Chapter 1: Yes, That’s Me!

Chapter 1: Yes, That’s Me!

Looking at the beautiful lady sitting on the chair, changing her noble stockings, Lu Yi rubbed his face.

Should he crawl out from under the bed and greet this young lady?

That didn’t seem like a good idea. He decided to stay under the bed and read a storybook.

It was a book titled ‘Fantasy Travel Story’, set in the 17th-18th century, featuring Magic, Wizards, Muggles, and dragons.

The book contained many strange and wondrous fairy tales. They were suitable as bedtime stories for children. But if some bored adult happened to find this book while cleaning up the house, they might also flip through it out of curiosity.

And then be transported into the book.

Lu Yi was the latter.

He turned to the latest page.

On this page, it told how Princess Ocris, to escape the clutches of her stepmother, the Witch Queen, sought refuge in the ‘Sacred Oak Royal Magic Academy’ and became a Magic professor there.

But the Witch Queen’s influence still persisted. In despair, the princess one night took out her mother’s heirloom, the ‘Book of Fate’, and began to pray, hoping a Prince would come to help her.

The story ended there, the rest of the page blank. The final line was:

[Someone heard Ocris’s plea from the void, they decided…]

[A. Enter the story and become the Prince, engaging in a love-hate entanglement with the princess that would not be approved by the King and the Witch Queen, then watch helplessly as she is married off to the Dragon Clan. Completion reward: The princess’s body1, the title ‘Tragic Cuckolded Prince’1, a book filled with a moving story1]

[B. Comment: “What the heck is this?” Completion reward: ???]

Reading this, Lu Yi’s expression turned strange.

He absolutely did not choose A. Originally, there was no B option.

Back then, after finishing the book, he tossed it aside, muttered ‘what the heck is this’, and then went to bed.

When he woke up, he was holding this book under this bed.

And now, this extra B option in the book was his own ‘what the heck is this’.

‘So, I was forcibly dragged into this melodramatic story? I was pulled by this book under the bed of the story’s protagonist, Ocris?’

[Lu Yi thought maybe if he flipped through the book some more, he could go back — obviously impossible.]

A new line of Narration suddenly appeared in the book, but Lu Yi was already used to it.

In fact, he found that his every move was being written into this book. He seemed to have become a character in the story.

[Lu Yi missed out on ‘the princess’s body’, and the world began to develop in an unpredictable direction…]

[A new story begins…]

After this Narration ended, the book before his eyes suddenly turned from solid to ethereal, floating beside him, and new Narration appeared.

【Currently, Lu Yi has no identity or name, thus no Presence. He must quickly find an identity so the ‘Book of Fate’ can insert him into this world. Otherwise, he will disappear.】

【Before him lies the last opportunity. He decides…】

【A. Crawl out from under the bed and shout: “Yes, that’s me! I am the Prince you summoned! Slurp~ Don’t change, I like black, let’s get started!”

Completion reward: Ocris’s slap1, beatings from the Academy Night WatchmanN, a bedroll in the Dark Domain Black Prison1, caresses from the prisoners1】

【B. “Your Highness, I have finished cleaning under the bed. Is there anything else you need?”

Completion reward: Sister Stia’s identity card (Faerie)1, Faerie’s knowledge1, random basic attribute +1】

Both options sent a chill down Lu Yi’s spine, especially when he saw the second one. He unconsciously touched his lower body and then sighed in relief.

Lu Yi began to understand. It wasn’t that he would become Sister Stia, but rather that he would see how he could insert himself into this ‘story’. Once chosen, he would gain the corresponding identity and knowledge.

It seemed he could only choose one of the two.

Lu Yi rubbed his face hard.

If he chose A, his identity as a person from another world would surely be exposed in prison, resulting in being dealt with by the prisoners, then ending up on a Wizard’s dissection table.

If he chose B, it would be like practicing the Sunflower Manual.

He suspected this system was deliberately messing with him.

These two options, one meant no front, the other meant no back.

He didn’t want to choose either.

‘The world has already started developing in an unpredictable direction…’ Lu Yi muttered in his heart for a moment, then thought: ‘Since a B option could suddenly appear before, why can’t a C option appear now?’

