As I stared at the flickering flame, I pondered how easy it would be for me to extinguish the candle with a simple blow from my lips. But knowing the monster before me he'd probably relight the candle once more like it was nothing. Oh, how I wish I could simply be put out of my misery like this old red candle.

"You've hardly touched your food," Bennett said without looking up from his bowl of soup.

I felt nothing. I no longer had the desire to eat or drink or hell, even to breathe. The only thing that kept me from losing it all was this flickering candle before me. It was the only thing keeping me going. It's the only thing that allows me to feel.

I want to feel...

...

"Helloooo?" Bennett asked in a drawn-out voice while he waved his fork obnoxiously in my face. "Earth to Vicky!"

My refusal to react wasn't something Bennett was unfamiliar with. But in spite of knowing this, he still tries to get me to react out of my own volition. How futile...

As I continued to try and dissociate myself from this horrible reality, I was living in by staring blankly at the candle, the sharp sound of wood dragging across the floor could be heard. I wasn't interested enough to spare Bennett a glance since I knew all too well what he was planning on doing.

"I know what will make this meal taste better," Bennett said in a sickly loving voice.

I tried to not give in, but I couldn't help but dig my nails into my lap as I kept my eyes glued to the candlestick before me. It was the best way to restrain myself from giving him the attention he craved. I knew what was coming next and yet I couldn't do anything to stop him from his deviancy.

Once Bennett took a large mouthful of my mushroom soup in, he quickly cupped my chin, tearing my eyes away from the candle. And with the force of a brute, he forcefully pried my mouth open and forced the soup into my mouth from his.

I couldn't stop gagging as I was practically screaming for him to stop. With each motion of his tongue violating my mouth, nausea only grew from within. But Bennett only stopped when he was certain that I had swallowed all of the mushrooms.

As soon as he released me, I desperately gasped for air as I coughed profusely. Bennett looked down at me with those demon eyes of his as he grossly licked the saliva from his lips with satisfaction.

"Delicious as always," he said with a devilish smile. "Nothing like eating a meal filled with love."

That's it. I can't take it anymore. Drawing all of what little strength I had left, I slammed my fist down on the table.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" I roared with angry tears in my eyes. "PLEASE JUST KILL ME ALREADY!"

For a second Bennett almost looked stunned as he silently stared at me with his mouth slightly agape. My defiance shouldn't come as a shock anymore but seeing me like this had to have been a first for both of us. I had officially reached my breaking point.

"I'M TIRED OF BEING A PRISONER IN THIS FUCKING HOUSE!" I shouted in a voice that was almost inaudible as a result of all the crying. I tried to control the tone of my voice, but the shakiness could still be heard and seen as evidence by my restless leg beneath the table.

"Hey," Bennett said in a cold voice. I felt myself freeze up as I slowly looked him in the eye with my blurry vision.

"I will never let you go. Whether it be this life or another," Bennett said without an ounce of playfulness in his voice. "You're mine forever," Bennett purred as he licked the side of my face.

As I felt his slobbery touch once more, I fell apart again. But this time I could barely contain myself. "NOOOOO!" I screamed as I flailed my arms in distress.

I took my anger out on everything before me. From throwing my bowl of soup at the wall and pushing my glass of wine and cutlery onto the floor, nothing was safe from my wrath. Bennett tried to contain my hands, but once I made the fatal mistake of pushing the candlestick to the ground he had to surrender and quickly extinguish the flames before more damage could be done.

Between my heaving panting as I slowly tried to contain myself, I watched Bennett try to extinguish the flames with his jacket. Seeing his back towards me gave me the idea of one last way out. Without taking my eyes off of him I used my left hand to search around on the table for his knife.

Bennett prohibited me from using knives myself as a result of the many failed escape attempts, I tried to pull with them. But this time freedom was almost within reach as I tightly clutched the knife in my hand like a revolver. And in one swift motion, I plunged the knife into the back of his shoulder blade.

