Chapter_23
“When I first came to this world, I woke up in an abandoned school. I never saw its name—it was still dark, early in the morning, and the cold was unbearable. I was freezing. When I reached the highway, I waited for hours, hoping to get a ride, but no one stopped. Eventually, I fainted.”
Elise paused for a moment to catch her breath.
“When I opened my eyes again, I found myself in a small, creepy apartment. The smell was disgusting, and everything felt damp and neglected. Slowly, I got up and looked around the room.”
Her gaze lowered.
“That’s when I found a knife.”
She swallowed.
“There were bloodstains on it. I remember it clearly… because there was a small clock engraved on the blade. It stood out so much that I couldn’t stop staring at it. Even now, I can remember every detail of it.”
Lucien noticed that Elise’s legs were trembling and her hands were shaking as she recalled those moments.
Without a word, he handed her a glass of water.
After taking a few sips, she looked at Enzo and continued.
“But when I reached the main road and searched through my bag, I found the note I had received in that basement.”
She paused for a moment.
“It had the address of a library written on it—the same library where we first met.”
Enzo looked at her and sighed in relief.
“Thank God you remember something. Maybe it can help us.”
“No. I don’t want your help. I will solve this case myself,” Elise cut him off.
“Yeah, I’ll help you, but first you need to take care of yourself. We can’t afford for you to get hurt.”
Throughout the conversation, Lucien watched them silently.
Elise let out a deep sigh and gave Enzo a small smile.
Lucien clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
Turning his gaze away, he tried to hide the jealousy rising inside him.
“I know you care about me,” Elise said, “but you should also know that I’m a journalist. I need to find the truth.”
“Yeah, I know that,” Enzo replied.
“But you’re a journalist in your world, not this one. In this world, you’re just an ordinary citizen of the Lucien Royal Kingdom.”
The moment Enzo mentioned Lucien’s name, Elise turned her gaze toward him.
For the first time, she looked at him carefully, as if she were trying to memorize every detail of his face.
Lucien, however, avoided her eyes.
He kept scrolling through the files on his phone, pretending to be focused on work.
Even though he could feel her staring at him, he refused to look up.
But the longer Elise looked at him, the stranger she felt.
A warmth slowly spread through her chest.
It felt familiar.
Like the feeling she had in that dream…
A beautiful garden filled with countless flowers, where she stood beside someone she could never quite remember.
Her throat went dry.
She swallowed nervously.
Without realizing it, her cheeks turned red.
And without meaning to, she kept staring at him like an idiot.
A small smile slowly crept onto her lips.
Across the table, Enzo watched the scene unfold.
A satisfied smile appeared on his face as he leaned back in his chair, finally allowing his body to relax.
To break the silence, Enzo cleared his throat.
The sound immediately snapped Elise out of her thoughts.
She blinked and quickly looked away before turning back toward Lucien.
“Have we ever met before, Mr. President?”
For a moment, Lucien froze.
Slowly, he turned his gaze toward her.
His throat tightened, and he swallowed hard.
He blinked once, then twice, trying to keep his composure.
“I don’t think so.”
The answer was short.
Cold.
Yet for some reason, Elise felt as if he had rehearsed those words long before she had asked the question.
Just then, a maid entered the room carrying a tray filled with snacks and cold drinks.
She carefully placed everything on the table before bowing and quietly leaving the room.
Elise immediately grabbed a handful of snacks and started eating.
The loud crunching sounds quickly filled the otherwise silent room.
Lucien looked at her with a confused expression.
Noticing his gaze, Elise stopped chewing and looked back at him with wide, innocent bunny eyes.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
He quickly looked away and took a sip of his hot coffee, pretending not to notice the crumbs at the corner of her lips.
“First, I need to find my boyfriend.”
The moment those words left Elise’s mouth, the room fell silent once again.
But this time, the silence felt like a thunderstorm waiting to erupt.
The two men sitting beside her stared at her.
One with anger burning behind his eyes.
The other with quiet hopelessness.
Completely unaware of the chaos she had just created, Elise continued,
“I have so many questions to ask him.”
Her voice was calm, but Lucien’s grip on his coffee cup tightened.
Across from them, Enzo let out a slow sigh and rubbed his forehead, already sensing the disaster that was about to unfold.
After spending the next few minutes noisily crunching through snacks and drinking Coca-Cola as if she hadn’t had a drink in years, Elise suddenly froze.
