Caramel Apple
My best friend, Eleanor Clark, and I both get transported into an ancient world.
After completing our system task to help the regent take the throne, the system whisks me back to the real world.
Eleanor, however, chooses to stay behind with the regent.
[Isabel, theoretically the system cannot interfere once a task is complete, but your friend Eleanor has gone missing. Can you go back one more time?]
My chest tightens, and I agree to the system's request immediately.
Disguised as a palace maid, I catch sight of Eleanor from afar, looking blissfully happy as she holds a child.
Relieved, I decide not to disturb her and head back to the teleport point to report to the system.
As I pass the old city gate, I spot a woman's corpse hanging high on the wall. Every inch of her skin has been flayed away, and her face has been completely disfigured. Even her blood has run dry.
Driven by caution, I look closer.
Her pelvis is dislocated. It is obvious that she was brutally tortured before she died.
As I scan the contours of her face, I feel a sudden sense of familiarity.
Dread creeps over me. My eyes drop to her right hand, where the pinky finger has been severed.
My blood turns to ice. Her frame matches Eleanor's perfectly.
If this corpse is…
Then who is the empress sitting beside the emperor that day?