Like Jia Hyson expected, a few minutes later, after closing the door to his dorm room, a knock on the door broke the quietness in the room.
Sipping on the herbal tea he had brewed for himself at that time, the blue-eyed vampire unhurriedly opened the door and smiled gently. "Good evening. Do you want a cup of tea? Juice? I have apple mango flavour."
"Uh, hi, no, just water thanks." Jessica, unprepared for the calm and warm welcome, stutters out. Seeing the other walk to the kitchen area, she hastily closes the door behind her and follows. "You and Prince Silas are-?"
Jia Hyson hesitates as he was about to pour the water into the glass, before tactfully saying, "Probably what happens when friend-zoning goes incredibly wrong."
Jessica: '…'
"Here you go." Passing the glass of water to the teenager, Jia Hyson adds on, "Oh, I forgot to ask, did you want cold water?"
Awkwardly, Jessica cradles the lukewarm water. "Um, yeah, some ice would be nice- oh!"
Pressing a finger to his lips, Jia Hyson pulls out a faint wisp of foggy, grey mist from his mouth, and twirls it once before touching the side of Jessica's glass of water. After attaching itself to the cup, Jia Hyson clicked his fingers with a hint of dramatic flair, and Jessica watched with wide eyes how the glass frosted ever so slightly. The lukewarm water cooled as if it had come straight out of the fridge.
Curiously, she took a sip and tasted the cold but refreshing water. "It's cold!"
Jia Hyson chuckles, "Well, if it was warm, I would be concerned."
The younger girl instantly felt silly, "Haha, yes, that's true." She laughs, "Sorry, I've never seen a vampire with such a flashy power before!"
"That makes sense," Jia Hyson nods understandingly. Naturally, in a series, the enemies at the start of the plot are generally not that impressive. The Eclipse Coven is known to look down on humans, so it was natural that in the face of a powerless Prince Damien and a group of high schoolers, there were only some low-level vampire grunts and a few slightly powerful and ambitious youngsters that would be sent to fight.
If a vampire came out with an offensive named power on a similar level like Icy Kiss before Prince Damien could unlock his own true abilities, they'd been instantly wiped out and the story would've ended in fifteen chapters.
Then, with a heartfelt and regretful sigh, Jia Hyson shows a faintly sad expression. With his delicate features and high skin maintenance, he was one of the prettiest boys Jessica had ever seen, and her heart clenched seeing his downcast appearance like that. "It's a pity… Prince Damien's ability is far flashier than mine."
If his appearance touched Jessica Fang, his words directly shot at her heart. She felt uncomfortable, and her chest ached a little at his reminder. Even though she hadn't known Damien for long, he was now someone she considered her closest friend… maybe even a little more.
"I heard." She smiles wryly, "Damien doesn't like to talk about it much but sometimes… he slips up."
Jia Hyson sighs even more emotionally, "Losing your powers… It's like losing a limb. Even if some of them are useless, it's still a part of you. The second prince has gone through a lot." He looks at the teenager with the eyes of a caring and apologetic elder, "You have too. I'm sorry I wasn't there at the time or I would've tried to help."
The young girl was moved by his sincere words. Awkwardly, she rubs her eyes, which had turned a little red at the edges, and shrugs, "It's… it's okay. You were overseas, right? And, like, Damien's older brother… was in power. So he probably blocked the information to you, or according to Damien you would've never let this happen."
"..Sure." Jia Hyson smiles gently.
It was a lie. But she didn't need to know that.
Still, the divergence between the plot of the first story was really too big. Jia Hyson needed to know what happened in more detail.
After letting her relax, he skilfully asked her about the events that had happened in the past year. Jia Hyson was good at using words to manipulate, as well as observe and soothe emotions; it was too easy to make Jessica talk.
Jessica, feeling she had met a friend who was extremely compatible with herself, as well as felt confident in Damien's own positive endorsement of Alaric's character, found herself disclosing even more than she intended. While occasionally she felt a bit strange, Alaric would simply give her a casual joke or comment or show great concern, and she would subconsciously brush it off.
After all, he was such a kind and gentle person, and it's not like most of the things she said couldn't be found out anyway.
She first met Damien when he was injured, falling into an embarrassingly bloody heap from the sky. Jessica, at that time, remembered thinking it was a shooting star, but later on, she realised it was the electric sparks from his body that caused such an illusion.
