The Third Life of Helena Blackmoore

2. Memories

Helena was a villainess in her second life.

After being beheaded, Helena woke up in her room. She thought everything was just a dream. However, the maid's response to the broken plate, the food for breakfast that morning, her family conversation, and the news in the newspaper were something she had already experienced before. Helena realised something crucial after looking at the date on the paper.

She had returned to the past.

That girl remembered everything in her first life. Her anger toward the mistreatment and humiliation made her mad. Helena planned the downfall of people who wronged her, lied to gain advantages for herself, manipulated people around her, and tormented them. Helena became well-known and made a name for herself in high society. Everyone called her "Dark Rose" as she was a lovely black-haired woman like a rose with thorns on her side.

Helena managed to prevent her mother's death. She had prepared an antidote to keep her mother alive. As Helena expected, the culprit was Ethel. She poisoned her mother's tea with the help of a servant. Helena caught her sister by making the investigator find the poison in her closet. Her father begged Helena to forgive her sister, but she refused. That woman used this opportunity to plummet her sister's reputation. While she lost people's trust, Ethel was nowhere to ruin. She was still supported by other nobles and received her father's love. Her step-sister never went on trial for trying to kill Helena's mother. However, Ethel lost her image as a kind and gentle girl. She failed to get an invitation to the royal ball.

Ethel never framed her in her second life. Helena was puzzled by the change in the wheel of fortune, but she did not care. Living as a villainess was her peak of happiness. Helena held her head high instead of lowering her head. Everyone who scorned her got trampled and destroyed without a trace.

Helena shook her head. This was not the time for reminiscing about the good past. "I need to focus! I do not need to lose my life for the third time!"

She pulled a pen and a book from her desk and wrote the cause of her death. The first part was her death by guillotine. Ethel somehow managed to charge her indirectly with a crime related to an underground organization that dealt with serious crimes. This sparked rage in different classes since both nobles and commoners were involved. They insisted the criminals be punished as hard and as soon as possible. The incident was known as "Sinner Punishment". Many people were beheaded under the jurisdiction of the Second Prince and the King.

After that point, she returned one year ago. Helena quit doing charity and solely focused on her revenge. Yet, Sinner's Punishment still happened without her. Many folks lost their lives during the incident, regardless of whether they were commoners or nobles. Helena found different people were framed and executed in her second life. The victim had been apprehended because their neighbour wanted their land or was accused by their own family to get rid of one of the heirs. Some even had no idea the reason or who put them in jail.

After Sinner's Punishment was over, they found some of those people were innocent. Of course, this brought another anger. People blamed and killed each other in paranoia. The Second Prince and the King were held responsible for executing their family. This havoc sparked a riot in the kingdom. "Bloody Riot" became the worst day in the history. People hid in a shelter and deserted the street. Some hooligans used the opportunity to loot valuable items from stores and houses. The horror of the burning building, blood and corpses would remain intact in her mind. Helena remembered the day people broke over their home after the chaos began. They slaughtered the servants and family in front of her eyes. Her father died protecting others along with her mother.

Even the sister whom she hated died gruesomely.

Helena did not know whether dying as the last person in her family counted as luck. She escaped to the second floor while they were busy killing the servants. Helena lived for another minute until someone spotted and stabbed her in the heart. Unlike the first life, Helena died painfully slowly. The last memory she had before shutting her eyes was the face of a smiling man.