Confined Together with the Horror Game’s Male Lead

As the room became illuminated by the candle, Aculus started writhing, letting out a pained growl.

Right then, I saw a man who’s on his knees in the center of the room. He was looking at me as well.

However, with his eyes glazed over, he wasn’t looking at me properly.

[ Time left until the demise of ‘Dietrich’: 00:01:03 ]

[ Steel Mentality is being implemented. ]

“Dietrich.”

I called his name.

However, he still would not look at me. I walked closer to him, antidote in hand.

“Drink this, Dietrich.”

Carefully caressing his cheek, I brought the vial to his lips. However, Dietrich’s gaze continued to wander in the air.

Out-of-focus, still.

It did not seem like Dietrich could even hear me.

In the end, I had to open his lips slightly with my thumb.

There was no other choice but to force him to drink it.

[ Time left until the demise of ‘Dietrich’: 00:00:41 ]

[ Steel Mentality is being implemented. ]

‘How am I supposed to make you drink this.’

I needed him to drink this all.

“Dietrich.”

“……”

“Be good now.”

Pushing my thumb into his lips a little more, I opened his mouth and let the antidote spill in.

[ Time left until the demise of ‘Dietrich’: 00:00:10 ]

[ Steel Mentality is being implemented. ]

Five…

Four… 

Three…

Time was running out.

“Now, swallow.”

At that moment, it looked as if Dietrich’s eyes met mine in a flash.

And at last, he gulped.

[ Time left until the demise of ‘Dietrich’: 00:00:01 ]

The system window’s countdown stopped at one second.

It was only then that I finally managed to exhale.

Soon, a new window popped up.

[ ‘Dietrich’ has broken free from the status effect. ]

I breathed out a short sigh of relief.

However.

“Argh!”

My shoulders were shoved roughly. Before I could even realize, my vision toppled and I was now looking at the ceiling.

What the…?

Grimacing, I looked up at the man who had grabbed my shoulder.

“Dietrich…?”

He went on top of me.

“Wait, just wait a second Dietrich…”

His hot breath scattered over my forehead.

With his eyes clouded over, his violet irises looked as if they’d been dulled by dark paint that’s been mixed in.

My pupils quivered. I couldn’t help but be taken aback by Dietrich’s sudden action.

“…Stop.”

A low murmur slipped through Dietrich’s lips. His low voice, resounding quietly in the air, contained such anguish.

His unfocused eyes were not looking at me.

“Before I kill them all, please just stop…”

Dietrich had never said anything scathing until now, but his tone just now was incredibly, undeniably harsh.

Above Dietrich’s head, another window appeared.

[ Satiety: 10/100 ]

And there was something new beneath that.

[ Darkness: 1% ]

…Why did it appear this early.

Looking back on my memories of playing 〈 Lindbergh’s Mansion 〉, Dietrich’s ‘darkness’ would usually emerge only after he had stayed at the mansion for a little over a month.

This darkness that would emerge within Dietrich would, quite literally, darken his soul.

As the percentage would go up, Dietrich would lose the goodness inside of him.

And he would go mad.

Once completely insane, Dietrich would forget his original reason for wanting to get out of the mansion, and it would be game over. The player would have to start again…

Until now, all I was worried about was how Dietrich might die before even finding the ‘Room of Truth’, but with this… I didn’t expect that I’d have to worry about his darkness levels already.

What’s going to happen if Dietrich would lose his senses?

Don’t tell me we’d have to live together here while he’s gone completely insane.

Wait. I don’t think I can do that.

With a foreboding feeling stuck at the pit of my stomach, my first instinct was to escape.

But at that moment.

“You can’t leave.”

Dietrich’s voice, so incredibly low and so incredibly filled with venom, snarled and caught me where I was.