Leonaut walked down the stairs leading to the dungeon, carrying Cecil in his arms and he had even draped her arm around his neck. 

There were sounds of people whimpering and groaning in the dark, but once they heard the footsteps approaching them, they immediately went quiet.

"Boss, you wanna put the woman in a cell?"

"Yeah."

Leonaut walked past, locating an empty cell, not too far away. He pushed open the door, wanting to place Cecil down on his bed until he saw the blood stains everywhere on the bed and the floor.

Leonaut grimaced, not feeling comfortable at placing Cecil in this cell.

He continued on to the next cell.

Smells bad.

Leonaut shook his head, moving on to another cell.

The bed is in bad shape.

Leonaut moved on yet again, finding another cell that he didn't agree with.

Too dark.

Eventually, he could feel the strain on his arms from carrying Cecil around. He sighed in frustration, adjusting Cecil in his arms.

"Why am I trying so hard to find a good jail cell for you?" Leonaut glanced down at Cecil. "Why should I feel uncomfortable?"

Leonaut found one more empty cell, realising it was the cell opposite to the new victim that they brought in front the entrance.

Finally, this cell met all his requirements and he felt satisfied. He walked to the bed, wanting to throw Cecil down but his chest itched uncomfortably.

He sighed again, slowly placing Cecil down on the bed. He withdrew, massaging his arms with a grimace. He narrowed his eyes at the raven-haired woman on the bed, snarling at her.

"Why are you making me do unnecessary--"

The lanterns bathed Cecil in a soft light, highlighting her beautiful features, and she was still wearing the pretty lacy dress. Even though they were in a dark dungeon, and in a jail cell, it did nothing to smear her beauty.

In fact, it only emphasized on it.

Leonaut found himself in a trance.

Damn it.

She's so pretty.

A stray strand of hair fell onto her forehead, and Leonaut's hand twitched. His hand moved automatically and he leaned down, tempted to sweep the hair away from her unblemished face.

Once his hand was an inch away from her face, Leonaut snapped out of his daze, recoiling back in disbelief.

He glanced at his hand, and down to Cecil, blinking rapidly. He proceeded to exit the cell hastily, turning to the cell opposite him.

The entire time, in the cell opposite to them, the newcomer had been observing the whole exchange.

"You, new guy with the blue hair," Leonaut narrowed his eyes. "What's your purpose here?"

"I'm a friend of Xue," the newcomer stated nonchalantly. "You know the rest."

Leonaut smirked, proud at knowing he foiled Xue's "rescue plans". He walked away without another word.

"Definitely destined for one another," the newcomer muttered in amusement, glancing back to Cecil. "I pity you, Xue. All your competitors will only be you."

***

Xue trekked through the woods, still following Kai’s instructions quietly and he eventually stumbled upon a strange sight. 

Kai: “What...what are those?” 

There were symbols hovering in the air in front of Xue, its colours a smoky black and they seemed to be made out of vapour, but despite the wind blowing all around them, the symbols never once disappeared. All of them lined up neatly, forming a sentence.

Zasiok: “Wait, the symbols look similar to the inscriptions on your palm, when you receive your element.” 

Alric: “Yeah, but...but I still don’t understand any of it.” 

Zasiok and Kai nodded in agreement with Alric.

Xue recognised the symbols instantly, they were letters used by those in the heavenly realm and the demon realm. Being a descendant of the Supreme God, Xue naturally knew what the letters meant. 

“Xue, are you desperate to find them? You may follow.”

Xue lifted his spear and proceeded to swipe the symbols away, continuing on without saying another word. 

Kai: “To the left.” 

Making his way to the left, Xue walked a few steps and he was greeted by the letters again. Xue didn’t have to guess that it was Veau who wrote it. 

“Following me can’t be that hard, right?” 

Xue exhaled sharply, swiping the letters away again, picking up the pace. 

***

Kai: “Again?” 

“...” 

Xue narrowed his eyes at the letters.

“I know you are swiping all the letters away like flies--” 

Xue swiped them, yet again. The irritation was evident in his grey eyes. 

***

Kai: “...again…” 

Zasiok: “Seems like they are trying to lead the way.” 

Xue pinched at the space between his eyebrows, annoyed beyond words. 

“Don’t you want to--” 

Swipe.

The three souls in Xue’s mind were confused, they were able to clearly feel Xue’s frustration that was close to reaching a boiling point. 

Xue moved on, his pace even faster now and once again...he stumbled upon the letters. 

Xue swiped them away without even glancing at them this time.

Kai: “Xue, I give up. You can just follow these letters, they are clearly leading--”

Xue: “No.” 

Kai scratched his head, bewildered. 

