In a classroom dyed red by the setting sun, I sat at my desk and quietly read as I waited for a friend to end her club activities. An occasional summer breeze blew through the open windows, carrying the scent of a newly mowed lawn.

“I can’t believe this! Why did Valeria choose the Prince even though Sui is so much better?”

Beside me, I heard grumbles coming from my friend who was also waiting with me. I looked up from the manga I was reading to see her putting her chin down on her desk with her arms stretched out in front of her. The top of her short-sleeved sailor uniform lifted up slightly at the front, revealing the top band of her navy-blue skirt. In her hands was a copy of one of the volumes of ‘Resonant Hearts’. She tucked her long black hair behind an ear before she flipped to the next page of the novel.

I grinned and replied mischievously, “You are the one who dug yourself into this hole by shipping the heroine with the second male lead. She is obviously going to end up with the main male lead.”

She lifted up her head and stared at me. A fire seemed to burn in her eyes as she argued, “But don’t you think it is frustrating? Even though Sui is working so hard and love the heroine just as much, he is never going to be together with the one he loves just because the author decided to place him as a ‘second male lead’!”

“I don’t know. I am quite happy with Prince Charles and the heroine getting together.” Her impassioned words made no difference to me when it came to my favourite pairing.

“Ahhh! You are so cold when it comes to things like this! Understand my feelings a little!”

Watching the class idol whine because her ship fell apart was pretty comical. Even though she was a top student and popular, she was also a huge otaku like me. I was intimidated by her aura at first, but we were now close friends with lots of shared hobbies.

Ah, but ‘now’ might not be accurate any longer.

I glanced down at the manga in my hands. The page I was reading was showing a scene where the heroine of the story was at a hospital visiting the male lead who was knocked down by a car when saving her. As the male lead lay on the bed in comatose, the heroine held his hands as she wept while imploring him to wake up. On the next page, the hands of the male lead moved, much to the surprise of the heroine. With a reassuring smile, the male lead lifted his hand and placed it on the heroine’s fluffy hair, comforting her and saying that everything will be fine. And they all lived happily ever after~

This was a common trope in the shoujo mangas I read, and it my favourite kind of happy ending. However, there was something about it today that made me feel an insurmountable sadness.

I took a deep breath and clenched my fists. Lifting my head up again, I asked cheerfully, “So, how have you been doing? Is everyone still doing well? Did you manage to get into the university you wanted to get into?”

“And did Sensei finally get married?” I added in the last question with a quick laugh.

However, the girl sitting in front of me just continued reading her novel without replying to my questions. Her tranquil dark brown eyes reflected the words of the novel as she put in all her concentration into the story.

Against the background of the setting sun, the scene was just so blinding my eyes unconsciously heated up.

“Hey, you can’t hear me anymore?”

What replied was the sound of a page turning.

“Even if it is just a consolation, can’t I at least have a comforting reply? My dreams are sure harsh,” I murmured as the scene started to fade into darkness.

How nostalgic. It had been some time since I had dreamt about my previous life. In my previous life, I had a close friend who was also a fan of ‘Resonant Hearts’. Although we had lots of things in common, one of the things we were never able to agree on was the pairing in the series.  

The character ‘Sui’ was the same age as the heroine and also a commoner. He was a servant working in the Remington Household and went to the Royal Academy together with Liliana. However, instead of serving Liliana, he scorned her and made no attempt to hide his disdain. If it was the usual, Liliana would have gotten rid of him for offending her. However, Liliana was forbidden to touch him as he was a magician highly regarded by her father.

As a servant under a special contract of service, he held status in the household and was the only one amongst the servants who dared to openly go against Liliana. Even when Liliana bullied the heroine, Sui was the first person who realised and protected her from some of Liliana’s vicious attacks. However, unknown to the both of them initially, the Royal Academy was not the first time Sui had met the heroine.

Was the reason I had this strange dream because this ‘incident’ was the first time they had both met?

