A beautiful face.


    That was what stared back at me in the mirror. A face that was going to be the end of me. The Duke hated the royal family. The kind of hate that made him lose reason. If I appeared in front of him with this face, he would kill me.


    The book did not mention it, but I was pretty sure Aphra did not have this face. That boy had the Darkness element. I did not. The face told me I had the Blade element. That meant that something had changed. Had I somehow activated the bloodline hidden within him? A bloodline was known to change a person’s elements after all.


    That would explain the face too.


    But the problem remained. I could not continue living in this mansion with this face. I had to get out of here. The issue was how.


    I could walk out of here and start walking in a random direction, hoping I would reach the borders. For reasons I need not even think about, that was a stupid idea. Leif or someone else would catch me before I got far. That was why I required magic. A spell to help me hide would go a long way in helping me escape.


    But I did not have the Darkness element, and that was that. I did not know if the other elements even had spells that helped someone hide. What even were the chances I could find them here? I could try, I suppose.


    There really wasn’t much loss in trying. What else could I do? I required a plan. Just one idea wouldn’t work. I needed more. What would help me? What events happened in the book that could help me?


    The Eldanveir continent wasn’t very explored. In fact the author seemed to be avoiding it, for some reason. Even finishing off Leif behind the scenes instead of giving a good battle. I swear, I get angry every time I think of it. That’s it, I was going to call the book a Trashy Novel from now on. If I had to live in it, I got to call it names.


    But that''s beside the point. I needed to think of things that could help me gain more magic. There were plenty I could think of, opportunities that the protagonist or one of the side characters got.


    …and none of them were near me. I needed to go to different continents for them. Wait a second. That wasn’t true. There was one thing I could do. A way for me to gain some help in escaping.


    The Court of Justice.


    A multiversal court that took seven hundred and twenty-nine applicants every second. The Monarch of Justice himself would dispense justice, helping those that could not stand up for themselves.


    I qualified! That was how the protagonist had escaped from his life as a slave. The Monarch could do that for me too. But, err, the applicants were decided by random chance from across the universe. The odds were against me. Well, that wasn’t exactly true. Mana chose them. And a proper Story could influence mana.


    Did mine count?


    I looked at the air, wondering if mana would care to reply. Of course, mana remained silent. So in the end I did not know. The Trashy Novel had struck again. I only had vague statements and scattered information to go by when dealing with Story magic. Not the kind of thing I wanted to have when dealing with something as important as the Court of Magic.


    But I was going to try anyway. This was going to be my Plan A. I would name it ‘Lottery’. Cause getting into the Court of Justice really was like winning the lottery. Now how do I go about increasing my chances at this lottery? I could ask mana for it.


    I raised my head, pulled my shoulders back and put a smile on my face as I stared at the air. “Hello, mana! I would like you to allow me to step into the Court of Justice, so that I may escape from this situation!”


    I pushed the smile on my face to be even wider, stretching my cheeks as I waited for a response. There was none. Of course. Mana wasn’t the kind of thing that replied to random people like me.


    Well one could hope.


    Now onto the plan that was a little less dependent on luck. I needed to get to a library. The Eldanveir should have a place with spellbooks. I did not know if I would be allowed in there, but it would not be too weird for me to try. And if there were any spells inside that I could learn, it would be of great help to me.


    I should go looking for the butler first. Perhaps he would know where the library was. Yes, that was a good place to start.


    I opened the door, my head still in my thoughts as I stepped forward. And crashed right into someone. The force of the crash pushed me onto the door, slamming my elbow against solid wood in a manner that hurt quite a bit.


    The girl I crashed into had it worse. Falling right onto the floor, she clutched her head as if it was about to burst open.


    “Are you alright?” I asked, limping forward from my position to peer down at her. Even from the distance I could see bruises littered across her arms, her fingers having far too many scars for someone her age. There were black circles under her eyes, as if she had not slept in days.


    The woman looked like she had been abused. The maid uniform told me who she had been abused by. The woman looked up with confusion flashing across her face as she tried to figure out what was going on.


    I guess she hadn’t expected someone looking like me around here. Blonde hair and red eyes probably weren’t a common sight around here. The confusion on her expression cleared, recognition flashing through her eyes before being replaced with fear. If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    The woman stood up, even as her knees buckled under her weight and she looked like she was a strong breeze away from collapsing. The woman stood up and bowed.


    “I beg your forgiveness for this shameful display, my lord. Please forgive me for not -”


    “Please don’t.” I said, a hand clutching my forehead in frustration as she began trying to get into a kneeling position.


    With how she was acting, I was sure that she was the maid. An injured maid that had clearly been abused and was just about trembling in terror. With how easily maids were killed around here, there was little need to even ask why.


    “Come with me, let''s get you patched up.” I said, trying to help the woman off the floor. The woman was surprisingly heavy. Or this body was just that week. I couldn’t really tell.


    “Please, my lord, there’s no need for you to go through such effort. I am fine.” the woman said, lifting herself off the floor with much effort.


