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Chapter 13:- Shounen.
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Ana woke up suddenly—but not because of a nightmare or a strange noise.
It was worse.
She woke up with that horrible feeling of having slept too much.
Her body felt heavy, her head slightly foggy, and for a few seconds she just stared at the ceiling without thinking about absolutely anything, like her brain was slowly rebooting.
"...…"
She closed her eyes.
Opened them again.
"Ah… right."
She had trained magic the entire previous afternoon.
A lot.
Too much.
Nella had decided that "if she doesn't pass out, it doesn't count as training," and Yeana, instead of stopping her, had nodded with a frightening seriousness.
Result: Ana had collapsed the moment she touched the bed.
She slowly sat up and yawned with zero elegance.
"I think I slept like I got hit with a magical hammer…"
She got up, washed her face, and did the bare minimum to look presentable. She was already used to the palace routine: the endless hallways, the high ceilings, the massive windows, and—most of all—the fact that no one seemed surprised to see her there anymore.
That, strangely enough, gave her peace.
She left her room and walked calmly through the corridors. The palace was oddly quiet, but not empty. It was that elegant kind of silence from a place where everything works even when you don't notice it.
When she reached the dining hall, several lycanthrope maids greeted her with a slight bow.
"Good morning, Miss Ana."
"Good morning," she replied with an automatic smile.
She sat down to eat without much ceremony. The breakfast was… ridiculously good. At this point, she wasn't surprised anymore, but she still appreciated that the food in this world was delicious even when she had no idea what the hell she was eating.
While chewing, a strange sensation ran through her chest.
Something didn't fit.
She frowned slightly.
"...…"
She looked around.
Everything normal.
Servants coming and going, plates, cutlery, sunlight pouring in through the windows.
"That's weird…"
She stayed thoughtful for a few seconds, then shrugged.
"Eh, it's probably nothing."
She kept eating.
She finished, thanked them, and decided to take a walk before going back to sleep. Since arriving in this world, she had learned something important: if she didn't move, her body complained even more.
As she wandered, she thought about how much she had progressed.
She had been there for quite a while now.
She had gone from understanding absolutely nothing to reading the universal language fairly fluently. Not perfectly, of course, but well enough not to feel lost.
And all of that had a very clear purpose.
A noble purpose.
An elevated purpose.
A… cultural purpose.
"Reading novels and comics," she muttered with a satisfied smile.
The royal library in Leo's palace was enormous. Not "big." Not "impressive."
Enormous.
It had sections Ana still hadn't explored because she simply… couldn't process them all at once.
But there was one area she already knew very well.
The novel section.
She entered almost at a trot, like a kid in a toy store.
"Let's see, let's see, let's see…"
She ran her fingers over the spines of the books, reading titles, brief summaries, keywords.
Magic.
Adventure.
Kingdoms.
Battles.
Drama.
Romance.
And then…
Her eyes lit up.
"SHOUNEN!?"
She said it quietly, but with such genuine emotion it sounded like a contained scream.
She took the book with reverence.
The synopsis was glorious.
A commoner werewolf protagonist, powerless, talentless, cannon fodder in an absurd war.
He almost dies.
But he reincarnates.
And not just anywhere.
He reincarnates as a noble from the water region, with the purest lineage, adopted by none other than the king of the elves.
Ana was already sold.
She kept reading.
There were wars.
Impossible enemies.
Absurd power growth.
Destiny.
Over-the-top drama.
And yes.
A harem.
"This is cinema," she whispered with absolute seriousness.
She sat down.
Opened the book.
And disappeared from the world.
Hours passed.
Ana didn't notice.
Not hunger.
Not exhaustion.
Not the change in light.
She read like her life depended on it.
The protagonist defeated entire armies.
Developed ridiculous techniques.
Discovered ancient secrets.
Added followers at an alarming rate.
"Ten thousand…?" she murmured, impressed. "Wow, even Excel can't handle that."
But it didn't matter.
Because in the end…
In the end, he ruled the world.
Married the empress of the empire.
Unified races.
Closed story arcs.
Ana closed the book slowly when dawn had already come.
Her eyes were tired.
Her back stiff.
Her brain happy.
"…PERFECTION."
She said it without irony.
She stood up a little unsteadily and carefully returned the book to its place.
She left the library practically floating with satisfaction.
Went back to her room.
Slept.
Woke up again.
A new day.
Maids brought her food.
"Thank you," Ana said, still half asleep.
She ate.
And again…
That sensation.
That emptiness.
"...…"
She stopped mid-bite.
Stared ahead.
"I feel like…"
She thought.
She thought hard.
But nothing.
She couldn't remember.
She sighed.
"It's probably accumulated sleep."
She finished eating.
Went back to sleep again.
And here's the irony.
The absence was obvious.
The answer was clear.
But Ana was too comfortable, too entertained, too happy reading absurd stories…
To notice that Leopold Valeborn hadn't appeared all day.
Not a single complaint.
Not one exaggerated order.
Not one dramatic entrance.
Nothing.
And that…
That was exactly what was missing.
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