This was a mistake! If I would’ve known I would’ve been more hesitant…!

My foolish fondness for him as a character was to blame for my current predicament. Why had I agreed to accompany him, knowing how much he loved to experiment? There was no one else to blame but myself.

Despite my ghostly body, I was drenched to the skin and shivered uncontrollably from the cold. I had naive assumed that the mage had invited me into his home, to provide me some company so I wasn’t all alone in my current state. But this assumption proved grossly mistaken, when he led me to his garden instead. 

How could I have forgotten that Ivan Kresnik was not only one of the most powerful mages but also a relentless bully and tease! The first thing he did upon our arrival was to cast a water spell on me. To both our surprises, magic worked on me and I was now soaked to the bone. This revelation brought forth another horrifying fact: Ivan could have severely harmed me with his magical blades, when he had them pointed at me earlier. 

I had been this close to dying a second time, had he decided to attack and I had even asked him to do it!

As I was shaking from the cold, I wrapped my arms around my shivering body, but it didn’t help me much. My pajamas were completely soaked through, clinging to my thin body which made me tremble like a bobblehead figure in a moving car. Without any way to check my reflection now, I could only hope that my underwear and skin weren’t too conspicuous beneath the transparent fabric.

Ivan seemed to have no regrets whatsoever, as he watched me tremble in my current state with only a mischievous glint in his eyes. He was a bit too excited about me being drenched up to my underwear, with the way he kept staring at me! His eyes sure lingered a lot on certain parts, but I was probably only imagining things.

I would’ve loved to dump a whole bucket with cold water onto him as revenge, so he’d experience this unpleasant feeling himself, but my ghostly body made this impossible and with his skills he would’ve avoided me anyway. It was beyond unfair!

In my current state, verbal protest was the only weapon in my arsenal. My teeth clattered miserably as I attempted to speak.

"Y-y-you bully!" The cold-induced stutter made me sound almost comical. While part of me could understand his amusement at my helplessness, I also had a last bit of pride I was unwilling to relinquish. “If this is what you had in mind when you offered me to accompany you, I would’ve stayed far away!”

I stomped my feet as best as I could and turned to leave the garden through the way I came in, when the mage suddenly blocked my only exit with his body. Instinctively, I stopped walking, only to remember that I could just walk through him if I really wanted to.

Wordlessly, Ivan swung a finger, conjuring warm, swirling winds that appeared around me and began to warm my freezing body and clothes. Faster than I could’ve ever imagined, my clothes got dry again and the winds disappeared again. I sniffed at my sleeves in suspicion but I didn’t smell anything.

“Water was the simplest way to check whether magic works on you or not,” Ivan explained. “I didn’t want to risk injuring you or are you actually into pain?” At his last question, Ivan boldly looked me in the eyes with a cheeky smile on his lips. He was really good at pushing all my buttons when he behaved like this!

I defiantly crossed my arms, but the moment I averted my eyes in embarrassment, I knew I had lost. My face heated up in an instant, and I scrambled to save myself. “You could’ve warned me instead of just going at it!”

“Duly noted★!” 

He took a step closer to me, and I did my best to ignore him, but the way I could feel his presence right in front of me made my heart hammer in my chest. I wasn’t used to other guys standing so close to me and the fact that he could just phase through me made this even worse. In my current ghostly state, I had no personal space; he could get as close as he wanted, and I couldn't block him.

Plus, I detested the sensation of someone walking through me.It made my skin crawl every time it happened, so I did my best to avoid it.

“Oh, are you getting a fever? You’re quite flushed.” He suddenly asked me, while paying close attention to my face with a surprised expression. “Maybe I really shouldn't have used the water spell first…” His voice dropped, and I heard something that sounded close to guilt. 

Could he actually feel guilty?

When I looked into his sincere eyes to confirm that I wasn’t losing my mind, all the anger I had been feeling melted away. The handsome mage had a distinct frown on his now pale face, and his eyes focused on me with a gentle glimmer. Perhaps, he might not be a bad guy after all? I am certainly a bit judgemental towards him.

“Since we now know that magic works on you, I should be able to find a way to get you out of your ghostly state.” Ivan, who had regained his composure, winked at me, as he finished his words. His previous gestures seemed to have been devoid of ill will or mocking intentions, and I relaxed a bit.

It dawned on me that Ivan's presence and his unconventional methods had managed to distract me from my uncertainties for a while. Did he do all these things deliberately to distract me from my worries or was I overthinking it again? Prior to arriving here, I would’ve claimed to know his character pretty well, but now, I wasn’t so sure.

“Thank you for your help,” I mumbled, my confidence wavering. I was truly thankful to him, now that it was apparent that he would try to help me earnestly. Never would I have expected for something like this to happen. It really was a strange twist of fate that, out of all people, it was him who could see me. 

As my words reached him, Ivan's expression shifted. His gaze seemed to focus on a spot beside me, and he absentmindedly fixed an unruly strand of hair with his left hand. In that brief moment, something caught my eye—an orange tattoo spiraling across his pinky finger.  Neither this reaction nor the tattoo had been mentioned in any descriptions I recalled of him, leaving me confused. I had no idea what this meant. Before I could get lost in my thoughts any further, Ivan called out to me.

“Let’s go back inside. It’s time for dinner.” 

Without waiting for my response, he turned around and left the garden in a rather abrupt manner. I quickly followed behind him, wondering if I could even eat in this state.Every other object I had attempted to touch had simply passed through me. So, it was likely that I couldn't digest anything. But did that mean I could die of starvation, or was I exempt from that because I was a ghost?

***

“Ivo, you’re back already!”

A warm and clear voice I hadn’t heard before ripped me out of my light sleep. After returning back inside his flat, he had begun cooking dinner, which gave me some time for some shut eye. My mind had been exhausted, and this brief respite was exactly what I needed to regain some energy. 

