Supernatural World Chapter 31: Key

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

After saying this, Finch felt his face heat up, but he still looked persistently at Cesar.

If you weren’t worried about me, then why would you rush over here?

Cesar lifted his chin and said disdainfully, “Who’s worried about you? I only came here so I could ask you about the next part of the plot.”

However, ‘don’t try to hide it from me, I already know’ was written all over Finch’s face.

Cesar’s expression darkened a little and he enunciated coldly, “If I don’t follow the plot, then the NPCs here will go into annihilation mode tomorrow, and neither of us can escape them. So what happens next in the plot?”

Finch made a long, “Ohhh,” and decided not to embarrass Cesar further, so he began to talk about tomorrow’s plot.

The plot wasn’t complicated, because this was just an erotica in which all of the plot and characters revolved around the protagonists’ feelings for each other, so of course Young Lord Xiao couldn’t be locked in for too long. Thus, the next day, a courtier from Young Lord Xiao’s country came for an inspection, so the emperor let Young Lord Xiao out. The emperor at least didn’t humiliate Young Lord Xiao too much in public, but that was also just so people didn’t get suspicious.

Young Lord Xiao appeared to be very cooperative, but in reality, he had a stubborn personality. When the emperor saw Young Lord Xiao’s haughty look, he loved and hated it at the same time. Thus, after the inspection, the emperor brought Young Lord Xiao back to his bedroom and forced him to… yield in bed.

This part was the climax of the book, so Finch remembered it well. However, saying it out loud was too shameful, so he only gave a broad synopsis and said that the emperor didn’t like Young Lord Xiao’s stubbornness and haughtiness, so he purposely humiliated him.

Cesar listened silently and when Finch finished, he said slowly, “This is an epic masterpiece about family and country?”

Finch looked up at the ceiling.

Cesar continued, “The king of a country idles around all day and only cares about subduing a hostage in bed, don’t you think that’s boring?”

Cesar gritted his teeth when he said ‘in bed.’

Finch thought, What do I do? I feel like I can’t fool him any longer, ahhh. Fortunately, the lighting was dim here, so Cesar probably couldn’t see Finch’s red face…

Perhaps he should just say it frankly.

Just as Finch felt extremely embarrassed, Cesar suddenly changed the topic and didn’t get to the bottom of it. He huffed, “I’ll send some people to come pick you up tomorrow.”

Just as he was about to leave, Cesar paused and took off his jacket. He threw it onto Finch’s head and patted him through the jacket.

Finch couldn’t see Cesar’s expression nor movement, as the jacket had blocked his line of sight. He could only feel Cesar place his warm hand on the top of his head before leaving quickly.

Finch pulled off the jacket and said, “Be careful on your way back.”

But when he looked around, Cesar had already disappeared.

Finch stood there, a little disappointed, and looked at Cesar’s jacket for a while. He thought for a moment and then wrapped it around himself as a blanket before laying down again. Although it was still chilly, it felt a lot better than before, and the jacket seemed to even have the remnants of Cesar’s distinctive scent.

Finch questioned himself over and over again, thinking to himself, Exactly how long are you going to keep avoiding it for? You like him, don’t you?

How long are you going to keep being a coward for?

*****

Finch couldn’t remember how he eventually fell asleep, but his dreams were fragments of when he and Cesar had been together two years ago. Actually, Finch had mustered up a lot of courage to bring Cesar home.

He had liked Cesar a lot, but it was just that. At the time, he hadn’t been prepared, and later, when he was prepared… he had already driven the person he liked away.

Finch smiled wryly in self-derision.

He hid Cesar’s jacket because the guards would be coming soon, and Finch couldn’t let them see what Cesar had left behind.

Sure enough, soon afterwards, two guards came in and brought Finch back.

Then, he changed and was led to the main hall.

There were quite a lot of paper people in the main hall, and by the looks of it, they were all court ministers. Gongsun Jin was also there. If it was before, Finch probably would’ve felt nervous and scared, but now that he was familiar with the plot and was sure about these paper people’s patterns, he wasn’t that panicked anymore. More importantly, Cesar was sitting there…

Even though Cesar’s expression was always cold and when he spoke, it was hard to continue the conversation with him, he inexplicably made Finch feel reassured.

Thus, Finch was a little absent-minded as he played his role.

His attention was focused on Cesar, and he would sneak a look at him from time to time. Then, he would pretend as if nothing had happened and look away again. Just when Finch was sneaking a look at Cesar for the nth time, an elegant man walked over to Finch.

Well, ignoring the fact that he was just a piece of paper, from the front, he looked quite seductive.

Gongsun Jin’s expression was worried as he said in a low voice, “I heard that the empress caused you some trouble yesterday, are you okay?”

