Seraina was thankful that Asher had got her out of the room. As weird as the situation might be at the moment, she didn't want to spend another second there. Plus, if she was on the outside, she could explore and get some hints about the plot of this world. The only information she had gathered so far was that she was away from her family and in an arranged marriage.
She was certain that the people who had locked her in that room were not related to her, because of what Asher had said and they had different surnames to the one she had. And there was a mention of Callen, who she knew was her fiance. She had thought little of it when the name was first mentioned, but now that she had quiet time to reflect, memories of the other Callen came to the forefront of her mind.
If Asher looked and sounded the same as the one from her original world, then that meant that the Callen here was also the same.
Without the System here, she couldn't ask them about the situation and figure out what to do from here on out; playing it by ear was all that could be done. Besides that, there was no telling when the System would be back.
Asher brought Seraina out to the garden at the back of the house while keeping an eye on her and listening out for the return of Callen. Although he and his family were out most of the day, busy with work or whatever else, they could still come back at any time. And if they saw Seraina out of the bedroom, then she would be in for an even harsher punishment than the one she had already received; he wanted to avoid that as much as possible.
The sun overhead beat down on the two people who stepped outdoors, and birds cooed from high on the canopies overhead. A large pavilion stood tall at the end of the garden and was decorated with pink roses that bloomed beautifully in the radiant light.
Freshly mown grass filled the air with its earthy scent and water glinted in the pond that was on one side of the garden. It was larger than Seraina had first thought when she glimpsed it from the bay window, and as she walked onward, the taut nerves unwound themselves, leaving a peaceful feeling in their wake.
Peering behind, Seraina studied the house and saw that it looked like a large townhouse. It was painted a beige colour and windows took up most of the walls, letting in the sun and brightening up the otherwise gloomy atmosphere. It looked like a place that you would imagine a wealthy family would live in, and from what Seraina had seen so far, this told her a lot about them.
Once again, she felt sorry for the original Seraina and wished that she could've been there to help the woman out of this house; or at the very least, been there in her time of need. Most of the time, this was always the case for the original owners of the body. They weren't all happy, and Seraina wanted to do so much for them, but couldn't as she was only the Host. Visiting these worlds came with so many benefits, yet there were so many downsides as well.
Another thing was that the novels either had a happy ending or a sad one and could favour any of the characters more than the others. Following the protagonists were more on the side of the good, but if it was a tragedy, Seraina ended up wanting the plot to go by fast so she could go to the next world. Not everything was sunshine and rainbows while being a Host, but it was something she had to do if she wanted to go back to her original world.
"Are you alright?" Asher sat down on the bench in the pavilion and smiled when Seraina joined him. That was one of the things that Seraina had loved about him; Asher might've been average in appearance, but his smile had always held a warmth that brightened up any room he was in. "You've been quiet since we left the room."
Seraina observed the flowers around them and breathed in the fresh air. "I'm fine. I just have a lot on my mind."
A part of her wanted to spill everything to him. About not being the original character, this whole thing being a plot of a novel and everything else she had wanted to tell him when she was in the original world. However, she knew that wasn't possible. He wasn't the Asher she had grown up with and was just a character in the novel who understood nothing about what was going on.
Besides that, if she spilt everything to him, everything would be jeopardised and she would be forcefully ejected from this world, and all the energy that had been accumulated so far would disappear. If she wanted to go home, she could do nothing to mess it all up.
Asher was about to say something else when he heard a car door slamming at the side of the house, where the garage was located, and immediately went into panic mode. He got to his feet and grabbed Seraina by the hand, then ran in the direction of the house.
They had just made it into the hallway when a lanky male appeared in the doorway.
"What are you doing out of your room?"
It was Callen.
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