Unsurprisingly Asterius’s room is even more grand, a four-poster bed with hanging navy blue gauze curtains, beautiful hand-woven rugs, and a ceiling covered in a mural of the night sky, except the clouds are gently moving so maybe it’s really the sky? (Which would be impossible since it’s sunny out, but who is he to know how magic works here?) Dozens of candles in an array of mismatched candelabras are scattered around, the only light as there are no windows, an obviously intentional design choice.

Carefully William clicks the door shut behind him, as soon as it closes he sighs, letting his shoulder drop. It had been painful making sure he was always standing straight and proper even through the ungodly heat. Maybe later he can convince the System to only wear two layers of his robes, surely no one would notice right?

Carefully he makes his way over to the bed, it feels like an invasion of the original’s privacy to go poking around his stuff, but he needs a nap.

The bed is soft, softer than anything he’s ever felt and it takes all of his willpower to not just flop right over and sleep. ‘Think first, sleep later,’ he tells himself, carefully sitting down at the edge of the bed.

The mural shifts, and for a second he thinks he's seeing things before all the little stars peel themselves out of the painting. Glittering and chiming, they race down and circle around him happily. These stars are much smaller than the little fairies from the pool, no bigger than thumbtacks, and appear to only be little balls of light. They float around him for a few seconds, tugging on his hair and robes gently, before scattering into the room. With an echoing chime, all the candles go out, but the room doesn’t plunge into darkness, because the little stars glow brighter, moving up and up, until they rejoin the painting of the night sky on the ceiling.

“Guess I’m going to need to get used to living star paintings too,” he mutters staring up at the now unmoving mural. ‘Maybe they thought I was going to sleep?’ he thinks, but there are more pressing things to consider, like ‘what happened to Beth?’

The System had claimed he had died in the crash, but what of his sister? ‘Was she dead as well? If I play along would the system bring her back to life as well? Was she here too, forced to play another character? Would the system even tell if it knew?’

“I’ll ask the System later,” he decides out loud. Beth was important of course, but first, he needed to figure out his survival. If he couldn’t perfect his Asterius impersonation, it would be his head on the chopping block, and he would have no chance of going back home.

Asterius was obviously mentioned in the book a lot, mostly from his siblings’ point of view. Maria and him only spoke about three times. And though it is revealed he’s the mastermind behind most of the couple’s strife, his reasoning, motives, and goals weren’t ever explained. William had assumed he was evil just because, a convenient tool for the plot, nothing more. At the time he hadn’t minded, he was reading for the romance after all, not the villain’s complex reasoning for being bad, but now he really wishes the author flushed out Asterius just a bit more.

He only knew three things for certain after reading the novel.

1 – Asterius hates his father. It was mentioned at the very end, a shoehorned-in half explanation of why he was being evil. Asterius’s father, Heilous, was the former God Emperor, and even years after his death, Asterius still holds a grudge against the Royal Sun. (What that grudge is, was sadly also not explained.)

2 – All the other Celestial Gods were afraid of him. He was the god of fate after all, and if displeased he could turn yours into a nightmare. So, none of the other gods ever spoke out against him for fear his ire would ruin their future.

3 – Everywhere Asterius went, the demon followed. A step behind, a quiet intimidating presence, the only time in the book when they weren’t seen together was at the very end. William had thought it a bit strange that the demon, ‘Cadeyrn’ he reminds himself, forcing his brain to dismiss the vivid image of his smirk, wasn’t there. His only trait was being with Asterius, which made his absence all the more jarring. 'Maybe there was some sort of secret there?' Why Cadeyrn wasn’t there can be a problem for the future him. Currently, that meant Cadeyrn would be following him everywhere, which was both a blessing and a curse.

But… that was all he knew from the novel.

In the last few hours since he’s been here, he’s learned that Asterius apparently has a fondness for cute things, likes living in luxury, and is prone to taking walks and having random flights of fancy. The feared distant villain of the novel was hard to merge with the Asterius he was being shown now. 'Which was the real one? And if both sides were real how did they tie together?'

“Maybe this is before he becomes a villain,” he mutters out loud to the empty room. But as soon as the words are out he freezes. William has no idea when in the book he is. The System told him he would have to act out the plot but…. Has the novel started? Is he playing an Asterius hundreds of years before?

Oh, God.

“Hey System!” he calls, rushing to his feet and out of the room. With an almost concerned chime, the little stars shoot out of the mural and race after him. He grabs the railing of the landing, peering down to the lower level, growing more frantic when he can’t find the floating green box. “System-!”

[It has only been 20 minutes Host] The text box reads appearing in front of him, [System hasn’t been looking! On System’s honor as-]

“When is this?” he rushes out, trying to calm his jackrabbit-fast heart, “System,” he pleads, “has the novel started yet?”

[…]

“System?” he asks softly, overly aware he’s breaking character, but he has to know, and at least the System hasn’t scolded him yet.

[System’s databanks inform System that the novel is set to start in 20 days.]

