WORLD RULE ONE: LOVE MY WIFE

I said no to the number one player on the leaderboard — the boy I grew up with, who'd just told me he liked me inside a horror instance — and he threw me into an SSSrank ruleshorror instance.

Facing an Eerie with a face burned to ruin, one that had clawed itself bloody, I panicked and started babbling. "Not ugly… this is exactly my type…" "Love you, husband — see you every day…" The Eerie stopped clawing.

It tilted its head at me. The next second, wedding music struck up all around me, brass and drums, and I was carried into the bridal room.

Every player received a new rule at the same moment: [WORLD RULE ONE: LOVE MY WIFE] Chapter 1 Before I could react, I was already wearing a bloodred wedding dress.

Then came the first rite. "Who witnesses this marriage?" Above me was a gilded ceiling, no windows, no daylight. Under my feet, scarlet carpet. No heaven, and no earth.

The second rite. "Who gives this bride away?" The long pews on both sides were empty. No one answered. And the "groom" beside me.

A charred Eerie almost ten feet tall, draped in a bloodred tailcoat. When it bent down, its spine let out a crack, the sound of something snapping.

I went limp with fear, and my forehead hit the floor. The third rite. The couple face each other. Between one blink and the next, I was lying on an old fourposter bed.

Red candles burned high, the bed curtains hung low, and the Eerie was sitting beside me. Its face was a mess of raw flesh.

Its toothin neck stretched longer and longer, bringing that face slowly down toward mine. I wanted to throw up. I wanted to scream.

I wanted to scream Xavier's name, the boy I'd grown up with, and beg him to come back for me. But fear past a certain point is just stillness, and not one sound came out of me.

All I could do was close my eyes, resigned, and let the big tears roll. Then the cracking sound at my ear stopped. A hand, cold to the bone, covered my eyelids.

Everything went dark. When the weight lifted, I opened my eyes again. That huge, skeletal Eerie might as well have been a nightmare I'd just woken from.

Because the man on the pillow beside me was a young gentleman out of some old family, straightbacked and elegant. I blinked, hard.

The young man sitting at the edge of the bed wore a deep red tailcoat, and his white hair fell like moonlight, like drifting snow.

Fine, clean bones in his face, a smile in his eyes, beautiful past all reason. "Wife…" But when it spoke, the voice came out stiff and wrong, a monster doing its best impression of a human being. "My wife…" The whitehaired man leaned down over me again, closer and closer.

That silkfine hair slid off his shoulder and brushed cold across the tip of my nose.

I bit down on my lip, my face soaked, and turned my head to the left on instinct, trying to get away. It followed. Cold lips settled lightly on my cheek.

I shook my head as hard as I could and turned to the right. Its head tipped after me, and it kissed my left cheek. My brain quit on me right about then.

The horror was gone from my eyes, but I knew exactly what I was looking at. This beautiful man was the charred Eerie from a minute ago.

I still remember the first time I tried to run from Xavier. He had me back in under half a day.

He gripped my wrist and teleported the two of us to where dead players lay with their eyes still open. "See that?" "That's your future.

Played with, like an idiot, and then eaten down to nothing." Chapter 2 "Never believe an Eerie is being kind.

There's exactly one thing in their heads: the best way to eat you." "Hattie, you can't survive on your own. In here, I'm the only one who can protect you." Like right now.

This Eerie had to be enjoying my hopeless struggling, knowing I was busy imagining that it might let me go.

The way a person who isn't hungry plays with a cookie, licks it first, and only then eats it. I squeezed my eyes shut again. The hopeless tears wouldn't stop.

The cold kisses moved to the corners of my eyes and took the tears away. Then something started pulling at my clothes, working them open.

My eyes flew open, and the whimper stuck in my throat finally came out. "Don't!!" And my gaze crashed straight into the "young man's" black eyes. It tilted its head slightly.

No expression at all. My whole body went even limper with fear. I tried to walk it back.

My teeth were chattering, and I made myself keep talking anyway. "I — I mean… don't, don't rush… because you're so wonderful…" "Look at you, you're so handsome, and you can do magic tricks, that's amazing, and you're so, so gentle with me… I'm really so touched… I'm so happy I get to marry you…" I shook the whole time I talked, tears still pouring. "But this — this is my first marriage… so could we go slow?

I promise I won't run. I swear!" The Eerie just watched me, quiet. Those blackhole eyes didn't blink once.

Long enough that I was sure it was about to tear my stomach open. "No." It said. Before I could finish despairing, it scooped me up.

Lifted me high into the air, then brought me in against it and sat me down facing it. Its hand came down on top of my head. It patted me.

Patted me again. "Scared." It lowered its head, cold lips against my hair. "My wife." It kissed lower, on my forehead. "Not scared." Another kiss, right between my brows. "…" It had kissed me stupid.

I didn't dare move. And this Eerie seemed hooked on it, the way people get hooked on petting a cat. It was in no hurry to eat me. Not just my head, either.

