Thomas was pacing his room while biting his lips. He had a bad feeling, something terrible was going to happen. Trying to calm himself as much as possible while waiting for Bael, he decided to sit at his desk and list all the tropes he knew about dating games. Thanks to the content Mariane liked to consume, he was quite the expert, so maybe he could guess what would happen next.

  ‘Let’s see… When the protagonist is transported to a different world that uses magic, there are two major things that can happen. Either she will be in danger and the love interests will protect her, or she will turn out to have magic too and become super powerful. It looks like we are facing the second case. In those types of stories, there will always be a big vilin, or a catastrophe that the characters need to stop. Since there doesn’t seem to be any bad guy in Hell, at least not a mysterious and powerful one, only gangsters and dumb teenagers, I think we can go for the ‘catastrophe’ route.’

  While he was writing the different types of camities that could befall Hell, he heard a voice next to him.

  “Are the ‘love interests’ suitors ?”

  “Yes, it’s the people the protagonist has to seduce…”

  Thomas suddenly turned his head. Bael was leaning above his shoulder, examining his writing.

  “I see… So, in your theory, Mariane is the protagonist. Then, the love interests are the princes, Baam, and me, I assume ?”

  The slim man didn’t answer, looking anxiously at the king. He had let some words slip out once or twice, but he didn’t think that Bael would learn about this.

  “I’m sorry, it’s just a theory I have, don’t take it to heart…”

  “It’s okay, don’t worry. I wouldn’t have believed you anyways, not until today.”

  The king sat next to him at the desk, looking concerned and angry. Thomas’ hands were shaking, but he didn’t dare to talk more. After some time, Bael opened his mouth again.

  “Now that I think about it, it’s weird. In Hell, we have videogames and romance novels, but no romance videogames. It’s a style that should have emerged at some point, right ?”

  Thomas nodded slowly, and the king paused again to reflect.

  “When you py a videogame, you have a window that opens to give you information, right ? Like a colored square with writings inside.”

  The slim man was biting his lips again.

  “Yes, you usually have that. Why ?”

  Bael sighed and leaned against the backrest of the chair.

  “So it was that. Fuck, what have I done to anger the old man ?”

  Thomas stayed silent. Finally, the king seemed to calm down and held the slim man’s shaky hand.

  “You know that I can see things that others can’t, that’s how I knew you were here. Today I saw a pink square window, like the ones in games, appear in front of Mariane. I think you are right, Mariane is the protagonist of a game. Pink is the color of love, right ? So it really is a dating game.”

  Opening his eyes wide, Thomas sprung up from his chair.

  “Is it true ? What did it say ?”

  Bael stood up too, trying to calm him down.

  “I don’t know, I couldn’t read it. But I think it gave her some instructions, she talked about being a noble from an ancient dynasty of the mage’s world.”

  “I knew it… She gained strong powers, it means the fight is coming…”

  The king held him in his arms, gently patting his back.

  “It’s okay, when she tried to seduce me, Baam could stop her, it means she isn’t that powerful…”

  “What ?”

  Thomas pushed Bael away from him, looking in his eyes.

  “Did she try to seduce you ? Are you okay ? Are you sure she didn’t succeed ? She didn’t ask you to act as usual with me while you fell for her ?”

  The king was starting to get anxious, looking at the tears building up in Thomas’ eyes.

  “No, she really didn’t ! I’m fine, I swear, my head hurts a bit but I’m in my normal state !”

  But Thomas couldn’t believe him. He was unable to. Because an unfamiliar blue light was discreetly dyeing Bael’s golden eyes.

  “I see her magic. I know her, I’ve been with her for years, even if I never saw her mana, I can know. You may not be entirely affected, but she has touched you.”

  “No, I swear she didn’t ! Thomas, please, calm down ! I told you I would be careful, I didn’t get close !”

  The more agitated the king got, the more the blue light was spreading in his eyes. Deep down, Thomas knew that he needed to calm him down and get closer to Bael to make it disappear, but he was unable too. The more he saw the color spreading, the more panic he felt.

  ‘She already tried to kill me, why is she taking Bael from me too ? Can’t she leave me alone ? I never wanted anything from her, I never hurt her, why is she doing this ?’

  It was getting harder to breathe, the comfort of the king’s touch was mixing with his disgust for Mariane and his anxiety, and the more Bael tried to calm him down, the more he felt trapped. His horns, the two gigantic antlers, erupted from his bck hair, and webbed wings sprouted from his back.

  “She won’t stop until I’m dead ! Why ? I never did anything wrong, why ?”

