Days pa.s.sed in unsettling peace and serenity. He was fed, clothed, attended. He basically didn"t have to do anything. A privilege of being a baby.Almost every day, his parents, Marquis Allen Wade and his wife, Helena Wade, would visit him. They seemed like a happy couple content with their days. Even though these two never failed to feed him dog food, they also never forgot to shower him with love, always showing to him that he was the greatest blessing in their lives. It was such a weird feeling being treated like that. The happiness in their faces and the smiles on their lips as they played with him were too blinding and scaldingly warm.
This became one of the best things he liked about being a baby. Yet this was also one of the worst since he had to endure the p.r.i.c.kly stubbles of his father every time he rubbed his face with his while listening to the couple"s unending tales.
Still. Alright. He had to admit. He was glad to be been born in a great and warm household. Even though he would also always become tired of his days due to the chatterbox couple.
Now the only problem was the days of a one-year-old baby was still as boring as h.e.l.l. He was not growing up as fast as he wanted. What could he do to escape from babyhood and went straight to being an adult?
"System, give me any item which could make one transform into an adult, or at least an adolescent!" He tried to demand once.
System: Sorry, this time I"m okay being muted and pretending to be dead.
At that time, his maid had brought him outside for a change of scenery and to get some fresh air. They were at the balcony. The freckled girl sitting at a round table in the middle of the place had him sit in her lap while she held a huge picture book in front of him.
Her voice was what she heard instead of the system.
"Baby Luke, listen to me, okay? I will be reading our continent"s history to you now."
He looked up, wanting to sneer at her, but his mouth did not move according to his will, instead automatically curving into a cute smile. Feeling as if she was melting within, she first giggled and started pinching his chubby cheeks before going back to reading.
Jiang Li felt even more miserable.
"Long, long ago, G.o.ds and G.o.ddesses were the only beings in this beautiful world. They were beautiful and could command nature. They have a pa.s.sionate heart..."
"Yeah, insert a thousand words of description for those mythical creatures." He boredly said in his mind.
"One day, the G.o.d of creation created humans."
"And then humans multiply. Deities began gaining faith power through them so they become active in giving them miracles. However, they could only do miracles through people so they created mana so miracles will be easier to make. One day though, the deities suddenly disappear, and only the G.o.ddess of light is left to care for the world."
"And this d.a.m.n G.o.ddess had become very bored of the world after a very long time so she started the plot by performing summoning magic on a whim."
While the maid kept on spouting praises for that being she never saw even once in her entire, Jiang LI kept contradicting her in his mind. When her introduction went to the people who founded the empire, he kept quiet and sunk into contemplation. Unknowingly, the plot started to play in his mind.
...
The story took place in a medieval world where magic existed. Unfortunately, its practice had already deteriorated a lot compared to the ancient times since even those born to prestigious n.o.ble clans were not guaranteed to possess apt.i.tude and affinity for it.
The setting for the romance of the leads this time was in Baler Continent, specifically the empire at its center, Litus Empire.
The female lead was Rumina Bolden, the only daughter of the head of the second most prestigious clan in the empire, Duke Bolden. She was very smart, beautiful, and had a stellar background. It was as natural as it could be that she was engaged to the crown prince and trained to be his empress since she was twelve years old. Everything had been going nicely, until when she turned fifteen.
The empire believed in the G.o.ddess of Light since time immemorial and many citizens were devout followers of her even though n.o.body, not even the High Priest had seen her. But well, she did exist. And out of the blue, this G.o.ddess s.n.a.t.c.hed a soul from the modern world and made that girl the Saintess.
This new girl caught the eyes of the crown prince so when the church claimed that it was the G.o.ddess" edict to make her the Empress once he ascended the throne, he did not protest but even enthusiastically went along with the church"s and royal family"s arrangement.
What happened to the female lead? She was made the royal concubine, a position second only to the Empress. For women of lesser status, it would have been a great honor to receive this t.i.tle but for the female lead, it was an insult. It had been unfair to her since she all her life she was trained to be the Empress. Yet when she was about to crown, somebody s.n.a.t.c.hed it from her. Many times she wondered, why couldn"t an esteemed duke"s daughter compare to a woman with shady background from another world? Why did she have to be the lowly royal concubine despite being promised to be the most distinguished woman in the empire?
The royal family said it was to compensate her hard work and preparation all these years that they still gave her the royal concubine position. Was she supposed to feel happy?
They said she was the one trained and the Empress had yet to know her duties so she should help by carrying out the task on her behalf. Once again, should she feel happy?
When she entered the palace, a place dreamt of by countless women in the empire, that was when her sufferings started.
The female lead led a life full of abuse since the arrival of the Saintess. The latter despite being somebody who was not really useful to the empire apart from being the symbol of authority and miracle of the church, was more doted on by the Emperor.
