"..."
"..."
His robes slipped down his chest cleanly and barely held onto his waist thanks to the silk strap that wrapped around his waist.
"Ah..." I finally breathed as I let go of him and awkwardly took a single step back.
Unfortunately, it was as if his abs were a magnet that relentlessly drew my eyes to them.
Imagine the most perfect set of abs in existence.
Yes...
The most perfect set of abs in existence.
It was always a wonder to me how Ace wasn't a male lead.
He was handsome, intelligent, strong, and overwhelmingly kind.
But, unfortunately, he wasn't even mentioned as a character in the otome game...it was as if someone like him didn't exist at all.
I wonder...
What would have happened to Ace if I had never found him or left him alone that one night...the night where we first met...?
Was he simply destined to die...?
I paled at such a thought.
What in the world would I be doing now if it weren't for Ace...?
"..."
Unconsciously, before I could even think about it, I walked up to Ace and wrapped my arms around him.
Here.
I was so glad that he was here.
Unfortunately, it was too late when I realized that Ace's chest was still bare.
"...Cordelia...hey...wait..."
"Hmm...?" I mumbled in reply as I looked up at him properly.
That's when I felt his warm skin rub against the cheek of my face.
"E-Eh...?" I stuttered as I widened my eyes.
W-What was I doing again...?!
"Cordelia...I'm...serious...you should let go of me...right now..." Ace murmured to me in a somewhat low voice.
"Huh?"
"It's dangerous..."
(A/N: Bonk. Go to horny jail. ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ)
His chest felt so hot that it was almost as if it were on fire.
I froze on the spot.
"You're not going to let go...?" Ace asked me.
"...Uh...Wait a minute—"
"I warned you, Cordelia," Ace said as he easily lifted me up in the air against my will.
"Huh? E-Eh???" I protested as I weakly smacked his arm.
I could feel myself blushing from my cheeks all the way to my ears.
What in the world was this man doing??
But when I tried shooting Ace a very mean glare, I realized that he had a wide smile on his face and that he was on the verge of laughing this whole time.
"Y-You're teasing me...aren't you..." I frowned, completely embarrassed that I nearly fell for it.
Ace licked his lips a bit and gave a small humorous chuckle.
He was blushing a bit as well.
"Of course I was joking, Cordelia...You know I wouldn't do anything you wouldn't like..." Ace said as he continued holding me in his arms.
"You can let go of me now, you know..." I pouted.
"Mmm...just a little bit longer..." Ace smiled in return.
...Was it just me...or did Ace seem to really like carrying me for some reason?
I could count almost a million times that Ace has held me in the past...
It was just that...he did it so often and so naturally that I never really noticed.
"Um...Ace..." I mumbled as I gave a small tap on his shoulder.
"Hmm? What is it, Cordelia?" Ace asked me as he lowered his voice to match the tone of mine.
I gave a small gulp before opening my mouth.
"...Am...Am I not heavy...?" I whispered quietly to him shyly.
For a moment, Ace looked completely flabbergasted as if he really had no words for this type of situation.
But soon enough, his lips began to twitch upward a little and he let out such a big laugh that, by the time he was done, there were a few tears in his eyes.
"You don't have to laugh so much, you know..." I said, completely embarrassed by the current situation.
"Cordelia...Are you worrying about your weight now...?" Ace asked me with a funny look on his face.
I blushed a little.
Was he saying that I really was too heavy?
Oh no...
"I know I eat a lot so...Maybe I should start eating regular portions like a normal person...haha..." I laughed awkwardly.
At this, Ace's eyebrows twitched a little and he frowned.
"You know...that's not what I meant," he said with a soft smile on his face.
"Hmm...?"
"You're not heavy at all. You're just perfect the way you are. The perfect size for me to hold you comfortably like this," Ace chuckled as he bundled me up into a small ball and held me close to his chest as if though I were some sort of large doll.
I blushed.
"I'm not a toy, you know," I pouted.
"I know—and you never were. You're Cordelia de Boren Cyllia," Ace recited as if though he was already prepared to answer.
"Mhm...exactly," I huffed.
For some reason, there was a wide grin on Ace's face...as if though he were currently having the time of his life.
But, suddenly, his eyes snapped to the clock, which hung on the wall behind my head, and frowned.
"What time is it?" I asked him.
Ace gave a small, depressed sigh and answered, "4:15 AM."
"Oh."
Really?
It was already that late??
I didn't even realize it at all...!
"You should go to sleep, Cordelia, or else you'll be tired tomorrow morning," Ace frowned.
"But I'm not even tired yet—" I protested.
