PROLOGUE - THE MACHIAVELLIAN

Chine Anjeline Alvein hates risks.

Every move, every action, and every step she makes is made with absolute calculation. She hates uncertainties, the possibilities not being in the palm of her hand. And the results of a situation not being on her side of the court.

She hates not knowing. She hates being blindsided. She hates the gamble and the stakes she'll lose if she ever makes the wrong decision.

And so, she built her own illusion of reality, the reality where she can abide by the rules she set for herself. This is her perspective on the beliefs and laws she had written on how she viewed the world and the expectations that had come along with it.

It got to the point that her calculating and careful attitude is seen as luck by some. Her hard work couldn't be seen as effort but pushed to be believed as superstition and guidance of above.

That she only got it because she had the talent.

That she only received something because she had the money to get it.

Because she gets what she wants, what she yearns is what she'll receive. That she has what most people want. That she is the sculpture of perfection. She was molded to receive nothing but praise, to be hailed, and to be looked up to by the people around her.

A role that only she is allowed to play, a mask that is destined for her to wear. 

And because of that mask that she made a character out of, she is known for so many things. 

They see everything she has for herself as a smile from fortune, foreseeing her efforts to achieve every milestone. But she didn't correct any one of their assumptions. Never once denied or agreed. She has no reason to, so she didn't do anything. 

Being able to predict things so she doesn't make the slightest mistakes. It felt good. It felt like a shelter in the middle of a storm. Like the one piece missing in a jigsaw puzzle, everything fits, there is nothing but contentment in the work she had done.

She is like a chess player in the game of life, meticulously plotting her moves and anticipating the opponent's strategies; each calculated step is not a sign of malice, but rather a shield crafted to protect her heart from being vulnerable to the uncertainties that is life.

Being a machiavellian doesn't and shouldn't make her a bad guy. She's just careful, even if it was seen as cunning.

She is a master sculptor, chiseling away at the marble of her life with careful precision, each strike of her tools a decisive choice, shaping her world into a flawless masterpiece that reflects her perfectionist soul.

It's good that way, the walls built around her fragile heart standing strong and high, amidst the storms and the challenges that it went through.

Her heart was a castle, fortified with towering walls of stone, each brick a testament to past storms weathered and battles fought. Inside, she felt secure, cloistered from the raging tempests of love and loss that could breach her defenses. Yet, with every cautious heartbeat, she remained a queen in a fortress, untouched by the vibrant world outside, believing that safety lay in solitude, while the echoes of life danced just beyond her gates. Inside, she has control; she knows what to expect, and she knows the outcomes.

It was a routine, a cycle, boring but safe nonetheless.

Life is a carefully arranged symphony, with each instrument playing its expected role; at least, that's how she painted the reality in her mind, yet there is always that one rebellious musician who decides to play a jazz solo, shattering the notes of convention and turning the entire composition into an unexpected masterpiece. The kind of music she didn't know she'd like. All because of that lone musician.

And that musician is none other than her best friend, her confidant, Lucius Marcel Ventrix.

In the garden of life, where flowers bloom according to the seasons, there exists a wild vine that is Lucius, who twists and turns, defying the neatly pruned hedges around it. Just when the gardener thinks they have tamed the landscape, this vine bursts forth, weaving through barriers and scaling walls, a vibrant testament to the unpredictability of nature’s spirit. That is the kind of person that he is.

He's frustratingly unpredictable, she can't make an expectation out of it.

He is the one unpredictability that she let in her life, or more like he forced his way in until she could no longer reject him and would instead welcome his warm and almost overwhelming presence.

He was a tempest, crashing into her serene harbor coast, the wild winds of his unpredictability dismantling her carefully constructed defenses. At first, she clung to the safety of her anchored shores, wary of the storm he brought. But as the gales howled and the waves surged, she found herself drawn to the chaos he stirred—embracing the tumult as a dance of vibrant colors that painted her once-muted world. Eventually, she realized that the storm was not just an intrusion; it was the awakening of her own hidden depths, and she welcomed the tempest as the fiery warmth that ignited her soul. 

It was maddening for him to just simply break down her walls after she had spent so long building them. 

He was a wild calamity that swept into her serene landscape, uninvited yet undeniable, transforming her stillness into a dance of chaos and color.

Just as the rain nurtures the parched earth, his unpredictable nature breathes life into her monotony, forcing her to embrace the chaos and find beauty in the storm. 

She built a paradise, but he gave her heaven. 

His unpredictability and ability to always surprise her must've been the reason as well as why she fell in love with him. 

The myriad of surprises pulled her in; the warmth he exceeded made her vulnerable until she accepted him, and now there was only him.

That's why Chine regards him as something dangerous for her. His influence affects her mundane and serene coast. The chessboard that she set is now turning against her. It was almost sickening. She spent years trying to craft each detail into her persona. Only for that man to turn the tides against her.

He was a tempest on her tranquil shore, a rogue wave that swept away the predictability of her tides. Each unexpected surge sent her heart racing, eroding the familiar sands of her serene existence. The chessboard she had meticulously arranged now lay in disarray, his wild moves reshaping the game, turning her carefully planned strategy into a chaotic dance of shadows and light. In his presence, she found both exhilaration and trepidation, for love with him was a thrilling gamble—an embrace of the storm that threatened to swallow her whole.

Every beat of her living heart unconsciously yearns for something beyond the platonic line of their friendship that they've established since the tender age of five. The yearning of the years of her longing is pushing her to actually take the jump to this first-ever uncertainty she found herself actually facing.

He is everything she swore to avoid. He is everything she detested to be. He is the opposite of everything she viewed. It was a truth that delights and scares her.

However, the pull of the heart is stronger than the push of her will. Ignoring all her principles and beliefs. And the possibility that he might just be everything she's been looking for just tempts her like a beggar who hasn't eaten in days to a freshly made meal.

But fear is her soul mate; the vines of anxiety and the chances of her feelings breaking their lifelong friendship pull her deep into the abyss. The whispers of recreancy in her mind would always be there like an unreachable itch.

She can't do it. 

Even with the luck, everyone said she had. 

They said she had it all. 

Did she really? 

She has so many flaws beneath the stoic exterior she always shows. She has so many things she can't do no matter how flawless the character she made herself to be. 

There are songs she cannot sing. 

There are games she cannot play. 

There are things she couldn't have. 

There are people she could never please.

And most importantly, 

There is a man she could never have. 

And for the first time, Chine is facing her first ever uncertainty, an uncertainty that she doesn't know if she ever wanted to get an answer to. 

Lucius Ventrix... A danger to her peace. 

And the most twisted part is, she loves every part of it... 

For a girl who lives by luck that everyone made her out to be, she could only say... 

"I'm unluckily in love with you."

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