‘Wait breathe William,’ he thinks to himself, staring at the floating pastel green System in front of him, ‘what happens in the original novel?’

Thankfully he had read all of the original novel and knew most of its ins and outs by heart. He's not sure he should thank Beth or strangle her for her never-ending rants. (He's not completely positive, but he's sure she holds at least a little blame for all of this).

“Bride of the God Emperor” is a romance novel, focusing on the coming of age and love life of one Maria Flowers. A woman raised with love and kindness by her adoptive parents in a small mountainside village. On her 20th birthday, she would learn the truth of her birth, that she was a mortal-born god, and her destiny was to choose and marry the next God Emperor. 

She's introduced to the three candidates for emperor, (four if you count Asterius, the villain, but everyone knew that wasn’t going to happen). The first was the obvious choice, Solfrid, the elder twin of the duality sun gods. He represented the Soul Sun, with powers that were able to calm a person’s negative emotions and heal their wounds. A kind and caring man, who always wanted what was best for Maria. Next was Ero, the classic playboy god of lust, who changes his womanizing ways the moment he meets the female lead. Performing lots of over-the-top romantic gestures trying to win Maria’s favor, and turns "evil" for a little bit once he realizes Maria won't pick him(though he is redeemed in the end and betrays Asterius). And finally, there was Solveig, the second twin, the god of the Blood Sun. With a mane of fiery red hair and a cold distant demeanor, he was the “bad boy”, afraid that the blood on his hands as Heaven’s Vanguard would somehow taint Maria. He had no desire to rule Celestia and made that very clear in their first meeting. 

But of course, it was Solveig that Maria ultimately chose. In the dramatic ending scene where Asterius holds the female lead captive, trying to force her hand to make him the next Royal Sun, Solvieg is the only love interest that shows up to save her. the only one who doesn't back down from the tyranny of his older brother. Moved, and thinking that Solvieg is going to die at the hands of his older brother, she confesses that she always loved him, having long been wooed by his soft bleeding heart and fierce love. The confession is enough and Solveig’s godhood shifts, his hair turning gold and his very divinity changing as he becomes the God Emperor.

And of course, Solveig’s first order as the Royal Sun was to strip the godhood of his evil scheming brother, Asterius. After a grand wedding is held, where all of Celestia (except the bad of guys of course) attend, a beautiful and heartwarming ceremony that doubles as their 'coronation'. The book officially ends with all of the heavens swearing their loyalty to the new Emperor and his Empress. 

But in typical webnovel fashion, there is an epilogue, which covers their first few months living together as husband and wife. There are a few, ahem “naughty scenes”, a bit of side story with the other love interests starting to fall in love with people more suited to them, and the last of the plot threads getting neatly tied into a bow. Ending with the two immortal lovers in each other’s embrace as the first day of Spring dawns.

[Host?] The System asks, blinking its text box right in front of his face again. He startles but manages to hold his ground this time. The pixie creatures chime and fret, circling around him and tugging at his clothes to pull him farther away from the pool.

“Ah sorry,” he says to the little glowing people, “I’m just uh…,” he trails off, unsure of exactly how he is. This was a mountain of information to process, and he needed time to think.

[Host!] The window appears again, edges shaking slightly, as it tries to get his attention. [System understands Host needs time to think, but Host needs to get in character! Cadeyrn is coming!]

“Who?” he asks, straightening up his stance and turning towards the sudden sound to his left.

There’s a tunnel he didn’t notice and echoing down the passage is a worried, high-pitched voice, “Walk faster demon! Something bad has happened to Master!”

“Your master is fine,” a deep growling voice responds in indifference. William startles again, standing perfectly still and tall, frozen by the voice. No human should be allowed to have a voice that nice, it’s unreal. “If something really would have happened these pretty little chains would have broken.”

There’s a frustrated squeak of a huff, “Have more respect! If not for my master, you would still be rotting in the Flame Prison!”

There’s a humorless chuckle and William feels the goosebumps raising on his arms, ‘God damn this guy even had a good laugh!’ “Don’t get your feathers in a twist.”