He had an idea. He decided to gamble, and crawled out from under the bed.

Ocris was currently in front of the wardrobe, frowning at the clothes packed inside, seemingly struggling to decide what to wear today — the clothes in the wardrobe were of all kinds, very fashionable. The Witch outfits also had many variations. This didn’t seem like ancient Europe, but rather a Parallel World similar to Europe.

As if sensing something, Ocris looked back in confusion and called out nervously: “Who’s there?!”

But she looked for a long time and found no one. Seeming to notice some dust on the bed, Ocris frowned, walked over, and straightened the bedsheet.

Lu Yi moved aside, watching helplessly as Ocris straightened the sheet right in front of him. After finishing, she even brushed the spot where Lu Yi had been sitting.

This scene made Lu Yi’s expression turn strange again.

‘It seems I really have no Presence. I’m standing right in front of her, but she looks right through me.’

Looking at the beautiful lady bent over straightening the bed, Lu Yi stroked his chin in thought.

Just now, when Ocris asked ‘Who’s there?’, options had appeared before Lu Yi’s eyes — still that ‘Prince’ option that would definitely land him in prison.

That was definitely not an option. Lu Yi made more attempts, wanting to trigger a C option.

He started by pacing back and forth, later even deliberately touching things, but Ocris showed no reaction. It wasn’t until Lu Yi was about to leave the room that he suddenly heard soft crying behind him.

“Is that you, Sister Stia? You really exist, don’t you? I know you’re in the room. Please don’t leave me, okay?”

The Sister Stia option appeared before Lu Yi’s eyes. Lu Yi shook his head and stopped walking.

He couldn’t leave this room.

With a sigh, Lu Yi found a chair to sit in and began flipping through the Storybook.

Perhaps because Lu Yi didn’t answer, or perhaps because he didn’t leave the room, after crying for a while, Ocris shook her head and mumbled to herself:

“How foolish of me, still believing the fairy tales Mother told me when I was little… There are no guardian Elves in this world… and no ‘he’ will come to help me…”

After composing herself, Ocris wiped her tears and regained her spirit.

She went back to the wardrobe and started changing clothes. Today was an important day that would decide her future fate. The ‘Queen Mother’ would surely try every trick to make her look bad. She could no longer cry like a little girl. She had to face today’s ‘performance’ in the most perfect state.

Even if she failed and had to marry one of those dragons, she was still the Princess of the Kingdom of Sorrento.

Meanwhile, after frowning and flipping through the Storybook, Lu Yi also discovered some issues.

The ‘Storybook’s’ real name was the ‘Book of Fate’. It was summoned by Ocris — in her despair, the last spark of hope in her heart, the desire to change her fate, resonated with the Book of Fate.

And the Foreigner Lu Yi was summoned by this book. He was the person who best matched Ocris’s imagination — there were many conditions, like being born in a certain year and month, a certain constellation, and other various fantasies of a young girl.

Of course, the calendar, zodiac, and constellations were different in different worlds, so these conditions ultimately boiled down to just one — tall and handsome.

Thus Lu Yi was chosen.

Now, because Lu Yi refused the identity of the ‘Tragic Cuckolded Prince’ and chose a non-existent B option, he appeared in this world with an unknown identity.

And the Storybook now believed that the only ones with a reason to be in this room, besides a thief, was that non-existent Sister Stia. Therefore, the Storybook kept trying to define Lu Yi as one of these two roles.

‘How do I break free from the identity the Narration is trying to assign me? Having my fate manipulated by the system isn’t fun.’ Lu Yi frowned, thinking about two words mentioned earlier in the book:

1. ‘Find an identity’; 2. ‘Insert into this world’.

Outside, a light rain suddenly started. Ocris ran to the balcony and brought in a few pieces of clothing.

Those clothes were washed by Ocris herself, and there seemed to be a few slightly smaller Witch outfits too, which looked like the Academy’s girls’ school uniform.

After folding the school uniforms, Ocris sat back down at the dressing table and began combing her long hair.

At that moment, a beautiful girl around sixteen or seventeen years old, dressed as a Witch, pushed the door open and entered the bedroom. She hugged Ocris from behind.

