Honestly, I expected a system that would help me get through this mess. But it turned out to be a cumbersome ability like being able to talk to animals.
If I could find that author or that damned deity…
I sighed.
'If it's too complicated, take one thing at a time,' My father's advised rang in my head.
What was my biggest problem?
The ground was cold and rough. My ankles and wrists were chained. I leaned against the wall. Emperor's cloak was still covering me, barely keeping me warm. I wondered why these mountain terrains were this cold. Then again, I wasn't a travel junkie before I transmigrated here.
My attention kept going back to the emperor's cloak on my body. His scent was warm, light with a tinge of masculine sweetness. The analogy felt wrong. How could the emperor be sweet? Anyway, he wouldn't kill Aloisia, the woman who was a daughter of a Duke from the North Kingdom. The relationship between the North Kingdom and the Sephyr Empire wasn't bad yet. It would go downhill after this moment.
Somehow, Aloisia avoided meeting the emperor. Did it mean that her original goal wasn't the emperor?
Then, where was she going?
I glanced at the black opal ring on my finger. It must be some identity thing. I realized how crappy the story was. How could someone write one-thousand chapters without mentioning that rings could be used as identification tokens?
And how many times have this story was rewritten by transmigrators like me?
The deity was the original author. The transmigrators were the rewriters.
But that damned author didn't have to choose me.
"Hmm." I glared at the black chains. "I am not going to choose another one. I will give them all a happy ending."
Since Aloisia didn't meet the emperor, I could still prevent the war. Kaige and Viessa should get married soon. If Dante didn't become the emperor, it should be fine. I don't have to do much about Kaige and Viessa. They could find their happy ending on their own. The problem was Aloisia and Dante. Both of them were highly screwed up in their heads.
"You are doing better than I thought."
Dante's chilling voice sent a chill in my spine. He was standing right before me, appearing magnificent and sexy in every possible way. Did I mention that his deep voice had butterflies dancing in my stomach? But the man had killed me twice. That gave him huge negative points.
I had to act like Aloisia. So, I smiled at him. "Prince Dante, did you fall in love with me at first sight?"
That was a stupid question. I didn't know how Aloisia would act. In the book, she was always flirting with Imnek Kaige Jin.
If he was offended, he didn't show it on his face. Then again, he was pretty much an expressionless man. Dante knelt down on his one knee. Suddenly, he grasped the hem of my skirt and raised it slightly.
I lifted my foot to give him a kick on his face. My ankle was caught as he let go of the hem of my skirt.
"If I had fallen for you, you wouldn't be chained like a slave," He told me dryly.
I tried to launch another kick but he was quicker. Dante grabbed my left foot, holding them tightly against his chest. He took a glance at my feet that weren't anything pretty. "Do these belong to a duke's daughter?"
Perhaps, someone else in my position would feel awkward and ticklish because of the way he was holding my feet. But good looks could not make up for good personalities. I didn't try to kick him again. His hands were warm. I liked the temporary warmth that was seeping into my cold feet that were full of cuts and bruises.
I wouldn't mind if he cleaned them and put some medicines. But I was hoping too much.
He eyed me darkly as if he could guess what was going inside my head. "Did you run on your feet all the way here?"
"Yes," I replied with a deep frown on my face. Why was he being nice to Aloisia?
Dante placed my feet on his thigh. "You were Imnek Kaige Jin's fiancee."
What was he getting at? Was he asking me for confirmation?
He threw the next question at me. "Why did you start dwelling in black arts?"
I had no answer to that. I didn't even know that crazy ex-fiancee was a black sorceress. He probably had ideas about why Aloisia would dwell in black arts. His next questions were different.
"Did you kill your family and try to raise them as undead?" His voice turned icy. "Aloisia Annaliese Bloodworth, answer me honestly."
I swallowed my saliva. Magic was not rare in this world. Viessa could build magic, but she couldn't use it freely. Her magic was a physical type. She could bring inanimate objects to life. During the war, Viessa created a golem army.
But the principle of the magic in this world was the same as the law of the conversation of energy. Basically, energy could be converted from one form to another.
In her case, it was her life energy. She died of exhaustion because she used too much magic.
Viessa had a natural ability for magic. My ability to talk to animals could be considered the same. But there were people who didn't have the ability but they would still seek magic. Black arts gave hope to those people. But black magic went against the will of nature. There was a huge price to be paid.
Aloisia could have done it. I gave him an awkward smile. Aloisia's obsession with Kaige wasn't normal. She was a villainess. Redemption wouldn't be easy for her. "Does your royal highness want to kill me now?"
"No." The chill in his voice was gone. "You raised your father as an undead. So, it's fine."
Huh? I gaped at him. What did he just say?
"Too bad that he was thrown into the well of abysmal fire," He mumbled softly. "But you are my slave now."
"..." I opened my mouth wide, but no words came out. I had a feeling that I was alive because he thought that I could help him with black magic. The way he was talking gave me goosebumps.
"Kaige already knows that you are with me." He took out a key from his red jacket's side pocket and unlocked the cuffs around my ankles and wrists. "He will demand your return. If you want to live, you must do everything that I say."
I stayed quiet. I needed to hear what he wanted.
"You have to raise a few undeads for me." I bit my lip when he started poking the bruise on my feet. "In return, I will help you seek your revenge."
Damn! He had plans for the North Kingdom even before he met Aloisia. I couldn't hold myself back anymore. "Your royal highness, you can fuck off!"