Chapitre 2: Path of Indifference

Note to the future transmigrators: System might have a glitch, and you've landed on the new realm with the most disgraceful posture imaginable.

In summary: Chiaki found herself seated on someone.

Not' with' someone. You don't read it wrong. It was 'on' someone.

More accurate depiction: scantily clothed, seated on someone.

She couldn't move her limbs on the tonic immobility that immediately followed. Being paralysed from head to toes, only the rushing surge of panic flooded her brain with adrenaline. Fear streamed in her body; her mind ran a mile a minute.

Her mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water; words stalled in their trip to her lips. Her mental agency, fortunately, could still take stock of what was going on in her exposed body. No blunt object impaled her anywhere, and no bodily fluid felt dripping from any hidden orifices. Only her sweat that now dotted her forehead and arms, making the fair skin glisten in a deeper shade of flush.

"Chiaki?" The man underneath her, lying on a crumpled crimson bedsheet and seemingly dazed, spoke for the first time.

The first word she heard from the people in this realm was just her name, nothing special. But their positions were extremely abominable; she couldn't even decide to cry or just faint.

"Are you okay? You just zoned out. It's fine if you don't want to do it." His soothing voice was like cold water that sent her reeling back from the catatonic state. In an instant, all her senses were back open and the stimuli came crashing down in a race to overflow her.

The man underneath her shifted to sit back on the bed and leaned his back on the headboard. Like lightning, Chiaki quickly grabbed the blanket and lifted it to cover her body. After she pushed his toned chest in anger, she was about to punch the man in self-defence until System's silent pop-up blocked her bubbling rage.

[Congratulations, General Chiaki Spring! You've safely landed on this realm.]

Congrats your head! I'm going back if it's a nonconsensual scene.

[You're in the bedchamber with General Oriole Hart, one of the four Guardians like you. Make sure to maintain your friendship with him throughout your experience here.]

Maintain friendship?? More like friends with benefits, I suppose.

[Each of the four generals has their own speciality and refined technique. Yours is called the Path of Indifference, meaning your strength is cushioned by your professional determination because love in any romantic relationship will tumble you down.]

Obviously, look why I'm here first.

She rolled her mental eyes.

Love is stupid; love costs you your sanity. Totally not worth it.

[Keep this state of being during your time here.]

Easy. With the history of me being dumped for every relationship I was in, I'm done with this. I'm wiser now!

System was gone, and the voice around her became crisper. From the corner of her eyes, she caught the movement of more than one person. A gauzy red curtain separated the two people in bed from outside activities.

Given the gasps and wet noises and the pistoning movement of someone over another person's body that was on all four, fear and disgust crept up her spine.

System, what kind of realm is this? Are you sure you're not making a mistake?

She would've torn her lungs if she could physically scream at System.

This was an orgy situation; how could her first contact with this realm involve something like this?

[General Chiaki Spring is an excellent esoteric intercourse partner in this realm. All the three Guardians have occasionally exercised with her in the bedchamber to achieve tranquillity after battles or release some stress. In return, General Spring's power level is also increased.]

Words flew from her mental mouth at a rapid pace.

Do you freaking mean I'm a slut in this realm? But you said I have Path of Indifference as my power. Why do you contradict yourself, huh?

[Nothing is contradictory. Both are still mutually exclusive. The esoteric sexual practices are between consenting adults without personal attachment, only to advance in their arts. No Guardian is involved in a romantic entanglement with each other.]

Is this System or a villain? She started questioning her life choices that led to this.

Could she get a refund? But she hadn't paid anything other than volunteering her time and physical body to be under.

As the pop-up dialogue box disappeared again, she threw awkward glances at General Hart, actively avoiding letting her gaze stroll lower than it was appropriate.

The man rose from the bed, collecting his scattered pieces of clothing in bed and on the floor, putting them on dismissively.

Is that it?

"If you're not in the mood, we can go back to the Council office. There are more things to discuss, especially about patching the new holes in the barrier," Oriole Hart said.

She was not going to put her clothes back on with his gaze trailing over her body, whatever their level of relationship was before this point. "Leave first; I'll get dressed," she said coldly.

He looked at her strangely but shrugged his shoulders and slid out from the slit of the bed curtain. His tall, manly figure waded through the couples in paradise.

Being shielded from the apathetic attendees who were also busy with their own pleasure chasing, Chiaki sorted her clothes to learn. The memories of the old General Chiaki Spring slowly merged with hers, and her physical appearance, like how she used to wear her uniform, came naturally into her consciousness.

Perhaps, she was the best choice to transmigrate into this realm's Chiaki because of the Path of Indifference and her overall state of mind after landing on someone's naked body. Due to the separation of logic and heart, her dread and queasy feeling of being violated had dissipated fast, leaving almost no residue of despair.

If the old Chiaki was the Guardians' preferred cultivation partner, then so be it. Her job was to defend the region; the four Guardians had to be in sync to protect everyone. There are more stories about divided teams that failed their objectives than what she cared to count.

