The Impact of the Author's Intervention on a Blank Page - Chapter 25
“Don’t worry. I won’t stay long. I’ll just check on him and return quickly.”
Ja-hyun’s lips moved as his eyes met his brother’s. Whatever might happen later, right now he wanted to reassure him. His next words were half impulsive.
“…Because I’ll miss you brother a lot.”
Was that too much? He wasn’t sure. Even if they didn’t know about their relationship, such words should be normal enough between family members.
“……”
“……”
Brother, no, the Grand Duke remained silent. Ja-hyun swallowed nervously. As he tried to laugh it off awkwardly, the Grand Duke uncrossed his legs.
Brother, maintaining eye contact, gestured with a somewhat imposing, aristocratic air.
“Come closer.”
Ja-hyun rose, stumbling slightly. It wasn’t pain – his body was simply so weak that everything he did resulted in wobbling. Like a deflated balloon puppet, he tottered closer and stood there. As he stood there reluctantly, brother reached out, caught his wrist, and seated him beside himself.
Brother held and touched his wrist. Noticing the messy wounds on his hands, brother’s eyes narrowed. Responding to the questioning look that asked what these were, Ja-hyun answered sheepishly.
“I made a small mistake.”
Eventually, a hand slipped inside his pajama sleeve, which was hardly different from an oversized sack shirt.
“You’re too thin.”
“It’s not that bad.”
Ah, this is maddening. The touch made him want to embrace brother. If he’d known it would be like this, he should have told brother he loved him many more times before coming here.
In the quiet moment, Ja-hyun realized what this emotion resembled. Though it seemed absurd and hard to imagine, this must be how it would feel if he had been in unrequited love with brother.
As he pondered this, the brother’s hand that had entered his sleeve slid down smoothly. Just as the brother naturally grasped his hand, a system window appeared.
Though he stiffened at its sudden appearance, the text obstinately occupied a corner of his vision.
[‘Trait (Special Privilege): Plot Detection’ has been activated.]
[‘Checking future timeline of character ‘Ludwig El Izatrix’…]
[‘Ludwig’ kills his younger adoptive brother ‘Rijin El Izatrix’, who is suspected of possessing the sealed dark dragon’s power, in order to obtain dragon powers that he himself lacks. Afterwards, he becomes the strongest ally of the next Viestra Empire’s Emperor, Elai J. Viestra, a war-obsessed tyrant, but dies during the world war. (Probability: 97%)]
[Special privilege activation conditions confirmed!]
[Loading changes…]
[??? (Special Privilege): Loading detailed information… Progress 99%]
[??? (Special Privilege): Loading detailed information… Progress 100%]
[Applying loaded special privilege traits.]
[Author’s Intervention (Special Privilege)]
You can receive points by changing the detected future timeline. The greater the difference in the altered future, the more ‘Modification Points’ you will receive.
‘Author’s Intervention’ will activate at specific branching points, triggering sub-quests. Upon completing quests, you can receive a certain amount of modification points as rewards.
This is chaos. Of course, knowing something was better than knowing nothing at all. Being a special privilege trait, it was also grateful that it provided such weighty information. Whatever it was, the promise of points was also very welcome.
Grateful, but… there was so much content it gave him a headache.
Emily supported the weakened young master. After whatever conversation he had with His Grace, the young master had been sitting on the sofa.
As she helped him up from his seat, his legs, hidden under the thick blanket, became visible. His exposed knees were covered in mottled bruises. These were injuries from when he fell from the bed the other day. Despite the soft, thick, and extremely expensive rug on the floor, it couldn’t prevent bruising on such delicate skin.
The young master, who had awakened after a long illness, ignored such injuries as if they were insignificant. He didn’t seem to feel pain, not even requesting medicine, until a servant discovered it later and made a fuss. Only then did the young master seem to realize his condition and receive treatment from the servants.
There were many other minor injuries too. Multiple paper cuts from handling books, or bruises on the back of his hand from dropping a cup of soup. As a result, the young master’s hands were in terrible shape.
But he remained indifferent to his physical condition, like someone living with a death sentence.
When she gently suggested he take better care, the young master smiled kindly and replied that everywhere else hurt too much to notice. Her heart ached at those words.
