# Chapter 3: The Death That Never Came
The night wind slammed into Aster's face as he fell from the second-floor window. His feet landed hard on the thorn bushes beneath the dormitory window, ripping his uniform pants and scraping the skin of his calves. He bit his lip to hold back a cry of pain, then immediately crawled away from the dormitory.
Behind him, he could hear heavy footsteps and the shouts of Vespera's thugs searching his room. Green search magic swept across the dormitory walls like a prison guard's spotlight.
Aster didn't stop running until he reached the Old Greenhouse behind the Herbology building. The glass structure had been abandoned ever since a professor accidentally grew a gigantic carnivorous plant that ate three first-year students five years ago. No sane person would look for Aster here.
He slipped inside through a cracked glass door and hid behind enormous moss-covered clay pots. The smell of wet soil and rotting leaves filled his nose. Aster leaned his back against the cold glass wall, clutching his backpack tightly around the bundle containing the "Fate-Cutting Nail Clippers."
"What a long night," he whispered to himself, staring up at the glass ceiling covered in vines. He couldn't sleep. Every rustle of leaves made his heart leap, certain it was one of Vespera's thugs coming to collect a debt that no longer existed.
Dawn came slowly and painfully. Aster woke from his restless doze to find his uniform soaked with dew and his hair full of unfamiliar pollen. He cleaned himself as best he could with water from an old bucket, then crept out of the greenhouse.
Today was the academy's third day. The day that cursed cafeteria incident was supposed to happen.
Aster had no intention of going to the cafeteria. He had already lied to Toby about a "traditional village fast." But he needed to make sure the incident really happened and that he wasn't there. If the World Law forced the scenario to occur another way, he needed to know how far the reach of "fate" extended.
He hid behind a massive marble pillar in the corridor connecting the library building to the grand cafeteria. From there, he had a clear view of the cafeteria entrance without having to go inside.
The silver bell of the academy clock tower rang seven times. The cafeteria's double doors opened, and students began arriving for breakfast. The aroma of strong black coffee and toast drifted out from within, making Aster's empty stomach growl in protest.
Then the temperature around the cafeteria entrance dropped several degrees.
Kaelen Drago stepped inside.
His silver hair was slightly mussed, his ruby-red eyes sharp but tired, and his shoulders tense as if carrying an invisible burden. But what made Aster hold his breath was the aura surrounding the protagonist's body. The air around Kaelen's shoulders warped slightly, like hot asphalt under the midday sun. The silver cups on the nearest tables trembled softly as he passed. His explosive mana was unstable. Extremely unstable.
Aster swallowed. If I were there right now, a single touch would turn me to ash.
A few minutes later, the moment arrived. A thin first-year student—not Aster, and not the heavyset student he remembered from the novel—hurried along carrying a tray with a cup of black coffee steaming thickly. The student's foot caught on a chair leg. His body lurched forward. The tray in his hands flew toward Kaelen's table.
Aster's heart stopped.
Kaelen turned. His ruby-red eyes widened. And from thirty meters away, Aster could clearly see Kaelen's right hand move—not to release a mana blast reflexively, but to hold it back. Kaelen's fingers clenched tightly, the veins in his arm standing out, and sweat appeared at his temple. He was fighting his own reflexes.
A thin, transparent mana barrier appeared in the air, deflecting the splashed coffee back into the cup. But a small shock wave still slipped through, sending the thin student sprawling onto the floor with a bloody nose.
There was no massive explosion. No ash. Just a bloody nose and a few cracked cups.
Kaelen stood, breathing hard. He stared at his own trembling hand, then looked at the fallen student. An incredibly complicated expression crossed his face—relief, frustration, and... sorrow?
Aster let out a long breath. 'I survived. The incident happened, but nobody died. Kaelen managed to control it... at least partially.'
However, just as Aster prepared to leave his position behind the pillar, something unexpected happened.
Kaelen turned. His ruby-red gaze swept across the corridor, passed over the crowd of students, and stopped directly on the pillar where Aster was hiding.
Aster's breath caught.
