บท 3: Danielle's Misfortune

Although the redhead thought that Cynthia was a little too obsessed with the whole 'Villainess' thing, everyone had their own hobbies, and Emilia wasn't one to judge or interfere.

The most important thing was to focus on her first 'job'.

A brief journey through the void later, Emilia found herself in a luxuriously decorated and very girly little room. The redhead briefly gave a sympathetic nod to the distraught looking girl collapsed on side of the bed before she was moved to Cynthia's personal dimension.

This girl was, of course, the 'villainess' of this world - Danielle White.

After knowing what the girl was supposed to go through, and the fact that Cynthia had already imparted some fragmented scenes of those events directly into the poor girl's memory, Emilia found her situation to be quite pitiful.

As a villainess, Danielle's fate hadn't exactly been good, and it could only be imagined how much trauma she was going to go through after finding out. However, if not for that, it was unlikely that she would so obediently make way for them.

Emilia sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. "Will she be alright in there all alone? It's gonna take us a while, after all."

Her question was not just because she was concerned the girl would go crazy. She was also worried about the girl's physical needs. Unlike her new body that had been formed using the 'Void Formula' and did not require any sustenance, Danielle was a human, and would surely starve to death if left without food and water for too long.

Cynthia scoffed. "Don't you worry, I'm not that much of a villain!"

Emilia heaved a sigh of relief. "So you did arrange food and drinks in there? That's good. I didn't see any, so I thought—"

"… Of course I did not! Do I look like a saint?! I have to go arranging food and water for people who need it?!"

"…"

Cynthia then explained that the passage of time in this world and the inner world was independent, and no matter how long it took them in this world to complete the mission, only eight hours would have passed in the inner world. Of course, as her cultivation increased, this duration would also increase.

The raven-haired girl coughed. "So, she won't die without food or water in eight hours, okay. Don't you dare nag at me anymore!"

Emilia could only roll her eyes helplessly. Just when did she nag anyone? She was just asking a simple question, okay!

Deciding to focus on the important things first, the redhead sauntered over to the ornate full-length mirror.

—Skill 'Shapeshift' has been activated!

The tall redheaded beauty in the mirror slowly changed to fit the image of the girl who had just disappeared. Her hair color changed from red like threads of fate woven into a cascading waterfall to a soft chestnut brown.

Her sharp arctic gaze changed to a mellow pool of liquid gold, and her plush full lips changed shape so the top lip was slightly less full. Even her stature was reduced, and her arms and legs became slightly thinner.

Finally, her skin tone and texture changed to match Danielle's. The silkiness of her skin was gone, but there was still a youthful glow. And the slight waviness in her hair was gone as well, the now brown tresses becoming perfectly straight.

—Skill 'Shapeshift' is now in cooldown: 8 hours remaining.

Emilia smiled at the mirror, feeling a little awkward when 'Danielle' smiled back instead of her own reflection. She made a few more movements, trying to get used to her new appearance, but was interrupted by a snicker.

The redhead's smile disappeared. "Did I just hear you laugh?"

"… I did not."

Emilia pretended to nod in understanding, making a thinking pose as she tapped her now slightly rounder chin. "Okay… Okay, I see how it is. Hm… let's see now, how slowly can we accomplish the missions? Ah, wouldn't it be nice to take our time and enjoy a wonderful vacation?"

Cynthia coughed. "… I'm sorry. I won't laugh at you again."

Emilia smiled. "Good."

Feeling satisfied, she hummed a happy tune to herself while carefully picking out a red dress from Danielle's wardrobe. Her previously worn black gauze nightdress disappearing as she removed it from her body, and Emilia blinked at her reflection with a smile.

She looked... almost exactly like the girl before.

Grinning, Emilia started exploring 'her' room to familiarize herself. "Well then, Cynthia, mind going through the 'plot' for me again?"

In her mind, Cynthia had to admit that Emilia was very thorough, to say the least. Despite having made fun of her before, she couldn't help but feel a hint of admiration. Of course, it was impossible to admit that. "Sure, ahem, so from my understanding…"

As the raven-haired girl started dictating the 'plot' once more, Emilia stopped exploring the room and closed her eyes to fully focus herself.

Having someone talk to her while she had her eyes closed like this somewhat reminded her of the past. After all, she had done this many times before, whenever she wanted to focus all her ability on learning.

It was a pity that those beautiful memories were now tainted with the scent of betrayal and hatred.

Emilia completely purged the distracting thoughts soon enough, and finished absorbing the 'plot'.

