Despite Being an Extra, I’m the Villain’s Childhood Friend - Chapter 47.1

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Chapter 47.1

“What?”

“You don’t need to know.”

Robert, who had been answering his master’s questions curtly, glared at Michael when he interjected with curiosity. This prompted Michael to start picking a fight.

Izeline let out a shallow sigh as she watched the three of them walk away, bickering as usual.

Well.

Nothing bad can happen with her master around.

With a relieved thought, she turned her gaze to the bookshelf. As soon as she was alone with Grosh, the noise disappeared, and the air that soothed her mind enveloped her skin.

“Where is the teacher?”

She was talking about Gerald.

For a moment, a small crack appeared on Grosh’s previously benevolent face, and a vein popped out on his temple.

“He’s doing something upstairs.”

The first floor of the building was used as a bookstore, and the second floor was used as living quarters. Grosh grumbled under his breath that Gerald was acting like he owned the place, even though he was just a guest in his house.

“How irritable he gets when he concentrates on something.”

Grosh, who had been grumbling before chasing them away, glared at Gerald, who was presumably beyond the ceiling, as if he had telekinetic vision.

Izeline consoled Grosh with a knowing look and then turned her gaze to the countless books that lined the bookshelf. Now, even the most basic books felt like torture devices that she had to read and summarize as homework.

‘Isn’t there anything interesting I can use as a textbook?’

Like a light novel. Or a fairy tale book.

She had been wandering the aisles of books in search of something fun to read when she suddenly stopped in her tracks, spotting something.

“Huh? This is…?”

* * *

From books that reeked of a thousand years to those that had been recently bound, the Hidden Path Bookstore was a feast for the eyes. Each book boasted a different thickness and size, but they all had one thing in common.

An antiquated design that reflected the sensibilities of this world. However, the book that caught her eye stood out like a sore thumb with its different appearance.

‘It feels strangely familiar…’

Unconsciously, she reached out to the modern binding and smooth cover that she could have only seen in the world before she transmigrated.

And then, the next moment, she gasped in surprise.

“No, way…”

It was identical.

It was the exact same cover design as the novel she had read three years before she transmigrated.

“How is this possible…”

“What are you talking about?”

At that moment, she clamped her mouth shut at the sudden voice. When she looked back, Grosh was standing right next to her as if he had teleported.

Her green eyes wavered.

How was she supposed to explain this absurd situation? In all seriousness, she was trembling more at this moment than when she had offered her life as collateral to Duke Brioche.

“So, that’s…”

The hand holding the book trembled.

She had been living with the conviction that this place was the real world for three years now.

The sudden appearance of the novel had plunged her back into the abyss of confusion. It was a world inside a book. All the begins she met were nothing but fiction created by the author. It was as if the book in front of her was speaking those words.

‘Then, what are all these emotions? Are you saying they’re all fake?’

Izeline trembled as she looked up at the giant in front of her. Grosh calmly asked, looking down at her with a quiet gaze.

“Why did you choose that book?”

Now that she looked at him, there was a strange look in the old man’s eyes.

“I just, it looked a little different from the other books, so, that’s, I mean, it’s kind of out of place, I guess.”

After rambling on incoherently, Izeline glanced at his face as if to gauge his reaction. Surely Grosh didn’t know the story of Arsen and Livny, too, did he? Did he know about Robert’s tragic end? Did he know about the handsome Michael, who would be betrayed in the future?

She felt an indescribable feeling at the realization that someone else knew about the existence of the original story that she thought only she knew.

Then, Grosh opened his mouth.

“Read it.”

“….”

With trembling eyes, she quietly opened the book and began to read the first sentence of the novel written in the Imperial language.

[ All tragedies begin suddenly. The thunder that poured down as if it would pierce the heavens truly tore through the sky and bestowed an unknown power upon humans… ]Huh?

What was this?

The book, which she had naturally assumed was a love story between Arsen and Livny, contained completely different content. No matter how much she couldn’t remember the beginning, the genre was too different.