Allen gave out a stunned expression. Hearing Bella's words, it doesn't sound like her at all. It's like, she changed into a different person. Just by one glance, he could tell that she's not the Bella he knows.
A second later, he remembered what Az said back then... It was back when he's reading the book alone.
He stood there for a while as memories flashed in his mind:
"Wow, you're so focused on reading that book." Az says, appearing so suddenly.
"No." Allen grumbled, continuing to read.
But that doesn't stop Az. He leaned closer and whispered, "The heroine has a split personality~"
Allen's grip on the book tightened. When he was about to get mad at Az, the other boy interrupts him.
That guy's sentence was one thing he couldn't forget...
"Be careful though. Her other personality tends to be violent."
Allen looked at Az in silence. He felt uneasy about his warning.
Allen snapped out from his thoughts when the flashback ended. He couldn't forget that day he found out Bella's dangerous personality. He gulped, starting to think on what to do in this situation. After all, he doesn't know how to handle a wild person. Correction, if he includes Ted, then it's two wild people.
Before the demon could do something, Allen snapped out of his thoughts and grabbed Bella immediately.
"You dunce! Why did you have to interrupt!? I could've handled that on my own!" Bella growled as she points toward the demon.
Allen tried to prevent himself from shivering. At first, he couldn't believe what was written in the novel. But since the content there comes true, it didn't take him a lot of time to believe it. The heroine was scarier than the book defined her. Right now, she's like a beast, but a pretty one.
A moment later, Ted blasted magic towards them. Luckily, Allen dodged it. The demon was surprised at the boy's speed, it isn't something that normal humans could do, unless... he's a mage. But it's strange, he doesn't sense any mana. Is he hiding it?
"Boy, are you a mage?" Ted asked.
Allen blinked at his question. He looked confused. "What?"
The demon scoffed at the boy's reply. "Whatever, I may not sense it, but I could tell from the movements that you're not a normal human. Hell, I even saw you suddenly appear in front of us so out of thin air. It doesn't matter though, your strength still doesn't match mine."
Allen sensed the demon's bloodlust. Out of instinct, he immediately sprinted away, looking for a place where they both could hide safely. He ran as he carries Bella around the place. The heroine kept on bickering, telling him to put her down, which hindered their speed to get away.
It didn't took a lot of time for Ted to find them. He didn't waste any second to blast them with his magic.
Allen immediately acted on instinct. He dived towards the ground, dodging the attack. As they lay on the ground, he immediately grabbed some sand and threw it towards Ted's eyes. This caused the demon to be blinded for a while. He immediately took opportunity and grabbed Bella. Both of them ran away for escape.
In front of them, there was a garden. There's a maze in that place, it also has a lot of spots to hide. Allen ran more faster, quickly going inside the maze garden.
"Let's hide here." he says, pointing towards a lady statue.
"Huh, are you an idiot? Just how on earth are we going to hide here? There's no room in here to hide, that maniac would totally spot us. Hiding in the bushes is much better." Bella said, crossing her arms in disbelief. She eyed Allen critically, her glare pierces through the him, making the other boy flinch.
'This other Bella is a loudmouth. Everything about her is just as stated in the novel. Except for the fact that she's more scary in personal.' Allen thought. He quickly pressed a hidden button before Bella could even say more.
"Wha—"
"There's a hidden passage in here. It's a perfect place to hide." Allen explained.
Bella stood there for a while, stunned. After a brief of silence, she finally spoke. "Hmph. This school is indeed weird....and mysterious." she says, looking curiously at the stairs that appeared from below.
Both of them took their step downwards. As they went inside, the entrance behind them automatically shut close, making the place more dark than before.
Three years ago, Allen found out about this secret passageway. It was the only place where he hangs out alone whenever he's in a bad mood. Everytime his parents blamed him without proof or given little attention, he always goes to this place. But even though they do something unfair, he knows that his parents still love him.
The reason why he receives different treatment, it's because he's not like his siblings. When he was a kid, he's often hyperactive and playful. As a kid, he always loved to have fun and explore a lot of things. Unlike other children, he also acts more differently. He isn't elegant and talented like them, that's why people often judge him as an unmannered child. It is also one of the reasons why he isn't believed whenever he's accused wrongly.
