This Life, I Will Be the Protagonist

After missing Lynx Duke’s time window, Rita stopped rushing.

She had B80 erase "Starsea Lynx Duke" from the pocket watch and replace it with "Starsea King."

Even with the map and Byme’s oath in Deceitful Bloom’s name, there was no harm in verifying it herself.

As B80 carefully wrote out the name, Rita suddenly said, "Do you think it’s possible that Nivalis just happened to run into Lynx Duke?"

Thinking back to that last message Nivalis left, those two short words could mean a lot of things.

But the tone had been shock, not excitement.

Before B80 could answer, Rita shook her head.

"Doesn’t feel like it."

Once B80 hung the watch back around its neck, Rita continued heading north, keeping an eye out for Quiet Mountain players.

The Divine Game rules clearly stated the rewards for Quiet Mountain players killing Starsea players.

But there was nothing about the reverse.

That didn’t seem fair or balanced.

Surely the "benefit" for Starsea players wasn’t just getting transferred to Quiet Mountain after dying ten times.

The gap between the two sides was still unclear, but judging by rarity alone, Quiet Mountain players were obviously fewer.

Which meant their value should be higher too.

Cinders had likely thought the same. That was why she wanted to hunt them down.

But reality didn’t match Rita’s expectations.

After walking for quite a while, she didn’t encounter a single Quiet Mountain player.

Instead, she ran into several more Starsea players.

Looking back, that Frost Deer earlier really had been a rare spawn.

No wonder Cinders’ expression had been so strange at the time.

There had even been a hint of... disappointment when she looked at Rita.

Rita had thought she imagined it.

Along the way, she also encountered a few gods.

But they all looked deeply melancholic, and their races were obscure.

She couldn’t tell whether they belonged to Starsea or Quiet Mountain, and there was nothing meaningful to talk about.

So she didn’t approach them.

The bells rang again.

12 o’clock.

1 o’clock.

2 o’clock.

3 o’clock.

With each cycle, Rita’s understanding of the Graveyard of Bones deepened.

Even though eighteen bell strikes didn’t give her much time to memorize everything, she realized something important.

The Graveyard wasn’t as large as she had imagined.

When 3:10:38 AM arrived, both Rita and B80 were already watching the pocket watch closely.

But to Rita’s surprise...

The watch didn’t heat up.

"...Seriously?"

For someone as important as Deceitful Bloom was to Byme... this was it?

Rita laughed out of pure disbelief.

Then suddenly froze.

She slowly turned to B80.

"When we made that oath... did we ever specify whether it was Starsea Deceitful Bloom or Quiet Mountain Deceitful Bloom?"

B80 nodded. "We didn’t specify which timeline either."

Rita: "..."

"She scammed me, didn’t she?"

She stood there thinking for a few seconds.

Then, instead of stopping, she continued heading north.

B80 tilted its head. "So?"

"This timeline matters to her," Rita said. "All versions of Deceitful Bloom across timelines may come from the same past, but to Byme, they’re not the same. She only acknowledges the one from her own timeline."

It sounded complicated, but B80 understood.

If there were ten timelines, then ten versions of Deceitful Bloom existed.

All of them had experienced Byme’s betrayal.

But each version of Byme would only recognize her own Deceitful Bloom.

Other timelines didn’t matter.

Other Byme weren’t her.

Other Deceitful Blooms weren’t hers either.

That was the terrifying part of Byme’s logic.

She would never allow another timeline to overwrite her connection with her Deceitful Bloom.

If Byme truly knew about BS Rita and her current status as Starsea’s number one, then there was no way she would deliberately block her path.

Yes, the time might be wrong.

But Rita and Nivalis had openly used the pocket watch in front of her.

Back then, Deceitful Bloom, as Starsea’s number one, must have had similar rewards.

Which meant Byme likely understood how the watch worked.

This could be a trick.

But Rita leaned toward another possibility.

"This is the burial point she believes is most useful to me and to this timeline."

Maybe Byme knew her personality from rumors.

Or maybe she had simply seen through her during their conversation.

She knew that if she gave Rita this time and place, Rita would definitely go.

Because everything Rita had been thinking aligned perfectly with what Byme wanted.

That was exactly why she gave that information.

And as a show of "good faith"... or maybe just bait...

She gave her the name King.

And that name was real.

It belonged to the creator of Cat’s Ideal.

With that name and the watch, Rita could locate King’s time.

Rita couldn’t tell whether she felt more frustrated or more curious.

Byme ignored everyone’s feelings.

But when her goal happened to align with yours...

She was terrifyingly efficient.

After all this time buried here, she wouldn’t hand out a worthless option.

B80 asked, genuinely puzzled, "Why does she like controlling other people’s paths so much?"

Rita laughed at the pure confusion in its voice.

"Yeah... I don’t really get it either. Compared to her, Deceitful Bloom’s methods are much more refined and gen—"

"You are being watched... You are being watched... You are being watched..."

"..."

Rita almost bit her tongue.

She quickly corrected herself.

"—much more childish.

"If you want to control people, just use skills directly. That’s basically playing house. No technique at all. Look at Byme. Now that’s advanced. Subtle. Dark. Even when you see through it, you still end up following her plan. Honestly, I can’t even be bothered to comment on Deceitful Bloom...

"They’re both Starsea’s number one, but she’s clearly not mature enough yet."

B80 paused.

"...I can feel your heart bleeding."

Rita thumped her chest. "No it’s not."

B80 said, "My data says Flower Crown Murder turns red when it lies."

What kind of nonsense was that?

Deceitful Bloom’s gardening notes never mentioned anything like that.

Rita immediately glanced at her Vine.

Still normal.

She slowly looked up at B80 sitting on her shoulder.

Expressionless.

"Whose side are you on?"

B80’s eyes welled up with fake tears.

"...What if I told you Deceitful Bloom threatened me just now?"

"...You’re bold enough to say her name out loud and you’re afraid of being threatened?!"

What a black-hearted little robot.

It clearly enjoyed this just as much.