I arrive at the castle. Eve, Syl'Vyr, Faye, and Clarissa have come with me because they roughly know what happened between me and Esther, and I don't want to leave them at the mansion. Esther made it clear she doesn't want them there, so I have to take them with me.

We're in a carriage with the few things I brought. The silence is uncomfortable. I feel awful, like a horrible, hypocritical person.

Why did I treat Esther so terribly and ignore all the good she could have done, that I chose not to see? I preferred to see her as a villain who would never change, instead of a girl genuinely in love, trying to change.

And now that I've ruined everything, I can finally see she wasn't the villain I thought she was. Because of that, guilt eats away at my heart and my plans.

[Esther's Favorability 0 (Total = 0/100) / Hatred Mark = 50/100]

There's also that strange thing that appeared on Esther's favorability when I left the mansion. Her favorability remained at 0, but in front of it appeared this "Hatred Mark" at 50.

I get out of the carriage and enter the castle while staring at this Hatred Mark—the definitive proof that my ability to see favorability isn't the same as Grace's. No matter what Grace does, this Hatred Mark never appears for her.

'Esther hates me… of course she does… how could she not? I always ruin everything… System, what is this Hatred Mark?' I try to communicate with the system.

[Hatred Mark = Appears when a romantic target comes to hate the ability user while still harboring love. It has specific conditions to appear and to remain, as well as consequences.

First Condition: To still love despite the hatred.

Second Condition: To hate despite the love.

Third Condition: Favorability drops to 0 after having been over 60.

Fourth Condition: To have been emotionally wounded by the user.

With the active Hatred Mark, the Affected gains a chance to obtain the maximum favorability level [???].

??? Completely Obsessed!!! (Extremely Dangerous. When an individual acquires this favorability level, it cannot be reduced. The individual becomes unpredictable, romantically jealous, and dangerous both to you and those around you.)

For the Affected to reach this level of Favorability, the condition is to reach 100 Favorability and 100 Hatred Mark. The indecision between loving and hating to the extreme generates the worst reaction from the Affected, who mixes love and hatred in a dangerous way.

Hatred is a strong emotion, so the Hatred Mark number rarely decreases. Should the Hatred Mark number reach 0, it dissipates completely. However, just as it is extremely difficult to lower, it is extremely easy to raise.

The Hatred Mark functions as a curse. Its purpose is to cause suffering to the User, in this case [Evelyn]. Therefore, the Hatred Mark will help in gaining positive favorability, aiming to force the Affected [Esther] to reach maximum favorability and maximum hatred.

Additionally, the system informs that your ability [System's Favorability Blessing], which allows you to see favorability, is paired with the Hatred Mark, delivered to you by fate with the intent of making you fail.

Should the Affected who has been Marked reach Favorability [???], the Ability and the Hatred Mark will be considered complete and may possibly cease to function while maintaining their effects permanently.]

'!!!...W-What!! That's absurd!!!' I see this ridiculous message from the system. When I saw this new favorability level before, I had wondered how to reach favorability [???], but I had no answers.

And now I know how to reach it! But I don't want to reach it!!! Why the hell would I want Esther as a woman blinded by love and hatred? It makes no sense for me to want that! It would only make her a risk to my life.

'What the hell! Why does fate hate me so much! I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!' I feel pressured by something so bad. This means that if Esther comes to love me again and her favorability and hatred rise to the maximum, it will never reduce.

'Wait, she still loves me? Even with favorability at 0? How does that work? Does that mean… the numbers don't literally indicate the characters' feelings at that moment?' I get confused as I'm led to the throne room.

I don't understand. I thought the favorability number indicated how I was viewed from others' perspectives. If favorability drops to 0, it would mean the person doesn't like you.

So Esther loving me means I got everything wrong about how my ability's favorability works!! Moreover, the ability even has "blessing" written in its name, but I didn't think it was a real blessing!

Since blessings often come with curses!!! So the Hatred Mark would be the equivalent of a true curse that accompanies the blessing.

"..." I see that Eve, Syl'Vyr, Clarissa, and Faye are stopped while I'm taken into the throne room alone. I sigh, giving up on thinking about this for now. I should focus on the fact that I'm being sent to war.

'Even if Esther loves me, she also hates me… maybe… maybe if I'm competent, achieve great things, and lead well… we could try again…' I want to try to fix things with her.