"GAH!" Bennett roared as he tried to reach around for the knife lodged in his back. Since I hadn't let go of the knife just yet, Bennett dragged me to the ground with him when he grabbed a hold of the knife.

Once I was face to face with the monster, I knew I couldn't afford to back down now. I've come so far, so there's only one thing I can do now. I quickly ripped the knife out of Bennett and proceeded to stab him repeatedly in the chest.

"DIE!" I screamed in an almost animalistic voice. "GO TO HELL!"

Once Bennett's hand dropped to the bloody pool at his side, I sat up and stared at him while keeping the knife in the air for reassurance. Once I sensed no more movement, I smiled to myself. It was the first time I smiled in five years. I probably looked like some kind of maniac as I couldn't help but give a wide Cheshire Cat grin with my blood-soaked face.

"Finally, I can leave," I said to myself in a low voice brimming with relief.

As I slowly rose from the ground the rattling of my chains could be heard. I didn't pay much heed to it since I just needed to open the front door for now. Hopefully, I can reach it from this distance and scream for help before I'm engulfed in the flames that have already consumed most of this house.

With wobbly legs, I made my way towards the kitchen door, but as I stood before the hallway, my chain suddenly yanked me back to the ground. In horror, I looked back to see Bennett still alive but breathing heavily with a manic grin.

"You're not leaving me," he said in a croaky voice while slowly reeling me back to him with the chain.

I tried to resist as I attempted to pry the collar off of my neck, but it was futile without the key. I felt the tears well up in my eyes once more when I was finally pulled to Bennett's side.

"We'll die together," Bennett said with a soft smile as he held me in an unbreakable embrace.

And with that, I died alongside the monster in that house fire. What a pitiful ending.

"Um, hello?" A trembling voice called out in uncertainty.

"Aren't I dead?" I groaned out loud.

"U-Unfortunately, that is the case," the voice replied.

Great, I thought to myself. I disappointed myself for allowing myself some optimism. In a huff, I opened my eyes without any expectation and was almost blinded by the bright white.

"GAH!" I squealed while partially blocking my view with my hand. "Where am I?"

"Well, currently you're in limbo while I help you decide what path to take next."

I raised an eyebrow as I slowly turned my head towards the source of the small and innocent voice. A frail girl no younger than ten was sitting on a silver throne. As I looked closer, I could see a romance novel sitting neatly on her lap.

"You like to read?" I asked sarcastically.

"It does help to pass the time. It gets so boring being the goddess of the afterlife sometimes." The girl looked up at me with a cheery smile and brushed some of her floor-length hair to the side. "I really do love romance. I'm a hopeless romantic at heart!"

As I rolled my eyes, the girl was quickly brought back to reality as she dropped the novel to the floor and sat upright on her throne. This goddess really is fickle.

"Ah, let's get back to business, shall we?" The goddess said while clearing out her throat. "I believe that the best suitable option for you is transmigration."

"Transmigration?" I questioned.

"Yes. Since you aren't quite ready to enter the afterlife just yet, this should do the trick to chart you back onto the correct course!"

It's not like I have any objections. I didn't even expect to be given a second chance, so why should I complain? "Alright, I see no problems with this."

"Great!" The goddess said while clapping her hands together in glee. "Now, could you please say status so we can open up your status window?"

"Uh, sure..." I hesitantly agreed as I looked up to the corner of my eye. "Status!"

And just like that, a glassy box appeared that contained data on all of my stats and ranks. This is kind of cool I thought to myself.

"Now if you look here, you'll see that in each world you'll be traversing, you will be raising the male capture targets."

"Uh, raising?" I asked in heavy doubt. "Like a nanny?"

The goddess mulled it over in her head before she slowly responded. "Well... not necessarily. Each objective will differ, but they will all have one thing in common!"

Without even asking, the goddess picked up her novel and gave me another smile. "You'll be raising them to become proper young men who will fall in love!"

...

Am I just helping her fulfil some kind of delusional fantasy?

