Engagement
Estella stared at the mirror in horror, a reflection she didn't recognize staring back at her.
"Who the hell is this..where are my pretty hazel eyes...my beautiful black hair…”She thought as her hands grabbed at her face and hair in panic.Her mind was racing; the reflection in the mirror was the opposite of what she looked like the night before, skin as pale as snow, lavender colored eyes, and purple-black hair.She took deep breaths; just last night she was bar hopping with her friends and now she was in an antique room as big as her apartment.
"Oh my god...Am I dead!?" She exclaimed, after looking around she scoffed, feeling silly for her overreaction.
“Nah, I'm not dead; maybe this is a lucid dream, I might have drunk more than I could handle last night." She thought as she got back into the giant bed that felt a little too real."Yeah...it's just a dream..." she thought trying to convince herself, even though she knew she was just deluding herself, she started drifting back to sleep when someone banged open the door of 'her' room.Her eyes blew wide open and she sat up to look at the invader, who was a young maid, looking at her with scorn in her eyes.
" I see you are still in bed." The maid said as she placed what looked like a dress on the edge of the bed, her eyes hatefully observing Estella.Estella stared at her and slowly got out of bed, approaching the maid with caution, the maid looked at her as if she was a creep, Estella slowly reached out her hand and poked the maid's cheek.
"Oh my god she feels so real..." she thought as she kept playing with the maid's cheeks.The maid started breathing heavily as her eyebrow twitched, " Lilith get your hands off me. Now let me dress you." The maid said pushing Estella's hands away.Estella felt a ton of bricks fall on her head when she heard that name, "Lilith? As in the villain..that gets executed at the end of the novel..by Vincent Allard...her husband...." She thought as she started laughing in panic. The maid looked her up and down uncomfortably as she continued undressing her.
"Lilith? Me? Yeah right." She laughed heartily as the maid stared at her blankly."Lilith stop acting so strange; I have to dress you." The maid said, pulling the nightgown up above Estella’s head. Estella instinctively covered her breasts; she was standing fully nude in front of another woman in a room by themselves.
Normally at bathhouses, she didn't give a damn because they were all naked, but here it was just her and the maid, making her blush in embarrassment.The maid didn't seem to care as she proceeded with doing her own thing. "Sit down, I have to do your hair and makeup." The maid pushed her onto a stool in front of the vanity desk. She saw herself again and sighed. "Damn..this girl is drop-dead gorgeous, being this beautiful should be a crime.." she thought examining her appearance in the mirror, she looked at her hands, long elegant pretty fingers, well taken care of, she looked down at her feet which matched well with her hands.
" Her appearance lives up to being a villain though, i’m getting a bad vibe just looking at myself..." she thought, and for the century it appears she was in, the dress she was now wearing is incredibly revealing in the chest area, made out of black lace and dark purple silk, although it suited her body well."The count wishes to speak with you this morning; he has an announcement for you." The maid said as she started walking away. "Guess I'll follow her then..." Though she felt strange that the maid kept walking in front of her, in a way she was glad she was being led but shouldn’t maids be walking behind their masters? They were finally standing in front of a huge heavy door; it was intimidating, the maid knocked and a servant inside opened the door. She walked in and saw an older man in perhaps his late 40s, a lady also in her 40s, and a son and daughter not far apart in age, late teens or early 20s."Count and Lady Grimrose good morning." The maid said in a respectful tone as she bowed.
"Hold up, she didn't greet me like this."Estella thought to herself slightly offended as she saw the Count stand up and walk to her, his face grim.A hand slapped across her cheek so hard she tasted blood in her mouth; the Count looked at her with disgust. "Where is your respect child? You have to bow down whenever you see me; if your forehead is not on the ground you're not in your place." He said very aggressively. She felt the anger rising in her; this was not a dream, this was real, and she was pissed off.
"Respect? That must be earned..and you..there is nothing about you to respect." She said looking at him dead in the eye.Lilith’s body reacted instinctively, trembling in fear even though Estella herself wasn’t afraid.
He punched her stomach as hard as he could and she doubled over in pain, her knees on the ground, trying to catch her breath; her face was suddenly pushed down onto the hard wood floor.The count was stepping on her head. "Don't forget your place child; if it was not for your face and body, I would have gotten rid of you years ago." He said, she heard the other people in the room giggling; she felt something snap in her brain and she got a flashback of Lilith locked in a stable during the winter, not having been fed for two days and having only hay to cover herself from the cold.
"I see...Lilith isn't loved here..everyone tortures her.." she thought to herself; some of it had been in the novel, but she was now seeing memories that weren’t in the book. She started laughing; the whole situation seemed so stupid, at the sound of her laughter everyone stopped giggling, eyes watching her fearfully. Her siblings looked at each other in confusion."What a sinister laugh.."Lady Grimrose said fanning her face with a feathered and embroidered fan.
“What is so funny?" The count asked as he put more pressure on her head."Oh nothing, Father..." she said in a ridiculous tone, she never stopped looking him in the eyes and he felt uncomfortable, he got off her and went back to his desk.
She got up and dusted herself off; she continued smiling, making everyone in the room awkward as blood dripped from her nose onto her lips. She decided not to wipe it off to freak them out more."Your engagement will be solidified tomorrow at dinner with the Allard family, be on your best behavior, and remember, as soon as they put you to work on the documents of their household make copies and send them to me, spy on the Duke and his sons; I need every detail of the nuclear weapons they were entrusted with, as well as where the trade with China will be." He said.