As for the female lead, it was the opposite. In fact, the Emperor hated her because, in their childhood days, he was always compared to her by everyone. In all those comparisons, she"s always the more excellent one between them.
The Emperor was a stupid and insecure brat and thought that it was the female lead"s fault that he had always been humiliated every time the comparison between them was brought out by other n.o.bles or even members of the imperial clan. The unreasonable grudge he held against her made him not favor her in the palace.
This was reflected on how she was treated as a slave a.s.suming the empress" duties. Her residence, clothes, and items were two levels inferior to the Saintess. When she got pregnant and told him about it, the sc.u.mbag got angry that she let herself be pregnant and did something to cause her to miscarry. Lastly, when the baby was lost and she was bleeding and crying for help, he forbid any doctor to go forward.
The female lead was escorted to her palace only to die there because she was not treated on time. That was how the tragic life of someone who should have been destined for greatness ended.
She did not do anything wrong. She never even tried to fight for favor against the Saintess. Quietly, due to having a strong sense of responsibility and respect to the principles pa.s.sed down to her by her parents, she performed her duties splendidly, disregarding the pities and mockeries thrown at her.
But what did she gain in the end? Heartbreak, sorrow, betrayals, undeserved treatment, and a joke-like death.
"If I will be given a second chance in life, I will not be as foolish..." Those were the words she whispered to herself right before her world got submerged in darkness.
Thankfully, the blind and deaf heaven seemed to have finally realized that she was the female lead so it heard her wish and sent her back on time. She became ten years old again. The girl became so overwhelmed and decided to live a life she wanted, not decided for her by the royal family or church.
The first must in her list of things to do in her second life was not to be engaged with the crown prince. What came next was to save her family from destruction, because, in the first life, the b.a.s.t.a.r.d Emperor executed her father as punishment for causing the Empress to miscarry. The latter was not something she did. But she underestimated his hate of her or her family. Though it was also true the Empress was also behind it since, in that black-haired woman"s grief, she accused the royal concubine despite having no proof.
Thinking about this, even though deep in her heart, there was a voice dictating for revenge, she chose to ignore it. The third thing she must ensure was no whatsoever involvement with the Saintess. That useless person only knew how to act mushy and cute in front of the Emperor yet still managed to be respected by everyone in the Empire. Which woman could be more dangerous than her?
The female lead did her best to adhere to the rules she made for herself and pa.s.sed her first five years in peace. However, since no matter what she does she still appeared excellent, she still caught the fancy of the royal family and was decreed to the crown prince.
How helpless and scared she looked back when she first meet that future Emperor in her second life. She was at the point where she planned to escape from the Empire with her father.
Unfortunately, no matter how she tried, the plot wouldn"t let her.
Because despite all the d.a.m.nable things done to her by the Emperor in the previous life, he was actually still the male lead... Yup. The world belonged to the sick one where it wanted to give the female lead the most abhorrent background and route possible.
How the h.e.l.l did that Rumina Bolden stomach being together with someone who tortured her and made her life very miserable? This person was even the one who indirectly killed her! He also even killed her innocent, unborn child! It was really a wonder. To what extent could a woman be so m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.tic?
Well, later in their abusive love story, it was revealed that the male lead was actually bewitched through magic. The stupid Saintess, slash villainess, had been granted a wish by the whimsical G.o.ddess. Yet she used her precious wish in making the Emperor, who had gotten her smitten at first sight, to also love her back.
If thought in a certain angle, if her goal was self-comfort, then the villainess did wise, because the crown prince who then became Emperor was the highest authority in the Empire and could grant her the best life possible in this world.
However, it couldn"t be disregarded how evil she was for manipulating someone to like her and influencing him to make someone else"s life h.e.l.l. She was a failed heroine because despite being granted the highest status in the holy church, she rarely did her duties as a Saintess and allotted more time on scheming against the female lead and the Emperor.
In the second life, it was of no surprise if this Saintess, a girl named Su Luxi, wished the same the second time around. However, that time around, the one favored by the heaven was the female lead so even though the wish was the same and the G.o.ddess did grant it, the power of love, cough, plot, triggered a miracle and paved ways for the girl to lose her fear of the future Emperor and properly fall in love with him.
Who knows if it was a trope for stories like this, but in the end, in an imperial ball held at the palace where all the n.o.bilities in the empire and some important envoys from surrounding countries were invited, a grand revelation occurred. The revelation of what? Of course, the villainess" misconducts, plus the extra accusations from the other random people who suddenly sprouted out of nowhere just to convict her.
The Saintess was condemned and treated no more as a symbol of the Church of Light, but a fake, or a witch from another world. She was accused of using taboo black magic to travel through worlds and posed as a Saintess of their Empire.
What happened next? Naturally, it was the leads" happily ever after, and the villainess road to insanity and madness.
...