Chapter 221 - The Original Seri Pt. 1

[Authors note: To avoid confusion, I will refer to the original Seri as the original Seri or just Seri depending on the context. However, Seri/Leia will be referred to as Leia for the next few chapters.]

I opened my eyes once more. I was standing in completely darkness. I clicked my tongue, "D*mmit. Not again."

Did I seriously die again? F*ck.

"You aren't dead."

I turned to the voice and saw the original Seri standing next to me.

Her mysterious voice came from behind her veil, "You are only unconscious."

I looked at her in surprise, "I thought you moved on."

She shook her head, "I can't move on. Not until my wish is fulfilled."

I frowned, "So you knew that I would succeed the entire time. You knew that I would find a way to come back alive and help you achieve your wish."

"No. I honestly believed you would fail."

"..."

She continued, "You were already dead. Yet you somehow managed to go back. I didn't think it was possible. How did you do it?"

I looked down deep in thought, "I'm not sure myself... It just happened."

"Hmm... Well I am glad you succeeded."

"Thank you." I tapped my chin, "But I am curious... Does that mean I am a ghost possessing a body? Or am I a zombie? Or could I be a goddess?"

"No. I think you just have a wild imagination."

"Oh..."

That's a bit disappointing. I would have liked to be a goddess.

After a long pause, she spoke, "Do you really think this world would be better off without you in it?"

I looked away from her with an awkward expression, "I certainly did mess up the story really bad. At this point in the original novel, Mary was about to be married to William. Dante and William weren't fighting. The story was supposed to have a happily ever after. Now I've messed up all of that."

Her voice was monotonous, "It was a lie."

"A lie? What was?"

"The happily ever after. The original author was merely too lazy or too kind to write the correct ending."

I furrowed my brow in confusion, "Just what do you mean?"

She didn't answer my question, but instead spoke firmly. "You must save Mary."

This girl really makes no sense sometimes.

"Save Mary? Why should I save Mary? She seems perfectly fine to me."

"You must save Mary."

I was completely befuddled by her request. I ran my fingers through my hair, "You can tell me to save Mary all you'd like, but unless I know what I should be saving her from, I can't do a thing about it."

The original Seri spoke calmly, "She's in trouble."

I sighed, "She was always in trouble in the original novel. However, she's not now. Plus, she's the protagonist. The protagonist always has the element of luck on their side. And Mary has plenty of luck. You shouldn't worry."

"Do you remember that necklace the boys gave you?"

"The lucky necklace?"

"Yes. Whenever you wore it you always had the best of luck. But whenever you took it off..."

"I had the worst of luck." I finished her sentence.

She continued, "That was the will of the universe. Nothing can be created nor destroyed. Extremely good luck must be balanced by extreme misfortune. That was why the necklace was extremely lucky as it was unlucky. It was Karma."

"And?"

"Mary is like that necklace. While the novel took place, she was extremely lucky. However, once the novel ends..." The original Seri couldn't force herself to finish her sentence.

I finished the sentence for her, "She will be incredibly unlucky..."

The original Seri clenched her fists and gave a single nod.

"But... Hasn't the original novel's storyline ended already? The war was never mentioned."

The original Seri stepped forward, "Precisely. That is why you must help me now."

"But how can I help?"

"Perhaps the only way for you to understand... Is if you see everything."

The original Seri reached out to me and gently tapped the center of my forehead. My body fell backwards and began to fall through darkness. I recognized this feeling from the time I had witnessed the flower scene. However this time, when I opened my eyes, I wasn't stuck in the original Seri's body.

I was standing off to the side, watching as the world began to appear around me. I looked around in confusion to see the lively scene. There was laughter and many overlapping conversations. There were many servants rushing around holding dishes and tending to the guests. It seemed like an event that catered to the higher class.

A child ran through me, taking my breath away as they past through me as if I was smoke. I felt my body and discovered that it was solid to my touch. As the feeling dissipated, I looked around to figure out where I was. I heard children shouting and I followed the noise.

A small girl wearing a pale pink dress was on the ground surrounded by other children. I recognized the scene immediately. This was the day I transmigrated into this world. It was exactly as I had remembered it. There was a child with brownish-red hair and emerald eyes standing over the poor child with a haughty smile. It was the child version of Ilene.

Ilene stood next to Mel and Sel laughing mockingly at the girl on the ground, "Seri. You are such a klutz. How can you trip over nothing?"

A honey-blonde haired child stood next to them and stomped her foot, "She didn't trip over nothing! You pushed her!"

Millie? Oh wow. I forgot how cute she was as a child. I want to pinch her cheeks. I reached out to pinch them, but my hand passed through her face. The scene continued without even realizing I was there.

Ilene feigned innocence, "I have no idea what you mean. We all saw her fall on her own. Isn't that right girls?"

Sel and Mel agreed aggressively. Millie shouted, "Stop lying!"

"How dare you call Lady Ilene a liar!"

As Millie argued with Sel and Mel, another voice rang out. "What is the commotion over here?"

Ilene blushed, "Prince William!"

I turned to see a miniature William with short blondish-white hair and dazzling blue eyes. Sigh. Why did he ever grow up? He was so adorable like this...

