Author's Afterword: Thank You for Reading!
Thank you so much for reading Fixed the Villainess and Then Ran Away all the way through to the side stories! The side stories ended up feeling a bit like rambling tangents, but what did you think? When I first started writing them, it was with a light heart—just wanting to try out some different endings. But preparing all those varied conclusions turned out to be way harder than I expected.
I wrote the side stories super casually, just jotting down whatever the author felt like in the moment, so they probably jumped around a little. I do regret not making them longer and polishing them better. Still, personally, I loved getting to feature Sharl and Riche so much—they're the ones I couldn't fit into the main story as much. You could say they're stuffed full of the author's personal biases. They're my favorite heroines.
Even though the other heroines got more screen time, the princess is still the princess, isn't she? The epilogue was my way of showing off her many different sides. I had this greedy desire to focus more on her story than Ras's, which made it a bit challenging.
As a side note, the magic Asella used in the epilogue isn't time travel—it's simultaneous recording. She perceives time not as a continuous flow, but as a superposition of a single plane, making this spell possible only for her. Nightingale's real body is still in the future; it just appears to exist in the past. So there are no effects like history being altered or timelines shifting. The future Asella is on the same timeline as the past one. The good ending timeline continues on as a single, unbroken path. Don't worry—Ras and Asella will live happily ever after for a hundred years.
Next up, I'm preparing side stories for Unsold Slaves Returned as Heroes. I'm still experimenting with it, so serialization will come a bit later. Health issues lately have slowed my writing pace compared to before. For my new work, I'm gearing up with a Greek-Roman mythology theme, but serialization probably won't start until next year.
Once I get going, I'm also drawn to male pregnancy themes and modern romance. I always have so many stories I want to start, but never enough time. I'll see you again soon. Thank you!