That's why when he grew up, he shut away his feelings and stopped dreaming for things he wanted. He became mean towards people so that they aren't the ones who'll bully him first. Of course, it worsened his reputation. But despite that, at least no one dared to harass him anymore. Throughout his whole life, he thought he could just live a life like this. However, ever since this strange object known as the 'phone' fell from the sky, everything changed. There's this maniac bastard called Will, who tries to kill him and some two otherworldly people who appeared out of nowhere. That's when he found out that whether he's a prat or not, there's no better life for him. The only way he could do to survive is help the protagonist save the world.
Ever since these insane things that are happening to Allen, he didn't care anymore about being accused wrongly, being not as excellent as the others, being hated by everyone, and lastly..... being doubted by his parents. He doesn't care anymore if his parents favored his siblings more than him, all that matters now, is for him to survive. He doesn't want his family to die just because of his wrongdoings. He doesn't care what everyone thinks, as long as he could fix things, that's what mattered to him.
If he didn't find this phone that fell from the sky, he would've done some things that he would regret. He wouldn't have known that he's going to get brainwashed and do horrible things in the future.
"Hey, dunce head. I have a few questions." Bella spoke, interrupting the boy's thoughts.
"Ask away." Allen said as he starts lighting up a torch.
"What is a mage like you doing at a place like this? In that age, aren't you supposed to be in the mage realm studying in some magic academy?" Bella asked.
Allen paused. He looked at Bella as if she had grown another head.
"Answer them or die." the heroine threatened, pointing a sharp knife towards Allen's throat.
Allen wondered where did Bella found a knife. Was she keeping weapons often in her clothes?
"Are you going to answer or not?" Bella spoke with a growl, her eyes are now narrowing dangerously. "Based on the information I gathered about you, they stated you're just normal. Earlier, you just appeared in front of us, out of thin air. That's obviously not normal. This makes you suspicious because people seem to be unaware of your ability."
Allen blinked at Bella's question. He arched a brow, looking confused. Earlier, Ted also called him a mage. He wondered why these people would assume such a thing. He wasn't born with magic. If he were, he would've been immediately sent to a wizard academy. There's this rule that states that mages below high class level, aren't allowed in a muggle realm.
"I'm not a mage." Allen denied.
'Seriously, I'm not. If you're talking about that stupid teleportation magic, that was Az's doing!' he internally exclaimed in his thoughts.
"You dare lie to me? There's no way you aren't one. When I was being dragged by the demon from earlier, you just magically appeared out of nowhere. It's like you teleported from a different place! I know what I saw!" Bella insisted, leaning closer to the boy. "You also dodged his attacks smoothly. A normal human can't do that without training. Judging by your appearance, you don't seem the type to do intense training. You're definitely a mage. How did you do that? Did you cast a spell on yourself to strengthen your agility?"
Allen backed away a bit, startled by her questions. "No. Seriously, I'm not a mage. Just why on earth do you think that? Can't you see that I don't look like one?" he insisted, clearly telling the truth. 'The reason I was only able to dodge smoothly, it was because of the potion that Az made me drink. Surely, it didn't give me magic, it only improved my escaping abilities.' he thought. Clearly, he can't explain those things to Bella, so he just decided to keep his mouth shut.
Unfortunately, this doesn't convince Bella. She assumed that Allen is keeping his powers a secret and he's afraid to be separated from his family, that's why he's denying it. It is understandable.
"What a louse. You remind me of my idiot younger brother." she grunted. Allen was confused at her statement, but remained silent anyways. Mages who were originally born in the muggle realm, can only visit their families every three years. The wizard academy there is pretty intense, most teachers there are cruel towards the students. As far as Bella knew, a lot of them are perfectionists. "I guess I owe you, so I won't tell anyone." she grunted. Allen saved her life after all.
Allen groaned at how hard-headed this other Bella could be. "I told you, I'm not a—"
"Achoo!" Bella sneezed.
Allen flinched.
"Eh? Where am I? What is this place?" Bella asked, back to being the angelic one. "The last thing I remember was being grabbed by a scary demon." she shivered.
At first, Allen was confused at the heroine's sudden change of personality. But a moment later, he realized that she already switched back to her angelic personality,. He stayed silent for a while, wondering how he would explain it.
