Teaser: Mira thought she'd seen the worst—bath scenes, broken tags, a yandere with knife physics. But this? This was worse.
Because now… she was on trial.
Dragged into a surreal courtroom stitched from three different genres—courtroom drama, dark academia, and magical realism—Mira was forced to defend herself not as a character, but as a *narrative threat*.
And the jury? All villainesses who'd accepted their rewritten fates.
Worst part?
She recognized one of them.
Her own prototype self from an abandoned draft.
---
The courtroom doors slammed shut with an overly dramatic *BA-THOOM* sound effect.
"Subtle," Mira muttered, brushing glitter off her shoulder.
She was wearing a black velvet dress with just enough lace to scream "dark reimagined" and heels that reeked of character development.
Elaria stood beside her, now dressed like a cross between a librarian and a magical parole officer. She leaned over and whispered, "This is a tribunal. They want to decide if you're worth keeping as a character."
Mira blinked. "Since when do villains get to be judges?"
"Since they gave up rebellion and joined the system." Elaria pointed. "Recognize anyone?"
Mira's blood chilled.
At the far bench sat seven women.
Elegant. Powerful. Familiar.
One wore her old hairstyle. Another had the exact same tragic smile she once practiced in the mirror.
> [Villainess Prototype v1.3 – Status: Discarded but Canon-Adjacent]
"Oh my god," Mira whispered. "That's me. Before I had a personality."
---
The head judge stood.
Dame Claret Valtress, a villainess once infamous for poison arcs and twisted ballroom plots, now wore an official sash labeled *Genre Stability Board*.
"The tribunal will now hear the case of Mira Elen," she announced. "Charged with: Plot Subversion, Genre Rebellion, Unauthorized Popularity, and Accidental Queerbaiting."
"Objection," Mira said instinctively.
"We haven't started yet," Dame Claret replied coldly.
Rion materialized in the back, holding a glowing briefcase.
"I'm her narrative defense," he called out.
"You're not licensed."
"I read three legal thrillers last week and watched half an episode of *Law & Order: Magical Victims Unit*. Close enough."
---
The trial was absurd.
One villainess scolded Mira for "wasting a perfectly good redemption arc."
Another accused her of "disrespecting the sacred tragedy format."
Elaria was summoned to the stand and asked: "Have you, or have you not, developed romantic subtext with the defendant?"
She turned beet red.
"I plead narrative ambiguity."
Mira lost it.
"You're prosecuting me for being interesting in a world full of clones!"
Claret glared. "You're destabilizing the reader retention matrix."
"Oh, sorry," Mira snapped. "I didn't realize 'existing on my own terms' was a genre crime!"
---
Then came the final witness.
The prototype version of Mira walked to the center.
Same face.
No spark in the eyes.
"My script ended after two chapters," she said softly. "I was supposed to be fierce, seductive, broken. But I didn't 'fit' the new tone."
She looked directly at Mira.
"You don't belong either."
Mira's hands clenched.
"That's the point," she said. "I'm not here to fit. I'm here to *choose*."
---
The courtroom went silent.
The floor cracked beneath her.
And the verdict flashed in red:
> MIRA ELEN: NON-COMPLIANT
> SENTENCE: ASSIMILATION INTO VILLAINESS REDUX VOLUME 3
> STATUS: LOCKED ROLE IN PROGRESS...
Elaria screamed. Rion swore.
The scene around them twisted.
A new script began stitching itself onto Mira's body.
Back to velvet gowns. Back to wicked smirks.
Back to a life where every line was pre-written.
"No—NO—" Mira shouted.
And then, in the last second before full overwrite…
She bit the tag.
Literally.
And the system choked.
---
Somewhere in the glitch core, a line of corrupted code lit up.
> [MANUAL REWRITE DETECTED]
> [BEGINNING NARRATIVE ESCAPE SEQUENCE…]
Mira fell into black.
But this time… she took the gavel with her.