    “What are you talking about? Look at your condition!”


    The woman just pushed me away. “Please, I do not wish to trouble you any further for the sake of someone as worthless as me.”


    I turned to her, wondering what she was on about now when I saw the look in her eyes. There was still fear in there, more than before even, but there was also suspicion. A lot of fear and distrust.


    The woman found my actions suspicious. I suppose I was acting rather strange for an Eldanveir. Hmm, I did have something I could try. A dialogue I had seen many a protagonist pull off with great success. Even if I didn’t really get how it worked, I could try it out.


    “I am simply doing this for my sake. How are you to serve me if you are so injured?”


    The woman’s eyes narrowed even further, her suspicion only increasing. That didn’t work. I had to try something else. At this point I wasn’t even sure why I was doing this. The woman clearly did not want my help. I might be better off letting her deal with it herself. Perhaps she would be better off too.


    I did not know where the first aid kit was kept. Did they even have one? Not to mention, would it even help? The woman looked like she had bruising over her body, wounds that had probably healed badly and was so tired that she could faint on her feet.


    Not the kind of injuries I could just fix a bandage over and call it a day. Heck, I didn’t even know where to start with those injuries.


    “How about you get some rest while I look for the library? I was going to leave anyway.” I said while leading her into what looked like a servant’s bed in a little part of its own in the room. I had expected her to have difficulty walking, but surprisingly enough, she seemed more than able. The pain she had been showing earlier seemed to fade from her face, replaced with a blank expression.


    The woman eyed the bed before turning to me. “A servant’s place is by her -”


    “Please, you can barely stand. I insist.” I countered. The woman just stared back at me. I pulled another card from my trope list. This one I had great confidence in.


    “I order you to get some rest.” I announced. The woman looked at me with a blank expression on her face.


    “As you wish, my lord.” she replied, bowing slightly as she spoke without a hint of emotion in her voice. Then she moved to the bed and sat down, mechanically moving to lay herself down on the bed.


    Even though she made it look like she did not care, I could see her body relax just from laying down. The woman was too exhausted to hide her pain, though I could see that she wanted to. That was why I decided to leave it alone.


    “Do you happen to know where the library is? Oh, and what’s your name?”


    The maid looked at me groggily, her eyes already drooping. “No, and…the name’s Elena, my lord. Elena of Burtinder.”


    The woman fell asleep, but I kept looking at her, frozen in shock. If she had been awake she would have seen my face twist with horror as I realized who she was. This woman was a named character in the Trashy Novel. A character far more important than Aphra’s.


    Elena of Burtinder was the protagonist’s elder sister. The elder sister that raised him and protected him when he was young. The sister that had been sold off to Eldanveir and caused the protagonist to target them.


    There was another thing that was mentioned in the Trashy Novel about her. Not long after she arrived at the mansion, she died. The book did not mention why, but it was what sent the protagonist into a mad rage against the Eldanveir.


    And now she had become my maid.


    This was ridiculous. I didn''t need to test my ‘cheat’ anymore. Whatever else may be false, this was real. Story magic, that ridiculous, literally reality altering magic was real. I had barely taken an action in line with a protagonist and there it was.


    A main character had literally just come to me. Just like it did in books. I did not know whether to be excited or scared. I looked at the woman who already looked like she would die easily. Then at the broken window which had been pierced by Leif’s spear.


    If she happened to die under my care…what were the chances the protagonist would hear me out? Just about none, I was sure. But if I could save her, perhaps help her somehow, then it would be golden.


    The protagonist would become my ally. Story magic had given me a great opportunity. The chance to be friends with the person that would go on to become one of the most powerful people in the world. A person I knew was good, and would protect me if it came down to it. The problem of escaping still remained, but I had hope for what lay after.


    As long as I could escape with her, it would be fine. Elena was my ticket to safety.


    I smiled, walking towards the door. I needed to be careful. Leif could decide to kill Elena if I happened to annoy him somehow, or even if he was just in a mood. Yes, I needed to put even more effort into avoiding him—what.


    I tugged at the door once again, twisting the handle over and over in an attempt to open it. The thing wouldn’t budge. Just a second ago, it had opened with ease. Now it was locked. I did not know how.


    Turning around, I walked towards the garden door. As if sensing my approach, black stone blocks came out of the ground to cover the windows, making me jump in surprise. A click sounded from the garden door.


    There was little need for words. The situation was clear by itself. I was trapped. I didn''t even know why. Was this Leif? Had he decided to kill me? Was this perhaps an illusion? Why would he go so far as to make an illusion like this?


    What did he hope to accomplish?


    The lights switched off. I found myself blinded, unable to make out even a door. If there was any sound around me, I could not hear it. I felt horror mount within me, my body shivering as it tried to adapt to what was going on.


    Just one thought came to my mind as I looked around at my new surroundings. A thought that would not go away. A thought that demanded an answer, and yet none seemed forthcoming.


    What in the world was going on?