“Pue?”

A strange high pitched animal cry slowly woke me from my slumber.

“Pue, puee!”

Something had started jumping on my chest excitedly accompanied with squeals.

“Hmmm… So that thing can touch her without getting electrocuted?”

Hearing a human’s voice stirred my consciousness further and I was finally able to open my heavy eyelids. What greeted me was a dull grey ceiling with tattered wallpaper behind rows of steel bars. Flickering orange light from the torches on the walls lighted up the surroundings dimly and there was a damp and musty scent in the air.

Wait. Steel bars? My mind finally recognised something strange about my surroundings.

My eyes traced the steel bars around the thickness of two fingers stretching from side to side before I exhaled long and slow and came to a conclusion - it seemed like I had been thrown into a cage.

And my ‘thrown’ wasn’t even a metaphor because I definitely felt as if I had been tossed and turned around in a washing machine. My body was aching and I could distinctly feel a sharp pain coming from my right foot. That must not be something good. Not only that, my head was throbbing terribly and my mind felt as if a thick fog had invaded it.

“Pu pu pue!” Something was jumping on my chest again. Although it was not heavy, the weight was significant enough to cause my head to hurt with each thump.

I tilted my chin down and came face to face with a black ball. To be more precise, it was a ball of black fur with two long ears and equally dark eyes. It raised two front paws as it sat on its round bottom and tilted its head while looking at me. It looked exactly like a rabbit, except that there was a black, fog-like aura wrapping around its body with tendrils floating out. The tendrils curled and uncurled as if it had a life of its own.

My mind blanked out at the unusual sight, but I soon connected the dots.

“A magical beast?”

“Oh. You’re awake,” a boyish voice sounded out from my front. A hand stretched towards the animal on my chest and lifted it off before tossing it out of the cage in a swift movement.

“What are you doing?” I sat up immediately and exclaimed. I winced slightly at the pain from my ankle but bit my lips to resist crying out. When I looked up, I saw a pair of cerulean eyes looking at me blankly.

A boy with unstyled and messy dark blue hair sat in a corner of the cage with a knee up. “I didn’t think you would like to get more bruises from the jumping. Anyway, these guys are much hardier than they look,” he replied as he pointed at the direction he had thrown the animal.

I turned my head and saw the animal twitching its ears inquisitively a distance away. It does look to be fine. After looking at us for a while, the animal seemed to lose interest and hopped away before entering a crack in a corner of the wall.

“Isn’t that a rabbit?” I wondered out loud. Apart from the black aura and tendrils curling out, it looked exactly like a rabbit. However, it was identifiable as a magical beast because all magical beasts in the world of the story were black with a black aura enveloping their body. But the ones I read about in the book were all much more vicious or majestic. I’ve never heard of a magical bunny!

“Huh? You have never seen them before? These guys are pretty common. They can be found in most sewers and dark places,” the boy said with a raised eyebrow. “But they are usually very shy and don’t approach people. Looks like that guy likes you.”

The boy turned to me and asked as his blue-green eyes gleamed with curiosity, “So what’s your name, Miss Magician?”

How did he know I am a magician?

Before I was able to ask anything, he gave a twisted smile and explained, “I overheard the conversation between the guys who brought you here. You sure brought them grief with whatever is on you. They could not touch you without being electrocuted.”

“Huh…”

Was that the doing of the necklace Prince Charles gave me? I raised my hand to clutch the crystal I was wearing under my dress. Who would have known that it would come in handy so quickly? Did I accidentally raise a flag when I said I hoped not to use it?

The boy gave a small smile upon seeing my action.

“In any case, welcome here. We are in the same boat so we should work together if we can. My name is Sui. What is yours?”

“I am... Liliana,” I replied cautiously. I could clearly see the resemblance between the boy in front of me and the character seven years later. With blue-green cerulean eyes, dark blue hair and effeminate features, he looked like one of the dolls my brother had gifted me. If he had longer hair, he might look even prettier than the heroine… Ah!

