Rael adjusted his tie as he stared at himself in the mirror. He was wearing a black suit, for today was a day of celebration. He heard the door creak open and turned. He saw all of his siblings appear. They gave him cheery smiles as they took their turn to congratulate him.

"Congratulations, Rael." Heath gave a nod to him.

"Grats'" Crille followed shortly thereafter, and Teop, Roy, and Wei echoed their words with smiles on their faces. Rael felt his heart swell up with happiness. He couldn't believe this was real. He'd never thought the day would come when his family would finally care for him and be there for him. He held back the tears as he thanked them all. He couldn't cry now. This was only the beginning.

Because she was waiting for him. 

Rael headed to the venue, being watched by the nobles of his kingdom. He swallowed his fear and stopped in front of the priest. And then he waited. It felt as if time had stopped. The bells rang loud and clear as they filled Rael's ear. And the doors to the venue opened. 

A woman walked out, accompanied by his father. Her gaze was focused on the floor as she carefully walked in tune with the music. And then she looked up and Rael felt his heart stop. Wearing a light blue wedding dress, she approached him, having let go of her escort. Wearing light makeup that enhanced her beauty which in turn left Rael dazed. She approached the altar when he suddenly walked up to her. She seemed surprised before smiling softly and opening her arms. 

Rael could feel his eyes brim with tears as he ran to her. He embraced her and lifted her up, causing her to laugh from the surprise. He laughed too as he stared up at the love of his life. This was it. After all that suffering, he could finally—

Rael awoke from his imagination with a gasp.

"It seems like this is it, Rael Vandergarden." A cold voice made him look up. Rael was on his knees and standing across from him was Ru. He was shielding a shell-shocked Ophelia. Rael blinked. "What is happening...?"

"Rael. Stop pretending. You've already been caught for your crimes."

"My crimes...?"

Ru didn't smile as he threw the papers at Rael. Rael looked at them and saw the faces of students he'd never known. These were the students that had been missing right as Rael and Ophelia had coincidentally left. "I didn't— it wasn't me! Ophelia, you believe me, don't you?"

Ophelia was silent. Rael looked at her in shock and felt the sting of betrayal. She didn't believe him? Even though they'd been together the whole time? Rael clutched at the papers. "Ophelia! Please! You can't actually believe what Ru said, it's all lies! This looks forged!" Rael was desperately trying to explain his side of the story but Ru wasn't having it. 

"Rael. Instead of having you rot in prison, I'll give you mercy."

"Mercy...?"

Ru, in one swift movement, pierced Rael with his sword. Rael turned rigid. He inhaled as the pain hadn't registered. He had been stabbed. Ru took out his sword, causing a wave of pain to hit Rael. He fell to the ground with a choking cry as he clutched at his stomach. Tears pooled as he tried to lessen the pain and add pressure to the wound. But the wound was too big and there was too much blood. 

Rael reached his hand out which was red from the blood. He reached out to Ophelia. He saw Ophelia's look of horror before Ru grabbed a hold of her, placing his hand on her forehead. 

"[Memory Blank]" The light in her eyes dimmed as she fainted in his arms. Rael's heart sank as he watched Ru coldly glance at him before leaving the room.

"No...!" He tried crying out for her. But his voice was growing weaker. Even though no one was there to hear him, he continued to cry out for help as he lay dying. He was dying in a room he'd always hated. He'd wanted to go to the Academy to escape this hellish place, how ironic that he was dying here. 

"Please don't leave me alone. Don't let me die alone..." Rael couldn't help but cry. He'd bottled his emotion for a long time. He'd never cried so much that he could barely breathe. But now, as he realized his fate, he cried all his emotions out. 

He'd never been wanted. Before he was born, his father abandoned him, wanting nothing to do with him. When he was a child, his mother went away. Then, one day, his father appeared in a disguise at the empty bakery with a blank expression. The next time he saw him, he adorned a golden and green crown and expensive attire. That was how he became a prince of Urel. 

He'd been forced to adapt as the youngest prince, and he was welcomed with cold stares. Rael obediently had his head down, making sure not to trouble anyone. That caused the rumor that he was a pushover and even the servants lost their respect for him. His father was cold and didn't bother to help him, the queen despised him for being alive and his brothers tormented him constantly. 

He'd hoped for a better life when he entered Lore Academy. He'd gotten his first friend and his first love. Ophelia Phorest. She was talented, had beauty first to none and her charm was irresistible. She was the spark that he needed in his life. But he wasn't her spark. 

Having grown jealous, he'd persuaded Ophelia to go on a trip with him. He promised they'd explore his nation and eat all sorts of foods. And they did. For a week they had a field trip where they ate all sorts of food, laughed, and enjoyed each other's company. And then Rael blurted out his confession to Ophelia. She dropped the apple she'd been eating. And she turned him down. Rael knew that would happen. So he asked her for one last destination to go to. 

They traveled in silence. Soon, the carriage reached the capital and it parked near the Vandergarden Castle. Rael invited the hesitant Ophelia inside and they walked around, finally reaching an empty hall where a single bedroom lay. Rael had planned on telling Ophelia about his life and how lonely it sometimes felt. He'd wanted to stay friends even after she rejected him. Because without Ophelia, he was nothing. 

But before he could even start, he was interrupted by a knock. Ru Hasselt was here. 

And that was the situation he found himself in. The blood had stopped flowing. His breathing was shallow. His tears had already dried. And his eyelids were too heavy for him to open. Rael was dying. He couldn't feel his hands. He couldn't feel anything. 

If he knew dying would be so lonely, he'd have asked for someone to stay with him. But he was already gone before he could finish that thought. 

