Eventually, Callista tucked herself into a quiet corner with a heavy leather volume titled Harmonization & Homicide: Why The Ambient Mana Wants You Dead.
It was a grim reminder that she was still completely alone here. Her magic was pathetically weak, she was practically a novice, and she’d barely had time to adjust to this reality.
Then there was the issue of her system, which operated on its own bizarre logic.
She’d been racking up EXP from these ridiculous quests, but it made her wonder: was the system merely stacking external buffs on top of her natural magic?
If so, she had two separate avenues for growth. Her regular magic could be trained naturally, even if a mortal body had hard, physical limits on how much volatile mana it could refine before collapsing.
The system, however, didn’t seem to have a ceiling. If her stats could scale infinitely, she might eventually break through the biological limitations that bound every other mage in this world.
"This is way too much theoretical nonsense to process at on—"
Callista froze. A cool hand rested lightly on her shoulder.
She turned her head, expecting to meet those familiar, terrifying crimson eyes. "Corvi—"
She stopped dead.
White hair. Silky, snow-white hair, framed against a polished face, yet sporting those exact same blood-red orbs.
"Haha," a light, boyish laugh bubbled out as he pushed up a pair of rimless silver spectacles. "Did I startle you? My apologies, Lady Callista."
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: A Love Interest Has Appeared]
╔════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ [CHARACTER PROFILE: Lucien Rosenberg]║
║ Role: Second Heir / Strategic Shadow Rosenberg║
║ Title: None (Unrecognized Lineage)║
║ Traits: Polished, Calculating, Secretly Ambitious, Unfathomably Calm║
╚════════════════════════════════════════════╝
Oh, holy shit.
It was him.
The ridiculously attractive, hyper-calculating guy her little sister back in the real world had been utterly feral for!
If Callista had been secretly simping for Corvina before her transmigration, though she’d taken that denial to her grave, her younger sister had been completely obsessed with Corvina’s illegitimate half-brother.
Apparently, having atrocious taste in fictional nobility ran in the family.
It was impossible to forget a face like his.
He possessed a soft, almost boyish charm wrapped in a terrifyingly sharp, professional aura.
He was elegant, immaculate, and possessed sophistication that put every guy she’d ever met to absolute shame in this world so far.
Honestly, the image was burned into her retina mostly because her sister owned a life-sized body pillow and an unhealthy amount of merch featuring his face.
Still, knowing what he looked like on merch didn’t mean she actually knew anything useful about him.
"My apologies. I mistook you for Lady Corvina at first glance, Lord Lucien."
"...You know my name?"
Ah. Shit. Was I not supposed to know that?!
Callista’s mind raced into emergency damage control.
She needed a ironclad excuse immediately before he slapped her with a stalker label, branded her an enemy spy, and had her executed for treason.
"Yes," she lied smoothly, keeping her voice completely level. "Your sister has mentioned you."
"Has she?..." He hummed softly, pushing his silver spectacles up the bridge of his nose. He looked thoroughly unconvinced, his crimson eyes gleaming with fresh suspicion. "Well, no matter. I must admit, I’m rather surprised to find you here."
Honestly? So am I!
Every single male lead from the story was suddenly popping up out of nowhere.
At this point, even if three more showed up, Callista was pretty sure she’d still remain completely uninterested in all of them.
Turned out that old internet meme about straight guys just being lesbians in a man’s body was hit scarily close to home for her current life.