Chapter 89 : Chapter 89
Volume 2
Chapter 13 : A Correction Force from the Protagonist!
“No way...”
Muen’s face suddenly turned pale.
There was no time to think about anything else.
He immediately pulled out the black book and carefully went over everything he had experienced from yesterday until now.
“As expected, the only thing that could have affected the current situation is that maid named Noelle!”
“In the original book, there was no way she would have been given a chance to rest, because the original Muen Campbell was never such a tolerant and kindhearted man!”
“Perhaps she was severely punished by Muen Campbell, which worsened her illness, and that was why she lost her composure so badly at the banquet!”
“In other words, because of my kindness... the course of the story changed?”
Clutching the black book tightly in his hand, Muen suddenly sank onto the sofa in dejection.
“Then what was the point of everything I did?”
Selicia still slept peacefully, like a princess in a fairy tale, waiting for her prince to arrive and wake her with a kiss of true love.
But when Muen looked at her, all he felt was a deep and bitter irony.
A princess who never received her prince was nothing more than a sleeping beauty shut away in a tower, and such a story would never reach a happy ending.
If Muen failed to arrive perfectly at his own ruinous ending, what awaited him might only be something even more miserable.
Just like in the prophetic dream shown by the black book.
Those four words—“Do not change”—still echoed in his mind, and the image that followed was that dreadful death by a thousand cuts that chilled him to the bone.
But Muen had truly never expected that the plan he had painstakingly put together would collapse completely because of one tiny difference in his actions.
She was a Soaring Phoenix protagonist, was she not?
Could she really be stolen away that easily?
“No, that is not right. It is still too early to draw conclusions!”
“That is the protagonist we are talking about! The kind of protagonist who could get lost in the hundreds of rooms in the Duke’s estate and still somehow stumble into exactly the right one!”
“She is the true favored child of destiny. Even if the world line has drifted a little off course, she will definitely be able to force it back into place through sheer absurd luck!”
“It is not time to give up yet!”
A fierce light suddenly burst from Muen’s eyes, and blazing fire once more began burning hot within his chest.
Everything looked disastrous, yes, but it was not time for despair yet.
He had to trust the protagonist. Trust in the protagonist’s destiny.
Because in any normal Soaring Phoenix yuri story, no author in their right mind would ever write a revolting plot where the heroine got stolen by some blond villain!
The protagonist was probably only arriving at the very last moment, just like in those fantasy stories where the hero always made his entrance right on the edge of disaster, because only then could the readers feel enough excitement!
So before Selicia truly woke up, it still was not over!
That was right—before she woke up!
“Mm...”
A soft murmur suddenly sounded in the room.
“...”
N-No way.
That fast?
Hallucination. It had to be a hallucination.
“So hot...”
“...”
Not a hallucination.
It was over.
The light was gone.
The fire had gone out.
Muen only felt cold all over.
He slowly, stiffly turned his head to look at Selicia.
As expected, Selicia was frowning with her delicate brows, her body shifting unconsciously.
She seemed uncomfortable, but no matter how one looked at it, she appeared to be on the verge of waking at any moment.
“Now I am truly finished.”
“The first thing Selicia will do when she wakes up is definitely kill me.”
“There is no need for any ruinous ending anymore. My life is going to end right here.”
“Wuwu...”
Already plunged into despair, Muen looked toward the still tightly shut door and could not help letting two burning tears of supplication stream down his face.
“Lady Ariel, great protagonist, great savior!
What the hell are you doing? Hurry up and come save me!”
...
At that very moment, the protagonist Muen had been waiting for with all his heart, Ariel, was lifting one side of her skirt and wandering through the Duke’s estate’s complicated hallways like a headless fly.
A clear stain could be seen on one corner of her dress, left there by the cake that the clumsy Lia had accidentally gotten on it earlier.
So now Ariel was searching everywhere for the washroom, only to discover that the Duke’s estate was absurdly complicated, while she herself was an absolutely hopeless super-level disaster at directions.
And so, unsurprisingly, she got lost.
Yet perhaps because some unseen existence was guiding her from the shadows, or perhaps because of the protagonist’s absurd halo of luck, Ariel was now only one corner away from the room where Muen was.
One could easily imagine that if she kept wandering about like this, then within a few minutes—or perhaps even less—she would, by pure chance, push open that one most crucial door.
But this time, fate had veered down a different branch through a chain of accidents.
“Who is there? Come out!”
Ariel suddenly turned toward the shadows at the corner, a sharp chill flashing through her eyes.
Tap.
Crisp footsteps rang out from the darkness.
A figure in a black-and-white maid dress slowly emerged.
It was a maid.
“My apologies, dear guest. This area is restricted within the Duke’s estate.”
The maid bowed to Ariel and said respectfully,
“I must ask that you turn back here.”
“Restricted?”
Though relieved, Ariel could not help frowning in puzzlement.
“What kind of restricted area?”
“It concerns confidential matters of the Duke’s estate. I am afraid I cannot say.”
“Tch, how stingy.”
Ariel clicked her tongue, looking utterly unconcerned, but her dark, lively eyes darted around, clearly betraying that she was already plotting something.
“Dear guest, it seems your dress has been stained.”
At that moment, the maid suddenly crouched in front of Ariel.
She lifted the hem of Ariel’s skirt with one hand, and a faint glow lit up at her fingertips.
“【Cleanse】”
The glow flashed past, and Ariel’s skirt became spotless once more.
“How amazing.”
Ariel blinked in surprise.
“Do even the maids of the Duke’s estate know how to use magic?”
“Only a little. It is hardly worth mentioning.”
The maid rose and smiled.
“In a little while, the banquet will begin serving a limited number of Pachichi cakes. If you enjoy them, then please be sure not to miss out.”
“Pachichi cake!”
Ariel’s eyes lit up at once.
That was her favorite cake!
Unfortunately, it was expensive, and there were only a handful of pastry chefs in all of Belland who knew how to make it, so she rarely had the chance to eat it.
“Thank you for your help!”
Ariel bowed deeply at a full ninety degrees to thank the maid, then turned and ran off.
Even her long formal skirt could not affect her speed.
After all, if even a place like the Duke’s estate could only supply Pachichi cake in limited quantities for a limited time, then if she arrived late, there would definitely be none left!
...
After running some distance, Ariel suddenly began talking.
Yet there was no one around her. She seemed to be speaking only to herself.
“I know that maid was suspicious.”
“That nonsense about a restricted area in the Duke’s estate was definitely a lie.”
“She smelled of blood, and that other person hiding nearby was suspicious too.”
“But—that has absolutely nothing to do with me!”
“Whatever she is planning, she is making trouble inside the Duke’s estate, so there is no way it will involve me.”
“Look for Princess Selicia? Come on, Her Highness is a grown woman. It is not as though she is going to get lost.”
“There is nothing more important than my Pachichi cake. Nothing!”
“My beloved Pachichi, I am coming!”