"Doesn't matter," Ace replied sternly as he carried me all the way to my bed and plopped me gently on the sheets.
"I'm serious...I am wide awake right now...! I wouldn't be able to fall asleep even if I wanted to..." I pouted.
"Then...I'll use some magic to help you fall asleep," Ace smiled as he refused to let me have my way.
I frowned.
Ace kneeled by the side of my bed and gave a small apologetic smile.
"I'm sorry, Cordelia. But I'm worried about your health..." he sighed.
"I already told you that I'm alright..." I snapped childishly.
"And I already told you that I'm worried."
Ughhhh...!
Why can I never win against this man when he is like this...?!
"W-Well...What about you?" I asked with a slight glare.
"Hmm?"
"When are you going to sleep?" I asked.
"...Ah...maybe...a little bit later," he smiled.
"What?? Why do I have to sleep now if you're not even going to go to sleep?!"
"Because I'm going to force you to," Ace said as he reached his hand out to my face.
I could feel the air shift a little bit as the magic in the air circulated rhythmically like a song.
It felt incredibly peaceful and even my eyelids, which were wide awake before, began to droop a little from drowsiness.
Oh no.
He really was planning on forcing me to sleep...!!
"Stop...it...! You promised that you wouldn't do anything I wouldn't like!" I complained as I tried smacking his arm away...but he wouldn't budge no matter what I did.
"This is different...Good night, Cordelia..."
"...but...I...wanted...to spend more time...with you..."
"..."
"..."
And, eventually, I lost the will to fight against Ace's forceful drowsiness and fell asleep just as he wanted.
But before I completely blacked out, I'm pretty sure I heard Ace say something...
.
.
.
.
Third-Person POV
"...but...I...wanted...to spend more time...with you..."
For a moment, time seemed to pass by excruciatingly slow.
His heart pounded against his chest and he began to worry how much longer it would take him until he truly couldn't take it anymore.
But, sure enough, Cordelia's eyes began to droop and close shut; her breathing calmed and her heart rate slowed.
And, finally, he was able to let out the deep sigh he had held in for the past eternity.
"F-ck," he said simply.
His heart pounded wildly and he gave another deep sigh.
"How is it fair that you're allowed to sleep so peacefully after you've gone and made me all like this...?" Ace asked a bit resentfully as he lightly poked the cheek of the sleeping beauty.
The young woman was so deeply asleep that she couldn't even feel his touch on her face.
Her light breaths tickled his fingers and he flinched—his hand quickly retreating from her.
His face grew into a slight shade of lovely pink at his own reaction and scolded himself for reacting to every little thing that Cordelia did.
But, unfortunately, it was impossible for Ace to ignore her for even a second and his eyes were naturally drawn to the sleeping Cordelia's face no matter what he did.
He was almost fascinated with the way she looked as she slept, even though he had already seen it many times before.
There was no doubt in his mind that he could watch her sleep forever without ever feeling bored in the slightest.
"...but...I...wanted...to spend more time...with you..." Cordelia had murmured to him sleepily.
A sharp pang wreaked havoc on Ace's heart.
"Me too..." Ace mumbled sadly.
In fact, if Ace had a choice, he wouldn't have put Cordelia to sleep at all.
He would much rather spend the rest of the night with her, doing all the things she liked without giving her a single wink of sleep.
Unfortunately, her health was of utmost importance.
After all, poor Ace was practically traumatized by Cordelia's constant disappearances and would most likely go insane if he were to ever see her fall into another coma in front of his eyes.
Thus, he had no other choice but to watch her sleep peacefully without a single care in the world as he suffered behind the scenes, similarly to an abandoned puppy left in the rain.
However, something eventually distracted him from watching the aqua-haired beauty sleep.
A sharp headache formed in the back of his mind and groaned slightly from it.
For the past few days, he could hardly sleep for even a moment because, every time he closed his eyes for even a second, he would get indescribable nightmares.
Nightmares where he was completely overwhelmed by someone he could not see.
And that "someone" would always dangle Cordelia's body from his right hand with strings, similar to a marionette doll, in front of him.
But no matter how hard Ace yelled or fought to take her back, the man would always allude him and laugh at his futile efforts.
It was horribly frustrating.
It was...
"I'm scared...Cordelia..." Ace whispered unconsciously.
Even though he knew that it was just a dream, he was terribly frightened by it.
What would he do if Cordelia was taken away from his grasps by someone else...?
Surely...
Surely...he would completely lose his mind.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
Unbeknownst to Ace, someone had snuck all the way to the ground below Cordelia's window and began throwing small pebbles at it, grabbing his attention.
