Free Web NovelChapter 2: The Queen Still Remembers
2:07 PM.
The classroom buzzed with lazy conversations, phone sounds, and laughter. Completely normal. Completely peaceful.
And Ren felt like he was losing his mind.
His breathing remained uneven as he stared at the floating blue screen before him.
[Fate Loop System Successfully Bound.]
[Current Objective: Survive.]
[Warning: The Crimson Queen remembers you too.]
Cold sweat slid down Ren’s neck.
He immediately stood up from his seat. The chair crashed loudly behind him. The entire classroom turned toward him at once.
"Ren?"
"Bro, you okay?"
A few students laughed nervously. But Ren ignored all of them.
His hands trembled violently. He remembered everything. The monsters. The blood. That woman. Those crimson eyes. And the moment she said those words so softly while the world burned around them.
"I’ll always find you again."
His stomach twisted painfully.
"Impossible..."
This had to be a dream. A hallucination. A panic attack. People couldn’t just die and come back. Time couldn’t reset.
Right?
Ren grabbed his phone desperately.
2:07 PM.
Exactly eleven minutes before the apocalypse. Again.
The classroom windows reflected his pale face back at him. Outside, students walked peacefully across the campus courtyard, completely unaware that they were about to die horribly.
Ren suddenly rushed toward the door.
"Oi! Class hasn’t ended yet!" the teacher shouted after him.
He ignored her completely and sprinted into the hallway. His heartbeat thundered inside his ears.
Think. THINK.
If this was real, then he had only minutes left. The first gate would open above the courtyard. The wolf-like monster would attack the east hallway first. The stairwell near the gym would collapse.
And then Ren froze.
A memory flashed through his mind without warning.
The woman’s face. The Crimson Queen. The way she had looked at him. Not with hatred. Not with anger.
Something far worse than either.
Love. Obsessive. Terrifying. As if he was the only thing left in her entire ruined world.
"Who the hell are you..."
Ren clenched his fists tightly.
[Ding!]
A new screen appeared before him.
[First Survival Mission Generated.]
[Mission: Escape the campus before the First Gate opens.]
[Reward: Basic Stat Awakening]
[Failure: Death]
[Time Remaining: 00:09:51]
A timer appeared instantly. And immediately started counting down.
Ren cursed under his breath and ran faster. Students stared at him strangely as he pushed through crowded hallways. None of them knew they were already standing beside their own graves.
---
Meanwhile, far away from the city, inside a dark cathedral hidden beneath endless crimson fog, a woman slowly opened her eyes.
The atmosphere itself trembled.
Thousands of black candles ignited instantly across the massive hall. Kneeling soldiers lowered their heads in terror. No one dared look directly at the throne.
Because seated upon it was the Crimson Queen.
Long black hair cascaded over her shoulders like darkness itself. Her crimson eyes glowed faintly inside the shadows. Silence filled every corner of the cathedral.
Then her fingers slowly tightened against the throne armrest.
A soft whisper escaped her lips.
"Ren..."
The kneeling servants flinched visibly. Fear spread across the hall in an instant. Because the Queen was smiling. And that smile usually meant someone was about to die. fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
A woman dressed in silver armor carefully lowered her head.
"Your Majesty..."
The Crimson Queen ignored her completely. Her crimson eyes stared far into the distance. Toward the city. Toward him.
"He returned earlier this time..."
The armored woman’s expression shifted slightly.
"Returned?"
The Queen slowly stood from her throne.
The moment she did, the cathedral shook violently. Black chains hanging from the ceiling rattled loudly. Her aura alone made breathing difficult for everyone present.
Yet despite her overwhelming presence, her expression looked strangely fragile. Almost emotional in a way that didn’t belong on a face like hers.
"He died again."
Silence fell completely.
Then a faint smile appeared on her lips.
"But he’s alive."
The Queen gently placed a hand over her own chest, as if calming her heartbeat from the inside. Her crimson eyes darkened dangerously as she stared toward the distant city.
"This time..."
"I won’t let anyone touch him."
---
Back at the academy, Ren finally reached the rear exit stairwell. His lungs burned painfully.
[Time Remaining: 00:04:12]
Too fast. Everything was happening too fast.
Students nearby suddenly screamed in confusion as strange blue screens began appearing before them. Ren’s face paled immediately.
The timeline had changed.
In the previous loop, the System had activated at 2:17 PM. Now it was earlier. Because of him?
A deep rumbling sound shook the entire building. The windows trembled violently. Outside, the sky began darkening in a way that had nothing to do with clouds.
Students stopped moving one by one. Slowly, everyone looked upward.
Crack.
A massive fracture spread across the sky.
Panic exploded instantly.
"The sky!"
"What the hell is that?!"
Ren didn’t stop running. He already knew exactly what came next.
Three. Two. One.
BOOOOOOM!!
The heavens shattered. Thousands of crimson cracks spread across the atmosphere like broken glass dropped from above. Giant black gates emerged from within them, hanging in the air like open wounds.
Screams erupted everywhere. Blue screens flooded the air. People panicked immediately. Some collapsed where they stood. Others cried in pure terror.
Then the monsters started falling from the sky.
Ren burst out of the rear exit just as a giant creature crashed onto the football field behind him. The ground exploded. Students died instantly. Blood sprayed across the grass in every direction.
Ren forced himself not to look back.
Run. Just survive first. That was all that mattered right now.
But as he sprinted toward the outer campus gate, a chill suddenly crawled down his spine without warning.
Something felt wrong. Terribly wrong.
Slowly, Ren turned around.
And his blood froze completely.
She was standing atop the school rooftop.
The Crimson Queen.
Watching him.
Her long black hair moved gently in the wind while chaos consumed everything around her. Monsters ignored her completely. No, not ignored. They feared her. Even from that distance, Ren could see her crimson eyes clearly.
Locked onto him alone.
The Queen smiled softly.
Then she raised one delicate finger toward a female student standing beside Ren. A girl who had accidentally grabbed his arm while running in absolute terror.
"Help me!"
The student cried out desperately.
The Queen’s smile vanished.
A second later the girl exploded into blood right beside him.
Ren stumbled backward in horror. The surrounding students screamed in every direction. But Ren couldn’t hear them properly anymore.
Because the Queen was still staring directly at him.
Possessively. Lovingly. Dangerously.
Then her lips moved silently across that impossible distance.
And Ren understood the words perfectly without hearing a single sound.
"Don’t touch what belongs to me."
