* * *

Upon returning to my room, I didn’t feel all that great. But who would expect me to be after I had direct confirmation that our newest captive was indeed Cassis Pedelian? Damn it! How would I get out of such a dangerous situation? And why, oh why had I been born into such a hopelessly evil household?!

In order to understand why I was so invested in that boy’s wellbeing, I suppose I should explain more about the novel I’m in. It’s a book that contains the fate of the Agreces and me. Prior to my sudden death in that car accident in my past life, I had read a romance novel. It was before I had become busy with my thesis. One of my classmates had recommended this book, saying the novel was popular. Although I had never been a big fan of romance fiction, I trusted my friend and happened to have plenty of free time, so those were the only excuses I needed to check it out.

The title of the book was The Abysmal Flower. And yes, just as the title suggests, it was a gothic romance novel. Honestly, the more I read it, the more I wanted to hurl it at the nearest wall.

The main story revolves around the female protagonist, Sylvia, who is smack dab in the middle of a few sizzling affairs with her male abductors. I’d say the story could be best described as an X-rated, reverse-harem fantasy. The story’s lore is also quite unique. There are five family clans that control this world, represented by five colors: Blue, White, Red, Gold, and Black. Sylvia belongs to the Blue clan, known as the Pedelians.

The story begins with Sylvia while she is still in her youth. She is a beautiful, lovely girl with a mane of otherworldly silver hair that gives off hints of blue under the right light. She also has golden eyes. Having grown up in a prosperous and harmonious family, she is beloved by all and lacks nothing. She also has an older brother with whom she gets on famously.

While real life brother-sister relationships are almost always strained, these sorts of stories always show siblings in the opposite light. If I may exaggerate a little, I’d have to say their love and concern for each other was so great that if one of them were in need of it, the other would gladly give up a limb for their sibling. Even now, I remember thinking, “only in fiction,” as I smirked to myself the first time I read it. I admit that I’ve since eaten a rather heaping slice of humble pie.

Anyway, the true tragedy begins when the heroine’s brother suddenly disappears. At the time, she is 15 and he is 17. And yes, the heroine’s brother who disappears in the story is the very same Cassis Pedelian now trapped in my family’s dungeon. Also known as “the Blue Heir,” Cassis had taken on the duty of overseeing his family’s business as he is their designated scion.

One day, he notices suspicious activities occurring at the border of his family’s territory and leaves to inspect the matter. But soon after, he is reported to have vanished. Needless to say, the heroine and her family are desperate to find him. They have their suspicions and figure Cassis’ disappearance is likely the doing of the Black Agrece clan, the long-time foes of the Pedelians. With such a grim-sounding name, it’s no wonder that the Agreces are such a thoroughly evil household. Even I must admit, the name is a perfect match for this perfectly evil family.

With the Pedelians, known as the defenders of justice, on one side, and the infinitely evil Agreces on the other, there was just no way the two families were ever going to get along. What made the situation even worse was that the heads of both clans had recently had a huge clash.

Putting two and two together, Sylvia’s family becomes convinced that Cassis’ disappearance is the dirty work of their sworn enemy. And that indeed is the case. However, they don’t have any proof. Because each clan is almost equal in power, the Pedelians can’t risk acting on a mere hunch, however educated it may be, nor can they just wait around doing nothing. At some point, they decide to send spies into the Agrece territory, but one after another they return home as corpses.

Things continue like that for three years. During that time, Sylvia never gives up hope of finding her brother. After she turns 18, she decides to set out in search of her brother for herself. Unfortunately, there’s still that sticking point of this being story an X-rated story. And trust me, that’s not for nothing...

As Sylvia travels through the lands of White, Red and Gold to glean information about her brother’s whereabouts, she encounters each of those clans’ absurd chiefs. I don’t know what other readers thought of them, but to me they each seemed full-on bonkers. After falling head over heels in love with the story’s female protagonist, their respective ideas of how to engage in romantic courting is to abduct and incarcerate her. As I was reading the book, I remember thinking they were nothing but a bunch of losers.