“By the way! Did you see another girl brought together with me?” I leaned forward asked hurriedly. Right before I passed out, I was sure that they had taken Valeria as well.

“You are kinda strange. The first thing you ask about is somebody else?” Sui gave a wry smile. “Anyway, she’s over there,” he replied with a tilt of his chin.

I twisted my body in the direction he pointed to. In the worn out room filled with wooden crates, there was a figure on the floor that I had missed out when I first glanced around. Half covered by a brown blanket, there was a girl lying on the floor limply with her hands tied at the wrists in front of her.

“Valeria!” I rushed to the steel bars on my knees as the cage was too small for me to stand up and grabbed them. My heart thumped loudly in my chest as I thought of the worst case scenario.

In the story, the heroine visited a fair at a large town with her mother when she was small to help out at the booth the bakery they were working in had set up. One of their patrons ordered some bread to be delivered and the heroine was requested to help with the delivery. However, on the way, the heroine met with some slave traders who eyed her for her unique hair colour. Although Lorzelea had forbidden the usage of slaves, their neighbouring country, Breusia, still utilised a slavery system, and children with eye-catching colours were particularly liked by the aristocracy.

At the slave traders’ hideout, she met Sui who was also captured and made an alliance to work together to escape. However, while travelling in the caravan, the slave traders were attacked by wild beasts. In a moment of desperation, Sui discovered that Valeria has magic with awakened charge and managed to save the both of them in time by using magic. They managed to get rescued by a passing travelling merchant and before parting ways, Sui told Valeria to keep her powers hidden if she does not want to get taken away from her family. Valeria then subsequently covered her hair with a cloth until a fateful day when her mother was attacked and it was found out by the rest that she had magic.

However, that would all be nothing if the heroine dies now.

“Valeria! Are you okay? Please wake up!” My body grew stiff as I watched the limp and pale figure on the ground.

Was it because I had accidentally stumbled into the event? Was it because I had called out to the heroine? Could this have been avoided if I had just stayed on the carriage?

“Hey. Don’t shout so loudly. It will be troublesome if the guys came in,” Sui crawled over and hissed. “And your friend is fine. She was awake earlier. She is just asleep.”

His words cleared my mind and I focused on the limp girl again. Now that I see carefully, her chest was moving up and down peacefully. It seems like I had been too hasty.

I sat back down on the floor and took a deep breath to calm myself down.

She is the heroine after all. There was no way for her to die so easily!

“Have you calmed down now?” the boy asked after a while as he observed me.

“Yes. Thank you,” I replied as I felt my heartbeat slowing down to a more normal pace. I met his cerulean eyes and asked with a solemn face, “Can you tell me more about what is happening?”

Sui gave a thin smile. “I was wondering when you will ask about that.” He gestured towards the steel bars around us and continued, “You can probably guess, but you have been kidnapped by slave traders. The both of you were brought in around early afternoon. It is probably around evening now. I have been in this town for a few days, but they have been very secretive and quiet with information in front of me so it is hard to figure out their next step.”

“But just to confirm, we are not in Breusia, right?” he questioned as his eyes bore into me.

I shook my head.

“What are they planning bringing me all the way here?” he muttered as he chewed on his thumbnail. It was unmistakably a bad habit of his, as his nails were jagged and uneven with the skin on his fingers peeling.

“Are you okay?” I was unable to keep silent after studying him closely.

Under a plain white shirt and brown three-quarter pants were bone-thin limbs. Although we should be the same age, he looked to be shorter and smaller than me with unhealthy looking skin. Most of all, his cerulean eyes had a murkiness in them that made my blood run cold.

The boy’s cerulean eyes lighted up with a strange gleam at my question. “Are you sure you know the situation you are in? Are rich young misses these days all as thick as you?”

“Instead of asking about others, why don’t you take a look at yourself first? You look way worse than me,” he said as he gave a wry smile.

