This is not new to me... Mom sent me to France all alone. I'll just imagine it that way.
Although spoiled by her parents, Annie was raised to be tough and strong as the only child of a wealthy family. She has been with Lucy after she left France when she was twelve and continued her studies in her home country.
Avy woke up from her deep sleep when she heard the sound of the door opening. She opened and rubbed her eyes and sat up before looking at the direction of the door, it was the maid who was with her yesterday.
"Good morning my lady. Did I wake you up?" she asked happily as if she was not yelled at by her before.
"Why did you come here?" she looked at the maid questioningly, looking at the tray with a bowl in it.
"I was told to bring ice here by Sir Hayward, my lady!" she said cheerfully and approached her to put the tray down on the mini table at her bedside.
"What is it for?"
"Apparently, Sir Hayward heard the lady's sobs last night. He figured out that you will need it in the morning so he ordered me before he went to bed." the maid pointed at her own eyes.
"You were outside last night?" Avy frowned, not appreciating the thought of someone eavesdropping as she cried like a toddler.
The maid shook her head, "No, mi'lady. I came to check on you since I was told it was my job to do so. It was not my intention to hear you crying," she told her, looking at her apologetically.
Avy scrunched her nose and looked away. How embarrassing.
"I will just leave it here, my lady. Please, call me if you need some assistance." the maid bowed and was about to walk out when Avy suddenly spoke.
"You will be under me from now on, right? What's your name?"
The maid looked taken aback by her question, taking her a second or two before she finally decided to answer.
"M-my name is Mariel Altham, My lady. I'm twenty-five years old." Mariel looked confused, she was sure to introduce herself on her first day though, or did the lady just forget?
"Can you bring some record books here? About the Imperial Family and the most influential clans throughout the Empire," she stated since she badly needs to know the names of the people she will have to face soon.
She was always in her own little bubble in her past life and did not bother interacting with others, hence she did not care about remembering their names. She developed the habit of just forgetting unnecessary details that did not concern her, including people, and it was not coming in handy now that she basically has to pretend like a person she barely knows. The memories that flashed before her eyes were only enough to give her a hint of the personality of the people that the original Avy spent a couple of times before. She only recognized their faces and voices but she does not know their identity.
"Understood, my lady," Mariel said before leaving.
Avy stood up and walked towards the chair in front of the mirror, she silently admired the beauty of the sixteen-year-old girl that was shown in front of her, missing her messy hair by the sight of neat and long ones that is now hers. Her once deep voice was replaced by a much more feminine one befitting her new body.
She definitely knows that face, she's seen it on the television. before. Even Ciel and their whole family looks familiar. Maybe because they look like the people that the Author imagined them to be?
She stared at the mirror closely, letting herself be accustomed to the face that she now has to own.
She cannot promise to keep it as perfect as it it. However, she will definitely make sure not to die. At least not in a way that will embarrass her even if she crosses the afterlife.
It is not like she has a problem with dying or anything, she had already died once. Even someone with a tough mentality like her, the image of the truck speeding towards her is one hell of a scary thing to witness. She is not scared of death but she never wanted to die in shame. In her opinion, she can die anytime, as long as it's an acceptable death.
She hated Avy's rotten personality in the novel because she acted like a bitch. She just could not say it in front of Lucy because they both came from a male-oriented family. Moreover, Avy was stupid, her family is powerful enough to make anyone her slave but she chose to chase those who do not even care about her existence. It was so stressful. She really wanted the original lady dead but she does not want to die in humiliation.
She looked at the mirror with disgusted eyes, a look that she often uses to anyone she hates.
As far as she can remember, Avy is the only girl born in the Arkwright family which is a clan that prioritizes the male offsprings because they believe that the ultimate perfection can only be achieved by men. But since their deceased mother was a bright and brave woman, Avy was not treated differently by the family but she grew up hearing those degrading comments from other people, thus the reason why she did not bother to learn their family's magic and focused on making herself a powerful figure through marrying an influential man.
She first set her eyes on her brother's childhood friend–the eldest son of one of the most powerful families in the empire when she met him on her fifth birthday. However, she was constantly rejected. When she reached the age of fourteen, she was engaged to the crown prince for she is the only daughter of the empire's strongest pillar. At first, she kept on chasing her first love but the time came when she realized that being the wife of the emperor, and getting the title of the empress gives her higher authority. That was when she started acting like gum stuck on the prince's shoe.
Now that she was reincarnated in that girl's sixteen-year-old body, she does not know how she will handle the shame.
Good thing she has the important things in this novel memorized, although not the specific events, but she's sure her mind took note of the details since she always did it unconsciously when taking information.
