50 Nightmare (1/2)

Su Li could reluctantly admit - even if only to herself - that she had a lot of preconceived notions about the 'SYSTEM' and it's 'TASKS' therefore, in the early years in the first world she had tried to keep herself as as distanced as possible from everyone around her.

Sure, she had tried to play her part well and go through the motions - mostly, helping Yu Jian with business matters, keeping up a facade of friendly relations with the few people around her but somewhere down the path, her emotional attachment to them had turned real. Keeping away from human interactions and the emotions that came along with them had been an ill - conceived plan from the beginning anyway.

Admittedly, she had been a bit surprised when she realised the depth of her own feelings and care towards Xun Zixi just a few short minutes before her death. The emotions had struck her out of the blue but that realization had further cemented her desire to protect him.

However, now that she was back in this midnight moonlit sky which had started the whole ordeal, she decided that she was going to firmly forget the whole ridiculous drama that she had left behind and instead, focus on her next task, like she should. She was determined not to spare even a moment's thought about that idiot. She was never going to let her emotions take precedence over what was truly important and essential.

It was just that she found her mind wandering to how he was holding up after her demise.

She wondered if he was sad? Did he miss her? How was Yu Jian? Hopefully, none of them were feeling guilty.

She didn't think about Zixi intentionally. She didn't.

When her heart wistfully wished that she would be able to see him in the next world, just like he had promised to follow her, she didn't give a forlorn sigh. She didn't.

She couldn't deny the fact that she had become too invested in that person. She felt her heart just crack and shatter at the dawning truth that she couldn't hide from. She didn't miss him because she didn't damn well care, but all her denial crumbled when she talked to the system.

Trying to steer clear of the memories, she asked the system, ”I have completed the first task. What do you want me to do next?”

System : [Host will be sent to the next world. Before that does the host want to supress or remove the memories of the first task?]

Her answer to that question had been a vehement no. Moments later she told the system to send her to the second world and thereafter, lost consciousness albeit, not before feeling as if she was tumbling down the stairs at a rapid pace.

When Su Li blinked her eyes open, she made a decision to ask the system not to have her black out everytime her soul was transferred to a new world. It would get real tiring real quick Foremost, what if she landed in the middle of a dangerous situation at the time of her merging? Wouldn't it be akin to having one foot in the grave? Though, this time her innards didn't feel as if they had been squeezed out which was a plus in her book.

For a moment, Su Li had an errant thought that what would she do if she found her soul to be merged with the body of a new - born infant's squealing pile of pink flesh. Anyways, wrestling her thoughts back from where the had gone off the tangent, she inspected her surroundings.

She found that she was nestled in an enormous and oppulent bed. Su Li also instantly recognised that the bed's frame was made of Redwood Pine with several carvings on it's surface. Moving her eyes further away from her immediate surroundings, she saw that the room was lavish in its decorations and was brimming with the classical antique air.

Before she could leave the bed, she heard a voice from outside the door. She was dumbstruck by the first two words the other person said. She heard the other person call her, ”Your Majesty.” Those two words were akin to a bolt out of the blue to her.

Su Li ”...”

She went so completely blank at those words that she didn't pay attention to the rest of the sentence the other person had said. When the person on the other side of the door didn't hear her response, he (she realised the other person was a male because he had the typical wheezy voice of an enunch) thought that the esteemed existence in the room didn't want to be disturbed right now so he went quite.

Inside the room, the so called exalted personage was going out of her mind.

She was sent into ancient times?

Didn't these times have the rule of chopping off anybody's head at anytime?

Didn't all those trans - migrating seniors she had read about in her original world have to go through rear - courtyard politics of backstabbing etc?

Was she to be the illegitimate daughter of The Prime - Minister who would rise above all else or was she to be a cannon - fodder?

Don't tell her she was to be the Empress whom the emperor didn't pay attention to? She didn't want to be someone's household manager? At the end of the day, that was what an Empress was, wasn't it?

Before she could go through a full blown out panic, she heard a new voice talking outside.

”Is His Majesty still not awake?”

The voice that had called her earlier replied in the negative.

Wait. Wait.

'His Majesty'

'His Majesty'

Hold on a second.

That 'his' wasn't used as a 'generic he'.