How to survive in the Romance Fantasy Game

But something within her had changed too.

Riley Hell.

A name that once sounded so dull—so laughably average—was now echoing in her thoughts like a question without an answer.

And without even realizing it, the mask of obsession she used to wear like a game was slowly becoming something real.

Watching him…

It had become a daily routine for her ever since she was a child.

Her gaze, always trailing behind his shadow, observing from a distance, curious and amused.

To her, Riley had always been a fascinating creature—an unpredictable flicker in her otherwise dull and predetermined life.

But even with all her power, all her authority, there were lines she could not cross.

Restrictions placed upon her.

Barriers born not from magic or mortal rule, but from another being—one that stood on near-equal footing with her. A balance the world itself demanded remain intact.

And so, despite her overwhelming curiosity, despite her longing to understand him more deeply, she waited.

She watched.

She let time drag her forward, patient but never still.

Until one day, without warning, part of that curiosity was answered.

"Darling, look… hehe~ it's our baby~"

Liyana smiled, her arms cradling a small child whose eyes mirrored both hers and his. A soft laugh danced from her lips as she turned to see him—Riley—beside her, a gentle warmth in his expression. He looked so peaceful, so at ease.

"How about… Luara?"

He asked, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear as he leaned closer.

It was a name.

A future.

A life.

And in that moment—that perfect, fleeting moment—everything felt so real.

Too real.

And that's when she understood.

It was a distant reality. A vision not her own.

A fabricated future, too idyllic to exist in the world she knew.

She realized it immediately—this wasn't the world she had been born to destroy.

It wasn't the world bound to chains and duties.

It was a dream.

A world of what-ifs.

But even knowing that, she couldn't bring herself to pull away.

Why was it suddenly shown to her?

Why did she spend what felt like decades in that illusion, living with him, waking beside him, raising a child born from love rather than fate?

Why couldn't she resist it?

She was the world's disaster—a calamity in human form, forged to play a role. A role of destruction, of detachment, of ending.

And yet… in that world, she abandoned it.

Without hesitation.

Without guilt.

She left behind everything—her title, her power, her purpose—for him.

How? Why?

Just looking at Riley in that dream…

Feeling his touch.

Hearing his voice whisper in her ear.

Breathing in his warmth.

Tasting his kiss.

Everything about him made her heart race, made her feel so strangely alive, so wonderfully human.

And when she woke up from that everlasting dream—

She never got her answer.

No reason. No explanation. Just the cold return to reality.

And the emptiness that followed was unbearable.

The longing only worsened. The hunger. The ache.

She didn't understand.

She couldn't.

All she knew was that her feelings—what should have been restrained—were now too tangled, too vast, too painful to ignore.

Confusion.

Uncertainty.

Curiosity.

Anger.

Sadness.

Each one buried deeper than the last.

But Liyana couldn't afford to unravel.

She was still Liyana Heavens.

She was still a disaster, a force of nature, a name carved into the stars.

And so, she bottled it all up.

The ache.

The longing.

The unbearable confusion swelling inside her like a growing storm.

She forced herself to smile.

To wear the mask the world demanded of her.

To remain the Liyana they all expected—the disaster cloaked in elegance, the daughter of ruin, a creature meant to end everything, not feel it.

But no matter how tightly she sealed her heart…

"Mama~"

"Liyana…"

Those voices—echoes from a dream—refused to fade.

They lingered like soft whispers, brushing against her heart in quiet moments.

Each time she closed her eyes, she could still feel his arms around her… still hear the laughter of a child that didn't exist.

Time moved on.

And yet, her curiosity, once sealed away with iron will, began to crack and spill from within.

All the restrictions—those invisible chains she had unknowingly placed upon herself—broke, shattered under the weight of the truth she kept trying to ignore.

Because reality was cruel.

And every word she heard about Riley—every action of his she confirmed—was like a dagger twisted in her chest.

All of it contradicted the vision she had seen.

That world where they were happy.

Where he held her hand without hesitation.

Where their child smiled in her arms.

