Author's note: I was too immersed watching Eternal Love of Dream (三生三世枕上书), I forgot to update. Oops! I love Bai Fengjiu and Donghua Dijun too much, I love them more than Bai Qian and Ye Hua. Aakshfhfiekd (fangirling hard).

Xue stared at Zasiok on the bed, his expression contemplative and dark. The marble in his hand glowed brilliantly as it hovered above his palm that was stretched towards Zasiok.  

"We really are the same." Zasiok said weakly, and it was only for Xue to hear. 

"What?" Xue frowned. 

"Other than the colour of our hair and eyes," Zasiok coughed. "We look exactly the same." 

"..."

"And we like the same woman."

"...?!"

Zasiok slowly turned to look at Cecil, who was standing beside Hana and his parents. Cecil was staring blankly into space, earning a few concerned glances from Hana.

"...a smile really suits her better." Zasiok mumbled softly. “Why does she look like that?”

"I...like her?" Xue furrowed his eyebrows, the marble slowly losing its glow. "What kind of like are you talking about?"

"Exactly like what I said," Zasiok frowned this time. "Cecil Lan, a woman that I like."

The marble stopped hovering, dropping back onto Xue’s palm and Zasiok could see the scowl present on Xue’s face. 

“Shut up, stop saying that.” Xue growled out, hastily resuming the soul absorption process.

“See, I told you, we are the same, we like the same woman.” Zasiok grinned, speaking coherently despite his drifting consciousness. “The only reason you would react like this is because you are jealous.” 

“Jealous?” Xue was visibly confused, the marble going back to its brilliant glow. “What the hell is that?” 

That response made Zasiok lift his eyebrows. “You don’t know what jealousy is?”

“Am I supposed to know?” 

“...to think the actual owner of my soul is this dense,” Zasiok chuckled and coughed at the same time. “Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad to combine souls with you after all.”

Kai: “That explains the weird anger I keep feeling from you when you look at him and Cecil."

Xue: “...”

Xue: “...what?”

Kai shrugged.

Xue: “..."

Alric couldn’t help snorting, and once he realised he was laughing at Xue, Alric gasped and ducked his head. Thankfully, Xue disregarded it and concentrated on assimilating his soul with Zasiok, the marble glowing even brighter. 

“What do you mean by dense?”

"You'll understand it,” Zasiok closed his eyes, smiling. “Someday.”

Seeing this, Xue was immediately reminded of Kai when he absorbed Kai’s soul, and Zasiok even smiled in the same manner. 

***

The next moment Zasiok opened his eyes, he knew he had been absorbed, since the environment he was in was completely different. It was a humongous white space that was separated into various rooms, however, other than four rooms that stood out, the rest looked the same. 

One room seemed like a room that belonged in a dormitory, while another room seemed filled to the brim with a diverse amount of goods. The remaining two rooms were bleak and cold, as if it was a resting place for the dead. 

In the center of the white space, there was a lobby area which only purpose seemed to be for everyone to gather around. The lobby area was well-furnished with couches and cushions that followed a rustic vibe, the lighting around the area gave off a certain warmth.

Zasiok saw two different figures seated on the couch in the lobby area, one was a yellow-haired man, while the other was a black-haired man. The yellow-haired man was sitting on the cushion in a rather bold manner compared to the black-haired man who sat politely on the couch. 

Zasiok walked towards them, alerting the two men who were conversing quietly.

Kai: “Yo.” 

Kai gave Zasiok a casual wave.

Alric: “He-hello again.” 

Alric bowed slightly. 

Zasiok was mystified by this sudden development, glancing around once more and pointing towards Alric. 

Zasiok: “...Alric?”

Zasiok: “...I can talk?!” 

Kai grinned, he knew another room would soon appear, and he had another person to educate in the matters of communicating inside the mind.

***

[ Secret Mission #3: Zasiok, the Bodyguard
Objective completed!
Reward: 3270 points
Remaining points: 9000 points ]

Cecil was still unable to get over the fact that she had charmed another alter of Xue, who was supposed to belong to Hana. 

Did...did I ever seduce Zasiok? What exactly did I do to even capture another one of the lord protagonist’s alter? 

She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, especially since Zasiok was the one who saved her life by getting hit by the poisoned arrow, instead of her.

Cecil has never felt so lost in her entire life.