Twenty days. He could figure out this villain gig in twenty days right? That’s almost a month.

“Oh,” he sighs, leaning down and thunk-ing his head against the railing, feeling ridiculous all of the sudden. He got so worked over nothing, but having a solid deadline settles something in him, breathing a bit easier. Twenty days would be enough time to at least get a decent idea of how he should behave.

“So, my first mission is the ascendance ceremony?” That was the day Maria turned 20 and entered Celestia for the first time.

[No.]

“No?” Did he have to do something before then? ‘Maybe start working on the master plan against the leads?’

[Host’s first mission is to attend the day of the Shadowed Sun]

‘Shadowed Sun?’ he thinks running the words over in his head, he’s heard of that before but- wait. ‘No.’ he thinks desperately, the panic starting to return, ‘it’s not.’

He forces himself to ask, “You mean the death of the God Emperor?”

[Yes.] The System types, crushing his pitiful hope, [Host must be there to see the protagonist chosen to be the human-born god.]

“Which means the protagonist isn’t even born yet.”

He forgot. The book opens not with Maria ascending but with the mourning of the old God Emperor. The ceremony where Asterius prophesies her future as the one who will select the next Emperor of Celestia. Then in typical time-skip fashion, she’s suddenly 20 and heading to Celestia.  

That means it wasn’t 20 days till the plot started. It was 20 years.

“I have to live 20 years like this?”  21 technically, as it takes Maria a year to select the next Emperor.

[Is there a problem Host?] the System asks, apparently confused by his dismay. By the time he finishes this story, he will have spent more time in this novel than he did back on Earth.

“Peachy,” he snarks.

[If Host says so!] The window blinks, [System would also like to remind Host to stay in character, Cadeyrn and Pluma are approaching.]

‘Not even a moment to myself,’ he complains in dismay as he pushes himself up, straightening out his robes just as the front door opens.

Cadeyrn glances up catching his eyes. William flinches suddenly under the hard stare, but hopefully the distance hides his slip-up, “You're late,” he calls, schooling his face into an impassive mask.

Pluma’s ear feathers drop, and William’s heart lurches at the sight, he didn’t mean to make him upset. Not that he was trying to make Cadeyrn upset either, but he had to stay in character.

“Sorry master,” the seraphim says, gently putting down a tiny bag on the crystal dining table, “Pluma got too excited about the paints and couldn’t decide….”

“It's fine,” he says, the system blinks red and he quickly amends himself, “Just be faster next time.”

Pluma brightens even as Cadeyrn snorts, placing a large armful of bags down on the table, turning up to lock eyes with him again, smiling wider when William doesn’t look away, “Would my great master like to see what we selected for his amusement today?”

‘That guy is doing this on purpose!’ he thinks, trying very hard to steer his thoughts back to a professional level, ‘No one says something like that without trying to imply something!’

“I’ll look when I want to,” he snaps, spinning around on his heel, the stars around him chiming in confusion as they follow, “I’m going to rest, don’t bother me.”

“Can Pluma sleep with master today!?” Pluma asks, quickly flying up and landing precariously on the landing, “I promise not to get my feathers everywhere again! I made extra sure to prune all the old feathers!”

He keeps an eye on the System’s green window as he nods slowly. The System stays green, so he assumes this is considered normal.

“Just be careful,” he relents, opening the door enough to let the angel rush into the room.

“And me master?” he stops closing the door, looking up in alarm at Cadeyrn’s smirk. He must have climbed the stairs while he was busy with Pluma. His eyes are sparking with unmasked amusement and he's leaning lazily against the railing, arms placed in such a way that his gray shirt pulls against his chest, giving William far more details than he should about how muscled the demon is.

Cadeyrn’s smirk gets wider when he catches him looking, “Shall I join you as well?”

“Don’t be ridiculous!” he huffs even as he desperately wishes he could say yes.

[Host…] the System warns, edges of its screen going red, [please remember Asterius and Cadeyrn do not have that kind of relationship.]

‘I know!’ he thinks, giving it a little glare, ‘I’m allowed to dream right?’

[¬_¬] It doesn’t seem convinced but contuines to type, [Just be careful…]

“Master?” the problematic demon calls, effectively stealing back his attention, “shall I-,”

“No.” And he shuts the door before he can second guess himself.

Cadeyrn’s laugh echoes from beyond the door, “If you change your mind I’m always ready to.. serve you.”

‘This fucker,’ he thinks, torn between wanting to smack the demon and kiss him, he’s making this whole situation far more confusing.

The system blinks to life next to him, [Host-]

“I know,” he says, turning away from the door, letting his silence speak for itself as he gets ready for bed, doing his best to not imagine the sexy demon just beyond his door. He slips into a large light sleeping robe, practically sinking into the sheets. 

As much as he doesn't want to, all the worrying thoughts he had forced down earlier in the day return with a vengeance. Pluma helps distract him, a cuddly and warm distraction. He buries his face into the soft fur on the seraphim’s belly and lets sleep drag him away.