-Eris-
She seriously needs to create a plan because, even though she's different from the original Eris Virelli, this is still a story where she is the villainess. She's an important character and is the main cause of why the male leads became overprotective of the female lead in the first place. This overprotectiveness turns into attraction as they get to know how amazing the female lead is. Then, soon, she became their obsession. Athena, the golden girl, became the center of their world and they go feral over her. Literally and figuratively.
If Eris is not careful, she might face the same fate as the original villainess. Although she won't be fooled by Theodor Blackthorn, that bastard, she might still get killed by the other ruthless male leads. After all, that's the fate of the villainess: to die at the hands of the hero to protect the damsel in distress.
Eris sighed. Being a pushover really is her main problem. She wouldn't even have this problem if she didn't agree to be put in this situation.
Then, she was reminded by Sister Tesa, one of the nuns who took care of her back in her word, "You always pick up stones to smash your head with, Eris. That's your biggest flaw."
To put it simply, it means she creates her own problems. A self-sabotage.
She plopped on her pink bed like a starfish. Yes, she'll start calling everything that Eris Leonel Virelli owned as hers now. After all, she's already occupying her body. She should also start getting used to being the Eris Virelli. This name, this body, and this entire room are hers now. From now on, she's Eris Leonel Virelli. Her past, present, and future are hers and hers only. But that doesn't mean she'll abandon Eris Hale. She's also her, only secretly.
Her hands wandered on the sheet and found a stuffed toy. She hugged it tightly and realized that the young villainess must have squeezed the life out of this stuffed toy when she was anxious. It was only briefly stated in the novel how much she suffered alone as a child. In this pink room, full of soft and squishy stuffed toys, she must have cried silently.
"I should really do my best to live as her," she whispered.
Growl
"Calm down, monster, I'll feed you soon," she said while patting her stomach as if she's actually trying to calm down a beast.
Growl!
"Okay, okay, I get it. Geez!" She forced herself to stand up, only to be tripped by an empty glass bottle on the floor. She tried to find her balance by holding on to something, but it turned out it was the tablecloth that was below the cute lampshade.
As if on cue, a person entered her room and found her in a very unflattering position. After looking at the mess she made, the person, who's probably the butler of this mansion, shook his head as if it's already to be expected that she'll make a spectacle of herself.
"The Duke and Duchess expect your presence at breakfast", he coldly said as though it was beneath him to deliver this message to her.
Eris Hale, a pushover, has one unshakable rule. It might have started in the orphanage, where everything had to be shared, even her room, leaving no space of her own. Maybe it came from the constant teasing by her 'brothers,' who once shattered her mother's picture frame and left a mess behind.
Or it could've been the night her adoptive father stumbled in drunk and pinned her down, making her feel trapped and helpless.
Whatever the reason, the rule stands: knock before entering. If no one answers, stay out. If she says no, don't linger by the door. It's the only line she draws without compromise. Cross it, and she won't hesitate to raise hell.
Eris immediately gathered her footing and look at the butler with a serious face, "Who allowed you to enter my room?"
For a moment, the butler was flabbergasted.
'He's probably thinking, why is this stupid wench acting as if she's someone, when she's actually nothing but an unwanted child?' Eris thought angrily, as she was reminded of the young villainess's tear-stricken face.
"Well, it is not as though you have any say in the matter. If I were you, I would begin making myself presentable. You would not wish to displease the duke, would you?" he said, making Eris feel even worse, each word only intensified her rage.
"Wow! First, you entered my room without my consent. And now, you're disrespecting me. How awesome!" Eris said sarcastically, her hands waving in every direction as if she's conducting an orchestra.
The butler stuttered, trying to come up with something to say, but to no avail. Eris marched angrily until she came face to face with the man at her door. Even though he's clearly taller, at this moment, she doesn't care. She's too mad to care.
"You don't get to talk to me like that, you hear me? I don't care if you're the butler of this dukedom or the devil himself, you don't get to enter my room without my consent. My room, my rules. Break that and I'll break your neck." she said sternly while jabbing her index finger to the man's chest.
Little did she know that her expression twisted into something cold and intimidating, an expression only a true villainess could wear. Her emerald eyes burned with fury, her posture radiated authority, and for a moment, she looked like someone who could bring kingdoms to their knees.
The butler faltered. His mouth opened slightly, as if to speak, but no words came out. He stood frozen, utterly silenced by the sheer force of the girl who once cowered in silence.
"That's what I thought, bitch."
She slammed the door right in front of the butler's face, not caring if it would break his nose.
And that's when it hit her. She did it... again. Yes, it's not the first time she blows up to someone's face. She did that when the annoying younger brother entered her room to bully her and he ended up with a shoe print on his face and a bleeding nose. Well, that's the last time they saw each other since she got kicked out after that.
Her anger slowly dissipated until it's finally gone and all that's left is ecstasy.
A smile slowly tugged at her lips. She thought of how she delivered the lines, and now she couldn't stop laughing. She looked at her reflection once again; the trace of laughter hadn't come off.
"And Eris Hale strikes again!" She raised both of her arms as if she just won a raise. At this moment, she doesn't care if that butler came crying to the duke with his tail in between his legs. He deserves it anyway.
After squealing like a banshee for a couple of seconds, she finally started preparing herself for another battle, the breakfast with the Virelli Family.
