Chapter 0015 – A Never-Expected Situation

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'That scheming witch called a goddess has tricked me!' This was Xylen's final thought before sinking into a state of blankness.

However, Not even a full second later:

"My Lord, I implore you—wake up! Today is your last opportunity! Your uncle is about to seize your territory once and for all, assassinate you, and… and hand me over as a plaything to that vile Count," a soft, quivering voice suddenly interrupted the silence around Xylen, the voice laced with quiet sobs.

The overwhelming anguish and despair in this voice were so potent that it tugged at Xylen's heartstrings, despite his utter lack of knowledge about the speaker or whom the recipient of her words is.

The next instant, Xylen's eyes snapped open.

Presently before him sat a red-haired woman, her face obscured as she bowed deeply, tears streaming soundlessly onto the floor beneath her.

Her subdued torment was so strong that although she remained perfectly still, the sorrow she radiated seemed to fill the air.

This, however, was not any of Xylen's concerns.

'Where am I?'

This question flared in his mind as he shifted his gaze from the woman to his surroundings.

Sweeping his eyes across the room, Xylen was immediately startled to find himself lying on a four-poster bed carved from rich, polished wood.

The room he occupied was neither grand nor plain but exuded an aura of belonging to someone significant in the historian era.

His pulse quickened as confusion knitted his brows tightly together.

'What is happening? Wasn't I supposed to be transported randomly into one of the many starter villages in Ashbourne's server?' he wondered in perplexity.

...….(Author's Note: Ashbourne is the MC's city in real life.)...….

Shaking himself back to his senses, Xylen hurriedly racked his brain, trying to recollect whether such a scenario had ever been recorded in the game during his previous lifetime.

But no matter how deeply he probed his memories, nothing remotely similar came to mind. Not for him nor any other players he had read and heard about.

Regardless of one's prominence or power, every player had started afresh within the reincarnation ground of the beginner's village, earning progress from the ground up. Yet… his current situation deviated drastically from what had occurred within the game in his past life.

He was supposed to be among his fellow gamers, all of who were currently in absolute bewilderment at how hyperrealistic the gaming world appeared, while animatedly discussing the beauty of the goddess of the Moon they had met. Yet…

'Could this be some sort of ripple effect?' he speculated, but the thought was quickly dismissed as soon as it appeared in his mind.

"This is illogical," he finally muttered to himself, shaking his head with exasperation.

Although his musing was quiet and his movements minimal, they, however, didn't escape the notice of the woman sitting before him.

Then as if shocked by an electric current, she raised her head with a start. In the following second, she froze in place, her jaw dropping.

Eventually:

""You…"She muttered, her lips parting and her eyes almost popping out of their sockets as though she had just seen a ghost.

For a brief moment, she gawked at Xylen, her expression vacant. Then, as if shaking off an illusion, she hastily wiped her eyes.

When she realized that Xylen's eyes were indeed open and not just her imagination, her countenance shifted dramatically.

"My… my Lord," she stuttered, her voice cracking hysterically, her breathing quickening.

Xylen, still grappling with his own confusion and questions, was instantly jarred back to reality by the sudden voice. He hurriedly raised his head, and this time, he saw her face.

In layman's terms, she was stunningly gorgeous. But in a more refined, realistic sense, she resembled an ethereal deity.

Her tear-streaked, ruby-red eyes glimmered with disbelief and shock. Her face also seemed to have been sculpted by divine hands.

Although two small horns adorned her head, they somehow enhanced her mystique rather than making her appear scary and ugly.

She also bore delicate scales on either side of her face, resembling intricately crafted adornments worth a fortune in the real world and something any woman would die to have.

Xylen didn't need anyone to confirm that this woman was of the demon race, but her beauty… it was utterly extraordinary, even eclipsing that of some goddesses.

For a moment, he was spellbound before shaking himself free from the daze.

"Who are you?" he demanded bluntly before he could stop himself.

In the next second, the woman, who had been utterly dumbstruck and still finding it difficult to believe that her lord had really woken up froze.

'He… he has awakened,' her thought raced, her eyes brimming with fresh tears, threatening another emotional outburst.

But remembering the urgency of the moment, she inhaled deeply to calm herself. A bittersweet smile tugged at her trembling lips.

"Forgive my lack of composure, my lord," she said with a soft chuckle, her demeanor subtly shifting to one of quiet elegance.

Before Xylen could react, she rose gracefully to her feet and bent at the waist in a deep bow.

"My Lord, you likely do not remember me again. It has been so long, after all…" she murmured, almost as though speaking to herself, her tone heavy with sorrow.

Clearing her throat, she straightened and spoke louder. "I am Lilith, my Lord—your maid since childhood."

'Huh?' Xylen's brows knitted together in confusion.

"Lilith? My maid? Your Lord?" he repeated, his bewilderment evident.

"Yes, my Lord," Lilith affirmed with a quick nod, her expression softening.

"You likely have no memory of me, do you, my lord?" she asked gently, and hearing her, Xylen did not know what to say.

'Am I expected to have any memory of you?' he wondered silently to himself. 'I'm just a gamer, for crying out loud,' he mused, suppressing the urge to laugh or weep.

Finally, he let out a resigned sigh.

'This must be part of a quest line,' he surmised.

Just as this thought dawned on him, however, a new realization struck. His eyes lit up.

'This is beginning to add up. This must be the promised compensation from that glitched AI for assigning me the wrong race. It likely circumvented the game's programming, following orders from the tech team to compensate for their error!'