Previously, she had only listened to the story of this world roughly, but now many missing details became clear. Of course, it was still limited to what Cynthia had managed to glean from a quick look through the timeline.

Crystal, the heroine in this world, was born in a single parent household. Her mother ran a restaurant that barely made ends meet, and was constantly on the verge of closing down. Aware of their financial situation, Crystal always tried to perform exceptionally in academics and qualify for scholarships whenever possible.

Before high school, her life wasn't much different from a normal girl. However, that was until she met Amos. Amos Black, the hero and the 'prince' of the top high school in their city, and the heir to the 'Black Tiger' corporation. He set his eyes on the hardworking and charming Crystal from the moment he saw her near a notice board.

From that moment on, he began to keep tabs on her, intent on finding out everything about her, and ensure a successful pursuit of his 'true love'.

Of course, his actions caught the attention of his fervent stalker—the villainess, and his fiancé—Danielle.

The villainess loved the hero, so all her envy and hatred were therefore transferred onto the heroine, and thus the poor girl's life of drama and suffering in high school began.

Eventually, the heroine's mother perished amidst this drama, solidifying her hatred for the villainess.

The heroine's suffering ended when she qualified for an overseas scholarship. The villainess could have ruined it, but she was happy to see her go far away.

In the end, Crystal became a successful private detective a few years later, and just when she was getting ready to go back and prove her mother's murderer guilty, she heard the news of Danielle's murder after the 'White Deer Corporation' went bankrupt.

Crystal of course hated Danielle, but she was not happy to hear about her murder at all. Because Danielle now became a victim in the eyes of the law, and shall forever remain so!

The furious heroine rushed back to the country, and madly began investigating the clues behind Danielle's murder.

While searching for these clues, she repeatedly collided with the hero, who had long since been aware of her return. As his vehement pursuit began, the two of them smoothly ended up together. Without the villainess interfering anymore, it was only a matter of time.

The heroine realized that the hero had probably exacted vengeance on her behalf, and thus gave up her investigation.

Emilia's face was twisted into a frown. "What bullshit is this, Cynthia? Just how did that frail looking Danielle end up murdering the heroine's mother? Can't you give me more detail?"

Cynthia's tone was a little awkward. "Eh… even I only had less than two hours to look through the general situation in the timeline, you know! How can I know every little detail? My focus when searching through the timeline is always on grasping the main plot points and being able to convince the villainess to give herself up!"

Just as Emilia sighed in disappointment, however, the mischievous voice of her 'system' echoed again. "But you're in luck because this one I do happen to know!"

Emilia resisted the urge to squeeze the younger girl's cheeks. "You definitely did that intentionally! Alright, never mind that. Tell me, how did she do it?" Ah, if only she could touch her right now!

Cynthia coughed. "Well, from what I understand, she didn't mean for it to happen. Danielle had hired some thugs to convince the heroine to give up her 'chase' for the hero, and these thugs kept slowly escalating things by themselves until the situation turned out of control. After the murder, however, Danielle's family helped cover it up to make sure it wouldn't affect her."

Emilia closed her eyes as she thought about it. Although she had no intention of copying Danielle's personality or mannerisms, understanding her character would also allow her deeper insight into how things had played out originally. Knowing that, she could then adjust things accordingly.

That being said, since she was here to destroy the plot, destroying her previously established character was obviously no big deal.

Emilia will always be herself, even if she temporarily looked like someone else.

She nodded. "I see… makes sense. She's definitely not a good girl, but hm… is this really a villainess? She's so amateur… If she didn't have this rich family backing her up, Danielle would just be a petulant and jealous girl throwing a tantrum, right?"

Cynthia coughed. "Well, it is how it is, right? It can even be considered a good thing for us, in a way."

Emilia sighed as she removed the fresh new books for first year high school from the bed and put them on the table. At this point, the 'official plot' had yet to begin, and the still innocent villainess had been happily preparing for her first day in high school tomorrow.

She stared at the now empty soft looking bed, and felt the urge to jump on it. And so she did.

After jumping a few times, Emilia lay there spreadeagle and stared at the ceiling with a sigh of contentment. "What a luxurious bed! It's so soft, but just firm enough to not be too soft. This is much better than the one in your hut, Cynthia! I wish you could feel it…"

Cynthia couldn't help but roll her eyes. "I can… if you stop just blabbering about it and use your summoning skill!"

Emilia paused, her eyes opened wide. "Ehhh? I can summon even you?!"

The raven-haired girl nodded in her mind. "Obviously?"

"Oh…"

And so she did!

—Skill 'Follower Summoning' has been activated!

