Vain

21. Alternate Reality

Pulling the first drawer opened was rather anticlimactic and so was the next one and the one after that and the next one after that. After at least three empty wooden draws, Aileene could guess that this was the trend and not the outliner. And it really made her looting trip less rewarding, since she wasn't able to find anything of value.

Though Aileene still pushed on opening all the drawers, but each one remained stubborn and empty. Seemingly only wanting to gift her a mouthful of dust and dirt. So through her allergic anguish, she could only hope that now with only one draw left, all her placed hope would redeem her sufferings. So when her anticipation was answered, she was rewarded with a book. An old, worn book, that was well loved and used.

As she picked it up, she scanned its discolored cover. A coat of light green faded with time. Using her other hand to wipe off the dust that settled on its jacket, she cleared the cover to see the golden foiled title dimly shine with the help of the redden sunlight.

'Fate of a Villainess'

The title was stamped on the cover with fancy cursive letters and Aileene felt entranced, as she traced the words, pronouncing each character clearly on her tongue. It was a strange title and she immediately felt connected to it. Afterall it mentioned villainess, was it about her? But such a book she had never heard of it. There wasn't even an author that she could reference.

Though before her imagination could run too far, the sky had finally darkened with the sun completely under the horizon. So Aileene decided it was time to leave the stuffy attic since the day was turning into night, she didn't exactly feel comfortable being in the dark. Holding the book close to her, she began shuffling out the small attic, closing the door behind her, she returned to her own room with the intention to start reading her newly found book there.

❅

When she had finally returned to her room, she noticed a small meal placed on the single desk in her bedroom. Aileene sighed, she must have really lost track of her time and miss dinner. Her parents would have been so worried about her. Walking towards the desk, she set her book down, as she sat herself down on the chair. An encompassing sense of guilt filled her heart as she saw her parents thoughtfulness to her.

Before the food could get colder, Aileene started eating her small meal, promising to herself to make it up to her parents the next day. And so she swiftly finished her meal, content, and feeling well cherished.

Pushing herself off of her seat, Aileene picked up her book again, after she had made sure to place her tray outside her room door for the servants to pick up. Plopping herself down on her soft bed, she set pillows behind her back for her to lean on. When she finally felt comfortable and warm, she cracked open the book.

The first few pages were fairly normal, titles and indexes. It was just the boring starter to the book, so she barely even skimmed the pages, opting to just skip them entirely. Finally reaching the first page of the novel. Her eyes read the first chapter title, her mouth followed along, silently mouthing the words she read. Which was strange to say the least, since she had never done this before. But she herself hadn't thought much of it.

'Fate Can Be Changed'

Moving on to the paragraphs below the lettering of the title, she started silently reading and absorbing each and every word. Her full attention was on the book and she immediately felt submerged in its world.

'I've died. It was as simple as that, to be at the wrong place at the wrong time. To simply be the unlucky soul in a traffic accident. Something so normal and ordinary, something you wouldn't worry about, something like crossing the street. And so the drunk driver hit me, killing me on impact, and so my bright future disappeared. I was a young girl, barely 18. There were, of course, many things I regretted.

But not long after that accident, I seemed to awake again. It was a miracle I had thought. Did I actually survive the accident? Well, I guess it was more complicated than that. I survived, but I wasn't me anymore. I now inhabited someone else body.

Though that really wasn't the end of the story, that certain someone wasn't even a real people. I had somehow, magically escaped the inevitable tide of death and transmigrated into the body of a villainess in an otome game I played when I was alive!'

Wait, this meant that the main character in this story was from the real world. The world that she had heard so much about. The modern and advanced world that had truly real people. The world that made Vain. Aileene couldn't wrap her mind around this fact, how could a person from the real world suddenly become a game character? Wasn't that too unrealistic?

Then again, if this book was merely a fantasy novel someone wrote. It really couldn't be from anyone in the world of Vain, afterall no one knew about otome games, not to mention that there was a real world that made these otome games.

The last option was the world system, but it wasn't a stupid entity. So why would it leave random books that reveal the existence of otome games and the real world to NPCs that aren't meant to know.

Shaking her head to clear her thoughts of confusion, Aileene decided to question things later. She should at least finish the book first.

'This otome game in question was none other than Vain. And I was the infamous, Aileene Lovell!'

Aileene dropped the book in shock. It couldn't be? This book was about Vain, about her?

❅

19.) How was your Christmas?

Answer:
I didn't actually do much, just went to Las Vegas with my family. Brought some stuff, ate some food. It was rather boring, honestly.

20.) Do you enjoy books that subvert the expectations in a genre?