"Liyana… Regarding Riley's relationship with the princess and the Brilliance girl…"

"He's mine, Papa~!"

"But…"

"Riley is mine. Nothing will ever change that, Papa~"

It became a routine.

Every time her father brought it up—his tone cautious, as if worried he might break her—she would shut him down. She would smile. She would pretend.

Because to accept the truth would be to admit the dream was a lie.

And that…

She couldn't bear.

Why was Riley becoming so different?

Why was he stepping further and further away from the version of him she clung to so desperately?

In that vision—that world—he had become everything she had ever wanted.

Kind. Warm. Devoted.

So why now, in this reality, was he showing emotions toward others?

Why was he… smiling at them? Protecting them? Talking to them with that same softness?

Despite everything.

Despite all those years together since childhood.

Despite the fear and hatred he used to show her.

Despite it all—his heart belonged to her, didn't it?

So then…

Why?

Why was he touching other people with hands that once only trembled before her?

Why was he speaking gently to girls he should've ignored?

Why was her Riley slipping away?

But once again…

She couldn't get the answer she wanted.

No matter how hard she tried to justify it.

Questions upon questions.

Whispers that bloomed into obsessions.

They dug into her heart, looping endlessly until they grew too loud to ignore.

At some point, they stopped being mere thoughts.

They became… an emotional problem she couldn't quite understand.

"Should I kill them?"

She wondered one cold night, her eyes fixed on the stars.

Wouldn't everything be simpler if the other girls—those buzzing insects constantly orbiting around her darling—were gone?

If they disappeared, if they were erased, then maybe…

"Then maybe all my worries would vanish too."

But just as that thought darkened her mind, a gentler voice always echoed back.

"Dear, I told you to be gentle, didn't I?"

The Riley from that world—the one who smiled only for her, who held her hand beneath a twilight sky, who whispered soft words as he tucked their child into bed—that Riley always stopped her.

That dream never left her.

And sometimes, it felt more real than anything else.

"Darling would probably hate me…"

She said to herself, clutching her chest as the image of his frown haunted her.

Once upon a time, the thought of Riley hating her would've made her laugh.

Why should it matter? He feared her. Obeyed her. That was enough.

But now?

Now the idea of Riley hating her made something twist painfully inside her chest.

Why?

Why did it suddenly feel wrong?

Confusion after confusion.

Emotion after emotion.

She was becoming a paradox of her own making—something she, with all her power and knowledge, could not untangle.

And then, it happened.

One day, the restrictions she had carefully respected… broke.

She saw it.

A side of Riley she couldn't believe.

The warmth in his gaze.

The soft smile he gave to another girl.

The way his hand brushed against someone else's cheek—gently, lovingly.

That love… that care…

Everything he once gave to her in that world…

He now offered to someone else.

No.

Not someone.

Anyone.

He was giving himself away.

Her darling—her Riley—was being taken piece by piece.

The shackles she once placed upon him, invisible threads meant to tie his soul to hers, were unraveling.

They were becoming meaningless.

He was slipping away.

And for the first time in her life, Liyana felt something new.

Fear.

Not fear of death.

Not fear of failure.

But fear… of knowing the truth.

She could find the answer.

She had the power.

All it would take was a little force, a little push, and she could rip the truth out of him.

She could make him tell her everything.

She could erase the girls.

She could take back what was hers.

And yet—

She didn't.

…..

When time passed once more, and the day of meeting him again drew closer—

She bottled everything up.

Every feeling.

Every thought.

Every painful truth she had forced herself to accept.

She sealed it all behind the perfect smile the world expected from her.

She ignored everything she had seen.

Everything she had heard.

Everything she had confirmed.

She already knew.

She knew what he had done.

She knew the life he was trying to build without her in it.

She had seen it—every tender smile he gave to others, every soft moment shared with girls who weren't her.

And she had come prepared.

Prepared to destroy it all.

To ruin everything he had tried to build without her.

To remind him—he was hers.

But then…

"Darling~"

The word escaped her lips—soft, shaky, almost breathless.

