Chương 3: Death Flag

Cecilia Von Rosenkreuz was one of the most important characters in Luminarie of Love and Its Hidden Nightmare, mainly because she was the direct rival of the main protagonist and, throughout the original story, had done more than enough crazy and downright lunatic things to make sure that no one could ever forget her name.

She was the kind of character who could turn an ordinary situation into a complete disaster without even trying, and while I had always found her actions entertaining when I was playing the game, standing in front of the actual Cecilia Von Rosenkreuz was a completely different matter. Especially when those cold, bloodthirsty eyes were looking directly at me. For a moment, I could feel an uncomfortable chill spreading through my body as the murderous intent coming from her seemed to fill the entire space around us.

It wasn't something I could easily explain, nor was it something I wanted to experience again, because the way she was looking at me made it very clear that if she decided to kill me right there, she probably wouldn't lose a single night's sleep over it. [Sovereign Composure activated.] The moment the system notification appeared, the suffocating sensation disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. I took a step closer to Cecilia. [Supreme Butler activated.] Then, as naturally as I could, I reached into my pocket and pulled out a clean white handkerchief before raising it toward her face and gently wiping away the sweat that had gathered on her forehead. Cecilia didn't say anything. She simply stood there and allowed me to finish what I was doing, her expression remaining as cold and unreadable as ever. Once I was satisfied that there wasn't a single trace of sweat left on her face, I lowered the handkerchief and looked at her for a moment before giving a small nod.

"My lady, it's time for your history lecture. You should take your leave. I'll take care of things here." Cecilia didn't immediately answer. Instead, she looked past me toward Baron Himon's son one final time, before turning around and walking away without another word. I watched her leave for a moment before raising my hand and gesturing toward Bella.

"Follow her." Bella understood immediately and hurried after Cecilia, leaving me alone with the people who had remained behind. Once Cecilia was far enough away, I brought my hands together and clapped once.

"Everyone, please resume your duties." My voice wasn't particularly loud, yet the effect was immediate. The people who had been standing around watching the entire situation quickly returned to whatever they had been doing, almost as if they had suddenly remembered that they had places to be and work that needed to be done. Within a short while, the area had emptied. Everyone had left except for Baron Himon's son, Crris and his attendant. I slowly walked toward them.

Crris seemed to realize what was about to happen, because his expression immediately became tense, but before he could react, I reached out and placed my hand on top of his head. His attendant instinctively moved forward, clearly intending to intervene, but before he could take another step... [Sovereign Aura activated.]"Stay." The word came out calmly, almost casually, but the effect was immediate.

The attendant froze in place, his entire body becoming stiff as the overwhelming pressure of my aura forced him to remain exactly where he was. I ignored him and looked down at Crris.

"Sir Crris, you've been a good friend of my lady for quite some time now, so I'm sure you understand why I'm having this conversation with you." I paused for a moment before continuing.

"What happened today must not reach Baron Himon's ears." Crris's body began to tremble slightly.

"Because if he does hear about what happened today, it will inevitably become a problem for my lady." I leaned down slightly so that I could look directly into Crris's eyes, since I was considerably taller than him.

"And I can't have that." I gave him a small smile.

"So, do I have your word?"

"Yes, Mr. Edwin." His answer came almost immediately. I smiled.

"Good." The moment those words left my mouth, a faint green light began to glow around my hand. [Butler's Care activated.] The change happened almost instantly. One by one, Crris's broken teeth began to grow back, the damaged areas repairing themselves as though they had never been broken in the first place. The injuries he had suffered disappeared along with them, and before even a minute had passed, he had returned to the condition he had been in before the confrontation.

I removed my hand from his head and looked at him for a moment.

"It's getting late. You should go home now." [Sovereign Aura deactivated.] The oppressive force disappeared, and Crris's attendant immediately regained control of his body. I gave them both a polite bow before turning around and leaving them alone. Only after I had walked far enough away that neither of them could hear me did I finally let out the breath I had been holding. My heart was beating far faster than it should have been. I just threatened the son of a noble.

I swallowed nervously as the reality of what I had just done finally began to sink in. __ I was back in my room. I closed the door behind me and walked over to the chair near the window before sitting down, letting my body sink into the comfortable seat. For a few seconds, I simply stared at the ceiling, going over everything that had happened today and, more importantly, trying to figure out just how badly I had managed to mess things up. There was no point in guessing, though.

If I wanted answers, there was only one thing I needed to do.

"Status." The moment I uttered the word, a translucent blue window appeared in front of me.

STATUS WINDOW EDWIN MISTBORN LV.

