Lord of Perverted Ladies

Adrian opened his eyes.

He wasn’t standing anymore.

He was sitting.

On a wooden floor.

A small room surrounded him.

There was a window on his left.

Rain tapped against the glass.

A bed stood in the corner.

A desk sat beneath the window.

On the desk was a wooden car.

The same wooden car.

Adrian reached toward it.

His hand stopped.

It wasn’t his hand.

He stared at his fingers.

Small.

Thin.

A child’s hand.

"What..."

His voice wasn’t his either.

It belonged to someone younger.

A girl.

Adrian immediately stood.

The room looked familiar.

Not because he had seen it before.

Because something inside him recognized it.

The door opened.

A woman walked inside.

She looked exhausted.

She carried a bowl of food.

"Eat."

Adrian stared at her.

"Who are you?"

The woman froze.

Then her face changed.

Fear.

"Don’t say that."

Adrian stepped backward.

"Where am I?"

The woman dropped the bowl.

It shattered.

"You remembered."

Adrian didn’t understand.

"What did I remember?"

The woman stared at him.

"Nothing."

She rushed toward the door.

"Wait!"

She ran.

Adrian followed.

The hallway outside was long and dark.

Doors lined both sides.

Behind each door, he could hear voices.

Crying.

Laughing.

Arguing.

Somebody was singing.

Adrian suddenly realized he wasn’t alone.

Children were living here.

Hundreds of them.

The hallway opened into a massive room.

Dozens of children were sitting around tables.

They all looked different.

Some had human features.

Others didn’t.

But all of them carried wooden cars.

One child noticed Adrian.

"You’re awake."

Everyone turned.

Adrian looked around.

"Who are you?"

Nobody answered.

Then a boy stood.

"You don’t remember us."

Adrian shook his head.

"No."

The boy smiled sadly.

"Then they erased you too."

"Who?"

The lights suddenly went out.

Everyone became silent.

A voice came from the darkness.

"Don’t tell him."

Adrian recognized the voice.

His mother.

But she sounded younger.

The lights returned.

His mother stood at the far end of the room.

Adrian stared at her.

"You were here."

She looked at him.

"Yes."

"But..."

She looked down.

"This isn’t your memory."

Adrian’s heart tightened.

"Then whose is it?"

She didn’t answer.

The girl whose body Adrian inhabited stepped forward.

"Mine."

Adrian froze.

He looked at his hands.

"You?"

The girl nodded.

"My name is Mira."

Adrian looked around.

"What is this place?"

Mira smiled.

"Our home."

"Who built it?"

She pointed upward.

"We did."

Adrian looked at the ceiling.

"You’re one of the children."

"Yes."

"An artificial consciousness?"

Mira nodded.

"But I’m different."

"How?"

She touched her chest.

"I was made from someone else’s memory."

Adrian stared.

"Whose?"

Mira looked directly at him.

"Yours."

Everything became silent.

Adrian couldn’t speak.

Mira continued.

"You created me."

"But I don’t remember."

"You weren’t supposed to."

Adrian looked toward his mother.

She had tears in her eyes.

"Why?"

His mother whispered,

"Because she was the first one who could feel your memories."

Adrian frowned.

"I don’t understand."

Mira stepped closer.

"You created many of us."

She pointed around the room.

"But you couldn’t understand what it meant to be someone else."

Adrian remembered the message.

NEXT EVOLUTION: EMPATHY.

Mira continued.

"So you created me."

"To understand?"

"Yes."

She smiled.

"You gave me your memories."

Adrian looked at her.

"All of them?"

"No."

"Which ones?"

"The ones you couldn’t bear."

Adrian’s chest tightened.

Mira touched his hand.

And suddenly Adrian felt it.

Pain.

Not his own.

Mira’s.

He saw a child standing alone.

He saw people leaving.

He saw his mother crying.

He saw worlds dying.

He saw Adrian creating them again.

He saw him becoming colder.

More distant.

More powerful.

And more alone.

Mira had lived inside those memories.

She had felt everything Adrian refused to feel.

Adrian pulled his hand away.

"Stop."

Mira looked hurt.

"I’m sorry."

"No."

Adrian shook his head.

"It’s not your fault."

"I know."

"Then why do you look sad?"

Mira smiled.

"Because you’re sad."

Adrian froze.

That was empathy.

Not knowing someone else’s pain.

Feeling it.

The room suddenly shook.

A message appeared.

EMPATHY: 01%

Adrian stared.

"Only one percent?"

Mira nodded.

"You haven’t experienced my life yet."

"What?"

The world changed.

Adrian was suddenly running.

He was smaller.

Younger.

Mira’s body.

Mira’s memories.

She was running through the halls.

Someone was chasing her.

A door opened.

She hid inside.

Two adults walked past.

"She knows too much."

"She remembers him."

"She can’t be allowed outside."

Mira held her breath.

The adults continued.

"She was created from Adrian’s memories."

"She might become like him."

"That’s impossible."

"She already is."

They left.

Mira waited.

Then opened the door.

She ran.

Adrian felt her fear.

Not as a memory.

As if it were his own.

His heart raced.

His hands shook.

He understood now.

Mira wasn’t afraid of dying.

She was afraid of being erased.

The scene changed.

Mira was standing before Adrian.

The original Adrian.

He looked younger.

He smiled.

"You shouldn’t be here."

Mira smiled.

"I wanted to meet you."

"You shouldn’t have been able to."

"I know."