Time slowed down for a moment and the sleep-deprived Ace's eyes burned red in anger.
There were very few people who were able to successfully sneak around Ace without notice and the person currently throwing pebbles at Cordelia's window was one of them.
And there was no way that someone that powerful would ever have good intentions, especially at such a late hour.
"Who...the hell...dares to come here...?" Ace murmured.
Almost immediately, the person below stopped throwing pebbles at the window and Ace gave a low growl.
It had been so long since Ace had any proper sleep that he was overly sensitive to all threats.
Without making the slightest bit of noise so that Cordelia could sleep comfortably, Ace opened the window and leaped outside of it gracefully, dropping down three stories.
The moon was still quite high in the sky and the world was completely dark.
But that was fine.
Either way, Ace could see perfectly clear.
"I was wondering how long you were going to make me wait...dear Ace..."
The voice was easily recognizable.
It was such a sweet-sounding baritone voice that it was nauseating.
"Ah...You don't seem very happy to see me, my dear Ace. Even though I came all the way here to visit you?" the man said as he stepped closer to Ace.
His holy robes glided across the ground before landing gently in front of Ace.
It was none other than Holy Priest Gideon in all of his radiating glory.
Ace, who absolutely hated the sight of such a man, gave a deadly, suffocating glare to Gideon, who was seemingly unaffected by the overwhelming pressure that Ace exuded.
From the first day Ace had met him, he felt that there was an unexplainable connection between them.
He had felt neither hatred nor liking toward Gideon but...something.
Ever since then, Ace had unconsciously remained on guard around the Holy Priest and eventually learned to utterly despise him for attempting to woo Cordelia.
"...I won't let you have Cordelia, you know," Ace frowned.
"..."
"..."
"...Excuse me?" Gideon finally said.
"...I won't let you have Cordelia," Ace repeated.
For a moment, the Holy Priest was so stunned that it took him a while to formulate words.
"So...you thought...I came all the way here...so I could ask you if I could keep dear Cordelia...all for myself...?" Gideon asked with uncertainty.
"Yes."
"..."
An uncontrollable bubbly feeling rose from Gideon's chest and he began to laugh loudly at Ace's absurd remark.
"AHAHA! My dear Ace, you truly can't think of anyone else besides dear Cordelia anymore, can you...!!" Gideon stifled his laughter.
Oh, but it was so funny!
Gideon had wondered what Ace's first words would be when they met again, but something like this was well out of his imagination.
"This is perfect!! Perfect!! Better than I could ever imagine!!" Gideon laughed.
At that moment, Gideon's heart was filled with uncontrollable excitement.
It was as if though all the chess pieces that Gideon had worked so hard to set up had all finally come together in place.
Ace, who had no idea of the thoughts that were running through Gideon's mind gave a low growl.
"Why are you here...?" Ace asked darkly.
"Me? Why...I simply wanted to check up on how things were going...that's all," Gideon smiled.
"You could have visited during the day," Ace growled as he stepped to Gideon and grabbed his collar.
"But that would have been much less fun, right?" Gideon laughed.
Many people in the past would suffocate by the mere sight of Ace's angry face but Gideon, on the other hand, was completely unaffected by it.
...Which was part of the reason why Ace hated him so much.
"Hey, my dear Ace...Would you like to make a deal with me...?"Gideon asked with a wide smile.
Contrary to Gideon's holy attire and features, the words that left his mouth sounded similar to that of a devil's.
"No. I don't want anything to do with you," Ace spat as he let go of Gideon and prepared to re-enter Cordelia's room.
He had forgotten to close the window on his way out and was beginning to worry that Cordelia would catch a cold from the chilly wind that flew inside.
Besides, he had determined that Gideon wasn't here to cause any harm at the moment.
More specifically, it seemed as if though Gideon only came to mess with him.
"Are you sure? You haven't heard what I was willing to offer you yet...What if I was planning on doing something really amazing for you two?" Gideon asked Ace with a small pout.
"I don't care. I don't need anything from you," Ace growled.
"That arrogance of yours will one day become your downfall, my dear Ace," Gideon gave a disappointed sigh.
But before Gideon could say another word, Ace had already leaped up to Cordelia's window and turned around to face Gideon.
"Leave and don't come back," Ace spat before closing the window.
For a while, the night winds began to blow, chilling Gideon to the bone.
"Haha...I feel cold. I feel cold!" Gideon laughed loudly as he twirled around under the night sky like a mad man.
Then, with a wide grin, Gideon gripped a small golden pendant between his fingers.
