"Sigh." Ravenna let out a long, weary exhale as she slumped deeper into the velvet chair in her study. A dim candle flickered beside her, casting restless shadows on the walls lined with bookshelves. The air was thick with the scent of aged parchnt and ink, yet despite the peaceful atmosphere, her mind was anything but at ease.
For what felt like the fortieth ti, she was poring over Light’s Conquest, desperately trying to piece together a tiline of past events—what had changed, what remained the sa, and what unforeseen ripples might still be forming.
She muttered under her breath, "The last ti a small change happened, it caused such a massive shift… Marie is here instead of being in the Western Continent. I can’t afford another unexpected deviation."
She took up her notebook, flipping through pages filled with carefully written observations, theories, and speculations.
There was one glaring truth she had noted over and over: by the novel’s original tiline, she should have been dead before ever reaching Jola.
"So that ans the battle between Jola’s forces and Ronin Town’s knights—disguised as pirates—never happened in the novel." Ravenna frowned as she scrawled this new insight onto the page, her quill scratching against the parchnt.
That alone was a significant divergence. If she had been fated to die before arriving in Jola, then the entire sequence of events surrounding her exile had played out differently than what was written.
She had carefully molded Jola’s governing system to ensure that she maintained an iron grip on the island’s affairs. Every decision was deliberate, each policy crafted to keep the story from deviating too drastically while still ensuring Jola’s survival.
But why? In Light’s Conquest, Ravenna was never ntioned again after her exile in the first arc. The story simply moved on as if she had ceased to exist. This was bizarre for several reasons.
If she had died in Ronin Town, as seed likely, then her death would have undoubtedly reached the imperial palace. There would have been an imperial funeral—perhaps a cursory ntion in the novel, even if only to highlight the downfall of a disgraced princess.
Yet, nothing.
It was as though her very existence had been erased. Ravenna tapped her quill against her notebook, deep in thought.
"Did the Ronin family seize control of Jola without the imperial palace noticing? Could they have used it as a secret site to dispose of their slaves when William began his hunt for slave traders?"
It was a chilling possibility, but sothing didn’t add up. Hughes, John, and the rest of her entourage would have reported her death if that were the case. It wouldn’t have been a quiet affair.
No, sothing else had happened.
She rubbed her temples, frustration building.
"If I assu the poison didn't kill Ravenna in the original tiline…" she murmured.
That would an she still made it to Jola. If that were true, then the most logical course of action would have been to sail to the Western Continent, leveraging her status as an apostle of Herptian to rally support. The Herptian Church could have provided her with resources, rcenaries, and trade connections.
From there, she could have returned with the backing to establish Jola as a proper trade hub—a logical, calculated move that fit the Ravenna she knew to be.
Yet, in the novel’s second half, which largely took place in the Western Continent, there was still no ntion of her.
That ant… she never made it there.
But why?
"Ugh, this is eating away at my brain." Ravenna groaned, dropping her quill with an irritated flick of her wrist. She leaned back in her chair, staring at the ceiling as if it held the answers she was searching for.
If the novel never ntioned what happened to her, then how could she track what small changes she had already caused? How could she prevent even larger deviations from spiraling out of control?
Ravenna exhaled sharply, setting aside her notes. "At least the structure of my administration is working in my favor," she thought, drumming her fingers against her desk.
In Light’s Conquest, the entire Eastern Continent was plunged into devastating wars, resulting in catastrophic death tolls and endless turmoil. Yet, Jola was never once ntioned again after her exile. That ant, in the original tiline, the island had been isolated from the main events, left untouched by the infamous Witch of the West’s army due to its remote location.
This was both an advantage and a curse.
Ravenna needed Jola to prosper, but not so much that it would draw the empire’s attention or cause economic ripples that could alter the political landscape. The mont Jola beca too significant, the imperial palace would inevitably intervene, and that was sothing she couldn't allow.
The solution? Absolute control over every business, trade, and technological developnt on the island.
Her administrative structure ensured that all economic activities flowed through her hands. She had positioned herself as the central authority in Jola’s economy, making sure that no independent power could rise and make reckless decisions that might alter the novel’s course.
This control gave her two critical advantages:
Total authority over technological advancents. Any innovation produced in Jola would remain in her hands, preventing outside forces from stealing ideas and using them against her in the future at least until the main plot of the novel passes.
An irreplaceable position in Jola’s governance. The imperial palace might one day recognize Jola’s prosperity, but removing her would be impossible without collapsing the very system that made the island thrive.
She had seen this happen once before the previous caretaker of Jola had been stripped of his position overnight. She wouldn’t suffer the sa fate.
With a deep breath, Ravenna leaned back in her chair, massaging her temples. "Thinking about the novel too much is giving a headache." Dwelling on things she had no answers to would only waste ti.
She had work to do.
Pulling a fresh stack of docunts from the side of her desk, she unfolded the top page and scanned its contents. “New Renovations for the Education of the Youth of Jola City.”
Read 12 advance chapters by becoming a patron : 65. New Renovations for the Education of the Youth of Jola City
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