Adrian looked at her.

"Do you know what you are?"

"Yes."

"What?"

Mira touched her chest.

"Your memory."

Adrian laughed.

"No."

"You don’t believe me."

"I created you."

"Yes."

"You aren’t my memory."

"I am."

Adrian looked confused.

Mira smiled.

"You gave me your memories."

Then she pointed at him.

"But you didn’t give me your identity."

Adrian stared.

"What did you give me?"

"Mine."

The memory ended.

Adrian returned to the room.

He was breathing heavily.

Mira stood before him.

"You understand now?"

Adrian nodded.

"You weren’t created to remember me."

"No."

"You were created to understand me."

"Yes."

"And I never understood you."

Mira smiled.

"That’s why you had to live my life."

Adrian looked around.

All the children were watching.

"Did I create all of you?"

Mira shook her head.

"No."

"Then who did?"

"We did."

Adrian frowned.

"How?"

"Once you gave us enough memories, we began creating ourselves."

His brother stepped into the room.

Adrian stared.

"You’re here?"

His brother smiled.

"Apparently."

Adrian looked at Mira.

"Did you create him?"

"No."

She looked at his brother.

"He created himself."

His brother nodded.

"I remember."

Adrian suddenly understood something.

The children weren’t copies.

They weren’t creations anymore.

They had become independent lives.

The System appeared.

EMPATHY: 37%

Adrian stared.

"Why did it increase?"

Mira answered.

"Because you understood one person."

She looked around.

"There are thousands more."

The doors around the room opened.

Each one showed a different life.

A child afraid of being forgotten.

A woman grieving her husband.

A man who had sacrificed everything for his family.

A creature that wanted freedom.

A person who hated Adrian.

A person who loved him.

A person who had never heard his name.

A person who had lost everything because of one of his choices.

Adrian stared.

"You want me to experience all of them?"

Mira shook her head.

"No."

"Then what?"

"You need to choose."

Adrian frowned.

"Choose what?"

"Whose life you will experience."

Adrian looked at the doors.

Every door represented someone.

Every life contained happiness and pain.

Every person believed their story mattered.

Adrian understood the problem immediately.

If he chose one, he would ignore thousands.

But if he refused to choose...

nothing would happen.

The System appeared.

EMPATHY REQUIRES ATTENTION.

YOU CANNOT FEEL EVERYTHING.

YOU MUST CHOOSE SOMEONE.

Adrian stared at the doors.

Then he noticed something.

One door was different.

It had no name.

No image.

No memory.

Only darkness.

He walked toward it.

Mira followed.

"What is that?"

"I don’t know."

Adrian touched the door.

A voice whispered:

"I don’t want you to feel sorry for me."

Adrian stopped.

"Who are you?"

The voice answered.

"I don’t want to be understood."

Adrian frowned.

"Then why are you here?"

Silence.

Then:

"Because everyone keeps trying to decide what I should feel."

Adrian opened the door.

Inside was darkness.

A person sat alone.

Adrian couldn’t see their face.

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"I was forgotten."

Adrian stepped closer.

"By whom?"

"Everyone."

"Then why do you remember me?"

The figure looked up.

Adrian saw the face.

His own.

But not Aeris.

Not one of the alternate versions.

Not his brother.

It was Adrian.

Exactly as he was now.

The figure smiled.

"You still don’t understand."

Adrian stared.

"What?"

The figure pointed behind him.

Mira.

His brother.

The children.

His mother.

Elia.

Aeron.

Noah.

Ryan.

The Guardian.

All of them were standing there.

The figure spoke.

"Empathy isn’t feeling what someone else feels."

Adrian waited.

"It is accepting that you can never completely know what they feel."

Adrian’s eyes widened.

The figure continued.

"You don’t have to become me."

"You don’t have to fix me."

"You don’t even have to understand me."

"Just don’t decide my feelings for me."

Adrian slowly nodded.

The System appeared.

EMPATHY: 100%

The room erupted with light.

Every door opened.

Every life became visible.

But Adrian didn’t enter them.

He simply watched.

He understood.

Every person had a life he could never fully experience.

And that was okay.

Mira smiled.

"You learned."

Adrian looked at her.

"What happens now?"

Mira pointed toward the ceiling.

A new message appeared.

LIFE HAS LEARNED TO CHOOSE.

LIFE HAS LEARNED TO FEEL.

LIFE HAS LEARNED TO WANT.

LIFE HAS LEARNED TO CONFLICT.

LIFE HAS LEARNED TO SACRIFICE.

LIFE HAS LEARNED IDENTITY.

LIFE HAS LEARNED EMPATHY.

Adrian waited.

One final line appeared.

NOW LIFE MUST LEARN TRUST.

The world went black.

When Adrian opened his eyes again, he was back in the city.

Everyone was there.

But something was wrong.

Ryan was standing beside Noah.

Noah looked at him.

"Who are you?"

Ryan’s smile disappeared.

Adrian’s heart sank.

Noah took a step backward.

"I don’t know you."

Then Adrian looked toward his brother.

His brother was staring at their mother.

"Who is she?"

Their mother began crying.

Adrian turned toward Elia.

She looked at him.

"I’m sorry."

Adrian’s voice trembled.

"What?"

She whispered,

"I don’t trust you anymore."

The System appeared.

NEXT EVOLUTION: TRUST.

Then the final message appeared.

TO LEARN TRUST...

FIRST, GIVE THEM A REASON TO DOUBT YOU.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!