Villain's Refund System: The Protagonist's Harem Is Mine

White steel entered the collapsing gate and cut both runaway ward lines before another foundation pillar split.

Vivienne stepped through falling stone behind her blade, ’of course she arrives inside a family death trap wearing that perfect cape, damn, original Damien would faint twice.’

Her ash-blond hair had loosened from its low tie, while dust marked one shoulder of the fitted white academy uniform.

Steel-blue eyes found Damien beneath the destroyed construct before checking every moving wall around him.

"Lord Sterling, stand before your residence falls onto the relatives still insulting you upstairs," she said, turning her sword toward another crossing sequence.

"Did House Ashe send you here specifically for structural criticism?" Damien asked, forcing his injured leg beneath him.

"No, your workshop artificer sent twelve increasingly rude alerts through my private channel," Vivienne replied, cutting the second ward intersection.

’Mina called Vivienne, wow, those two coordinating around my survival feels more dangerous than the chamber.’

The severed lines snapped backward and opened a safe triangle beneath the rotating ceiling.

Damien reached it before one wall crushed the final construct remains against black stone.

"Mina cannot enter Sterling wards without blood permission," Vivienne said, watching his torn side beneath the coat, "House Ashe possesses an emergency treaty route."

"You used a treaty route to invade another family’s active succession trial," he replied, leaning against his saber while Stay damage settled.

"I used it to prevent your incompetence from flattening three guest suites," she answered, though relief softened one hard edge around her eyes.

’She came before knowing the residence was threatened, careful, relief looks painfully good on someone who spent weeks pretending not to ask.’

The chamber floor buckled beneath their safe triangle while four wall sentinels unfolded from damaged foundation braces.

Each machine carried a broad Sterling shield around one red command mark, with level profiles flickering above three hundred.

"Those are residence guardians, not trial constructs, so breaking their cores may collapse another support layer," Vivienne said, raising her blade near one cheek.

"Then open their guard and let me cut only the foreign marks," Damien replied, applying Eye of Reckoning toward the nearest shield.

Her gaze moved toward him for half a heartbeat, surprised by immediate trust before the first sentinel charged.

Vivienne met the shield through a narrow Ashe parry and turned the entire machine without contesting its strength.

Damien entered the exposed flank through Flicker, driving his saber point into the black hook below one silver plate.

[Foreign command severed: 1/4]

The sentinel froze without falling, keeping its foundation brace locked above their heads.

"You trusted my opening before seeing whether the pattern remained stable," Vivienne said, moving toward the next machine.

"Yeah, you have never missed that parry during any public match," Damien replied, blocking one shield edge beside her shoulder.

"You attended none of those matches after our engagement began," she answered, slicing beneath his guard toward another ward line.

’The body remembers them through recordings watched alone, shit, telling her that sounds pathetic and hiding it feels dishonest.’

"Original me watched every recording afterward where nobody could notice," Damien said, using the strangest truthful wording available.

Vivienne’s blade paused against the second sentinel before anger pushed it deeper through silver armor.

"Do not speak about yourself as a separate person while expecting me to accept half an answer," she said, wrenching the shield open.

Damien cut the foreign mark beneath her opening and pulled both of them away before the construct locked.

[Foreign command severed: 2/4]

"Fine, the person you knew watched from a distance and begged whenever fear won," he replied, landing beside her inside falling dust.

"That person also threatened servants who mentioned my victories before him," Vivienne said, turning her sword toward his chest during their retreat.

"He was cruel when shame needed somewhere weaker to land," Damien answered, refusing to defend a dead stranger’s behavior.

’She deserves anger without me hijacking it through guilt, damn, adulthood apparently includes admitting your body was an asshole.’

The third sentinel struck between them, forcing Vivienne left while its shield trapped Damien against one moving wall.

He triggered Iron Veil around his shoulder and held the machine long enough for her sword to cross behind its knee.

Her Mirror-Edge pattern opened the red command mark beneath its spine without damaging the support brace.

Damien reversed his saber through Mina’s angled grip and severed the hook during one tight upward cut.

[Foreign command severed: 3/4]

The wall stopped against his barrier, leaving both bodies pressed near enough for Vivienne’s loose hair to touch his mouth.

"You fight beside me more easily now than our engagement ever allowed," she said, breathing hard while her blade remained behind him.

"We are currently surrounded by machines that punish hesitation inside this chamber," he replied, noticing anger return beneath her flushed face.

"That answer avoided the question before I finished asking it," Vivienne said, pushing him away from the wall as another shield approached.