Kaelen stared at him. From thirty meters away, Aster could clearly see that the protagonist's eyes held neither anger nor arrogance. They held something far more confusing: relief mingled with profound grief, as if Kaelen were looking at a ghost that should have been buried long ago.
Kaelen's lips moved slowly. Aster, unconsciously focusing his vision, could read the words on his lips.
"You're... still alive."
Kaelen walked out of the cafeteria, leaving his untouched breakfast behind, and headed straight toward Aster. His steps were quick but not aggressive. Every step carried an aura of wildly fluctuating mana, making the torches along the corridor walls flicker erratically.
Aster froze behind the pillar. His mind raced for an explanation. 'Why is this novel's protagonist looking at me like that? Does he know I owe Vespera money? Were those thugs actually working for the Drago family? Is he here to collect my debt?!'
Kaelen stopped exactly two meters in front of Aster. Far too close for an extra and a protagonist. Aster could see the dark circles beneath Kaelen's eyes, along with a faint burn scar on his neck that had never been mentioned in the novel's description.
"You didn't come to the cafeteria," Kaelen said. His voice was flat, but a faint tremor hid beneath every word.
"I... am fasting, Mr. Drago," Aster replied, his voice sounding calmer than he felt. "It's a tradition from my village."
Kaelen stared at him for five seconds that felt like five years. Then the corner of his mouth twitched almost imperceptibly.
"One hundred forty-seven," Kaelen murmured, more to himself than to Aster. "One hundred forty-seven times I've watched you die on this day. Burned. Torn apart. Suffocated. Eaten. Every time, I failed to save you."
Aster stared at him blankly. 'What is he talking about? Is this novel's protagonist insane? Or is he speaking in some metaphorical language I don't understand?'
"I'm... sorry?" Aster offered cautiously, unsure whether he should apologize for dying one hundred forty-seven times or for not coming to the cafeteria.
Kaelen looked at Aster with such intensity that it seemed he was trying to verify Aster was real and not an illusion. Then he nodded slowly, once, with terrifying certainty.
"This time is different," Kaelen whispered. "Something has changed. I can feel it."
He turned and walked away, his white-and-gold cloak billowing in the morning wind. But before disappearing around the corridor's bend, he paused and glanced back.
"Be careful of the Vespera family. They won't stop looking for you just because the contract was terminated."
Aster stood rooted to the spot, the hair on the back of his neck standing on end. How did he know about Vespera? How did he know my contract had been terminated?!
In the silence of his thoughts, the system's blue screen flickered softly.
[Chapter 3 Death Scenario: Coffee Spill has been avoided.] [Death Flag #1 successfully destroyed.] [Warning: Entity 'Kaelen Drago' has detected a deviation in Fate.] [Note: The Time Variable within Entity Kaelen Drago is unstable. 147 layers of temporal memory detected.]
Aster stared at the notification, his brow furrowing. 147 layers of temporal memory? What does that mean?
But before he could process the information, the system screen flickered again, this time an urgent blood-red.
[Warning: Causality Anomaly detected in the Underground Black Market.] [Item: Cracked Stone (Earth Dragon Heart Scale) will appear on the black market in 36 hours.] [Entity 'Valerius Clydes' has sent an envoy to purchase the item early.] [Time remaining for intervention: 35 hours 58 minutes.]
Aster stared at the notification, and all the blood seemed to drain from his face. Valerius had sent an envoy early? In the original novel, Valerius went to the black market the night after tomorrow. Why was he sending an envoy ahead of schedule now?!
'Is it because I cut off the Vespera contract that the World Law is trying to compensate by speeding up another antagonist's timeline?' Aster thought in a panic. If Valerius's envoy bought the stone before I arrived, I'm dead!
He had to go to the black market tonight. But he still needed five gold coins. And the only valuable item he owned was the "Fate-Cutting Nail Clippers" wrapped inside his backpack.
Aster stared at his backpack in despair. "Looks like I'm going to be the craziest merchant in the entire Aethelgard black market," he whispered to himself. "Selling a rusted torture device for five gold coins. What could possibly go wrong?"
The system in his head flickered once, as if laughing.