“You-,” the voices stop as they finally come into view and William's eyes are immediately locked to the man. He has crimson red eyes, the pupils slitted like a snake. Very suddenly he’s aware of who this is, Cadeyrn the imprisoned demon prince who follows Asterius around. 'And oh my god that fan drawing was attractive but has nothing on the real deal.' He can feel a flush rising to his cheeks just looking at him.

He's tall, at least 6 feet, though despite his height he's not very bulky, muscled like a swimmer rather than a bodybuilder. Skin a warm earthen hue, scattered with scars, and a shimmering silver tattoo that starts at his wrist and winds up his arms, disappearing under his sleeves. A messy tangle of dark curly black hair, held out of his face by an onyx hairpin in the shape of a dragon. 

Cadeyrn smiles, or rather smirks, grin just big enough that William can see the elongated fangs past his lips, openly scanning up and down Willam's form. It takes more mental effort than he's willing to admit to shove the suddenly not PG thoughts to the back of his brain. 'Don't be weird Willaim,' he thinks to himself, trying to think of the most unsexy things he can, 'you cannot date the hot demon. Get over it.'

Thankfully he doesn't have enough time to ponder the attractive demon as the weird, feathered creature floating next to Cadeyrn barrels into Willaim's chest, snagging and clinging to the front of his robes.

“Master!” it cries, burrowing into his chest. On instinct alone he reaches up to cradle the little crying creature, “Master, I was so worried when you suddenly fell into the pond-!”

“So that’s why you are wet,” the demon hums, coming to a stop next to him. Asterius must be smaller than he thought because the demon towers over him. William would like to say that it is intimating and causes zero thoughts of inappropriate images to flood his brain, but he would be lying.

Caderyn chuckles, and for a horrifying second Willaim thinks he's been seen through, before the demon glances at the pond next to them, “Finally get tired of your job and wanted to join your dear mother in the pool of memories?”

By his tone, he can tell there’s supposed to be some sort of jab intended, but whatever negative emotion he was trying to get William to feel was negated by the emotional turmoil his handsome face and attractive voice caused, canceling out any negative feedback to William’s quickly frying brain.

[Host, remember to be in character!] The System blinks, appearing in his face. Caught off guard for the third time, and thoroughly distracted, he actually startles back, heel catching at the edge of the pond and tipping backward.

A strong hand loops around his waist and with an undignified squeal he’s hauled back onto solid ground. The demon prince frowns at him as he restabilizes. Right William had forgotten, he’s supposed to be the cold and aloof god of fate, Asterius, the main villain. (not confused, blushing virgin William.)

“There’s something-,” the demon starts, face twisting in confusion, leaning closer to get a better look. William panics, shoves him away, ‘too close’ he desperately thinks, hoping it’s not written all over his face. He turns away sharply, pointedly looking down the tunnel.

[Host!] The System blinks, the edges of its green screen flashing red, [OOC! OOC! Get in character!]

He coughs into his hand, straightening his posture and sweeping a hand up to gently fix the complex circlet in his hair, “Forget what you saw here,” he orders, trying to sound firm and not embarrassed, “I misstepped, nothing more.”

He can feel those red eyes boring into his back, trying to figure out what secrets he’s hiding. William keeps his gaze away, quickly setting off down the tunnel.

[Host!] The System says re-appearing at his elbow, [good job! But be careful!] it warns, pulling up a little chibi version of the demon, [Cadeyrn has lived with Asterius for the past 2 centuries! Host must be very careful going forward, else he will notice!]

‘Two centuries?’ he quotes in his head, glancing back at the demon. He locks eyes with the man and quickly looks away, ‘what happens if he finds out?’

[System is unsure,] it types, all but confirming that damn thing can read his mind, [but System can logically assume with a 97% certainty that Host would be sent back to Host’s time of death]. 97, isn't a 100, but William is going to take any chances. [But it's okay! System doesn’t believe he caught on at all! Now we just need to get Host back to Asterius's home and Host can rest for the day and review future missions!]

That’s great and all, but he had no idea where he was going! He just walked this way because it’s the way Cadeyrn walked from.

