Chapter 1: I became the Villainess
It was a sunny morning, which would have been perfect except for the fact that this morning was a day for Abrielle Nightshade, the only daughter of the holy Lord of Darconia was attempting to run away from home
Abrielle's hands tightened on the horse's reign as she urged it to run faster through the unending brown grassland. She just had to cross it to the dead creek forest ahead of her, and then they would not be able to catch her anymore.
"Hurry thunder, we can't let them catch me." She kicked the horse, which ran faster, dashing through the wind. She pressed her eyes as the cold wind hit her face giving goosebumps. She had never ridden a horse before, but she was surprisingly good at it.
The sounds of the horse's hooves hitting the ground and its neighing sounds echoed as Abrielle got closer to her freedom.
A beautiful smile graced her lips immediately she caught sight of the eerie dead creek forest, but before she could celebrate, a whooshing sound passed her ears as the arrow flew past her, slightly cutting her skin.
The horse galloped when the arrow struck the ground in front of it. Abrielle's heart rate immediately spiked as she glanced backwards to see her pursuers were just behind her.
The royal guards, how did they catch up so soon? "Thunder please run, I can't go back." She screamed, and the horse, hearing its master command, rushed forward.
Abrielle dared not look backwards; she didn't want to acknowledge the royal guard's presence, but the thunderous sounds of their horses galloping across the grassland made it hard to ignore.
"Halt my lady, stop running." One of the guards screamed at Abrielle, but who were they kidding? She was never turning back.
Unfortunately for her, the royal guard's horses were trained, and they were catching up to her faster. Abrielle clutched the rope in her hand. The forest was just ahead; if she crossed it, then she would leave the Dacronia territory and have her freedom.
She would not have to die anymore. Abrielle focused on her goals, ignoring the screams, the arrows that flew past her and the roaring sounds of her pursuers. "We are almost there." She said under her breath. Her breath rasped with adrenaline pumping in her veins.
A few meters away from the forest, an arrow struck thunder on his stomach, and he gave off a loud cry, jumping in pain with his forelimbs held up. "Oh no thunder, we can still do this." She cried out loud but the horse was in too much pain to care. Abrielle was unable to hold her balance and fell with her butt on the grass while she watched her horse run away.
She didn't give up, ignoring the pain in her butt. She struggled to get on her feet, but before she could make it a few steps from the spots, she was surrounded by her pursuers. "I am sorry, lady Nightshade, but you have a wedding to attend."
Abrielle stared blankly at the guard with her hands clenched to its side. She asked herself how she got here just yesterday. She was happy her crush finally asked her out.
****
It was the last day of the semester and everyone was super excited the last exams were over and was looking forward to the holidays.
"Will you be able to make it to Jeff's party tonight?" Kimberly mentioned her friend Hazel Walters whose head was up in the clouds. They just got out of their faculty building.
"I don't think I can, I am super busy with my part-time job." Hazel turned down Kimberly immediately. Even if she wanted to party, her pending deadline to submit her remaining chapters, which should be over 100k words, would not let her. She had just 3 days left.
"That's a bummer." Kimberly sighed then something popped into her head. "By the way, do you know the popular novel The Dragons and the priestess movie adaptation is already out in the cinemas? " Kim excitedly informed her friend, unknown to her BF, Hazel was Midnight Queen, the author of that very novel that was a big hit, making her one of the best-selling authors.
She had a lot of fans and anti-fans because the novel, although it had a nice plot, the character development was brutal for the female lead. Hazel has received a couple of death threats because of that book, which led to her keeping her identity as the writer unknown to the fandom.
"No, I .." Hazel was about to reply but was cut off by the roaring sounds of bikers. She and her friend's eyes were immediately drawn to the group of bikers. To be specific, they were looking at one person, Lucian, the beau of their university.
Lucian was almost every single girl's crush in school. Hazel was not an exception. She was so carried away staring at him that she didn't realize he was driving towards her until he stopped right in front of her and then pulled off his helmet, exposing his beautiful strawberry blonde hair and emerald eyes.
"Hi Hazel," Lucian chimed with a grin on his lips. Hazel was too stunned to even reply until Kim pinched her in the arm she snapped out of her daze.
"Are you talking to me?" She shuttered, unable to believe Lucian was talking to her. Her heart could not do that. "You are Hazel. Aren't you?" Lucian arched her brows at her and a blush made its way to her cheeks. Lucian was talking to her. She slowly nodded.
Kimberly's eyes rolled at her silliness. "What's up, Lucian?" Kimberly asked since her friend was too stunned to reply.
"I wanted to ask if you guys are attending Jeff's party. I could not help but observe you haven't been in his recent ones." Lucian replied. He was actually in the same faculty as them, so he and Kim were at least good acquaintances.
"I will be going but Hazel is..." Kimberly was then harshly cut off by Hazel who just realized Lucian would be there. "I will be there." She sharply said, making Kim smile. Her friend was love-struck.
"Oh, that's cool," Lucian said, putting his helmet back on. He was about to leave when something popped into his mind. "Hazel, do you want a ride? I will be going through your street." Lucian offered which left Hazel flabbergasted.
She didn't even have a chance to reject it because Kim practically pushed her to get on the bike. Lucian started the bike and then went off. She wrapped her hands securely around his waist.
All Hazel could do was glare at her best friend, who was waving at her while smiling mischievously.
What was happening? She was riding with her crush on his bike. She had to sniff his cologne to be sure she was not dreaming. Unfortunately, it did not last forever. They arrived at her place too soon, and Hazel had a lot of bitter complaints about that.
It was raining by the time they arrived and Lucian felt guilty about her getting wet. "I am sorry you got soaked." But Hazel didn't care about that fact.
"Thanks for the ride. The weather isn't your fault I will just run a hot bath." She shyly said after getting off. "It was nothing. I will see you tonight then. We can call it a date." Lucian chimed at her before riding off. God, he was so handsome she felt like her nose would bleed.
After he had disappeared from her sight she turned to walk towards her apartment building. Her brows furrowed when she spotted a strange girl in a hoodie standing under the pouring rain close to the door but she didn't pay much mind to her.
The strange girl glanced at Hazel but her face was covered by the hoodie and face mask. She walked away from the entrance bumping her shoulders with Hazel's.
Hazel got mad and then turned to reprimand the girl but froze when she saw a gun aimed at her.
"This is what you deserve, midnight queen." The girl mentioned her pen name. Before Hazel could react, a bullet was shot to her head; she fell on her back, her conscience blurring. The girl was staring down at her with hatred in her eyes.
Before Hazel died, she saw a blue screen that seemed like an illusion pop in front of her. Do you want to extend your life or die? It had two options.
Without a doubt, she wanted to live so that she could go out with Lucian tomorrow, but she was already dead with everything going black and cold. She died in the rain or did she?
****
The sound of curtains being pulled open made Hazel's brows furrow, combined with the bright lights from the window.
Her eyes opened, and she found herself in a strange, luxurious room with a mannequin wearing a wedding dress in front of her.
"Good morning, lady Abrielle; it's time you get ready for the wedding." A girl dressed like a maid from a fantasy historical romance book greeted her after leaving the window.
"Abrielle," Hazel muttered, then her eyes went wide like saucers; that was the name of the villainess of her book. The Dragons and the priestess.
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone