I entered the store with Ardeat right behind me and was immediately struck with awe at the huge selves of magic gems before me. They were all placed carefully and well organized. They even had this thing board of wood floating in front of them with magic that stated their names and abilities along with their prices.

"Good evening ladies. How may I attend to you?" A voice called out from behind us instantly earning my attention.

An elderly, friendly-looking man appeared behind us dressed in graceful formal attire and bowing with his right hand placed on his chest and his left placed behind his back which led me to the conclusion that he must be the one who ran this whole thing. He had beautiful light blue eyes which shone brightly in the light, and white hair slicked back which glistened from all the gel in it. But... Why would he personally come here to assist us himself?

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you again, my lady." The man gave a knowing smile that immediately caused my eyebrows to knit together in confusion.

'The game never mentioned Sovine coming to any other store other than gowns and jewelry...' My lips pressed into a thin line as I stared down at the mysterious man with a friendly appearance that hardly matched the look in his eyes.

'So how the hell does he know me?' I had already had magic done on me from the seal that Ardeat and I shared to change my hair and eye color to the same as hers beforehand so even if he had heard about me due to all those previous scandals and drama Sovine had brewed he shouldn't be able to recognize me from just that much.

"No need to be so wary my lady." He let out a hearty laugh as he watched my expression closely.

"Wary? Oh my, what reason could I possibly have to be wary?" I gave him a confused look.

"Is there a reason?" I looked down at him observingly in an attempt to read his friendly expression and body language to my words.

'Am I being too obvious? I didn't smile while saying that though most people usually would since I'm sure Sovine would scowl instead- Oh, shit... I wasn't supposed to act how Sovine usually would...' I immediately began internally panicking realizing that I had been trying to act like Sovine so much to not seem suspicious for so long that now I even forgot that I wasn't supposed to act like her.

"..." Both the old man and I remained silent as I continued looking down at him expressionlessly trying to not show him any emotions and make this situation worse as he suddenly let out a soft yet amused chuckle.

"Of course not. What possible reason could a lady such as herself have to be wary of this humble shop of mine?" He finally arose from his bow.

"But I'm afraid that this place might be a little too shabby for your liking. After all, I doubt any ordinary commoner could afford such delicate material for their attire..." The elderly man continued with a gentle smile as his brows furrowed a big in a disappointed manor which I didn't wuite understand.

"Or do you mean to tell me that is somehow possible?" The elder added a moment later with a sweet smile which completely contradicted the hateful look in his eyes.

'He knows exactly who I am...' I looked down at him observingly watching his every move.

'But how?' I immediately began imitating his sweet close-eyed smile as I debated whether to leave right now and go to some other store or continue with the original plan and just get over with it.

"Of course, not. It seems you have a good eye for these types of things." I replied while closely watching his body language to my response.

"Haha. How flattering it is to hear that from such a lady as yourself." The elderly man immediately replied with a hearty laugh faker than the amount of gel in his slicked-back white hair.

"Oh, please. You give me too much credit. All I did was speak the truth." I let out a soft sweet laugh with my hand hovering over my mouth which made my act look a bit more realistic.

'Sovine was always called the fake duke's daughter and now here I am faking a smile and this whole thing. It feels wrong but you gotta do what you gotta do.' I kept my smile while closely watching the elderly man's body language.

"Of course. Now how may I help you?" The elderly asked holding both his hands behind his back in a casual manner.

'He's good at acting...' I gave him another sweet smile as I shook my head dismissively.

"I believe we'll be fine just on my own but I appreciate the gesture. Have a nice day." I turned around and began walking away knowing that the longer I spoke the more time he had to observe me and uncover who I really was.

"Ardeat." I finally broke my smile once we were far enough.

"Yes, my lady?" Ardeat was starting to feel uneasy from the serious look on my face, she hadn't noticed anything wrong with the "kind and friendly" elderly man but I had.

"Can I trust you to buy a few teleportation gems or talismans and meet me outside the store?" I asked in a hushed voice so that no employee would hear and possibly inform the elderly man we had just met or follow us.

"Of course, my lady!" Ardeat immediately took off to run the errand I had just requested while I stepped out of the store.

"Tsk. A world filled with magic is so complicated..." I sighed thinking about how much easier this would've been back in my world.

Ardeat returned back to me soon after with what I requested and immediately handed them to me. I scanned the area for any eyes watching us before asking Ardeat to follow me which she immediately did without asking any questions.

"Ardeat, which type of occupation do commoners who regularly buy recording gems usually have?" I finally asked turning to Ardeat once we were in a less crowded area.

"That would be photography or filming, my lady." Ardeat responded after pondering about my question for a minute or two.

"You should refrain from calling me "my lady" in the capital, Ardeat." I advised her to which she immediately froze up upon hearing wondering if she had made a mistake.

"Uh... Yes, understood..." Ardeat responded nervously looking very upset that she had made a mistake.

'Does she think I'll get her executed for making the slightest mistake or something?' I wondered seeing her look so scared of making a mistake but soon shrugged it off.

"Would any stores with filming or photography equipment possibly have recording a few gems or talismans in them?" I asked as I turned back around and continued walking at an easy-to-catch-up pace for Ardeat.

"Of course. There are even aisles especially set for recording talismans." Ardeat replied as she quickly recovered from her past mistake once she realized that I wasn't upset at her.

"Where can I find one?" I asked as I continued walking noticing that she always stood two steps behind me but quickly dismissed the thought assuming that it must've been some type of etiquette in this world or something.

"There're many around here. I can draw you a map." Ardeat informed me as she immediately pulled out a book and pen and began drawing a map before I could even respond to her.

"Done!" She exclaimed cheerfully as she handed me a very messily drawn map but I didn't mind as long I could tell the lefts from rights.

"Then can you go to another magic store and get me protection talismans? This much should be enough." I handed her some gold coins and she nodded excitedly and ran off while I stared at the map which I could surprisingly understand... Kind of.

-----

I followed the map and got lost.

"It seems the price of having great knowledge of the world around you is having terrible drawing skills. Nah, I made that up." I muttered as I gazed at the map intently trying to figure out where I was and which direction to go next but soon gave up and put it back into my bag.

"My, my. And who could this beautiful young lady?" A suddenly friendly voice called out followed by an amused laugh.

The lady was wearing a long cape over her head which covered half of her face and also made her look somewhat like snow white's wrinkly old stepmother but she actually seemed pretty young, probably somewhere in her 30s. She had long wavy dark green hair that cascaded down her shoulders elegantly and a mysterious aura around her but one that made it seem as if she knew every little thing about me.

'My gut... Is tingling. Creep alert.' I immediately began pretending as if I didn't hear her and kept walking through the alley with my first priority being to get to a crowded area to avoid any issues.

"Now, now. No need to be so worried. What's your name child?" The lady called out again slightly raising her voice this time.

'Where the hell do you see a child, lady?' At this point, I was considering acting deaf but that probably wouldn't be the best course of action to take in a dark empty alleyway.

Besides, the way this lady called out to me with confidence had some sort of magnetic pull to it which tempted me to react to her. This lady clearly wasn't someone who should be underestimated, she had probably figured out that I was purposely ignoring her as well.

"... Elloise." I finally turned to her and stated the first name that came to mind.

"Your real name?" I immediately felt shivers run down my spine as her lips curved up into an amused smirk seeing my reaction.

I didn't know why, but at that moment when she asked for my real name... It felt as if she was asking for my birth name which was given to me before I had been sent into this world, into this body, into this game.

"Come here." I immediately felt my body obeying her command as it began moving on its own before I could have even fully processed the situation I was currently in.

"Here." The woman grabbed my wrist and flipped it over before placing a book on the palm of my hand.

"Now remember. This book is your lifeline. Never lose it." And with those last words, she crumbled away right in front of me into dust before being carried away from the wind.

'Ah... I can move again...' I looked down at the book in my hand and scanned through the title and cover carefully.

I immediately felt my heart drop to my stomach once I read the title of the book...

