Keira saw herself in a distant yet familiar living room. She looked down and saw that she was in a small body.
She was standing in the middle of the room and was standing in front of a dangling body.
She didn't want to look up nor does she want to remember the familiar scene. Keira covered her ears and close her eyes tightly. It was like she was really back in this old house.
Dark figures began to appear completely surrounding her. Their hands began to touch each and every part of her body. Their touch was unpleasant and cold. Her breaths became pants and her body felt extremely uncomfortable.
A cool sensation touched her forehead like it was trying to reassure her.
The shadowy figures disappeared and everything in her surrounding became clear. This sensation was very familiar to Keira. This is the same coolness and comfort that her lover in the real world exudes.
Keira opened her eyes and a blurry white ceiling appeared instead of the old worn down house. She felt a hand resting on her forehead. Her body still painful aches but the hand seemed to ease the discomfort even just for a little bit. She saw a blurry silhouette of a man peering down her face.
"Leal..."
Keira wanted to reach out to the man but her body was too weak to do so. She could vaguely hear the man talking but could not understand anything. The hand that was resting on her forehead slid to cover her eyes. The darkness didn't appear to be scary. Rather, it gave off a comforting feel.
Keira could feel herself falling back to the unconscious realm once again but this time, no nightmares appeared only the sweet memories of her lover—Leal appeared.
...
When Keira opened her eyes again her head was still throbbing but it became bearable. The aching on her body greatly lessen and didn't feel much discomfort anymore. She looked to her side and saw Ezekiel was working on his laptop with his glasses on.
Perhaps sensing Keira's movements, Ezekiel looked in Keira's direction and their eyes met. Keira's heart skipped a beat. She just dreamed of Leal, and the man in front of her looks exactly like him. Even the glasses they wore were similar in style as they matched the wearer's style perfectly, which made her mistook Ezekiel for Leal for a moment.
"Would you like something to eat?" Ezekiel's words brought Keira back to reality.
At those words, she realized that she was actually hungry, so she replied, "Yes please."
"Mhm." Ezekiel only let out a sound of affirmation before heading out of the room.
This simple action confused Keira. The fact that it was 'simple' is exactly what made her confused. She thought that the male lead would act crazy like Aster but this male lead was somehow 'calmer'.
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No... she couldn't think that way. The fact that the male lead went to her place yesterday after only bumping into each other for a brief moment already raises the alarm. He may appear calm now but no one could ever read what runs into a mentally impaired person's mind.
Keira: [Elly...]
System 999: [Welcome back Host!]
Keira: [I would never take that fever inducer again.]
System 999: [You could cancel the effect anytime Host, so why did you wait for the male lead to appear and take you?]
Keira: [Simply because I needed protection.]
System 999: [You mentioned protection last time also, but why would you need protection?]
Keira: [Hmmm... Let's see... Someone took embarrassing nude pictures of you and then post them online. Your whole career is going to shambles due to some pictures and people will look at you differently. You inspected the pictures and identified the background and felt enraged. Of course, you would take revenge on the person who took the photo and spread it online at all costs.]
System 999: [Oh I get it! So you are hiding from Rick through the male lead!]
Keira: [Wow! It seems like my Elly is having a system upgrade and is getting smarter at understanding things better!]
System 999: [ (・∀・) ]
System 999: [But Host, how did you know the male lead was going to your house?]
Keira: [Intuition I guess? After being locked up by Aster in the last world, I of course got somewhat of an understanding of how they function and think.]
System 999 thought, 'You're making it sound like they're not humans.'
Keira [So using that and my intuition, I just gambled and put my plans into action. Besides, if the male lead in this world also blackened it wouldn't be long before he comes knocking on my door or kidnaps me while I go out for groceries.]
System 999: [But what if the male lead didn't come?]
Keira: [Hmmm... I would have hidden somewhere else and remained there until the 'master' arrives.]
System 999: [Oh I see...]
Keira: [But wait... Seeing that I was right and the male lead did indeed come to my house and took me away. Does that mean that other male leads of the other worlds have also blackened after I left?]
System 999 was afraid that its Host would ask this question. It wanted to lie but it was in its A.I. to comply with its Host request if it was necessary in clearing the world's mission.
Keira: [Elly?]
System 999: [Yes, they all have blackened the moment you left the worlds Host.]
Keira: [******* ****** *********]
System 999: [QAQ]
Strings of curses appeared in the system message System 999 couldn't help but get scared. It had never seen its Host cursed so many times before in one go. Some were even curses she had never heard before but all the words that its Host was speaking right now in the system message gave out a fearsome presence.
After letting her fury out, her headache resurfaced. Keira rubbed her throbbing head and asked the system.
Keira: [Why exactly did ALL of them blacken? Not all worlds did I build a romantic relationship with the male lead, and there was that I didn't manage to fully complete that had me punished by the main system.]
System 999: [Although you didn't manage to form a romantic relationship with all of the male leads, they all still loved you.]
Keira: [But if I remember correctly, there is one world that I manage to clear by being the male lead's guide. I raised him and taught him. So we had a master-disciple relationship. He didn't even show any improper actions and strictly kept it respectful but I manage to complete the mission and have the affection points of 100% using a master-disciple relationship after you told me affection points don't necessarily mean romantic love.]
System 999: [According to my data Host. All of them romantically loved you...]
Keira: [Then does that mean...]
System 999: [Exactly as you thought Host.]
Keira: [How could that be?! How could my adorable and lovable disciple romantically love me and blackened?!]
System 999: [It's you who told me Host, the quietest ones are the scariest ones.]
Keira: [Haaa... Even my cute Elly is beginning to change, I can't trust anyone any longer.]
System 999 thought, 'It's you who are influencing and teaching me these things!' but only replied,
System 999: [ (・∀・) ]
After their exchange, the door opened. Ezekiel was back, holding a thermos.