Finch, who had read the book already, held back his derisiveness and said calmly, “I’m fine.” Of course, you should know best, since you were the one who contributed to the flames by mentioning to the empress that the emperor might divorce her.

That’s right, Gongsun Jin was actually a villain!

Gongsun Jin coveted Young Lord Xiao, but at the same time, he wanted to bring the emperor down himself. So when he faced Young Lord Xiao, Gongsun Jin would put on a nice front, but he would spread rumors about Young Lord Xiao and the emperor’s relationship behind his back. He was ruthless and cruel, a proper monster.

However, Finch already knew the plot, so his fakeness was easy to see, and even if Gongsun Jin wasn’t made out of paper, Finch still wouldn’t be interested in him.

However, Gongsun Jin didn’t know these things, and he continued to wear a resentful and indignant expression. “Not only does he do that to you, he also lets the empress insult you… It’s just a pity that there’s no way to get you out of here…”

Finch really wanted to say, ‘it’s okay, you can leave,’ but he knew that he couldn’t say that. This was a very important plot point, and Gongsun Jin was only being sympathetic for Young Lord Xiao so he could later rope him into his plan to assassinate the emperor.

Finch couldn’t break character, so he still had to express his pain and indecisiveness.

Thus, Finch looked as if he was trying to conceal his pain as he said, “Stop talking.”

Seeing this, Gongsun Jin got more emotional and stepped forward. “Endure it for just a bit longer, I’ll definitely think of a way to save you.”

Finch saw that there was no one around. Gongsun Jin had already said such treacherous words, so why hadn’t Cesar shown up yet? Yesterday, Finch had already explained the plot to him, and Finch really didn’t want to listen to this paper man’s deception anymore.

Finch smiled forlornly at Gongsun Jin and said, “Prime Minister, thank you for your kindness, but there is no need.”

Finch looked like he had resigned himself to his fate, even though he really didn’t want to.

Gongsun Jin grabbed Finch’s hand and said feverishly, “I know why you’re worried, but I…”

Before he could finish, a tall, cold man strode over, and his keen gaze landed on Gongsun Jin as he said icily, “What are you two talking about?”

Gongsun Jin’s expression changed drastically and he quickly let go of Finch’s hand as he backed away respectfully, his forehead covered with beads of sweat.

Cesar smirked and said lightly, “If you have something to say, then why don’t you say it directly to me. Guards, bring Young Lord Xiao back to the palace!”

Gongsun Jin could only widen his eyes as he watched Finch leave. Then, he looked at Cesar with an ugly expression.

Cesar swiftly walked up to him and inquired, “Why aren’t you saying anything?”

Gongsun Jin dropped to his knees with a thud and said respectfully, “I only heard some rumors that Young Lord Xiao has seduced Your Majesty, so I couldn’t help but admonish him to be pure and not to do such awful things. As the Prime Minister, I am responsible for protecting Your Majesty’s reputation, so please stay away from Young Lord Xiao.”

Finch had already left, but if he had stayed, then he probably would’ve been shocked by Gongsun Jin’s shamelessness——What he had said just then wasn’t part of the book, and he had only blurted it out because of Cesar’s sudden appearance and aggressiveness.

Cesar sneered. He hadn’t expected an NPC could be this good at acting and could even say something like this. It really was disappointing, and Cesar wasn’t in the mood to deal with it.

They had already gone through the necessary plot, and there wasn’t anything in the book about what happened next. Cesar scoffed, “You should take care of yourself first and be less nosy.” Cesar turned around and left.

Meanwhile, Finch had returned to the bedroom and was pushed inside by the guards. 

Speaking of it, the next part of the plot was very intense, and when Finch thought about it, his face reddened a little. But… it only involved the two of them, so it didn’t matter if they didn’t do any of it, because the NPCs wouldn’t know.

Finch vaguely wondered if Cesar would really do it…

Just as he was spacing out, the door was pushed open, and Cesar strode in, his expression cold and his gaze fierce. He grabbed Finch’s wrist and pushed him against the wall!

Finch saw Cesar get closer, and Cesar’s lips were practically touching Finch’s forehead. Finch felt his warm breaths, and his heart raced.

No… could it be that Cesar was really going to continue acting?

Then should Finch follow along or not?

If he did, then wouldn’t that be too unbecoming… And besides, it wasn’t necessary for them to continue anyways.

Finch trembled slightly and closed his eyes nervously.

Then, he heard Cesar chuckle suddenly as he said, “Were you really looking forward to this scene?” The next moment, Cesar let go and explained calmly, “Just now, the door wasn’t fully closed, so the guards outside could see us. Relax, I won’t do anything to you… Are you disappointed?”

Finch’s face turned beet red at once!

Had he been too unbecoming just then?