Its fingers explored, pinching my ear, the back of my neck, my elbow. Little by little, my hammering heart slowed down.

Being petted made me sleepy, and my eyelids got heavier and heavier. Then it stopped. I lifted my head, half asleep. "Mm… mm?" No more petting?

But the second I met its eyes, I saw it. One eyeball slid out of the socket as it looked down, leaving nothing but a hole like a little black pit. "…" I blinked.

Then my eyes rolled back and I passed out cold.

Five years ago, seven billion people around the world received the same garbled system message at the same moment. [WELCOME TO THE INFINITE HORROR … GAME] [EVERY HUMAN IS A … PLAYER] [STAY ALIVE INSIDE THE … INSTANCE] [DO NOT GIVE UP … WAIT FOR …] [WE …] So after the first chaos, people built a new order.

The global leaderboard that came with the game churned and updated constantly, and only one name never moved. [Xavier Lachner] Because on the first day the horror game arrived, Xavier woke up two Talents.

One was [Teleport]. The other was [Learn]. Chapter 3 The first one speaks for itself. The second was like a giant S+ stamped in the growth column of his character panel.

Every organization, big or small, dreamed of landing him. The infuriating thing about Xavier was that he was strong, and he was arrogant.

He did as he pleased, cruel about it, and never let anyone save face. Which is why, from beginning to end, the only person around him was me.

People talked, naturally, guessing at what Xavier and I were. But anyone who watched closely enough worked out that we weren't a couple. I was more like his tagalong.

And the reason he still hadn't dumped me was probably just… I was good at sweettalking people.

Xavier and I grew up in the same group home, so we went back about as far as two people can. He wasn't like this as a kid, either.

Picking on me meant pulling my braids or making a face at me. But when one of the bigger kids knocked me down and took my cookies, Xavier went at him like a rabid dog.

He sat on his chest, swung at his face over and over, kept swinging even with blood spraying out of the kid's nose.

I stood next to them, terrified, begging him to stop. "Xav, Xav, stop hitting him, he already passed out!" "I — I know you're the strongest, Xav!

You're the one I look up to most, so stop, okay?" That was what stopped his fist. The tips of his ears went red. As we got older, picking on me turned into a habit for him.

Fake roaches in my backpack. A skull mask, and him jumping out in it. Every time, I screamed. If he got me badly enough, I bawled.

The first few times he saw me cry he panicked and stuffed candy into my pockets, not knowing what else to do.

After I'd cried enough times, he just stood there grinning at it. "Hattie, you're ugly most of the time, but you're kind of cute when you cry." He was laughing. "Cry a little longer." Now, in the instances, Xavier was the same.

When there was danger, he protected me. No person and no Eerie could get near me. When there wasn't, he scared me. Plenty of times he didn't stop until I was dry heaving.

The thing is, on the first day the instances came, I woke up a Talent too. [Translate] Exactly what it sounds like.

Spanish, French, any language at all, I could talk to anyone without a problem. If I'd had it back when I was taking my college language requirement, I would have loved it to death.

But in this world of instances where anything could kill you, it was completely useless.

The howling the Eeries made didn't mean anything, and when I ran it through the Talent, it came out as howling too.

So inside the instances, Xavier was the only reason I stayed alive. I was trying to level up, though. I didn't want to be worthless forever.

Finally a big organization called Restwater sent a recruiter to me.

He said they saw potential in me, that my Talent could help them bring in more survivors and skilled people from overseas. I was so happy back then.

I thought the work had finally paid off. I thought somebody had finally seen me. Then, on my second day at Restwater. Xavier turned up at the front gate of the base looking annoyed.

And the recruiter who'd praised my potential the day before never looked straight at me again. That was when I understood.

I was the bait on the hook, there to bring in the real catch. After joining Restwater, Xavier had no use for the titles or the authority they handed him.

Chapter 4 The rare loot they gave him as rewards, he turned around and tossed to me like he was taking out the trash.

But with Xavier's strength, the instances the organization matched him with were all Srank or higher. In that elite squad, I was the weakest and the most cowardly.

Dead weight, and everyone knew it. Xavier was the squad captain. His secondincommand was Imogen Yates.

On missions the two of them worked like one person, and around the base they talked easily. "Hey, Lachner.

That Hattie girl, does she have a thing for you?" Xavier raised an eyebrow. "What makes you say that?" "Because she's always fawning on you." Imogen rolled her eyes. "Doing the woundeddoe thing all day, stuck to your side, buttering you up.

What is that if not liking you and wanting you to like her back? And it isn't just me. Everybody sees it." Xavier had his hands in his pockets. His stride slowed half a beat. "Huh.

Is that right." "That's it? 'Huh'? That's cold. You're not into it?" "There are a million people in this world who worship strength.

Am I supposed to throw a party for every one of them?" "Wow. Brutal. Shame about the poor girl's little crush." I happened to be walking past.

