024. Distortion (5)
‘This can’t be happening.’
Bella couldn’t believe what was currently unfolding. It was understandable. Unwanted events were occurring, events that shouldn’t have happened.
‘Why on earth is Owen so close to Lucia?’
Lucia was the antagonist, and Owen was the male protagonist.
Two characters with such a relationship being so close was incomprehensible to Bella.
Beyond disliking Lucia, Owen should have been extremely cautious around her.
In the original work, the two characters had a relationship like that. Lucia relentlessly pursued Owen to the point of annoyance, and Owen found Lucia bothersome and feared her persistence.
Yet, why were they so close?
‘Could it be because of my actions?’
In this situation, where the relationship between the characters seemed to deviate even before the original story had begun, Bella, who had just appeared, couldn’t help but wonder if it was because she didn’t follow the original script.
In the original work, Bella awakens on the Viscount Taylor’s territory. She gets lost in the forest located on their territory, awakens, defeats monsters, and needs to catch the attention of the Viscount’s people.
Consequently, she impresses the Viscount and becomes their adopted daughter, debuts in high society, and later must gain recognition as a saint.
‘But those humans just used Bella.’
Based on the original setting, they thoroughly used Bella.
Therefore, she couldn’t bring herself to entrust her body to the flow of the original work obediently.
Being chased by stupid debt collectors and wandering into the Viscount’s forest? Moreover, being exploited at will by deceitful people? Even if she thought about becoming ‘Bella,’ she found it utterly horrifying.
‘Is this some kind of plot where if you don’t follow the famous original, you’ll face punishment?’
However, no matter how much she thought about it, there was no particular reason for the original to change.
Bella narrowed her eyes. If they were going to allow her to possess someone, they should let her do as she pleased. The story was flowing completely on its own. It was truly absurd that even the future couldn’t be changed.
‘When I see isekai novels, the protagonists always do as they please.’
Readers, please stop complaining about the original. Reality and novels were indeed different.
‘I wish I had met Owen earlier.’
Bella, having organized her thoughts and reached a conclusion, let out a deep sigh. The reason she wanted to enter the world of <The Flower of the Empire> was none other than Owen.
She couldn’t understand Bella, no matter how much she thought about it. The fact that she hesitated between Owen and Kyle.
With Lucia lurking next to Owen, she wondered how anyone could be so relaxed and foolish. If only she had chosen Owen without hesitation.
If she continued to hesitate, wouldn’t Lucia take advantage of the opportunity to commit some evil deed? It seemed like there was a gap that anyone could see.
In that sense, she could understand Lucia more. Owen was undeniably a tempting figure to anyone.
He was a perfect individual in every aspect. His tall stature, excellent proportions, beautiful appearance, and deep, straight black eyes were just the outer aspects.
His seriousness and sincerity in everything, cold and blunt to others but warm to his own, being the only master in the Duke’s estate, and possessing outstanding skills as a swordsman—all these made him a complete person.
‘I was lucky.’
Before being reincarnated as Bella, she was an enthusiastic fan actively participating in fan cafes and social media.
She was Owen’s number one fan, posting fan art and fan fiction every day on the fan cafe. She always worked hard to connect Bella and Owen.
<The Flower of the Empire> was a famous web novel that even became a webtoon, and she was quite a named fan, given her active involvement.
If you were a fan of <The Flower of the Empire>, you’d know her.
When she posted on the fan cafe or updated on social media, everyone responded explosively—except for a few Lucia fans. Even they didn’t openly show disapproval.
However, there was a problem. One of Lucia’s shallow fandom members was overly active.
Seeing a post titled ‘[Fan Art] What if Owen and Lucia Ended Up Together?’ was incredibly ridiculous.
Clicking on the post with a bitter laugh, she found an illustration that portrayed Lucia and Owen as a couple.
‘It still infuriates me when I think about it.’
Even when reading <The Flower of the Empire>, she couldn’t help but feel upset about how Bella couldn’t make up her mind.
If Bella had been a bit later or given Lucia a bit more space. Just thinking about it made her feel worse when she saw the illustration.
The illustration itself was disturbing, and the fact that it was drawn so disgustingly well made her feel even worse.
After seeing that fan art, she worked even harder to create fan art and goods related to Bella and Owen as a couple. However, no matter how much fan art and goods she created, the original setting of Bella didn’t change.
