The plan

Sigh

Jaden couldn't help but sigh with worry. Firstly, his situation was unique in itself. And then there was the person in front of him.

"What exactly is your plan?"

Jaden and Aliana were sitting on the chairs again now.

"So, to keep it short, you will make your first appearance in high society during the banquet."

Jaden had never appeared in public before. There were countless rumours in high society about Jaden.

"There are bad rumours about the Brimstone family."

Aliana was aware of everything that was going on in high society. She had more than enough connections to gather information like that.

"Bad rumours, like?"

Jaden didn't know anything about it. There were even worse rumours than what he was hearing.

-The young master of the Brimstone family is imprisoned by his own blood-related elder sister.

Listening to Aliana, Jaden understood how absurd and illogical rumours about him were.

"You need to have a grand entry for a lot of reasons."

Aliana kept on speaking. But Jaden wasn't listening to anything she said then. He just sat silently for a while.

Placing a hand on his face, Jaden peered through his fingers at Aliana. He was listening to Aliana without uttering a word.

'This is going to cause a lot of unnecessary troubles.'

Jaden couldn't help but feel anxious about everything that was happening. He closed his eyes for a bit.

'I have no choice but to do it. The questions remain unanswered too.'

Jaden wasn't interested in anything but finding answers to his questions. As his thoughts were a mess, Jaden realised something.

'I... never really thought about going back.'

It was, in fact, the truth. Since waking up in an unfamiliar room and finding himself in someone else's body, Jaden had never once thought about finding a way to return to the earth.

He had no attachments to his original world whatsoever. His everyday life had started to get boring too.

Jaden was still listening to Aliana while his eyes were close.

'Anyway...'

Jaden opened his eyes slowly.

"As I was saying, I have the perfect accessory for you to propose to me tomorrow."

Aliana continued to speak contentedly. Jaden's eyebrows furrowed.

'I need to do something about her.'

Aliana might've been acting as if she were close to Jaden, but Jaden knew for himself that they weren't really close.

Jaden had only one question on his mind: How did she know everything?

That was the last and only thing that made Jaden not stop talking with Aliana.

"Wait. Wait."

Jaden took the hand off his face and made a gesture, asking Aliana to pause her talk.

Aliana stopped speaking at Jaden's words. He took a long breath as soon as Aliana fell silent.

Sigh

"Give me a break."

Slap

Jaden said while hitting his forehead with his palm and moving his head back, looking straight up at the ceiling wall.

"Fine."

Aliana said that and closed her eyes. Folding her arms across her chest, Aliana sat silently.

Jaden looked at her for a bit and kept quiet. He only thought about what would be better to do at that point.

'Should I go with her plan? Or...'

Jaden was feeling tense. But he had already decided his answer.

He shook his head sideways before smiling lightly at himself. It would've been a lie if he said that he wasn't feeling nervous.

'It's obvious, I think.'

Jaden was calm now.

"I will act according to your plans."

It wasn't that Jaden had no choice but to agree to it. He just saw no losses on both ends.

And besides that, there was one more thing that was unclear.

'But why isn't she forcing me to do it?'

Jaden wasn't ever demanded by Aliana to stick to her plan based on their soul contract. She would've forced him, but she didn't ever do that.

"Are you really fine with it?"

Aliana was surprised given how calmly Jaden agreed. She expected him to be confused or weirded out.

The fact that he was asked to marry a person he had just met a while ago for the first time would've been more than enough to make one feel confused.

"I'm fine with it. I've got a lot of questions. Maybe I'll find answers to them with time."

But Jaden wasn't confused. He had simply decided to go with the flow.

'It's not like I can do anything else for now.'

It was the truth. Jaden was in a situation where he needed to be close with Aliana, the only person who knew about his true identity.

"You have got an invitation to the banquet, right?"

Aliana asked while looking at Jaden with questioning eyes.

"How would I know that?"

