brief.
"The Serpent's Heart is a fake. The real one is in the Duke's possession, a gift from the Archduke's mother."
The System had played a double game. The "heirloom" was a fake; the real one had been in Duke Cedric's possession all along. The manhwa plot was even more twisted than she had thought. The old Selena would have never known. She would have gone to the villain's hideout, gotten herself captured, and been "rescued" without ever recovering the real necklace. Her failure would have been total.
This time, the System's screen was nowhere to be seen. It was waiting for her to act. She looked at the note in her hand, a new plan forming in her mind. The System wanted a rescue mission. It wanted to force a connection between her and the Duke. She would give it one. A different kind of rescue. One that would turn the entire plot on its head.