Then she jumped to her feet.
“What happened?” Enzo asked immediately.
“I have to show you something!”
Without waiting for a response, she hurried out of the room and headed toward her bedroom.
Enzo stared after her disappearing figure before turning to Lucien.
“Now what happened to her?”
After a while, Elise returned to the room carrying her bag.
Both men stared at her curiously.
Without saying a word, she placed the bag on the table and began taking things out one by one.
The first item was a fragment of cloth stained with dried blood.
Then several photographs slipped from the bag and scattered across the table.
The pictures showed Elise and Joe together.
The room instantly fell silent as both men fixed their eyes on the photographs.
She pushed the other items aside and handed the bloodstained fragment of cloth to Enzo.
“I got this from one of my cases,” she said.
Enzo took it from her and examined it carefully.
His expression gradually turned serious as he studied every detail of the fabric.
After a moment, he silently passed it to Lucien.
Lucien stared at the bloodstained piece of cloth.
Despite the dried blood covering most of it, he immediately recognized the fabric.
It was from a famous clothing brand that existed only in Paris in 2030.
He tried to remember the brand’s name, but his mind refused to cooperate.
Too many thoughts were crashing into each other at once.
Just then, Enzo’s phone rang.
He glanced at the screen before answering.
“Okay, I’ll come. I need to take this.”
With that, he got up from his chair and walked out of the room, leaving Lucien and Elise alone.
Elise seemed completely normal, busy organizing the items on the table.
But Lucien’s heart was in chaos.
His thoughts were a mess.
Every few seconds, he found himself stealing glances at her.
Then looking away.
As if simply being alone with her was enough to make him lose control.
“By the way, Mr. President, I’m impressed by you.”
The moment those words left Elise’s mouth, Lucien stiffened.
He looked at her in surprise.
“Why?”
“Because of your way of ruling. You know, back in 2026, things were good, but there were still many problems. Looking at this era now, the country has changed in an incredible way.”
She tilted her head slightly and smiled.
“I’m genuinely impressed.”
Lucien remained silent for a moment.
“It’s not just me. These changes were brought by countless people. I’m only guiding them.”
“Yeah, but good people existed in the past too, and that alone wasn’t enough to change a country.”
Elise leaned back in her chair.
“People change because of their leaders. And countries grow because of great minds working together. A leader can inspire an entire nation to become better.”
Lucien could feel the sincerity in her voice.
She wasn’t flattering him.
She was truly impressed.
For some reason, that realization affected him more than it should have.
“Thank you.”
A small smile appeared on his lips.
Then the room fell silent once again.
A few minutes later, Enzo returned to the room and took his seat.
“Is everything okay?” Lucien asked, a hint of concern in his voice.
“Yep. Everything’s fine.”
Enzo glanced at the evidence on the table.
“Give me those. I’ll send them to the forensic lab.”
Elise handed over the bloodstained cloth and the photographs.
Enzo immediately called someone and instructed them to deliver the evidence for analysis.
Once everything was settled, Lucien stood up and picked up his phone and car keys.
“Okay then, I’ll leave.”
“Stay here tonight,” Enzo said.
Lucien shook his head.
“No. I still have work to do.”
Without waiting for further arguments, he turned and left.
Later that evening, Elise happened to glance out of the window.
Outside, she spotted Enzo and Lucien standing together.
The two men exchanged a brief hug while talking about something she couldn’t hear.
What she could see, however, was the genuine happiness on the President’s face whenever Enzo was around.
A grin instantly spread across her lips.
“They give off total couple vibes.”
The thought made her blush.
Completely misunderstanding their relationship, she silently began shipping them while trying—and failing—to suppress her smile.
After spending several minutes enthusiastically shipping the two best friends in her head, Elise finally returned to her room.
She switched on the bedside lamp, filling the room with a warm golden glow.
Then she climbed onto the bed and reached for the book resting on her nightstand.
It was a BL novel.
A small smile appeared on her face as she opened the first page.
Elise had always been a huge fan of stories.
It didn’t matter what genre they belonged to—romance, mystery, fantasy, horror, or even BL.
If the writing was good, she would read it.
And tonight was no different.
Completely unaware of the chaos she had caused in other people’s hearts, she comfortably settled into bed and immersed herself in the world of words.
_____________________________..
She became the captain of the wrong ship…
and she’s sailing proudly.