"Someone has to be here with you." Victoria would say with her usual deadpan voice and expression. Adeline felt warm but also worried for her.
Victoria got many things wrong in social situations but when it matters the most she would get it right. After being ambushed, and almost dying, Adeline was a little afraid. And being left alone at night would worsen her mental condition.
No matter what she would say, Victoria decided to stay with her.
Adeline closed her eyes, feigning sleep. The soft sound of Victoria’s steady breathing filled the quiet room.
Adeline was trying to gather her thoughts, but her emotions were a turbulent storm. There were too many unanswered questions and implications from the last moments before she fell into the pond. Most troubling of all was what the Goddess had revealed to her.
After what felt like an eternity, she cracked one eye open cautiously. Victoria had nodded off again, her posture still slouched with exhaustion. She had forgotten to mention that Adeline had been in a coma for three days. For three nights, Victoria had remained by her side, refusing to leave, even as others tried to reassure her.
Yes, she had formed bonds with Cassian and Benedict, and perhaps Dimitri too, but none of them truly understood her the way Adeline did.
Adeline glanced at her friend’s sleeping face, a wave of guilt washing over her. Victoria looked utterly drained.
When she was sure her friend wouldn’t wake, Adeline shifted her gaze to the window. The moonlight illuminated her side of the room in a soft glow, enough to keep her restless thoughts company. She swallowed hard, her heart racing as she replayed the events before she had fallen into the pond.
The Goddess’s words echoed in her mind. Lucas had come back. He was the anomaly. The very thing the author, the creator of this world, had been so concerned about.
Adeline clenched her fists, the nails digging into her palms. She remembered the malice in Lucas’s eyes during their confrontation. He had wanted her dead, and she didn’t doubt he would have succeeded if not for Cassian’s intervention. But why had he come back? Lucas’s resurrection meant something—a shift in the balance of the world, a rewriting of fate.
And then there was Annora.
Adeline’s chest tightened at the thought of her former rival. She had assumed Annora’s changed behaviour was the result of transmigration, just like her own. But the Goddess’s revelation shattered that assumption. Annora hadn’t transmigrated, she had come back. That meant she had lived through everything, including her—no, the original Adeline’s—death.
What did Annora experience that drove her to return? Why had she chosen this path? Adeline squeezed her eyes shut, as if doing so could block out the storm of thoughts swirling in her mind. She was sure that something negative had happened, no wonder Annora turned out like this.
Adeline did not know anything about Annora’s experience. Only three people knew about her sad ending... The story’s sad ending and those three did not include Annora herself. The author... Edward and...
A chill ran down her spine as she considered the possibilities. Annora’s return wasn’t just about revenge, it couldn’t be. There was something deeper, something more sinister at play. And Adeline couldn’t shake the feeling that the Goddess knew more than she was letting on.
Her fists clenched tighter. She hated this feeling. She hated not knowing about the truth.
The weight of the unknown was suffocating, and she couldn’t do anything but sit here, trapped in this fragile body.
Adeline took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Panicking wouldn’t help her. She needed to think rationally.
Lucas had come back because he had died in Cassian’s hands. That much she was certain of. But Annora’s return was a mystery. What had she witnessed? What had she endured to make her so full of resentment?
Adeline’s thoughts turned to the original Adeline, the villainess whose body she now inhabited. The original Adeline’s actions had been cruel, calculated, and self-serving. Annora’s hatred might not be misplaced.
"Greetings, Adeline," a voice called out to her.
Adeline jolted, her body stiffening as she whipped her head toward Victoria, still slumped in her chair, fast asleep. Her chest rose and fell steadily, undisturbed by the sudden voice that had shattered Adeline’s fragile peace. Relief coursed through her—Victoria hadn’t heard it. But who had spoken?
The voice didn’t belong to the Goddess- the author.
No, this voice was different. Familiar, somehow. Vaguely so. Yet she couldn’t quite place it.
"Who... are you?" Adeline asked, her voice trembling slightly as she broke the silence.
There was a pause, followed by a soft sigh, as though the speaker was reluctant to answer.
"I am..." The voice hesitated, almost as if considering its words carefully. "I want to say it isn’t important, but I feel like you should know. I was... Adeline. I used to be the hateful villainess of the story."
Adeline’s breath caught in her throat. Her hands gripped the edges of the blanket as if anchoring herself to reality.
This voice belonged to the original Adeline?
Her lips parted, and she managed to whisper, "Adeline..."
The voice chuckled lightly, a sound that sent shivers down her spine. "It’s weird hearing my own voice, you’d agree, wouldn’t you?"
Adeline froze. Of course. That was why the voice had felt so eerily familiar. It was her own voice, yet not hers.
"I don’t think I have much time," the original Adeline said, her tone tinged with regret. "There are so many things I want to tell you, but the author... She’s keeping most of the important details a secret. I know she’ll reveal them to you in due time, but it feels... Wrong. Like it’s the wrong way to go about this."
Adeline listened, her mind racing to process what she was hearing.
"Anyway," the original Adeline continued, taking a deep breath as if steeling herself. "You’ll learn all of that eventually, so I won’t waste the little time I have telling you what you’ll find out soon enough. I just want to say... I know you’re struggling with a few things. And I need you to hear this."