[Chapter THREE]
Before I became Seraphine Montclair, whose ferociously bold and irrational personality is a complete and utter contrast from mine, I was someone purely uninteresting and insignificant. Or rather, a mere shadow, lingering quietly in the background of a world that never bothered to turn its head to look at me.
No matter how much people I had stood by, I had always felt so alone, so disconnected, and so unnoticed. My presence seemed to have never made a difference, and it seems my reason for being in that reality was purely to just be there. Standing, quietly and alone .
My ramblings— bothersome. Easily forgettable, just like my company.
Whenever I caught glimpses myself, I was easily reminded that I wasn't outstandingly gorgeous like anyone else, nor did I fit the stereotypical beauty standards in the reality that I had grounded myself from. My hazel eyes, dull. My dark brown hair, adequately unadmirable. My features, forgettable. I had never inspired longing gazes nor sweet intrusions— I wasn't in any way special. Nor did I want to delude myself into thinking that I was.
Socially, I was often stretching myself thin amongst my colleagues and "friends" just so that I could make a purpose of myself. A purpose of appeasing others, was what it was, and eventually— it all still felt like a struggle against a universe that refused to embrace me. Or perhaps, it was me who couldn't tolerate it all.
Now, I'm finding myself in a foreign body, whose allure is already enough to lead astray several eyes like a siren's attraction. Whose existence is so prominent that a single word uttered by her can't be easily dismissed. For the first time, I've never felt more.. powerful. My presence now, is undoubtedly undeniable.
Seraphine, who's going to die soon because of her irrationality and lack of good judgement being intertwined into her poor mistakes, also has the potential to become extraordinary. Those who have downplayed her or even encouraged her malevolent personality, will get to see a different side now. Whether if that's I decide to become a truer villainess, or the pitiful girl who's had a change of heart. I gladly choose the first option.
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I slowly sat down on a smooth glazed wooden bench made of a dark oak, and then felt myself ease into the peacefully spun atmosphere. From my eyes, sat a marvelous floral garden surrounded by granite pavement, where different types of flowers bundled up together had grown. From roses, to tulips, to beautifully tended flowers that I couldn't name and ones that weren't even existent in my past world.
After being escorted to the imperial garden surrounded by glass walls adorned by the luminescence of sunlight, I ponder on how I'll survive in this life without aggravating my damned future husband and without carelessly provoking the female lead of this story because I'm sure with my reputation, anything would be seen as an appalling act worthy of punishment at some point. The villainess will always end up meeting her end after all.
Fortunately, as I would guess, this story— or time, is taking place before Seraphine had done anything awful to Lilian. Though, Seraphine's other antics in the past still hungrily remain. It's no wonder that the servants quickly batted their heads away when I walked by earlier on my way to the sanctuary. I wonder what Seraphine has done to them in the past so I could make subtle atonements.
The book had never gone into exact detail in what she had done, but some acts described were said to be rather atrocious.
Wait, actually, there was one occasion.
After a maid had forgotten to greet Seraphine after she came from a social gathering, she then had that same maid taste her food for poison moments later. Though, the food had never contained poison in the first place. Seraphine actually riddled the meal secretly with a dangerous substance just for her own amusement. The next to happen was rather gruesome. And of course, Seraphine got away with it.
Besides that, another thought had laid heavy in my mind. That was, what happened to Seraphine for her to suddenly fall ill and lose her voice. Even now, my throat aches and it hurts to swallow. If I could ask, I would, though it would be suspicious if I didn't remember, and most importantly my voice no longer works. The most I can get out are a few scratchy hitches that are barely audible. How frustrating.
"My lady, the seamstress, Ophelia DuPont, is here to present you the dresses that you ordered last week." Headmaid Gloria spoke, and then stretched out her arm to point towards the Garden's Entrance where a flimsy middle aged woman with a flamboyant orange sunhat and dress walked in carrying leather briefcases that looked like they were on the urge of bursting open.
As she walked up, her heels clacking loudly in the distance, she seemed to have had a slight distressed look on her face and she was sweating pearls of sweat down the side of her forehead.
When she finally reached me, she then set down the briefcases gently on the ground and that's when she sighed of relief and curtsied the lowest she could go while her hand pressed against her chest in a salutary manner, "I greet the lady, the soon-to-be glorious light of this empire. Please allow me the honor of showing you the dresses in which I tailored you for the Queen's Birthday Celebration."
Rather than feeling pleased, I felt quite cringed at the sight of how many gowns must've been squished in the bags and thought about how much Seraphine spent. She's lived such a lavish and spoiled lifestyle, and no one has stopped her because simply the consequences would be unbearable. I could imagine her closet having multiple dresses that were never touched.
And, the Queen's Birthday? This was never mentioned in the storyline. Perhaps I'm way behind in the book than I thought and the real events haven't begun yet. Thankfully so, there's still time to prepare before things take a more serious turn.
Then the same-old system tab had popped up once again in my sight:
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Episode 1: The Banquet
Objective: Successfully attend Queen Rosalind's birthday banquet, and increase your social status amongst the attendees.
Reward: 5%+ favor from the Queen. Gain an advantage towards wielding ???
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Now this— this is new.