In my past life, my name was Yumi. And I died for a really stupid reason.
"Miki, it's 3 AM. Just let the 'secret route' go," I mumbled, half-asleep on the sofa.
"I can't, Yumi!" my roommate Miki whisper-shouted, her face illuminated by the TV. "I'm so close! I know there's a way to save Lady Amaryllis!"
The game she was pouring her life into was the otome-isekai sensation, Radiant Crown. Miki was obsessed with the game's tragic villainess, Amaryllis von Weissberg. But her most hated character?
"Ugh, this useless sidekick!" Miki growled, mashing the controller. "Silvie Briar! She's the daughter of a destitute baron, has zero magic, zero talent, and her only 'skill' is agreeing with everything Seraphina says! She's just a "Yes-Woman" NPC! In every single route, she either gets kidnapped to motivate the heroine or just... disappears! She's a plot device, not a character!"
I remember thinking that sounded like a pretty raw deal.
Then the lightning strike hit our apartment's ancient wiring. There was a bright flash, a smell of ozone, and... nothing.
No god, no white room, no "Choose Your Cheat Skills" menu.
I awoke to the smell of roses and the feeling of stiff, scratchy fabric. My head was pounding.
And a sound. A crisp, digital ping.
[System Booting... Player Data Not Found... Anomaly Detected.]
I sat up, blinking. A transparent blue screen hovered in my vision.
[Welcome, 'Nameless Anomaly.' Primary Player Data 'Miki' has been corrupted and lost. Initiating backup protocol: 'Villainess Sidekick gear' has been granted to you.]
My blood ran cold. Miki. She was gone. Pulled into the game she loved, only to be "corrupted" on arrival. And me? I was just the passenger who got dragged along in the crash.
I scrambled to my feet. I was in a garden. My hands were small and delicate. A cascade of what I could only describe as crimson red hair fell over my shoulders.
[Status Window Open]
> Name: Silvie Briar
Level: 1
HP: 10/10
MP: 0/0
Title: The Useless Sidekick
Skills: [Nod], [Agree], [Cower]
I stared at the screen, my horror mixing with a strange, dark amusement. The System itself was mocking me. [Cower]? Really?
"You... you're a monster!" a small voice shrieked.
I spun around. There, standing by a patch of trampled irises, was a little girl with hair like spun snow white and furious, sharp ruby eyes. She was facing two older boys, who were sneering.
"A monster, just like your father!" one of them jeered. "You're the 'Cursed Princess'! You're doomed!"
[TARGETS IDENTIFIED]
Name: Viscount Harrel's Eldest Son (Capture Target Lackey A)
Name: Marquis Bryne's Second Son (Capture Target Lackey B)
Name: Amaryllis von Weissberg (Doomed Villainess)
This was it. The prologue event Miki had described. This was the moment Amaryllis' isolation began. The moment the "useless sidekick" Silvie was supposed to just stand there and... well... [Cower].
Amaryllis' lip trembled, but she refused to cry. I looked at her, then at the bullies. Then at my status screen. [Level: 1].
"Hey," I called out.
The boys turned, surprised. "What do you want, 'Baroness Nothing'?" one of them sneered. "Come to nod in agreement?"
"No," I said. I bent down and picked up a sharp, palm-sized rock from the garden path.
[ITEM: Jagged Rock. (Common). Damage: 1-2.]
Amaryllis gasped. The boys just looked confused. The powerless Silvie wasn't supposed to do anything.
I threw the rock. Hard.
It struck Lackey A right in his smug, aristocratic nose.
[Critical Hit! -3 HP!]
He yelped, a trickle of blood appearing. "You... you hit me! You worthless, magic-less..."
Ping.
[NEW QUEST GENERATED: 'The First Spark of Rebellion']
Objective: Defend the Doomed Villainess.
Reward: +100 EXP, Trait: [Loyalty of the Knight]
Failure: Amaryllis "Isolation" flag is locked in.
"She's not worthless," I said, my voice low. I grabbed another rock. "And she's not cursed. But you will be if you don't leave. Now."
They stared at me. At the blood. At the second rock. This was not in the script. They were just here to bully the villainess, not get into a brawl with a feral, red-haired peasant. They fled, shouting threats.
The garden was silent. I dropped the second rock.
