Melissa had just woken up. She was confused. Why is she here? Where was this? Carefully observing her surroundings, she had an idea of where she was and how she had gotten there. Running to the mirror, she saw her facial features, and she didn't have any bruises on her body that she had received from the Crown Prince in the past. Melissa rushed out of her room, immediately trying to find a maid.
"You there! Tell me what the date is today."
"Miss, why are you in your nightgown?! You should go back to your room and change, or else the Duke might scold you."
"That's not important; just tell me the date today!"
The maid was shocked at how Melissa had spoken against her, as Melissa was seen as a quiet and introverted girl by many of her acquaintances. Well, they weren't wrong about that, but that was in the past. The maid reluctantly decided to tell, which occurred then, rumors of the date.
"It's the 13th of February 1956, Miss. Now hurry up and go to your room before the Duke and Duchess sees you like this and scolds you."
Melissa was frozen. Did she time travel? Perhaps it was fate that she had time traveled. It was precisely three years. Three years before, she had died.
A year.
It was a year before she had met the Crown Prince.
A year for her to take her revenge on him.
It looked as if the universe was on her side.
Oh boy, Melissa was going to make the Crown Prince regret everything.
For now, at least.
She will remove his existence from the face of Earth.
Even if it's the last thing she'll do.
Melissa had just finished showering and changing her clothes; she immediately ran to her parents and hugged them. They were both surprised, as she had never shown them much affection before.
"Melissa, my dear, what happened? Why are you hugging us? Are you perhaps okay? Do you need us to call a doctor for you?"
The Duchess was truly worried. What had happened for Melissa to hug them? Was she being bullied? Did she perhaps have a bad dream? Was she sick?
"Don't worry, mother, I'm not sick at all. I just missed you and father. I've also realized that I should show you guys more affection, as I want to cherish these moments with you."
"Oh my god, she's hugging us!"
The Duke was not one to shout or scream, but he couldn't help himself. His 20-year-old daughter had shown affection to both of them, for the first time in her life! They were both in disbelief. They still had doubts about whether she was truly fine or not and whether they should call a doctor to check on her. They even thought that she might've been possessed!
However, they changed their minds when Melissa said she simply wanted to hug them because she missed them. After hearing this sentence, they almost fainted because, well, they were just entirely too happy.
Melissa was quite overwhelmed with the attention she was receiving. But she did not regret hugging them at all. She was happy that they were delighted.
After that interesting event that had happened with her parents, Melissa decided to take the initiative. She explored the house, read all the letters sent to her, and even managed to make a plan on her goal and objectives, even writing down all the major past events that had occurred in her past life.
Melissa decided to improve her reputation. And well, what was a better way to do that than host a ball?
After all, there were no rumors about her, in high society, yet at least….
She decided that she could give a good impression to all the guests, so rumors of her bold personality would spread among high society. She was also going to use the ball to invite people who could perhaps help in her rebellion against the Crown Prince.
However, she wouldn't let herself get ridiculed. After all, she wasn't the same Melissa she was back then. She's a different person now. She can stand up for herself, and heck, she even had sword skills now!
Something that she was naturally talented in her past life.
However, she decided to go against the idea of inviting the Crown Prince as it had been too early for her to face him, and after all, she wasn't ready.
She had planned the ball to be precisely in a week, on the 20th February 1956.
It had taken Melissa a couple of hours before finally finishing writing all the invitations. Of course, she could have asked the butler to write it for her, but Melissa wanted to give a good impression to them so that they understand that she took time out of her everyday life and personally sent an invitation to them.
Speaking of her butler, she was reminded of him in her past life. Derick Noel Stanbury, had served the Shayla family for generations. Each son would be the next butler for the Shayla family. The Stanbury family were nobles themselves, and they were talented enough to choose their masters. But for generations, since the very first Shayla & Stanbury ancestor. It was a story passed down for generations to every child of the Shayla and Stanbury families. For as long as Shayla could remember, the Stanbury family had always been serving the Shayla family and had always been loyal to them.
The Stanbury butler can do many sorts of items, from being skilled at swordsmanship, cooking delicious food, and even being knowledgeable about certain subjects, such as history.
The Stanbury butlers were also in charge of the maids, being the Shayla family's right hand man. Whenever the Shayla family needed to dispose of something discreetly or not, the Shayla family would always ask the help of their Stanbury butler.
She decided to leave some of the preparations to Derick, but of course, Melissa would help Derick to prepare for the ball. Only when she was available, of course.
Her parents were stunned that she wanted to host a ball because she was always introverted and had never liked socializing with people. Add the fact that she hugged them, and they were quite bamboozled. They thought that it was well...a miracle.
For the introverted Melissa to want to socialize with others? Well, that's a first, and hopefully not the last they'll ever see her acting like that.
Well, after all, it wasn't only her parents that were shocked; everyone at the Shayla estate was. There were gossips among the maids of the Shayla estate that a possession had happened with Melissa's body, and then it was now a witch that had control over her body. Some employees disliked the new Melissa, as they couldn't slack off like they used to.
However, not all the employees disliked the new Melissa. Some of the employees thought she was much cooler with her braver personality now. Melissa would often be friendly to the employees, and there was an incident where a bunch of other maids bullied a maid. While Melissa, of course, took care of the situation personally, the maids that had bullied the maid were all fired from the Shayla estate.
Melissa had even fired all the incompetent maids!Her parents had wondered why she had fired so many maids, to which she simply replied "They were all looking down on me,that's why I fired them."Of course,her parents were shocked!They had never known that their daughter was being looked down on by maids.
It might not seem much, but being fired from an estate as prestigious as Shayla's estate means that you won't be able to get a job anywhere. As the Shayla estate is one of the founding families of the Empire, going against one of their decisions would make you an enemy to the Shayla family.
Melissa was the only child of the Shayla family. Thus leading her to carry the heavy burden of the Shayla family, it was a burden for her past self, as she had spent all her time choosing on what clothes to wear when meeting the Crown Prince, what shoes to wear, and even the matter in which she would speak to him.
She wanted to look good enough for the Crown Prince, yet he never even once complimented the way she dressed or even how she looked, he merely smiled at her, and she felt butterflies in her stomach.
Well, that was past her, at least.
Now she would take advantage of the fact that she was the Shayla family heir and learn as much as possible. After all, she has only one year before meeting the Crown Prince.
She decided that she would be as hard-working as possible, even though she might be overworked. She won't give up. No matter what. The things we do for revenge, aye?
Melissa was excited, to say the least, wondering how they would respond to her.