The table flowed with crimson. What had been upon it moments ago had mostly ended up on the ground.

  “Awful. Look at what you made me do, you little bastard. Your filthy blood is all over my dress… You do realise that this piece of clothing, which isn’t even real, is worth more than your life, and that of all of your family, right?”

  The one who was supposed to be my date didn’t respond. Of course, he didn’t. I had just stabbed him a few dozen times in the neck and throat with a fork before slamming his head down repeatedly into the plate and table. To the point that shards of porcelain were now through his face, and some of his teeth had shattered.

  He wasn’t just a spineless worm. He was feeble-bodied as well. Disgraceful. Utterly disgraceful! I am frankly insulted that this creature would be part of such a trial. A trial was meant to be won… Had whatever force governing the nightmares really thought that this dirty little thing had even an iota of a chance with me?

  Talk about getting insulted. Blasphemy has been committed against my person twice now.

  I was quickly sent back to the previous room and informed that the next ‘date’ would be basically the same thing, but just in a less formal environment. Case in point, I was soon transported to a recreation of the orphanage.

  What kind of person would even think about having a date in such a place? Only a maniac could think that a place crowded with little devils was appropriate to try and seduce a woman.

  You were supposed to make her want to have children with you, not make her hate them with a burning passion. Damned amateur.

  The food was already served, and it was the most mundane thing I had ever seen. Steamed potatoes with the cheapest meat available in the kingdom–Mutton. These things were literally everywhere. Wool sold well to nearby nations with cold climates, and the production resulted in a lot of meat as well, which was sold at a low price. At least, it had been in my time due to a royal order to the sheep farmers to keep the meat affordable since they rolled in money from the wool trade.

  Already, this wasn’t a good look. I may not be a noble, but I was still bourgeoisie. A bourgeois woman, nonetheless. Why would I be interested in a man who offers me things lesser than I can get by myself? Utterly nonsensical… But it wasn’t a mistake committed by the one sitting across from me, so I wasn’t allowed to express my disapproval of the food.

  “Hello, my name is–What’s yours?”

  Was his name just erased? Doesn’t seem like he noticed. Shouldn’t he know my name? It was part of the trial’s title. I suppose he is just trying to be polite to win.

  “Mara Nebulo”

  I responded without saying anything else, just staring.

  Since I had been informed that this instance would be in a less formal setting, I just dressed in my usual attire minus the long coat. My arms were crossed, and so were my legs as I watched the one in front of me visibly wonder what he should say next.

  This wasn’t a real date, and this damned trial had revealed my name to the prey. I wasn’t about to allow a single one of them to leave with their lives. If my name were allowed to spread, my location would be compromised, and that automaton would probably come running to try and slaughter me.

  Thus, I wasn’t going to play along. I had to make sure that the date went the worst way possible to force them to commit a mistake bad enough to allow me to stand up and turn them into a bloody piece of meat.

  “Mmh… What do you do in life?”

  “I quite like breaking into places, to put curses on people, and then force them to go through endless nightmares before brutally murdering them. What about you?”

  I heard him swallow his saliva. He visibly paled. Seems like he hadn’t been aware that I wasn’t just a creation of the nightmare.

  “I- I am into carving small sculptures out of wood… Do you have any hobbies?”

  I see that he isn’t losing sight of the objective. He is clearly much more panicked than he was just earlier. He was hiding it well enough for me not to be too mad about his lack of bravery, but…

  “In my spare time, I like to spend time with my little sisters”

  “Oh, you have siblings? I also do! Well, we aren’t related by blood, but we love each other nonetheless–How many siblings do you have?”

  There was a period of silence.

  “...I had one of those specialised mages capture an image of them and me. Let me show you”

  I stood up from the table in a calm fashion, walked around it and up to my current date, but instead of bringing out one of those novel ‘picture’ things. I just hit him across the head, and while he was dazed, I moved behind him, grabbed him into a chokehold, and snapped his neck, throwing his lifeless body to the ground.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.

  “Should have asked about my little sisters directly instead of talking about siblings in general, Buddy. Touchy subject here”

  The next date took place in a bar, and surprisingly, the nightmare had actually been able to create fake people. A fake barman, a fake waitress, and fake customers… This part of the trial quickly ended, though.

  Not because the prey was especially bad–Few could hope to be worse than the first one–But unfortunately, the prey had been a girl this time, and I was only interested in real, manly men. The vast majority of those on the masculine side already fail to meet the proper requirements of a man. So of course, a mousy girl wasn’t going to cut it. The slightest mistake was enough for me to get the right to end this round.

  The fourth round took a bit of a turn. The first three were rather similar in their scenario, but here, I found myself walking through some sort of park that I couldn’t say I recognised, as snow was gently falling from the sky. Breathes created fog, and each step crushed snow beneath the soles of shoes.