She hadn't meant for it to sound that way.

But beneath all her practiced composure, the nervousness that had been buried for so long bubbled up.

And then…

He looked at her.

"Liyana…"

He said her name—and it was like the entire world froze.

Their eyes met.

And in that instant—deep within him—she saw it.

A love.

A quiet, hidden love buried far beneath the years.

More genuine and raw than she ever thought he was capable of feeling for her.

A love that felt… real.

Not fear.

Not hatred.

Not resentment.

'Why…?'

Another question bloomed in her heart, just like so many before it.

She had come prepared for rejection, for venom, for the cold bitterness of a man who had long since moved on.

She had convinced herself that he had replaced her—that he had chosen another.

And yet…

All she could see from him was love.

Her heart ached.

It thumped—and it hurt.

But… it was a good kind of pain.

Something inside her, wrapped in crimson chains and blackened thorns, tugged at her chest.

Her frozen heart cracked—just slightly—as if to remind her it could still feel.

She smiled. She laughed. She acted as she always did.

Despite everything—despite the truth she knew, and the hurt she had caused him—she played her part.

Every word she spoke.

Every gesture she made.

It was all an act.

And yet, somewhere in the midst of that carefully crafted performance, something felt real.

She was happy.

Genuinely, painfully happy.

And that terrified her.

She told herself she would stay in control.

That she would monitor his every emotion, observe every reaction, and take the course of action that would bring him the most joy—

So, she could bind his heart to hers again.

So, she could reclaim her place in his world.

And in doing so, she almost forgot—

Almost ignored everything she had done.

But the warmth he gave her that day…

The way he looked at her…

Made it impossible to hold onto the hate.

She wanted to give him everything.

Even if it was fake.

.....

"Darling… why do you love me?"

Her voice was soft. Almost too soft for someone like her.

The question came out of nowhere—

We were just walking hand-in-hand through the backyard of our little castle-like family home.

The snow was piling down nonstop… and soon the small road we took would become completely covered.

She had been smiling a moment ago, humming to herself, leaning her head playfully against my shoulder like a child basking in the sun.

But now…

Her words made me stop mid-step.

"…What's with the sudden question?"

She didn't answer immediately.

Instead, she just looked up at me with those deep red eyes of hers—gentle, serious?

"I just want to know."

Her voice trembled. Barely.

But I caught it.

Why was she trembling?

Why did she seem so fragile when asking something so simple?

She probably knew how complicated everything between us was right?

She had always known.

We had spent our whole lives performing for each other, hadn't we?

Even when we were children—laughing, holding hands, chasing each other through the garden maze—

We were wearing masks.

Pretending it was all affection Afterall.

She pretended to love.

I pretended to feel.

Maybe that was why I wasn't sure what she wanted from this question.

She had to know my heart was a mess.

That there were others… other emotions, other people tangled up in my life right now.

But even so—

Right now, in this very moment—I loved her.

Maybe not in the same way I loved the other girl.

But…

She was someone I wanted to see smile—not just because it made me feel better, but because I truly believed she deserved to be loved.

Because I had seen it—

That possibility.

That world where we were both happy.

I inhaled slowly, gathering my thoughts.

Then, I gave her the most honest answer I could.

"I love you because you're you, Liyana. What other reason could I possibly need?"

Her eyes widened.

Just slightly.

She stared at me for a long, quiet second.

Then—

"I see…"

She smiled.

Not the playful, teasing smile she wore when she was feeling mischievous.

Not the overconfident grin she used to brush aside emotions.

It was soft. Almost too soft.

She leaned forward and gently re-entwined our hands like nothing had changed.

"Hehe~ I guess darling loves me that much…"

She laughed.

But for some reason, it didn't feel quite right.

There was a fleeting look in her eyes…

A crack.

A tiny flicker of pain beneath her cheerfulness, like something in her had hoped for a different answer—one I didn't know how to give.

And for the briefest moment—

I wondered.

'Did I say the wrong thing?'

...

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