Chapter 26: Empathy or No Empathy?
If Lilithia fully realized that the soul inhabiting this body was a real person, would she extend any empathy?
Would she feel anything other than the intense hatred she harbored for the body’s original owner?
Would she suddenly treat the new Cressida with kindness, recognizing her fragility?
That was the crucial, terrifying question the new Cressida needed an answer for.
"A real... person?"
"I’m—" Cressida paused, the decision heavy with risk. There was no going back. "A transmigrator. I was a reader of this novel. I woke up in this body."
║[SYSTEM ALERT]║
║Critical Narrative Breach Detected.║
║[ERROR_0001] — Butterfly Effect Initialized.║
║Forecasted Outcome: Total Divergence from Original Plotline.║
║[ERROR_0002] — Chronoline Sync Failure Detected.║
║System attempting narrative correction...║
║...correction failed.║
║...recompiling alternate timeline.║
║[SYSTEM NOTICE]║
║Half of the future events are now unpredictable.║
║Consequence Forecast:→ Lilithia’s Awareness +200%.→ Heroine Route corrupted.→ Male Lead alignment unstable.→ Future checkpoints invalidated.║
║Stabilize the narrative or face a full story rewrite.║
║[SYSTEM] +50 Positive EXP — Demonstrated Absolute Candor Against Narrative Logic.║
║[SYSTEM] –50 Negative EXP — Caused Irreversible Canon Deviation.║
With the confession out, things were guaranteed to be more puzzling for the heroine, whose very identity and purpose were tied to the plot of the story.
"How do I know that you’re telling the truth?" Lilithia demanded, her voice tight with suspicion, not anger.
"I know that you’re the heroine of this novel, destined to collect the Empire’s jewels, form your harem, and ultimately defeat Agrona."
Lilithia seized on the glaring contradiction. "Aren’t you her new fiancée?"
"Accidentally," Cressida clipped out.
The silence that followed was so prolonged and charged that Cressida’s audible gulp sounded like a gunshot.
Those errors weren’t strictly a good sign or a bad one, but damn, Cressida had just annihilated the narrative in a single breath. The complexity would have been easier to manage if Lilithia were a regressor, like the villainess Agrona.
"S-So..." Cressida managed, waiting for the impact of her truth.
"Why didn’t you lead with that?!" Lilithia exclaimed. Her smile was instantaneous and blindingly pure. The previous hostility evaporated from her eyes entirely.
"Do you still hate me?"
"Maybe! We’ll talk soon enough. I have else where to be."
"Right."
"But first," Lilithia leaned in fast.
Cressida gasped as she felt something cool and fleeting press briefly against her neck, an unseen sign being left, then the girl pulled back, her eyes sparkling.
"Expect a letter from me soon."
That was the abrupt, strange way their interaction concluded.
║[SYSTEM EVENT UPDATE]║
║Event #2 — "The Heroine’s Lost Route" has concluded.║
║Status: Successfully Intervened.║
║Outcome: Major Deviation from Canon Confirmed.║
║Parallel Event "The Imperial Divorce" remains ongoing. Cross-event interference probability rising...║
With their secret meeting concluded, and knowing it was far too early to return to the estate and face Agrona, Genevieve and Cressida decided to wander around the main city area to kill time.
The first stop was a small, crowded pastry shop where the scent of sugar and cinnamon was overwhelming. Cressida was enjoying a sweet roll when Genevieve snatched the crust, sniffed it suspiciously, and then handed it back.
"What’s wrong?" Cressida asked.
"It’s just flour and air," Genevieve declared with the authority of someone judging a vintage wine. "Where is the nutritional integrity? If I wanted refined starch, I’d chew on cotton."
"It’s called dessert, Genevieve. It’s supposed to be fun."
"My version of fun involves blood."
"This girl really is a himbo..."
After a few more visits, they returned to the estate just as dusk was settling.
They found Agrona in the main study. She was slumped in a large, leather chair, a stack of papers, undoubtedly the divorce documents, scattered across her desk.
For the first time, Cressida saw the villainess looking utterly exhausted.