While he insisted on not going to a hospital when she found him, he had been apologetic and grateful for her help during that time. Because her father was not home, she boldly decided to let the other stay until he recovered. Of course, she wasn't braindead; her father worked in security, and she put out a bunch of security cameras around the house as well as kept a panic button and taser in her pocket for the first few days.
However, soon enough, she slowly lost that vigilance the more she knew him. They both had a love for reading, even though Damien was the more sensitive type that preferred more romantic novels and poetry, while Jessica felt she had more or less outgrown that phase thanks to seeing true masterpieces like ShiningGreenTea's works; they were both very happy to discuss and consider their different perspectives on various classic tropes.
Not only did they share an interest, but Damien had shown a clumsy sweetness that completely went against his aristocratic and intimidatingly handsome appearance. Even though he didn't know how to do chores and was also limited due to his injury, he was considerate and gentlemanly to the best of his ability. Jessica would often come back from school or her part-time job to see if he had helped set out the ingredients of the food she planned to cook with or had already folded the laundry.
For Jessica, whose father was often absent from home due to work, and her mother, who had long separated to be with her lover, this was a sweetness she had always craved.
Later on, though, she had accidentally cut her hand, and he had pushed her down, with an almost horrifying strength and… well, nothing happened. Damien had been extremely ashamed and apologetic, and while Jessica was shaken.. she didn't hate it. In fact, shyly, she felt that maybe she wouldn't mind being in that position again.
But then he ran off that night and disappeared.
Jessica was in disbelief, full of a mix of worry and anger, she stewed in it for a week before finally choosing to try let him go in her heart. He was someone who moved her, but ultimately they knew each other for about a month or so
While she didn't have experience, thanks to many interesting books that had broadened a lot of her worldviews, Jessica had developed the understanding that love is not necessarily a perfect word that lasts forever. Feelings fade and it would be too pathetic to hold onto her expectations for a scumbag that couldn't even leave her with more than a post-it note. Especially if it affected her current lifestyle and goals.
Of course, naturally, after taking a while to make peace with this, Damien came back in the form of her classmate.
Jessica, at that time: '….' Give me back the time I spent on my mental and emotional inner journey.
However, even though he was back physically, Jessica soon realised during the short period they were apart, he had changed into nearly a different person. Like a shining trophy that had been discarded and abandoned to rust in a forgotten corner, it was as if there was a layer of dust all over him that made people feel a sense of gloominess and despair.
Every time he didn't understand something or failed to do what most people would consider simple tasks, Damien would no longer take it in stride and laugh it of, but will be stunned and have an expression of almost wanting to cry. He couldn't even live a mechanic life because a machine at least knew the general rules to live monotonously, but he had to slowly grasp them with difficulty.
For a good looking young man who had no money, a sense of being spoiled and immature, and had not experienced much suffering, there were many people willing to carve him down further for their own satisfaction.
And Jessica couldn't let that happen.
It took months for Damien to resemble his former self, but after all the things he had endured he could never be the same. More timid, less exuberant and no longer as naive to the world, he smiled occasionally but not as much as before, and his aura became sharper. He was willing to tell her about his past as a vampire, and the unfairness of the incident, losing his powers due to the harshness of his eldest brother and his suspicions on his youngest brother.
Betrayal, suspicion and even his romanticism of humanity had broken and cut him in many ways. But Damien was a strong person at heart, stronger then he thought, and Jessica could see he was adapting.
Maybe if things continued that way, Damien could learn to truly love being a human or at least, learn to live a normal person's life. However the world was never so kind and soon vampire assassins were after Damien's life.
It was difficult. And each brush with death was incredibly, terribly scary. Damien had wanted to escape so Jessica and her friends could at least be spared but the assassins were not so kind.
The Eclipse coven did not care for humans, and it was inevitable that those that are in their way would not have a good end.
And unlike in the original story there was no Prince Damien with partially blocked powers to help save them in time.
Due to alot of luck on their part, and hubris on the part of the vampire's they generally managed to win most of the confrontations.
But not all of them.
Even with human ingenuity, and creativity, it was inevitable that without the extra help that the original Damien at that time possessed, there would be inevitable tragedy.
