Lilith Aphelion had always known the risks of her position. The palace was a place of intrigue and deception, where every smile could hide a dagger. But she had never expected the betrayal to come from the man she had sworn to support.
His Majesty Adam Caelum Albertine III, once the charming Crown Prince who had promised her the world, had become a distant and cold Emperor. The warmth that had once characterized their relationship had long since faded, replaced by political maneuvering and silent resentments. Lilith had tried to hold the empire together, earning the love of the people and the grudging respect of the nobles, but it was never enough for her husband.
The day of her betrayal had begun like any other. Lilith had attended to her duties, meeting with advisors and addressing the concerns of her subjects. She had spent the afternoon in the gardens, one of the few places where she could find a semblance of peace. As evening fell, she returned to the throne room, unaware of the plot that was unfolding.
"Your majesty, shall I prepare the bath for you?" A maid asks as she enters her bed chambers.
Lilith shook her head, "No, His Majesty called for me. Just help me freshen up for our meeting."
His Majesty had summoned her under the pretense of discussing state matters. She had walked into the room with her head held high, confident in her role as Empress. But the sight that greeted her shattered her composure.
Her husband stood with his mistress, a woman who had been a thorn in Lilith's side for months. Emilia Gauduf, a mage who somehow seduced Lilith's husband and the father of the nation, stayed silent as Lilith entered the room, eyes ice cold.
The air was thick with tension, and Lilith felt a chill run down her spine.
"My Lord, what is this?" she demanded, her voice steady despite the turmoil within her.
He had not answered her directly. Instead, he had drawn his sword and advanced towards her with a look of grim determination. "For the good of the empire," he had said, before plunging the blade into her abdomen.
As she lay dying, Lilith had felt a surge of anger and betrayal. The man she had loved, the man she had trusted, the man she had wasted her life on, had turned against her. And judging from the smirk etched on Emilia's face, it was because of that wicked woman's scheme. Her last thoughts had been of revenge, and she had vowed to drag him and that vile woman to hell with her.
---
When Lilith awoke in a rather familiar bed, the moonlight framing the room in a serene way, the transition from death to life was disorienting. She gasps as she immediately sits up, hands clutching her chests as she calms the rapid beating of her heart. She sat there for what felt like years as she scoped her surroundings. She closed her eyes and laid back down on the rough duvet of her bed, trying to understand the bizarre situation she was in. She was fairly certain she died at the hands of her husband, at the young age of 28. But now, she was in her old bedroom, from when she still lived in the Aphelion Estate. From the looks of it, she returned back to when she was 14, still barely a teenager, and years away from meeting the crown prince.
Her thoughts led her back to the betrayal of the man she loved with her whole heart, the man she risked everything for just to keep him happy and satisfied. His vicious eyes as he stabbed her and the cruel smirk of his mistress were all Lilith could remember, and the confusion turns to rage as she thought of the life she wasted by becoming the wife of a vile man.
She vowed to take revenge, but she was so weak. That boiling rage that fueled her minutes ago had simmered into doubt. How could she possibly get revenge when she doesn't even have the power and status to enter the Imperial Castle?
She must have been lost in her own thoughts far longer than anticipated since the sun already rose when she opened her eyes once more. A knock was heard at the door and a snotty voice sounded out.
"Young lady? We're coming in."
Before Lilith could even respond, the door opened and in came three of her maids. Lilith remembers them. She remembers the bullying and humiliation she faced every day in her past life. And if she really was thrown in the past, the same bullying and humiliation would happen once more...
"God, why are you such a pig?!" One maid, Lilith remembers her name was Jeane, scolds her as she clutches Lilith's sheets. "No wonder you're an outcast of the Aphelion Family. You can't even sleep elegantly, like how a noble should."
Another maid, Hara, snorts. "Unlike her sister, Lady Eve. She is so noble, like a delicate flower. Compared to this..."
Lilith bites her lips as the insults continue.
The maids started preparing Lilith for the day while continuing in their humiliation. "Black hair, silver eyes, and pale as snow? Tsk. Are you a corpse of some kind?"
"I heard, she was cursed by a witch!" The last of the three maids, Brianne, adds on, "Or maybe some kind of succubus? She does have such audacious curves."
"True. She's practically begging to be fucked like some common whore, just like her dead mother!"
A glass shatters as Lilith abruptly stands up, facing the three maids.
"Out. All of you." Three pairs of eyes stare at her in disbelief as Lilith starts heaving. She throws another empty cup at them and shrieks, "I said get out!"
Tears prickle at her eyes as Lilith stands alone in her room, no one to accompany her but her thoughts. She sank to the floor, looking helplessly out the window. 'Why have I returned to my past? Haven't I suffered enough?'
'Revenge?' She scoffs at herself. 'I can't even threaten my maids properly. And I had the audacity to think I can enact a well-earned revenge? Why can't I just die...'
The sun has set when Lilith hears voices outside her room.
"M-my Lady, please think this through! What will the master say do when he hears you barged into the forbidden hall?"
"I haven't seen my sister all day, Fauna. What if something has happened to her?"
The voice of Lilith's half-sister jolts her out of the cold floor. Eve? Why was she here? She normally acts like Lilith doesn't exist. A soft knock was heard at the door.
"Sister, are you okay in there?" Eve asks, her voice muffled by the thick door that separates them. "Can I come in?"
Lilith chose not to answer. Eve took that as a sign of approval and opened the door.
"Sister!" Eve's gasp could be heard as she rushed immediately to Lilith's side, picking up the pieces of glass surrounding the young lady. "Are you alright? You're not injured."
Fauna, Eve's maid, helped her mistress while glaring daggers at Lilith. She looked as if she wanted to say something but held back in favor of helping Eve. "My lady, let me. You might injure yourself instead."
