Chapter 53 The Truth

Emily's eyes slowly fluttered open. "Where am I?" She murmured, touching her head as she lay in an unfamiliar dark room.

Sitting up, she noticed a red exclamation mark in the top right of her vision that wouldn't stop blinking.

"Where is that stupid prince," Emily said, grumbling, surveying the room. Ignoring the blinking exclamation mark, she moved back the sheets and was about to leave the bed when she froze, feeling something touch her hand. Slowly turning her head, she gulped as she prayed it wasn't a spider. She hated spiders.

'Oh,' She thought, gulping, 'that's not a spider.' Lying in her bed, she saw a humanoid creature with a heart-shaped tail dangling free, horns jutting out of her head. 'A real-life demon.'

pAn,Da n<0,>v,e1 Touching her wrist, she accessed her spatial bracelet and drew a dagger.

Torn between a feeling of anticipation and dread, she shakily raised the dagger.

Gradually moving off the bed, she crept quietly to the other side of the sleeping figure and crouched into position. Slowly Emily rose and hovered the knife over the demon's jugular.

Noticing her hand shaking, she took a few deep breaths, staring like a hawk at the sleeping girl for any sudden movements.

Wiping the dripping sweat from her brow, she lined up her knife precisely, aiming for the artery on her neck.

Breathing in one final time, she activated her energy and, with all her momentum, thrust the knife into the demon's neck, blood flowering from the wound in crimson petals.

Or at least that's how she pictured it. In reality, when Emily attempted to thrust her knife into the demon, her hand froze midair, held back by an invisible force.

[Warning: You do not have authorization from the Harem Overlord to attack this Harem Member.]

[Warning: Continuing this action without authorization will lead to the Harem Overlord being notified.]

Notifications appeared in her vision, accompanied by blaring sirens warning her not to continue, and she begrudgingly lowered her dagger.

'Harem member?' Emily thought, her eyes shifting to the blinking exclamation mark.

[Conversion Successful]

[Congratulations on upgrading to F-Rank in Cultivation]

[Congratulations on evolving your race from F-Rank Human -> F-Rank Evolved Human]

[Your will is bound to a Human Overlord +1 Cosmic Luck]

Stunned by the messages, she staggered back and fell onto the mattress. Activating internal focus, she looked at her core in her lower stomach. 'Just as the message said, the energy contained inside my core is exactly 1000 energy units!'

'Then that means…' gasping, she prostrated on the floor.

"Thank you, heavens!" She shouted, holding her hands together above her head. "Thank you for delivering me into his hands."

"Thank you for your gifts!"

"And most of all, thank you for the message you sent," she said, bowing and taking out the letter she received two days after kissing Ryan on the Nova Ball field.

Reading the message once more, she thanked her lucky stars that she followed the heavenly letter's advice.

"Emily, the man you call your prince is destined for extraordinary things. If he should ask you a question, one no one would accept lightly, accept it without hesitation."

"Do not worry about your parents, sisters, or society's etiquette. Choose for yourself what you do with your life."

"Also, don't let Ry-." Seeing some scribbled-out letters, she skipped to the next word, "your prince, see this letter."

Folding the note, she thought about all the times the heavens sent letters that helped her make crucial life changes.

First, when she was six, she received a letter that said, "The heavens cherish all those who eat their Brussels sprouts."

At age thirteen, it was "The heavens cherish all those who learn to give massages to their mothers."

After she turned sixteen, the letters started to address her directly, telling her about the best study habits and a secret technique called "Squats."

Emily grinned as she again thanked the heavens and especially that she had something more important guiding her than her meddlesome mother.

Getting off the ground, she pumped her fist in the air, failing to contain her excitement.

"Thank you for watching over me, heavens." She said, calming her racing heart.

Although she didn't know it, a pair of eyes was truly staring at her, just not the ones she would've expected.

Leaving the demon-infested room, she recognized the couch and living room where she had been "converted" as she knew now.

"My Prince!" She yelled in excitement, seeing Ryan lying on the couch. Running, she leapt off the ground and threw herself into Ryan's embrace. "I missed you so much!"

Kissing his forehead, she questioned, "Do you know why there's a demon in your room?"

"Why aren't you answering me? Ryan? Ryan!" Calling out, she started to shake his limp body, realizing something was terribly wrong.

===

Steam from the tea warmed her lips as she delicately held the China cup, enjoying the scene.

The duchess sat alone in her dark room, laser-focused on the hologram in front of her.

"Oh, my darling, Emily, you are still so innocent. You still believe that the heavens are your personal guide and not your mother. Someday you'll realize how much you love me."

Seeing Emily frantically shaking Ryan, she sighed. "It doesn't matter how much you shake him, darling. He won't wake up. He's been asleep for five days. And you, my sweetheart, have been asleep for longer."

"You don't even know your bastard of a bother is dead."

"I even got blood on my favorite dress trying to clean him up," Frowning as she remembered the disgusting procedure.

Sipping her hot tea, she watched as her daughter continue to cry and shake Ryan.

===

A familiar grey mist surrounded Ryan, clouding his senses. Unlike his previous visions, he was not close-up spectating something. This time, he was high in the sky, flying on the back of a raven.

He overlooked a vast mountain range as he flew, gazing in awe at their snow-covered peaks.

As the raven started to dive, Ryan saw a small clearing inside the mountain range, squeezed between two smaller cliffs.

Lower and lower, the raven dove until Ryan could make out the scene, but he wished he had dismounted and run away.

All around were the dead, dying, blood-spattered and broken. A lone man stood, his blade radiating, thirsting for blood. In his expert hands, the sword sang sweet songs of death while his body was crowned in crimson.

Blood was the lubrication of life, but also death, and he gloried in it.

Ryan looked at the indescribable butchery–the bodies no longer resembled anything human.

The man raised his head and stared at the sky, his eyes growing hot with hate.

Thunder rolled across the land like the haunting images that replayed in Ryan's mind of what he'd done. Images of who he'd been.

"I hate you!" The man's voice was ice cold and sharp as a scalpel. "Humanity!"

Lightning struck, and in the flash, the terrible truth was revealed.

The man was Ryan.