  He was now gasping for air, spasms shaking his body, and Bael didn’t know what to do. The king felt more and more confused and was losing his grip on reality, as if a voice was whispering inside his head. The more anxious he was, the louder the voice felt. Maybe Thomas wasn’t wrong after all.

  “Fuck… Baam !”

  The aide appeared in a cloud of purple smoke, looking at the situation with a confused look.

  “Why is Thomas dying ?”

  “He says that he can feel Mariane’s mana in me and that she succeeded in controlling me somehow !”

  Baam approached the king and looked into his eyes.

  “She really is here. That sly cockroach, trying to hold onto my young master…”

  He raised his hand and with a move of his finger, extracted the blue light. It was now floating in the air, in the middle of the room. Immediately, Thomas calmed down as if his panic attack had never existed. He slowly rose back up, catching his breath while holding the confused king’s hand. Baam looked at him with his head tilted.

  “It looks like you have a peculiar demonic power, being able to sense the presence of an enemy. No wonder you almost went mad when you were in the girl’s head. You should learn to control it, instead of breaking down everytime.”

  With that, he disappeared along with Mariane’s mana, leaving only purple smoke behind. Bael was rubbing his forehead, still holding onto Thomas’ hand.

  “That was an event and a half !”

  “Yes…”

  “So, you already have a magic specialization even though it hasn’t been that long since you gained your demonic power ? And it’s a useful one, at that.”

  “Yeah…”

  “Well, at least we learned that Mariane is more powerful than we thought. Doing all that just by looking at me, that’s not an easy feat.”

  “...”

  “We have a powerful enemy who rules the world like a game, an annoying bitch, and our only weapons are your knowledge of dating games and the fact you can sense her power. It won’t be easy, right ?”

  He turned to Thomas, and that’s the moment when he realized the slim man was crying.

  “What ? Did I do something bad ? Did it scare you ? I’m sorry !”

  He hugged Thomas tightly, stroking his hair while apologizing. But the slim man shook his head, wiping his cheeks with the back of his hand.

  “It’s not that. You know, amongst the tropes I know, there isn’t any where a love interest can free himself from the protagonist’s influence. If it really happens, there are two possible reasons. Either he was brainwashed by the vilin, or it’s a bug.”

  Bael took a step back to look into Thomas’ eyes.

  “What does that mean ? What happens if that’s the case ?”

  The slim man bit his lips again, looking at the ground.

  “In our situation, the same thing will happen for both scenarios.”

  The king lifted Thomas’ head.

  “I can’t understand if you don’t tell me. What will happen ?”

  Taking a deep breath, the slim man held Bael’s hand tightly.

  “The story will bring the protagonist to kill the vilin, or the creator of the game will delete the bug. Baam and you are both love interests, so you are safe.”

  The king tilted his head in confusion, but gradually he started to understand, his eyes widening and his hands shaking anxiously.

  “Wait, you don’t mean you…?”

  Thomas nodded.

  “I’m either the vilin or the bug. In both cases, I will end up dying.”

  Bael shook his head.

  “No. It’s only your theory, it won’t happen that way. This is not what will happen. Absolutely not ! I refuse. You know what ? I felt God’s power on Mariane’s game window, it’s probably him who is doing all that. I’ll go talk to him.”

  “No !”

  Thomas grabbed Bael’s shoulders, gripping them in desperation.

  “Think about it ! If God is really the one who created that game, why did he do it ? Mariane is one thing, but why are all nine of you the love interests that the protagonist has to seduce ?”

  The king tried to find an answer, but he couldn’t think of anything.

  “I have no idea. He always let me do what I wanted in Hell, only observing while I was changing its structure and building the academy.”

  “To take over !”

  Thomas was now looking at Bael, tears flowing again from his eyes.

  “He created Hell to put sinners in it, but the current Hell is not a nd of punishment ! I read all the history of the pce, so I know how you wipe the soul’s memory when it arrives here, and let them attend the academy to restructure their beliefs. It was not for this purpose that he gave this kingdom to Lucifer, your father. So, now that the purpose of this pce has changed and it became a realm full of powerful demons who also have morals, what should he do with it ?”

  Bael became pale, staring at Thomas with his mouth agape.

  “No, he’s my grandfather, he wouldn’t…”

  But he couldn’t refute the slim man’s words. The current situation was proof. Why send dumb princes as heirs in the first pce ? Why make it an objective for a girl holding his power to seduce all the authority figures of this realm ? There was only one expnation.

  “Fuck…”