"I'm sure you'll do just fine; I'll be giving you a new body anyway so that should hopefully allow you to avoid detection."

"Detection?" I asked in a solemn voice while raising an eyebrow. "Avoid detection from who?"

The goddess looked at me nervously before diverting her gaze. "We'll get to the part eventually, but let's first discuss your basic stats!"

I didn't particularly like that she was sweeping my question under the rug, but I went along with it for now.

"Your basic stats are quite..." the goddess hesitated once more. "Not good."

"W-What do you mean not good?" I desperately asked while trying to navigate the window myself.

The goddess turned her window around to face me as she pointed to all of my stats. "If you look here your and are both . This means you are incapable of self-defence and are extremely unlucky."

I could have told you about that luck stat myself. I was bound to be born with the worst luck imaginable considering my five-year captivity. But I had hoped that there was still some kind of inkling of hope for me. But I suppose not.

"Your is not the best either seeing as it's ." The goddess turned to me with a forced light-hearted expression. "I take it that you don't react well to mental anguish?"

I clicked my tongue and sunk my shoulders somberly in response. "Well, who does anyway..." I asked rhetorically.

The goddess nodded her head slowly as she processed my words. With a quick shake to her head, she lifted herself up with determination. "No matter! We can work with the rest of these stats," she said with yet another cheery smile. "Your may be and it also says you're average so hopefully that means you can increase it through experience!"

Feeling irritated by how poor my stats were, I released a loud audible sigh. "Is there any good stat there?"

The goddess nodded her head once more as she read through the contents. "Well, your is which means that you're just socially acceptable enough."

Before I could protest any further, I was cut off by a sharp gasp. "Ah, but this is good!" the goddess rejoiced with smiling eyes. "Your highest stat is which is !"

"It's not far off from charisma," I remarked. "But this means I'd be good at running away from danger, right?" If that's the case, then I'd agree that this is a pretty good stat to have.

"Well, more specifically it says here that your stamina allows you to be a ."

...

I slowly blinked my eyes in disbelief. "What..." My voice trailed off. "WHAT KIND OF WORLD ARE YOU PUTTING ME INTO LADY?" I screamed in absolute incredulous.

"EEK!!!" The goddess shrieked as she raised her hands in front of her face to protect herself. "T-T-There's achievements that you can complete in each world which will make racking up points much more efficient!" She tried to explain.

I relinquished my emotions as I sank to the floor in a tired heap. "So, you're telling me that sleeping with other people will give me points?" I asked in a gasping voice.

"Well, not just anyone," The goddess muttered quietly as she played with her snow-white ringlet of hair. "It's against the rules to disclose the criteria but all you need to know is that racking up as many points as possible during your missions is essential."

I felt my frustration grow once more as my eyes twitched. "I'll take it that each successful mission will result in me being given more points too, correct?"

"That's right! The more points the better!" The goddess cheered enthusiastically with her arms in the air. "With these points, you may purchase more skills for your missions or save up so that you can retire to an afterlife of your choosing!"

I stroked my chin thoughtfully as I felt tempted by the offer. "What skills can I purchase now?"

"There are three different categories to choose from. as in physical, emotional and mental—"

"If I purchase a strength skill, can it also increase my base strength stat too?" I asked while not caring for cutting her off.

"Someone's gotten impatient," the goddess said while trying to laugh off my impoliteness. "Purchasable skills don't influence your base stats. If anything, the potency of these skills is solely dependent on what your base stats are."

I crossed my arms in a huff as I kissed my strength goodbye. There's no point in buying a strength skill if I'll still be weak regardless. What a waste...

Sensing my disappointment, the goddess attempted to meet me halfway. "Having said that, there is still one skill in strength that I would recommend to you."

I perked my ears up in response and looked the goddess in the eye. She hesitantly read out the skill to me. "- No matter what hardships or travesties the user may face, they will always find the motivation to keep moving forward."