I glanced down at my sky-blue baby doll dress. I had to admit I must look awful with my dress all dirty and slightly tattered at the edges. Even my hands and legs were dirty with scratches here and there.

“They had to drag you into the basement so you are probably going to have some bruises. You should have been awake to see how pissed they were for getting electrocuted every time they touched you. That really brought tears to my eyes.” Sui chuckled as he recalled the scene, seemingly in a better mood.

With a grin on his face, he asked, “So what kind of spell are you using?”

“Spell?” I echoed stupidly. Despite being thrown off by his change of mood, I quickly recovered and replied, “I’m not using any spell.”

“There is no need to be so secretive with me. I told you we are in the same boat, right? Both of our aims is to get out of this place so the more open we are with each other the easier this will be. If it makes you feel better, I can start first. I am a Minus magician, how about you?”

“I don’t have my charge yet.”

“Really? Then what is the thing that is electrocuting them?” Sui looked unconvinced at my answer and frowned.

“Uh, um. It is probably from the necklace I am wearing,” I replied as I brought out the necklace from under my dress. “It is supposed to protect me from attacks.”

Sui leaned forward to take a better look at the pale yellow crystal.

His eyes narrowed slightly. “A magic crystal that has a strong protection spell imbued into it? Who exactly are you? This is not something just a wealthy merchant daughter can get hold of,” Sui asked as his eyes swept over me with suspicion.

“It was a gift to me,” I answered uncomfortably.

“Hmmm… Is that so?”

As he stared at me relentlessly, I looked away awkwardly. It would be troublesome to reveal myself as the daughter of the Marquis. In the first place, I was not even supposed to exist in this scene.

“Are… Are you alright?” A soft voice called out from behind me.

My shoulders jumped at the gentle but timid voice, and I immediately twisted my head around.

“Ah, the other idiot has woken up.”

Although she was still pale, Valeria was standing up and looking in my direction with worried eyes. It seemed like she had woken up when we were talking.

She took quick steps towards us and sat down in front of me.

“Are you feeling alright? Is there anywhere that hurts?” she asked anxiously as she looked all over me.

While I was still taken aback by her concern, it was Sui who answered on my behalf, “Her right foot is sprained. It has gotten slightly swollen but it should be fine if we get it treated later. These guys won’t want to let their goods get defective so they will definitely treat it.”

How did he know my foot is sprained? It had been throbbing since I woke up, but I was sure I had not talked about it.

Valeria’s face darkened at his words, but she soon brightened up as she met my eyes. “Although this is all scary, let’s do our best to get out of this, alright?” she said cheerfully.

Was this the power of a heroine? I opened my mouth slightly. The only reason I was able to remain calm was that I knew what was going to happen next. But how is she able to remain so optimistic even when faced with such an impossible situation?

“Ah, although I have introduced myself earlier, I think it is better if we do it again. My name is Valeria. What is yours?” she asked with a friendly smile.

“I am Liliana.”

Her dimples on the side of the cheeks showed she gave a bright smile. “So you are Miss Liliana! Nice to meet you!”

“You can just call me Liliana.” Her light-heartedness had rubbed off me, and my lips curled up into a small smile as well.

Just then, Sui’s eyes became sharp as he cut in between us. “Shush. There is someone coming.”

However, his words were too slow as heavy footsteps stopped outside the door.

“Is our sleeping beauty finally awake?” a raspy voice causing chills to run up my back called out from the opposite side of the door.

The door opened with a creak to reveal a stout man with unkempt dark brown hair. His face twisted into a toothy smirk as he rubbed his right arm.

“Thanks to you, I still can’t feel anything on my right arm. Do you have anything to say for yourself?”

“Why don’t you let us go?” I replied back stiffly.

“Haha! Funny, aren’t you?” the man let out a loud derisive bark of laughter. “Do you really think we will let you go after all the trouble we went through?”

