The Shadow Queen Is Too Alluring—I Can't Handle This Anymore!
Chapter 93 --When the Reader Knocks

Chapter 93: Chapter 93 --When the Reader Knocks

Aelira’s fingers tightened around Lyra’s wrist as another ripple passed overhead.

The sky blinked.

Once.Twice.Then paused—like a cursor waiting for input.

Lyra’s breath caught in her throat. "It’s watching."

"No," Aelira murmured. "It’s choosing."

A silence descended that felt too deliberate. Like the calm before a screen loads.Even the wind dared not speak.

Lyra turned her head slowly—toward a part of the sky that shimmered like heat haze.

There, floating in the empty air—

—was a notification box.

Her pulse stuttered.

This was no longer the Author’s world.And yet... new prompts were appearing.

Would you like to restore deleted characters?

Top-voted:① The First Queen② Kael③ Violet④ Draft Zero

Aelira read the words and took a step back. "They’re voting?"

Lyra’s mouth went dry.

"Not just voting. They’re... interacting."

They weren’t alone in their own story anymore.

Now, an audience was watching from beyond the page.

This isn’t narrative. This is engagement.

She reached for the prompt. But her hand passed through.

She couldn’t change it.

Only observe what readers chose to return.

Above them, reality reformed into a stage.The ground beneath their feet became polished obsidian—mirror-like, reflecting infinite possible versions of Lyra.Some wounded.Some cruel.Some already gone.

Each one blinked and vanished—voted away.

And then—

One remained.

Not Lyra.Not Aelira.

But Kael.

His image shimmered... then descended.

From light.

He hit the ground with a gasp, eyes wide, breath ragged.

Alive.

Real.

But when he looked up—his irises glitched like bad pixels.

"Where... am I?" he asked.

Lyra rushed forward. "Kael?"

He blinked at her. "You... you survived the End?"

"I rewrote it."

He stared, then suddenly gripped her arm. "I remember something. Before I came back—there were voices. So many of them. Not gods. Not scripts. But... readers."

Lyra’s eyes darkened. "They brought you back."

"But not completely," he rasped. "I’m still... incomplete. Like someone only restored the parts they liked."

She understood immediately.

He was audience-fragmented.Not a full soul—just a fan-curated echo.

This is the cost of giving the story away.

Aelira knelt beside him. "Then we’re no longer just characters. We’re... entertainment."

"No," Lyra said firmly. "We’re witnesses."

"To what?" Aelira asked.

Lyra looked at the sky, where a new ripple began.

And words appeared across the horizon.

"The next Chapter is open for suggestions."

A sound echoed through the void.

Not from the sky.

Not from the throne.

But from the ground.

A knock.

Then another.

And a voice:

"Permission to enter the page?"

They turned as a new figure stepped out from the ink.

A human.

Holding a notebook.Wearing modern clothes.Eyes wide with awe.

And on their wrist...A tattoo shaped like a cursor.

"Hi," they said.

"I think I’m your reader."

The stranger stood motionless, halfway through the tear in reality.

Their shoes still dripped ink.

Their breath misted despite no cold air.

They blinked slowly—once, twice—as if adjusting to the atmosphere of the world they’d never belonged to.

"I... I wasn’t supposed to land this far in," they murmured.

Lyra stepped forward, voice low. "Who are you?"

The figure hesitated, then pointed at themselves like it wasn’t obvious.

"I’m the reader."

Aelira’s blade was already drawn. "Then go back."

Lyra didn’t move.

Because this wasn’t just intrusion.

This was collision.

Two dimensions brushing. One of story. One of reality. And the one who shouldn’t belong... looking too at home.

The reader had soft features, no armor, no brand—but they carried something far more dangerous:

Curiosity.

"Your name?" Lyra demanded.

The reader hesitated. "People online call me ChapterSniper. But you can call me Finn."

Aelira spat. "You entered a world you didn’t write. You have no authority here."

Finn flinched. "I didn’t mean to! I was just following your tags. Your updates. And then—there was a prompt. A vote. And I..."

They looked directly at Lyra.

"I think I wrote you back."

The air shuddered like a webpage refreshing mid-scroll.

Reality flickered around Finn’s feet—rendering as pixels for a moment before stabilizing.Even the sky seemed undecided if he was guest or glitch.

Lyra stared. "You wrote Kael back."

"I... suggested him," Finn said. "Others agreed. There was a poll."

"You turned a soul into content."

Finn looked away. "That’s not what I meant."

Aelira stepped forward, fury simmering. "Do you know what it means to kill someone with a comment? To unwrite them with a vote?"

Finn shrank. "I didn’t know I had that kind of power."

Lyra’s voice was sharp. "And yet you used it."

Kael, still recovering behind them, groaned—his eyes glitching again.He looked up at Finn and whispered, "I remember... your voice. You wanted me to be darker. You called me boring."

Finn paled. "I didn’t mean—"

Lyra raised her hand. "Silence."

She turned to the sky.

Where the notification hovered still:

"Reader feedback loaded. New patch available."

And beneath it... options.

☑ Rewrite Aelira’s backstory☑ Restore original Shadow Phoenix ending☑ Insert romantic arc with Draft Zero☑ Remove Kael from final scene

Lyra froze.

"You’re not voting anymore," she said.

She walked to the interface, raised her hand——and slashed it apart.

The window shattered into ink.

Control.

That was what it came down to.

Lyra had fought the Author, rewritten fate, broken her brands.

And now?

Now she was being edited again—by people who didn’t bleed inside her world.

"Is this your entertainment?" she whispered.

Finn’s voice cracked. "It was... It was supposed to be yours. But you felt real. Too real."

She looked him in the eye. "We are."

He looked down. "Then why did I feel like I could change you?"

Aelira’s voice was sharp. "Because you thought being a reader made you right."

The ground cracked again—not from weight, but from tension.

Like the script of the universe had been stretched too tight, too far.

Something else seeped through.

Something unreadable.

A wind without a source.A name without a tongue.A shape made of unsubmittable drafts.

And then—

A symbol burned into the sky.

Not of crown.Not of shadow.But of review stars.

Five.Then four.Then three.

Lyra stared, horrified.

"They’re rating us."

Finn backed away. "No. No, that’s not me. That’s not mine."

But it was too late.

The stars pulsed.The sky opened.

And a voice descended, not from heavens, but from a server.

"Due to performance metrics, your arc is under revision."

Aelira grabbed Lyra’s hand.

"Run."

Because now the world wasn’t just watching—

It was deciding if she deserved to exist.