The man, whose husky voice made a slight metallic sound as he briefly introduced himself, took out a stethoscope from his bag and immediately began examining me. During this, I stared at him blankly.
My impression of him at first glance was that he looked really tired.
Under his half-lidded eyes, there were dark circles, and his chin had a patchy stubble. It was really a sad display of self-care, masking his otherwise good looks.
After putting the stethoscope down, he carefully examined my face, neck, hands, and other parts, jotting something down in a notebook.
“The fever on your neck should disappear soon. Are you feeling dizzy?”
“No.”
“Alright, now say ‘ah’ for me.”
“Ah…”
“Try a little louder and open your mouth more.”
“Aaaah…”
“Yes, good. Hmm… It doesn’t look like your neck is swollen. Your fever…?”
Soon after, his large hand touched my forehead and cheeks, one after the other. Surprisingly, his hands were lukewarm.
“The fever has gone down quite a bit. But you’ll need to take the fever reducer until tomorrow. You also need to sleep well after taking the medicine.”
“Yes.”
Jaden gave me my prescription with a tone as cold as his expression. He took out a bottle of green liquid from his bag and handed it to Ellie, then bowed to my mom, who was gently caressing her chest, and left quickly. It was as cold a goodbye as his appearance.
“Alright, Chloe. Let’s get you to lie down. We need to be careful not to let the fever rise again.”
Mom hurriedly helped me lie down, covering me with a thick blanket up to my face before she seemed to finally relax.
Lying on the soft blanket and feeling Mom’s touch, I gradually started to feel better. Before I knew it, I was chuckling to myself.
Seeing me like that, my mom’s expression softened as well, becoming more at ease.
“Chloe, is there anything you want to eat? You should have something before taking your medicine.”
Hmm… Actually, my mom wasn’t very good at cooking, except for desserts. As a result, there were only a few dishes I liked, and one of them was…
“Um… pumpkin soup. The one you made with cream and almonds last time.”
Yes, what I was craving right now was that pumpkin soup we had on a snowy day.
“Really? You liked that? I’ll make it right away!”
Mom brightened up at my answer and quickly got up.
“Ma’am, if you tell me the ingredients, I’ll take them to the kitchen.”
“No, I’ll make it myself. Chloe, just wait a little.”
“Yes.”
Once Mom and Ellie left, the room became silent. I stared blankly at the ceiling, and old memories, long buried, rushed back like a tidal wave.
The Awakened One Saves the World
This novel, with such a straightforward title, was a popular web novel I read while I was still healthy. Despite its vast world-building, each episode was short, and it had an unsatisfactory ending that often led people to describe it as “a story with a lead-up to nothing.” Yet, many people still recommend it as the first web novel to read.
If I had to describe it, it was a moderately good, but flawed, work.
I had once been obsessed with it, but it had been so long since I read it that my memories weren’t very clear.
The plot was about the protagonist, Cassio, saving the world with his unique abilities. A few episodes focused on the main and supporting characters.
But one name stood out to me easily: Herald Erayton.
Although he didn’t appear much in the story, he was always a character who clashed with the protagonist.
Why did they clash? The reason was because of Herald’s daughter. She despised Cassio intensely and tormented and hindered him in every way. Eventually, she fell in love with a villain and tried to kill Cassio, only to be executed instead… As a result, her parents, the Duke and Duchess of Erayton, met the same fate.
And that daughter was…
“That would be me, wouldn’t it…?”
A hollow laugh escaped me. The moment I realized I was in the world of that novel, I immediately thought of my tragic ending.
“Ugh…”
What drove me crazy was that I couldn’t remember how Cassio and I met, or why I hated him. Had it been explained in the novel? Probably not. After all, in the story, I was just a minor antagonist causing some small troubles for the protagonist.
“Ugh, it’s maddening.”
Why was it that the ending of such a minor villain was so cruel?
I couldn’t remember what I had done to Cassio in the novel, and that made me feel an unjust frustration. What had made me hate and torment him? Why did I act that way in the novel?
I buried my face in my hands and recalled the story’s world-building. Erayton, Rubantie, Dainmore, McClen, Clience.
These five noble families, though they kept each other in check, were bound by a strong alliance to protect the empire. They were families that truly lived up to the name of “Guardians of the Empire.”
Among them, Cassio was the only heir of the wind-based Rubantie family.
I didn’t remember the heirs of the other families very well.
But what mattered most was avoiding my tragic ending. It wasn’t just my life at stake, but my mom’s too.
“Haah…”
Unable to hold back my frustration, I quickly stood up. Although I felt a slight dizziness from the sudden movement, it was nothing compared to my troubled heart.
I blankly stared at the chandelier swaying from the ceiling for a long while. Even though my memories of my past life were still intact, I wondered if my mind was truly the same as before.
No clear answers came to me, no matter how hard I thought.
Cassio was an Awakened one. And Erayton was an Awakened family.
This meant that if I stayed here, the chance of meeting Cassio was very high.
The more I thought about it, the deeper my dilemma grew. Should I stay here and meet Cassio, as the events of the story dictate, or should I leave with my mom to avoid getting entangled with him altogether?
I couldn’t figure out which choice would be best. But at the moment, the immediate problem was that even if I chose the latter, there was nowhere to go.
Mom had said we should stay here for a while, but based on the Duke’s attitude when he came to visit us, it didn’t seem like he would let us go easily.
Besides, living alone with Mom at the edge of the frontier, where monsters could invade at any time, felt far too dangerous.
Yet, choosing the first option wasn’t comforting either. Even if I tried to be nice to Cassio, there was no guarantee he wouldn’t dislike me. Maybe he just wouldn’t like my face, or worse, maybe he just hated Erayton.
I didn’t know anything about Cassio.
First, his appearance. There wasn’t much description of him in the novel. He had black hair and was said to be handsome, but there was no detailed description of his features. The story was written from Cassio’s perspective the entire time.
Even if he was very handsome, could I even recognize him?
Honestly, my mom and the Duke were both stunningly beautiful, so I might not be as impressed by Cassio’s looks.
Second, his family.
Rubantie and Erayton didn’t get along. Most guardian families were somewhat friendly with each other, but for some reason, these two families had an issue. The novel didn’t clarify why.
It could have been because of me, the villain, but perhaps they had been at odds long before that.
If it was just a matter of the families not getting along, then things were even more complicated. It would be great if I could figure out where things stood between the two families right now.
“Hmm…”
No matter how much I thought, no clear answer came to mind. Frustrated, I rubbed my face with my chubby palm and splashed some cold water on it.
I needed to make a plan, prioritizing what I needed to do next.
First, I had to figure out what would happen if I left and adjusted well to a different life, aiming for a happy ending, and plan for both situations.
Anyway, the key to both of these options was money.
And the only source of funds I could rely on was Herald Erayton.
Hmm… Maybe it’s time to come up with a plan.
