Descending Into A Novel

It was becoming a pattern now honestly.

Raymond and Ellen would do something embarrassing, then they would be forced to sit in silence together for the next ten minutes as they contemplated each and every direction the situation could have escalated into.

Especially since it was Clara who had decided to drive them to the concert today.

Normally, they would have called a cab, or one of the Grace Family servants/ staff would have volunteer to drive them.

But after seeing Raymond and Ellen...wrestling. Clara had immediately pushed their gardener away and declared that she wanted to be the one to drive them.

So now the two of them were stuck in the back of one of Rayez’s luxury cars. Forced to suffer from Clara’s eyes as she continuously watched the two of them.

Every so often, the corner of her lips would curl up. Watching as him or Ellen sat as still as possible.

"You two have gotten closer haven’t you?"

"..."

"..."

She let out a dramatic sigh.

"But Ellen dear...I didn’t know you were the type to do something like that."

Ellen’s face turned red. Quietly clenching her fists as tight as possible as she tried to erase the memory from her head.

She went for Raymond next, once Ellen was dealt with. "You too Raymond...going right for that area..."

He kept his eyes locked onto the outside, wishing the traffic would just clear up already and release them from this uniquely torturous hell.

Clara smirked, seeing the two of them had turned sufficiently red.

This was just so much fun!

How could she possibly let something like this slide right under her nose? Seeing them like this reminded her of one of the lovey dramas she had watched, she absolutely couldn’t let anyone else be the one to ruin or collapse this!

No, she had to protect them. Protect them until one of them finally broke out of their shell.

Because right now, the two of them were like little chicks unaware of their own feelings. Trapped inside their own eggs.

"Hehehe."

Raymond closed his eyes, praying inside of his head to the only deity he could think of at the moment—which was the World Tree.

’Please save me! The women in this family are insane!’

Clara had been perfectly normal before they left for the academy, but now that they had returned. Her treatment towards them had made an abrupt 180.

Finally arriving at the concert venue, the two of let out a breath they hadn’t even realized they were holding in.

"Next time. Let’s say no to your mom driving."

"Good idea."

She nodded, how her mother had even become someone like this in just a year was a mystery that couldn’t be solved.

Pushing through the crowd that had formed, the two of them made their way to the VIP line. Only to be stopped by a burly man with a buzz cut in a suit. Wearing black sunglasses that concealed his eyes, he stood in front of them like an immovable wall.

"VIP’s only."

She raised an eyebrow.

It wasn’t weird or unusual for people to not recognize her right now. The entire city of New Rayan might have been under the control of the Grace Family, but the amount of people that actually knew her name was quite low.

It was like trying to remember the mayor’s son, they weren’t really all that important in their current life right now.

Plus, with so many Families each with dozens of members. The only ones that could recognize her were the upper echelons of society.

But with the recent case in Mirovia City, their fame should have risen quite a bit. Besides, how did a security guard at an event like this not even recognize a VIP standing right in front of them?

The average person not recognizing her? Sure she was perfectly accepting of that. But this security guard was someone who interacted with high profile individuals, surely she should have been recognized immediately.

Her gut instincts, honed through years of battle were warning her that something was wrong!

She quietly tapped her fingers on Raymond’s arm, using morse code to communicate.

’Sus.’

Immediately, he discreetly casted a spell on the guard. He seemed to only be a D-rank so it was unlikely that he would be able to detect Raymond’s magic.

Tapping in response to Ellen, she took out her two VIP tickets and showed it to the guard.

Rolling her eyes and pretending to act like a spoilt brat, she snarled at him. "Here. Our tickets."

"I apologize ma’am, there’s been a lot of is-

" Whatever, just let us through already."

Making their way into the VIP seating area, a luxurious private space with lots of comfortable seats and even dedicated employees to serve them food and drink. As well as access to a private balcony that offered the perfect view.

Raymond couldn’t help but click his tongue internally.

The rich were truly different, Ellen didn’t even seem fazed at all by the current treatment they were receiving.

Speaking of, Raymond turned his head to her. Raising an eyebrow at her earlier behavior.

"What was up with that whole spoiled rich kid act? It wasn’t even necessary."

"I know. But I just wanted to try doing it at least once. See what all the fuss is about you know?"

Right. Because sometimes it was hard to remember that Ellen was also mentally troubled like the rest of the group.

Seriously, none of them were normal. Both old and new Ellen being equally as crazy.

While old Ellen was just the quiet training type of crazy, the new one was the act normal and then reveal her true colors type of crazy.

"Well? How was it then?"

"It felt pretty nice actually."

Her brazen admittance paired with that grin made him remember this truth even more.

She even suggested for him to try it, "You should try it yourself. It felt amazingly liberating for some reason."

"No thanks. But what was so suspicious about that security guard that you wanted me to mark him?"

"He didn’t recognize me. How can someone who works with rich people not recognize one of the richest people? And also a gut feeling but you probably want actual proof. "

He rubbed his chin, casually snacking on some popcorn that had been brought over by a employee.

They even backed away immediately, just to prevent themselves from overhearing anything they shouldn’t have.

"I trust your gut feeling. Should we mark every guard then? There’s quite a lot."

She shook her head, "Let’s just wait and see first. If something bad is about to happen, then we’ll act."

She really regretted not bringing any of her weapons with her right now, Raymond had her Kairos bow stored in his storage dimension in order to get it past security. But not being able to just reach and immediately grab it removed that sense of comfort and security.

In a world filled with fighting, having her weapons constantly by her side was what made her feel safest after all.

Reaching over, she grabbed some of the popcorn for herself from Raymond’s bucket. Exclaiming in surprise as she tasted the sweet crunchy yet fluffy snack.

"Wow this is pretty good."

He slid the bucket over to her, "At a place like this where it costs 30 dollars per bucket. It better be the damn best."

"Why are you always so obsessed about the money?"

"Why aren’t you?"

It really was an odd little quirk about him. Despite the fact that he was basically guaranteed access to the immense Grace Family wealth soon, he still fussed over the price of small things like this popcorn.

Was he like this in other places as well?

His life on Earth seemed so mundane that it seemed strange to think of someone like Raymond working a white-collar office job.

Quietly tapping away at a computer, all the while his boss yelled at him and he just stood there accepting it. The monotonous, dull work for days on end, slaving away at work while petty coworkers talk bad about you behind your back. Stressing over whether he would be able to afford rent that month or whether the economy was going good.

He even had a driving license!

An Archmage specializing in dimension magic, that could teleport and travel to other dimensions entirely as easily as breathing. Used a car, to get to work.

She couldn’t imagine Raymond doing that for years!

Wasn’t he the type to plead with her on his knees for ice cream?

Didn’t he once slap a classmate in their middle school for insulting her?

Wasn’t he the type to laze around all day and barely even get up to do anything?

Someone like him should have stood out no matter where he was, if not for his magic then for literally anything else. His looks alone should have made him stood out!

Yet the few times she heard stories of Raymond’s life on Earth, it made her think internally.

’Are we talking about the same person?’