The intricate golden pendant was carved into the shape of a dragon with ruby eyes.
"Hmm...My dear Ace...that arrogance of yours..." Gideon chuckled, "...I wonder who you take after."
.
.
That night, Ace attempted to fall asleep once more in order to ease his mind but, unfortunately, was met with another nightmare.
He was back in the same black void that he had always found himself in whenever he chose to go to sleep.
And, in the distance, he could see Cordelia tied up by strings.
Around every single joint on her body, there were thin white strings that lifted her limp body up in the air as if she were just a marionette doll.
Ace screamed for Cordelia to wake up...to break free of those unsightly strings that haunted him every night...but no matter what he said, Cordelia never moved an inch.
As if she were dead.
Suddenly, Cordelia's body was pulled upward by a single large giant's hand and Ace yelled for it to stop.
But it never did.
There was a giant man with a face that Ace could not see holding Cordelia in the palm of his right hand and he was playing with her as if she were just some cute doll.
He touched her everywhere from the strands of her hair, the nape of her neck, her breasts, down to her waist, between her thighs...
"STOP! STOP IT! I'LL F-CKING KILL YOU," Ace screamed.
Struggling with all his might, Ace forced his body to move but, no matter what he did, it was as if some invisible force was holding him back.
It was this feeling of powerlessness that Ace had grown accustomed to feeling every night for the past two weeks.
"Why...Why...Why...Are you doing this..." Ace said through gritted teeth, "I'm going to kill you. D-mn it."
But the giant completely ignored Ace's threats as if they didn't concern him at all and continued to toy with Cordelia's body with his five fingers.
"DID YOU HEAR ME?! I SAID I'LL F-CKING KILL YOU!!"
Then, at that moment, for the first time ever, the giant's head turned to face Ace.
And it let out a low, deep laugh as if though it were enjoying every moment of Ace's suffering.
Its laugh sent waves of thunder through every inch of Ace's flesh and, for the first time in his life, Ace was paralyzed with fear.
"Look up."
This was the first time the giant had ever spoken to Ace.
Its voice was horribly dark and deep and full of horrifying evil.
Almost as if it were a voice that came from hell itself.
Listening to the words of the giant, Ace finally looked away from Cordelia and at the dark void above him.
And that when he saw it.
Countless strings hung from the sky and down toward him.
And when he looked at his arms, legs, and even his neck, he realized that there were thin white string wrapped around him as well.
This whole time...
...as the giant played with Cordelia's body with his right...
...the giant was playing with Ace using his left.
This whole time, Cordelia and Ace were simply being played in the palm of his hands without even realizing it.
-------------------------------------------------
A/N: MWAHAHA~ SCREW LOVE AND HAPPINESS!! PLOT, TRAGEDY, PAIN, AND RAGE IS SO MUCH BETTER, WOULDN'T Y'ALL AGREE?!?! AHAHAHA~~ (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧
But, quite seriously, since day one of me writing this story, I have been waiting for the plot to turn toward this arc~ You see~ This is what we call...*preparing the story's climax*!
Speaking of "since day one of me writing this story," APRIL 26 IS THIS STORY'S BIRTHDAY!! I know today is April 23, but today's the day that I'm updating this story so I decided to announce it here now:
HAPPY 2ND BIRTHDAY TO ANOTHER LIFE, ANOTHER ME!!! WOOOOO!!!
Can you guys believe it?!?! It's been two years since I've started writing this story!!!! Oh my god...I don't think I've ever had more dedication toward doing something in my life— But writing this story is so much fun!!
Since it's the story's second birthday, I'd like to give a shoutout to those of y'all who have been around since the very beginning of my story!! THANK YOU!! I'd also like to thank everyone else who joined this story along the way~! I LOVE YOU GUYS TOO!!
And since I'm thanking everyone who has ever read this story anyway, I'd like to thank the first-ever reader of Another Life, Another Me! (Yes, I do remember who the first reader is—)
*drumroll please*
@RaveMaster16
(ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧ ✧ﾟ･: *ヽ(◕ヮ◕ヽ)
Thank you so much, RaveMaster16, for being this story's first reader!! I swear to goodness I remember seeing your name pop up on my notifications for the first time and thinking that "WOAH! MOM, I'M FAMOUS!!" You're the reason why I decided to continue updating after the first chapter, so thank you :D
I haven't forgotten about the rest of you either! Thank you to all of my readers/voters/commenters! You guys are the reason why I can continue writing! I love every single last one of you!!
Stay safe everyone~
Okie byeee!
Word Count: 3538