"Ha ha ha ha!" Elijah laughed out loud. She rolled all over her bed laughing heartily. "Ha ha ha ha ha!"
The boy who she first met after coming to this world, the second prince who's to be the future Crown Prince, truly kept his word and personally sent her back to the Duchy. All the attendants cheerfully greeted his highness and carefully tended to Elijah's needs and led her back to her bedroom until the Prince finally bid goodbye.
"Rest well, Melanie." The prince said as soon as I entered my room.
"Yes. Thank you, your highness. Now that I'm feeling better. Let me apologize for my rude behavior and for the lack of respect on my speech from then till now." Elijah replied and bowed in respect. She was so engrossed into her own misfortune that she actually forgot about that important thing. That she needs to speak formally and with utmost respect when it comes to Royals. It was the absolute silence inside the carriage that she just realized she was being disrecpectful in her manner of speaking to this boy all this time. All the description from the book helped her conclude that he's indeed the future Crown Prince. Remembering what this prince will become in the future, she shuddered in fear and looked down, avoiding those cold and indifferent gray eyes that are staring at her intently at the moment.
The boy who's more than a head taller than her frowned after she uttered those words. "You're just 12 years old, Melanie. There is really no need to be so formal with me. It's understandable for a little girl like you."
"Huh? But it is what it should be. I should have been more respectful. Besides, you are a little boy too, your Highness." Elijah reasoned.
"I already turned 16 earlier this year. I am no longer a kid." The boy replied with confidence, utterly dismissing her claim that he's still a boy.
"Right. You're a teenager undergoing Puberty." Elijah mumbled under her breath. 'Technically, we are of the same age 'coz I also just turned 16 a month ago in my real world. Lucky, I can't offend you or else I might die right away and no one will be able to find my body.'
"What?" The prince blurted out, not clearly understanding her words.
"Nothing, your highness." Elijah replied right away, wanting to send this crown prince back to the palace as soon as possible. Being in her right state of mind and remembering how the novel goes, she really started to feel fear in front of this young man despite feeling warm and secure beside him moments ago when he took care of her. Elijah shook her head and sighed softly. She needed to sort out her feelings so as not to make a mistake while living here as Melanie."Nevertheless, I thank your highness for taking care of me and for making sure I am home safe and sound."
"I said no need to be formal. Just speak to me as usual." The crown prince insisted and the young girl in front of him just nodded enthusiastically. "Okay."
"Yes. Bye, your highness. Take care." Elijah said as she tried to give him a forced smile.
"Tch. What a troublemaker." The prince mumbled before turning around and waving his hand stiffly. "See you, little Melanie Von Diovre."
And just like that. The prince left the Duchy and everyone returned to their normal demeanor. Sensing the change of atmosphere, Elijah immediately locked her bedroom door and laid down her bed. Recalling all that had happened today, she began laughing hard. Someone could even say that she was laughing maniacally.
"Geez. Crazy! Crazy! My tummy hurts from too much laughing." Elijah sarcastically blurted out after she started to calm down, wiping out her eyes that became teary due to excessive laughing. "WHAT A CLICHÉ!!!!"
'I really never imagined that I will be played with by the Gods and be magically transported to the world of the novels. And to my own bad luck, I was even transported to one of the most tragic Novels. Why was I transported here? Why must I be transported to this book, Death is the Answer? Why not on other Rom-Com novels instead? Ugh! This is really a headache. What kind of cliché is this? The Gods must be having a lot of fun now. Haay!' Elijah thought with much complaint and closed her eyes to think. 'I need to start planning as to how I will live my life here. As Melanie Von Diovre met a tragic death, I cannot follow her footsteps. I must create my own path in order to survive in this cruel world. Yes, I need to survive until I find a way to go back. In order to do that, I have to summarize everything that I remember about this novel and use it to my advantage. Hah! Just like all the other transmigration novels that I've read, I refuse to be a weak and stupid character! I need to grow stronger. Using the book's plot, I have something to use as my leverage. I will do everything to manipulate the path I will walk on so I can survive! I have to keep living. Only then can I continue to search and find a way to return to the real world.'
Elijah took a deep breath and sighed once more. 'Manipulate? Geez. I sounded like the real villain with that thinking. Heck!'
