you do not have to feel like a cuck! On the contrary! I think the menioned situation arises from a far too wide definition of cuckold. Something we can see in many game threads.
most people who complain about it are those who think if any of the LIs ever have sex with anyone other than the MC
then it's "cuck" or "NTR" even if the LIs have done it before meeting the MC or even if it's in an alternative scenario depending on the MCs choice
most definitions and semantics people use to define their opinions on such topics are very vague too
but such comparisons doesn't end there with defining who is a "cuck" or what can be considered as "NTR"
for example i remember arguing with multiple people few months ago over sexuality of Veronica and whether she truly liked/loves the MC or not
their main arguments were that since is a bi-sexual women who leans heavily towards the lesbian side
she can't by the general definition of the word truly ever love the MC as she loves women and she and the MC can't be together in the future as the best they could hope for is a fling
all of them even though have played the same game and seen the same scenes with the MC and Veronica seem to dissociate from what they're literally seeing and playing in because of some vague definition in their mind of what they consider a lesbian/bi woman should be like
Nothing worse for an author than having created characters they're not allowed to kill because the fanbase would lynch them. And an empty stomach, maybe, but that's beside the point.
not to sound like a complete contrarian
but i would rather have an alternative ending for a character i love like Veronica where she "leaves" the game earlier in a short and sweet ending rather than force here to be a participant all way the through to the final ending and to only torment her further for amusement of the club patrons
after all from a purely meta narrative point of view if you truly love/like a character would you rather hope that they get a sweet ending or would you just like the members of the ingame club wish to put them through all kinds of tests,trials and tribulations for your entertainment and more "content"
for example i would rather have Veronica quit or just have some kind of Deus Ex Machina ending rather than again be humiliated or put through some kind of sick and twisted punishment like what happened when she hit samson
but everyone knows that's what going to happen if she sticks around till the final episode of the game and worse things could happen to her if she looses the final round
it could happen to any of the LIs too
everyone of them will be subjected to further and further humiliations and torment as the game gets closer and closer to it's finale
so that's why I would prefer that i character i love getting an earlier end off rather than be dragged all the way to the ending to suffer more
sure i would hate the fact that cutting off a character prematurely before the ending means less content for that particular character and it would definitely impact the storyline of that particular character too
but it would work in favour of the character depending on the ending and the epilogue of the game
