The Villainess's Story Retold

Breaking Hearts

"Lady Adalyn did you have a nightmare last night?" Asks a bothered Eva who keeps glancing at the deadpan eyes of her Mistress. "Huh? Yea- I mean no, why would you say that?" Adalyn asks a bit baffled at the unexpected question.

"Well, you see..." Eva tries to finish her sentence but Adalyn's fixed gaze made her nervous to finish the sentence but a blunt Jeanette finishes it shamelessly. "You have dark circles around your eyes, your complexion is paler than usual, and lastly your posture is very bad." "Jeanette!" Eva snaps for the first time which made Adalyn scoff in in enjoyment.

'Seriously these two are so fun to watch.' Adalyn muse as the two starts bickering until the shadow of Marie intervenes. "Hey, you two look so carefree in the middle of your job," a sinister smile flashes on Marie's pink lips, "would you like me to cut off your paycheck for next month?" "N-no head maid." The two stammers and while watching Adalyn giggle as if she were merely watching a comedy show.

"Now that that's settled, Lady Adalyn please sit up straight I'll fix your hair." Adalyn obediently follows Marie's demand and turns around to face her reflection again.

-- in the main hall --

"Are you ready, lass?" Desmond asks gently as he takes out his hand for Adalyn to take. "Yes." She answers with a small smile on her face.

The doors open to reveal 5 dashing young men and a young maiden, 4 are her brothers, the other is her fiancee, and the maiden is none other than the heroine, Victoria. The nerve of Prince Elliot to bring along his secret lover, if they knew about this Victoria will surely be disowned but only seeing them only feel broken for awhile is not enough to satisfy Adalyn.

Despite her hidden  annoyance they do look majestic and Adalyn had to squint her eyes to avoid the dashing light that magically appeared.

'Ah, the power of beauty.' Adalyn naturally smiles whereas the remainder of the women in the room oogle with their mouths hanging open. "Grandfather, Adalyn. It's great to see you both again." Emyr, the eldest out of the 13 children of Magistrate Blanche, greets followed by the Crown Prince.

His dark brown hair glistened against the chandelier light, making the girls swoon at the sight but Adalyn paid the Crown Prince and Victoria no mind instead she turns to her brothers. "Big brothers! It's been awhile, please sit." She ushers her brothers who were expecting to be seated the last since her fiancee is present. Dubious whether they should follow or not, they slowly sit on their respective seats, the ones far from Adalyn much to her dismay. 'Who created this set up?' she wonders angrily.

"Crown Prince Elliot please sit." Desmond urges but his eyes held hidden enmity towards Elliot. "Of course." Elliot answers curtly, ignoring the weird aura that Desmond and the Blanche brothers are emitting and sits down at the left side of Adalyn with Victoria secretly clinging onto his broad arms.

Adalyn shifts uncomfortably since she feels conflicted about the overpowering feeling of liking him despite her efforts to remind her heart about how he is using her to succeed the throne. Elliot faces Adalyn and smiles at her seductively, showing off those pearl white teeth. Adalyn feels her cheeks blush, she really is weak against Elliot but that doesn't mean that she will like him anytime soon rather she needs to stop herself from becoming like the Adalyn in the book.

She returns his smile with a perfect one, matching his brightness but beneath the perfection hides malice. "I've heard about your project from Grandfather, Adalyn. I have to admit reconstructing the foundation of the houses is a great idea!" Lux, the 5th son of Magistrate Blanche, pipes in trying to warm the cold atmosphere.

His sun-like hair falls perfectly against his cool blue eyes like a spell bounding her to look at his iris for eternity, "Yes, I figured that instead for going for a spherical shape, I turned it into a cubic one. It's simple architecture honestly." Adalyn answers humbly with a shrug.