Chapter 3 To Survive

It was surprising, indeed.

There was only one thing left to do to confirm this.

Raising my hand, I stretched it out towards the mirror and slowly reached for it, and as my fingers touched the silvery surface to double-check, I knew that I wasn't dreaming.

pαndα`noνɐ1--сoМ And I wasn't.

I slowly pressed my finger forward and pushed it through the mirror, the mirror cracked as the web spread to every corner until it broke apart under my touch.

"Master, are you okay?" The butler asked as I turned around.

His face made more sense now, and his cold yet welcoming gaze was the only thing that made me act more normal.

I was the side villain, and he was the first friend that this villain ever had.

If I remembered correctly, his name was Serenu and in the story, he died while sacrificing his life for Rowen, I mean me. 'But why is he still alive? How old am I right now?' I had numerous questions exploding at once, but it would look suspicious if I asked him questions like those.

If I was actually here, then what happened to the real Rowen?

I pulled my thoughts together and began walking back to the bed, 'No, I shouldn't lay in bed while I have so many things to sort out,' I thought and then looked at the bloody sheets and the corpse lying on them.

"Did Rowen die during this fight?" I muttered.

"Did you say anything, master?" Serenu asked.

"No, I was just talking to myself and checking the bruises from yesterday," I replied immediately.

This man was a good person, and I knew well enough that I could trust him, 'Should I tell him that I'm not Rowen?' I furrowed my eyebrows taking a look at him, 'no, that would only confuse him.' I quickly shook off this thought from my head.

"Serenu, please bring my clothes," I ordered him.

With my current behaviour already suspicious enough, if I didn't want to attract any unnecessary attention from him, I had to act more like Rowen. They clearly didn't know what was happening to Rowen's body right now.

As he left the room and I sat back on the bed.

There was nothing else that I could do, I needed to think about where to go from here.

As I rested, I closed my eyes, trying to find some way or the other to get out of there. I knew the plot and Rowen's ending but I didn't finish reading the book… 'How do I survive it? Why was I even here?'

'Do I have to kill the hero in order to survive in this world?' I pressed my palms against my forehead thinking all this and sighed.

In this world, the heroes were always the ones who saved the people, and the villains were the sole ones who died.

The only way that I could get out of here with my life was by becoming the villain that everyone feared and hated, but even that in the end would lead me to get killed by Dante.

I was trying to think, 'How should I live my life as Rowen right now?'

His life was far from being called perfect, but even in the most dangerous and scary situations that I had read about, he never showed any kind of fear.

As for his arrogance, it never had any limits and the way he used to look down on people and would call everyone peasants sometimes made me laugh.

He was the son of a duke, one who had made a contract with a demon and then forced his son to do the same as well.

This crazy and lunatic father of his was too controlling... He was placing magic chips inside his own children and wife, just so he could track them all in case they disappear.

I had to find a way how to get rid of mine without Dante knowing about it... This place was still new and too risky for me to try anything for now.

As I remembered, after a couple of years, Rowen was able to manipulate human blood and the mirror technique, making him the second strongest in the academy.

Judging from the way I was still in his bedroom, he hasn't enrolled in the academy yet.

He was enrolled in the academy when he turned sixteen, so this means that I'm not sixteen yet, 'that gives me the advantage to prepare myself better for approaching future events.'

I let a long sigh out, I could've fled from this place leaving his name behind, but the chip wouldn't allow me. The father of Rowen was as merciful as Hitler in my world. 'No chance of even thinking about it.'

When I was lost deep in my thoughts, Serenu opened the door, holding two white clothes.

"Here are your clothes, master," he said calmly.

I took them and put them on quickly. As much as I wanted to change my clothes every hour or something, I couldn't do anything about it.

The clothes were made out of expensive-looking silk, which I had to get used to after a few hours of wearing them. 'It feels weird to wear clothes while having cuts on my skin.'

I opened the drawer where Rowen was keeping all of his documents. I knew something was supposed to be there, but I wasn't sure what it really was.

I opened it and I found a book, titled: The Rules of the World of Darkness- Volume 1.

As I opened and skimmed through its pages, everything seemed clear enough since it would be my second time reading it.

The first time I read it was from Rowen's pov. It was weird to read the same book for the second time in just two days.

There was also a notebook under the book which I had picked up and started to flip through its pages.

I stopped on one of the pages and felt as if this page had some kind of power.

I was getting the familiar tingling sensation again, I didn't know what it meant though and so, I pushed it away and continued flipping through the pages.

I couldn't find anything special in it until I reached the very last page of it.

In the corner of the page, there was something written:

*A contract between a mortal and a Demon.*

[The one who has chosen the path of darkness shall have't to payeth the price of his actions, nay matt'r if 't be true t is valorous 'r lacking valor.]

*A contract between the ruler of the kingdom and a Demon.*

[If you wish to rule this Kingdom, then this will be the price for doing so.

Even though you are a Demon, you must submit to the King's law.

And can be executed for breaking the King's law, even though you are a Demon.]

As I read it, I couldn't help but shiver. It was similar to Rowen's story but also different at the same time.

'What does this mean?' I wondered while closing the book and putting it back into the drawer. 'I will have to study it later.' I closed my eyes as I breathed in more air.

"Master, will you have breakfast now?" Serenu asked.

"No, I have some matters to attend to first."

Shaking my head, I turned around and walked towards the door, I opened it and looked around the corridor.

The sun was still rising, casting its bright rays into the dark corridor making the darkness go away.

One thing I needed to see now was Rowen's father.

That merciful son of a bitch betrayed his own family and turned Rowen into the villain.

I had to make sure that the contract with a demon wasn't sealed. If it wasn't, I still had hopes of surviving in this crazy world.

_____

When I finally reached Rowen's father's study room, I entered and looked around, there was absolutely nothing interesting about it.

Expensive-looking black chairs filled with red cushions that in my world I would never be able to afford. A wall filled with books that had a lot of shiny, brown covers.

"Father, I need to talk to you," I announced my presence seeing the man before me without paying any heed.

Hector stood up and approached me, "you're alive," he extended his hands on my shoulders as if greeting me kindly, but his slightly furrowed eyebrows and his fake smile through his gritted teeth were obviously telling another story.

I wanted to look behind his left ear to see if the contract was already made. I leaned forwards pretending to hug him and my eyes caught that black mark straight away, 'it's there!'

I immediately pushed myself away from him as soon as I noticed it.

This was it... even with such a hurry I still arrived too late. Rowen's father had already made the contract with the demon and now there was only one thing that was crystal clear to me.

To survive in this damned world, I will have to kill the hero.

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