Chapter 59: ~Interlude~ Extra Diaries

Note: Author here, these are a compendium of scenes that are or will be important further down the story ^.^

(Prior to Chapter 1)

The first thing Gordon noticed was the ceiling.

It was high and ornate, nothing like what he was used to in his tight and cramped up apartment.

Then, he realized this wasn’t his apartment.

His apartment had water stains on the ceiling, a broken smoke detector he’d been meaning to fix for months, and the faint smell of instant ramen that never went away no matter how many times he opened a window.

Everything was silk and old money.

"What the—"

He stopped.

That wasn’t his voice.

His voice had been the voice of a twenty-six-year-old man who spent too much time indoors and not enough time talking to people.

Slightly hoarse and nasal.

An "order takeout and eat it in front of a laptop screen" kind of voice.

This particular voice belonged to a lady killer.

Gordon looked down at his hands.

They were slender, pale, unblemished.

’These aren’t my hands.’

He threw off the covers and stumbled out of bed. His legs were longer than they should have been. His body felt lighter and his steps were more confident.

The bedroom was enormous.

A vanity with a gold-framed mirror stood against one wall.

Gordon caught a glimpse of his reflection and hooked.

The face staring back at him was beautiful.

A face that isn’t handsome in the normal way, this was a beauty that couldn’t be captured with art.

High cheekbones, flawless skin, eyes the color of a clear winter sky, and golden hair like that of a majestic lion.

Gordon touched his face. The reflection touched its face.

"No... No, no, no, no—"

He remembered this face from fan arts and forums.

They always called him "potential man" for reasons.

Adonis Kallas Falsbane.

The novel’s first victim.

Gordon’s knees gave out.

He sat down hard on the edge of the bed and gripped the sheets with hands he didn’t recognize.

"This isn’t real. This isn’t real. I... I fell asleep. I fell asleep at my laptop, and this is a dream, and I’m going to wake up in my apartment, and everything is going to be—"

Ding!

A translucent blue panel appeared in front of his face.

Gordon screamed.

[System initialization complete]

[Welcome, Host.]

[Host: Adonis Kallas Falsbane]

[Class: None (Awakening Pending)]

[Passive Skill: Eye of the Critic (Rank EX)]

Gordon stared at the screen and laughed like a crazy man.

This was most likely real.

"Let me think. Adonis Kallas Falsbane. Fifth Prince. Awakens an [Enchanter] class at the ceremony. Gets disowned. Gets dumped by his fiancée. Jumps off a balcony in Chapter 3."

The more he talked, the more hopeless his situation.

He could see the narrative role floating above his own head in the mirror.

[Role: Trash Extra]

[Fate: Dies in Chapter 3 (Balcony) — UNLESS OTHERWISE ALTERED]

[Death Probability: 94%]

"Great..."

He closed his eyes frustratedly.

Ding!

[Starter Pack: Unclaimed]

[Contains: Platinum Experience Card x1, Basic Enchanter’s Toolkit x1, 10 gold coins]

Adonis’s breath hooked in his throat.

A Platinum Experience Card.

In the novel, experience cards were rare drops from high-level dungeons. They let the user temporarily gain the skills and knowledge of a higher-tier class. A Platinum card was almost unheard of... it could turn a Copper-class Enchanter into a master craftsman for a single session.

[Claim Starter Pack?]

[YES] / [NO]

Adonis pressed [YES] without hesitation.

A soft golden light filled the room. When it faded, three items sat on the bed in front of him: a small leather toolkit, a pouch of several gold coins, and a single card that shimmered with iridescent platinum light.

"This transmigration gig might be fun..."

The Awakening Ceremony was in three days.

Adonis stepped out of the room and the first person he saw was a beautiful raven-haired woman in a tight black dress that shaped out her majestically curvy body. Her steps were confident and one stare at her red, aloof eyes made his cheeks redden.

Queen Minerva, fourth consort.

