Chereads / Alongside the Villain / Chapter 3 - Connecting the dots

Chapter 3 - Connecting the dots

I began to panic.

W-Wait, this is ridiculous– Am I hallucinating?

Did I go into a coma and enter this fictional world?

That must be it! The novel was the last thing that I read before I was shot by the robber, that must be the reason why I ended up here.

I touched my face– it was thin and smooth– then my chest, my arms, legs then I finally turned to the man by the bed I was sitting on.

'Remember anything?' he asked.

'Who am I again?' I questioned.

'You're the magician. Luna,' he patiently replied.

Luna… Luna… Luna…

I don't think she was mentioned anywhere– Oh my God, Luna!

Wasn't she the magician that was beheaded by the villain because she lost her magic ability?

She was only mentioned ONCE in the novel, just briefly. When the author introduced the villain, Lucilius, it began with him beheading the magician because she had become useless to him and his cause. It was perhaps to show that Lucilius does not tolerate people who are worthless, and he did not have any second thoughts to eliminate them.

Okay, good, I remember that part.

But what was it again that got her killed?

I dug deep in my memories. In times of crisis, I thanked my brain for being a little bit more useful than usual.

Strangely, I could remember the exact dialogues.

"It was reported to me that after the bandits' attack, you have lost your magic mana. Do you admit it?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Then, I see no use in you."

She lost her magic after being attacked by a group of bandits and this man in front of me just told me that…

'Did you just say I was attacked by bandits?' I questioned him nervously.

He nodded once.

Well, shit.

I'm about to die again.

'Did…' I trailed off, hesitant. 'Did I lose my magic?'

At that, his eyes widened in surprise. 'Y-You realized?' he stuttered in a whisper.

'No, I…'

He looked solemn as he retorted, 'It disappeared for a short moment. But it came back,' then with hopeful eyes, he grasped both of my hands. 'Your magic is back, right?'

'Uh…' I looked away. Sorry, I don't even know how to check.

'Do it.'

'Do what?'

'Display your magic. This way, the Emperor wouldn't…' he didn't continue.

Wouldn't behead me, yes I know, young man.

Okay, so now how do I show him I can do magic?

'Um, how do I do it though?' I asked.

'You don't know?' he blinked and I shook my head in response. He retracted his hands from mine.

As if on cue, a knock came on the door. We both turned our heads.

'The Emperor has requested for the magician!' said a loud voice from outside of the room.

Elias turned to me with a worried look. Slowly, I lay back to the bed and pulled the blanket over my face.

'The magician is on her annual leave, she wishes to not be disturbed!' I yelled back, voice slightly muffled from the fabric covering my face.

Ugh, time to die, huh.

***

"Until The End of Time" was a web novel I picked up on a random night, wanting to get rid of my boredom. It didn't have any reviews and was ranked the lowest in the Most Read section of the website. I thought, "what could be so bad about this that nobody's reading?" and I immediately began on it. Surprisingly, the story was easy to understand, and its flow of plot was very good. In fact, better than some of the popular ones.

So I continued reading. The novel was about a love story between a crown prince and a noble lady. Leonhardt de Crest was a crown prince from Alshain, a country located in the middle of four surrounding ones: Vega (North), Carinae (East), Achernar (South) and Sirius (West). He was admirable and extremely skilled in swordsmanship.

The heroine, Sophie Lancaster was a noble lady from Alshain. Leonhardt and Sophie met during a party hosted by the palace. She was constantly pestered by a prince from Achernar, the Southern country and was rescued by Leonhardt. She was flustered and embarrassed at the sudden intervention and thanked him hurriedly before running away.

Leonhardt was bored with the party so he decided to run after her. He was basically flirting but Sophie was refusing. They separated after that day and 2 months later, met again in the palace, as she had something to take care of. From then on, their relationship began to bloom and they went through numerous hardships together and it made them grow closer.

Around 50 chapters after that, the villain of the story appeared. Lucilius Yves Theodore, an emperor of the Western country, Sirius, was a powerful ruler and came to Alshain with an invasion in mind. So, a war broke out and everything was chaotic.

Lucilius had magicians by his side so he had the upper hand in it. When he found out Sophie was a precious person for Leonhardt, he kidnapped her. Leonhardt was furious and fought through sheer determination. Sirius lost the war and Lucilius was hanged in the public square of Alshain. Alshain had 20000 casualties and Sophie had injuries but she recovered a week after that. Leonhardt and Sophie got married and they lived happily ever after.

I was satisfied with the ending. The hero and heroine got together, the villain was defeated and everything went well.

But why… Did I reincarnate as a magician? I could've become someone more prominent– like Sophie, perhaps? And be saved by a prince? Isn't that a better setting?

Why am I a magician that has lost her power and is about to be beheaded? Why am I such an unimportant character????

Why????

Come to think of it, if this is merely a hallucination as I go into a coma, does that mean it doesn't matter if I die? I'd just wake up, right? There's no such thing as truly dying, right? As long as the doctor tries to save me…