The last thing Adonis remembered was his laptop screen.
Specifically, the loading screen of Crimson Hearts that had a spinning rose icon that took forty-five seconds minimum because the dev team apparently had no idea how to optimize file sizes.
He remembered his energy drink going warm and then thinking 'I'll just play until the first scene then sleep.'
He did not remember dying.
But he must have. Because nothing else explained this.
---
The ceiling above him was not his ceiling.
His ceiling had a water stain shaped like Florida and a crack he had been meaning to tell his landlord about for six months. This ceiling was carved stone threaded with gold filigree, draped in burgundy curtains that probably cost more than his entire apartment.
He sat up slowly.
The room was enormous which was nothing like his apartment, it had afour-poster bed with curtain with a fireplace that was actually lit.
A window that opened onto a view of a courtyard where people in medieval clothing were moving around below like it was completely normal.
It was, he realized, completely normal for them.
"...Crimson Hearts," he said out loud slowly realizing what his happening. His voice sounded younger with an accent he didn't put there.
He looked at his hands.
They were zofter than his and better maintained. There was a ring on the right hand which was silver, with a red stone. He knew that ring.
"William Croft," he said.
Young master of the Croft household. A noble family with a complicated political position and a reputation for producing sons who were arrogant and forgettable.
William appeared in the early chapters of Crimson Hearts as the kind of character who existed to make the actual protagonist look good by comparison.
He got embarrassed publicly at least twice before the second act. In the original route he ended up—
Adonis stopped that thought.
'Don't think about that yet.'
---
He was still taking in the view of the room and admiring the beauty when something suddenly chimed in his head.
[SYSTEM INITIALIZED]
[Welcome, Player.]
[Your current vessel: William Croft, Age 17]
[Affection Subjects Detected: 0 Active]
[Current Power Level: F-Rank]
[Recommendation: Touch grass. Preferably with company.]
He stared at it.
"...Touch grass?"
[It is a joke. The system has a sense of humor.]
[You will get used to it.]
He would not get used to it.
He pulled up the full interface with a thought and spent ten minutes reading through it like he was going through the tutorial intro to a game.
The concept was simple enough that it almost made him laugh.
Get girls, increase their affection levels and gain power.
The more a heroine's feelings developed, the more the system rewarded him with skills, stats, passive traits and active abilities.
Each heroine had her own tree and each of the level of affection unlocked something new. It was, structurally, exactly like a dating sim's affection mechanic.
Except it was not a game and he was really in it this time and the final level was called YANDERE and the tooltip under it simply read:
[Significant rewards. Exercise judgment.]
[Exercise judgment.] As if that was sufficient warning.
He closed the interface and sat on the edge of the bed and took a long slow breath.
Okay.
He was in Crimson Hearts. He was in the body of a character who was canonically destined for humiliation and worse. He had a system that leveled up based on heroine affection. The heroines in this game were without exception, beautiful, layered, and several of them had routes that made him genuinely uncomfortable to read.
He thought about it seriously for some seconds.
'Getting girls to like me powers me up.'
'I need power to survive.'
'The girls in this game are—'
He cleared his throat as his face slightly blushed with a hint of red.
'This is fine,' he decided. 'This is completely survivable. I just need to be smart about it.'
The system pinged, cheerful and unprompted.
[Affection Farming Strategy: ACCEPTED]
[The system wishes you luck.]
[You will need it.]
---
He didn't have long to sit with his thoughts.
The door opened without a knock and a girl walked in carrying a tray with breakfast on it.
She was maybe his age with dark hair pulled back simply. She wore a simple uniform that marked her as household staff.
She walked like she had done this a hundred of times and didn't expect today to he any different.
She looked up and stopped looking a bit surprised but she quickly masked it.
She set the tray down, smoothed her apron and bowed curtly .
"Good morning, Young Master William," she said with a perfectly neutral. "You slept later than usual."
"Sorry," he said automatically.
She blinked her eyes a little confused.
He realized, a beat too late, that William probably didn't apologize to staff. William probably didn't acknowledge staff at all beyond basic commands.
'Smooth,' he told himself. 'Very smooth.'
The system, unfortunately, agreed.
[Mira] Affection Level: INDIFFERENT → NOTICED
The target has registered your existence as significant.
Initial Trait Unlocked: Attentive — Minor boost to social perception.
He kept his expression neutral through what he felt was a heroic effort.
The girl picked up some clothes which th original William probably wore yesterday from the floor and moved toward the door.
At the threshold she paused.
"The Young Master has an enrollment ceremony today," she said, not quite turning around. "At Sky Academy. The carriage leaves at ninth bell."
"Right," he said. "Thank you, Mira."
This time her shoulders shook slightly upon hearing him mention her name and she left without another word leaving him staring at the close door.
'Sky academy.'
He knew that name. Of course he knew that name. It was where the entire first act of Crimson Hearts took place.
The most prestigious magical institution in the kingdom, where nobles and gifted commoners rubbed shoulders and the protagonist spent three arcs building his harem.
It was also where William was supposed to get publicly humiliated in front of the entire student body during the entrance ceremony.
He reached for the breakfast tray.
'Okay, first things first. Don't get humiliated.'