Jaden had just woken up in an unknown place a few hours ago. He had no answer to Aliana's question.

"True, indeed."

Aliana nodded gently.

"Your sister must've received an invitation. She is the acting head of the family right now."

Jaden was 17 years old. To become the family head, one must be 18 years old. Since Jaden wasn't able to become the family head yet, Julianne was looking after the duchy's affairs.

"Enough of this talk for a while."

Aliana rose from her chair suddenly. She picked up the bracelet on the table and walked towards Jaden.

"Your hand."

Extending her hand, Aliana asked Jaden to hold his hand out.

While being confused, Jaden put his hand in Aliana's hand.

Clink

As she placed the bracelet on Jaden's wrist, Aliana closed her eyes. 

"Try to copy what I do."

Suddenly, a cold feeling spread across Jaden's body. He could feel something on his wrist. He felt it slowly moving through his arm and finally reaching his chest.

'Is this mana?'

Aliana was trying to guide Mana within Jaden's body.

"Follow this."

Aliana let go of Jaden's hand.

Jaden tried to copy what he felt while Aliana was holding his hand. He slowly moved the mysterious power towards his chest and made it spread throughout his body.

Swish

Some sound fell on his ears, and Jaden slowly opened his eyes.

"What?"

Noticing Aliana's look, Jaden questioned. To which Aliana didn't answer for a bit.

"Huh?"

Jaden slowly moved his hand towards his head. The pain he would frequently feel since earlier was no more. His wound had healed.

"That's how you do it. Try to remember it well."

Aliana smiled as if she had achieved something great.

Jaden observed Aliana without saying anything. Just what was the reason behind her actions?

Sigh

"Was that all this bracelet could do?"

Jaden asked with an uninterested expression.

"How rude. It can do a lot more than that. I shall teach you later."

Aliana said it in a nagging tone. Jaden took off the bandages on his head as he heard Aliana.

"Yeah. Yeah. What do we do next?"

Jaden couldn't care less about learning how to use the bracelet.

"We need to go out shopping first."

Aliana was looking out the window again. It was late at night.

"Of course, not right now."

Walking towards the window, Aliana grabbed the handle. A cold wind blew in as she opened the window.

"Hah!"

Aliana exclaimed with a smile. Her cheeks became red because of a sudden change in temperature.

"That feels refreshing. Cold air at late night."

Witnessing her smile, Jaden chuckled.

"Indeed."

It was the first time since waking up in that world that Jaden had laughed honestly. Maybe it was because of Aliana's playful behaviour.

Aliana looked towards Jaden, who was smiling, and turned away for a bit.

"What's wrong?"

Jaden asked while trying to look at Aliana's face.

"It's nothing."

Pushing away Jaden by his chest, Aliana looked at Jaden seriously.

"Hmmm."

She moved her face a bit closer to Jaden's.

"Seeing you up close..."

Jaden was expressionless. He could feel his heart beating faster.

"You do look smart."

Aliana said it in a joking manner.

'What do you mean I 'do look' smart-?' 

Jaden smiled, hiding his anger somehow. 

"Never mind."

Aliana said this while taking Jaden's hand in her hand.

Clink

She took the bracelet from Jaden's hand. Her main goal in putting it on his hand was to get his injury healed.

"Since you are healed, I will be borrowing this for some time."

While saying that, Aliana snapped her fingers, and the bracelet disappeared again.

'What kind of magic even is that? I don't remember mentioning it in my novel.'

Aliana did use magic, but it was never mentioned in the novel. Aside from that type of magic, Aliana herself using magic was shocking enough.

In the novel, Aliana didn't have mana. She was jealous of the female protagonist, who was a genius mage and bullied her.

At the end of the story, Aliana's evil deeds are exposed. Leading to her arrest and execution.

'Why can she use magic?'

Jaden had seen a lot of weird things by now. So he didn't ask Aliana anything. He kept it to himself. 

