[Chapter is 1500+ Words long]
William opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling painted in soft cream with golden trim that screamed old money and aristocratic taste, nothing like the plain white of his London apartment.
His body felt wrong, lighter somehow but also heavier in different places, and when he sat up with a groan that didn't sound quite like his own voice, the room spun for a moment before settling into sharp focus that was far too clear for someone who'd worn glasses since age twelve.
"What the hell," he muttered while swinging his legs off a bed that was easily three times the size of his own, his feet touching plush carpet that probably cost more than his monthly rent, and that was when he noticed his hands.
They were different, younger, with longer fingers and skin that had never seen a day of manual labor, and the panic that had been simmering at the edge of his consciousness suddenly exploded into full-blown terror because these were not his hands.
William stumbled toward the massive mirror mounted on the wall across from the bed, nearly tripping over his own feet because apparently this body had different proportions than he was used to, and when he finally stood before his reflection, a complete stranger stared back at him.
The face was handsome in that effortless way that came from good genetics rather than any effort, with sharp features softened by youth that made him look maybe twenty at most, dark hair that fell messily across his forehead, and eyes that were a peculiar shade of amber he'd never seen on a human being before.
"This isn't real, this can't be real, I'm having a psychotic break or I'm in a coma or I died and this is some kind of afterlife simulation," he said to the stranger in the mirror who mouthed the words along with him, and then glowing text appeared in his vision like something out of a video game interface.
[Welcome, Williams Everett]
[You have been transported to the world of "Celestial Academy: Conquest of Hearts and Realms"]
[Character Status: William Cross - Minor Extra Character]
[Original Soul: Deceased (Training Accident)]
[Current Location: Cross Family Estate, Northern Territory]
[Time Until Academy Entrance Ceremony: 3 Days]
William stared at the floating text that only he could apparently see, his mind racing through possibilities and explanations before settling on the most absurd and yet somehow most logical conclusion given the circumstances.
"I'm in the novel," he said flatly while reading and rereading the status screen because maybe if he looked at it enough times it would say something different, "I left a comment calling it brain-dead garbage and now I'm inside the actual story as someone named William Cross who I don't even remember being mentioned in any of the two hundred chapters I read."
[Correct Assessment]
[You have replaced the consciousness of William Cross, a minor extra character with minimal narrative importance]
[Note: No memories of the previous occupant have been transferred]
[You retain only your own memories and knowledge of the novel's plot]
"Oh that's just fantastic," William said with the kind of laugh that suggested he was about three seconds away from a complete breakdown, "so not only am I stuck in a third-rate erotic novel, but I don't even know who I'm supposed to be or how to act or what relationships this body had with anyone."
[Additional Information Loading...]
[Warning: Anomaly Detected in Soul Transfer]
[You are Cursed]
More text flooded his vision and William had to sit down on the ridiculously expensive bed because what he was reading made his previous predicament look like a minor inconvenience.
[Curse Type: Catastrophic Allure]
[Origin: Unknown - Not Present in Original Story]
[Effect: Both Heroines and Villainesses will feel an unnatural attraction toward you that intensifies with proximity and interaction, causing them to develop obsessive tendencies and possessive behaviors that escalate into yandere-like characteristics regardless of their original personality traits]
[Warning: This curse affects all major female characters within the narrative]
[Warning: Curse cannot be removed through conventional means]
[Warning: Affected individuals may become violent toward perceived rivals]
William processed this information with the detached calm of someone whose brain had simply given up on trying to make sense of reality, because apparently the universe had looked at his boring corporate life and decided to throw him into a world where every important woman would want to possess him like some kind of prize.
"There has to be a catch," he said while scrolling through the system screens that appeared with a thought, "this is too much of a curse to not have some kind of compensation because even trashy novels have internal logic."
[Curse Compensation System Activated]
[Due to the severe disadvantage and danger posed by the curse, a reward system has been implemented]
[Mechanism: Successfully achieve intimate relations with cursed-affected characters to unlock powerful traits and abilities]
[Current Traits: None]
[Available Traits: Locked - Requirements Not Met]
[Note: Trait power scales with the narrative importance of the character]
There it was, the absolute monkey's paw of power systems, where the only way to survive the curse was to actively engage with it by sleeping with the dangerously obsessed women who would probably kill him if he rejected them and kill each other if he didn't.
William stood up and started searching the room with methodical precision because if he was going to survive three days in a stranger's life before being thrown into an academy full of superpowered students and yandere love interests, he needed information immediately.
The room was large enough to fit his entire apartment inside with space left over, decorated in that tasteful way that suggested professional interior designers rather than personal touch, with bookshelves lining one wall, a desk covered in papers near the window, and several doors leading to what he assumed were a bathroom and closet.