For Elijah, 'Death is the Answer' is the most underrated novel in the history of all novels. It is a classic written by Bixie Finnery, a not so famous author in the 21st century. So far, he has already published 5 novels but this particular novel has the best plot. This novel setting mainly revolves in the Kingdom of Arthemia. It is one of the most magical and richest Kingdom in this world. The story is mainly about how Kingdom of Arthemia has fallen from grace and how everything and everyone was eventually led to destruction. It all started when the Royal Family, the Artus Clan, began sending spies all over other nations with the intention of expanding their territory and gaining more power. Yes. The destruction of the Kingdom is all because of GREED. The Royal Family became overly confident of their military prowess, their vast knowledge, the political influence, their abundant resources, their magical abilities and the loyalty of their subjects. After years of secretly sending countless of spies to neighboring countries, nations and kingdoms, they started wars and became conquerors. The person in the front line of these battles is none other than this Kingdom's Crown Prince, 2nd Prince Joaqin Allen Declan Artus. He will soon be known as the Cold-blooded Tyrant who will carry out the Emperor's order to wipe out everyone who opposes the Kingdom of Arthemia's tyranny. And who will be his greatest support at that time, it will be his Princess Consort, Lady Melanie Von Diovre. She will soon be known as the Iron Lady of Arthemia. In the novel, Melanie and Joaqin never truly loved each other even if they were married for a very long time. Though their relationship lack love, both have the same goals and both didn't mind the ways they needed to do and sacrifice just to attain those goals. Initially, Melanie only wanted to be the most beautiful and most powerful woman in the Kingdom of Arthemia. She believed it is the only way for her to prove that her life was worth living. It was also to prove everyone wrong and that she wasn't a trash that people can easily trample on. And so, marrying the Crown Prince was truly her luck as she can immediately attain what she wanted as soon as they both inherit the crown and she becomes the kingdom's Empress. However, things changed after the Crown Prince started winning wars, conquering nations and countries. Her aspirations also grew bigger and her views expanded outside Arthemia. The power she started to accummulate motivated her greed for more. Thus, she eventually colluded with the Emperor and used her vast political knowledge and tactics to incite more wars within other kingdoms and nations. She manipulated everyone like chess pieces and played them according to her liking. According to Elijah's evaluation, the Villainess Melanie Von Diovre should be considered the most intelligent villain to ever exist in the history of novels. The way she planned her moves were all precise and rightfully timed. With that, her husband who's the soon-to-be Emperor, conquered kingdoms upon kingdoms, nations upon nations, and countries upon countries, without much difficulties. She will not hesitate to use anyone just to make her plans and manipulations work. If one can summize, Lady Melanie Von Diovre is the brains that was used by the Royal Family to expand their power. However, in the end, she was led into sacrificing her only child in order to gain victory against the Kingdom of Suther (an equally magical and rich kingdom which can fight on par with Arthemia). This incident changed the course of everything as the Crown Prince truly treasured their child and the cold tyrant was heartbroken upon the news of his only son's death. He then learned how the Royal Family led Melanie into such a cruel decision and decided to annihilate his family. Then he decided to stepback and sent a letter of surrender to Prince Theo (the novel's main hero, the Crown Prince of Suther) instructing him as to how he could totally destroy Arthemia. After sending out the letter, Prince Joaqin returned to the Rose Palace where he saw his wife, Princess Consort Melanie, looking like a soul less being in front of their son's coffin. It was too late then for them to realize what was important and what was not. The cloth that blinded them have covered their eyes for too long. He then gave his lifeless son one last hug. Feeling his cold corpse, his indifferent and cold gray eyes finally shook with an emotion. It was regret. Laying his son back down peacefully, Prince Joaqin drew his sword and beheaded his soul less wife without hesitation. With that, the Princess Consort Melanie Von Diovre met her tragic death. The prince's gray eyes grew colder upon seeing his wife's blood cover his sword. Looking up, he whispered the words 'Death is the Answer' before aiming his own sword that took millions of lives towards his own heart, his heart finally at peace as he took his last breath. In the novel's epilogue, Prince Theo was surprise to receive the letter of surrender from his number one enemy. He was skeptical at first however, upon hearing the news of the royal family's demise, he then concluded that the letter's content was truly the only way for everyone to survive. According to the letter, all the Kingdom of Arthemia's people were cursed by the kingdom's most powerful mages. The citizens are not aware of this truth as it was secretly done by the order of the Emperor. This curse is known as the curse of the living dead. The Emperor used the lives of his people as a guarantee that no one will ever survive if the Royal Family of Arthemia is annihilated. This was the secret that Prince Theo has been looking for a very long time. If all the members of Artus family is annihilated, then the curse of the living dead will finally activate. Once it does, the people of the Empire of Arthemia will all drop dead and will rise again as the living dead in order to spread the curse to other kingdoms and nations and countries. If this happens, then nobody is guaranteed to survive. And so Prince Joaqin instructed in the letter that they must make sure to corner every citizen of the empire and secure a bountiful supply of the Holy Fire from the Holy Mountain. He said that there is but one royal family member who is bound in the basement of the Main Palace. This will ensure that the curse will not activate yet. However, he must sacrifice the citizens lives and burn everyone and everything in Arthemia using the Holy Fire. Only then can the survival of the humankind be guaranteed. Prince Theo informed the council of Kings and Elders and leaders of nations and countries about this secret and they all voted to continue with the sacrifice. Thus, the novel ended with everyone and everything in Arthemia being consumed by the Holy Fire. And the last sentence by the novel's main hero, Prince Theo, was "truly...you are right, Joaqin. Death is the Answer."
Elijah took a deep breath upon remembering the events according to the novel's plot. She couldn't think how she would start planning. Remembering how many lives were lost, her heart pained thinking about those lives.
'What will I do?' She thought anxiously. 'Damn it! I really can't believe I am in this world now. How can I live as Melanie Von Diovre? Darn!'
***