His eyes swept to Valeria who was still sitting beside the cage. Valeria shrunk back at his gaze and stiffened her back.

“This girl is your friend isn’t she?” His smile on his face grew even more twisted as he approached us.

“What do you mean?” I asked calmly as a bad feeling rose from my stomach. “I have only just met her.”

The man sneered. “Then I guess it wouldn’t matter to you if she died?”

In a swift movement, he lifted Valeria up by the back of her dress with his left hand and reached into a pouch on his waist with his other hand and took out a short knife. With a shaky hand, he held the knife next to her neck.

My blood drained from my face. However, I knew that he was just testing me so I forced my voice to remain steady as I answered, “Is it really okay to hurt her? Wouldn’t her value decrease if she is injured?”

The man laughed. “What a brave girl we have here. Much better than the crying ones we often have, I’d say.” Then, he cast a look of contempt at Sui. “And I see our brat here has helpfully given some background information. I have no idea what you are plotting but it is about time you give up.”

Sui gritted his teeth at his words but did not make any reply.

The man only laughed at his reaction. He jiggled Valeria slightly like she was a doll and grinned. Valeria’s face was as white as sheet and I could see that she was trying her best not to scream.

With the tip of the knife still pointed at her, the man asked, “Why don’t I make a deal with you? Get rid of whatever is on you that is protecting you and this girlie here lives. If not, she dies.”

I clenched my fists. If I was to take off my necklace now, it would mean giving up my only mean of protection. However, if I don’t take it off, the man might really kill Valeria, and that was something not allowed to happen.

Anyway, they are going to get attacked by wild beasts later and we will be saved by a passing travelling merchant so it was all going to be fine, I convinced myself.

“Alright, I will take my necklace off,” I said evenly as I reached behind my neck with both of my hands.

From the corners of my eyes, I saw Sui glower silently at me as he gripped the cloth on his pants tightly.

I could understand his unhappiness as he was probably hoping to obtain the necklace for himself. Something that can protect you from getting attacked is really precious after all. When he comes to my house later, let’s try and ask the Prince if it was possible to get something like mine for him as well.

The stout man watched me like a hawk as I removed the necklace and held it in my hands. However, instead of demanding me to hand it over to him, he gave a bone-chilling smile.

“You know what, I have changed my mind.”

I stared at him with incredulous eyes. “What?”

“Do you know what I like more than brats who don’t cry?” he asked in a low whisper. That was, of course, a rhetorical question.

“I love those who cry as they plead and beg me to stop.”

With a hand that was still trembling, he lifted his knife high above his head. In that moment, the silver blade glinted red from the orange light emitted from the torches on the walls, as if it had already been dyed in the colour of blood. From the smug grin on his face and the dangerous glint in his eyes, I could tell that he was serious.

The box that had been holding in all of my emotions cracked.

“NO! STOP IT!”

I screamed at the top of my lungs as my eyes watched the knife move down in a slow motion.

The tip of the knife was pointed directly at Valeria’s smooth white throat, and it would mean certain death if it got embedded inside.

Except that the knife never reached its target.

With a giant ripping sound, the ceiling cracked and white plaster fell down together with hundreds of black creatures onto the man and Valeria like a waterfall. Although they were starting to resemble an army of black ants, I could recognise that they were the black rabbit-like magical beasts.

“What on earth!”

While cursing in a language that I did not know, the man dropped both his knife and Valeria like hot potatoes before his face grew pale at the black creatures swarming on his body and around his feet. Like an endless torrent, more and more black creatures flowed into the room through the crack in the wall and from the ceiling, all the way out of the door. As some of them sink their teeth into on the man’s clothes and skin, he flung them away in a panic before running out of the room with some still on his butt.

Ha! Serves you right!

Sui was the first one who reacted.

“Valeria! Give me the knife!”

Although the black magic beasts had attacked the man, they avoided the cage and Valeria like a rock in the middle of a river. Valeria searched around her feet for the knife amongst the black furry bodies and managed to kick the knife towards our cage.

