NOVEL NEXT Chapter 181: A Walking Paradox
I was still standing.
Everyone else had bent the knee.
The only sounds were the soft hum of the mana vents and Damien's static-filled panicking.
I swear, the bastard was glitching like someone had thrown water on a circuit board.
[YOU'RE DEAD. YOU'RE DEAD. SHE'S—NOAH, RUN!]
"Shut up," I muttered under my breath.
"Just shut the hell up."
My fists were clenched by my sides. I hadn't realized how tense I'd gotten until my fingernails dug into my palm.
The girl was looking at me.
Princess Sia.
But it wasn't just her beauty, it was something else, I don't know why but I almost felt the same presence I did on that Book Of Sin.
It was almost like she wasn't just from another world.
She was above it.
And she hadn't even said a word yet.
King Philip, the old man, looked over the room like he was scanning our souls.
His green eyes locked on me for a brief moment.
That alone made my spine stiffen. I couldn't tell if he was sizing me up or recognizing me.
Maybe both.
He raised a single hand, gesturing lazily.
"At ease."
Just two words—but his voice?
It cracked like thunder.
The pressure in the room lightened slightly. Just slightly.
Erza straightened up slowly. Aurelia helped Dario to his feet, though the idiot still looked like he'd seen a ghost.
Only Seraphina didn't rise.
Because that crazy girl had gone back to sleep.
Of course she had.
"You…" Sia's voice was quiet.
Not soft, not gentle.
Just…quiet.
She was looking straight at me.
My throat felt dry.
"Do you know me?" I asked, trying to keep my voice even.
She tilted her head, studying me like I was some puzzle she couldn't quite solve.
Her obsidian eyes narrowed ever so slightly.
I kept waiting for an answer...but the said answer never came.
It was almost like the girl had some feud with me-
And somehow, that was worse.
Damien screamed again in my head.
[YOU SEE THAT?! SHE KNOWS, NOAH! SHE KNOWS YOU!
WE'RE SCREWED. SCREWED!
SHE'S A CONSTANT.
A FIXED POINT.
A LOOP.
THE KIND OF CONSTANT THAT'S MEANT TO KILL YOU! ALWAYS—]
"I said shut up," I muttered again, louder this time.
King Philip walked further into the room, his presence like a gravity field that pulled all attention.
The guards at the door in front of us stepped back, closing it as if even they didn't want to breathe the same air too long.
"I hope we aren't interrupting," the King said, though we all knew he didn't care if he was.
"Not at all, Your Majesty," Aurelia said, bowing again.
"This private chamber is simply...a courtesy from the house after all."
King Philip nodded once, slowly, then turned his eyes back to me.
"You're Noah, aren't you?"
The way he said my name—it wasn't a question, I realised.
It was confirmation.
"Yes," I replied.
He didn't smile. "Interesting."
That was it.
Just that.
Damien could not stop ranting in my head about how I didn't find it weird that the old King of the Jade kingdom was specially asking for me.
The only problem was that for once, I wasn't listening to him at all.
...my focus just couldn't stop drifting from this 5foot 7inch girl—
Sia stepped beside King Philip, her fingers loosely hanging by her side.
Her tattoos shimmered faintly in a way I now noticed matched the glow of my own system's interface.
Damien hadn't calmed down, not even for a second.
I didn't know what it meant. But I hated it.
Erza moved first. "Your Majesty," she said, "Is it true then? About the Hollows?"
King Philip glanced her way. "Truth is a fickle thing in a world crafted by lies. But yes. The war never ended. It only...paused."
And just like that, every muscle in Erza's body tensed again.
Sia took a step forward, her eyes never leaving me.
Aurelia looked between us, visibly confused but smart enough to keep quiet.
Dario...well, he was still kinda just staring at Sia like she was a divine being carved from a fever dream.
And honestly?
I didn't blame him.
But I also hated that he wasn't seeing what I was seeing.
This girl?
She wasn't just some hot royalty.
She was a walking paradox.
A dangerous variable in a world I was already struggling to understand.
King Philip started walking towards the glass balcony, but Sia paused for just a moment longer.
That unreadable look in her eyes again as she slowly walked towards her father in front of us, showing her whole naked back to the lot of us, along with the black dress that perfectly fit her curves.
No one moved or spoke as the father and daughter pair continued looking at the crowd below.
It was like the oxygen had been vacuumed out of the room and replaced with a cocktail of anxiety, sweat, and something unspoken.
Dario, of course, was the first to try and break it.
"So…" he said, clapping his hands awkwardly at the lot of us as we all gathered a little closer to each other. "Royalty, huh? Bet you all feel really underdressed now."
We all turned to look at him.
He immediately looked away, pretending to find something fascinating about the ceiling vent, then again, in front of Sia...all of us looked like just some lot of side characters.
Aurelia rolled her eyes, then gave a dramatic sigh. "Noah, next time a literal princess locks eyes with you like you're her long-lost…whatever, maybe don't stare back like a wet kitten.
You looked like you were gonna faint."
I didn't reply.
I didn't have the energy too after all.
I was too busy trying to calm my racing heartbeat.
Well...partly because according to the Book of Sin, this girl is supposed to be the death of me.
And partly because looking at her lone back along with King Philips, a memory of my childhood resurfaced, making me almost pale in comparison.
...this wasn't the first time we've met.
***