The night came and went, yet nothing had changed. Hikari had hoped to figure out some way to survive, some genius flaw that she could take advantage of, yet her mind was blank. She was completely stumped.
It embarrassed her to realize that even a super fan like her could not figure out what to do.
It was just too strange.
Setting aside the fact that she had apparently transmigrated inside a novel, Hikari felt she had somehow encountered a transmigration adventure on hard mode. She had no system, no allies, and no other advantages to use.
She only had her foreknowledge, but what use was that? She wasn't a main character, she wasn't in a position to meddle with things. It would actually have been really advantageous. Her current body, as she examined it, was likely no older than eight. Had she been inside a fluffy cute story as a princess, or the beautiful rival character, she may have a way to change things - since she would be surrounded by canon characters all day long. But she wasn't.
She was surrounded day and night by NPCs that had little weight and power inside the narrative of Lovely Poisonous Palace. It was no use to befriend them, and Hikari was even scared to, if what happened yesterday was any inclination of what was to come.
More than anything, she wanted to give up.
She wasn't some genius tactician, she was just an average teenage girl who had never seen any hardship before. How was she supposed to do anything to save the other characters, let alone herself?
She didn't even have a substantial role! It was laughable, really. She was not the villainess. She wasn't the heroine, or even a friend of the heroine. Even Villager Q would have a bigger role than she did! Renetia Carmichael was a side character who had an extremely small and insignificant role. She was one of the gofers of Priscilla Redgrave, the Viscount of Langram. The only reason why Nezumi Hikari remembered her story was because she was so obsessed with the book, and because her story was excessively painful, even for this kind of story.
Her story was so demeaning!
Inside the gilded walls and beautified world of Lovely Poisonous Palace, Renetia Carmichael was the daughter and sole heir of her ageing father, Duke Leopold Carmichael. He was an old man who had a strange talent - he was, for some reason, extremely adept at attracting leeches.
Having a kind heart in his youth, he would always try to give those he perceived to be unfortunate the means to survive - only to get scammed and demeaned in return. It was only later in his life that he changed into the quiet and stoic man that he was currently known to be. But he was old, and prone to sitting by the fireplace with sadness in his eyes.
He had attained respect, but for what? He had no one to share his life with. His wife was another one of those leeches, and the reason why he decided to close his heart up for good. It was an arranged marriage, like most, yet Leopold was determined to treat her well. To him, it did not matter that he would not be in love - as long as he was wed to an amiable, kind woman who treated him with a baseline amount of respect, he could stomach it.
When she recognized this, she attempted to weasel him out of his money, and Leopold finally found his breaking point. He cast her out into the streets, angered that she would steal from him and the many unfortunate souls who needed his money.
Her family, a low-ranking baron family, attempted to take him to court - and were laughed out of the building. They were then issued with an even more heinous punishment to boot! Leopold was used to having no one in his corner, due to his meek personality. Yet the unexpected help that came before him was not from any allies. Instead, it spoke volumes about the hatred that the nobles of this story felt towards the common folk. They were afraid of losing their power and prestige - and so, when a house that was barely of noble status attempted to steal so blatantly, it lit a fire inside the hearts of many aristocrats.
Even more so than normal, since the old man was technically a Duke. They were outraged. Renetia's maternal family were all sentenced to life in prison - tortured and hung. Even as they wallowed in shame, they were not allowed any mercy. Their entire line was hunted down, due to the fear that a single remnant may try to reclaim their noble seat and soon, they were wiped off the Noble Registry. They were the Daisy Clan - and their demise was brutal and swift.
And so, Renetia Carmichael grew up without a mother. This scarred her deeply. Her father threw her nanny out when she was four. It wasn't out of pettiness, or spite. He genuinely thought that woman had fulfilled her purpose as a caretaker. He didn't understand that children need their caretakers to stay in their lives as stable and reliable figures.
After his change of heart, the elderly Duke would often leave the Estate on long business trips. Young Renetia didn't understand her father's state of mind at all. She thought he hated being around her. She was scared to talk to him. She was scared to discover that her fears were real and he wanted nothing to do with her. What would she do then?
In this way, she grew into a deeply insecure young lady. She became twisted and weak of heart. Renetia would cling to every single compliment her maids gave her, and found deep joy in relishing the attention of others. When she couldn't keep those she loved by her side, she used force. She was a Duke's daughter, after all.
As long as her father didn't know...
Though that kind of character was common in romance stories - of a demanding, wealthy Duke's daughter who stood above all her noblemen with pride and arrogance - there was a few key differences between such a character and Renetia Carmichael.
Renetia was not above average in looks. Unlike the normal rival character, she did not possess an aptitude for learning. She was an exceedingly dense woman. Even more jarring was her personality. She was a coward whose insecure and weasel-like personality was obvious. She would always try to appease those she thought were 'on her level'. She would treat those who showed her kindness with betrayal, solely because she didn't like how happily they smiled.
She didn't possess an aura of a protagonist, or even side character. The worst aspect of her character was her inability to understand why she was wrong.
Hikari didn't know the particulars of how Renetia died; just that she had a brief encounter that sealed her fate, and when confronted with her sins, she revealed a disgustingly confused face. This angered her attacker, who then sliced her to pieces with a giant axe. While this was random and completely out of the blue, Hikari of that time didn't care. She hated Renetia's character - and she was fed up with her constantly trashy attitude.
Now that she was Renetia, she was sweating bullets. Why was her death so random? Why was it done so grotesquely? Sure, she was annoying, but why did she have to come across a crazy serial killer type? Is that fair at all?!
Hikari couldn't believe her luck. So, no matter what, she was sentenced to die by the hands of a random serial killer.
She didn't even know who would murder her in the future. His face had been covered. Why could the book not have shown the face of the attacker? Until the very last edition, that person's face was never shown. And while Hikari assumed that may have been because the assailant's true nature would be revealed in the last book, she didn't think so anymore.
Why?
Because Renetia's death was revealed in a side series. Meaning, while normal readers assumed Renetia's departure was just due to her not being featured, it was actually because she'd died already.
What kind of an ending was that?!
The more she thought about it, the more it pissed Hikari off. Why did Renetia have to die that way? She was trash, but it wasn't like she was the worst human in the book. And more importantly, why did she now have to go through it?
Hikari sighed. Though she didn't have much information on where and who, she did know when. She was sure that the site of the death was at the Royal Academy...
Which meant that Renetia was likely 15-17 years of age when she died. She still had time to protect herself from a random death. This was Hikari's new goal. Though the future still seemed dark and gray, and her mind still reeled from the insanity of transmigration, Hikari felt relief that for once, she could focus on one thing.
Her survival.
If there was one thing she was good at, it was laying low. She was Nezumi Hikari, after all!