Page 37 of I Ran Away to Evil 3
“It’s not,” he stated firmly.
My perfectly planned escape wasn’t so perfect when we were both going in the same direction. Julian had another notification in the corner of his vision that distracted him, and he cursed. The whistle sounded a second time, accompanied by a high-pitched scream.
“I’ll see you again soon,” he told me, turning to one of the open arch glassless windows that lined the wall of the hallway. It was a beautiful architectural design, and very fitting for a large fantasy arena.
Julian jumped out of the window.
I wished I could just jump out of a window this high up like some magical girl. Mechanically, I probably could … but I was wearing a light summer dress, and as much as fantasy undergarments were very pretty, I didn’t want everyone in the streets to seemine. Besides, I was going to take my time clearing out.
I was not needed to field the chaos that was happening at the Hall of Inventions.
This was the fun part about being close to any of the main characters—my abilities went off all day. My [Map] was overwhelmingly yellow to show me where scenarios were going to happen, and my [Sense Fate] warned me about every little thing, while [Sense Danger] was having a heyday being in the thick of it. Thanks to these abilities, I was surviving Season Two even though I’d never gotten the chance to play through it.
I knew what wasgenerallysupposed to happen:
Necromancer Chloe would return to the Dark Enchanted Forest to find her people dead, and since it would be too late to [Resurrect] or [Revive] everyone, she would [Raise] an army of undead instead.
Any of the already undead wouldn’t be able to be reanimated, and in her wrath, Chloe would reclaim the forest and attack Drendil. Keith was even supposed to show up as a final boss, but I had no idea why he wouldn’t have just resumed being king after Chloe [Raised] him.
Nowhere in the prerelease videos or news updates had the Blackfog spies been mentioned. I couldbarelyrecall the one time they’d come up in Season One. In the game, Duke Wyldon had visited the black market with Henrietta and ended up buying vital information from a Blackfog spy that had helped take down Duke Lector at the Spring Ball.
But what had changed about the Spring Ball?
Everything.I’dchanged everything. The butterfly effect from my years of altering the plot had come to full fruition that night, and now, we had a spy problem.
Up until today, I’d assumed Duke Lector had taken control of the spies in his attempt to overthrow the throne and declare himself king of Servalt … but now, I thought he was being used by the spies as much as he’d used them.
But was this anewvillain or someone I’d faced playing Season One?
I ran the mini villains through my mind.
A young woman named Lady Tate was the villainess in Servalt. She was engaged to Marquess Chadwick—poor soul—and had harassed Duke Wyldon on her fiancé’s orders.
Lady Luise, in Drendil, had wanted to marry Henrietta for power, and had used every violent trick in the book to make the heroine submit to her. Sir Phineas, known as an arrogant and hot-blooded knight to all, had caught Lady Luise hurting Henrietta and stepped forward to save her. He was thetsundereroute.
The other two normal routes had had an interesting twist because the male leads became the villains to each other …
Knight Commander Bastian of Peldeep and Adventurer Trevor Malory teamed up with Henrietta to clear a few dungeons. They developed a bond. If shechose Bastian, Trevor tried to kidnap her and run off to the Empire of Sands. If she chose Trevor, Bastian lost control of his drakin powers, turned into a dragon, and tried to kill Trevor.
There were two bonus routes, one for Duke Julian and one for Master Thomas Martin of Servalt.
Lady Cassandra Cress was the main villainess in Julian’s route because she wanted to marry into the North Sumbrian royal family. She took insult with Henrietta for her relaxed mannerisms and sought to embarrass the heroine at every turn.
Master Thomas was a Master Mage, and a candidate to take over the Mages Tower. He was calculating, insulting, and insufferable to the point that I’d almost quit playing the game during his mystical meteor route. He was his own villain, and theyandereroute.
And the dark ending wasverydark.
I couldn’t be certain if any of them had fallen for Henrietta before the Spring Ball, but since she had been romping around the Dark Enchanted Forest the entire time … it seemed unlikely.
The staff passed me a pamphlet as I exited the arena. The Mages Tower was going to be doing a demonstration of their latest spells and enchantments after lunch.
I turned in the direction of the chaos.
The Hall of Inventions was only two streets over, and the shouting from panicked pedestrians was accompanied by the repeated shrill from the whistles carried by the city guard. Everyone was heading in the opposite direction of the pandemonium, but I sauntered toward it at a casual pace.
The only thing louder than the screaming was the unmistakable cacophony ofcroaking.
CHAPTER 20
