Chapter 3
Chapter 3
Since I couldn’t just get up and pretend nothing had happened, I stayed where I was, quietly listening to everything going on around me.
“Get up.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty.”
“How is the Imperial Consort? Is she unwell? She seemed perfectly fine this morning. Why did she suddenly collapse?”
Wow. He really seems worried.
The Emperor had barely stepped into the room before he began bombarding the royal physician with frantic questions about my condition. Anyone could tell just by his voice how worried he was.
“It appears Her Imperial Highness suffered a sudden shock of unknown cause, resulting in a headache and momentary physical collapse.”
“A headache?”
“I beg your pardon, Your Majesty. If I may, I’d like to explain.”
Cilia interjected, cutting in between the two men.
“Go on.”
“I came in just as Her Imperial Highness was waking. She clutched her head and said she had a sudden headache. Then she asked for a mirror. I handed it to her, and after staring at her reflection for a moment, she looked utterly shocked then fainted on the spot.”
“She fainted… after looking in the mirror?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Huh? This is taking a weird turn.
It was true I was startled by the reflection, and it was also true that I pretended to faint because of it… but still…
“Your Majesty, I have something to report.”
The royal physician, who had hinted earlier that he had something to say, finally spoke up.
“What is it?”
“I’d prefer to speak with you after the others have left.”
“Everyone but the physician, leave the room.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
At the Emperor’s command, footsteps shuffled quickly, and soon after, the door shut with a thud.
Now it seemed only the Emperor, the physician, and I, still pretending to be unconscious, remained in the room.
“Speak.”
“Yes, Your Majesty. I shall. The truth is… the reason Her Imperial Highness fainted from such a minor issue today is because her physical strength has been greatly depleted.”
Oh? I didn’t expect him to say that to the Emperor’s face. Is he a man of conviction?
I perked up my ears, sensing the conversation might get very interesting.
“What are you implying?”
But before the physician could fully explain, the Emperor’s voice turned ice-cold – cold enough to send a chill down anyone’s spine.
I could also detect irritation and disapproval behind his tone.
“W-well…”
Flustered by the Emperor’s change in demeanor, the physician’s voice faltered. His earlier confidence vanished, overwhelmed by the Emperor’s oppressive presence. He could barely get a word out.
“If you have something to say, then speak plainly.”
The Emperor pressed him even harder, his tone growing more forceful.
“I-it’s just that… I prescribed some medicine to help build up her strength. I merely wished to ask Your Majesty to ensure she takes care of herself.”
Huh? What was that? Why bring it up if you were going to backpedal like that?
So much for conviction. Turns out he’s just another reed swaying in the wind.
I shook my head internally and clicked my tongue at the sudden change in attitude. Then, a brief silence fell between the two. It was the Emperor who broke it first.
“Anything else you wish to say?”
“No, Your Majesty! I’ve completed my duties, so I shall take my leave now.”
After that, heavy footsteps sounded, followed by the door closing. The physician had left.
“Sigh…”
As soon as we were alone, I heard a deep sigh right by my ear.
“Ariel…”
He said my name and then climbed onto the bed without warning. He gently pulled me into his arms and stroked my hair.
It wasn’t with any kind of sexual intent like the night before. His touch was so careful and delicate, as though I might break if handled too roughly.
I barely managed to suppress the flinch that almost escaped me when he touched me.
“Ariel, please… don’t be sick. When you’re hurt, I…”
His voice, though full of worry, was as warm as spring sunlight. It was so different from the way he’d just spoken to the physician that I couldn’t help but wonder if he was even the same person.
And for some reason, he kept touching me – my head, my cheeks, my hands – as if checking to see where I was unwell. It was getting increasingly difficult to keep pretending to be unconscious without giving myself away.
‘Stop touching me.’
Seriously, stop.
I had to bite back the urge to scream at him to stop.
What would happen if I suddenly sat up, shoved him away, and yelled?
Better not to even imagine it.
‘Just endure it. I have to endure this.’
The strange part was, I didn’t want him to stop because I disliked his touch. It was the opposite.
His embrace was so warm and comforting that I wanted him to stop, precisely because I liked it too much.
Like I said, his touch now was nothing like the night before, when he had driven me to the edge of pleasure.
His calloused hands were rough, but I could feel the sincerity in his touch, the wish for me not to be in pain, to get better soon. Maybe that’s why I started feeling drowsy, lulled by his touch.
‘No. I can’t fall asleep.’
How could I even think of sleeping in a situation like this?
Was I seriously this carefree?
But no matter how strong my will to stay awake until he left, it was crumbling under the warmth of his touch.
If I fall asleep…
I wasn’t supposed to, but…
This was all his fault.
My body was already drained to its limits, and now he was touching me so gently—of course I was going to fall asleep.
So if I nodded off, it wasn’t because of me. It was all his fault.
* * *
When I opened my eyes again, night had completely fallen. The man who had held me before I drifted off was nowhere in sight.
Just like the last time I woke, I was alone on a bed large enough for several people.
I blinked a few times to regain clarity and tried to gather my thoughts quickly.
‘Whoa… I remember everything now.’
Through what felt like an endless dream, both my original memories and those of Ariel, the owner of this body, had returned. And now I finally understood where I was.
I was inside the romance-fantasy novel <Darkness Stained by Light>.
As ridiculous as it sounded, I had transmigrated into a novel.
‘Darkness Stained by Light.’
The reason this particular story came to mind so quickly was simple.
One of my hobbies was reading novels, and I had read this one just a few days before my accident. It had been entertaining enough at the time.
The novel was about a male lead, forced by his tragic upbringing to walk a path soaked in blood, and a female lead like sunshine who pulled him out of the darkness with her light and warmth.
The man who’d held me just before I fell asleep?
He was the male lead.
Then… who was the female lead?
Was it Ariel, the woman I had become?
No. Ariel wasn’t the heroine.
In the original story, she was the male lead’s first love. But once the heroine appeared, Ariel was abandoned and turned into a villainess, lashing out at the heroine until she was ultimately destroyed.
‘I transmigrated into a character doomed to die?’
This was beyond cruel.
I wanted to curse out whoever had tossed me into this mess.
Judging by how clearly I could remember my past life, I must not have blacked out from drinking too much. I’d just been out having fun with friends, had a few drinks, and was heading home when, bam! I was hit by a car while crossing the street.
‘I’m never drinking again.’
If I hadn’t been drinking, I wouldn’t have been hit by that car. And if that hadn’t happened, I wouldn’t have ended up trapped in this ridiculous novel.
But what’s done is done. And I had no idea how to go back. Dwelling on what couldn’t be changed wasn’t my style. Instead of wasting time on regrets, I’d rather plan ahead for what was coming.
‘Stay calm.’
Yes. Stay calm. Think this through.
‘If I die, maybe I’ll go back?’
But… what if I don’t?
I couldn’t risk it without being sure.
That left me with only one path forward: To survive here, no matter what.
Using my knowledge of the future, not to follow the original script and torment the heroine until I died, but to live my own life, on my own terms. That was the only way I could survive in this novel.
To do that, I first needed to fully understand the story.
‘Okay, let’s think.’
I already knew I was inside <Darkness Stained by Light>. But what point in the timeline was this?
Judging by Calix’s behavior toward Ariel, it seemed like this was either before the story truly began, or just the very beginning.
The novel <Darkness Stained by Light> officially began when the heroine, Hestia Kainer, returned from studying abroad in a neighboring country.