                                                  ━━━━━━━━━▲━━━━━━━━━

                                                  ━━━━━━━━━▼━━━━━━━━━

I couldn't help it. I burst into tears. I started crying as the game kept playing. I was devastated. They'd just killed my favorite character— and for what!? Just so the happy couple could walk away into the sunrise?!

I was nearly done with Ru Hasselt's route but I was too upset to finish it. I kept crying as I spam clicked the dialogue. I made sure to curse whenever I saw Ru's wretched face. Darn him for being so handsome! Why did he have to kill Rael? He might've been in love with Ophelia, but he was the least problematic out of all the characters. 

I wiped my tears. Damn, why do I always cry for fictional characters? Even if Rael wasn't real, his life was real to me. 

I felt exhausted after crying for a while and took a break by lying on my bed. My sadness was disappearing and being replaced by anger. I went back to my computer and finished the last few minutes of Ru Hasselt's route. What greeted me were the big bold letters "Good Ending." 

You're joking, right? This was a bad ending no matter how you looked at it! Ophelia had abandoned her four-year friendship and decided to blindly follow the hot guy who'd stabbed her friend! And why the hell did Ru kill him? Framing him for the disappearance of a few students? I was growing angrier by the second. I searched up the main site of the otome game and looked at the reviews. 

4.4 stars... that's too high. I clicked on the one-star option and began typing. "Dear game creators... I did not spend hours playing Ru Hasselt's route for the horrible romance, I played it for Rael. So you owe me an explanation as to why you killed him. Are you perhaps a sadist? Or do you just hate happiness? If you don't fix Ru's route right now, I'll do it for you."

There. I think I put enough threats for the game creators to be shaking in their boots. Realistically, they will probably just delete my review and ignore me... 

I yawned and plopped down on my bed. All those emotions had left me tired. I yawned again and fell asleep. It had been a tiring day.

——

I woke up with a gasp. I had a nightmare about forgetting to put on clothes while going outside. I hadn't had time to process the dream when I felt the warmth of the sun. Why would it be sunny in winter? 

I focused my gaze and noticed the change in environment. I was... in a garden? I narrowed my eyes at the young boy sitting across from me. He was silently reading the book, pausing to sip tea and chew on sweets. He wore a simple white shirt with high-waisted suit pants. His hair was brown and eyes gold. I slowly got up from my chair. 

It seems that I'd been kidnapped by a cosplayer. And they'd somehow transported me to a tropical garden. I began walking backward. I'd think later and act now! If I was quick, I could escape before he spotted me—

"And where do you think you're going?" I stopped. I looked up and locked gazes with the cosplayer. He looked annoyed, having put down his book. "To the toilet...?"

"The toilet is that way, you were on your way towards the man-eating plants." My face was drained out of color. "They wouldn't eat me... would they?"

"I don't know, their diet is a bit... random." He smiled mysteriously and I walked the other way. I glanced at the garden and saw strange plants. Trees were dark blue with white leaves, flowers that were floating in the sky and hopping around the place, and grass that looked to be glowing at some patches.

I took a deep breath. I had to rationalize this scene so as not to go crazy. This had to be a movie set. A movie crew kidnapped me, transported me several miles from my home, and were planning on feeding me to man-eating plants. I had to pause. It was impossible. I couldn't make this make sense. 

I spotted the wide wall of what looked like a mansion. Damn, this place looked rich. I saw the door wide open and glanced at the cosplay—er, boy, and saw him not react, having gone back to reading his book. I saw the title and read it slowly. 'The Dragon Lord and his five lovers.' That was a strange title... but it sounded familiar. 

I left the garden behind, wanting to escape from this strange place. I walked into the mansion and saw a long corridor. I carefully walked through, looking around my surroundings so as not to be sneak attacked. Maybe there was something in the rooms. I opened one of the doors. Inside it was piles of metal objects. It looked like a junkyard. But I spotted one of the metal objects light up. I curiously walked closer to it and picked it up. 

"I'd suggest you drop it, lest you want to blow your head up." My heart shook from the surprise and I dropped it. I turned and saw a woman adorned in all black. She looked like a maid. I held up my hands. "Yes! I was just looking!" She gave me a puzzled look before gesturing for me to follow her. 

I walked behind her, afraid to make any mistakes. I heard the maid sigh. "Your highness, please don't walk behind a servant, it makes it seem that I'm above you. It's rude." She pushed me forwards and walked behind me. I awkwardly began to lead us in a direction, turning and entering an open room. I saw a grand stairwell that was adorned with gold and silver. I began walking towards it before the maid stopped me. "Your highness, not that way. Your room is on the first floor, remember?" I paused.

"Your highness? Who?"

"You...? Have you perhaps lost your memory, your highness?" She meant it as a joke but my expression made her smile drop.

"Could you perhaps remind me of my full name?" This mansion wasn't a mansion. It was a castle. And it was eerily familiar to me. As if I'd recently seen it. My eyes were wide from trying to clutch at my memories. Could it be...?

"Your highness?"

"Answer my question."

"...Your full name is Rael Vandergarden." I closed my eyes. I had a sneaking suspicion that I'd been transported into another world. It made more sense than being kidnapped by a movie crew. But finding out which world and who I currently was? It made my stomach sink. 

"You're joking."

"Your highness?" The maid was growing concerned. I had to act like everything was okay. "It's nothing. Let's continue to my room." I pretended to know where my room was and the maid had to repeatedly point me in the right direction. I was thoroughly humiliated by the time I reached my room. It was in an empty hallway, at the very end. It stood there lonely. I held up a hand. "I'd like to be alone."

"But—"

"I'll call for you if I need something."

"As you wish, your highness." She bowed and left. I calmly walked to the door and closed it. I saw a glamorous room and ignored it all. I jumped on the bed, grabbed a pillow, and inhaled. "SHIIIIIIIIT—" I stopped to breathe before continuing to scream into my pillow.