He went for the desk first, rifling through papers that turned out to be letters from someone named Duchess Arabella Cross who he assumed was his mother in this life based on the affectionate language, though the contents were frustratingly vague about anything useful beyond complaints about northern weather and pride in his acceptance to the academy.
"No mention of what I can actually do, no hints about my abilities or training, nothing about friends or enemies or literally anything that would help me pretend to be this person," William muttered while opening drawers to find more useless correspondence, some expensive-looking jewelry that was probably family heirlooms, and a small portrait of a severe-looking man and a beautiful woman who must have been his parents.
The bookshelf offered slightly more insight with its collection of basic magical theory texts, combat manuals for sword fighting, and several books on noble etiquette that suggested William Cross was exactly what the system said—a minor character with just enough importance to attend the academy but not enough to matter in the grand scheme of things.
He pulled out one of the magical theory books and flipped through pages discussing something called Essence Cultivation and Elemental Affinity, concepts he vaguely remembered from the novel but had never paid much attention to because he'd been too busy hating the protagonist's plot armor.
"So this world runs on some kind of energy system where people cultivate their internal essence to perform magic and enhance their physical abilities, with different people having different elemental affinities that determine what kind of magic they can use," William summarized while reading through the basics, "and based on these training manuals, William Cross was learning basic sword techniques which means he probably has minimal magical talent."
[Analysis Correct]
[William Cross Character Profile Available]
[Would you like to view? Y/N]
"Yes obviously yes, why didn't you offer this earlier," William said with exasperation while mentally selecting yes because apparently the system responded to his thoughts.
[Character Profile: William Cross]
[Age: 19]
[Rank: E-Tier Cultivator (Bottom 30% of Academy Admissions)]
[Elemental Affinity: None Detected]
[Combat Style: Basic Swordsmanship (Novice Level)]
[Special Abilities: None]
[Background: Third son of Duke Edward Cross, accepted to Celestial Heights Academy through family connections and substantial donations rather than merit]
[Personality Traits: Arrogant, Lazy, Entitled, Cowardly]
[Social Standing: Looked down upon by peers, tolerated by family]
[Novel Role: Minor antagonist who harasses female students and gets beaten up by the protagonist in Chapter 47]
William stared at the profile with growing horror because not only was he a talentless extra, but he was apparently the kind of character that existed solely to make the protagonist look good by comparison, the type of noble brat that readers cheered when he got his comeuppance.
"Chapter 47, that's about four months into the academy year based on the timeline," he said while trying to remember if he'd even read that far into the novel before giving up, "so I have four months before the original plot has me getting my face smashed in for being a creep, except now I have a curse that will actually make women attracted to me which means the protagonist will have even more reason to target me."
A knock on the door interrupted his spiral into despair, followed by a voice that was definitely female and definitely not someone he knew.
"Young Master William, breakfast has been prepared, your mother the Duchess requests your presence in the dining hall within the hour," the voice said with the practiced neutrality of a servant who had probably dealt with the original William Cross's attitude for years.
"I'll be down shortly," William called back while mentally scrambling because he had no idea where the dining hall was, what his relationship with his mother was like, or how he was supposed to act around people who knew William Cross intimately.
[Suggestion: Maintain minimal interaction until you can gather more information about your relationships and standing]
[Warning: Out-of-character behavior may raise suspicion]
[Note: You have 3 days to prepare before academy departure where your actions will have greater consequences]
William took a deep breath and looked at himself in the mirror again, at this handsome stranger's face that was now his own, and made a decision that would probably come back to haunt him but was the only path forward he could see.
"If I'm going to survive this, I need to play it carefully, gather information, figure out what resources I have access to, and most importantly, I need to understand this world's power system before I'm thrown into an academy where everyone else has been training since childhood," he said to his reflection while straightening his clothes that were far too expensive and fancy for someone who'd spent most of his life in business casual, "and I need to do all of this while pretending to be someone I know nothing about and avoiding a curse that will turn every important woman in this story into a dangerously obsessed stalker."
He walked toward the door with as much confidence as he could fake, his hand on the handle while his mind raced through everything he remembered about the novel's setting and characters, knowing that one wrong move could expose him as an imposter or worse, trigger the curse's effects before he had any way to protect himself.
The original William Cross might have been a lazy entitled brat who died in a training accident before the story even started, but Williams Everett had spent his entire life adapting to situations he wasn't prepared for, climbing from orphan to Oxford graduate through sheer stubborn refusal to fail, and if this world thought it could break him with some yandere women and a rigged power system, it was in for a very unpleasant surprise.
He opened the door to find a maid waiting in the hallway, a young woman with brown hair and a professional demeanor who bowed slightly when she saw him, and William nodded back with what he hoped was the right amount of noble indifference while following her through a mansion that was far too large and far too confusing for someone who didn't have a map.
Time to see just how deep this rabbit hole went and whether he could survive three days in a dead man's shoes before the real chaos began.