I stayed behind the corner and listened, blank. Everyone thought… I was in love with Xavier? Even if I ever did fall for Xavier, there was only one way it could happen.

He'd scare me into a heart attack and I'd mistake it for butterflies.

The next day, though, the whole squad went into an SSSrank instance, the kind that had wiped out plenty of squads before us. Xavier was obviously somewhere else.

The mission stalled. Imogen tried to talk to him and got half answers. Then a squad member broke one of the rules and got badly hurt, and Imogen lost her patience.

She shoved me toward Xavier. "Go. You're the sweettalker, aren't you?

Say whatever you have to, just get Lachner in a good mood, or every one of us dies in here!" I edged over. "Xav.

Xav, are you okay?" His eyes focused on me like he was only now coming back to himself. Then he grabbed my wrist. "Come here.

There's something I want to tell you." [Teleport] Getting teleported along with someone doesn't feel good. It felt like all my organs had shifted.

When I looked around, there was nothing but black, and dead silence at my ears. My legs started going weak. Xavier still had my wrist. "Hattie, I like you too." Huh?

I pulled my eyes back to him, still lost. "Oh — oh… thank you?" "'Oh' my ass.

Who says thank you to a confession?" He sounded irritated, but his ears were red and the corner of his mouth kept climbing. "So that's a yes?

You'll be my girlfriend." I froze for a second, then looked up without meaning to. Straight into his eyes. "No." Now Xavier was the one frozen.

The curve that had just formed at his mouth flattened out. "…Say that again?" His face went dark, and my heart started pounding again. I couldn't lift my head.

My voice kept shrinking. "I — I said no… I don't want to be your girlfriend." "Why?" His voice at my ear got colder. "What's wrong with me?" Chapter 5 I waved both hands, trying to calm him down. "Nothing, nothing, nothing!

You're great, you're amazing! Xav, let's hurry back and find the others, this place is so cold, and there's a smell, it feels dangerous…" "I asked you a question.

What's wrong with me?" Xavier repeated it with no expression at all. "Hattie Bramwell, I'm not stupid.

You think I can't hear the difference between when you mean it and when you're just managing me?

I want the truth right now, or we stay here for the rest of our lives." I swallowed and went carefully. "Xav, I'm grateful you've protected me all this time, I really am, but — the second you're unhappy you leave me behind, and one time after you left I threw up… I — I've been scared this whole time.

My whole life, next to you, I've been scared, because you're always scaring me…" "That's because I li—!" The words jammed in his throat. The vein at his temple jumped harder.

He swallowed, and pulled his mouth into a sneer. "…Forget it. There's no explaining anything to a blockhead like you." Then the air twisted. [Teleport] Xavier was gone.

He left me alone in that SSSrank ruleshorror instance. The memory ended in the last of the dream. The Eerie had scared me into foaming at the mouth and passing out.

That was yesterday. When I woke, its eyeball was long since back in its socket, the iris deep as ink, clear as a cold pool. It was the polished young gentleman again.

And the pillow beside me was covered in things, all laid out in neat rows.

A little drum with a handle, a stitched cloth lion, a spinning top, a brass bell… All oldfashioned children's toys.

I stared at them, dazed, and asked without thinking, "What's all this?" The Eerie tilted its head. "Wife. Wake." The finger it put out was pale and long.

It tapped the little drum, and the head went thump, thump. "Wife. Play." Was it… trying to cheer me up? Xavier's POV Meanwhile, on the other side of the instance.

Inside a halfcollapsed family mausoleum, three Restwater members lay on the floor. Xavier stood in the middle of it, his right hand still knotted in one man's collar.

His face couldn't have been darker. "One more time.

Where is Hattie?" The man hanging from his grip had blood all over his face, and his voice shook. "Bboss, we've looked everywhere, but those rules are lethal, you break one and you're dead, the guys have done everything they—" Xavier threw him to the ground. "Useless." Imogen shouted at him, frayed. "Lachner, enough!

What is tearing into your own people going to fix? You're the one who took her off and left her there. Hattie's weak, an Eerie's eaten her down to the bones by now!

Will you calm down? Deal with these garbage rules first! Sacrifice the ghost bride, sure. Where are we supposed to find a ghost bride?" Xavier didn't answer her.

His mouth was pressed flat and his chest was moving hard. No. Hattie never went anywhere on her own. She was a coward, a little ingrate, good for nothing but sweettalking.

He'd only wanted to scare her. He'd left her behind plenty of times before, and every time she stayed put like a good girl and waited for him to come back for her.

But yesterday, when he cooled off and teleported back, Hattie was gone. …If she was dead. What if she was dead? Right then, the virtual panel in his mind flickered.

Chapter 6 Every player inside the instance received the same system message at the same moment. [Ding!

World rules updating…] [RULE ONE: LOVE MY WIFE] [RULE TWO: EVERY DAY] Xavier stared at the words. His pupils shrank. Hattie's POV