Chapter 21: A New Power – The Path Forward
As I stepped outside the Parker Mansion, I tilted my head toward the night sky. The stars were faint against the city lights, but they were there—watching, distant, indifferent.
I exhaled sharply, my thoughts drifting."The marriage she turned into war..." I muttered to myself. "This novel—I still don't understand why the author wrote such a cruel plot. Why did they want Samuel to suffer so much?"
I clenched my fists.
I had lived two lives before this. In my first life, reading this novel had dragged me into months of depression. It had twisted my perception of love and marriage, making me despise the very concept. And now I was living inside it.
I scoffed. **"If this world was meant to make me believe in love again, it failed."**
A soft chime broke my train of thought as the system's blue screen materialized in front of me.
[Quest Completed]
**The Missing Heirloom** – A wealthy collector has reported that a priceless artifact has been stolen. Solve the case and retrieve the heirloom.
**Reward:** +5 Intelligence, +1 Random Ability
A prompt appeared.
[Would you like to claim your reward?]