"Fourth Mother, it’s nice to—"

Adonis didn’t get to finish as the queen gracefully walked past him like he was a nobody.

She glared back at him when he wasn’t looking.

’Since when did he start talking to me...?’

...

(Chapter 40.5)

It’s an early, beautiful morning.

That’s how it always is for newly non-virgins.

Mariella Soron stood in the center of the girls’ room, her sizable chest heaving, her usually immaculate blonde hair falling in wild tangles around her shoulders.

She was a woman now.

The thought made her warm and giddy. It’s only been a few hours since she’d done it with Adonis on that cold warehouse floor and enjoyed the burning passion between his legs; that alone was proof that he was the manliest of men.

She pressed a hand to her chest as she felt her heart flutter beneath her palm.

’I’m his now. Truly his.’

She’d become a lady capable of standing beside Adonis, of supporting his ambitions, of being the kind of woman who could lead Soron into a golden age.

But right now, those lofty goals felt very far away.

Not because of time, rather, she’s in trouble presently.

"Where is it, where is it, WHERE IS IT?!"

She yanked open a trunk and dug through it, then threw aside stockings, ribbons, and heavy books.

Mariella didn’t notice.

Geles chose that exact moment to push the door open.

"Lady Mariella, I brought the—"

WHOOOSH.

The dragon biology book, same one Prussia had been reading religiously for weeks, whistled past Geles’s pointed ear and slammed into the wall behind her. The elf froze, one hand still on the door handle, her red eyes blown wide open.

"...Lady Mariella?"

"Geles! Thank goodness! Help me find it!"

"F-, Find what, milady?"

Geles stepped cautiously into the room, her eyes flying all over the place, from the scattered clothes to the broken furniture, and the growing pile of shredded books.

Speaking of which, Mariella tore apart another book.

"My diary! I can’t find my diary! I’ve looked everywhere!"

Geles’s blood went cold.

’Oh no.’

’Oh no, oh no, oh no.’

That’s mostly what she sounded like.

Geles’s face turned the color of a ripe tomato.

She had to say something, or act natural at least.

"Where did you last see it, milady?"

"If I knew that, I wouldn’t be tearing apart the entire room! I had it last night... before... before...

Mariella stopped mid-speech.

She ran over to Geles and glared down at her.

Geles had seen many terrifying things in her life.

But nothing compared to the glare of her boss.

To anyone else, Mariella’s eyes were just big, beautiful blue orbs full of innocence and love.

To Geles, they were the eyes of a demon.

"Geles. Do you know where my diary is?"

Geles’s mouth moved like a fish out of water.

"I—I—no—I mean—I don’t—I definitely don’t—"

Mariella sighed heavily and turned away, dismissing her with a wave of her hand.

"Never mind. You’re too scared of me to try that."

Geles’s mouth snapped shut.

Then it came to Mariella.

"That cheating bastard! He took it! That’s why he knew all the weak spots on my body during... during..."

She was too embarrassed to finish the sentence so she just hid her burning red face behind her hands.

...

(Chapter 58.5)

The night Adonis recovered from the duel, he decided to take a walk around the palace grounds.

His legs were stiff and his head was pounding. Alpis had also woken up, but she was busy scarfing down the mountain of meat Mariella ordered from the chefs.

He wasn’t going anywhere in particular, all he needed was fresh air and some quiet.

The back gardens of the palace were empty under the moon, and the lanterns along the path looked tired. Adonis wandered past a hedge, around a fountain, and stopped.

Someone was standing at the servants’ gate.

She wore a plain brown traveling cloak with a bag hugged to her chest, and her hair, normally pinned so perfectly, was falling out of its ribbon. When she heard his footsteps, she turned around. Her face went pale.

Adonis pointed at the lady with half-lidded eyes.

"Oh, it’s the disloyal maid."

Clara dropped to her knees on the stone path.

"Y-, Your Highness!"

She bowed so low her forehead grazed the earth.

