Ryan Mills - 19

[Side Task Activated! A Swift fall.]

[Objective: Prevent the death of Emma Swift.]

[Reward: 15 Attribute Points]

Snow's eyes widened in shock while his body went cold, a freezing chill flowing through his veins.

His eyes went over the words time and time again, but the words, just like the cruelty of reality, did not change.

Prevent the death of Emma Swift. In other words, she is fated to die? Or, she died in the original world, before I came? Or both?

Those guesses quickly flashed past Snow's mind as it worked in overdrive, trying its best to make sense of this sudden new knowledge.

There's nothing about this in Ryan's memories. It was after he got cut off? Emma was famous, it would have appeared in the news. After he died then.

Why did she die then? James? The mission was issued after I agreed to become her fake boyfriend, so, probably. At least, it seems to be involved with her love life? Not enough information.

James is probably involved. Why would James kill Emma? He would become an enemy of the Swift family, that would be enough of a deterrent…

Is it a case of 'I love you so much that I'll kill anyone who tries to get in between us'? James' and Emilly's relationship seems like something out of a romance novel, so ... likely?

Gradually a vague picture was formed in Snow's mind.

One where an engagement between Emma and James was arranged behind the scenes, only for it to later be found out by James' new girl, Emilly, the Female Lead.

Emilly feels betrayed and broken-hearted, whereas James consoles her, telling her he has no one else in his heart, shifting all his blame to Emma, eventually coming up with a way to dispose of her, to redeem himself in his twisted logic.

It was very vague and the details were missing, but Snow felt like he wasn't too far from the mark.

Having come to that conclusion, however, he couldn't help but wonder.

What can I do about it?

He couldn't help but be at a loss as the thought seemed to fill his mind.

What could he do?

Truthfully, he wasn't sure, not at that moment at least.

So he decided to do what he did best.

Ignore the problem until it becomes either annoying or easily addressable.

He brought a hand to his head and ran his fingers through his hair in frustration as he came to that lackluster conclusion, not entirely satisfied with just ignoring what seemed like the foreshadowing of Emma's death, yet, with how he wasn't even sure of where to even begin addressing the problem, he decisively shoved it all to the back of his mind, ready to jump to the forefront as soon as a viable solution made itself apparent.

At that moment Snow felt something touch his forehead, bring his thoughts back to reality.

Emma's finger moved from Snow's forehead down to his brows when she realized he wasn't lost in thought anymore, lightly rubbing his brows.

"What's got you so lost in thought?" A vague shadow of concern was present on Emma's face as she asked.

Snow looked into her eyes which reflected his image, an instinctive retort surfacing in his thoughts.

Oh you know, just the probable reality that you will die soon, nothing major, don't worry.

He immediately swallowed down the retort before it could come out of his mouth, instead, smiling at her.

"Just thinking of a part I'll have to play in my role, I'm a bit stumped by it.

Emma raised her brows in curiosity, still rubbing his brows, seemingly rubbing away the frown previously on them, this presented to anyone watching them the perfect picture of a loving couple, drawing the gazes from the other people eating at the restaurant.

"What is it about?"

Snow paused for a moment at the question before quickly thinking of a part of the script that annoyed him as much as it confused him.

"The guy I'm playing, Gabriel, and his best friend, William, fall for the same girl, right?"

Emma nodded, showing that she was listening, and brought her hand back, propping her elbow on the table and resting her head on her palm as she looked at him.

Seeing that Emma was listening, Snow continued. "So these two guys, who have been friends since kids, just pretty much start a warm with each other for this girl, a girl who they barely damn know."

Emma's lips widened into a smirk at the exasperation in Snow's voice but didn't say anything.

"And as if that wasn't enough, after who knows how much back and forth, with the female lead wavering back and forth in between the two, she ends up settling for William, and you know what Gabriel does? He just packs up and leaves! W-why!? Shouldn't you do something? Either resolve things cleanly with William or just cut ties with the two, why leave?"

Emma hummed in thought for a bit before answering.

"Maybe that was him trying to resolve things cleanly and cutting all ties. He did it so that he wouldn't allow himself to change his mind later. And wasn't the female lead wavering between the two? Maybe he did it so she wouldn't be able to do so anymore, playing with the two of them, jumping from one to the other at the flip of a switch."

Snow stopped at her words, thinking about them as he slowly leaned back into his chair, after a while, he gave an indiscernible nod.

"That might actually be right, at least it seems to fit Gabriel's personality…"

Gabriel who showed a laid-back personality that hid his proficiency at scheming was someone who seemed warm, inviting, and easy-going but was in fact as cunning as a fox.

Of course, as Snow had come to learn since he came to this world a good façade is one that is in part true, the laid-back image Gabriel usually showed was in no way false, but just another side of his personality, two sides of the same coin if you will, one side cold and scheming, a snake, ready to strike when necessary, while the other was relaxed, happy to enjoy life as it was, like a lazy cat.

Snow felt like he had come to understand Gabriel, this character he was going to act as, a little bit better, like something inside his head had clicked into place, providing him more insight into the feelings and personalities of the characters as he thought back to the script.

A mutter came out of his lips as he lost himself in thought. "It's all a matter of perspective…"