Free Web NovelChapter 27: Chapter 27: Isolation of a Damsel in Distress
Chapter 27: Isolation of a Damsel in Distress
For the next several days, Celia disappeared from the public eye.
The servants of House Valen still saw Lady Aria entering and leaving the bathing chambers, accepting meals inside her room, and occasionally requesting stacks upon stacks of books from Libracia to be delivered directly to the estate.
But socially?
She vanished so thoroughly that whispers slowly began spreading among the servants.
Even the maids assigned to her room exchanged worried glances whenever they stepped outside her chambers carrying empty tea trays and piles of handwritten notes filled with magical diagrams no one could understand.
Because Lady Aria Valen had suddenly transformed into a woman obsessed.
And unfortunately for everyone involved, the object of her obsession was not romance.
It was magic.
Celia had locked herself inside her absurdly extravagant bedroom and refused entry to nearly everyone.
Heavy curtains remained half-drawn across towering windows while books littered nearly every available surface inside the room. Ancient texts from Libracia sat stacked along tables, chairs, carpets, and even the edge of the bed itself.
Some books floated lazily in the air beside her because she had accidentally learned a basic levitation spell on the second day and immediately abused it for convenience.
Ink stains covered her fingers constantly.
Several magical circles remained poorly drawn across spare parchment scattered throughout the room.
At one point, she nearly set a pillow on fire attempting ignition magic and had to spend twenty minutes stomping on expensive bedding while screaming for water.
Afterward, she calmly wrote "needs improvement" beside the spell formula and continued studying.
The servants no longer knew how to react.
Because this behavior was so unlike the Lady Aria they knew, that it bordered on terrifying.
The Aria they knew way back enjoyed luxury, social gatherings, attention, and jewelry.
She would spend hours choosing dresses for events she barely attended simply because she enjoyed admiration.
Now?
Now their young lady sat cross-legged on the floor at two in the morning wearing loose nightclothes while muttering ancient mana theories to herself like an exhausted university student nearing academic collapse.
And somehow...
That frightened everyone more.
Celia herself barely noticed how abnormal her behavior appeared.
Because after her conversation with Kaelen, something inside her shifted completely.
The reality of everything crashed into her harder than before.
The male leads were no longer distant fictional characters safely contained inside pages.
They felt real and they are reacting unpredictably.
And most dangerously of all, they were beginning to deviate from the story.
Although part of it was her fault.
Unlike human feelings, magic could be learned through effort and discipline.
And unlike romance, magic might actually help her survive.
Or better yet...help her return home. ƒrēewebnoѵёl.cσm
That thought became her anchor.
Every single day, Celia searched desperately through magical history books hoping to find answers hidden somewhere between ancient records and forgotten theories.
Dimensional magic.
Soul transfer.
Consciousness displacement.
Forbidden spatial arts.
She read everything.
Even texts she barely understood.
Sometimes she stayed awake until dawn copying magical diagrams while her eyes burned from exhaustion.
Other times she sat quietly by the window attempting mana circulation exercises until her entire body ached.
Because despite possessing Aria’s magical affinity, Celia herself lacked practical understanding.
It felt like inheriting advanced software without receiving the instruction manual.
Still, she remained stubborn.
If there was even the slightest possibility of finding a way back to her world, then she would chase it relentlessly.
She missed her world.
Missed electricity.
Missed instant noodles.
Missed her old body.
Missed sleeping without worrying about political executions and emotionally unstable noblemen.
Most of all, she missed her old life.
As though she stood inside a dream she might wake from at any moment.
Because of that, she refused to allow herself deeper attachments.
Which was precisely why she avoided everyone now.
Including Ren.
So she kept herself isolated under the excuse of studying.
Ren adapted quietly, though the servants often noticed him lingering outside her chambers longer than necessary before eventually leaving again.
Sometimes he carried fresh books from Libracia personally.
Other times, Ren simply stood outside her door after delivering meals personally.
He never complained.
Never forced his way inside.
Never questioned her directly about why she had suddenly chosen to isolate herself from everyone around her.
Celia let out a long sigh before finally collapsing backward onto the enormous bed.
The mattress sank beneath her weight immediately while scattered papers slid slightly around her from the movement. One open magic book nearly fell onto the floor before floating lazily back into place through the accidental mana still lingering in the air around her room.
At this point, even the books had adapted to her chaos.
She stared blankly upward at the magnificent ceiling above her.
Gold detailing stretched elegantly across painted carvings while enchanted crystal lights shimmered faintly overhead like artificial stars.
Celia pressed both hands against her face and groaned softly.
She truly thought she had everything figured out.
At first, the solution seemed simple enough.
Avoid death.
Avoid the plot.
Push the male leads toward the heroine.
Survive quietly until she hopefully found a way home.
Easy.
Well.
Theoretically easy.
In reality?
Everything had become progressively more ridiculous by the day.
Sebastian suddenly forgot how the original novel worked and practically confessed to her in the middle of the street.
Ezekiel apparently had unresolved history with the original Aria that her sister somehow failed to mention properly.
Celia groaned and rolled sideways into one of the decorative pillows.
But none of this answered the real issue.
Why was she here?
Why her?
Why this world?
Why Aria’s body specifically?
Celia slowly lowered the pillow from her face and stared blankly upward again.
Was there a reason behind any of this?
Did she have some grand purpose she had not discovered yet?
Maybe she was brought here to save Aria from her original fate.
Or perhaps to correct the story itself somehow.
Maybe this entire situation functioned like those fantasy novels where transmigrated heroines received missions from mysterious gods or destiny or whatever cosmic management team handled reincarnation disasters.
Except nobody had explained anything to her.
No instructions.
No magical guide.
No floating system window.
Nothing.
Celia sighed again before lifting one hand toward the ceiling absentmindedly.
Soft blue mana gathered faintly around her fingertips.
Small.
Weak.
Unstable.
But there.
At least magic itself felt real.
She stared quietly at the dim glow hovering above her fingers.
"...What exactly am I supposed to do here?" she whispered softly into the empty room.
For several seconds, the mana merely floated there weakly above her palm, glowing faintly blue against the darkness surrounding her bed.
Then suddenly, the light violently sparked.
Celia yelped in alarm and nearly rolled off the mattress.
"What the–?!"
The mana crackled sharply like a tiny lightning burst about to explode directly into her face. She instinctively flung her hand backward while staring at the floating light in complete betrayal.
"Excuse me?!" she whispered furiously at it. "I am already stressed enough!"
The mana ignored her emotional suffering completely.
But instead of exploding, the unstable glow slowly calmed again.
Then, right before her eyes, the light stretched itself thinner and longer.
Like thread being pulled carefully through the air.
Celia blinked.
"...What?"
The glowing mana slowly transformed into a narrow line floating several inches above the floor.
And then, it moved.
The glowing thread suddenly darted sharply toward the far wall of her room, and stopped near one of the massive bookshelves built directly into the wall.
"...what is happening here?"
