Chapter 137: Chapter 137
My tiredness was starting to fade because of how hard my head was working.
Just like when something is bothering your head, like when you left something turned on in the kitchen or feel like the water was left going or, you know, there is something you had to do but don’t know what it is that you forgot... My mind and body felt restless and frustrated trying to pinpoint what were the developments of the novel I read long ago in my past life. One by one as detailed as my bird-brained self could manage.
’Sh*t... How was it that this novel went?? I can only recall the hot stuff... Was I horny then??... I’m sure I was reading it because of...’
... Nah, why lie now... I was horny as f*ck back then.
’Sigh... Maybe it’s better to sit down and note down anything that comes to mind...’ — While submerging my sluggish body in the warm water, I decided, trying to let my brain rest for the rest of the time I had left to enjoy the flowery bath.
Taking one of the various types of flowers floating beautifully on the surface, I took a little one with yellow petals to sniff a bit of its scent on my hand.
Its pollen was thick and mixed with its natural fragrance the flower gave off an elegant but fresh cleansing to my lungs.
A strand of my hair was menacing to fall and looking at the flower, I laughed shyly at myself because of the childish idea that emerged in my silly head.
Nonetheless of it being a bit silly, I still carried out the idea.
As childish or dumb or misplaced as it might seem for me to do something as pure, I began to search for a flower with a longer stem and placed it on my head to pin down the falling hair.
It wasn’t doing much of a good job, for our hair was heavy... But it still felt nice to have a real flower decorating our beautiful hair.
’Hehe... It might fall at any moment... But isn’t its scent nice, sweetheart??’
Marianne agreed with delight, relieved that I was taking a break from trying to think without much results since my frustration was also being transmitted to her.
We had a little talk as I took one flower after another letting her pick one to place on the other side of our head and, soaking our cramped body for a few more minutes in the slowly growing cold water, we got out of it once we felt it had lost its heat, refreshed from the deserved leisure time as I put on the silky bathrobe the servants had left.
I took the nearest candle I could find and walked towards the little white table where Paige had left my stationery, to place the light I would certainly need to get over some lost memories.
’Alright, sweetheart. I know this doesn’t suit me, but I need to squeeze my brain immediately this time because the doubt won’t let me sleep. I know we’re tired... But my brain is fully awake because of this... Hang in there for a bit.’
"~~"
As always my sweet girl kindly agreed. Maybe it was a good thing that she took a nap when the Duke was here.
If she hadn’t we might have not been able to do the long concentrated session that was about to start now.
*******
It took me a few minutes to organize my thoughts to start writing down whatever came to mind. But in the end... It was only after three hours that I was satisfied with all I had managed to recall besides the main subject of the novel.
Giving all of my digging a brief recount... The novel basically went like this:
Karina was a noble Lady who was born in a Baron’s house, I remember she had explained at the beginning that because of her debut she needed to travel to the Capital and have to assist the Royal Ball that Autumn.
Once at the Royal ball... She met the Crown Prince while being lost somewhere in the Palace.
He was upset about something I can’t remember and got more annoyed at her presence... But feeling amused by how she practically offered herself from fright, he just went for it then and...
’Well... What a crappy encounter... What was she even doing there? You can’t precisely get out of the Ball Room that easily to roam around the Palace because of the guards. I saw like a thousand guards doing watch back in my Spring Ball and I know there must have been more hiding somewhere....’
Suspicious.
It was only after a little "teasing" from the Male Lead that she "got away" from him, who actually told her she was reacting pathetically and to come back once she got better at "it"... after carefreely menacing to kill her...
’Yeah... Crazy and an a** from the very beginning...’
She then met the Noverrne guy who helped her and comforted her gentlemanly..... Gentlemanly as in like "that" kind of... Ahem!... Uh... Then... Right... Uh... She didn’t get to her ceremony on time so the Emperor didn’t like her...
She stayed after the Ball at the Noverrne’s though. I can recall that bit since she was surprised to find the guy she got to know on very nice terms the night before when arriving at her father’s "acquainted noble’s" residence.
They had their few flirtatious encounters during her stay... And I don’t know why but... Her father left her... At the Noverrne’s on her own...
’Wow... Writing everything down now, it really doesn’t make much sense...’
She then received the "Royal invitations" but...
’D*mn... There really wasn’t a scene where her father or the Duke told her she had to go. Not that I recall at the very least...
Her narrative was like a journal kind of monologue where she omitted everything to do with anyone besides the Crown Prince and Little Duke Noverrne...’
In all her visits to the Palace, she went with the Little Duke as a companion so... She got to entangle with both at the Palace every time...
There was also a time when she went to a few Ladies’ parties besides the old Noverrne Duke birthday party, where she would have some encounters with the two Male Leads... And others...
But there wasn’t much plot placed into it...
All I remember is that she wanted to get closer to the Crown Prince... And maintain a "good" relationship with the Little Duke...
Oh... Right! In between, Theressa would also interfere, to the point of shaming, framing, humiliating and even trying to kill her once in the last Chapters I got to read...
But... It bothers me now that I think of how she talked when interacting with the Male Leads...
She used to play dumb with both and acted completely different with each...
Somehow I feel like she was trying to give the idea of her being abused by the Prince to the Little Duke... manipulating him... To make the Crown Prince...
’Feel as if he was losing his belonging...’
She also...
’... She never said she loved either of them now that I think about it..... What the hell??’
Was I running out of good novels by the time and picked whichever I could find??
It must have been like that for me to lower my standards this much...
However, having the knowledge I have from reading many transmigration novels... There are three things I can say about this.
’Either the author was messy, she was stupid or two-faced only to stir up trouble while having two hotties at hand... Or... She’s not what she painted herself to be in the novel.’
It all was too easy for her, and the Male leads seem too tightly guided by characterization... They didn’t give off the real human vibe these two guys gave me today that I met them... In fact, they seemed to be being led by a basic trait in personality and genre throughout the original novel.
The little Duke was described as strict by Karina, but he wouldn’t act that nicely to the point of ravishing her if that was the case. The one I met today didn’t give off that vibe at the very least.
And the Crown Prince... He used to mainly order her around to do some hot kinky stuff with brute force — which she seemed to enjoy by the way — but... He wasn’t... As...
’... Careful as he was with us...’
"..."
’Well I’m not Karina so it’s obvious they wouldn’t act the same way towards me but... Anne, I really think this is odd...’
"....."
’...’
’You know... It might have been a good idea to replace my hate for the author with Karina’s name...’ — I told her after both of us stared at the disorganised notes for a long while.
The new hunch that was coming over me was disturbing.
Since I hadn’t really thought much about the original novel’s plot out of laziness, realising that there was something dubious going on made me curious about what the end of the novel had been, besides making me realise that maybe, in this case, I should truly give the characters an opportunity to know their true selves...
After all... It was now the Female Lead, Karina, who seemed the most suspicious of everyone. And, sadly... This hunch I have about her being a fraud is very strong.
Almost to the point I can declare she was hiding something...
’Once we meet Karina... Anne, we will really need to keep an eye on her. I get the feeling that we actually need to get a reason to confirm why to hate her instead of the opposite.’