  “Seems like the weather is getting worse, would you mind if I accompanied you back home?”

  The prey this time was a caretaker of the orphanage, one whom I recognise. He was one of the two gardeners. He already had better chances than those who had gone before him. He was a grown man with a beard, and one who worked with his hands, so he certainly fell closer to my type–Of course, his lesser status was a bad point. I wasn’t seeking to settle for anything that wasn’t at least on the same level of status as me, but he had a chance to make up for it.

  He wasn’t stuttering and was actually demonstrating some boldness. The weather wasn’t actually getting any worse. That was just a classic probe to check whether I was interested. Everybody knows what it could imply when a girl lets a man bring her back home, despite there being no need for it.

  It was even more true for me, it wasn’t like some hooligan was going to harm me. If someone tried something, they would most likely end up being found the next morning, buried under a layer of snow. So, if I agreed to the proposal, it would look like a pretty big win for him.

  Was this an actual date that had gone to this point, and not a nightmare trial, I probably would have humoured him to see where the end of his boldness lay. I was here to get rid of all the participants, though. I needed to make him scramble a bit to push to a mistake.

  Still, I wondered for a few moments. Was he more likely to do something I didn’t like if I showed approval, or if I didn’t? I could easily see his confidence backfiring spectacularly. There were strict limits to what I would allow a mere gardener to get away with.

  I glanced his way, trying to guess what he would do in either scenario. I had heard him talk a fair bit since I spent a lot of time hidden behind the toolshed, which he and his colleague spent a lot of time going into to pick up tools.

  What a man talked about with a good friend of his, and how he actually behaved, were two completely different things, however. I was well acquainted with that fact. Not just because it was obvious, but also because of Leton.

  Back in the day, I worried a lot about him. So, I would pay close attention when he would bring a friend home–Or worse–A girl. His limp and frail physique weren’t great to get the attention of women, but he did have good looks, as I did. There were plenty of vain girls who only looked at the face and nothing else.

  In any case, my ‘close attention’ got me to learn that Leton would behave differently with me, his friends, and girls. It was only natural, but in particular, the way he would claim how things would go with a girl to his friends, and the way it would actually go some time later… Night and day.

  He was just doing big talk. Half-serious, half-joking.

  The question was whether this rugged-looking gardener was talking big when I heard him, or not.

  “Sure, why not”

  “I’ll let you tell me the way, then”

  Just as he said this, probably thinking himself very smooth and slick–He extended his arm to wrap it around me. That move was common enough on its own, but like the rube that he was, he completely overestimated how much in my good graces he was, and instead of doing the only acceptable act of physical contact and putting his hand on my shoulder, the fool put it on my waist.

  I commend the confidence, but you did nothing spectacular for me to allow a filthy commoner to touch me like that. I wouldn’t even allow a bourgeois to do this without proving his worth first. Only a noble can get touchy with me.

  Before he can even realise what’s happened, I elbow him right in the solar plexus, making him bend forward, causing him to crash right into the back of my fist as I immediately raise it clockwise following the elbow strike.

  The fragile cartilage of his nose shatters, and warm blood comes spurting out, steam rising from it due to the ambient cold. Before he can actually react properly to what is happening, I get a hold of the offending arm, twisting behind his back, forcing the gardener against the ground as I step on his back.

  “I noticed that the way you lot die in the nightmares reflects perfectly in real life. I wonder how people would react to finding a frozen corpse?”

  I kick him in the head until I can clearly feel his consciousness fading due to the repeated strikes, then I drag him to a large patch of snow, removing his coat and shirt, throwing him bare-chested, headfirst into the snow.

  It takes a little while, but he eventually perishes since the temperature is actually impressively cold. I just don’t really feel it because I preserved my undead-like traits.

  The fifth trial quickly arrived, and once again, the scenario was a bit different. It took place during a sort of banquet, fake people were once again present, filling in the roles of the guests and servants.

  I drank a small glass of champagne.

  Mmh… This is actually pretty impressive. It feels real.

  It took a little while for the prey to show up, and for some reason, this young man seemed to have thoroughly prepared. Some of the previous ones had been able to keep their wits and at least give a proper try, but they had all been visibly worried, fearful.

  This one? He must have shown up here with a mission in mind. He approached me, dressed like he was meant to be one of the guests in this scenario, went down to one knee and grabbed my hand.

  “Miss, I spotted you from across the room for just a brief moment, but I found myself breathless! Would you be willing to offer a bit of your time to my foolish self? I simply do not think I can live on if I do not ask today”

  This bastard definitely read too many of those brain-melting romance novels. Even the most stuck-up noble would never spout such a string of words…

  He must think that he just killed it… You might die even faster than the first idiot.