“I didn’t expect you to be home so soon. Didn’t you mention you had something important to do?” The voice was directed at Ivan, who was busy in the kitchen.

Ivan stepped out of the kitchen and into the living room. For a moment,I felt his eyes on me, before he turned his attention to the hallway, where the voice’s owner was removing his shoes. 

Fully awake now, I sat up straight as I recalled who that voice likely belonged to - none other than Ivan’s younger brother, Dragan! He was a character I only knew from my sister’s web novel [Life Of A Top Mage: Adolescence], which contained Ivan’s adventures during his teenage years.

Before I could fully lose myself in nostalgia, the door swung open, and a young man entered the living room. My eyes were glued to him from the moment he stepped into the room.

It was undoubtedly clear that he and Ivan were brothers; they both shared the same plum-coloured hair and I noticed a general resemblance in their facial features.However, the differences between them were much more pronounced. While Ivan’s eyes were a frosty-blue, Dragan had greenish-gray eyes. The most distinguishing feature between the two however were their builds and heights! 

This disparity made me laugh at the mistaken assumption I had made, when I heard his voice before he entered the room. In my mind, Dragan had always been Ivan's little brother—the cute sibling who had fallen ill and was protected by his big brother. In the sh*tty book continuation, adult Dragan had essentially never made an appearance because he was already dead! I had never stopped thinking of him as the little boy and had never even considered what a teenage Dragan might look like.

My eyes were glued onto Dragan’s physique. In contrast to his brother’s lean, but well-trained body, Dragan was….kind of a hunk!  He was taller than Ivan and had far more defined muscles. The only stark contrast was his youthful face, which still held a bit of a cute puppy-like charm to it. He hadn't fully matured yet, unlike Ivan, who exuded sheer handsomeness. Clearly, this family was blessed with good looks. I was certain Dragan had his fair share of fangirls, though I personally preferred Iva-

Eek! What was that?!

As if to stop my mind from wandering further, a sudden chilly sensation ran down the back of my neck, and I averted my eyes in confusion. Instinctively, I looked back at Ivan, who smiled at me with a clearly feigned smile, before he greeted his brother with a genuine one. What was his problem? Did he catch me starring? I knew Ivan was supposed to be a bit overprotective towards his loved ones, but I only looked at Dragan for a few seconds.

Come on! 

I sighed softly and stifled my anger, choosing instead to observe the brothers with anticipation. Neither Ivan nor I knew if Dragan could see me, and I was also curious about how he had developed over the years.

“Something came up, and I had to postpone my plans,” Ivan replied in a casual tone, deliberately avoiding any mention of me. I certainly didn’t miss the way his eyes went over me for a split second during his white lie. It was almost as if he wanted to raise suspicions. 

Dragan raised an inquisitive eyebrow at his older brother, momentarily disregarding Ivan's odd behavior when his stomach growled loudly.

“Mmmhhh, that smells heavenly, Ivo. What did you cook this time?” With quick steps Dragan stepped right beside me, which made me flinch nervously. I rolled myself together like an insect fearing to be stepped on. His complete disregard for my existence served as a clear hint that he was unable to perceive me, but this was not the only thing I gained from his remark. 

Earlier, when I had sniffed at my pajamas, I didn’t smell anything and assumed that there was nothing. The smell of Ivan’s food was clearly wafting through this room right now and I didn’t smell a single thing. This meant that my sense of smell didn’t work at all! Did this have something to do with my body? If so, it raised the possibility that I didn’t need to worry about eating for now. However, this whole issue only led to more questions.

Did this mean all my senses were dulled or inactive? Ivan's earlier experiment had shown that I wasn't invincible; magic could harm me, and I could perceive temperature changes. Therefore, not all of my senses were dulled. For now, I had to assume that only my sense of smell and taste were affected and move forward. There were more important matters to take care of.

Previously, I had completely forgotten my earlier question of where I would be in the timeline of the novel right now.

Dragan’s sudden appearance ironically provided me with a rough estimation of the current timeline. If he was still alive, it suggested that the plot of that horrible book version had not yet begun!

A small flicker of hope lit inside my chest, as pictures of a new future appeared in my mind. If I played my cards right, we could prevent the brutal inciting incident that had killed off Dragan and set Ivan on a path of revenge. The hopeless book plot might be averted, and both Ivan and Dragan could live a peaceful life! 

I couldn’t forget the bitter tears I cried not long ago, when I finished reading this horrible book. It had callously destroyed the characters that I held dear. Their destinies in the book had been excessively cruel and in bad taste. Dragan didn’t deserve to be killed off as cannon fodder to give Ivan a motive. Since the moment I had read the first few pages of the book, I had balked at the sheer nerve to kill off Dragan. Ivan’s whole adventure in the [Life Of A Top Mage: Adolescence] back then was for the sole purpose of collecting material to brew a healing potion for the sick Dragan. The book had, in essence, spat on all of Ivan's efforts, simply to grant him a reason for self-destructive revenge. 

Anger and frustration surged back into my heart like a sharp knife that was thrust deep into my chest. I closed my eyes again and focused on the glimmer of hope dangling in front of me.

In my current state, I had nothing to lose anymore. I had left the world that only hurt me and found myself in a world that used to bring me comfort. All the connections I had in my old world were severed, so there was no one here who would be saddened if something happened to me, which made my decision easier. If there was even the slightest chance for me to save and repay the characters, whose story had been my solace until I died, I would seize it. 

The murky mist of uncertainty had finally lifted, revealing my path with blinding clarity. No matter what obstacles lay ahead, I would save Ivan and Dragan, even if it meant sacrificing myself in the process!