บท 4: The First Step Forward

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

Emilia poked her index finger into the girl's soft cheeks. "Well, I'm thinking I really want to take a bite out of your face."

"I would rather you don't?"

She smiled. "Then how about a kiss?"

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Can you be serious?"

Emilia collapsed back on the bed by her side once again, giving Cynthia a pitiful look. Not only were the missions so deplorable, her partner didn't want to comfort her at all.

The emerald eyed girl felt a little guilty, but who wants their face to be chewed? Definitely not her!

After laying down in slight depression for a while, Emilia suddenly sprang up from the bed and took a seat by the table. She looked eagerly at raven haired girl on the bed with her hands stretched out.

Cynthia felt exasperated at this point, does this girl really treat her like a toy?

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

Emilia gave her a pout, which looked extra lethal on Danielle's childlike face. "It means come over here! I need motivation!"

"What does that have to do with me?!"

Cynthia hadn't grown old in an eternity alone, but being with this girl she felt like she was growing older every minute!

Emilia put her hands together as if praying, giving her a puppy eyed look. "Pretty please? I feel like I'll figure something out faster if I was holding you close!"

"Ugh… you're so annoying…"

Despite her words, Cynthia did reluctantly move over from the bed and into her arms.

Pulling over one of the blank notebooks on the table, Emilia started scribbling ideas while burying her face in Cynthia's neck occasionally. The black haired girl kept rolling her eyes but remained silent as she looked at the notebook eventually fill up.

She was thinking she really picked a villainess as her partner! Someone has to suffer somehow whenever she does something!

It looked like Emilia was almost done planning, as she put her pen down and put both her hands around the belly of the girl on her lap. "The cushioning on this chair is really good too. Even with your weight on top, it feels comfy and soft!"

Cynthia rolled her eyes. "Oh come on... I'm not that heavy, am I? And what's with this absurd technique… does it really help you focus?"

Emilia's smile disappeared instantly. "Well, that's one way to kill the mood."

"Uh…"

Cynthia was wondering what it was that she had said that came off so wrong, before remembering that Emilia had been betrayed and murdered by her lover in the last life. Other than her, who else would she snuggle with like this?

'I feel like there's something I'm still missing… but, hm… no way. What am I thinking? How can a villainess system apologize willy nilly?!'

Since apologizing was way out of Cynthia's comfort zone, then… distraction it is.

Ding!

—Cynthia's projection can be sustained for: 7 hours 43 minutes 17 seconds.

—Cynthia's projection can be sustained for: 7 hours 43 minutes 16 seconds.

The constant ding ding ding from the system panel successfully ticked Emilia off enough to throw Cynthia off from her lap and onto the bed, where she bounced and burst into a fit of giggles.

"Argh! So annoying! How can you do that while I'm trying to earnestly come up with a plan?"

Cynthia thought, 'because I didn't like seeing you so gloomy', but she felt that it would be like poking a tiger with a needle. "It just happened? And you don't have to keep me summoned if you're getting distracted."

Emilia tilted her head, wondering if she really wanted to go back to floating in the void of the system space again. "Wouldn't that be a waste of the remaining summoning time?"

"Uh… no? You can summon your followers however many times you want, until the timer runs out from their total time out in the world."

Emilia sighed, still wishing there was no time limit and she could keep this adorable creature by her side forever. 'No… I'm getting too attached… Just like I did with Maeve. Well... Cynthia is nothing like her, but... it's probably better to just remain friends and partners. I shouldn't do things that can make it awkward between us.'

She put all distracting thoughts out of her mind and focused on drafting out her plan. "I see… alright then. You tell me when you're ready to go back, and I'll cancel it."

Cynthia was happy that she didn't end her summoning right away. She still wanted to laze around a bit more on the bed, after all. Although she could make an imaginary bed and do the same in the system space, something about the real thing just felt better.

"Mmm… okay."

Emilia did not pay her any more attention and remained fully focused on her notebook, making the emerald eyed girl a little depressed.

'Ah… maybe I should have just remained quietly on her lap. But it was embarrassing!'

After almost half an hour of just gazing at her scribble on a notebook, Cynthia was already bored to the point where she was ready to ask her partner to cancel the skill, but Emilia snapped the notebook shut just in time.

"Alright, let's talk then."

"Ooohhh, I'm excited… what diabolical plan has my dear villainess been brewing?"

Emilia rolled her eyes as she walked over to the bed and smacked her partner's raven head with the notebook.

"Look… although the three missions look different, they essentially boil down to one thing… which is to achieve an ending that is the polar opposite of what happened in the timeline you saw."

"That's right, obviously. That's the whole point of destroying the plot, is it not?"

"Mhm… which means that we have to derail everything that's happening which can potentially push the 'plot' that the 'world will' desires forward on its path. And we'll start with… this family!"

Cynthia was nodding her head like a little chicken, in complete agreement with her partner. "Good point… the villainess's family supported the hero for a long time, which was a crucial part in his rise to the top! If the villainess can convince them to give the hero so much help, she should also be able to take it away!"

Emilia gave her a grim smile, thinking inwardly that this 'villainess system' really thought too simply. "No… it's not enough to just take it away. Actually…"

Looking at Cynthia's beautiful but dumb face again, Emilia swallowed her words. "You just watch when I talk to her family, alright, leave the thinking to me."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

She couldn't just say 'I think it's too tiresome to explain to someone dumb like you', could she?

Ignoring her partner's indignant look, Emilia tore off the papers she had written down her thoughts on, and gave half to Cynthia while crumbling up the remain half for herself.