The feathery ball clinging to his front untangles itself from him, and he finally gets a look at what it is. The closest thing he could compare it to is a griffin, hawk-like head and lion-like body, with six little white feathered wings, and covered in fluffy white fur like a Persian cat. About the size of a cat too.

“Master,” it sniffs, staring imploring up at him. Damn, this little guy has the pitiful puppy eyes down to an art form. “Is Master really okay?’

His heart melts a little at the sight, and he can’t help smiling softly down at it, even as he continues panicking on the inside, “I’m fine,” he soothes the little creature, as the window appears over its head.

[Host! This is Pluma, the seraphim belonging to Asterius. Every high-ranking god has one!] it explains helpfully, [Each god picks and shapes their own seraphim, molding them to a shape most suited to their needs. Pluma has been with Asterius since his Ascent, Host is advised to be careful!]

‘This was never mentioned in the book?!’ he thinks angrily, looking down at the pitiful puppy dog eyes of the seraphim. At least that meant Asterius wasn’t as inhuman as he first thought, apparently the man had a fondness for small creatures. Maybe just creatures in general if you count the demon still staring daggers into his back. He shivers at the thought, how in the world did Asterius manage to live like this?

“Are you sure he doesn’t…,” he trails off, looking pointedly at the System window next to him.

The window turns as though to look behind him, maybe the System sees out of the window? How should he know? Then it turns back with a new message, [I don’t think he knows at all Host! Though System’s data for Imprisoned demon prince Cadeyrn is rather small compared to most side characters, according to System’s highly advanced algorithm nothing that should deviate from the plot has occurred yet. So, Host is fine!]

Well, that was good to hear, guess he really hadn’t screwed up that much. He risks a glance behind him, catching the intense gaze of the demon. He turns back around quickly, biting his lip to stop the surprised noise that wanted to spill out, he’s Asterius right now, he needs to be refined and aloof, not acting like a school girl with a crush.

‘He really didn’t notice anything right?’ William wonders the same moment Cadeyrn thinks, ‘Something is definitely different’.

The demon prince watches, carefully evaluating, staring at the quickly faded back of his “Master”. He can count the number of times he’s seen Asterius truly flustered on one hand. His embarrassment had seemed genuine enough. But… he had looked him in the eyes. Asterius never did that. Always looking at something just over his shoulder. 

Cadeyrn knows that he was not saved from the Flame Prison for any noble reasons. It was painfully obvious to see the celestial god’s real intentions. The other gods feared him and revered him in equal measure, always the untouchable god of fate. He wanted a companion, and what better than one who could never leave him of his own free will? He was no better than a dog, but a dog was better than a prisoner. It was why he hadn’t bitten the hand that dared to “tame” him. Asterius had done him a service, even if it was out of his selfish intent. Demons honor favors.

So, the little master of fate had lost his balance and was flustered. While unlikely not impossible, would explain the flushed cheeks and hurrying away. But why did he look at him? And why… why did he look at him like something that wasn’t a monster?

Could this be... an imposter?

He looks down at his wrists, even though he can feel the feather-light binds wrapping around his soul he still makes sure, and sure enough, the silver tattoos shimmer against his dark skin. The contract still holds, which means the god of stars still lived.

But a godly aspect living and a GOD living are two different things. He glances up at the back he’s following, pace just a touch too hurried to be the same Asterius he has been following for decades. 

So, the old Asterius was gone but his subsite was born within his body? He had never heard of such a thing, it was possible the replacement just happened to take on the same form, but he seemed to know certain things about Asterius’s life and was certainly not stopping any of them from thinking he was the former god of stars.

A smile slips onto Cadeyrn’s face. This was a tantalizing mystery, one he will thoroughly enjoy unraveling. “I was just going to lay down quietly till it was the right time to strike but…” he laughs, closing his fist, releasing a ripple of dark blue demonic energy. The blue mist of ice floats up, fogging his view of the Cesetial God's back. He wills the mist into solid form, creating a crude copy of Asterius, before the silvery binds burned into his skin and soul flash brightly, cutting off his magic and shattering the ice sculpture. Cadeyrn watches the ice shards shatter across the floor, already starting to strategize how to beat this newest variable in his escape, “Maybe it’s time to move the plan up a little.”