Finch suddenly had an idea and said seriously, “I wanted to tell you that I thought of a clue to finding the book!”

Sure enough, Cesar’s expression changed at this, and he looked attentively at Finch.

Finch sighed. Cesar really was heartless; how could he think that Finch was looking forward to that at a time like this? Finch had been focused on thinking about clues to finding the book.

Finch said, “These past few days, we’ve already searched through all of the books in the palace, and it’s clearly not among them. Thus, I think that if we needed something to get pulled into this world, then the place we entered through must be special. Otherwise, anyone could come in, so why would it just happen to be us? So, I think that the book is where we entered this world from, and because the scenery changed, the book was hidden!”

Cesar looked closely at Finch and was silent for a few seconds before he nodded approvingly. “That’s also what I was thinking. Tonight, let’s go back there and look around.”

Finch nodded solemnly to show that he hadn’t thought of any nonsensical things.

Ah, he finally felt a little less embarrassed.

*****

That night, the two of them changed into black outfits, and Cesar wrapped an arm around Finch’s waist before agile leaping off of the palace wall.

As they landed, Finch was a little frightened… Cesar really was a martial arts expert, and it seemed that his understanding of Cesar was extremely limited. And now, the more they were together, the more Finch realized how mysterious and powerful Cesar was.

Exactly who was Cesar?

The two of them soon found the cobbled path they had come from.

It was the only path leading out of the palace, and right now, the bright moon was suspended high in the night sky. It was quiet, and there was no one else outside besides the two of them. There were only red palace walls on the sides of the path, and at a glance, there was nothing in front of or behind them, only a large maple tree on the side of the road.

Finch stepped onto some of the cobblestones, and they were all quite firm and not hollow, so there didn’t seem to be some secret mechanism. There were no gaps in the walls on either side of the path, so there was only the maple tree left, and it looked a little out of place.

Finch reached a hand out and touched the bark of the tree, looking at it carefully. However, he didn’t see any abnormalities, so where was the book?

Cesar also looked closely at the tree.

It was no wonder that they noticed this tree because, in the tranquil night, it looked too conspicuous. The long path only had this one tree, and it was as if it was declaring something. It was surprising that they hadn’t noticed the tree when they had first arrived.

Cesar said coldly, “Move away a bit.”

Finch was confused, but he still took a step backward.

Cesar suddenly drew out the sword on his back and swung it at the tree! Sawdust flew everywhere.

Wow, how powerful, thought Finch.

Cesar’s sword was extremely sharp, but the wielder was even more sharp and powerful, and the thick, sturdy tree was cleaved apart in the blink of an eye, and the inside of the trunk was revealed.

Suddenly, Finch spotted the corner of a green book cover and shouted, “It’s right there!”

Sure enough, the book had been hidden in this large tree!

Cesar sped up his movements, and the book was soon fully revealed and fell from the tree trunk. Finch abruptly pounced towards the book to catch it! However, Cesar was quicker, and he swiftly caught the book.

Finch, who had failed in snatching the book, was speechless.

Cesar looked calmly at the serious green cover of the book and then flipped through it in front of Finch, who looked on in despair. Under the serious green cover was extremely inappropriate content, with all sorts of erotic illustrations… It definitely wasn’t a serious book!

Finch looked at the book sadly. Oh man, I was still too late, and now I’ve been exposed!

After a while, Cesar closed the book and turned around to look at Finch. The corner of his mouth quirked upwards as he said dryly, “This is the type of book you like to read?”

Finch, who couldn’t deny it, blinked pitifully.

Cesar suddenly stepped closer to Finch and looked into his eyes, with the hint of a faint smile as he said lightly, “It seems that just now, when I didn’t do anything to you, you really were quite disappointed.”

Finch was speechless as he thought, Stop talking, let me keep some face, thank you very much.

Finch suddenly felt that Cesar must be taking revenge on him because he had embarrassed Cesar yesterday? Hmph, I didn’t think you were this petty, I really was wrong about you!

At this time, two patrolling guards at the end of the cobblestone path walked towards them slowly. This was the first time Finch was so grateful at seeing these paper people! He quickly grabbed the book from Cesar and said, “Quick, destroy it! The NPCs are coming!”

Cesar didn’t stop Finch and merely crossed his arms, looking at him in faint amusement.

Finch turned his embarrassment into motivation, as he couldn’t wait to immediately destroy this damned erotica that had embarrassed him so much. He fiercely tried to rip up the book!

Then, he looked at the book, dumbfounded. He couldn’t tear it apart?!

Could it be that finding the book wasn’t enough?!

As he saw the guards approach them, their eyes began to turn from black to red and they started sprinting towards Finch and Cesar, beads of cold sweat formed on Finch’s forehead.