—Summoning 'Cynthia'! Cynthia's projection can be sustained for: 8 hours 0 minutes 0 seconds.

—Cynthia's projection can be sustained for: 7 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds.

—Cynthia's projection can be sustained for: 7 hours 59 minutes 58 seconds.

Emilia closed the panel as it kept updating her on the remaining duration of the summoning, which was very annoying.

Also, it's totally a scam that the timer started before Cynthia's form even took shape!

Cynthia's form slowly materialized in front of her from black smoke, wearing the same black gauze that she had discarded not long before.

And the first thing she did once Cynthia materialized was, of course, squeeze her cheeks!

Cynthia made a few baffled 'W-Wha wha what' noises, looking at her partner in disbelief. After four complete cheek squeeze rotations, Emilia let her go with satisfaction.

Of course, the raven-haired girl could only stare at her, still unable to believe what had happened. "… What in the world is wrong with you?!"

Emilia smiled happily, it seems like doing whatever she wanted put her in a good mood. "Well, when we were talking earlier and you kept being a brat, I really wanted to do this, but couldn't. Now that I got the chance, how could I let it go?"

She thought Cynthia would be angry, but the girl actually clapped with happiness. "I hate that it's used against me, but that's a proper mindset for a villainess, good!"

Anyway, Emilia wasn't the type to look a gift horse in the mouth. But she was still a little disappointed when the follower summoning didn't materialize Cynthia completely naked. Wouldn't her embarrassed face be incredibly adorable?

Well, if it doesn't happen, she can always try to make it happen, right? There's no harm in making an argument. "You know, partner, it's such a waste to always make clothes out of energy when we have so little! What's wrong with being summoned naked? It's just the two of us here. No need to be so shy, right?"

Unfortunately, the raven haired beauty did not look convinced at all. "Humph. Not everyone is shameless like you, Emilia! Besides, I still have 0.98% of my energy reserves, which is not low at all!"

Emilia gave her a skeptical look. "Isn't it? Seems pretty low to me!"

Cynthia scoffed. "It's enough to make these clothes 98 more times!"

Emilia could only shake her head in amusement. "Do you want to die?! Want me to tear that useless thing and spank your butt?"

If she really used it all up, does this dumb airhead even know what will happen?

Cynthia rolled her gem-like emerald eyes at her and waved her hand nonchalantly. "Psshh! Why do you always fuss over useless stuff? Anyway, scoot, let me jump in. And you better explain to me how you plan to go about doing the missions, because I swear, if you're really planning on treating this as a vacation…"

Emilia smiled as she watched the younger looking girl flop on the bed like a fish. Somehow, the action suited her image. "I'm not… that was just a joke. Ahem, anyway… what were the missions again?"

The emerald eyed girl looked at her incredulously, as if unable to believe she could forget something so important. "Are you kidding me?"

Emilia hummed thoughtfully, as if considering the possibility. "It's possible that this so-called void formula is complete trash, and you gave me a faulty body with memory disease, right?"

Cynthia answered her with a deadpan look. "You know… you could have just said I forgot?"

Emilia nodded. "I could have."

Cynthia took a deep breath before grabbing a pillow and burying her face in it to muffle her scream of frustration.

She let go of the pillow with a gasp a few moments later, rolling her emerald eyes at her partner. "Alright… it seems like you're becoming more and more like a villainess. You're learning how to make someone hate you with such few words!"

Emilia looked shy, as if not used to such praise. "Aww… thank you, miss villainess system. It's a high compliment coming from you."

The black haired girl smashed her face with the pillow, but it only made Emilia laugh. "Shameless!"

Despite her pouting, which Emilia thought was very cute, the system did update her panel with her missions.

Ding!

—Cynthia's projection can be sustained for: 7 hours 56 minutes 32 seconds.

"Ugh…"

Cynthia's entire face was red.

"I-It's on the other tab!"

Emilia rolled her eyes.

—Mission 1: To destroy the plot of 'The White Deer corporation of the villainess goes bankrupt, and Black Tiger corporation rises to the top', the White Deer corporation must become the number one in the world, and Black Tiger must go bankrupt!

—Mission 2: To destroy the plot of 'The Hero and Heroine fall in love and live happily ever after', the hero and heroine must hate each other, and should never end up together!

—Mission 3: To destroy the plot of 'The villainess Danielle dies a miserable death, losing everything in the end', 'Danielle' must become a 'winner', reaching the top in career, love, and public perception!

Emilia stared blankly at the list of her missions before turning to look at Cynthia's innocent looking face.

"…"

"W-What is it… why are you looking at me like that?"