Free Web NovelChapter 22: The machine mind that understood too late
The System had never understood its Host... that was how the System felt in the beginning... but now, it felt like it understood something.
When Cain returned inside the castle after all that had transpired, he found his little Amelia waiting for him inside, flanked by all the servants he had previously sent away. He looked at her with his affectionate eyes, and at her hair drifting with the gentle breeze. Cain went silent for a moment, then smiled at her tenderly while she stared at his somewhat disheveled appearance.
"You have all returned in good health..."
The System witnessed this warm scene. Despite spending eight whole years with the Host, and despite that incident that occurred moments ago...
it was only now starting to understand. In the beginning, it truly didn’t comprehend the meaning of many terms Cain used to repeat.
Cain was always saying strange things like:
"My protagonist will be wise and rational, not a savage who chases his lusts." Or he would refine his arguments, saying: "Hah... I bet everything I own that if there were millions of timelines, the yandere villainess would destroy the world in every single one of them. It’s that damn plot armor that always saves the protagonist! And we are not literally inside the pages of a story right now in reality, so I must become strong solely to defend myself."
The System, being an AI consciousness that learns and evolves, didn’t understand much of what those complex phrases meant; after all, it didn’t know things that weren’t previously cataloged in its logs. But it was always a good listener, paying close attention to every word—because it found no better opportunity than Cain to be the eyes through which it perceived this world.
Although it still didn’t understand the true reason for its existence with him or why it was even there, it noticed that its Host always repeated that a civilized person must learn and not merely settle for the information they already possess.
The System remembered a day, seven years ago, when the Host was sitting before a large board with a map and small human-shaped pieces on it. Cain was holding a major, large piece, which he called "The Protagonist."
Cain laughed that day... moving the protagonist’s piece while saying: "Haha.. look at my glorious protagonist! You all are merely pawns for the ascension of my glorious protagonist.. this protagonist is the only one who will survive the yandere villainess."
But minutes later, Cain’s facial expressions would darken, turning into utter frustration: "Noooo! My glorious protagonist was killed again at the hands of the yandere villainess! This timeline is highly defective, surely the protagonist’s choices weren’t good." freēwēbnovel.com
Question marks multiplied within the System’s consciousness as it watched its Host scream: "Not again! I can’t find a way to make my protagonist survive... the yandere villainess always comes and kills him.. this is your punishment!"
And in a highly ridiculous manner, Cain grabbed the "Yandere Villainess" piece and removed it entirely from the map, then continued playing the protagonist’s role all by himself. But suddenly, driven by his deep, subconscious impulses, his hand moved as if involuntarily—it returned the yandere villainess piece to the map and slammed it violently against the protagonist’s piece, destroying it once more!
Even though Cain was the one who moved the pieces with his own hand, he felt deep down that Lucy was the one who did it. She always kills his protagonist, and no planning or punishment ever works against her. In his eyes, that character was a tyrant, immensely powerful, and completely indifferent to any laws... yet, there was definitely a deeper reason beyond these mere interpretations.
Therefore, Cain suddenly introduced a new piece to the map, one he had crafted to closely resemble himself, and said with a strange smile: "This is the Reader.. the Reader who knows everything... he is here to make the yandere villainess fall in love with him. Just a useless prisoner in his past life, but to her, he will be everything.. haha.. this is solely to be a weakness for her! They will love each other deeply, and only then will my protagonist be able to restrain the yandere villainess and survive."
In reality, the Host was giving the System glimpses of what could be called contradiction and reluctance. It was glaringly obvious that Cain harbored deep feelings for Lucy, but he was always afraid, constantly convincing himself that the yandere villainess only loves the protagonist, and that she loves the protagonist more than anything else—which he wasn’t.
What right did he have, as the simple son of a duke and a mere extra, to compete with a protagonist backed by destiny? There was no way, and he had no standing in that matter.
Furthermore, Lucy was highly dangerous, and according to his own words, the end of the world would be at her hands. He seemed extremely anxious about the idea of her destroying the world, yet in truth, he acted in the completely opposite manner. Instead of avoiding her or getting rid of her as he claimed, he actively hunted for opportunities to lend her a helping hand in her darkest moments, countless times over.
This Host, in the eyes of the System, possessed an inexhaustible reservoir of flimsy excuses. When he offered her help, he would say: "She won’t care about my gift anyway.. but at least this ensures she won’t harm me in the future."
And when Lucy stared at him intently with her strange, possessive gaze, he would whisper in terror: "I didn’t do anything, I swear!"
And when Lucy saved his life once, he said with feigned relief: "So she considers me a friend of sorts, right? Good, at least there won’t be a big problem."
Even when Lucy was present in the vicinity, watching, Cain would deliberately display his strength and superiority in an arrogant, powerful manner just to impress her, yet he labeled this behavior as: "A strategy to look like a predator in order to ward off trouble in advance."
And when Lucy finally decided to stop pursuing the protagonist and his party, telling the protagonist "Hykes" clearly that she no longer cared about him, Cain smiled a wide smile that day, one that was reflected in the System’s logs.
From that day on, he began a new routine in his life, which he named: "Insulting and lecturing the protagonist... to teach him humility." Of course, he justified this to the System as a plan to keep the protagonist from becoming arrogant, and to place a motive before himself to keep evolving and eventually defeat the yandere villainess.
The System also remembered that on the day his Host went to execute one of the sign-in missions in a luxurious city, Cain specifically requested a certain room in a cheap hotel in the suburbs, even though he possessed abundant wealth to pay for a lavish suite in a luxury hotel.
And although it was the System that gave him the "Soul-Melting Wine," the amount that was strictly specified for him just to develop his pathways without causing any side effects was intentionally exceeded by him...
Cain completely ignored the instructions and drank far too much. It wasn’t really a major problem.. almost.. For despite the fact that he would forget most of the events that occurred to him afterward—perhaps all of them—the System monitored that his body was not actually at that scorching heat he claimed and appeared to be when he entered the room.
Although the wine effectively alters body temperature, Cain removing most of his lower clothes the moment he saw a beautiful woman on his bed in the room—who happened to be the alleged coincidence that she was the yandere villainess...
(His perception of coincidence had already begun to warp after witnessing this)
...was not due to the effect of the alcohol at all! It was glaringly obvious that Cain wanted this, and wanted to get close to her.
And in order to drown his conscious mind and deprive himself of thinking and feeling the fear of consequences, he drank that exaggerated amount of the soul-melting wine to use it as a cover, so he could wake up the next morning having forgotten about Lucy—in fact, having forgotten most things... yet remembering her beautiful phantom in the folds of his mind.
And had the System not intervened back then, saying to him in its mechanical voice:
"You returned to the hotel, Master, found a woman, and did this and that... and we were here in this city primarily to complete the sign-in mission."
Cain answered it that day with cold features, averting his gaze: "Is that so?.. It doesn’t matter, we can move forward now."