The entire journey to the caverns were filled with the same letters, and at one point, Xue felt himself bursting with frustration, swiping at the letters multiple times even after they disappeared. After which, he gave him swiping the letters away, disregarding them completely. 

***

Cecil blinked awake, finding herself laying on a bed and she glanced around, noticing that she was in a jail cell. She groaned, sitting up and looked around even more, finding someone sitting in the dark at the cell opposite hers. 

She squinted her eyes, walking closer to the metal bars and observing the person, her shoes shuffling noisily on the ground. 

The person started to move at the same time, standing up. 

“You are finally awake,” he said in a familiar, languid voice. “I was on the verge of forcing you to wake up.” 

Cecil recognised the voice, stumbling back and hitting the bed, causing her to sit back down on it. 

The next second, the person disappeared from the jail cell, appearing inside her jail cell via a portal. Cecil gasped, the person revealing himself as he stood and leaned against the walls of the cell, crossing his arms as he smiled lazily.

“Hello, Cecil.” Veau greeted, his ebony eyes sparkling with interest. “This time, I don’t feel like providing any heads for you.” 

“I-I don’t need any help.” Cecil furrowed her eyebrows, her hands becoming clammy as she held on tightly to the bedsheets. “Why are you here, Veau?” 

“I can view anyone’s memories as I please,” Veau glanced down, picking at his nails. “Though, I’m sure you already knew that since you know who I am.” 

“Why are you telling me this?” 

“I viewed the memories of both Xue and his other soul fragments. I saw everything and everyone, and one very important person.” 

“Important person? You mean Hana?” 

“Not Hana,” Veau glanced up at Cecil, still picking his nails, his expression relaxed. “It’s you.” 

Cecil was taken aback by the response. “Wh-what?” 

“You said, you are a seer, and you see visions of the future and Xue’s other soul fragments,” Veau started walking towards Cecil, his smile becoming wider. “Now that’s something surprising, because I have lived for a very, very long time, Cecil.” 

Cecil swallowed nervously, shuffling back on her bed.

“I have lived longer than Xue ever did, I could even say, I am the only being in this world that has lived this long,” Veau started to explain, narrowing his eyes at Cecil. “And I can guarantee, seers do not exist in this world, in fact, no human should even know the word “seer” in their lifetime.” 

“...why?” 

“It’s a myth that exists in the heavenly realm and demon realm, created by the silly folks that love to stroke their beards and share useless bedtime stories.”

Veau stopped in front of her bed and Cecil had already retreated to the wall, hugging her legs to herself. She stared at Veau, her eyes reflecting the fear she held in them. 

“So, Cecil Lan, you are definitely no seer but you know what Xue really is, along with the soul fragments and me,” Veau questioned, the smile remaining on his face. “Who exactly are you?” 

Cecil felt a shiver running down her spine. 

[ Warning! Veau, the big bad villain, has found a crucial piece of evidence that you are not of this world. 
You are not allowed to reveal your true identity, or the true source of this world! ]

“He is already onto me! AI500, what are you expecting me to do now?!” 

[ You started this mess, Cecil Lan.
It is your own problem to fix. ]

Cecil couldn't refute that, it was truly her own problem.

“Yes, it's my fault. So, what...what happens if I reveal everything?” 

[ The entire world will collapse.
The characters can never know they are just existing in a novel. ] 

“...” 

[ You are on your own, good luck~ ]

“Wait! AI500, wait!” 

Veau chuckled, taking a few steps back. “You don’t need to look so scared, I won’t kill you.” 

Cecil bit on her lower lip, giving Veau a dubious look. 

“You are so interesting, why would I kill you?” Veau grinned. “Your life force resembles Xue, and you are changing both Hana and Xue in ways that I would have never imagined.” 

“Ch-changing?” 

“It’s a pity to kill you, or to have you die,” Veau stated, almost sounding sad at the thought of Cecil dying. “I just want to know what you are.” 

“...” 

“Or I can just ask your memory.” 

“Wa-wait!” Cecil exclaimed, seeing that Veau was serious about viewing her memory with his outstretched hand.

If I let him see my memories, this entire world is done for! 

No way am I going to allow that to happen! 

“I’ll tell you, I’ll tell you so don’t view my memory!” Cecil pleaded. 

“Alright, go ahead then,” Veau smiled languidly, gesturing for Cecil to continue. “Enlighten me.” 

Cecil hesitated, calling out to the system in her head.

“AI500, AI500! Can I at least...let him know I am from another world?” 

[ You can let him know.
I will proceed to provide any message given by the “Transmigration World System”, if there is one. ]

“...” 

“...so you are asking me to be a sitting duck either way.” 

[ Of course~ ]

If Cecil could define her mood at this moment, it would be that her soul had flown out from her body and was desperately seeking for an outlet.