“Stop fooling around, Helen.” Ocris pried Helen’s hands away and turned her head: “Have you finished reviewing your lessons? If you don’t pass the Wizard Examination today, I will definitely cane you!”

Helen stuck out her tongue. She took Ocris’s comb and began combing her sister’s hair: “Don’t worry, sister. I’m very well prepared. I will definitely pass this Wizard Examination.”

“I hope so.” Ocris sighed, looking into the Mirror: “I don’t know if Her Majesty ‘Delphinia’ will use this opportunity to deliberately give me a hard time…”

Hearing this, Helen’s hand stiffened slightly: “She… she said she allowed you to teach at the Academy, didn’t she?”

“This examination is your Wizard Examination, but it’s also my teaching evaluation.” Ocris shook her head.

If the students’ results in this examination were not good enough, then Ocris would have to end her professor career and, following her father and stepmother’s arrangements, marry some foreign ruler, becoming a political pawn.

Maybe an orc, maybe a member of the Dragon Clan… it was all the same.

A sorrowful look crossed Ocris’s face: “Normally, as long as the examinees perform decently, I can get a ‘Pass’ for my teaching evaluation. But this year, my teaching score must be ‘Excellent’. So two of my students must score over 80, or one must defeat the ‘Mirror Man’ for a perfect score.”

This saddened Helen too. She didn’t know what to say.

“Helen, too few of us are participating in this examination.” Ocris asked with a frown: “Among scholars with over 6 years of study, who else can be promoted to ‘Archmage’? Can we invite them? Just a decent performance would do. We only have 12 people now, it’s too few.”

“Sister, it’s not 12 anymore. Many people have asked for leave…” Helen said softly.

“More people asked for leave?” Ocris pursed her lips: “How many are left now?”

“Counting me, th-three… no, four, ah, don’t pull me.” Helen shrugged her shoulder.

“Who are you talking to?” Ocris said, puzzled.

“Louis, Your Highness Ocris. My name is Louis. Miss Helen is talking to me. She forgot me. This time, it’s four of us taking the examination.”

Suddenly, both Helen and Ocris turned their heads. They faintly saw a person, but that person was blurry.

“Louis?” Ocris frowned in confusion.

Louis suddenly looked up. He had already said and done many things in the room. He was now making his final attempt — putting on Helen’s school uniform to cover his modern clothes, playing the role of a student. This time, when he tapped Helen, there was finally a reaction.

“Yes, Louis! I’m Louis, a human male! Helen’s good friend, the student that Teacher Ocris always forgets!” Louis said loudly to the Narration. As he spoke, a person named ‘Louis’ was gradually being described in the Storybook.

At that moment, he made a bold attempt: “I have been studying at Sacred Oak for over 6 years. I am proficient in all Magic Spells and all languages in the world, and possess the ability to learn any Magic Spell at a glance. I am a powerful and young Wizard…”

In that instant, many lines of Narration filled the previously blank areas of the book, gradually fleshing out ‘Louis’ as a person.

Suddenly, in the room, memories flooded the minds of Helen and Ocris.

In Louis’s mind, a vast amount of knowledge also suddenly appeared!

【Acquired title — Forbidden Archmage】

At that moment, Helen and Ocris shuddered, turning their heads in astonishment to look at that apprentice with no Presence.

This person, whose gender and face they couldn’t even distinguish before, suddenly appeared in their eyes as a tall, handsome man in his early twenties. However, his hair color and facial features didn’t look like those of Sorrento people. And he was wearing Helen’s Witch outfit…

Oh right, his name was Louis.

He was a bookworm, loved to brag, and had a habit of entering other people’s rooms and wearing their clothes…

Helen looked strangely at the Louis before her, then at her cousin who was doing her makeup, blushed bright red, and stuck out her tongue: “Sorry, sister. I forgot to close the door after coming in. He snuck in again…”

Louis was completely dumbfounded.

Ocris was stunned on the spot. She looked at her own reflection in the Mirror, let out a “yikes”, grabbed her clothes to cover her upper body, and scolded angrily: “Louis! You are so rude! How can you enter a lady’s room while she’s getting dressed!”