"Meal time," a gruff voice announced.
Emily watched quietly as the small hatch at the bottom of the door leading to her cell opened, and a small, rusty tray was pushed in. Watery porridge and a slightly moldy slice of stale bread. Same as always.
It was already her fifteenth. Meaning, she had been here somewhere between 5 to 15 days. At least that's what she assumed. It was difficult to tell, as the meals were her only way of keeping track of time.
5 to 15 days since she transmigrated into the body of Sylvie Vallangher, the main villainess from the fantasy romance novel she read, 'Saved by the Second Prince'.
Did she complain about her life? That her rent was too high? That the shower was leaking, and there were rats in the house? That her working hours were too long, and the pay not high enough? That the customers were annoying? That her love life was short on luck?
Did she ever dream about transmigrating into a novel?
Well, yeah, she did, but she would like to take it back now!
What was the point of transmigrating, if she was just going to die?!
She hasn't even been given a chance to try to avoid her death flags, fix her character's storyline, and reach a happy, or at least a decent, ending. No, she just had to transmigrate after the climax… When the villainess had already lost, been thrown into a dungeon, and was awaiting the execution.
And to think that not so long ago, Emily was celebrating Sylvie's demise… What did she write in the comments again? "Good riddance. Any longer and I would have transmigrated just to finish her off myself! *huff emoji*"
…Now it felt like a sad joke.
The original Sylvie Vallangher very much deserved such a fate. An illegitimate daughter of Viscount Koyle, she was an infamous white lotus. Seeking power and riches, she seduced the Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Artina, Micah Ragan Vallangher. She drove his fiancée, the protagonist Lady Fillia Reesner, away from the palace, ruined her reputation, and embarrassed her in front of the Nobles. She acted like an innocent and delicate flower, but in fact, she was rotten to the bone.
And she succeeded, for a while. She married the Crown Prince, and was later crowned as the Queen of Artina when Prince Micah ascended the throne. That is, until the Second Prince, Kieran Agnus Vallangher, the male lead of the novel, started a rebellion against the tyrant King…
In the end, King Micah was assassinated, Sylvie imprisoned, and later executed for her crimes. Lady Fillia and the newly crowned King Kieran got married, and they lived happily ever after.
The end.
It was a fairly entertaining story. Sylvie and the Crown Prince were frustrating and annoying, and so were the minor villains, but it was satisfying to watch them fall at the end…
Scratch that.
The villainess should obviously be forgiven! She must have had valid reasons for doing what she did! Everyone deserved a second chance!
Unfortunately, no one seemed to agree. Emily tried begging, asking for a trial, telling the truth about her transmigration, pleading insanity… Heck, out of desperation, she even tried to seduce the guards!
But nothing worked. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get through. Nobody was willing to listen to a villainess. She was stuck in the cold dungeon, starved and frozen to the bone, dressed only in a potato sack, with extra holes cut out for her head and arms. It might have seemed cruel, but back in the book, Sylvie did the exact same thing to Lady Fillia…
With difficulty, Emily lifted herself up, and dragged her body, stiff and sore from lying on the bare stone floor, closer to the tray with her meal. Despite everything, she still wanted to live. She didn't know what would happen if she were to die here. Would she return to her world? As far as she could remember, she only passed out at a house party from drinking too much, so her body should be fine… But she'd rather not risk it.
She reached out, feeling up her surroundings, careful not to accidentally tip the bowl. Her cell was too dark to see - the only source of light was the candlelight from the corridors, passing through the gaps in the door. Once her numb fingers finally found the tray, she grabbed the bowl with both of her hands, and lifted it up to her lips. She drank the watery porridge, taking only tiny sips. Although she was tempted to devour the whole meal immediately, partially because of the bad taste, partially because of the hunger she felt, she managed to hold back. Eating slowly would help her feel more satiated, and wouldn't upset her empty stomach.
In the darkness, she didn't notice the small, midnight blue butterfly, which entered the cell through the wall, and fluttered above her for a moment, before leaving her cell again. She also didn't see the wall behind her back distort, the stone bricks seemingly turning into liquid, which somehow didn't spill, held by a membrane, and just swirled around, as a man passed through it.
The man stood in silence for a while, observing the woman curled up on the ground. His eyes contained a mixture of dislike and schadenfreude, with only a tiniest, almost unnoticeable, tinge of pity. He didn't appear to be an enemy… but definitely not a friend either.
"Oh, how low you have fallen," he commented eventually. His voice was quiet, but in the silent cell, it felt almost ear-splitting.
Emily flinched, quickly turning around. All that she could see, however, was a dark silhouette. "Who?!"
"Shh," the man silenced her, moving his hands as he cast a spell. A moment later, everything turned bright, as a dome of white light encompassed both Emily and the man. The light only those inside could see, as nothing, no image nor sound, could escape the barrier surrounding them.
"It's been a while, Your Majesty… Or rather Sylvie. A lot has changed since the last time we met, huh?"
Emily stared at the man, dumbfounded. "Who?" she asked again, tilting her head.
She had absolutely no idea what was going on. Did she perhaps start hallucinating from being on the verge of death?