"I... I came to apologize. I know there’s nothing I can say or do that’d be enough. But I’m no longer a maid of the palace. After everything I’ve done, I decided to leave as penance for all my sins. To follow through on that, I want to return everything. The carriages, food, money. All of it, I can’t accept—"

A hand dragged her collar like she was a piece of dirt.

Clara could barely hear her voice shrink over the sound of her heart thumping with fear.

The Fifth Prince yanked her up off the ground until her toes barely touched the stones, and his face was inches from hers. She saw no warmth in his eyes nor face.

"Don’t mistake me."

A calm voice, perhaps the scariest part of it was how he could sound so dangerous yet so casual. It made her hands tremble helplessly at her sides like a baby about to cry.

"I didn’t give you and your family those gifts because I’m some kind of hero. Or because I forgave you."

"Your Highness, I—"

"Shut up and listen, you ingrate. I gave them to you because I don’t want to see your face again."

As if a barbwire stuck in her pipe, Clara’s breath hooked.

"You almost put Minerva in danger with your nonsense. Do you understand? Minerva. I don’t want any woman close to me to be in trouble. Not one. So you’re going to be obedient. You’re going to take your family, pack your things, and disappear from Gilishon. And I never want to hear your name again."

With his mind cleared, he let go.

Clara fell back onto the path, staying where she landed as her shoulders trembled.

Then, very quietly, she began to cry.

It’s just a few tear drops every now and then, but they never stopped coming.

"I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, I... I don’t even know why I thought it. A part of me..."

She wiped her face with her sleeve.

"A part of me thought you did it because you loved me."

Adonis blinked.

"...What?"

"The gifts, carriages... that letter, hah, how silly of me. I told myself it was some kind of message. That you saw me, and that you were forgiving me. How stupid, right?"

"Why would you think that?"

Clara looked up at him with a face of hurt.

"It seems you’ve forgotten."

"Forgotten what?"

"...Your Highness, is quite harsh."

She hugged her knees.

"I used to be one of your favorite maids. You used to ask for me in the mornings. You said my tea was the only one that didn’t taste bitter. And when I confessed my feelings to you... you turned me down."

Adonis’s eyes widened slightly. "...Huh?"

"I hated you for it. And then I hated myself, because I knew you were right. No prince wants a thing with a maid whose father is a rat-catcher and whose mother is a... I... I hated you so much. I wanted you to hurt like I did. That’s why, when Queen Lucelia came to me, I said yes. I took the bribe and betrayed you."

She pressed her palms against her puffy, red eyes.

"But I never meant to betray Queen Minerva. I never wanted that. I’d never. She is the kindest, sweetest person I’ve ever served. I swear it on my life."

The garden was very quiet.

Adonis stood uncomfortably still.

A cold feeling tightened in his chest.

’The System wasn’t wrong about her.’

He remembered the first time he saw the little window that hung over her head. Maid Clara. A faithful servant of the Fourth Queen. In the original story, she’d never betrayed Minerva. A loyal maid till the very end.

’It wasn’t wrong. She was loyal.’

His fists trembled out of a feeling of future dread.

’Normally, it’d have stayed that way, if...’

If the original Adonis had been dead.

In the story, Adonis was dead after the Awakening Ceremony meaning Clara’s object of hatred would be gone. All this time, Clara’s target had been him and not Minerva, and Lucelia used that to her favour.

The story had changed.

One unimportant maid caused a huge change.

It made sense, she’s an extra just like him, if he could change the story, why couldn’t they? But in this scenario, he was the one causing all the changes by being alive.

Adonis felt his hands begin to shake.

’What else?’

He looked down at his palms in the moonlight.

’What else have I changed, just by being alive?’

Usurping the Dunamis family.

The immortal dragon egg.

Alpis, Mariella and Prussia.

Minerva and the blood witches.

Delaying Leander’s class bloodline awakening which caused him to drown in insanity.

And now, Godfrey being the kingdom’s new face.

’I have to be diligent...’