Father didn't bring up the marriage meeting over dinner. With the imperial ball coming up, it was going to happen anyway. Instead, after recalling funny anecdotes from his travels, he informed me that a couturier will be arriving the day after tomorrow, as if buttering me up before the trouble that's to come.

I spent my sleepless night finishing Angels & Demons, and now I have more questions.

Today, I decided to go out into town, this time on a discreet carriage with two knights dressed incognito. Kalel was a step ahead of me, and the carriage was prepared as I was about to sneak out to get my horse. 

I asked to be dropped off around the corner from my go-to bookstore. I’m in a white poet shirt tucked in black riding pants, both tailored from the men’s category to my measurements. These are the most comfortable clothes I own and ones I can wear without asking for help. Right before getting off the carriage, I tucked all my hair inside a newsboy cap. I guess the look I'm going for is a man, but there’s no helping my curves.

Familiar chimes ring as I enter the bookstore. The shopkeeper usually ignores me without so much as a glance, but it was different today. Even before I opened the door, he was staring at me through the window, his mouth wide open in shock, that he even adjusted his spectacles to see if he was really seeing things right.

I assumed as much, a woman in men’s clothes is sure to stir something. This will only be a quick stop anyway.

“Madam?” He asked.

I flashed the old man a smile. “Yes?”

He shook his head and turned away, back to sticking his nose to a book.

I found Angels & Demons under Mythology, so now I want to cross examine it with books in the History section. But someone already beat me to the aisle. A familiar tall blonde brute wearing a robe with the hood down. I immediately turned away.

Too late. “My lady?” Xavier gave me a once over. “I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“That’s the point.”

He nodded approvingly. “Very progressive. I can understand why you would prefer menswear for illicit outings like this one. A shirt and pants are infinitely more comfortable than having to bring a whole tent around your waist… But you are not fooling anybody. There’s no way you’d be mistaken for a man.”

His gallant voice booms throughout the small shop. It’s always so noisy when he’s around.

Since he stepped away from the narrow History aisle, I took his place. “Weren’t you leaving?”

He went after me. “No, not at all, and I don’t mind squeezing in.”

I caught the title of the open book in his hand. Atlantia: The Unabridged History of An Empire Founded in Blood. I raised a brow. “Are you buying that?”

“The thing is, I can’t,” he shrugs. 

I lunged forward to grab the book. “Then hand it over.”

He held it over my head, waving it as I tiptoe and stretch up my arms as high as I can. He laughs at my misery. “Take it if you can!”

I accidentally knock the bookshelf behind me, and hardbound books come falling from the shelves. In my haste to cover my head, I also pushed off my hat. My long black hair came tumbling down, now in voluminous waves from being twirled up inside the cap.

But before I can even do so, Xavier has already pulled me close by the waist, covering my head with his. The books right above me didn’t even reach us as he pushed the books back with his large hand. 

Now my body is pressed onto his, and we’re looking into each other’s eyes. His hands caress my waist, making me feel tiny and precious. He smirks. “This time, I really saved you.”

Sunlight is leaking in from a small window above, shining beautifully on his handsome angular face. He lowers his gaze—in his hand is a small shiny section of my hair, and he is carefully twirling it with his fingers.

“Thanks,” I said sincerely.

But he still isn’t looking at me. He put my hair that he had been playing with close to his lips, and gave it a soft, lingering kiss.

The Xavier in the web novel never acted like this. He always maintained a respectful distance with the female lead, and he struck me as well-mannered and chivalrous. I shoved him aside with all my strength. I almost fell for his honey trap.

I walk up to the shopkeeper to ask if he had any more copies. He lowers his spectacles, and speaks in a hushed voice. “Only one copy exists in the entire empire, my lady, and this one isn’t even registered. I don’t think I need to explain why.”

The book landed on the counter from above my head. It was Xavier, right behind me. He’s about two heads taller than I am, mine only reaching up to his chest, and his chest and arms’ wideness is about two of me combined. He’s so large. 

He flashes the shopkeeper that good ol’ prince charming smile. “Whoops, sorry about that good sir. Can you ring me up?” 

The enthusiastic shopkeeper wrapped it up in a ragged cloth bag and quickly hid the gold coin he received as payment. It is far too excessive for one book, but he understood what Xavier meant. 

 “Don’t look at me like that,” Xavier frowned at my scowl, handing the bag to me. “It’s yours.”

Xavier then handed something else to me—my newsboy cap. I completely forgot about it. I hurriedly put my hair into the cap again.

The shopkeeper stood from his seat and bid us goodbye. Not us, just Xavier. “Thank you for your business.”

“That shopkeeper doesn’t even spare me a glance when I come by,” I mumble as we exit the bookstore. 

“What can I say, money talks,” Xavier deadpans.

I’m walking back to my carriage, but he’s still walking with me. Just as I was about to ask, he pushes me to a wall and slams his hand next to my face. 

It’s kabedon, and it’s finally happening to me!

He whispers to my ear, “Really, you are the most interesting lady I have ever met...”

