Chapter 95: After the Truth

Freya woke the next morning with the uncomfortable certainty that she had dreamed the entire confession. Then she walked into the kitchen and found Louis already making coffee.

He looked at her. "Good morning, transmigrator."

Freya stopped in the doorway. "Absolutely not."

Louis's mouth curved slightly. "What?"

"You are not calling me that."

"Would 'woman from another world' be better?"

"Louis."

"Freya."

She stared at him, then started laughing. The normality of the exchange loosened the knot that had remained in her chest all night.

Louis handed her coffee. "I have questions."

"I assumed you would."

They sat at the dining table. Louis asked about the original novel in detail: Ethan, Serena, Stone Holdings, Victor, and the ending. Freya explained that the novel had focused almost entirely on the romance between Ethan and Serena. Louis appeared mainly as a powerful rival who gradually lost because Serena repeatedly helped Ethan anticipate his business moves.

"Was I evil?" Louis asked.

Freya considered it. "Antagonistic. Arrogant. Ruthless in business. But not cartoonishly evil."

"Generous assessment."

"You want me to lie?"

"No."

The most important fact was how little the book explained. There had been no Adrian Stone conspiracy, no hidden inheritance, no Northstar, and no investigation into Freya's parents.

"Then either the novel was incomplete," Louis said, "or your arrival changed more than events after my bankruptcy."

"Exactly."

Freya admitted she had once believed knowing the plot gave her an advantage. Now she trusted the book less with every chapter of her real life.

Louis paused. "Chapter?"

She covered her face. "Please forget every weird thing I've said."

"Impossible."

After breakfast, Louis asked one question more carefully than the others. "Do you want to go back?"

Freya lowered her hands.

Her previous world had contained her career, her routines, and a life she had built herself. But she had died there. There was no doorway waiting.

"I don't think there is a back," she said. "And even if there were..."

She looked around the apartment. The little plant, cartoon toothpick holder, lighthouse, and framed childhood photograph all belonged to the life she had built here.

"I don't know anymore."

Louis nodded without demanding more.

Before leaving, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Dinner tonight?"

"At home."

"Fine."

Freya watched him leave and realized the confession had not broken their relationship.

If anything, the wall between them had finally disappeared.

For the first time since waking in the novel, someone else knew exactly who she was—and still chose to come home to her.

Freya later messaged Chloe that the relationship situation had become "complicated but good." Chloe immediately demanded details. Freya refused. There were some explanations even her closest friend wasn't ready to hear. She could barely imagine saying the word transmigration twice in one week without sounding like the protagonist of her own badly marketed fantasy novel.