Even within the Black Agrece compound, I recall there was yet another lovestruck buffoon who eventually abducts Sylvia as well. In a way, this abduction allows for her entry into the enemy’s lair, which is something she would attempt to do without much success. Then once inside, she discovers that her brother Cassis was already viciously murdered by the Agreces.

After that, she decides to enlist the help of her suitors from the White, Red, and Gold clans in order to obliterate the Agreces. Once the Agreces have been eradicated, Sylvia and her suitors form a reverse harem to live happily ever after... But that isn’t how the story ends! If it had, it wouldn’t live up to its “gothic romance” moniker. Basically, it ends with the male suitors deciding to trap Sylvia in a birdcage and use her like a toy, thus the title of the novel being The Abysmal Flower.

What a load of bull... Not only does Sylvia get shafted, but the entire Agrece clan gets totally annihilated because the Pedelians are so incensed that they go after every last member of our family. The other clan chiefs who fell in love with Sylvia also do what they can to help crush the Agreces.

And just as a side note, the character of Roxana who I’ve been reincarnated as is basically just a supporting character in service to the Agreces. “Doing what?” one might ask. If I had to describe it, her role is boring and predictable.

At her father’s bidding, Roxana tries to lure Sylvia’s lovers away, but fails. Then on the day of the mass slaughter, she dies just like everyone else.

“Double damn! Is there really no way I can hit the reincarnate button one more time?”

I bemoaned the sorry hand I had been dealt for the umpteenth time. And yes, I know the fate that befalls my character is in line with what normally happens to evil characters that belong to evil families, but even so, it feels incredibly unfair that I have to die simply for being reborn an Agrece! This is nothing but a case of guilt by association.

Don’t get me wrong either. If I’m being honest, a clan as evil as the Agreces should be eradicated. Based on what I’ve observed while being here, each and every one of the Agreces has at least one major screw loose. If they aren’t messed up already, this cesspool of a clan will make sure they are before long. In this house, one either adapts... or gets disposed of. They’ll simply throw you away one day for being “defective” merchandise, like they did to my brother Achille.

Even now, I still remember the day he died as if it were yesterday. And to be clear, I often consider running away from this hellhole, but even a rising star like myself can’t be sure I’ll be able to completely skirt by the other vigilant and frightful characters that make up the Agrece clan.

Knock, knock

Someone was at my door.

“Lady Roxana, it’s me, Emily.”

“Come in.”

A stony-faced woman walked through my door. As my servant, she came by my room at this time each day. She held a tray in her hands, on top of which sat a cup of water and a white sheet of paper that had been folded twice.

“Go ahead and report.”

“Because your Netarium tolerance level is now at 5.0, your dosage has been increased by 0.2 peron. This means, you’ve exceeded the lethal dose of 4.7 peron, and should expect such side effects as stomach pain, temporary paralysis, coughing up blood, and so on.”

I wasn’t thrilled to hear any of that, but I still poured the white powder from the medicine pouch into the cup of water.

Others might have been shocked to see such a thing, but to us Agreces it was no big deal. From childhood, all family members ingest small amounts of various poisons in order to build up our tolerance to them. Because the amounts are calibrated based on each person’s own physique, there is never any real threat of death. That’s why a “lethal” dose wouldn’t actually kill me. Having already completed my tolerance training some time ago, I continued to ingest increasing amounts for personal reasons.

“What’s Jeremy up to?” I asked her casually.

“He’s in his room, my lady,” Emily answered, as she prepared to leave my room with the now empty cup and tray.

Jeremy is my half-brother who had insisted on playing with the new “toy” along with Charlotte. I had been keeping tabs on his whereabouts over the last few days, but I knew he would come looking for me soon enou—

“Xana!”

Speak of the devil... A loud shout rang from the hall just as Emily had opened the door. Pushing her aside, Jeremy made his way into my room uninvited. With his black hair and blue eyes, there was no doubt he was a truly beautiful boy. And it is this boy, Jeremy Agrece, the story’s villainous supporting character that abducts the heroine, who eventually leads to our family’s demise.