Jessica, for the first time in her life, had to confront the fact that death can, in fact, come so suddenly that you couldn't even feel the pain of loss until a week later when you see an empty seat in the classroom, or a missing voice in the crowd, and finally realise that they will never come back again.
She had profoundly realised vampires were not as handsome, dramatic, pretty boys and girls of the night as like in the stories but were as cruel as humans with the powers of monsters. Dangerous and terrifying. If it wasn't for Damien telling her stories of his life, of being so pure and gentle, she felt she would have hated those beings with every ounce of her being.
The scene of the Eclipse coven vampires hunting them down and slowly inflicting injury upon injury on those they catch… it was no different to cats playing with a mouse. They were arrogant and callous beyond comprehension, and their eyes didn't even reflect their image in them, as if they weren't even worthy of being looked down upon.
Just talking about it out loud, for the first time really voicing what had happened to her, Jessica's eyes filled with tears and she choked back sobs. However while it was painful to say, after the words came out they flowed easily like river water running into the sea. It was almost cathartic and relieving.
Even though she was heaping all this trauma onto someone who was essentially a stranger, Jessica couldn't stop herself, she was only a teenager after all. There was no one she felt she could talk about this, not her parents, not her friends, and even with Damien there was a sense of pressure to be the stronger one, as he would also become extremely guilty every time something bad happened as if everything was his fault and not the selfishness of other's.
Thinking about it, she started crying harder between words.
Jia Hyson took it in calmly, patiently and without judgement, occasionally he would ask questions but ultimately most of his words were of concern for her both physically and emotionally which touched her deeply. He also idly summoned his ice to come forth and take the girl's empty cup, refilling it with hot water, which quickly cooled into faintly warm water by the time it came back to the teenager's hands.
The blue eyed vampire was truly the epitome of a dependable and kind elder at this moment.
However inwardly he was frowning as he refreshed his understanding of the divergence.
Prince Silas didn't just permanently take Damien's powers but also took his sense of trust and confidence. The difference in mentality between knowing your elder brother believes in you and has secretly helped you even in the face of great doubt, and the mentality of no one believing or speaking up for him, is only one person. But it's enough to shatter a person's heart.
Insecurity, inferiority, fear, regret, apathy, sensitivity… these sort of feelings and more would bloom in anyone's heart, like a garden of weeds it will grow and grow and change the landscape unless someone can help maintain it.
Originally Prince Silas should've given the other direction and a sense of mission, to uncover the truth and find the culprit. But by throwing Damien out like a crippled criminal, the other naturally had a period of decadence, depression and confusion. Jessica had helped curb it but, nonetheless, even sharp knives will dull without maintenance, and against even the mediocre Eclipse vampires, Damien who had never been particularly violent in the first place, will fall behind even further.
A moment of hesitation or distrust is enough to change the outcome of an entire scene. Especially if it came from an important character such as the male lead who's meant to play the part of biggest force value in the early stage. Not to mention, it couldn't be hidden that Prince Damien had completely lost his powers, and the Eclipse Coven were specialised not just in assassination and mercenary work but investigating as well.
Prince Damien's behavior was different and thus their behavior to him was also different. If he was more confident and less visibly affected by the exile, then naturally any observing enemies would be warier and assume he may still have backing or hidden cards to warrant such an attitude. In that case they wouldn't be too vicious, and pull a few of their punches, in fear of retaliation from the Golden Rose Coven.
But once they're sure Damien was truly abandoned… Well, it can be said it's actually pretty impressive that there wasn't more deaths.
The protagonists have changed a lot, both stronger and weaker then before. Their naivety allowed them to fall into certain pits, but it also protected their mentality. And while they seem okay now, like a shark smelling blood, Jia Hyson can sense they're riddled with invisible wounds.
Wounds that can be exploited for his own gain.
Jessica, who had been sobbing tearfully, quickly restrained herself after a few minutes, very embarrassed at her loss of control. "I- I'm sorry, I-"
Jia Hyson sighs, "Don't be. You're still just a young girl, and it is us elders who should be apologising to you for putting you into such a situation. Don't get me wrong, I'm not looking down on you, you have done extremely well, and I'm genuinely impressed. But you should have never had to have experience this sort of pain because of us."
The female protagonist plays with her fingers, unsure what to say, but it was impossible to say she wasn't deeply touched, "Thanks." She mutters shyly.