I feel the guilt will consume me if I don't try this for her. Knowing she was protecting me from the Demon King by sending me to war, after I said all those awful things, really makes me feel like a horrible person for saying such terrible things.

So now I want to try to deal with this and improve how I am. I must become more… serious, colder, and I must give proper orders and truly lead.

"Father…" I see the Demon King on his throne. I bow without showing fear. I'm about to be thrown onto a battlefield anyway; fear won't help, and I know he won't care about my fear regardless.

"It seems you know why you've been summoned. Good, that saves time. I will give you 2000 soldiers and send you to the southern area. It's not a frequent combat zone, but angels still appear there, and you must deal with them."

"We have a quota to capture a maximum of 500 angels. Kill all the rest. Do not attempt to capture more angels than the location can hold. Furthermore, the torture of any angels deemed relevant is your responsibility."

"The military supplies are in that area's city, and you will also be in charge of them. It's a small village of 5,000 inhabitants called Karadian, and you will govern it while dealing with the enemies."

"You will stay there for at least five months before you can return to the castle. And of course, I expect you to achieve something worthwhile." He speaks, making it clear he will not accept failure on my part.

"O-Of course, Father… about Esther… may I send letters to her?"

"...As long as you don't use the servant who is an emergency messenger and who will go with you, I don't care what you do. But if you desert the battlefield, I will make you regret it."

"You only have two choices: either do your best and survive until you prove your worth, or die on the battlefield. Nothing more, nothing less. Understand?"

"Yes, Father…" I keep my answers short and simple. He nods in approval while saying something quietly to a servant beside him.

"Your carriage to go to that town will be ready in two days. You have that time to prepare. The soldiers assigned to you are already at the location. Your residence there is also already established. In short, you are now a general who will govern that small village."

"Now go. And do not return to the castle unless you have something important to report. And don't even think about leaving that village until you have finished the five-month period or done something I consider good enough." As he says this, I stand up to leave.

"Father, about my servants… there's no problem taking them, right? I only have Clarissa…" Syl'Vyr, Faye, and Eve are puppets, not servants realistically speaking, so I'll take them anyway since they are my power.

"Do as you wish about that, but don't overdo it. Considering your military supplies will be limited, and the rest will be food and materials you obtain from the village, get along well with the villagers. Since you are weak, they might try something against you if you are too tyrannical with them." He speaks as if it's nothing.

I start to leave, thinking that at least he was generous in giving me a less dangerous area. Or maybe he just trusts me so little that he gave me a quieter area.

Although having to govern this small village seems difficult, since what he said basically means I'm responsible for the village. If it has problems, is destroyed, or almost all the inhabitants die, I will be held accountable.

I have to defend the area and the city with the 2,000 soldiers while controlling expenses and capturing enemies… now the torture part gives me chills.

'Damn it… I'll have to torture people? I don't want to do that…' I feel sick just thinking about having to hurt someone, hearing their screams while I can't stop.

And the worst is this "messenger." Since he'll see everything I do and report to the Demon King. And the Demon King made it clear: torture is my task. I probably can't order others to do it.

I think it's because any demon in general could betray him and sell information he doesn't want leaked, so I would have to discover the information first and give it to the messenger to deliver.

'Well… Esther talked a bit about this, and there's this content in the books she gave me…' I still have her three books in the storage ring. I think I'll rely on them a lot for leadership.

'I need to prepare… I can't be a coward forever… and I can't avoid this…' I don't want to cause more trouble. I don't want to be weak anymore. And I want… I want to apologize to Esther, not with words but with actions. If I do well at this and return home, I think maybe I can improve things between us.

"Evelyn, before you go…" My father calls my attention. I stop and look at him.

"If I find out you ordered others to do the torture, I will torture you! Civils, soldiers, and any servant must not know what is extracted from the enemy. It could reveal weaknesses of our continent, things too sensitive. If soldiers know about it, rumors start that destroy morale."

"I will be watching. If I find out anyone other than you did it, you will be the one arrested and tortured until you learn the limit. So be smart. Those things you created must not perform this mission. This is something that YOU and no one else must do."

"U-Understood. I-I won't make others do it." I say with fear. His gaze is sickeningly heavy, and the threat is severe.

"Excellent. You may go and be ready." I quickly run out of the room, my arms trembling with persistent chills.

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