But his advances are interrupted. Suddenly, we are surrounded by knights with their swords drawn out. One of my two nights pointed his sword to Xavier’s neck, and while four of about ten knights have drawn their swords to him.

Xavier is unfazed, waving his hands. “Relax, I was just flirting with your liege.”

“He was not!” I nod to my knights, “Stand down, Kent, Asher.”

“Ha, you even know of their names. Remarkable,” Xavier mumbles. 

One of my knights speak up. “But my lady, we do not know the identity of this man—“

I stare Xavier down. “He will not do it again.”

He chuckles. “Maybe much more…”

My knights are hesitant, but in the end, all twelve knights sheathe their swords. I then request, “Please follow us from a distance. We just want to talk.”

Xavier and I walk to a tea room. One of his men had already secured a private room for us.

He pulls a chair for me, and I take it. “Quite the entourage you got there.”

He takes his seat and says nothing.

“How far does your money go?” I tease. I remove my cap for comfort, and run my fingers though to soften out my hat hair.

He watches me do it with a look filled with awe and quickly shifts his expression back to normal before speaking. “I’m surprised by the humble size of yours. I could have sworn last time you had one more tailing you.”

So Kalel really didn’t follow me today.

This arrogant man noted the change in my expression. “Ah, there’s the rub.”

I changed the topic. “I don’t even know your name.” 

“And I don’t know yours either, and I was hoping it would change today,” he chuckles and turns serious. “It’s Xavier.”

I figured I’d fib my way out of this one. “I’m Ashley.”

“You don’t look like an Ashley.”

“What does an Ashley look like?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Curly, blond, lots of pink? The human equivalent of cotton candy?”

“Perhaps Xavier has a lot of experience with Ashleys.” 

“You didn’t answer my question.”

“Can I trust you with the answer?”

“I’m the most trustworthy person you can find out there.”

I hesitate. Can I really? He leans forward. “So what is it?”

A waiter comes in after a few knocks. He skillfully places a large variety of teas and snacks, filling the table, and even leaving a full dessert cart behind. Xavier looks like a giant behind all the tiny, pretty china and all the small finger food.

“I didn’t know what you wanted, so I went ahead and ordered everything for you.”

“None of these teas can satisfy me,” I reply. “I don’t really drink tea.”

He raised his brows in curiosity. I continue, “Have you had coffee?”

He shook his head. I kept going. “It’s a rich, bitter drink brewed from roasted beans, which are seeds of a coffee cherry.” 

He mouths an “Ah” to my answer. 

“When done right, it’s delicious. If you prefer bolder teas, you won’t go back once you’ve had a taste. In my opinion.”

I pour him a cup of oolong tea. Xavier just sits there, watching my every move. “To answer your question, just like coffee, I’m interested in things that are unique from everything readily available in the empire.”

I hand it to him, and he examines it carefully, and sips it. I then pour one for myself. I might as well.

“Atlantia’s unwritten origins..?”

“Why, is a raunchy romance novel too tame for you?”

He leans forward eagerly. “Do you want to find out?”

"Can you return my book?"

"Ask your shadow guard."

I freeze. I then clear my throat and remember what I really wanted to ask him. “Xavier,” I finally say his name with care. “There are some strange, unexplainable things happening in the empire in recent months, right? Even the tower has been tense.”

“I’d be more careful with my speculations if I were you, my lady.”

“But that’s not why we’re in a private room.” 

He bites off a scone, takes his time chewing it, and then he takes a deep breath. “Do you know about the demon world?”

I nod slowly. I brace myself for what’s to come.

“The demon world of legends is real. But contrary to what legends say, the empire was not founded because the angels kept the demons out. It was the other way around. Only the angels succeeded.”

I nod again. I’ve read as much in the book I just finished.

“And now the demons are trying to take it back.”

We walk back to our respective carriages in silence. I'm think over everything that we just discussed, and he's trying not to interrupt my thoughts. I had told him about the maze in Eton Hall and the wizards that attempted to enter it.

We part ways, with him promising that he’ll crack down the source of all the forbidden books. They contained eerily accurate information on the empire’s secrets. We could guess what the intention is.

Just how much has my transmigration changed? The demon world did not get involved in the original story. It was brought up only when talking about Kalel’s origins, but that’s it. 

There was only the war of this world between the empire and the other kingdoms. Princesses from other kingdoms wanted to marry into the empire but Xavier wanted only one wife, the female lead. So the kingdoms somehow decided to take the empire for themselves.

As soon as I got home, I locked myself in my room. In my bed, I’m completing a tree chart, drawing out the cause and effect of events, comparing what happened in the original timeline and what’s going on in the one I’m in, trying to find out what changed.

Being adopted into this household as an infant means the original heroine is out there somewhere. 

I also changed the fate of the duke. Unfortunately, it couldn’t save the terminally ill duchess. Since the duke became rich, unlike in the original, it also evened out the power structure among the upper nobility. It may have angered the others.

Kalel didn’t fall prey to the tower. The evil wizard is still at large and carrying out the will of the underworld… 

That is where my mistake likes. By hiding Kalel from the tower, did I end up incurring the wrath of the underworld?