"If you don't mind me asking," Jia Hyson sips his tea which had gotten a little cold, "How did you manage to find out the truth? After all, it's not easy to both evade the Eclipse vampires and figure things out. Especially uncovering the real history of Middleton High."
In the original plot, Prince Silas told Prince Damien that Middleton High, the school Jessica Fang attended, was important to helping him find the justice he deserved. While he didn't tell the other about the Pearl of Past Truths or that the school was once a school for vampire hunters, it was enough to give a strong direction in the plot.
This time, Prince Silas was far less kind, and the male protagonist didn't think there was any special reason for him being sent there other than to rub salt in his wounds, sending him back to the area he almost died in.
Ordinary high school kids wouldn't know much other than a few distorted rumours that had long been dismissed as children's stories, and it's not like the Eclipse Coven vampires were going to outright say all their plans at the start. Thus the group would really have no idea where to even if start, much less think that their ordinary boring school would be what to investigate into.
Jessica hesitates but, after a moment, pulls out her phone. After pressing a few buttons, she hands it to Jia Hyson, revealing a photo of a note. "Around the middle of the year, I received this email… I don't know who it's from, but I figured the Eclipse vampires wouldn't take such a roundabout effort, so I figured it was worth the risk, given we really didn't have anything else we could do at the time."
Because it was via email, they couldn't use handwriting as a way to identify the sender, and the email was clearly sent through a throwaway account, as the address was just a string of random letters and numbers.
Jia Hyson silently zooms into the text, and the more he reads, the faster his heart beats. Breath subconsciously hitching, he inwardly screams for Bebe in anxiety. 'Bebe, Bebe, this is-?!'
Bebe was also confused and shocked, 'No way, how can this be here? Is it a bug?'
{Damien hugs Jessica, his cool body somehow warming her heart, making it quicken shyly. "Thank you for believing in me." He breathes out, voice soft and relieved.
Jessica blushes and hides her face in her hair. "O-of course." She stutters before cursing herself for sounding like an idiot in front of the most handsome and sexy guy she had ever known.
No, the most handsome and sexy vampire prince she had ever known.
Oh god! Vampires are real! And there's one right before her!
Damien, stepping back, wipes the softness from his face and shows a serious expression, and Jessica couldn't help but feel a bit lost at the sudden lack of contact. "Jessica, I came here because my elder brother told me that Middleton High has what I'm looking for."
"And what is that?" Jessica can't help but ask softly.
The vampire prince shakes his head with a wry smile, "I wish I knew." He chuckles bitterly, "All I know is that it will help reveal the truth of that day and give me justice. As long as I can get whatever it is, I can go back home."
Seeing his sadness, Jessica's heart felt like it was being squeezed tightly, and she knew she would do anything for this man to smile happily again.}
This was an excerpt from Jessica Fang's original story.
Bebe quickly confirmed it was nearly word for word, with a 92% accuracy, making it impossible to be mere coincidence.
But this simply brought more questions than answers.
'Often the World's Consciousness will pull many strings to maintain certain plot points and try to retain as much as the original story as they can.' Bebe mutters, voice tinged with uneasiness, 'But that's incredibly rare if they've requested for a Beta System since the entire premise of that is wanting to change and improve the story unless there were unusual circumstances they wouldn't try to hold onto the plot too much. Even if they did, Bebe has never seen such a blatant and crude method of doing so like this.'
Jia Hyson touches his nose and bites the inside of his cheek, puzzled and frustrated. He knew Bebe was right; the chances it could have been the World's Consciousness was incredibly low unless it was braindead. Given Jessica Fang's story really only had one major flaw aside from being kind of cringey, which would make it a fairly popular story among teenagers and vampire fans, then the World's Consciousness who picked such a story as an anchor for its world would not be so stupid.
But other than himself, no one else should know about the original storyline unless there was a bug like a transmigrator.
But what would a transmigrator benefit from by doing this?
According to logic, if there was indeed a transmigrator, there were usually five general routes- to go along with the plot and follow a story, to align with the protagonist, to overthrow and replace the protagonist, to fight against or even destroy the protagonist faction, and finally to live a salted fish life. Most of the plot divergences that have happened so far can be attributed to himself, and there have been no notable characters to Jia Hyson's knowledge that have drastically altered their behaviours' except…
Jia Hyson suddenly recalls Kylan Laframboise.
