Amanda often felt like the odd one out in her family —not as outstanding compared to the rest of her family. However, today, after she fell down the stairs, a flood of strange yet familiar memories came rushing into her mind like a tide.
Horrified, she realized that—
They weren't family at all to begin with! No wonder they didn't look alike. In addition, she was inside a group pampering novel she had read in her past life!
She slowly scrambled into the bathroom and stared into the mirror.
A familiar girl with long, smooth black hair, cute delicate features, and soft round eyes was staring back at her. A pretty girl that could easily reach the status of a top celebrity if she would rely solely on her face card. A charming girl with a swollen, bloody wound on her face that looked distressing and misplaced.
Amanda happily grinned at the revelation. Finally, God has given her a second chance in life and has given her the body of a beauty too!
Suddenly, Amanda frowned as several old memories washed over her, and she started to reminisce about her past life. The once familiar face in the mirror slowly turned increasingly unfamiliar as her memories from her past life clash with the memories from her current one.
She remembered that she was just an average first-year college student reading an online novel to pass her time and escape from her problems. As for how her life ended, she doesn't know anymore, but she hoped that her death was not caused by being run over by a truck.
Of the novel she read, she only roughly remembered that the female lead came from a good family and was just pampered by the entire world. Embarrassing, but simple and it was something she yearned for.
Amanda looked at her small, soft hands that turned red from the fall. In a daze, she pinched herself and sighed.
It was all real. She was in a novel. And as her luck would have it, she was not the female lead. Instead, she turned out to be a minor villain. So minor and irrelevant, that she could be considered just a side character. After all, the Amanda from the novel was only a very annoying character with a vicious mouth.
The small villain Amanda was from a prominent wealthy family, the Aetheron family. Since she was born with a gold spoon, she grew up to be quite spoiled. Thus her character turned into a haughty, arrogant lady.
In the novel, she helped the villainess antagonise against the female lead due to her background. Later on, the female lead coincidentally helped the Aetheron family find out that Amanda was switched at birth by saving the real daughter. Amanda held a grudge against the female lead thinking that the she did it out of spite, and started aggressively spouting insults and rumours about the female lead. The Aetheron family found out about her actions and simply threw her out, cutting any connections with her.
Amanda shuddered. Since she was surrrounded by money now, she definetely did not plan on leaving it all behind.
Before she could attend to her wound and think further about her situation, someone furiously shouted her name. Confused, she walked towards the voice, leading her to an elegant, older woman and a glaring, younger man in the living room.
"Amanda! What have you been doing in school?! Your grades are already the lowest in class, and now you are involved in fightings as well? Go to school tomorrow and beg for their forgiveness immediately."
It was her mother, Sera Aetheron, who was shouting angrily at her. Amanda remembered that the Amanda in the past always yearned to see her mother softly smiling at her but, instead, had only ever receiving her scorn and scoldings.
After being transmigrated, she explicitly felt that Amandas emotions and hers are too closely linked, as if they are one body and soul now. Looking at the appearance of her new mother, she felt a slight twinge in her heart.
Sigh, seems like she needed to emotionally distance herself or else she will be too emotionally invested. She refused to suffer emotionally for a person who now basically seemed like a stranger to her.
"The Aetherons do not raise rogues.", the young man commented sternly. It was her oldest brother, soon-to-be family heir and all.
Ethan Aetheron, cold and serious, just how you would imagine a future CEO to be like. She was never close to him, since she previously always felt intimidated by him. Now she does not mind anymore, even though it still felt a bit unsettling.
"How come the school has to contact us about you being at the bottom of your class again and then, add your paticipation on a school fight as well? Can't you at least behave and stay quiet?!"
Her mother was almost loosing it but instead took a deep breath, reigning in her emotions.
Right. Her family. Her parents and brothers, each one of them — outstanding. And Amanda? The complete opposite. She could be considered Aetherons only dark spot. However, she was too much of a coward, never daring to directly confront or attack the female lead and instead resorted to talking behind her back the most, so how could she engage in any fights?
"I didn't do it. I didn't participate in any fightings."
She calmly looks at them with a detached feeling, remembering that she once tried everything to earn a bit of their love. Despite feeling a bit conflicted, she lost most of her yearning for that family love, or more like, with the memories of her past life, she did not dare to dream of it.
After all, it was not her first life, and she could live without the illusion of a warm family again.
"How dare you talk back and deny your actions! We didn't raise you to be a hooligan!"
"You didn't raise me at all... the nanny did...", Amanda said, looking at her mother with an awkward and estranged look. "I request this situation to be investigated, as I never participated in a fight. I am innocent and would never do anything to smear the family name."
"You dare lie to our face!", her mother shouted angrily. "The teacher already said that he talked to several witnesses, so who are you trying to deceive?!"
Amanda looked confused and gave up explaining. She was just rigidly standing there with her head down, not defending herself anymore, and answering roboticly. She did not pay any attention to her current situation anymore. Her mind was wandering, she was too occupied sorting through her memories. After all, being reborn and living this second life was already strange enough. No need to immerse herself in this drama.