Her legs gave out.
Wish sank to the floor, her back sliding against the bed frame until she hit the wooden floorboards with a dull thud. Her hands fell limp in her lap.
The images wouldn't stop. The altar. The crushing weight that had forced everyone to their knees. The blinding gold light that had swallowed the world whole.
And him—the Solar King sprawled across his throne, those burning eyes locking onto hers with an intensity that had made her forget how to breathe.
That wasn't supposed to happen.
In the original story, the nameless maiden died. Simple. Clean. Dissolved into light to power the ritual, her death barely warranting a full paragraph.
Wish's fingers curled against the floorboards, nails scraping wood.
"Is there—" Her voice came out hoarse, cracked. She cleared her throat roughly and tried again. "Is there something else I'm supposed to know before I start planning my survival?"
The words echoed in the empty room, swallowed by silence.
She reached inward, toward that presence lurking in her skull—the system that had hijacked her death and thrown her into this nightmare.
Pause.
Then—
[Answering Host Query.]
The screen materialized before her eyes, that cold blue light cutting through the dim room like a blade.
[Warning:]
[Original Plot Hostility: PERMANENT.]
Wish blinked. Once. Twice.
"What?"
Her heart stuttered in her chest.
The words shifted, reforming with mechanical precision that somehow felt cruel.
[The Original Plot Will Actively Attempt to Eliminate You.]
[Your Continued Existence Is a Critical Error.]
Something inside her snapped.
"Eliminate me?" She scrambled to her feet, voice climbing higher with each word. "Wait—what the hell do you mean eliminate? Like accidents? Assassinations? Rituals?" She threw her hands up, spinning in a circle.
"People randomly tripping and pushing me off cliffs? Poisoned food? Falling roof tiles?"
The system's response glowed with ominous certainty.
[Correct. All scenarios listed are possible manifestations of Plot Correction Attempts.]
Wish stared. Her mouth opened. Closed. Opened again like a dying fish.
"You've got to be kidding me."
She wasn't just reincarnated into a novel.
She was reincarnated as a character meant to die—and apparently, the universe itself wanted to correct that mistake.
Her breath came sharp and fast. "Then what's the solution?!"
The system didn't hesitate.
[Solution Detected.]
[Total Plot Derivation Required.]
The words pulsed brighter.
[Method:]
[Become the Center of the Plot.]
Wish stared at the screen, her brain trying to process.
"How?"
Another line appeared, brutally straightforward.
[Primary Directive:]
[Secure Mating Bonds with the Four Beast Deities.]
Silence crashed down.
Then—
She collapsed backward onto the bed, face-first into the thin pillow with enough force to make the frame creak.
A muffled groan tore from her throat.
"So basically—" Her voice came out distorted, pressed into fabric. "—I might as well just die now and get it over with."
Her fingers clenched in the sheets.
"This system isn't helping me survive." She turned her face slightly, just enough to breathe. "It's just giving me creative ways to fail before I'm murdered by the universe."
[Correction.]
[You Have Survived Past the Expected Termination Point.]
She didn't feel reassured. At all.
"Yeah. By sheer dumb luck."
The system chimed again, and she swore it sounded offended.
[Reward Update.]
[First Impossible Challenge Completed.]
[Status: SURVIVED THE SACRIFICIAL RITUAL.]
The screen shifted, light refracting like shattered glass being pieced back together.
[Goddess System — Level One Unlocked.]
Wish froze mid-breath.
"Goddess?" she repeated slowly.
[Sub-Function Unlocked:]
[Character Information Screen.]
[Status & Affection Tracking Enabled.]
Before she could respond, another panel slid open like a drawer revealing secrets.
[Additional Information:]
[Your Beast Form — Puff-Fluff Fox — Possesses a Hidden Evolution Path.]
Her brows furrowed. She pushed herself up on her elbows.
"Hidden what?"
[Evolution Route Identified:]
[Nine-Tailed Goddess Fox.]
[Tier: Divine.]
Her heart slammed once against her ribs. Hard enough to hurt.
"Divine?" The word came out barely above a whisper.
[Condition:]
[Survival.]
She blinked. "That's it? Just survive?"
[Yes.]
A weak laugh bubbled out of her. "That's not comforting when the plot is actively trying to kill me."
The laughter cut off abruptly.
Her earlier anger surged back like a tidal wave, hot and burning in her chest.
"They called me a lesser beast!" She sat up fully, hands clenching in her lap. "That princess said other beasts run away from me. The entire hall laughed."
Her voice cracked. "How am I supposed to capture the attention of a deity when I can't even get basic respect?"
The memory flashed—golden eyes burning into hers, that lazy voice saying you're safe now. The way his fingers had closed around her wrist. The heat of his skin.
She swallowed hard, shoving the image away.
"What are my chances?" The question came out flat. Defeated. "Actually. Realistically."
The screen flickered.
Then numbers appeared, cold and clinical.
[Survival Probability Assessment]
[Current Status:]
• Overweight Fox Maiden
• Low Social Standing
• No Combat Ability
• Zero Romantic Experience
[Romantic Feasibility Projection]
[Host: Wish River]
[Beast Form: Puff-Fluff Fox (Low Tier)]
[Appearance Rating (By World Standards): Below Average]
[Social Standing: Disposable]
[Political Value: None]
[Reproductive Blessings: Unconfirmed]
[Divine Compatibility: Extremely Low]
[Projected Chance of Attracting a Beast Deity (Baseline):]
[0.001%]
The air left her lungs in one sharp exhale.
"Less than one percent." Her lips barely moved around the words.
The system continued, merciless as a guillotine.
[This Projection Assumes:]
• No Divine Intervention
• No Emotional Resonance
• No Soul Bond Interference
Soul bond.
The words hit her like ice water.
That test. The blade of light cutting both their palms. The way his wound had appeared in the exact same place as hers.
I don't care what she did, but no one is to touch her again.
Her breath came faster.
He'd felt it. Whatever that connection was—he'd felt it and tested it and confirmed it. And then he'd hidden it from everyone.
Which meant it was dangerous.
Which meant she was tied to a deity who could kill her with a thought, and the plot wanted her dead anyway, and she had zero experience with romance, and—
"I still have zero chance!" The words exploded out of her, half-hysterical. "Soul bond or not, I'm still me! I'm still fat and weak and useless!"
She grabbed fistfuls of her hair, pulling hard enough to hurt.
"How am I supposed to seduce four deities when I am considered the most unattractive female ever born? When the first time a man touched me it was to cut my hand open and test if I'd drag him to death with me?"