"You..." Bella looked at him. "You're Allen Coldwell." she recognized.
Allen nodded. Then finally, he started to explain the situation. "I pulled you away from that demon and helped you escape. Right now, we're hiding because he's trying to hunt us down." he says.
"I-I see...." Bella said, somehow relieved. She smiled at him. Her aura was so bright that anyone could see lights shining around her.
Allen blinked for a moment. Somehow, he felt confused. Bella's in front of him, talking to him, but why does he feel nothing? Seeing Bella's beautiful smile, his heart should be beating fast or feel some butterflies in his stomach. But he's not swooned at all, he feels nothing. All these years, he wanted to talk to Bella, but why doesn't he feel so....well, he's happy, but not the same way he felt before. He doesn't know how to explain it, and he finds it irritating.
Suddenly, a rumbling sound was heard from the entrance. They both went on alert as they saw the door open. Allen raised his fists, as if that would be effective towards a demon.
When the door was fully opened, they saw familiar faces who were standing before them. Allen and Bella sighed in relief.
"Bella!" Larence, Einz, and Rachel says in unison. The three of them ran towards Bella. They were all relieved seeing her safe. After they came in, Calia and Ryan comes in next.
"Allen? You're here too?" Calia questioned in surprise.
"I wondered where on earth you went off to. After all, you suddenly disappeared without us noticing." Ryan said, looking at Allen curiously, He wondered how he get here this fast. To be honest, he didn't expect him to be in a place like this.
"What happened to Ted?" Allen asked.
"Larence defeated him. Ted is dead now—we tried to save him and lock him up in a very secluded place, but he committed suicide. Wait a minute, you met him?" Rachel looks at Allen in shock.
Allen didn't reply, instead he wondered about why Larence and the others intended to only imprison Ted. In the novel, Larence killed Ted out of anger for the death of his foster family.
'Could it be that Larence didn't intend to kill Ted in this timeline because I was able to alert them earlier, which lead to a result where the Rutherd Family is still alive?' he thought.
"He saved me from him." Bella butted in. Then she looked at Allen and smiled, "Thank you for saving me. That was very brave of you."
Allen stood there for a while. Somehow, he felt flattered. "It's nothing." he says. Honestly, he didn't really help that much, Larence is the one who did a great job fighting that demon. But that doesn't matter though, the important thing is no one died in this timeline. Unlike in the novel, the kidnapped students are alive.
"That's quite unexpected of you. You seem the type to ditch someone, but I guess I was wrong." Rachel scoffed at Allen. She rolled her eyes and shifted her attention towards Bella. A moment later, she walked close to Larence, trying to get his attention.
Allen flinched at the stares that Ryan was making. It's piercing right through his soul, making his whole body shiver. "What?" he stared at him.
"For some reason, I find this strange." Ryan spoke. He looked at him curiously. "Earlier, when we heard Bella's loud scream, you were just behind me. But when I turned around, you were gone." he narrowed his eyes. The other boy felt uncomfortable by this and backed away a bit. "Then I found you here with Bella. How did you do it?" he asked.
"What?" Allen looked dumbfounded.
"How did you do it? How did you get ahead of us so fast in finding Bella?......" Ryan stared intensely. Somehow, he felt amused and suspicious at the same time.
"What are you talking about?" Allen gulped, trying not to break eye contact. "I don't get what you're saying." he says, acting clueless.
"..... it's like you teleported or something." Ryan finished his sentence as he puts a hand on his chin.
Allen let out a laugh, brushing off the boy's words. It makes him so nervous about how right he is. "Seriously, Ryan? Only mages can do that, I don't even have magic."
Ryan looked at him for a while. Actually, Allen has a point, there's no way he has magic. He had known every information of every nobles and royalties in each countries. Based on the information he knows, the Coldwells doesn't have any mage bloodline. Their family is originally born without magic, so they're just ordinary human beings.
"Yeah, you're right." Ryan chuckled, thinking that he's just being overly imaginative. "As far as I know, the members Coldwell family are born without magic. So there's no way you're a mage. Also, they're very rare here in the muggle realm, it is known to impossible in meeting one."
Allen was about to feel relief, but it stopped when Ryan said something next.
"If that's the case, how did you get to Bella so quickly? You have no magic or whatsoever."