Eve nodded and poured all her attention on her half-sister. "Lilith, sister, please. Let this older sister of yours help you. What is it you need, hm?"
Lilith dazedly stared at Eve, mumbling incoherently. Eve looked dejected, and if Lilith wasn't so unstable at the moment, she would've called bullshit. Her Eve never acted like this, so what changed?
"Fauna, could you perhaps give us some space?" Eve tells her maid, "If you could wait outside, please."
"But my lady..."
"Please." Fauna tried to argue once more but followed Eve's orders after Eve sent her a look. That didn't stop her from sending a wary glare at Lilith before leaving the room, though.
Once Fauna left the room, the smile on Eve's face turned into a sneer. "What has got you all messed up, huh?"
Lilith just continued to stare at Eve, who, in turn, rolled her eyes.
"Look at you, looking so pathetic." She sighs as she sits on Lilith's bed. "So soulless..."
Eve inched closer to Lilith, head tilted. "Have you reincarnated into the past too?"
It took all of Lilith's willpower not to look shocked as that major bombshell of a revelation revealed itself. 'She's also...'
"Hm." Eve stood up as she pondered, "No, In my future; you were easily killed by our father. He stabbed you when you tried to kill me on Angelo and I's wedding day."
What?
"You were put on trial, and all but Father was so outraged, so he just killed you in the dungeons."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Lilith croaked, her voice dry from hours of unuse.
Eve chuckled darkly, squatting down to Lilith's eye level. "I come from the future, dear sister. Can you believe it? I can hardly believe it myself!"
Eve then went on a tirade about her original life. She was named as the Crown Prince's fiancee and was groomed to be the next Empress of the Empire. On her wedding day, Lilith suddenly crashed the wedding, saying that she should be the one to be Empress. Lilith then gets killed by their father, while Eve and Adam get married. A few years into their marriage, Adam went power-hungry and killed everyone in the castle, including Eve and their children. When Eve then opened her eyes, she was years back in the past.
Just like Lilith.
But Eve lived such a different life from her, though.
"Why are you telling me this?" Lilith asks, trying not to sound too panicked.
Eve shrugs. "I was a mage in my past life; I can easily erase your memories. I also wanted to tell you of my plans before erasing your memories."
"P-plans?"
"Yes. I plan to have you named the Crown Princess." Eve's eyes glinted maliciously. "Wouldn't you like that? Such a far cry from your status now."
Lilith's eyes widened.
"And you'll keep him entertained for a while, while I track down that demon who manipulated Adam to kill me in my past life." Eve continues, "And when I finally kill him, I can take back my rightful place as Empress! As for you, well..."
Eve smirked as she clutched Lilith's hair, Lilith wincing in pain. "You've already died in my past life. What's one more?"
Tears prickled in Lilith's eyes as Eve threw her back down onto the floor. Eve then walks towards the window, mumbling to herself, "Hm. But I can't freely move around now that I'm back to being a Duke's daughter. Should I don a fake identity?"
Eve walks back to Lilith, who's looking at her older sister in fear, "what do you think, sister? Should I plead with father to enter a boarding school and walk around the Empire with a fake identity instead?"
'She's a psychopath!' Lilith thinks to herself as she stares at Eve, who was cackling like a maniac.
"Ginevra? No. Psyche? No. Oh! How about Emilia?" Lilith went frigid. "Emilia for Eve. Emilia. Gauduf."
No, it can't be. Then that would mean that, in this run of her life, she was the one who urged Adam to kill Lilith.
"Thanks for your time, sister!" Eve says, pulling out a wand from god knows where. "Your input really helped. Too bad I'm erasing your memories now; I really would've liked for you to see my masterplan come to fruition."
No this can't be it; I have to do something. No, no, no, nO, NO NONO NONON O---
A flash of light was all Lilith saw before she succumbed to sleep.
----
When Lilith woke up again, she was back in bed. The mess from before was cleaned up and she was even wearing a nightgown, so someone must have
Wait. She remembered everything.
How?
Her sister might be insane, but if she was telling the truth and that Emilia Gauduf was actually Eve Aphelion in disguise, then her memories of their interaction before would have been completely wiped out. Emilia-Eve the mage was a prodigy in magic who could almost bend fate itself to her will. So for her magic to not work, there must have been something that happened—something even more powerful than Eve's magic.
But what?
Before she could think of anything else, a bright light flooded the room. Lilith winced and shielded her eyes as a lavender, paper-like flat box appeared to be... floating? Right in front of her. Suddenly, a voice starts talking and words starts appearing in the flat box.
[0106: Greetings, aspiring villainess! 'Tis I, System 0106! Or commonly known as the Villainess Maker System. Shall we begin?]
Huh?!
"What the hell?" Lilith whispered, rubbing her eyes. "begin what?!"
[0106: Why, your route to villainy of course!]
"I don't want to be a villain!"
[0106: But didn't you want revenge? This is a chance for you to get vengeance! OvO!!]
Lilith frowned. "I do but..."
[0106: Then this is the best way! I swear on my honor as the Villainess Maker System, once we're done? The whole continent will fear your name.]
"Okay, that's enough." Lilith laid back down on her bed. "Maybe this is all some crazy dream and when I wake up, I'll be in the afterlife. I don't even care if I end up in hell. Just let this be a dream."
[0106: :( ]
....
[0106: Lilith?]
....
[0106: We both know this isn't working, Lilith.]
....
[0106: Lilith T-T]
....
[0106: L i l i t h. A p h e l i o n.]
....
[0106: I'm gonna start sobbing if you continue to ignore me--]
"Would you shut the fuck up?! Alright already! Just stop annoying me!"