62 Age: 21 Race: Human Title: Villainess' Butler Class: Magic Swordsman RESOURCE MP 20, 000 / 20, 000 MANA CAPACITY ATTRIBUTES STAMINA 80 STRENGTH 100, 000 AGILITY 80 ENDURANCE 10, 000 WILLPOWER 599 LUCK 100 SKILLS Butler's Care LEVEL-5 Jack of All Trade LEVEL-7 Imperial Swordsmanship LEVEL-7 TRAITS ◆ Sovereign Composure ◆ Supreme Butler ◆ Sovereign Aura ◆ Bond [UNIQUE TRAIT] ◆ Aura Master CURRENT OBJECTIVE — NONE — SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ● +1 This novel is published on a different platform.

Support the original author by finding the official source. I clicked on the Bond trait. The status window flickered for a moment before the information expanded, revealing a new panel beneath it.

UNIQUE TRAIT BOND SOUL-BINDING CONTRACT BOUND TARGET Cecilia Von Rosenkreuz Relationship: Master & Butler Bond Level: 1 BOND PARAMETERS VILLAINESS REPUTATION -100 VILLAINESS AFFECTION 10 SHARED FATE ACTIVE LIFE LINK ACTIVE CURRENT EFFECTS ◆ Shared Life If Cecilia Von Rosenkreuz dies, Edwin Mistborn will die as well. ◆ Master's Protection The bearer instinctively recognizes threats directed toward the bound master.

◆ Butler's Instinct The closer the bound master is to death, the stronger the bearer's instinct to protect her becomes. ◆ Emotional Resonance Strong emotions experienced by the bound master may affect the bearer when the bond reaches a higher level. ◆ Fate Connection Actions that significantly alter the fate of the bound master may cause the bond to evolve. BOND CONDITION The bond will grow stronger as trust, loyalty, and affection between the two parties increase. WARNING!

The death of the bound master will result in the immediate death of the bearer. — -100 in Reputation. I stared at the number for a while, unable to stop myself from wondering just how badly things had gone for Cecilia for her Reputation to reach a number like this. In the original novel, Reputation wasn't simply a measure of how much people disliked a character. It was more like an invisible weight attached to someone's name, one that influenced how the world itself seemed to treat them.

The lower someone's reputation became, the more enemies they tended to attract, the more easily they became involved in conflicts, and the more frequently they found themselves caught on the wrong side of someone else's story. There had been plenty of characters in the novel whose Reputation had fallen below -50, and while they hadn't necessarily died simply because their Reputation had reached that point, their lives had a strange tendency to become progressively worse afterward.

A careless insult could turn into a duel. A misunderstanding could develop into a political conflict. An enemy who might have otherwise been willing to let things go could suddenly decide that ruining their life was worth the effort. It was as though the world itself began pushing back against them, creating one unfortunate situation after another until even the smallest mistake was enough to cause a much bigger problem. And Cecilia had already reached -90 when I first arrived in this world.

Now, in just one week, she had somehow managed to push it all the way down to -100. I couldn't even begin to understand how she had accomplished something like that. She wasn't simply disliked anymore. At this point, it felt as though the entire world had personally decided that Cecilia Von Rosenkreuz was someone worth making miserable. How she was still managing to live her life relatively normally was honestly a mystery to me. Then again, I couldn't exactly complain about it.

If something happened to Cecilia, the Bond would make sure that I shared the same fate, which meant that keeping her alive had stopped being merely a matter of loyalty toward my master and had instead become one of the most important requirements for my own survival. I let out a quiet sigh as I looked at the Trait again. There was still one thing I couldn't understand. Why did I even have a trait like Bond in the first place?

I had never heard of a Trait that could connect two people's lives so completely, let alone one that came with such an obvious condition. Traits were supposed to be advantages, something unique that gave their owner an edge over everyone else, but this particular Trait felt strangely different. If my master died, I died with her. That sounded less like a gift and more like someone had taken a curse, wrapped it in pretty packaging, and decided to call it an ability.

I took another deep breath and pushed the thought aside, because there was no point in dwelling on something I couldn't change. Whatever the reason behind the Bond was, I would figure it out eventually. For now, there was something else demanding my attention. The system notification. My eyes shifted toward the small +1 displayed at the bottom of the status window, and after staring at it for another moment, I finally reached out and clicked on it.

The moment my finger touched the notification, the entire status window flickered. SYSTEM NOTIFICATION A major change has occurred in the fate of a key character. WARNING The following event was not present in the original timeline. TIMELINE DEVIATION DETECTED Cecilia Von Rosenkreuz Has been exiled from the Rosenkreuz Family. ("..") What?