Divine Intervention

Noticing the turn of events, the clamor in her mind quieted down at last. Were she someone of a responsive character, Astra would accompany her following words with a teasing smile.

"You both were wrong," she coolly noted instead.

Voices displayed their disapproval of Astra's commentary, as well as the matter of the female lead sneaking off somewhere out of earshot. Their range of perception was subjected to their Vessel, and in this case, Astra herself. It would make sense to not be exposed to where her eyes and ears couldn't reach, as she currently assumed a mere background character's body.

And yet, one of them came to the only conclusion that was least favourable to all.

["It's still too early for that, Love."] It was Rebirth who had finally made an appearance. Astra wasn't sure if this addition would encourage or lessen the arguments set to ensue regarding the story progress. The voice of reason among The Four weren't between the current three, but Time.

["It'll be fine. You know Astra's abilities won't be detected, anyway. It's not hers to begin with."]

At this, Astra braced herself for the pain that would befall upon her. As potent as the gods were, there still existed an imposing barrier that served as the boundary between them and the written words of the text. This barrier was something that momentarily abandoned the worldview when breached—the servants of the Library had called it The Fourth Wall. It was unquestionably treacherous and discouraged as it often led to irreversible consequences.

Tampering with this wall allowed for the bestowing of blessings to the Astra Planeta. These blessings were considered magic, ether, mana, etcetera. Abilities or physical manifestations that enhanced the conditions of what was observed as mortal. And the nature of inheriting such miracles, of course, was never fit to be smooth sailing. It always involved some sort of great affliction and sacrifice, both to the gods and Astra herself.

This time, it came in the form of a voltaic zap charging through Astra's veins and it came at the cost of Love giving up an eye.

It was ridiculous, really. No one would've even come to notice the sight of Fleur Beaumont falling off the couch and writhing on the floor from the electrical shock, because her role ceased to exist for the slightest of seconds in this reality. Not a single soul witnessed the divine hands overwriting her character from being a powerless noble girl to having enhanced hearing.

All for some gossip.

"—Crown Prince—opportunity—indebted—"

Astra trembled, half clinging on the lounge and half sprawled across the floor. Whose voices were she hearing? Her mind was still in disarray from the shock.

Willing herself to stand upright, lest she embarrassed herself now that she could be seen, Astra then heard the carefree voices of the gods in her throbbing head. She should endure this much. Even Love seemed to have moved on from losing a vital organ.

"—If only for a moment. It could be simply through a letter."

Words were slowly making sense of themselves. Was this Rosalita speaking?

"A letter sounds plausible, but I still cannot guarantee you of such things just because you are my bosom friend."

A man's voice...

"I would rather you not perceive me as anything at all, Your Grace."

"Why you... You have been pestering me about this for weeks. What exactly is your relationship with the Crown Prince?"

"Nothing that should concern you. Anyway, that is all I have to say. I will send for—"

Something in the air moved, Astra recognising it before anyone else. It was the initial spark of a fire.

"Your Grace—!"

A deafening explosion was released into the night, the sounds of something solid turning into rubble following after. The startled gasps and shrieks of tonight's guests were amplified through Astra's ears due to her newfound ability, and it didn't help that the eruptions didn't just stop at one.

["What on earth is going on?!"] Love had all but whispered into the depths of Astra's mind. ["But the palace raid wasn't supposed to happen this early…?"]

The assemblage of people flocking before her broke out in hysteria. Astra, having positioned herself against something stable, sorely strained her ears to locate the source of the explosions. A minor tremor had reached the main palace, briefly rattling the walls of the ballroom but not to the extent of shattering anything fragile.

Astra then caught sight of magenta and blonde hair running through the frantic crowd—Rosalita and The Duke. Letting out a sigh of relief, she made her way towards the balcony the two had just occupied.

Some of the marble railings of this terrace had crumbled and the joint flooring cleaved in half. Swivelling her head to the left and right, Astra confirmed the view of the other balconies from her position. As strange as it was, none of them happened to be damaged in the slightest. The explosions she tried tracking down earlier had all pointed to here, and yet she couldn't make sense of how that was even logical in the first place. It was much more coherent for it to go off someplace else, having caused such a felt upheaval of that scale. It had to be some considerable distance away, surely.

Rosalita had desperately called out to The Duke on time, only a second after Astra detected it. What exactly did they see here, and how did the other balconies escape from the demolition? Love had mentioned a palace raid, and from Astra's transmitted knowledge...

A cord was cut loose from within, and she felt the connection cut off.

The gods didn't always need to live in her head for them to read their stories. She functioned enough to digest the narrative on her own, and then they would consume it in all its richness after Astra rode out the conclusion. It wasn't anything to be sombre about, being left all alone, because she was designed that way.

However, the severing of this link felt oddly ominous. She couldn't help but hold her breath in the silence of the night.

With no choice but to save the matter for later, Astra began to look for traces that could reveal what caused the destruction of the balcony. The display was rather unusual the more she scrutinised the state of the debris. There was nothing indicative of explosives or the like where the railing segments were fractured. Rather, the crevices were slashed at intervals, precise in their form as if the source had capable control of their work.

Then, examining the rows of thuja trees below, Astra inexplicably found herself growing warmer by the second. Aching limbs and the static charges left prancing on the surface of her skin were magically alleviated, cradling her weightlessly. This only threw her in a state of bewilderment; everything within a ten—no even more than that—foot radius was abnormally serene. Apart from the raging howl of the wind, rustle of leaves, and distressed utterances of the guests from far away, Astra wasn't able to ascertain any other noise within this vicinity.

It was as if someone had billowed up a bubble, encasing her and her only in this undisturbed space.

Astra inspected the surroundings one last time and hesitantly left the scene, unaware of the presence sitting below the collapsed terrace in all their nonchalance.

A toothpick was caught in between their teeth, arms crossed behind the head, and a wide brim fedora hat unfit for the story's setting concealed the eyes. All this with a blithe grin plastered on their face, as if to mock something—someone.

The sounds of imperial guards directing the guests could be heard from afar, and then closer. Two figures dressed in red uniforms, discussing which areas to scout and high on alert, walked pass in oblivion.

The mysterious person's whistling tunes fell on deaf ears.