Nephrite Yxarien woke up with a splitting headache. His eyelashes fluttering as he slowly opened his eyes. He was dazed for a second then blinked his eyes slowly. The once blurred eyes now regained its clarity.
Then, remembering the last scene before he lost his consciousness, he jolted up. He sat on the bed and touched his abdomen, his brows furrowed as his slender fingers touched a soft silk robe.
"My lord, do you hear me? My lord?!"
A small voice sounded throughout the room, full of panic and fear. Yxarien looked at the source of sound, it was a small white and furry cat. It has a small wings on his back, which was fluttering fast due to its owner's nervousness.
Yxarien, who was used to seeing unusual things ever since, wasn't even surprised to see a furry cat with wings. Instead, he narrowed his eyes dangerously, darting at the cat. He recognized this cat, it was one of the small systems created by his aunt; Solene Zayanarra, a 'heartless' and 'petty' devil who loves technology and hacking.
"Where am I, and what am I doing here?" he asked coldly
He has already noticed where he was, it was an ancient china style room adorned with delicate ornaments. Simple yet beautiful and elegant. But he doesn't know this place, nor does he knew why he was here. He expected himself to be lying on a ward or maybe his room, not into this unknown place.
"You're in Dao Realm, My lord. Two realms far away from the Human Realm, you're here for a mission, sir...." the small furry cat hesitantly said, his voice becoming smaller as Yxarien's face turned solemn.
Yxarien frowned, he was injured yet they sent him for a mission? No matter how strange and weird his cousins and aunts' attitude were, they would never send someone injured in a mission, especially a comatose one.
He felt something off. At normal circumstance, his cousins and aunts would be here crowding his room whenever they hear that he got injured, even if the injury was small. He glanced at the small cat and cat nervously avoid his gaze in return.
Suddenly, the cat froze, his eyes glowing pink then a familiar voice came out of the cat's mouth.
"Dear, I apologize for dragging you unto this mission. As I mentioned back then, I someone made a deal with me, and that deal involves you...That deal was supposed to be invalid, but for some reason it didn't become. I didn't expect it to come sooner than I thought. For now, lay low and recuperate. Goodbye—"
With a glitch, the pink eyes dimmed and returned to its original color. The cat became dizzy as the white hands grasped him, his small body made it easy for Yxarien to hold.
"Little cub, tell me what's your name and what mission I have."
It wasn't a request, it was a command. Yxarien rubbed its white and soft ear and hummed. The cat struggled to break free but his effort was in vain.
"I'm System 0108, My lord! Your auntie Solene sent me here to assist you throughout the mission. Regarding your mission, I don't have the appropriate words to explain it." he cheerfully said
After urging the cat, the cat finally explained. He was in her Aunt's story; 'The tyrant's favoured concubine' as one of the canon fodder known for its unconditional love for the Emperor— the Empress, who killed himself halfway the story.
His mission was to fullfil the character's wish and that is; to avoid having any entanglement with the Emperor and to avoid his tragic end.
The character's name was Sheng Yuchen. Yxarien's expression became dark after hearing the character's name, system 0108 noticed his lord's expression and shut his mouth.
"System, my aunt wrote this story right? Is she also the who named the characters?"
Even though confused of why his lord suddenly asked such question, system 0108 answered dutifully.
"Some characters were named by the 'client' including your character's name, Lady Floreine disapproved saying it was her who wrote the story and thus, she has the upper right to name your character... because of that, the 'client' and Lady Floreine had a heated conversation"
"The 'client' insisted on naming you, saying he didn't paid a fair price for nothing. Lady Floreine, on the other hand, refused to give up resulting to have another argument."
Yxarien was speechless and a little bit angry, who wouldn't? The character's name wasn't just something he could brush off, because character's given name was his chinese name. He doesn't know how that 'client' or whoever it was knew his name, after all, it was one of their clan's strict rule that their name mustn't be known to others unless it was them who took the initiative to do so.
But aside from his family and close friends, nobody knows his other name. He still remembered one time that someone asked his name casually then that person was punished.
'Name held significance, if you ever reveals it to anyone that has a malicious intent then it will eventually lead you to your own doom.' was something his mother repeatedly remind them.
A knock snapped him out of his thoughts, the door gently opened and three servants went inside. The frightened cat immediately folded his small wings.
The leading servant saw the cat and asked Yxarien in a surprised but respectful manner.
"My Lord, where did this cat came from—"
Yxarien calmly stroke the cats fur, "I don't know either, I woke up with this cat resting beside me."
The leading servant didn't ask another question and did their job dutifully. After Yxarien took a bath and changed into a new clothes, one of the servant skillfully combed his long silver hair.
"My Lord,you've been in seclusion for more than a several years, would you like to go out for a while and get some fresh air?"
One of the servants, Su Ling, bowed slightly and asked respectfully. Her tone neither loud nor quiet, just enough for Yxarien to hear.
"Indeed, Tang Qiang'er, stop combing my hair"
Yxarien agreed and stood up, he gestured the servants to follow him.