Allen tensed, but he didn't let it show. Right now, he's getting suspicious at the smile that Ryan's giving off. "I took a shortcut." he said straightforwardly. It's true though. After all, he literally got teleported to Bella, using magic. But of course he can't tell him that kind of shortcut.
"What kind of shortcut?" Ryan asked.
Allen looked at him, trying to act irritated. "I know some secret passages in this school. That's how I got to her so quickly." he crossed his arms and gave out a smirk. "For these past few years, I ain't roaming around for nothing." he half lied.
It's true that Allen had been exploring around the school. When he first found a secret passage here in the garden, he decided to look for others in order to entertain himself. He had been roaming around the academy and found four secret passages in total. He often goes to these places whenever he's bored or lonely.
"You knew and you didn't tell us? Why?" Ryan tilted his head.
Allen starts getting annoyed at the number of questions he asked, but he still answered with an excuse. "I don't think Larence and the others would believe me if I did."
Ryan finally stopped asking. After all, it makes sense. A lot of people hate Allen, and judging by his relationship towards other people, it's understandable that no one would believe him.
"I guess that makes sense." he says, deciding to shrug it off.
Allen just sighed in relief. It was a tough day. Even though Larence and his friends are still suspicious of him, he's still fine with it. After all, he's able to survive from Ted. Being able to go home peacefully is all that matters. But there's one thing that's bothering him. When he was with Bella, there's something that makes him wonder, but he can't put a finger on it.
- - -
Later on...
"Hey, Az? I have a question...."
"Yes?" Az looked at Allen. "What is it?" he asked.
"You see, from earlier... About Bella.."
"Yeah?"
"I'm supposed to be in love with her, right?"
"Yeah, why? You don't love her?"
Allen paused at Az's question. Does he love Bella? Before, he was sure that he is. But now, he doesn't know anymore.
"I don't know..."
Az arched a brow and looked at him for a while. "Hmmm. I guess you're slowly starting to realize..."
Allen looked at him with a confused expression. "What do you mean?" he asked.
Az looked at him. After a long brief of silence, he finally sighed. It seems he's to lazy to explain but was forced to. "First, let me explain from the beginning." he says. "You see, there are people who write stories. If they pour their hearts into it, their work becomes alive. But even though they are, they're still controlled by the story. It's always like that, unless one of them become aware of their well-being, like you."
"And since you know already about this world, everyone is not anymore controlled by the story. But their way of thinking is still the same in the novel, including their emotions." Alice butted in, startling the two by her sudden appearance.
"So you're saying that my emotions for Bella back then, aren't real?" Allen asked. Somehow, he's sad, but glad at the same time. "But what I felt for the others are still the same."
"Well, there's this case about when you're not controlled anymore, you're free from forced emotions that you feel towards others. I guess what you felt for Bella was fake because of the story." Az explained. "If you're wondering how your feelings for other characters remained the same, I guess those were your real feelings from the start. Controlled or not."
"So my feelings for Bella aren't real? I only felt that way because I was still controlled by the story. Then my hate for Larence and my feeling of unfairness towards my family, they remained the same because those were my real feelings to begin with? Okay, so since there's nothing controlling us, there's a possibility that what I felt for the others before might not be the same as now?"
"Yeah, and I can't really explain more, because my brain already hurts from thinking. So we should stop there." Az groaned, rubbing his own temples because of headache.
"Uh, yeah. Somehow, I understand what you said, but I agree with you." Allen nodded. Then another question went into his mind. "Oh by the way, does that mean everyone doesn't actually hate me—"
"Negative." Az says quickly before Allen could even finish his sentence.
"What?" Allen blinked.
"I have the ability to feel people's emotions. Unfortunately, their hatred towards you remains the same. Controlled or not." Az shrugged. "Your character is kinda...you know, of course they still hate you."
Allen frowned. He averts his gaze from the guardian and grumpily crosses his arms. "Great....just great." he muttered. Then later on, he sighed. "Well, at least Larence's adoptive family are still alive. So everything is rest assured, no one died this time."
Az froze. Allen noticed this and felt uneasy, so he asked him what's wrong. Az hesitated, but he decided to answer anyways.
"Umm... Actually, there's one person we weren't able to save."