All Lucian knew about the novel’s ending was that his death happens during the tournament, and that the hero ends up forming a harem with all the heroines.

The actual concept of this world, the patrol system in the forbidden forest, the racial politics of the kingdoms — all those details were completely new to him.

Internally, he was cursing the author.

"Damn you, author... if you’d priced your novel a bit lower, I could’ve read the other eight volumes. Instead, you spent the first few obsessing over the hero and his harem and some unnecessary detail — you could’ve added some actual world-building, you know."

Elira’s face wore an unreadable expression. She gently tucked her hair behind her ear.

Then she asked in an eerie calm voice.

"Do you know what the true fate of a ’Hero’ is??"

Lucian slowly shook his head.

For a few seconds, Elira’s eyes locked onto his, then she gave him a bitter smile.

"When a child is called a prodigy at a young age, that child’s parents become filled with pride. Over time, that pride turns into expectations."

"To meet those expectations, they force everything onto the child from a young age... and because the child is gifted, they absorb it all effortlessly."

Elira reached for Lucian’s right hand and pressed her palm flat against his, aligning their fingers. Her eyes dropped, visually tracking the size difference. Lucian’s fingers extended past hers, noticeably longer and thicker.

"And then... They use that child like a tool. This is the fate of a hero"

Lucian asked, confused:

"What do you mean... use?"

Elira’s face remained calm, as if she were composed on the surface but drowning in deep thought beneath.

"Do you know why every kingdom tries so hard to train as many commoners, slaves, and nobles as possible in a prestige academy like this??"

Lucian swallowed slightly and gave her a nod.

"Yeah... because everyone needs to be ready for when the Chaos Beast awakens from its seal. Every kingdom wants as many —"

Elira immediately placed a finger on his lips and gently shook her head.

"That’s just what they told us."

"The truth is that every empire and every kingdom is searching for as many prodigies as possible... so they can use them as tools to seize more territory in the forbidden forest and bring it under their control."

Lucian raised his eyebrows, staring at her.

Elira gestured lightly toward her pointed ears.

"You can see my ears, that I am not a human?"

"When I turned twelve, I found out I wasn’t actually a princess. Either the King and Queen of Frostfall stole me from my real parents... or my real parents sold me to them."

"My life was traded... so that my kingdom could use me as a tool in this world race."

Lucian’s voice was filled with disbelief.

"What do you mean by world race?"

Elira slowly stood up and glanced around Lucian’s room. Then she picked up a book from his desk and tore out a page.

Lucian thought to himself:

"Hey... that book was a map of the forbidden archive."

Without hesitation, Elira began drawing something on the page.

"I’ve been wanting to tell you this for a long time now."

In the drawing, she sketched a large circle and drew several blocks around it.

She pointed her pen at the circle and the small blocks.

"Do you know what this is?"

Lucian examined the drawing carefully and understood.

"I think... this is the forbidden forest, and these around it are the kingdoms and lands."

Elira gave a faint smile.

"Yes, exactly."

Then she marked the center of the drawing with her pen.

"Now look... whichever empire or kingdom possesses the most heroes, they will have the greatest advantage in this race."

"And everyone is running for the same goal."

"You’re talking about the forest core?"

Elira shook her head.

"Close... but the real name is — Abyss of Kokonei." 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

"Every kingdom is sending their heroes and mages to gain as much territory as possible."

"Heroes are fed greed... told that the more monsters they kill, the more mana they gain and the closer they get to reaching a new stage."

"And the stronger the hero becomes... the closer their kingdom gets to that forbidden power."

She then sketched five layers inside the central circle, pointing to them one by one.

"Look, this is the Outer Ring."

Every kingdom stations their veteran knights at the borders here. People think these knights are deployed for protection against forest monsters, but in reality, Their true mission is to guard the kingdom’s forest territory, acting as a human wall to ensure that no neighboring countries encroach on their land or carry out unauthorized activities within their borders

"The second is the Resource Zone. This is where heroes and warriors collect resources for their kingdoms."

"The third layer is the War Ring. Officially, no kingdom enters here because everyone signed a treaty... but in reality, they’re all engaged in a cold war."

She paused briefly and pointed to the next circle.

"As for the Fourth Ring and the Fifth Ring... no one has ever managed to reach them. Because of that, no one truly knows what lies at the center. Not even me."

Hearing all this, Lucian couldn’t tell what was right or wrong anymore. The first thing confusing him was — whoever cursed him, were they on his side? Did they seal his talent to save him from a hero’s cursed fate?

Too many questions were spinning rapidly through his mind. And if this was Elira’s fate, then why was she telling him all this? Did she have some hidden motives behind revealing this to him?

He needed time to think everything through clearly. But one question loomed larger than all the others in his mind — if Elira’s parents weren’t the Frostfall King and Queen, then what was her real identity?

He sat there with an anxious expression, lost in thought.

"You know..."

Elira took his hand again, her grip firm.

"Perhaps someone who cared for you was the one who placed that curse on you..."

The moment the words left her lips, Lucian’s pupils shrank.