Author's Nightmare 3: A Grimdark Isekai LitRPG by Ian B. Urns & A. C. Erinle

Author:Ian B. Urns & A. C. Erinle [Urns, Ian B. & Erinle, A. C.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Podium Publishing
Published: 2026-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty-eight

Shango’s POV: Day 154

Current Wealth: 668 gold, 4 silver, 35 copper

Fatigue was a luxury I didn’t have the time to indulge, so I beat it back from my mind with a club. I was pacing the mansion, thinking, using one of my rare breaks to continue the arduous process of planning out our next steps. When I wasn’t doing this, I was back to emulating Solitaire’s creations. With mixed success, to say the least.

My pacing today was interrupted by Lady Adannaya. I looked up as she approached me, mentally switching gears from long-term planning to short-term manipulation. I still hadn’t figured this one out yet. She was smart, that much I knew, but she was a great deal more slippery than even Phelia. I didn’t know her plans or ideals, and yet I couldn’t afford to keep her at arm’s length and risk driving her off before I could figure them out. She had to be drip fed points of intrigue to hold her around us while I worked on the problem.

Always another layer to the lies, wasn’t there? Always another.

“Good afternoon, my lord,” she said without smiling. Good. A smile would’ve been too obvious, too easy, too tempting. That she’d resisted it showed a knack for lying most didn’t possess.

“Good afternoon,” I said back, smiling myself. Because when one did possess that knack, it was often a good idea to convince others one didn’t. Particularly when they might be working against you.

“Forgive me if this is forward, my lord,” she began with all the hesitance of a woman who didn’t give two shits how forward she was being, “but I simply wish to express my condolences regarding the loss of your brother. I was there when he fell, and I saw firsthand how … bravely he fought.”

If I knew Solitaire, he’d probably invented several new war crimes before being captured, but that wasn’t the most concerning thing here. She spoke as if she thought he was dead. I could use that, at least when hiding Solitaire’s absence was no longer an option.

“Okay,” I replied, realizing I ought to say something at least and knowing that how I responded to banal pleasantries didn’t really matter that much.

She stood there, eyeing me. Suddenly the woman seemed awkward, unbalanced. That might have been useful ordinarily, but now she didn’t really have any information I needed. At least none I could get my hands on with a little unbalancing of this caliber, so I just sighed.

“I’m sorry but who are you, and what are you doing in my house?” I knew the former, of course, and suspected I knew the latter, but it was rarely a bad idea to be underestimated.

“I am Lady Adannaya,” she said slowly, patiently. “Your wife, Lady Phelia, welcomed me into this mansion as an indefinite guest.”

She was being polite, not abrasive. Not having her interest in me shrivel, which meant she was probably playing an angle. A woman looking for partners would be worried to see how abrasive and cold I was being.

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