IN A WEEK
XAVIER'S POINT OF VIEW:
I was losing my damn mind. It had been a week. A full week of searching, of finding nothing. No signs of her, no clues, nothing but the echo of her absence. Every passing day made the weight in my chest grow heavier. Every sleepless night chipped away at my patience. She was out there, alone, cold, and suffering. And we weren't there to stop it.
Alastor was barely holding it together, his usual calm stretched thin. Adrian had stopped speaking unless absolutely necessary. And Elena, Elena kept quiet, as if she, too, was finally realizing how wrong she had been. Then, just as I felt that gnawing hopelessness creeping in, I saw it. A familiar figure, curled under a tree, barely visible beneath layers of dirtied clothes and tangled hair. My heart nearly stopped.
"…Isabella?"I whispered.
I took a shaky step forward, afraid she'd disappear if I moved too fast. Her body was trembling, her arms wrapped tightly around herself as if she were trying to disappear into the ground. Her breathing was uneven, ragged.
She looked smaller than I remembered. More fragile.
Alastor and Adrian rushed beside me, their eyes wide with disbelief.
"She's here." Adrian breathed. "She's actually here."
Alastor didn't hesitate. He dropped to one knee beside her, brushing strands of messy hair from her face. "
She's burning up." His voice was tight with worry.
I barely processed his words, I was too focused on how still she was, on the way her hands twitched in her sleep as if she was caught in a nightmare. We found her. Finally. But why didn't it feel like a victory?
The moment I reached out to lift her, my stomach twisted into a knot. She was too light. As if she barely existed at all.
Adrian cursed under his breath, his hands hovering as if afraid to touch her.
"She's skin and bones…"Adrian whispered.
Alastor clenched his jaw, his fingers brushing her wrist, searching for a pulse.
"She hasn't been eating." His voice was tight, laced with barely contained anger.
I looked down at her trembling form. Her clothes were hanging off her like they didn't belong to her anymore, loose and barely keeping her warm. Dark circles clung beneath her closed eyes, her lips cracked and pale. I felt sick. How long had she been like this?
"She must've been struggling to even stand." I muttered, my grip tightening around her frail body. "And she still ran from us."
Alastor let out a slow, measured breath before meeting my gaze. His hands curled into fists.
"We need to get her back. Now."He said.
Adrian didn't argue. None of us did. Because for the first time, the fear we all shared had solidified into something real. If we had found her even a day later— no. I wasn't going to finish that thought. Carefully, I lifted her into my arms. She barely reacted, only curling slightly inward, her unconscious mind still trying to shield herself from the world. That small movement nearly shattered me.
"Let's go." I said, my voice lower than I intended.
We weren't losing her again.
She didn't wake up. Not when I carried her. Not when Adrian whispered her name. Not when Alastor brushed her tangled hair away from her face. She just trembled, lost in some fevered nightmare, her breathing too shallow, too fragile. The wind howled through the trees, biting cold against my skin, but I barely felt it. All I could focus on was the girl in my arms the girl who had run until her body couldn't take it anymore.
Adrian kept glancing at me, his usual smirk long gone.
"Why… Why would she do this to herself?" His voice cracked at the end, betraying how much this was tearing him apart.
Alastor didn't answer right away. His gaze was fixed on Isabella's face, his expression unreadable, but his grip on his sword was white-knuckled.
"She doesn't think she belongs with us." He finally muttered.
The words were a slap to the face. It made sense. Too much sense. I had seen the way she flinched when we tried to keep her close. The way she avoided our concern like it was some kind of poison. And now, looking at her in this state… I wanted to shake her. Yell at her. 'How dare you do this to yourself? How dare you make us feel this kind of fear?' Instead, I just held her tighter.
"We're almost there." I murmured, less to the others and more to her. "You're coming home, Isabella."
She didn't respond. She just shivered. Whatever it took, I would never let her get this far from us again.
AT THE SAME TIME
THIRD PERSON'S POINT OF VIEW:
The room was quiet for a moment, with only the sound of Isabella's shallow breathing filling the air as Xavier and the others tried to comfort her. Despite their reassurances, the doubt still lingered in the air, thick with tension.