"This may help to combat the mental anguish problem you could potentially be facing." I shrugged my shoulders in response as I wasn't too keen on it. "I-It's also within your current price range!"

She really wants me to take this skill, doesn't she? Well, if she thinks that it'll help, then fine. She should know what challenges I'll be facing anyway. "Fine, I'll take it."

"Great! Now let's see, you can afford one more skill—"

"O-ONLY ONE MORE?" I yelled in disbelief. Either I barely have any starting out points or that skill was just really expensive!

"EEK!!!" The goddess shrieked once more. "P-Please don't yell at me!" She said while clapping her hands together in a sorry gesture. "That skill cost 500 points and you unfortunately only have 1,000."

In a snarly voice, I snapped back at the goddess. "Well, what other skills can I afford then?"

"Either the skill or the ' skill in the category." While nervously fiddling her fingers the goddess debated whether or not to further elaborate but she luckily relented in the end. "Each is 500. They're the cheapest skills you can purchase."

Well, if this is the best I can do I'll need to think practically here. My communication is nothing to boast about so I can't say picking a diction-based skill would be the wisest decision to make. I guess that only leaves me with the other option. "Alright then, I'll take ," I said begrudgingly.

"Good. I'm almost ready to send you on your way. But first..." The goddess' voice trailed off as she tried to contain her phoney smile. "Would you like to see your unique character skills?"

I can't help but think that you should've shown me this before I went along and purchased some skills already. But it would be a waste of time to debate her on the matter, so I simply let it go instead. "Sure, are there any skills that will be of use to me?"

As the goddess happily pressed on her screen, I could distinctly hear her reading the text under her breath. "- This user will have a sensitive stomach that will cause them to easily expel food that does not agree with them. ~ Guaranteed success rate of 63%"

"WAIT, I DON'T WANT THAT SKILL, GET RID OF IT!" I angrily protested. That's so embarrassing why do I even have that!

"I'm afraid I cannot get rid of it. But look at the bright side..." The goddess cocked her head to the side and smiled. "This means your chances of being poisoned and drugged might be slimmer now!"

"Uuuu..." I grumbled as I dropped my head in shame.

"M-Maybe you'll like this one more?" The goddess said in a voice full of uncertainty. "- This user has the ability to identify other individuals who have transmigrated to the same world. ~ Guaranteed success rate of 40%"

"Wait. There will be other people like me in these worlds?" I curiously asked.

"Yessss...." The goddess replied with a drawn-out voice.

With one last sigh, I rubbed my temples in stress. "Alright. Is there anything else I should know? Any more skills?"

As the goddess perused through my skillset with a bored expression, she let out a sudden loud gasp. "Oh my, it says here that you have a skill!"

"R-REALLY?" I asked in genuine excitement. "W-W-Well, what is it?"

Just as the goddess was about to read it aloud, she looked as if she suddenly remembered something and dropped her smile. "Your name is Vicky, correct?"

"Yeah... I don't see how that has anything to do with this."

The goddess swallowed a gulp as she looked me in the eyes with the utmost sympathy imaginable. "I would like to preface this off by apologizing. I thought it might help you if you were to ever be discovered by him."

"W... What..." I shook my head as to get the negative thoughts out. "C-C'mon, out with it already!"

With no other choice, the goddess cleared her throat before she told me something I wish I never heard. "- This user has the unique ability to attract characters with yandere attributes to them. ~ Guaranteed success rate of 100%"

...

A single tear dropped to the floor. I lowered my head so that only my bangs could be seen. And in a dark lowly voice, I spoke once more. "I'm just after escaping from a yandere and now you're telling me that..." I clenched my fists once more and screamed in anguish. "MORE YANDERES ARE GOING TO BE DRAWN TO ME?"

"I-In my defence I thought it would help to protect you from your stepbrother!"

"My stepbrother?"

"O... Oh, I shouldn't have said that" the goddess remarked to herself in a voice full of regret.

"Are you telling me that Bennett is one of the people who'll also be transmigrating?" I cried out in utter distraught.