VIVIAN
Vivian didn’t stop running until she reached her bedroom.
She slammed the door shut and leaned against it, breathing heavily.
"What... was that?"
She slowly lowered her hands from her mouth.
"I never wanted to say those things."
"But..."
"My body spoke on its own."
She grabbed her head in frustration.
"Am I being possessed by the original Vivian?"
Is her resentment controlling me or the Writer is controlling me?
She took a deep breath before looking around the room.
Then she froze. "...Where is everything?"
The luxurious bedroom described in the novel was gone.
The expensive furniture...
The crystal decorations... The priceless paintings...
Everything had disappeared.
Only a bed... A wardrobe...A dressing mirror...
And a lonely chair remained.
The once magnificent room now looked almost abandoned.
She opens the wardrobe.
It was empty. She opens the jewelry drawer. Empty!!
She checks the dressing table. Empty!!
Only one broken comb remains.
Then...
She realizes...
They already moved everything to Elena’s room. That hurts much more.
Vivian kicked the bed angrily.
"This is too much!"
She paced back and forth.
"All this time I was rooting for the female lead..."
"I even hated Vivian."
She stopped before the mirror.
"But now..."
She laughed bitterly.
"The slap wasn’t even enough to make Elena fall."
"Or..."
"Is Elena really that weak?"
Vivian frowned.
"Wasn’t Elena supposed to be an SSS-Class Beast Huntress?"
Every woman in Haxia awakened a Beast Core after coming of age.
The ranks were:
F, ...E, ...D, .C, ...B, ...A...S...SS...SSS.
The original Vivian...Had awakened nothing.
She wasn’t even F-Rank. She was recorded as a Zero-Class Female.
The laughingstock of Haxia.
Vivian sighed deeply.
"I cursed Vivian for being vicious because the writer only focused on the Heroine. He made Vivian so vicious and evil. And when Vivian died I dropped the book since I was satisfied with her death. But now I don’t know what to feel about Vivian."
She slowly sat on the edge of the bed.
"...Vivian was just a lonely girl."
"A girl who wanted her mother’s attention."
She rubbed her aching chest.
"But it isn’t entirely Elena’s fault."
"She’s only living the role the author gave her."
"But the author..."
"Always painted Vivian as the bad person."
"When I am out of this book. I will sue and protest against the Author of this book. He is such an evil man. Since he designed Vivian like his ex gf’s. He just wanted to torment her till she died!!"
She closed her eyes.
"If the novel has already decided Vivian must die..."
"...Can I really change that fate?"
Knock! Knock!!
A timid voice sounded outside.
"Young Miss..."
"Madam requests your presence in the Celestial Assembly Hall."
Vivian let out a tired sigh.
"Coming."
*Outside...
Several young maids walked ahead of her. Vivian followed quietly behind.
Hologram appears on the walls.
BREAKING NEWS
"Yesterday an unidentified SSSS-Class Female Beast awakened."
Vivian looked at it and was amused by the world’s technology.
One palace attendant spoke to another.
"...The Empire has confirmed it."
"An SSSS-Class female awakened yesterday."
"What?"
"The scanners detected her aura, but it disappeared before they could identify her."
"The Imperial Beast Council has already begun a worldwide search."
"They’re calling her..."
"...The Empire’s Miracle."
Vivian’s eyebrows knitted together.
"SSSS-Class?"
"That wasn’t in the novel."
She frowned thoughtfully.
"Then again..."
"I never finished reading it."
She remembered the original Vivian’s awakening record.
Zero-Class. Not F. Not even the weakest rank.
Absolutely nothing. She chuckled bitterly. "If only she had rank."
The massive doors of the Celestial Assembly Hall slowly opened.
The hall was magnificent.
Crystal pillars stretched toward a dome decorated with floating constellations.
Several family elders sat silently on both sides.
At the very front sat Emelianna.
Beside her...Elena.
Neither of them looked at Vivian. It was as though she didn’t exist.
Emelianna calmly placed a data tablet onto the table.
"I’ve already submitted your marriage profile to the Imperial Matching Bureau."
Vivian blinked. "...Marriage?"
"But the noble families refused you. They are all clamoring for your sister."
"The military families refused. Even the research clans refused."
"Only a merchant family accepted."
"So you have been matched. The son of a northern merchant has chosen you."
"You’ll attend a blind date with him this evening."
Her tone was emotionless.
"I don’t wish to see you causing trouble in this family anymore."
"You’ve disappointed me enough."
Vivian clenched her fists beneath her sleeves.
Emelianna continued. "You have nothing worthy of comparison with Elena."
"She is kind."
"Polite, Gifted and loved by everyone."
Then...Vivian felt the strange sensation again.
Her heart raced. "No..."
She immediately covered her mouth.
Don’t... Not again...
Her lips moved anyway.
"Not my sister..She’s...two years older than me."
Silence filled the hall.
Emelianna slowly looked at her. Her expression darkened.
"If you dislike this arrangement..."
"Then we shall sever our relationship as mother and daughter."
Vivian’s pupils trembled.
Before she could process those words, Emelianna delivered another blow.
"Oh."
"Elena likes your room."
"She wishes to convert it into her personal cloak room."
"Move the rest of your belongings out today."
Vivian stood there silently.
No one defended her, not the servants. Not even the good Elena.
Slowly...She clenched her fists.
Her nails dug so deeply into her palms that blood trickled down between her fingers.
She lowered her head, hiding the storm brewing inside her eyes.
So this...is how Vivian lived.
No wonder she became the villain.
For the first time since transmigrating...
Vivian no longer hated the original owner of this body.
She pitied her. She clenches her fist. Blood drips from her fingers.
She looks at the Astronova crest.
Then smiles. A cold smile. "You all think Vivian wanted your love."
"Too bad."
"I’m not Vivian."
"I won’t beg for your love."