At the end of the day, I was still an idiot for agreeing with my "best friend".

I knew she was suspicious; I saw how she kept evading my question about her identity, but I wasn't so sure about that, I felt how well she covered up her hostility. The memory restoration was sure a problem for me. I knew the story plot by heart, but it would be different when the critical point changed. The fact that I was breathing was no good fact for the story development or the "friends" I might be having. And I still didn't know what influenced my-Regina's death. I would have to be careful at all times if I didn't want to lose my head.

If, if Regina had entered the harem two years ago and the Emperor had indeed been as cold and indifferent as described, he shouldn't remember this face. There was no specific mention of the consort Regina until she died and sometime later, the saintess who was going to be the next consort pitied her. So, absolutely no one, no one should know of her existence. Then why did she have a best friend? Either the lady was lying or there was some secret plot that was unsignificant to be mentioned in the original story. If I lay down for a bit, that wouldn't mean the story would go on its own way. After all, Regina was still a royal family member. And she was till supposed to be dead.

But something kept bothering me.

Why did Regina die?

She was quiet as a mouse so verbal attack was out. She definitely could've never offended anyone with her words. If she was killed this easily, she was definitely naive. Or maybe she was so neglected that no one cared if she died or lived. But then why the need to kill if she wasn't even a threatening existence?

If she had offended someone then he or she must be of a higher status than a royal concubine. But definitely that would cause gossip. Definitely, someone bribed the maids and servants. And the only possible suspects were the other consorts, the Earl, the Crown Princess, the Queen Dowager and the King himself. Maybe the General and the heads of each ministry could count as well. I was certain that Regina had not committed suicide. There were no suspicious bottles of "medicine", she had no incurable disease, there were no finger marks in my neck, nor any needle marks on my body. There was no sign of self-torture. Or physical violence. There was no sign of struggle. There was no blood or flesh under my nails.

If there had been any physical torture, then there should have been a few drops of blood at least, given how she was neglected. And if she was stabbed then who moved her to the bed? But it was impossible that I had no scars. It had to be something else.

No one had choked me or stabbed me to death. But there were always other possibilities.

Nor was there any sign of maids or servants to suspect. There was literally no one attending to me. There should have been a personal maid at least. The room was clean and nice, but the only suspicious part was the luxuriousness. Like, I wasn't sure if all the consorts lived this well, but it seemed too...impractical. Why should a low-ranking consort like Regina have this much of valuables in her room? Not to mention the fact that she was treated like a pariah. It was impossible that this was her wedding dowry given the fact that it was all collected and kept in the national treasury. It couldn't be the monthly allowance of consorts either.

I moved around the room. Indeed, there was no dearth of things like jewelries or clothes or money. It seemed like she was the chief Imperial consort or something. May be even the Empress. But why her? Why was she the one with this much treasure in her room? An identity crisis? A bribe from someone? Unlikely given her status and ranking. Or maybe...

A scheme?

There was no mention of the assets handled by the consorts in the book. But I remembered a few phrases that were about their finance. According to the expenditures of consorts that was mentioned in the novel, Consort Eliza, Consort Catherine and Consort Adeline should be the ones who spent most. So, their assets must be well balanced. They should be somewhat powerful in the family backgrounds and must have been backed up by many other allies. Was it the lack of expenditure that made Regina this rich? Unlikely. It was just two years since she arrived. And she was not-

What family did she belong to, again?

They said Regina was a commoner out of nowhere. Then how did she enter the harem? She was not exceptionally beautiful either. She wasn't exceptionally talented. In fact, she didn't fit into the beauty standards in Xeneth. People here did have varied hair colors or eye colors but there was no one in the entire Xeneth who had silver hair and amethyst eyes. Nor did anyone have the extremely pale skin that looked like a glass sheet. I looked into the mirror. Her long eyelashes matched her oval face. The corn silk like straight hair too, was perfect against her face. I hadn't noticed that she was not wearing makeup.

Being a woman of 21st century, she would have definitely made it big if she had been in the modern era. There people grow accustomed to all kinds of beauties and here she was considered a "dead corpse." Maybe a bit of makeup-

"Master, what are you wearing for tonight?" The sugar glider that I named Tweet communicated again in my head.

"I don't know what I should be wearing. Modest clothing because I am an Imperial consort or revealing because I want to attract some attention since my death didn't do the job?" I murmured looking at my body from various angles.

"Master, you can't influence any story plot on your own. Because only you are independent of the story line. Others are still under the influence of the story plot. Even if you change things, they'll still go the way they are supposed to. But if you..." The sugar glider yapped in my head. The appearance and the voice were quite cute. But I would have rather got a silent sugar glider.

"So? I am going to jump out of the building and die? To fulfill the story's plot?" I snorted, annoyed. This was too much. At least, I should have the memory.

"You can change the story, bit by bit, if you can fulfill some secret tasks. There will be rewards after each task. So, if you can stay away from the storyline and live well, doesn't that sound good?" It tilted its head. Annoying or not, the offer was pretty good.

"So, you are saying I have to clear levels of tasks...like video games...to gain some rewards that is enough to make me live a pretty decent life...?" I asked. "What kind of...rewards?"

"It is everything that you'll need or might need. Like weapons, warnings, antidotes, coins, treasures or maybe some rare herbs. Some skills too. But it all depends on the difficulty of the missions." It licked its hands. I didn't pay any attention to its actions.

But that sounded about right. I had worked hard enough in my previous life. I just had to sit around with some missions to enjoy life in this one. What could go wrong?

"What's the first mission?" I asked.

"I don't know, Master." It shook its head. I gave it an are-you-kidding-me look. How was I supposed to complete missions without knowing what they are?

"Every time you trigger a change in the critical points of the storyline, you'll see a screen that is invisible to others. You'll know what the rewards will be, and you'll get an option to choose. And every time you complete the mission, you'll break a certain amount of the story's influence on the characters." It spoke.

Trigger a change in critical points, huh?

"What things can you do?" I asked it.

"I am just here as an advisor, Master. I can however provide a space capsule and sometimes influence little actions." It yawned. Cute.

"Actions like?" I asked.

As if on cue, the door opened and slammed against the wall. It closed with the same impact. Then there was a sudden crowd of butterflies around me and a gentle scented breeze.

"See?" Tweet said. I thought again.

"Why don't we try triggering a critical point?" I smirked.

"How exactly are you going to do that, Master?" Tweet wagged its tail.

"By being the most beautiful woman in the Empire, to begin with." I chuckled.

It was going to be a long day. And a night. And perhaps the day when my life would start witnessing more inevitable circumstances.