Dante also walked out with him wearing a bright fluffy smile. He smiled at everyone and spoke in a charming voice, "Is everything okay?"

Ahh!! He is so cute! So cute! I need to steal him. I need to bring this cute little shota home with me.

I ran at the child version of Dante to snatch him up, but my hands were empty as they grabbed at nothing. My body was more like a body of mist than anything solid. I deflated in sadness. I guess this cute little shota will have to stay here.

Millie helped the original Seri stand up, "Ilene tripped Seri on purpose!"

Ilene glared at her, "I did not! Stop trying to discredit me in front of the Prince! You both are just jealous that I am his fiancé."

William rolled his eyes impatiently. He turned to Seri, "Did she trip you?"

When all of the eyes looked at Seri, she immediately clammed up. She wasn't wearing a bonnet nor a veil so one could see her expression clearly. She began to shake visibly as her lips trembled in fear at being the center of attention.

Dante stepped close to her with a large grin, "Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?"

He went to reach out to her, but she slapped his hand away. A gasp went through the crowd. Someone shouted, "Seri just slapped Dante!"

"How cruel."

"He was trying to be nice too..."

Seri's eyes began to water as everyone turned to her with disgusted looks. She couldn't say anything as they shamed her impulsive act. I could tell she hadn't meant to smack his hand away, but she was so panicked she didn't know what else to do. It was most likely a defensive reflex.

Dante chuckled carefree, "It's fine. It wasn't a hard slap or anything."

However, when Seri noticed all of the negative attention, she started wailing and ran away, pushing through the crowd in a hurry. William and Dante shrugged and walked away. This sort of thing wasn't worth their time. The crowd dispersed in response, leaving behind only Millie who was staring silently in the direction where Seri had ran. I felt a twinge of pity when I watched the scene.

"This was when it all started."

I jumped at a sudden voice behind me. I turned to see the Original Seri standing behind me in her adult form. She still wore the bonnet with a veil that covered most of her face. I spoke, "When what started?"

The original Seri silently turned to look at Millie. I followed her sight and peered at Millie in confusion. Her head was turned away from me so I stepped around her to see her face. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw her expression. She had a crazed smile on her face as her eyes shook from excitement.

I took a step back, "Wait. Millie was f*cked up in this world too?"

The original Seri gave a nod, "Unlike in your timeline, I didn't reach out to talk to her. You managed to keep her at your side and become friends with her. While in my timeline, I didn't. However, I don't mean that Millie left me completely alone either."

Time began to skip forward and I watched as the child version of Millie followed Seri in secrecy. However, Millie never once approached her. "You were much better at becoming friends with her than I was." The original Seri sighed, "You were so much better at many things..."

The scenery changed once more and the child version of Seri stood next to her mother in front of the main door. The original mother turned to her with a glare, "Remember. You better not mention a word of this to your father. You don't want to burden him, do you? He already works too hard. The last thing he needs is to be worrying about you."

"Y-Yes mother..."

*SLAP*

The servants all flinched from the loud slap. Seri whimpered while holding her cheek. Her mother sneered, "Didn't I tell you to stop with that stuttering?!" She clicked her tongue and looked away, "Disgusting. That face and mouth of yours is truly disgusting."

The child version of Seri tried to hide her face from her mother more. The original Seri spoke next to me, "My mother really hated this face of mine. I learned that if I hid my face and my hair, she wouldn't be as mean."

The original Kane walked in with a large grin. Her mother smiled at him, "Hello, Husband. How were your travels?"

He ignored her and rushed straight to Seri, "Baby girl! Daddy missed you! Look what I brought for you!"

He held out a doll making Seri flinch back in fear. Her body began to tremble violently as she felt her mother's sharp gaze. The original Kane saw her fear and visibly deflated. He thought that his daughter was so terrified of him that she couldn't even stand the sight of him.

The original Seri watched the memory from behind her veil, "I was always terrified that my father would find out that I wasn't actually his daughter and he would abandon me. Due to this fear, he thought that I was afraid of him. He thought that it was better if he didn't appear before me so he wouldn't scare me. So, he started visiting less and less. When I was older, he stopped coming home all together."

I looked at her in surprise, "You knew he wasn't your real father?"

"My mother use to tell me all the time as I got older. I didn't know the exact details behind the situation until I watched you uncover the truth."

I looked at the scene in front of me, "I ended up helping your mother repair her marriage... Sorry I am nice to her and all that..."

The original Seri spoke calmly, "The mother I knew was truly cruel. I could never forgive her, but I am relieved to see that she is working so hard to redeem herself to you. Even if it's not towards me."

I looked at her figure and felt that it looked a little lonely. I reached out and took her hand. She turned down to look at our hands and squeezed mine back.

"I told you. It wasn't much of a life. As the years passed, my life became gradually worse. Unlike you, I didn't have a Lona nor a Bertram to protect me. I didn't even have any friends that I could rely on. Every day I asked myself if this life was meaningless. Why should I live if everything was just miserable and painful?"

My face pinched together in pain, "You were lonely."

She gave a nod, "But everything changed when I entered the Academy."