’She is right, stop hiding inside tactics, you idiot, the next sentence can survive being uncomfortable.’

Damien caught her wrist before she moved toward the final sentinel, then released it once steel-blue eyes dropped to his fingers.

"Talking to you used to feel like waiting for judgment, though fighting together only requires trust," he said, keeping his voice above grinding stone.

Vivienne stared at him until the last sentinel entered striking distance beneath its raised shield.

"You make honesty sound deeply inconvenient," she replied, stepping into the attack, "continue after we prevent our burial."

Her sword took the shield near its upper rim and turned it several centimeters beyond the machine’s formal recovery line.

Damien saw the foreign mark appear, but a black cable moved across it before his saber arrived.

’The Benefactor adapted again, of course the final machine learned from every clean opening.’

The sentinel caught Vivienne around the waist with one metal arm and threw her toward the collapsing gate.

Damien Flickered into her path, taking both bodies against his cracked ribs while Iron Veil opened behind them.

The barrier hit stone and failed, leaving Vivienne above his chest beneath a rain of harmless silver fragments.

"If you mention catching me again, I will test this floor using your face," she said, pushing herself upright.

"Your gratitude keeps matching Mina’s again under active murder conditions," Damien replied, tasting blood near one loosened tooth.

Vivienne’s expression tightened at Mina’s name, then she pulled Damien upright by his damaged coat.

’There, jealousy maybe, or she hates comparisons during falling architecture, which seems considerably more reasonable.’

The last sentinel charged while its black cable guarded every direct route toward the command mark.

Vivienne settled into a high Ashe stance Damien remembered from the original novel’s first joint battle.

"When I cut the shield, do not attack its exposed center," she said, placing her sword above one shoulder, "follow my blade instead."

"Trusting mysterious instructions worked wonderfully during Mina’s first workshop explosion," he replied, shifting beside her front foot.

"Then pretend I threatened your eyebrows if reassurance improves performance," she answered, releasing one silver breath across the blade.

The sentinel struck between them while Vivienne cut across its shield through Mirror-Edge.

Damien followed her blade rather than the opening, letting both weapons cross above the false center.

Their combined pressure carried the shield upward and exposed a second mark hidden beneath its armpit.

’She saw the decoy before my Eye, damn, formal training looks much better when somebody competent uses it.’

He Flickered under their crossed blades and severed the real command hook with one reverse cut.

[Foreign command severed: 4/4]

[Residence guardians restored]

[Runaway ward contained]

Every wall stopped around them while foundation braces locked into their proper positions.

Silence returned inside the chamber before Vivienne’s sword touched Damien’s throat beneath one shallow silver line.

He kept his saber lowered as steel-blue eyes searched the face she had known for years.

"Who taught you to stop begging whenever I became angry?" she asked, holding the edge still above his pulse.

"Nobody inside this house taught me anything useful about dignity," Damien replied, feeling the original body’s fear tighten beneath her blade.

"That answer remains deliberately incomplete whenever your past becomes inconvenient," Vivienne said, stepping closer while dust moved between their uniforms.

’Tell her about Earth and sound insane, or lie after promising Mina honesty around shared danger, shit, neither answer fits inside this chamber.’

"I reached a point where begging stopped saving anything for me," he said, giving her the truth without exposing the impossible part.

Pain crossed Vivienne’s face before she removed the sword from his throat.

Damien watched her grip loosen around the hilt, ’she believes enough to feel hurt, damn, half-truths still cut people even when necessary.’

"You speak as if something important ended before the gala that night," she said, cleaning black residue from her blade with one white sleeve.

"Something inside me ended long before I entered that gala," Damien replied, looking toward the trial gate while grief borrowed from his body could choose another answer.

The restored guardians knelt around them as proper silver light returned beneath the floor.

A projection formed beyond the reopened gate wearing Sterling execution armor from an era before modern academy records.

Its massive body carried a black greatblade across one shoulder, while Sovereign pressure cracked the repaired floor beneath both feet.

[Bloodright trial projection]

[Level: 2,400]

[Directive: Test the claimant without mercy]

Vivienne looked from the profile toward Damien and lowered her sword with visible reluctance.

"The treaty route forbids me from entering a proper inheritance trial," she said, stepping backward as silver barriers formed between them.

"You already saved the residence and threatened my throat," Damien replied, raising his saber toward the projection, "take the productive evening home."

The barrier closed around him before her answer reached the chamber.

’Level two thousand four hundred, damn, Mother left something much worse than family hospitality behind that gate.’

The projection lifted its greatblade and activated the first proper trial sequence.