"Is that bad. . . . ?"
"Miss. . . . ."
Anna, who was never agitated, called me in a trembling voice, and after a long time, she barely continued.
"Why didn't you say anything until this happened?"
Everyone can think of it as frustrating. I would have been like that, too. If it weren't for the bullshit restrictions that prevent me from saying anything about how I'm treated at Riegelhoff family, I wouldn't have been able to bear it and told someone. But for those who don't know it and can't understand it, a plausible excuse will be needed.
"How can I say that?"
I turn around and see Anna's brow furrowed. I've never seen Anna's expression change so dramatically. And with those words, Anna understood everything and didn't ask any more questions. An example of a savvy maid.
"I went overboard. let me apply some medicine on you."
I flopped down on the bed and let myself be held by Anna's hand.
'It's good that i got rid of Sophia, but. . . . . i'm afraid of what kind of aftermath this will bring?'
There are a few more episodes left for Sophia to commit, and I was afraid how that part would be transformed and attacked me. But one fact has been scratching my insides satisfactorily since earlier.
'Killian kicked Sophia for me. I know I can't do it myself.'
Killian must have felt my distress in the Riegelhoff family. I was beaten by the maid, and instead of worrying about the safety of his own daughter, Count Riegelhoff even sent a carriage to bring Sophia back without the slightest injury and punishment. . . . . . this made my head spin. It was hard not to notice it. Even Anna didn't seem to notice that. but Killian, instead of throwing me out, who had no value as a hostage, he threw Sophia out for me.
'This is the part where i can have hope, right?'
Of course, I hardly thought Killian would kick me out. I'm closer to the main character than Sophia, and my narrative is more important than Sophia's. There was a belief that the big flow of the story would not rule me out already, as there were many things left for me to do. Even so, it was a great comfort to me that Killian did not ignore my situation and took action.
"This is when you have to be alert at times like this. You see it in movies and TV shows when people get loose and mess things up.'
I don't know how much sympathy Killian has for me, but I do know that he sees me as a woman who will use her body to cover him when she is in a disadvantageous situation.
'So from now on, i should never be squishy and keep a neat distance from Killian. If you do that, he will know someday. That I'm not that kind of woman.'
Then his hatred for me would diminish, and now that he knew about my situation, Riegelhoff might just look at me when he cuts people's throats.
'That great! Let's cheer up!'
If I squirm a little from the giggles, and he might think I was crying, he will put his hand over mine and give me a big hug. Well, this isn't bad either.
***
The original author. She called himself K. It was because she forgot what her original name was, but K did not forget the fact. It was this world that mattered to K. The perfect world of Lizzy Sinclair, created by herself. K loved the main character, Lizzy Sinclair, who K created. Lizzy was the perfect protagonist with all of K's wishes, to the extent that it made itself questionable how she created such a lovely being.
Therefore, when I was possessed into this world after my death, I thought I was blessed by God. How happy it is to be able to live together in a world where the characters you create live and breathe! Lizzy, who i love so much, was really beautiful, and the male lead characters for her looked very fantasy. It was heartbreaking to watch their lives and love in front of their eyes. But at the time of his fifth life, K thought for the first time that it might be a curse, not a blessing. At the beginning of the original story, when the original story opens, and at the end of the original story, everything becomes blurry and repeats itself back to the starting point. . . . K was in a hell of an infinite loop. However, K, who loved the story she created and Lizzy character so much, denied that fact.
'The world I created can't be a hell. If so. . . . That right! Let's change the story!'
The story needed to change to survive the constant repetition of life, but that didn't diminish my desire to make Lizzy stand out. So the solution was simple.
'Do I need a more lively villain?'
So K spread this story to another dimension of the universe. Among the people who read the story, K would choose the people she thought would be interesting to be possessed by the character of Edith Riegelhoff. And hoping for interesting results.
"As expected, wasn't I wrong?"
The possessed, who had read the original and quickly accepted that they were possessed by a romantic fantasy novel. Exhibited some interesting behavior. At first, she thinks it's an evil possession and is delighted. Then, unlike the original Edith, she tries to be a good woman. However, if the flow of the original remains unchanged and the comparisons to Lizzy continue, she's become a fresh villain that can't be compared to the original version. Thanks to this, K was able to forget the repeated boredom of life, and Lizzy was able to become a more prominent protagonist every time. Making Lizzy look the most attractive. That was K's joy. But K didn't feel unfair. This is because she possessed a person who already died anyway, and Edith has already set up a device that can go against the flow of the original.
'That's what the 'three-stage exception condition' is, and each time K's exception condition is met, K's dominance weakens, and Edith's favorable exception situation is generated.'
However, whenever there was a situation contrary to the exception conditions, the flow of the original became stronger. Of course, it was not easy to meet the exception conditions because it was an advantageous game for K. However, there were nine Edith who successfully met the first level of exception condition. Well, that was fine. Maybe that made the story more interesting. But K, who had treated all the Edith like ants, was feeling a bit nervous about the 13th Edith who was possessed this time.
'This one is different.'
In a word, it was an Edith with a character that was difficult to define. I thought I would give up quickly, but there was a strange persistence. Most of the Edith were embarrassed and began to collapse when they were accused of leaking documents. In particular, this time, in order to make Edith a definite culprit, a new setting was given, "We do not use a tables on the form," so other characters thought that Edith would be the culprit even more violently. However, Edith was not taken aback. After examining the evidence that made him the culprit, she brought the documents and diary she had written and compared them to the forged letters, claiming her innocence. Her reasonable argument convinced the people around her, and the episode where Edith should have been filmed as a spy ended in vain. So I'm persistent, and then suddenly, as if I've given up on everything, she went into Killian's room in the middle of the night and did something like the original Edith did.
'I didn't expect she could meet the step 1 exception that way.'
Even the part that met the first stage exception condition, 'follow the method that the original Edith failed', was different from other Edith. When other Edith met the first stage, the part they followed the original was to cling toward Killian or follow the orders of the Rigelhoffs. It's for trying to protect they own life. But the 13th Edith just kissed Killian and tried to turn around. The act of kissing was part of the original Edith's failed plan, so she barely passed the first stage, but in fact, her true intentions were far from the original Edith. Anyway, when the first stage exception conditions were met, the person who faced Edith's actions at that time, namely Killian, began to change. To quantify it, her dominance over Killian went down from 100% to 70%. So far, even if Edith met the first stage and lost control of Killian, there was no particular definition. This is because Killian had never caused Edith an emotional change for Edith. But this time, Killian started looking back at Edith. When I found out that Killian had spent the night with Edith, I was surprised, even though it was a character she created, but so unfamiliar.
'Even though Killian is a character with an impulsive side, but. . . . .'
I've never seen a character move on they own, leaving the original author's hand. That was all because of the probability that Edith had created, and that was the biggest reason why K was nervous about Edith the 13th. In addition, there was another thing that made this Edith difference.
'I don't know if she is aware of it, but she is taking in the extras that I can't control.'
Although K created this world, she was not the perfect god of this world. The biggest force leading the world was the flow of the original, followed by probability, and K was only the original author trapped in the original. However, K was able to control the minor settings of the story and dominate the characters. The more K cared about the character, the stronger K's dominance was. So, a lot of extras that haven't been named were not subject to K's control. That's why K is able to possess different people with different Edith.