I have no choice! 

Nothing can be worse than Veau seeing my memories! 

“I...I am from another world.” 

Cecil squeezed her eyes close, bracing herself for any alarm or beeping from the system. She slowly opened her eyes when she didn’t hear anything, and she felt her entire body relaxing.

Veau paused, humming thoughtfully. “I made an accurate guess.” 

“You guessed?” 

“It was the only possible explanation,” Veau shrugged, walking back to the wall and leaning against it. “It also explains the shape of the life force in you.” 

Cecil glanced down at her body, frowning and she looked up, realising that Veau was gone. She blinked rapidly, noticing Veau was back in his cell, laying on the bed. He was looking up at the ceiling with one of his knees propped up, his hand supporting his head.

It seemed like he didn't want to pursue the topic any further.

At that moment, a thought occurred to her.

"Hana!" Cecil jumped from her bed, horrified. "She is out there alone!"

"Ah, Hana Katae, always the damsel-in-distress," Veau commented, sounding bored. "Always needing help."

"I can't help Hana if I'm stuck in here." Cecil sighed.

The two of them heard the sounds of approaching footfalls, and keys jingling noisy. However, unlike Cecil, Veau didn't react, only yawning as he continued staring at ceiling.

A bandit came to a stop in front of Veau's jail cell, spinning the keys in hands. "Hey, newcomer, boss wants to talk to you."

Veau didn't answer.

"I'll escort you to him, get up."

Veau sat up, supporting his arm with his leg and resting his chin on his hand. "Unlock the door then."

The bandit clicked his tongue, no longer spinning the key around his finger. "Which was the key again?"

The bandit flipped through the keys, whistling in a carefree manner.

Cecil shifted closer to the metal bars, curiously observing them. If there was a chance, she would snatch the keys away.

Veau lifted his other hand, pointing his index finger towards the lock of the door. A black mist formed around his finger and it drifted to the lock, enclosing itself around it.

Cecil was not surprised to know that the lanterns did not affect Veau in any way. After all, Veau wasn't human, and the lanterns seem to only affect humans.

At that moment, Cecil realised something else.

Since it doesn't affect Veau, the lanterns may not affect the lord protagonist as well...since he isn't a human.

Then, why did it take so long for the lord protagonist to find Hana?

Cecil didn't want to think any further, knowing that there was no point in understanding what was happening behind the scenes right now.

Since the bandit was distracted by the keys, and was on the other side, he couldn't see that the lock had been blocked by Veau. He pushed the key in the lock, trying to unlock it.

No matter how he turned, the lock wouldn't unlock.

"Not this, huh."

He tried another key.

"I swear it's either this or that."

...and another key.

"Not this one too? Damn, has my memory gone bad?"

The bandit gave up, trying all the keys in the end, the ringing sounds filling the dreary dungeon.

Veau watched the bandit struggling, his expression bored, his chin still resting on his palm.

The bandit gradually grew impatient, glaring at the keys. "You...useless keys! All of you are wrong!"

"You still haven't tried five more," Veau stated, raising his eyebrows. "Go on, try them."

The bandit growled in frustration, jabbing the keys into the lock.

Cecil felt pitiful for the bandit being the target of entertainment for Veau.

"Goddamnit! My hands are tired!" the bandit snarled, throwing the keys onto the ground in frustration. "Fucking door, fucking keys!"

The bandit kicked angrily at the cell door, and the metal bars reverberated. There was a hint of smile on Veau's lips, and the bandit continued taking his frustration out on the metal bars and the cell door.

Once he was done, the bandit picked up the keys from the floor, storming off. At that time, the black mist extended out from Veau's index finger, taking the keys hanging by the pocket of the bandit's pants.

Veau even made the effort to trick the bandit, making it jingle at the same pace the bandit was walking. Cecil assumed he would become bored, but Veau seemed amused at the man's stupidity.

The bandit was gone soon after, and Veau tossed the keys through the metal bars of Cecil's jail cell.

It landed right beside her shoes.

Cecil stiffened, looking at the keys.

Why...why is he helping me again?!

***

Pt. 1

《 start 》

I am only treating her this way because she's a woman.

I am only treating her this way because she's pretty.

I am only treating her this way because she is Hana's friend.

I am only treating her this way because she said she trusted me wholeheartedly--no, no no.

...who am I kidding?

Even if it was another pretty woman that told me this, I wouldn't treat them this way.

It's because, somehow, Cecil Lan is special.

《 stop 》

***

Pt. 2

《 start 》

Accepting your help after what you have done to me?

I would rather listen to my own soul fragments than accept your damn help.

Never again, I will not trust you ever again.

My biggest mistake was trusting you, Veau. A person from the demon realm.

《 stop 》