My stomach churned.

Neither he nor I said anything for a moment. Eventually, I was the one who opened my mouth first.

"Do you know 「 Flowers Bloom In The Abyss 」?"

Eden nodded slowly as he opened his mouth.

"I know. I read it."

It was the first time I had opened up about a story like this, so it felt as if tears were about to burst from my eyes. Because of that, I deliberately asked a strange question to stop myself from crying.

"Do you usually read those things?"

"It's not like that, but..."

"When did you possess into the book?"

I asked before he even finished his words.

...Someone from the same world. As those words were repeated inside my head, there were numerous questions floating everywhere.

"Calm down. It was about a couple of months ago."

"It's the same for me. May 18th?"

His head moved up and down slightly at my question.

"So, it's the same day..."

I continued to mutter dazedly when I realized the fact, "So, you and I were both transmigrated here on the same day..."

"...I'm surprised I'm not the only one here."

"That's what I'm saying. It's not the universe's genre rules."

"...I won't ask what rule of the universe that is."

"Hngg, What am I supposed to do... I thought I was alone until now."

Amid the whirlpool of complex emotions, a sense of relief and homogeneity had increased in volume. When I realized that I was not alone, I wanted to sit down and cry... I was not alone. There was someone who could put our heads together.

I kept my mouth shut for a while because of the stuffy nose before eventually opening my mouth again.

"I asked my handmaid to stalk you. I'm sorry."

Eden seemed a little flustered at my words, though he shook his head.

"No, it's fine... What do I call you?"

I was now sniffling my nose.

"Sniff—Just call me Your Majesty... Because that's what everyone calls me now."

"Well then, Your Majesty. Anyway, I never thought that there was another person in the same situation as me."

"I thought so, too! Because I died on the first page in the original. How would you know if you're not the writer?"

"I was wondering how you know... Your Majesty even compared my behavior with the original work."

Eden gazed at me with a complicated face. However, I did not have any shame.

"How can I not recognize it when you're so different from the original...? By the way, I feel so at ease because I've been so nervous about dying."

It has been too long since I have been able to talk comfortably, so I rambled on about this and that without thinking. Maybe, that was why the conversation between Eden and I did not take direction easily and circled around the outskirts of the subject for a while. However, I could not stand outside with him this long. The shorter the meeting, the better.

I quickly came to my senses and continued.

"When I had my maid spy on you, she found out that you've been reading books secretly?"

"You saw me that much, even at the library...?"

"This is not the time to be distracted!"

As if it was not me who had been distracted a little while ago, I shamelessly called him out.

"What book have you read so far? It's forbidden, right? Seeing that you were reading it secretly, it must be against the doctrine of the Temple of Tunia?"

"I was reading about forbidden sorcery."

"What about the forbidden magic?"

"Because that seems to have brought me to this world."

I opened my mouth wide.

I have never thought of approaching it that way. The problem was that I read too many novels of this genre. At a certain point, the setting of possession became the default value of the genre novel I was reading, so no one wondered 'why' or 'how' we possessed into the book.

It was already enough to unravel settings in the work after being possessed rather than such reasons of why and how we got here.

It was not that that was the point anyway, though how pleasant the main character, who had the advantage of knowing the entire original story, acted. Most of them do not even go back to their original world, so why and how they possessed it does not matter.

What was important was how to live in the new world.

My brain was so numb from the work I had been reading that I did not even wonder about the 'why' and 'how.' I just accepted the fact that I became an extra in the novel and struggled to survive here.

I stared at Eden with a shocked face.

'...Is this an outrageous idea that only people who don't know much about genre rules could do?'

Even though I may have just been a fool, Eden was a man who came up with ideas that I never thought I would, so I decided to take him seriously.

Seeing my reaction, Eden closed his eyes for a moment before pressing his knuckles against his temples and spoke, "From what you said, 'I thought you were alone,' the Emperor doesn't seem to be a transmigator, right?"

I almost burst into tears.

Even though he saw what happened in the audience room, could he not tell if he was a transmigator...?

"It would have been great if the Emperor was also possessed. The problem is that he's crazy just like the original. I'm on thin ice every day."

"Then, why is it you and me?"

Apparently, Eden was the type of person who excelled in the spirit of inquiry. But, unless they help me escape from Actilus or feed me, I am not really interested in such things.

"Are we supporting characters who died in the original novel? At least, there were scenes where we died."

'...Don't get distracted by that!'

I quickly returned to the original topic.

"What if we know it's actually forbidden sorcery that brought us into this crazy world?"

"Of course, if it is, I am going to get rid of the magic and go back to where I used to live."

After he said that, Eden gazed at me with a puzzled face as if asking why and he added.

"I can't keep living here forever."

My mouth was wide open again.