He had almost forgotten about him, to be honest. But thinking about it, he was too suspicious. Jia Hyson thinks he's pretty charming, sure, but in his opinion, he wasn't that charming, especially when he wasn't even trying that hard to be.
They spent a few days together, and it's true this is a very love-brained world. Still, Jia Hyson really had a hard time believing that it was enough to change his trajectory to not only willing to join the Vericus family but also enter vampirism, which he should have greatly rejected. He even joined the academy earlier.
Such a large change… if it was explained through transmigration it could make sense?
Jia Hyson felt the logic was not bad but he couldn't help but feel this assumption just wasn't right. It doesn't really explain the message, but if it was the Vericus family's connections, it's not impossible to anonymously contact Jessica Fang… Still, he felt uneasy. He didn't have enough information and he wasn't as confident in this assumption at all.
After all, while their meetings were extremely brief, Jia Hyson felt how scorching the other's gaze had been.
And with Prince Silas as an example…
One thing at a time. There's not much that can be done with Prince Silas, and Kylan can be investigated later. First, he has to deal with Jessica.
"-honestly, if it wasn't for this email, we wouldn't have found that Middleton High was once a school for vampire hunters. With that, we found these hidden tunnels with many secrets and learned about the Pearl of Past Truths." Jessica, unaware of Jia Hyson's wandering thoughts was still talking.
As she concisely explained everything, she rubbed the back of her head nervously and muttered self-deprecatingly, "It's really all thanks to that email. And my friends who helped explore and fight and… I was kind of weak and useless."
"No way." Jia Hyson denies instantly, "If you were useless, how can you stand before me today? How can your friends take the risk to help you if they didn't think you were worth it and thought you dragged them down?"
He gazes deeply into her eyes, and sincerely praises, "You, Jessica Fang, are strong. Not just by human standards, nor by vampire standards. Just objectively. And for helping Prince Damien, on behalf of my coven, I thank you."
"And," Jia Hyson smiles at her gently, "Now I hope you and Damien can at least rely on me, if only a little."
The female protagonist's red-rimmed eyes once again overflowed with tears.
She really likes Damien, maybe more than likes him, but she also likes her friends and her life, and while maybe she had always wanted to be more than herself, she didn't hate her old life either. Sometimes, she wondered if it was really worth it. If it would be easier to run away instead of going to fight bloodthirsty overpowered psychopaths, to stay home instead of unrooting herself and going to this academy of rich arrogant people and even more arrogant vampires who have already shown their disdain for her.
They were fleeting thoughts. But. It's undeniable they were there. And that she sometimes just felt… so tired.
It's true they succeeded in the end, but all they faced was more, and her biggest fear is that there will just continue to be more. That it will just never end. And one day they won't be so lucky, and maybe, maybe…
But hearing Alaric's words, his affirmation of herself, Jessica, who had been keeping herself together, felt something in her heart relax a little.
At the same time, her impression of him skyrocketed, and while the intensity in her eyes was not necessarily one of love, it was definitely respect, appreciation and expectation. Jia Hyson, who had expected this sort of deepened emotional connection and trust to be produced from his words, suddenly felt a bit strange as he looked at her expression. It felt a bit off, to be honest.
His emotional manipulations have been pretty good before coming into this world. He could balance things pretty well, holding multiple people in the palm of his hands with only a bit of problems. However, this teen vampire romance world was so emotional that Jia Hyson felt he was just constantly underestimating the potency and severity of many people's emotional fluctuations.
The outcome of this interaction was to allow the female protagonist to see him as a reliable older brother figure, someone to trust and to platonically love. Those in the protagonist camp will naturally have many of their flaws overlooked or put under a heavy filter of friendship; thus, his cross-dressing will not be an issue, even if it does come up. Not to mention, a good supporting character will have their own little plot buffs depending on the type of story and their closeness to the main characters.
However, if he overdid it and temporarily usurped the weight of Prince Damien in Jessica's heart, creating the trope of the protagonist misunderstanding their feelings of respect with love…
"Jessica?" Jia Hyson softly asked with growing concern as she continued to silently stare at him with a flush starting to grow on her cheeks.
"S-sorry, dad, I-" Jessica widens her eyes and immediately slaps her mouth in mortification.
Jia Hyson: …
Mr Fang, who is still alive somewhere: …