It took Clementine a long time to walk until she finally managed to reach a small outpost with a working carriage service. This little town was too underdeveloped to have many modern inventions like the automaton horse-drawn carriages or telegrams so Clementine was unable to get into contact with the professor right away. She wanted to leave immediately and return to her dorm room but unfortunately for her, the trek took so long that the sun was nearly set and the carriage service would not take her until sunrise. So Clementine begrudgingly took out a few coins from her pouch which had miraculously survived everything that she had been through this day, and took out a few coins to pay for a night stay at a quaint inn nearby.
As she was preparing to turn in for the night she began to go over the many disasters and unfortunate circumstances that landed her in the position she was in. She hadn't taken a lot of time to dwell on her transmigration into this novel all that much but now that she had taken the time she was slightly exasperated and sad about the end of her previous life. She just wanted to live a smooth simple life where she could create new inventions whenever she wanted and to be surrounded by people she loved and cared about. Now she was stuck in an unfamiliar place where she no longer had any knowledge about future events, left to fend for herself, surrounded by perfect strangers or worse the NPCs of this story, there wasn't a real person that she could connect to here.
I have so many regrets!! I wish my life didn't end up like this! Why me?
The anger and frustration made it difficult for Clementine to sleep as the feelings bubbled and boiled over in her. She wanted to cry, she wanted to scream, she wanted to give up, she just wanted it all to stop. But she only comes to terms with her new reality, if she wanted to live relatively unscathed from now on she would have to avoid the main protagonist like a plague. With this resolve, Clementine bottled up her emotion and attempted to find a comfortable position, or as comfortable a position as one could manage on a bed that felt as tough as rocks. Eventually, after much struggle, she drifted off into a deep slumber.
As she slept strange visions and images flashed through her mind, many passing by too quickly to recognize nor analyze, all of them easily being forgotten and washed away with the next vision. That was the case until the frantic vision slideshow stopped on a particular vision.
In this vision, she saw her best friend and her old professor of her previous life holding a funeral for her. Stephanie was an inconsolable mess, mascara running down her face as she practically cradled her casket. Dr. Elara was much more stoic than Stephanie was, a cold frown plastered on their face as their nails pierced into their palm drawing blood. Clementine was sad as she watched the various people she cared about talking about her, crying over her, and grieving her loss. She wished she didn't have to see this but she couldn't tear her eyes away from them, she was trying to remember their every facial feature unsure if she would ever dream of them again. This moment was rudely interrupted by the arrival of Clementine's ex-boyfriend and Liliana's hand-in-hand, that's when Clementine noticed that Liliana was sporting a fancy and glitzy engagement ring.
This soured Clementine's mood immediately, she wished she could slap that cheating couple and then rudely throw them out but alas this vision wasn't real and she wasn't real either. Liliana immediately made a huge deal as she quite expertly acted out intense sadness and grief over Clementine's death, she would have made a far better actress than an inventor. Liliana's loud sobbing woke Stephanie out of her stupor as she looked up from the casket and glared at Liliana.
"You vile skank what do you think you doing here? Get out immediately!" Stephanie screamed as she rushed up the couple in a huff.
Clementine's ex-boyfriend immediately moved in front of Liliana to protect her as he scowled at Stephanie. "This is a funeral is it not we came to mourn Clem's loss." He huffed angrily.
"How dare you even say that you two-timing prick!"
"You shouldn't act so vulgarly at a funeral You disrespecting the dead and besides Clementine was my friend too, I just wanted to say my last goodbye," Liliana spoke meekly.
"Don't you speak to me about disrespecting the dead! You're the one who slept with her boyfriend and stole her invention. So why don't you quit it with your white lotus performance and leave before I throw the both of you out." Stephanie exploded as she glowered at the couple with deep malice.
"You shouldn't accuse me of something untrue just because you're jealous. Nobody here cared for Clementine more than me, we were practically sisters, I would never do anything to harm her!" Liliana whimpered pitifully in Clementine's ex-boyfriend's arms.
Hearing that Clementine wished she could tear that bitch a new one but she couldn't interact with the vision so she was stuck listening to this horrid drivel. That's when Stephanie easily judo-flipped her ex-boyfriend, knocking him flat on his ass and powerfully slapping Liliana's face. Clementine cheered for Stephanie and she was quite eager to watch more of the violence unfold but she was cruelly ripped away from this vision and to another.
The next vision in question was one she didn't recognize or understand. She saw what looked like her but not her, like Clementine described in the original novel except here she was extremely injured. This Clementine was missing an eye, her right arm was fractured in a truly grotesque and unpleasant way, and she walked awkwardly with a limp. She was talking to a figure obscured in darkness, Clementine couldn't hear what the original Clementine was saying but she could tell it was being spoken with deep malice and anger. The vision shifted once more and the original Clementine was wearing a large cloak as she moved alongside a large group of people who were similarly wearing dark heavy cloaks.
Clementine could tell that the original Clementine in this vision was deeply insecure and self-loathing. She could hear all kinds of whispers and dirty rumors being spread about her originating from the cloaked group she was working in. Clementine felt slight pity for the original Clementine in the vision but she pondered why she was witnessing this vision as the original Clementine was supposed to perish after the cave-in. She didn't have long to ponder the reasoning as the vision grew incredibly dark as the original Clementine grew tunnel vision as she looked at Adelaide. Clementine could tell that the original Clementine held a lot of malice towards the female protagonist.
That was when she heard a voice filled with deep malice and hatred, a voice colder than the dead. "I'll never forgive you, I'll never forgive you! I'll never...forgive you, I'll...never forgive...you."
It repeated those haunting words until Clementine woke up in a jolt, her body drenched in sweat. She shivered, that malice was so deep it was as if there was no bottom, she wasn't even sure if it was directed at Adelaide or her.