[ You are 1000 points away from achieving 10,000 points!
Once you reach 10,000 points, more items will be unlocked in the shop~ ]

With the system reminding her of the shop, Cecil recalled herself falling through the air and the system that had exasperated her, almost to the point where she wanted to puke blood. 

“I never want to see the shop ever again!” 

[ We apologise, Cecil Lan, the Points Shop is a necessary function that comes with every transmigration system for all users. ] 

“The only good thing about the shop was the confetti!”

[ You will unlock more items in the future~ ] 

Cecil was sure those items would be equally useless as the angel wings that served no other purpose other than making one look pretty.

[ And the confetti saved the lives of both you and the protagonist, didn’t it? ] 

“It only saved me…” 

Thinking about how Zasiok jumped in to save her, Cecil felt an overwhelming sense of guilt and sadness. Especially hearing the soft sobs from the elderly woman behind her, no matter what, it was difficult to witness their son’s body dissipating into the air, leaving nothing behind.

“Cecil, are you okay?” Hana questioned, jolting Cecil out from her reverie. 

“Why are you asking that?” 

"You have been staring blankly into the air the entire time, it looks very strange." Hana pouted, concerned. 

"I'm okay," Cecil inhaled deeply, taking hold of Hana’s hands. “And I am so sorry, Hana, for everything.” 

For stealing the hearts of the alters that originally belonged to you!

Hana tilted her head, frowning in puzzlement. "What are you saying sorry for?"

Right after Cecil apologised to Hana, she left Hana’s side and rushed to Zasiok’s parents, bowing slightly, and this gesture of hers shocked them. 

Hana only followed after Cecil, still puzzled.

“I’m so sorry, if only I hadn’t been so careless, Zasiok wouldn’t have…” 

“It’s alright, Cecil,” his mother sniffled, patting her shoulder, her voice holding a hint of melancholy. “Zasiok has thrown his own life away to help others many times, you aren’t the first. This son of ours, never changes…” 

“But I was the one who…”

“My son definitely didn’t regret saving you, in fact, he seemed more than willing.” his father spoke this time. “Moreover, his soul is still living, isn’t it?” 

“You speak of me as if I’m dead,” a new voice intruded their conversation. “Or as if I have moved on to a place far, far away from here.”  

All of them spun around to look at the man behind Cecil, he resembled Xue completely but his demeanour was completely different from that of Xue. 

“Zasiok!”

Cecil was shocked to see Zasiok out so quickly, she assumed that Xue wouldn’t let him out immediately. 

“Zasiok,” she asked softly. “Xue...let you out?” 

“He did, it feels really strange, especially seeing two more other souls in my mind,” Zasiok glanced down at his body, shrugging. “But it’s alright, I’ll take what I can get.” 

“Is that so?” Cecil smiled. “That’s a relief to hear.” 

Upon seeing their son alive and well, albeit in another body, the elderly couple broke down in tears. Zasiok immediately went forward to comfort them.

The door to the hut burst open just then, revealing Kian who stood at the doorway, panting heavily. 

***

Since they were in a dirty and messy state, they would only present themselves in front of the queen after cleaning up. It was yet another trip to the shower room. 

Kian had given the robe to the queen, and tracked down the witness that Zasiok tried so hard to protect. With this crucial evidence along with the key witness, the king’s crime was soon exposed to the queen. 

Zasiok did not want his parents to come along, afraid of aggravating the queen any further, after all, it has become a sensitive topic, to have the king as the culprit. How could the queen bear to let her citizens know?

After hearing what had happened to Zasiok, Kian found it difficult to look at Xue as Zasiok. Nevertheless, Kian needed to show what had happened to the king, to get justice for his loyal ex-bodyguard. 

“Is...is this all really true?” the queen stood up from her throne, glancing down at the king who was being held down by the guards. “Why would you even do this? And do this to me? To Kian?” 

The king tried to lunge for Kian when he was summoned before the queen, and Kian began to state the evidence against him, along with bringing in the key witness.

The king laughed wickedly, his immaculate and composed mein long gone. “Other than holding the title of the king of this continent, what other power do I have?” 

“Po-power…?”

“Do you not hear the rumours about me?" the king spat out bitterly. "They say I'm just here to act as a decoration, a placeholder. I...am absolutely nothing."

The queen stood up from her seat, her face twisting with anger. "You did all this to us, just for some power? And some rumours?!"

"You'll never understand, Selene Melody Bluethorn Hazellily." 