Then, suddenly, a flash of light erupted in front of them, cutting through the silence. The men flinched, instinctively moving to shield Isabella from whatever the light was. But there, in the middle of the room, appeared a massive screen. It was made up of swirling, glowing symbols an eerie blend of colours that danced and shifted. And then, the voice of the system cold and detached spoke from it, the words ringing out with the authority of something all knowing.
"Attention, all participants: You are currently in the game 'Saintess Who Wants to Escape Reverse Harem Game.'"A voice said.
The words echoed ominously in the space, each syllable reverberating in their minds.
"Isabella, you are a side character. You were never meant to survive. Your role in this world was always destined to end in tragedy. You were meant to die to serve the purpose of the heroine, Elena. The men, Xavier, Alastor, and Adrian, will never love you as they love her. They are destined to fall in love with Elena, the true female lead. You do not belong in this world."A voice said.
The screen flickered for a moment before continuing.
"The players Xavier, Alastor, Adrian must now accept that Isabella is a mere bystander, a side character who was never meant to be a part of their world. They are tied to Elena. It is her fate that they will love. Isabella, your fate is sealed, and you are nothing more than a casualty in their story."A voice said.
Xavier's eyes widened as the words hit him like a physical blow. Alastor's jaw tightened, a dark look crossing his face, while Adrian stood frozen, his expression unreadable. Isabella, trembling beneath the weight of it all, had her hands clenched tightly in her lap, trying desperately to hold herself together.
The system's voice didn't stop there.
"You are in this game, Isabella. Your time here is limited. And the only way for you to escape the inevitable is to fulfill your role as the side character. Accept it."A voice said.
Xavier's face turned pale with shock. His voice came out in a tight rasp as he turned to Isabella, his hand hovering uncertainly over her arm.
"Isabella... is this true? Is that... what you've been hearing? That you're just supposed to die?"Xavier asked.
Isabella's voice was barely a whisper, as though the words themselves carried the weight of the world.
"I... I don't know what's real anymore. I didn't ask for this... I didn't choose this."Isabella whimpered.
The system's screen flickered again, now projecting an image of Elena standing in the center of the screen, smiling brightly as the system declared her the heroine. The image shifted between the three men, showing them in various scenes with Elena laughing, talking, their faces glowing with affection as they looked at her.
"Elena is the one they will fall in love with. The world is set. The game is in motion. You, Isabella, are a side character."A voice said.
Isabella squeezed her eyes shut, feeling the crushing weight of the system's words suffocating her. The men looked helplessly at each other, their confusion growing.
"No." Xavier growled, his voice filled with anger. "This can't be true. We won't accept it. We care about you, Isabella. This system... it doesn't control us."
"Xavier, you don't understand." Isabella whispered, her voice breaking. "It's already decided. It's all part of the game. I'm nothing but a tool for Elena's story. I was supposed to die before any of you could care about me."
The screen flashed again, and the system's voice cut through the air with finality.
"The task is clear. The players must accept their roles. Love Elena. The side character, Isabella, is a distraction. You may attempt to change her fate, but the system will intervene if you stray too far from the path. It is her purpose to die."A voice said.
The screen flickered off, leaving the room in a tense silence. The men stood frozen, each of them struggling with the implications of what they had just heard. Isabella, her face pale and tear-streaked, felt as though the ground had been pulled out from beneath her. There was no escaping it. She was stuck in a world where she wasn't supposed to exist, where she was doomed from the start. Xavier's voice broke the silence, full of rage but also desperation.
"We will not let this be your fate. The system may have control over the world, but it does not control us. Isabella, you are real. You matter."He said.
Alastor's gaze flickered to Xavier before turning back to Isabella, his usual cold demeanour replaced with something deeper something akin to resolve.
"If we have to fight this game, we will. For you."Alastor said.
Adrian stepped forward, his voice softer than the others but no less determined.
"You don't have to face this alone. We're in this together."Adrian said.
Maybe they were right. Maybe the system was lying. Maybe... just maybe, she could find a way to fight back against it. But she couldn't do it alone. And maybe, just maybe, the game wasn't over for her yet.