Chapter 126 - INSIDE THE RED DOOR
LET'S backtrack a bit in time and go to a certain red door…
After the feeling of being sucked into a vacuum disappeared, Luo Jin was finally able to open his eyes. What he saw first was a velvet couch in front of him and on the side was a window. Even though the outside was dark, he could still see the scene flashing by. And feeling the movement forward and also looking at the closed compartment, he was definitely inside a travelling carriage.
His line of his sight was higher than normal. Well, at least the same as when he was out of the game. Which meant that his current avatar was not his gnome avatar. It was no doubt close to his original body.
He raised his hand and saw that he was wearing a glove. Not just any glove but a silk glove. Something that was only for women. He suddenly had a bad hunch. He looked down and his eyes almost bulged out when he saw what he was wearing. A dress. A bloody freaking dress with matching lace and frills! It was even in the color pink!
What the f*ck?!
Before he went ballistic, a screen appeared in front of him.
[Dear player, your identity right now is Claus. The illegitimate son of the Count of Raglin. You lived in the country with your twin sister, Clara, and the number of servants provided by your father. Last week, your father visited and told the both of you that he would have your sister attend the party of one of the princes of the Crystal Kingdom. The richest and most powerful kingdom in all the lands.]
[Every four years, one of the kingdom's princes held a party in one of the other kingdoms. There, he would pick up his wife and sometimes, even a few concubines. That's why this party was really popular. All families wanted to send their daughters to it. Your father was no different. But because he doesn't have a legitimate daughter, so he could only send the illegitimate one. Your twin sister.]
[But your sister has a weak heart. You're worried what could happen to her if she did attend. Aside from that, you heard a rumor that once a girl was brought to the Crystal Kingdom, she would never have a chance to go back. Your sister also heard about this and she cried all night thinking that she might not see you again. Although the chance of your sister being chosen is slim, there's still a chance that she might. So out of desperation, you decided to take her place.]
[You're a usually weak-willed and shy boy. But your love for your sister was unquestionable. So despite being afraid, you still went ahead and took her place. You plan to be as invisible as possible. So that the prince wouldn't take notice of you. Now you're riding a carriage provided by your father, travelling towards the castle where the party is going to be held.]
After reading all of that, he cursed again. Repeating it three times for good measure. But his annoyance didn't decrease at all. When he was about to curse again, another screen appeared.
[Rules]
1. Other NPCs shouldn't find out that you're not the real Claus. If they do, then you'll be disqualified and automatically thrown out of the red door.
2. All your skills have been temporarily turned off. So try to avoid any danger. Because once you're killed, you'll be thrown out.
3. You can't log off. Because once you do, it would automatically mean that you're giving up.
4. If you recognized another player, you can team up with them. But you could only do so with two players at most. Once a team of three was formed, you need to decide who's going to be the leader. Being the leader, they would receive higher quality rewards. Of course, it wouldn't matter if you all solve a mystery together. Because the best has to be given to the leader. They're the leader, after all.
5. This event will be over by midnight. If you already solved one mystery and you wanted to go out of the red door, just pressed the crescent moon on the back of your hand. A screen will appear where you can put in your solution.
6. And lastly, please do your best to give a very entertaining performance for our majesty, the King.
When Luo Jin read all those, he cursed once again. His eyes were stuck at rule number one. He couldn't care less about the others. All he could see was that he couldn't go out of character. Meaning, he should act like a shy and weak-willed boy crossdressing as his twin sister? Does this game hate him or something?
First, it chose a gnome as his race. Now it's even forcing him to cross-dress and act in a way that was totally opposite of his character?
Then he heard a knock from the front interrupting his inner tirade of game loathing.
"Young Miss, are you alright?" called a voice. It's probably the driver.
Luo Jin was about to answer back when he remembered that he shouldn't go out of character. He gritted his teeth and then soften his voice. "I'm fine."
He sighed. The mystery would probably happen at the castle. After all, he'd chosen 'A castle of dreams for the wicked' out of the five choices presented to them. Which led him to the red door.
The reason why he chose it was actually pretty stupid. It's because he subconsciously thought that his brother would be attracted by the word 'wicked'– having that hidden dark side and all – and thus would also pick the same choice. It's baseless but Luo Jin just couldn't help but choose it.
Well, if his brother was not this door, then he'd just log out. There's no way he'd spent the rest of the night wearing a dress when his brother was not even here.
Soon, the carriage he was riding stopped. The carriage door opened right after and one who looked like some kind of footman. He raised his hand towards Luo Jin. He resisted the urge to slap it away. But then remembered that he shouldn't go out of character and so reluctantly put his hand on the footman's palm. The footman helped him climbed down the carriage.
Luo Jin raised the silk fan he was holding and covered the lower half of his face with it. That's when he noticed that his line of sight was still slightly lower than in real life. Meaning that this character's current height was still lower than his real one. Also, his arms were thinner. As if all the muscles he'd worked hard to develop these past years suddenly disappeared. No wonder this body could cross-dress as his twin sister.
He looked up at the castle in front. It looked like any other castle aside from the sinister atmosphere surrounding it, that is. Probably because of all those scary looking spires.
He was about to walk towards the castle when another carriage stopped just behind the carriage he travelled in.
A tall, willowy woman climbed down. Her black hair was arranged in a complicated French knot, surrounded by expensive looking pearls. She was wearing a black dress that perfectly showcased her curves. The black of her dress highlighted her satiny white skin. She must have noticed his gaze before she looked over in his direction.
And his gaze collided with a pair of indifferent black eyes.
A certain image of a pink haired pixie overlapped with the woman in front of him. And suddenly, the thought of logging out if his brother wasn't here just completely disappeared from his mind.