Cecil, who have finally heard the queen's name for the first time, was completely bewildered. 

That's the queen's name? Wh-what kind of a name is that?! Which name do you even call her?!

She glanced around with wide eyes, no one except her was baffled by the name. 

[ Congratulations, this is the sixth plothole of the story and you have discovered it! ]

[ Optional Mission #8: The Queen's Name
Objective completed!
Reward: 100 points 
Remaining points: 9100 points ]

"...the objective was just to figure out the queen's name?"

[ Yes, that is correct. 
You weren't expecting to call her the queen forever, did you? What if you met another queen? ]

"That's true, but...what kind of ridiculous name is that? What do people call her?"

[ Selene Melody Bluethorn Hazellily. ]

"They really call her by the entire name? That's a mouthful!"

[ That is why people rarely call the queen by her name~ ]

Cecil did a facepalm internally. If she ever saw the lazy author for this novel, she would definitely question them for their choices in naming a royalty. She would then proceed to strangle them for this ridiculous "frame the loyal bodyguard" plot that they created. 

She glanced at the ash blonde-haired man beside her, feeling utterly sad. 

This silly plot made Zasiok suffer so much, that's so unfair. 

Xue had switched back to himself long ago, and Zasiok was currently witnessing this moment through Xue's eyes. 

"I'll never understand? After the pain you put me through?!" Selene Melody Bluethorn Hazellily exclaimed, gnashing her teeth. "Guards, arrest that man!"

They apprehended him swiftly, and the king's shoulders shook with mirth. "Your benevolence is actually another form of cruelty, my dearest queen."

"Cruelty…?" she was taken aback and Kian rushed to her side at once. 

"Do not listen to his silly words, Your Majesty." Kian reassured. "Your sincerity and benevolence is what differentiates you from the royalty of the other kingdoms."

"You are kind and impartial, and that is exactly the problem!" the king rambled on even more.

Kian narrowed his eyes at the lunatic king. "Stand firm, Your Majesty, do not listen to the prattles of a demented man.”

"Stand firm. Yes, I will, I have to," she bit on her lower lip. "Along with committing treason as the king of this country, you even tried to pin your own crime on an innocent man that you murdered as well! I, the queen of Han, hereby sentence you to life imprisonment!"

"Just wait and see, one day, you'll be the demise of your own precious kingdom--

The guards hastily dragged him away, gagging him. They knew better to allow these venomous words to seep into their benevolent queen's mind. 

She sank back into her throne, letting out a shaky sigh as she rested her forehead on her palm. “I am...so sorry, I need to rest and I will summon all of you once again, when I am of sound mind.” 

Kian supported her, giving Xue a conflicted look as they were escorted by the guards. Zasiok didn’t want to let anyone other than his master and parents know about his “situation”. It was better for everyone to assume he was dead, to avoid complications. 

To have the king brought to justice, that was what he wanted all along.  

[ Mission #7: The Ugly Truth
Objective completed!
Reward: 6000 points
Remaining points: 15100 points ]

[ Congratulations! You have unlocked new content in the Points Shop!
Would you like to browse the Points Shop right now-- ] 

“I don’t care about your stupid shop! Go away!” 

[ … ]

[ ...I will take my leave now. ]

If AI500 mentioned about the shop one more time, Cecil felt like she would die of frustration. The shop did nothing to help her while she was on her way to her death! Moreover, the most useless thing in the shop, the confetti, was unexpectedly the one that helped her. She wanted to question the “Transmigration World System” that created such a redundant shop. 

Someone burst into the throne room, startling Cecil and Hana while Xue glanced indifferently at  the door. 

“Where are they?!” 

The person’s eyes were wide as they searched the area, and Cecil flinched back since she recognised that person instantly. 

It was their teacher, Gom, that accompanied them on this journey to Puleun, to meet the queen. 

Cecil remembered his last few words to them was to not get involved and to set off as quickly as possible. 

Uh oh. 

Is...is he going to explode on us? 

***

《 start 》

Jealousy.

The reason behind the burning rage in my chest when I see them together.

Jealousy.

The reason I detest hearing someone say they like her.

This is...jealousy?

This is what someone feels when they...like someone?

I have never felt this before with Hana, with anyone.

This "like" is definitely different from what I feel towards Hana.

You are the first, Cecil Lan.

You are the first to make me feel this way.

And I, somehow, do not dislike that fact.

《 stop 》