If her memory serves her right, Avy forced herself to learn many things to impress the Prince and her childhood crush but ended up getting ignored instead. It was a good thing that her older brother is not one of the men in the protagonist's harem as he finds her unpleasant. Therefore, Avy did not have to curse the heroine for stealing her brother, but her life still sucks. If only she practiced her magic more...
She was frozen for a moment when a thought entered her mind.
Magic! That's right! The problem is magic!
She sprung up from being seated and ran towards the other side of her bed to get the notebook she found yesterday.
Avy in the novel was no more than a mere puppet of the main villain, but what's special about her was she became the holder of the rare dark magic that no one is familiar with. And the reason why she got executed was that she tried to abduct people as a sacrifice so that she will be able to read the book which is the source of the dark magic to rival the protagonist who holds the power of divine. But she got arrested together with the main villain so the dark dagic was not mentioned so much. While going through the story in her mind once more, she started scribbling on the notebook like a madman.
The original Avy was at a disadvantage because she needs to learn the language before getting the power of darkness and at the same time she does not know how to use her family's flame attribute. She remembered her family was not dragged along with her because Avy gave up being an Arkwright to achieve her goals, and her little brother who adored her so much followed her although knowing he needed to sacrifice his position in the family too. He was killed protecting his sister and believing that she cared for him.
She continued reminiscing the memories she had of the novel, writing and drawing on the paper.
However, she was not sure if dark magic is useful. It was not like she wants to curse someone to death. People in that world are so dependent on magic that they do not know the importance of human intelligence. So if she abandon getting the prince's attention, and just focus on herself, she can be powerful.
She snorted proudly with a big amused smile.
"And a bonus, I'm also not stupid," she whispered to herself. Even though she almost blew up her uncle's house while creating a liquid taser. It was one time.
She sat down again and scanned her scribbles carefully.
As for the Protagonist. As long as she does not get in her way, she would love to ignore her very existence as if she is just any other creature that she does not need. Pretty simple.
She took a final look at the key points before closing the notebook and putting it inside the drawer.
"Why would I need to avoid and please them so that I can live peacefully? Hah! I lived my whole life pleasing no one aside from myself. And I prefer that it stays that way."
She thought that it would be a good thing if she become close to her brother because it seems like he would be a loyal ally in the future. However, she is not good with being goody goody so she will leave it for now. She wants to see what a novel world looks like.
She is not a good character in the first place, why bother changing, right?
~~~
After spending an hour preparing herself, mostly because she could not put on her clothes properly that she needed to wait for Mariel to come back and help her put it on, she finally stepped out of her room wearing a simple violet long-sleeved dress.
"Do you know where my little brother is?" she asked her maid while they were walking towards the dining hall.
"Young Master Ciel? Isn't he always at the training ground during this time of the day for his mage and swordsman training?" Mariel responded thoughtfully.
Right. His name is Ciel. The good younger brother.
"How about the older one?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean my elder brother," she corrected herself.
Mariel nodded slowly in understanding. "Ah. Young Master Ashton is in his study. I heard he is expecting a visitor."
"You seem to know many things happening around the estate, Marie," she stated.
Mariel giggled softly. "Of course! And my name is Mariel, miss, not Marie."
"Hmm. Seems useful for me." Avy ignored her correction. "Tell me about everything you'll know. It's better to be updated," she added.
"Yes, Miss!" Mariel replied energetically.
"By the way. Go get every book you can get, I'll be spending some time reading later," she said.
"What kind of books, My lady?"
"Academic Books? Alchemy, yeah, and history books."
"Understood, Mi'lady! I will be going now!" Mariel told her before sprinting to the estate's library.
Avy mindlessly watched as the maid ran enthusiastically until the realization dawned on her like cold water dumped on her head.
She did not know where the dining hall was.
Whatever. She merely shrugged and continued on her way. How hard would finding a dining hall be?
The walk was silent with only the clanking of the heel of her shoes meeting the marbled floor echoing throughout the hallways whe spotted a man walking a couple of meters ahead of her. She squinted her eyes to see clearly while not stopping her legs from moving.
It was a man maybe the same height and complexion as Ashton but with light blue hair and eyes as blue as the ocean. He was dressed like how she imagined the people in that world would.
The man looked high ranking and he had a familiar face, too.
"Ah... hello," she greeted as soon as he reached a distance where he can hear her words.
The guy halted and looked at her with a confused frown.
"Goodbye." she awkwardly bowed a little before walking away, leaving the confused guy staring into space.
~~~