As she put on the clothes, she took inventory of how beautiful and soft the materials were. Her undergarments were similar to what she wore back in the physical realm. The uniform consisted of fitted black trousers and a long-sleeved, maxi-length navy blue dress, cinched in the waist by a brown suede belt. Lastly, she put back on her removed practical wrist guards, made of synthetic leather without unnecessary ornaments like in the original game that was loaded with buckles or ties.

She lowered her head when passing through the throng of people, trying to block her eyes from the sight as she couldn't prevent the noise from assaulting her ears. On her way out, she caught a glimpse of General Chiaki Spring's physique in a hung mirror.

She was as tall as her old body, with the same built and slender torso. Her visage was paler here, probably because this general didn't spend her time commuting under the scorching sun. Her slightly brownish eyes were colder, an effect of the Path of Indifference. The lips that constantly curled down because of the ex looked inviting here with a touch of ombre pink — maybe the only redeeming quality that still attracted the other Guardians.

If there was anything left to be still able to be called 'cute', it was the little braid on the right side of her head. It dangled on her chest, almost covering the embroidered Guardian's crest. The triskele insignia with a pair of golden-thread wings on its left and right was also found in the original game's logo.

After catching up with Oriole, they took a train from Oriole's manor to the Council office across the Dome Central station.

As their steps on the black marble floor echoed in the grand meeting room, all the elders swung their heads to watch them.

The slut and her recent activity partner were coming, she thought.

Maybe that's what's in their heads.

Ignoring the many different insignias on everyone else's uniforms to avoid confusion, she recognised some elders from their resemblance with the characters in the original game. She remembered quite a few names, but she had to comb through this general's memories for the rest.

"Have you thought it through, Grand Elder Marion?" Oriole Hart spared no pleasantries and sent his glare towards a lady in white sitting on the head of the long table. The other elders surrounded her as if being her protector.

"You can't decide something like this without the presence of the Guardian of the North and West," he pressed on with a choked voice.

The memories told her that Oriole was the Guardian of the East, and she was of the South. But what was the topic anyway? Why did everyone look at her?

"Is it my job to remind you that an Elder's vote is worth twice that of a Guardian or the lower rank generals?" Her stern, orotund voice of a leader pierced her emotion. Although the memories of the general didn't yield any warning for this lady, Chiaki's instinct told her to raise her alertness.

Oriole lowered his gaze immediately, knowing this statement was their ultimate weapon to bring his argument down.

"But Chiaki . . . Chiaki is my childhood friend and first lover. How could you all do this to us? Isn't there any other way? Why do you resort to this?"

His whining was so unbecoming that Chiaki herself had to look away while thinking about what was going on. System didn't reply when she called it in her mind.

"General Chiaki Spring practises the Path of Indifference. Therefore, whatever task she has to accomplish, she will do it for her main responsibility to keep us safe regardless of her feelings!" Another male Elder raised his voice as he gripped the table's edge, visibly disappointed at the youth's resistance.

"Um . . . What task are you talking about?" Chiaki spoke up for the first time in this meeting, forgoing formal greetings as she remembered she was an old face, not a newcomer.

The side glance the Grand Elder Marion threw at her could freeze her innards, but she toughened up to hear what everyone was so jittery about.

"If this is you pretending to be stupid or addled-minded, cut it out. This is the last option the Council had pondered about, so we never take this decision lightly. You must marry Lord Hua to unionise your power to patch the barrier."

Like a car, if someone pulled the emergency brake handle, her rushing mind screeched to a halt.

Wait . . .

I must get married.

I must get married for power.

I must get married for power to protect the people better.

But I must get married to whom?

SYSTEM!

[Choose to accept the mission.]

Are you even joking? There's not even a button to reject.

You ask me to marry the villain of this realm?

Has everyone here lost the plot? Or am I transmigrated to the wrong game?

What's wrong with —

The pop-up didn't budge. The question stayed still, waiting for her to accept.

Protect the region from the threats, you said. System will not assign you random tasks, you said.

But this was the game, wasn't it? This was the choice she picked at the bifurcation before she transmigrated.

Was this something you wanted to say before you were cut off, System?

The pop-up answered back with the deepening silence.

She signalled System to select the Accept button.

In the blink of an eye during the glitch, the genre apparently turned into an otome, the genre she never entirely understood. Why would she want to develop a relationship with another man if the men in the physical world were all disappointing?

[Congratulations! You've unlocked a new item: Path of Indifference handbook.]

She uninterestedly picked and stored it in her mental inventory for later reading.

Just because of the Path of Indifference, I have to accept anything System throws at me?

But here, she felt the jolt of real people and tangible interaction; she felt back alive. More importantly, her life had meaning; she could partake in shaping this society.

It was just one man, right? She would never fall in love again, would she? In the end, her logic won. The truth would be unfolded right away. There had to be a reason why she had to marry the Evil Lord. Most probably, he wasn't evil.

As she let the Path of Indifference run cycles in her veins to calm her down, she made peace with the situation.

"Then, let's finalise our wedding plan." A deep, chilly voice came before the clicking sound of military boots brought the owner right into her field of vision.

Evil Lord Hua in the flesh.