"What? What? What am I supposed to do with this?"

Emilia nonchalantly threw a paper ball in her mouth, and started chewing. "Jusht... eat it!"

Cynthia's face twisted as she looked at the unappetizing paper ball. "Disgusting! Why would I do that?!"

"Because it's the best way to dispose of it without leaving evidence. Anything I eat is broken down completely in my stomach by the void formula, and anything you eat will dissipate into smoke once you're unsummoned, right?"

Even if she was reluctant to admit it, she had to agree. But she really didn't want to eat it!

"That's… right? But why can't you just burn it or something?!"

Emilia rolled her eyes before bitterly gulping down the paper pulp. 'Eugh, it really is disgusting!'

"Do you see a fireplace here?"

Cynthia looked around the modern room blankly before picking up her share of two paper sheets.

She crumbled them up and chewed pitifully while giving Emilia a tearful look.

"Why is my own villainess always the nastiest to myself?!"

----------

Later that night, the family of 'the villainess' gathered together in the dining hall to have dinner, and Emilia took this opportunity to enact her plan.

She waited until the dinner was over before actually bringing it up though, lest it completely ruin the appetite of her 'elder sister' and 'parents'.

When Danielle's parents finished listening to their future son-in-law's blatant disgusted act to their precious jewel, they almost flipped the three-hundred-pound dining table in rage.

As for her cold looking elder sister, she actually started bawling openly.

It was obvious how much they loved 'Danielle', and Emilia felt a little sad thinking of their total ruin and humiliation in the original plot.

Although the hero's disgust for the villainess was obvious to some people within their circle, he wasn't stupid enough to do anything in public. After all, would the 'White Deer' corporation keep his interests in mind if he were to really do that? He was not so stupid, as the heir of a top tier business family.

As for the insiders who did know the situation, well, who would dare actually say it to the White Deer family's heads that their son-in-law thought their precious daughter was disgusting? Isn't that just asking for trouble?

The biggest 'helper' to the hero in his success, of course, was the villainess Danielle herself. If she didn't help the hero keep things hidden, he would have had a lot more trouble coming his way.

The villainess's elder sister looked quite different from Danielle, with a much taller stature, curly brown hair and jet black eyes. She clearly took after her father more. But this beauty completely looked like an enraged witch at the moment. She kept slamming the table heavily, and Emilia felt a little distressed at the blue bruises that quickly formed on her dainty hands. "That bastard! I'll ruin him! Ruin him!"

Their 'mother' looked distressed, wondering how much courage it had taken her poor spoiled daughter to confess this to them. After all, if she had kept it hidden for so long, it meant that she loved Amos Black at some point, to the point of obsession. Perhaps, she loved him even now, but couldn't bear his disgust anymore and broke down.

How could she let her daughter keep going like this? Even if her love was to be cut off, she had make sure to do it! No, there was no 'even if'! This obsession must definitely die, if there was any left, or it will ruin her daughter.

The villainess mother looked frail, docile and innocent just like Danielle, but her expression at this moment was fierce like a tigress. "We will cancel all of our cooperation with the Black Tiger immediately! Let's see what kind bullshit of explanation they can give!"

The villainess's father, who looked like a strict businessman with no emotions, expressed no disagreement to her words despite the multitude of losses it would surely bring.

Emilia felt a little disappointed. During the ten years she had been trying to become a respectable queen from an unfavored princess, there was no lack of sabotages that she had turned into opportunities.

What she had learned was that if you know someone is trying to hurt you, it's not enough to just avoid it. You must take the opportunity to hurt them in return, or they will eventually succeed anyway.

"Father, mother, sister… I don't love him anymore, and I promise to become a different person… someone you can also respect. I have thought a lot about this, father, you must not let him get away scot free!"

Her father clenched his fist. "Don't worry… even if the Black Tiger has grown a lot over the past few years, at worst I shall bring us down together!"

Emilia almost rolled her eyes, but thankfully resisted the urge. It seems like being subtle wasn't going to work. This family of villains was too straightforward and honest! What bullshit!

"What I mean is that since we have already invested so much into them, shouldn't we at least make it worth our investment?"

Her father still looked clueless, but it was her previously enraged elder sister who seems to have gotten her point. She looked at her excitedly. "That's right! Dad, mom, if we just pull out of all our deals right now, the ones losing money would just be us! Even if we challenge them in every project in the future later, who knows who will be losing more money each time! Danny is right! They don't know we want to cut them off, so why not take this chance to get some benefits first?!"

"But… no, I suppose you're right. It's them who did wrong first. Let's think this through slowly then."

Her father and elder sister kept discussing various projects they had a deal with the Black Tiger on, and how to make sure each one would benefit them more while causing Black Tiger losses at the same time.

Emilia decided that since they were on the right track now, she could leave this to them and focus on the other things that needed to be done. Before that, however…

"There is one more thing I have to say…"

Her mother and sister clammed up immediately, both having the same unpleasant thought. 'Don't tell me he got her pregnant? Is it because he forced her that she finally came to her senses? No! How could we let that happen?!'

If the villainess's poor father knew their thoughts, he would probably cough up blood. He can't control what kind of feeling the heir of the 'Black Tiger' has for his daughter, but as long as his White Deer is not completely dead, no one can think of harming a hair on her head!

Thankfully, Emilia did not keep them in suspense for long, and dropped the bombshell nonchalantly.

"To really start fresh, I want to change my name from this day forward… to Emilia!"