The cover showed the side view of the figures of two women standing back-to-back separated by only one red line. One red String.

One woman was facing down with tears rolling down her cheeks and shackles on her wrists as she held her hands under her chin to catch her tears while having vines of thorns wrapped around her body up to her neck as if she was being suffocated and a dark bloody red background with blood splattered around her...

Meanwhile, the other was facing towards the sky with a beautiful wide smile on her face as if looking towards a brighter future while pure white feathers surrounded her along with soft pink petals and a clear sky was provided in the background as she clasped both her hands together and held them to her chest.

And right above them both was written in curved bold white letters...

"The String of Fate"

"What...?" I felt my hands slightly began to tremble as I held the book which I could've sworn felt as if it had just gotten fifty-nine pounds heavier at that moment.

"What the hell is this...?" I couldn't help but feel as if this was much more than a silly sick joke of some kind or just an incredibly huge coincidence.

Could this book have been the rest of the story? The parts I never got to since I kept dying? If so...

'Is the woman covered in thorns...' I instantly felt my stomach churn at the realization.

'Me?'

I knew that throwing this away would be the best course of action considering that it might just be a trap of some sort since it was given to me by a very sketchy lady who looked somewhat like snow white's evil stepmother but remembering the last words the lady said to me, I couldn't bring myself to do so.

"Haa..." I let out an exhausted sigh and I tried to gain back my composure.

'... I can deal with this later. Let's focus on the task at hand first.' I put the book away into my bag and took the map back out as I turned around and began walking out of the alleyway.

"Eh?" My eyebrows furrowed in confusion as I stepped out of the alleyway.

I looked back at the map in confusion, then back to the scene in front of me in even more confusion, and then behind me which just added to my confusion! In front of me was the store written on the map... And there was no longer an alleyway behind me.

'Did... That lady do this? I mean weird that she helped me but at least I won't have to waste my time in trying to understand that map anymore.' I tucked the map back into my bag before I entered the store knowing full well that this might be a trap but not having the energy to care.

In a small store that had many different types of filming equipment, it didn't take me much time or effort to find the aisles with recording talismans, and soon after as I was examining their quality an employee came running to me.

"Good afternoon dear customer!" The employee with dirty blonde hair and gray eyes immediately bowed down at such a speed that I half expected him to accidentally bang his head on the floor.

"Good... Afternoon..." I replied but it sounded more awkward than I had meant to while he remained in the bowed position.

'Isn't that bad for the spine or something?' His back was flat.

"Get up you idiot. You're gonna scare her away." A tall female employee with dark brown hair and wavy hair tied up in a high ponytail and tanned skin along with brown eyes grabbed the back of the male employee's suit and yanked him up while he yelped in surprise before glaring at her.

"I apologize for this idiot. He's just very excited since you're the first customer we've had in quite a while." She let out a hearty laugh easily brushing off the other employee's glare.

"It's fine. I understand." I replied while turning back to the talismans with a blank face.

"Thank you for understanding. How may we help you?" The lady let go of his collar and walked over beside me.

"Can you tell me more about these talismans?" I requested not even bothering to glance at them as I continued examining the talismans.

I knew this might come off to them as rude but I really didn't have the energy to be polite or courteous, not after seeing that book. All I wanted right now was to find some good-quality recording talismans and leave.

"Ah... Of course." The lady seemed a bit irritated by my attitude but soon shook it off and began explaining the properties of the talismans, How long they'll usually have an effect, how to use them, etc.

I knew that Ardeat probably wouldn't have recommended this place to me if its products weren't trustworthy but seeing how empty it was along with what the employees said about not having many customers in a while caused me to feel wary of it. However, the talismans didn't seem to be of poor quality and Ardeat soon also arrived at the store which relieved me slightly since I was in no state of mind to be able to tell faulty products to good quality ones at the moment.

I purchased all the talismans the store had after I felt satisfied with the quality of the talismans which had both the employees jumping with joy while Ardeat was frozen in shock but didn't say anything considering that it was my money and that she did buy quite a big amount of teleportation gems and protection talismans a while ago.

To be continued...

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