Lilith rolled her eyes, "Yes sir." She said; he scoffed at her and dismissed her, the maid following close behind. As she walked away, she smiled knowing damn well that as soon as she was out of this hellhole she wouldn't follow up on anything. They would all be dead to her.The maid followed Lilith as she went to her room; she looked in the mirror and cleaned off the blood from her nose and mouth. "If I had been in my real body, I could have bodied him so easily, spending 2 years in the military and learning martial arts growing up would have come in handy, but this girl's dainty body wouldn't be able to handle any of that." She thought looking at her thin arms that looked like they could snap just from picking up her hairbrush.The maid kept looking at her, "Who are you?" The maid asked with fear in her eyes.
Estella turned to look at her and smiled. "I'm your dear Lady Lilith; why do you ask?" She said cocking her head curiously.
The maid looked away; the Lilith she knew was rude and would always yell at her and push her around; this one was nicer to her earlier, and now she was just creepy."Would you please bring me breakfast? I'm starved, thank you." She said, the maid nodded and turned away, “Please? Thank you? She's acting so strange..." the maid thought but shrugged it off and went to the kitchen
.It was finally nighttime and she finished writing down how her day went in the journal she found in one of the cabinets; it had been previously written in by the original Lilith and she decided to continue it."I need to find a way back home, but how? Do I have to die here? Can I avoid getting executed by my future husband? If I kill myself will I stay dead? Is my original body dead? I need to find a way to save money so I can escape, I also need to find people I can trust, okay...ugh, Mom.... Dad..are you worried about me..I always call around this time..is time still going over there..or is it paused...." She thought.
The candle flickered; she turned to look out the window; it was a pretty sight, a pretty garden, and she could see a forest from here. The moon looked exceptionally lovely, "Alright. I have to go to sleep so I can function well tomorrow, i wonder how Vincent and Cyrus look; in the novel, they were described as being incredibly handsome. Well, I guess I'll find out tomorrow...good night, Mom, Dad, I love you." She thought as she climbed into bed and hugged one of her pillows, taking a while to fall asleep.
The morning sun began to creep up on her around 7 am, even though she had been awake since 5 am. It had been a restless night; she kept her eyes closed hoping to wake up in her small room in her one-bedroom apartment. She opened them and was quickly disappointed. "Dammit.." She had high hopes of being back home, wanting to tell Yuki about the dream she had yesterday.
"I need a shower..."When the maid came she set up a bath with scented oils and rose petals, two more maids came in and they all scrubbed her with sugar exfoliants, one of the new girls was putting a mask on her face and the other was massaging her scalp with oils. She felt very pampered, but when she opened her eyes she saw how they looked at her with so much hate; it kind of ruined her relaxation."Tough crowd." She thought as she tried to relax again. "...I wonder what the male lead Vincent is doing right now..."
"Father is it really necessary for me to marry her? Can't you just make a contract with the count or something?" Vincent pleaded with his father.
“No. We already made a deal; you have no say in this son, it will be good to have her here; it gives us leverage, the count won't make a move on us if one of his own is in the manor, and we could keep an eye on her in case she tries anything funny." The duke said.
He was a very strict man; he loved his sons but he wasn't the best at showing it, he was a very handsome man for his age; his hair was still all black, and he had fine lines on his face but not any harsh wrinkles.
Cyrus smiled at his little brother, " Why are you making such a big deal? You don't even have to sleep with her; she's a temporary fix, after a couple of months you can annul the marriage and choose anyone of your liking." Cyrus said.
Vincent sighed and rubbed his temples, " Okay, you’re right, I will not lay a hand on her; that way we can just annul the marriage like you said and her position won't be secure. Please remember this and don't make it difficult when I need the divorce father.." he said stressed about it."Why are you so against the marriage? I heard she was divine, i'm sure she doesn't beat Thalia in the beauty aspect, but even so, I've heard rumors of that woman's beauty." Cyrus said in a mocking tone.Vincent rolled his eyes, "Yeah, well, I've heard that woman is a snake, for the past month she's been bragging about marrying me when apparently she saw me once a month ago at the Millards' banquet, she doesn't get along with other ladies her age and likes to steal men away from the other ladies. Even married ones." He said.
"If I did sleep with her, which I won't, who knows what kind of diseases she carries."The duke and Cyrus looked at him shocked. "Little brother, I know you're stressed but there's no need to insult a lady you've never even met, she is still a lady, and the count would never let her act so unbefitting, have a little faith," Cyrus said, even though he also didn't trust her and understood why Vincent was frustrated; they still needed her as leverage; after all, they didn't know, that even if she was here, the count would still raid their home and kill everyone including her if he got the chance.The Duchess came into the room and felt the tension, "Good morning my loves, I have started preparations for this evening, I hope you are all prepared." She said as she placed her hand on Vincent's shoulder; they didn't have the heart to tell her what their plans were so they calmed down.
"Yes, Mother, we're prepared; we were just talking about the documents," Vincent said, since his mother had no idea why he was actually marrying Lilith.
"Oh, I see. Well, I hope tonight goes well; you boys play nice." She said as she playfully smacked Vincent's arm."Yes, Mother." Cyrus and Vincent said.
“Alright, I am going back to finish the rest of the preparations, I hope tonight's dinner goes well." Unlike the men, the Duchess wanted to meet Lilith; she had heard rumors but didn't want to judge a book by its cover; she was still cautious but wanted to try and get along."Well then, see you tonight." She said and walked away.