“Good job. Now your hands,” Sui said as he beckoned for Valeria to come towards him.

Deftly, he cut away the ropes tying her hands together.

Valeria rubbed her wrists in relief before smiling and asking energetically, “What should I do to get the both of you out?”

Just how is she able to smile right after almost dying earlier? I thought my heart was going to stop!

Sui shook his head. “The key is with the men, and this cage is enchanted with a spell that prevents me from using magic. What you need to do right now is to run away.”

He pointed at the enlarged crack in the wall where black creatures were still pouring through.

“That hole should be large enough for you to go through. It should lead towards the sewers. The men will probably move out from here now so you just need to hide for around an hour or so before coming out at a more populated place.”

Valeria paled and asked desperately, “But what about you guys? Am I going to leave the two of you alone and run away by myself?”

“Yes, because you are our only hope to get help if you can escape,” Sui rebutted with a scowl.

Valeria bites her lips before nodding with a determined expression. “I will go and get help!”

Seeing the girl who was ready to bolt off anytime, I quickly cut in, “Um, please wait!”

While two pair of eyes turned to me, my brain worked furiously as I tried to think of a way out. In the story, Valeria was supposed to be with Sui when the caravan was attacked but it wasn’t like I could tell them, “Don’t worry guys, we'll be fine because some wild beasts will attack us later and we will be saved! (๑´ڡ`๑)”.

Ahhh, what am I supposed to do now?!

As I held my head between my hands, a pale yellow flash of light caught my eye. Ah, I still have that! My eyes lighted up and I held out the necklace in my hands towards Valeria fiercely.

“Take this! There is a spell on it. It will protect you as you escape!” If she really had to run away, at the very least, I wanted to make sure she would be safe.

Valeria widened her eyes. “Is this really okay? Isn’t it something important?” She asked uneasily.

“It’s fine! And if you need to go, you better go before they come back!”

With my incessant pushing, Valeria finally took the pale yellow crystal from my hands and placed it around her neck. “I will definitely come and save you guys!” she said as she clenched her fists.

“Alright, alright, just go!” Sui seemed to have finally gotten impatient with us and waved her off as he threw a pointed look at the open door.

Valeria cast one last look at us before crawling into the hole. Luckily, it was just the right fit for her. And miraculously, the black magical beasts avoided her once again as she climbed down. It seemed to be a slight drop, as I heard the sound of something landing on water before I heard the sound of footsteps running away.

I heaved a sigh of relief. It seemed like Valeria had run away successfully, and even if the men want to chase after her, it was going to be impossible for them to crawl through the hole.

“Do you know how stupid that was?” Sui asked bitterly as he went back to sit down in a corner of the cage.

“I can try and get you something similar,” I replied casually as I sat down as well.

“Huh? Do you know what are you talking about?” Sui furrowed his brows as he leaned on the steel bars.

Seeing the boy’s dubious face, I just smiled and shook my head. “It’s okay. You will understand late-”

Out of the blue, a wave of light-headedness hit me and I fell limply to my side before I could even finish my sentence.

“Hey! What happened?” The boy crawled over to my side and patted me vigorously on my shoulders.

His figure hunched over me as his eyes wandered around my body, looking unsure of what to do. I lifted a hand weakly as I tried to form words with my mouth.

“I think that…”

My words were so soft that the boy seemed not to have heard. Sui chewed on his nails as he muttered to himself, “Is it the after-effect of the drug they used? It shouldn’t be deadly but her face is way too pale for it to be normal. But there is no way they will take any chances of hurting her permanently…”

“Um… The truth is…” I interjected his train of thoughts apologetically. If I thought about it logically, there was only one very good explanation for my loss of energy.

“I have not eaten anything since the morning, so I am probably just famished. Hehe.”

And with the stormy face of a beautiful young boy in front of me, I splendidly fainted again.