[QUEST COMPLETE! 'The First Spark of Rebellion']
[REWARDS GRANTED: +100 EXP!]
[TRAIT GAINED: 'Loyalty of the Knight' (Passive) - All stats doubled when protecting a designated target.]
[LEVEL UP! You are now Level 4!]
A warm, golden light washed over me, healing the scrapes on my knees. I turned to Amaryllis. She was staring at me, her jaw on the floor.
"You... you... why?" she whispered. "My father... everyone... they say I'm..."
"They're idiots," I said, walking over and offering her my hand. She flinched, but I didn't pull it away.
I looked at my own status screen. [Title: The Useless Sidekick].
I smirked. This was the ultimate perk.
This world, this "game," is a system of rules. The heroine has rules. The capture targets have rules. Even the villainess has rules she must follow. They are all slaves to the plot.
But me? I'm an Anomaly. A bug. And I was just given a 'System' that lets me break those rules by leveling up.
Miki died trying to find a good ending for her favorite character.
I'll grind one for mine.
Amaryllis von Weissberg, the "Doomed Villainess," finally placed her small, trembling hand in mine.
"My name is Silvie Briar," I said, my new [Loyalty] trait making my voice ring with absolute conviction. "And as of today, I am your friend."
'And Your ending is about to get a serious rewrite.'
"Silvie!!!"
A voice shrieked my name from the path behind me. Almost simultaneously, another, more panicked voice cried out from behind Amaryllis.
"Lady Amaryllis!"
Two women burst onto the scene.
The first, a blonde-haired woman whose face was pale with panic, was instantly recognizable from Silvie's memories as my mother, Baroness Clarisse Briar.
"Silvie, I've been searching everywhere for you! Why did you wander off?"
The other was a maid, who was practically wringing her hands as she rushed to Amaryllis. "My lady, the Duke is *furious*!"
Amaryllis's ruby-eyed gaze snapped from her terrified maid to me. All traces of her earlier fear were gone, replaced by a cold, aristocratic mask.
She gave a small, perfect curtsy. "Thank you for your help today, Lady Silvie," she said, her voice dripping with ice. "But refrain from asking me to be your friend. You are... not worth it."
Her sharp gaze was utterly condescending.
My hand, still outstretched, suddenly felt very stupid. I held the pose for a beat, the smile I'd given her feeling stiff and fake.
A ping that sounded much colder than the "Level Up" notification echoed in my head.
`[TARGET: Amaryllis von Weissberg - TRUST: 5 (WARY CURIOSITY)]`
`[TARGET: Amaryllis von Weissberg - AFFECTION: 2 (NEUTRAL)]`
My internal smirk returned. Only 5 Trust? After I just defended her?
...Oh. Oh.
I saw it, then. I saw the way her maid was desperately tugging on her sleeve, her eyes darting between me, Amaryllis, and the path where the two boys had fled. I saw my own mother—Baroness Clarisse Briar—whose face was the color of chalk. She wasn't looking at me; she was staring at the small drops of blood on the gravel path.
This wasn't Amaryllis being cruel. This was her being a noble.
I, Silvie Briar, daughter of a destitute Baron, had just assaulted the sons of a Viscount and a Marquis. In public. With witnesses.
By saying "you are not worth it," she was publicly severing ties. She was drawing a line in the sand for her maid and my mother to see: This wasn't my idea. She is not with me.
She was... protecting me.
What a hilariously, painfully textbook tsundere move. "You're not worth it" was just high-society code for "Thank you for the help, now get out of here before my father's knights arrest you."
Miki would have been squealing with delight at the trope.
I had to play my own role, then. I let my hand fall to my side and smoothly dropped into the most pathetic, "useless sidekick" curtsy I could manage.
"Of course, Lady Amaryllis," I said, my voice all air and apologies. "My deepest apologies for my... outburst. It was improper of me to assume."
Amaryllis's ruby eyes widened, just a fraction. She was expecting me to cry or argue. She wasn't expecting me to fold like a cheap piece of paper.
She stared at me for a second longer, her expression unreadable. Then, she gave a sharp "Hmph," gathered her dignity like a shield, and turned on her heel.
"We are leaving, Marta," she commanded, and the maid practically ran to keep up.
As she disappeared down the path, I was left alone with my mother.
The silence was heavy.
"Silvie..." my mother finally whispered. Her voice was trembling.