In the novel, there's one scene that the author wrote to make the readers understand what kind of family does the villainess have. It was during the debutante ball. Her parents were expected to attend, as it was customary in the Kingdom of Aurel. Parents of noble children are supposed to show up and greet the King and Queen of Aurel with the debutants. But her parents didn't show up so she ended up bowing her head to the king and queen with embarrassment. She may have worn the most glamorous gown that night, but she ended up as the most pitiful.
That's also how she meets the female lead, Athena. Although the girl's gown is simple, it still showed her beauty and elegance. What's more, Athena was surrounded by her entire family. For the young villainess, it felt like a punch in the gut. That's the start of her jealousy towards the female lead.
As a daughter herself, Eris Hale knows how a parent's presence is important. They just completely and utterly abandoned their daughter. But what shattered her even more was when she came home after that ball, she went to her father's study and heard the cruel words that her mother said about her.
"I wish I had never given birth to her," were her mother's words. And somehow, Eris Hale could hear her own mother's voice saying those exact words to her.
She immediately erased those thoughts. She must focus, or else she might make a fool of herself later.
When she opened her closet, it was filled with pink dresses, and all of them seemed to have ruffles and ribbons. There's nothing wrong with wearing those dresses; it's just that, as a twenty-three-year-old woman who wears neutral colors all the time, they were a bit too much to handle.
Then, she saw something black in the furthest corner. She pulled it out and saw a beautiful black dress with pink highlights. Below it was a pair of black boots that sparkled when light touches them.
"This will do," she said.
Before she came out of her room, she patted her own back, as if to cheer herself for the 'upcoming battle' with her villainous family.
-Butler-
"Yes, she even called me a b-bitch, your grace", Gideon Crowe recounted what happened earlier as he tried his hardest to maintain a straight face.
"Did she now?" The duke squinted, his gaze narrowing with a chill that spread like frost. The sharp line of his jaw caught the shadow, sculpting his features into something disturbingly perfect. His face carried an aristocratic sharpness, a beauty both cold and precise. High cheekbones, eyes like emerald fire, and a voice that moved like silk over steel. He was handsome, certainly, but with the kind of allure that came with a warning.
"How uncouth. But frankly, you deserved it. What else was she supposed to do when a strange man barges into her room without so much as a warning?" The duchess said, her voice smooth and dismissive. She walks as if she owns the world, as if the ground should thank her for even stepping on it. The black-red dress hugged her figure without apology, its bold design echoing the danger she carried so calmly. Her magenta hair flowed over her shoulders in soft waves, framing her sharp features while her polished obsidian eyes moved slowly across the room, calm and calculative, as if she already knows your next move before you could even think.
The butler lowered his eyes. This couple possessed such otherworldly beauty.
"Well, I must admit, that was my mistake. However, you wound me, Your Grace. I am not a strange man. I'm a butler who's been there by her side, secretly protecting her from little rats," the butler said, pretending to be hurt by the words of the duchess.
"Knocking is not that hard, Gideon. Remember that one time you entered our bedroom and you—" Before the duke was even able to finish that sentence, the duchess was already glaring at both him and the butler with such murderous intent. Both men cleared their throats, afraid to end up on the duchess's hate list.
"Well, I didn't really see anything, if that's what you're worried about—" Before Gideon could finish that sentence, a flying red heel was already on its way to crack his skull. Good thing he's an assassin.
"I guess she finally started to act like a true Virelli," the duke said, ignoring the fact that his wife had just tried to kill his lifelong friend and butler, his hands behind his back as his eyes scanned the garden filled with black roses and dead trees.
"Yes, being timid will only get her killed anyway," the duchess said, seated on the sofa with the same color as her hair.
The usual heavy atmosphere in the duke's office became a little lighter. The butler finally smiled with fondness. This couple really did not know how to show their true feelings.
"Stop smiling, Gideon, else I will rip that mouth of yours," the duchess said sharply. It reminded him of Lady Eris. Her ladyship was starting to act more like her mother. How wonderful.
The duke spun on his heels and walked toward his wife with no urgency. He sat down beside her. The duchess automatically linked their fingers together and rested her head on his shoulder.
'If the world saw them like this, they would go crazy,' Gideon thought to himself.
"My love, what do you think?" The duke no longer held the same coldness as earlier. Although his face was serious, his voice was soft and indulgent.
"I think we should continue to watch over her. We do not want her to suffer the same fate as her older sister." At the mention of their other daughter, the atmosphere became icy.
Their lovely Esmeralda died young. She died while the duchess was still pregnant with Eris. Just because she was her parents' little treasure, they took her from them.
"They will pay for what they did to Esme. After that, we will tell Eris the truth," the duke said as he hugged the duchess. It was not just for her comfort but for his as well.
If only the lady knew how much her parents loved her, the butler thought. He was the witness to their sacrifices. As the butler of the House of Virelli, he would make sure those sacrifices were not in vain.
"As for the pills you saw in her room, investigate and make sure that she is alright," the duchess said. If it were not for his sharp hearing, he would not have noticed the shift in her voice. She's worried.
"Understood, Your Grace," the butler responded respectfully.
For fifteen years, he had been silently protecting Lady Eris from the shadows. He was just gone for a day and already a rat had tried to harm her. Well, they better be ready. There was no way he would let this go.
-to be continued-