"Oh? Surprised?"

Aliana said this after observing Jaden's face full of questions.

"This is 'storage magic'. An advanced magic I developed a few years ago."

Jaden was surprised. His unasked question was answered just like that.

"I see."

Jaden tried to avert his gaze. Looking out the window, he kept silent.

Aliana replied with silence too. Before she could say anything, she heard some other voice.

"It's late."

Jaden said as he gazed at the stars in the sky.

"Indeed."

The stars reflected in Aliana's pink eyes. Turning around, Jaden looked at Aliana's eyes.

'Pretty.'

Jaden could think of only one word.

'Like some precious and costly jewel in accessories.'

As he thought about that, he remembered something Aliana had said a while ago. The word 'accessory' was highlighted in that sentence.

-As I was saying, I have the perfect accessory for you to propose to me tomorrow.

"S-say."

Jaden hesitantly opened his mouth.

"What did you mean by having the perfect accessory for tomorrow?"

Looking at the sky, Jaden asked.

"Oh my. I thought you weren't paying attention at all."

Jaden flinched at Aliana's words. He wasn't totally attentive when Aliana was explaining her plan.

"O-of course I was."

Jaden tried to avoid looking into Aliana's eyes.

Snap

"It's this."

Aliana pulled out a ring using her storage magic. Jaden examined it closely.

-A ring made of blue-coloured metal with unknown origins. The small blue crystal on it made it look even more beautiful. The ring looked as pretty as its name.

"Peace stone?"

It was the most precious gem in the world. Not because it looked pretty, but because of the story behind it.

-If a person presents his lover with this stone as a gift, they will receive immense blessings.

'I had never shown this item being used in the novel.'

Neither did he make it appear. It's more like no one ever found it.

In 'Light of Dragonaria', the gem was lost forever. What remained was its mention a few times.

'But how come...'

As he was asking this question to himself, Jaden's expression stiffened up.

"... Lady Aliana Rosenstein."

Jaden smiled nervously.

"How did you manage to borrow this gem?"

Jaden had managed his smile till now.

"I left a note saying-"

As Aliana was speaking, Jaden moved his palm up in front of her. Making a gesture, asking her to stop speaking. Turning around, Jaden didn't say anything.

Silence spread across the room. Jaden had the most peaceful smile ever.

'We are doomed~'

Jaden remembered how even absurd things were normal around Aliana.

'Maybe it would've been better if I had rejected her plan.'

Jaden wondered what would've happened if he had done that.

"I had a question."

Jaden looked at Aliana.

"What is it?"

Aliana was looking into Jaden's eyes.

"If I had rejected your decision to act according to your plan, what would you have done?"

Jaden swallowed his saliva while being nervous.

"What would I have done, you ask?"

Aliana was smiling at Jaden. Jaden could feel his hands growing cold. Maybe because of the cold temperature and sweat on his hands.

"A good trader never reveals all of his cards."

Maybe the cold temperature didn't matter.

'I had no say from the beginning. What do I do now-' 

As he was thinking about what to say, a sound fell on his ears.

Knock knock

"I'm coming in."

Someone opened the door while saying that. It was Julianne.

'Nice timing, elder sister-'

Jaden was more than happy.

"It's late. I thought it would look inappropriate for two young people of opposite genders to be alone at this time."

Julianne had come back.

"Indeed, Lady Julianne."

Aliana said this while smiling and slightly snapping her fingers.

"I will take my leave now. It's too late already."

Aliana started walking out. As she reached a bit further, Jaden approached Julianne.

"I will escort Lady Rosenstein out."

Saying that, Jaden followed Aliana. Julianne watched over the two people, fading amidst the darkness of the corridor.

They never lit candles at that time of the night. It was time to go to sleep.

Julianne watched out of the open window with a worried look. The candles on the chandelier blew out.

'It seems like there will be strong winds blowing very soon.'