Bella remained a character who was fragile, couldn’t easily make decisions, and couldn’t firmly assert herself as Owen’s person. The same old character traits persisted.
Thinking it would be better if she became Bella herself, she wished she could completely capture Owen.
She didn’t know it would actually happen. Bella felt a renewed sense of emotion as she examined her hands.
Looking at her white and pretty hands, she felt the reality of being Bella. In the first few days, she didn’t properly recognize reality.
After that, she spent her time excitedly. Then, she planned to change the original.
She considered the best way to meet Owen directly without being recognized as the Viscountess.
She believed that the best method was to come to the hunting grounds where the hunting competition was held.
Owen came to the “Forest of Eyes” every year for the hunt, entering the depths of the forest each time. And, as expected, she encountered him in the depths of the forest.
The fact that he was with Kyle was unexpected, but thinking deeply about it was impossible because Owen’s presence was too overwhelming.
The cover illustration had been turned around multiple times, and she had captured him dozens of times from the webtoon.
She had drawn fan art dozens of times, referring to the illustration and captured images. However, the reality was completely different.
No, let’s correct that.
His reality was not something that could be expressed merely through illustrations.
The illustration and webtoon had already shown his beauty sufficiently, but the reality added more.
His nobility, elegance, and unique atmosphere were captured even in those minute details.
Illustrations and webtoons were far from enough to capture those subtle aspects of him.
Bella immediately lowered her head, recalling the moment she first encountered him in the forest.
‘… I don’t know why he got close to Lucia, but I just need to fix the situation.’
The more she thought deeply, the more cumbersome it became. Anyway, the beginning of “The Flower of the Empire” was when Bella appeared.
So, whatever happened before, whatever events occurred, they didn’t hold any special significance.
The world gained vitality with Bella’s appearance. Other events or relationships of other characters weren’t important because the protagonist was Bella.
The world itself was created for her. It was a matter of correcting things centered around her.
* * *
As Owen joined the ranks, the situation rapidly began to stabilize.
The monsters that were rushing ferociously enough to devour the knights easily fell under his sword.
Watching Owen in such action, Louis admired him again and tightened his grip on his sword.
They couldn’t afford to be distracted in such urgent circumstances. While they were in the midst of confronting the monsters, Countess Ceres and Kyle, who had been inside the forest, returned.
They immediately joined the ranks and continued the battle against the monsters.
“Owen.”
Meanwhile, Kyle approached Owen and spoke to him. When Owen turned his head to Kyle, he continued speaking.
“It seems like this phenomenon won’t calm down unless we resolve the cause.”
“The cause?”
“Yeah. We managed to deal with it roughly from the inside, but when I read the flow of magic the monsters possess, it was all heading in one direction. Toward the direction where that person claiming to be awakened is.”
In other words, unless Bella controlled the holy power, the monsters would continue to gather in one direction. Hearing this, Owen let out a slow breath.
“Looks like the she has to figure out how to control the holy power on her own or call a priest.”
“Yeah, otherwise, the monsters will keep popping out in this direction. Until all the forest monsters are dead.”
Owen narrowed his eyes at Kyle’s explanation. It was a difficult situation. Dealing with all the monsters had its limits considering the knights’ stamina.
Realistically, it was impossible. The only options left were for Bella to control the holy power herself or call a priest.
‘In the original story, it seems like Bella discovered how to control the holy power while facing the monsters.’
Certainly, in “The Flower of the Empire,” Bella seemed to grasp the method of controlling the holy power on the day of her awakening.
However, for some reason, the original story had already started to go awry, and today wasn’t the scheduled day for awakening.
There was no guarantee that she would discover the control method today, no matter why she awakened.
“How long would it take for a priest to arrive if we request one from the nearest temple?”
“Well… at least a day?”
“…That seems about right.”
With Kyle’s answer that it would take a whole day, Owen spoke slowly. Waiting for Bella to find a solution would be imprudent. It wasn’t a practically good solution, meaning he had to endure that entire day of waiting.
“Well, there might be another way.”
While Owen was racking his brain to come up with a solution, Kyle raised his hand, casting a spell, and spoke.
At this, Owen’s gaze turned back to Kyle.
“Yeah, you can just swallow them all up with my tremendous power. The entire forest.”