`[NEW QUEST GENERATED: 'The First Interrogation']`
Objective: Explain your actions to Baroness Briar without revealing the System.
Reward: Skill: [Deceive (E-Rank)]
Failure: Locked in the "Incompetent" debuff for one week.
My mother's hand clamped down on my arm, her grip surprisingly strong.
"Silvie," she hissed, her green eyes wide with terror. "What in the world did you just do? That was the Marquis's son!"
I just smiled, a small, empty "Silvie Briar" smile. My new `[Loyalty of the Knight]` trait was humming warmly under my skin, and my status screen still showed `[LEVEL 4]`.
"Don't worry, Mother," I said, patting her hand. "I just made a new friend."
This was going to be fun.
"A new friend? I see." Clarisse's voice was flat, her eyes glancing at the bloodstains on the gravel path. "Well, that doesn't matter. I came to take you home. Your... father... disgraced himself again today."
She let out a long, weary sigh, her shoulders slumping. "Does he seriously think the Duke of Weissberg would see us as equals? After that display?"
"Mother," I asked, the question popping out before I could stop it. "Do you regret marrying father?"
Clarisse froze. Her gaze snapped to mine, sharp and searching. "'Father'?" she repeated, her voice strangely quiet. "You... you always call him 'Papa'."
I shrugged. "I'm not naive, Mother."
And I wasn't. The real Silvie Briar's memories were a miserable collection of facts. Baron Theodore Briar. A destitute noble who had gambled and drunk away his wife's dowry and his family's land. He blamed his wife, Clarisse, for only giving him a "useless" daughter, as a complication during my birth ensured she could have no more. He was a cheat, a fraud, and a pathetic excuse for a man. The original Silvie had adored him, calling him 'Papa' and believing his lies. I will not.
My mother just stared at me for a long moment before shaking her head, as if to clear it. "Forget about it, Silvie," she said, her voice softening. "There's no use talking about it. Don't you worry. I will always protect you. I'll handle your father's messes somehow."
She brushed a stray crimson hair from my face, and her weary expression hit me like a physical blow.
'She reminds me so much of my own mother,' I thought, my throat tightening.
I reached up and put my small hand over hers. "Mom," I said, the word slipping out, feeling both foreign and perfectly natural. "Don't worry. From now on, I'll be the one to protect you. I'm going to rebuild everything Father has destroyed."
Clarisse just looked at me, confused by my sudden words. But as she took my hand to lead me away from the garden, a new, massive window flooded my vision. This one wasn't a small quest. It was framed in bronze, intricate, and pulsed with a faint, golden light.
[NEW LONG-TERM QUEST GENERATED: "Rebuild House Briar"]`
> Description: You have sworn to restore your family and protect your new mother. The path of a destitute noble is steep, and your original stats are 'trash.' You must gain power where none exists.
> Objective: Restore the honor and strength of House Briar.
Sub-Objectives:
① Master rapier combat (0% Complete)
② Unlock basic magic proficiency (0% Complete)
③ Recover House Briar's lost crest and inheritance (0% Complete)
④ Repay House Weissberg's favor (0% Complete)
⑤ Protect Baroness Clarisse Briar until "Security" flag is achieved
> Prerequisite Unlocked: `[Loyalty of the Knight]`
`[UNLOCKING HIDDEN TRAINING SIMULATOR: 'THE ETERNAL DUNGEON']`
`[The Eternal Dungeon] is a pocket dimension accessible only to you. Time inside is compressed (100:1). It contains 1000 floors of increasing difficulty, filled with monsters, traps, and forgotten lore. This is your hidden forge. Use it to gain the power you lack.`
> Campaign Milestone 1: Clear floor 10 of `[The Eternal Dungeon]`.
> Reward: Unlock `[Mana Core (Magic)]` & Skill: `[Rapier Arts (E-Rank)]`.
Failure: House Briar's permanent erasure from noble records.
I stared at the screen, my heart hammering. A secret dungeon simulator? 1000 floors?
I squeezed my mother's hand.
This changed everything.
I glanced at the glowing quest window hovering above the roses, the golden light reflected in my eyes.
"And I'll make sure to level up," I thought with a grin, "while still being the useless sidekick."
[Quest Accepted.]
The window flickered, then vanished into the wind.