Spill the tea: Part I

Looking at my face and the other pretty girl’s face, it’s quite clear that we are sisters. We both had that striking emerald eyes and while she donned her father’s blonde hair, I had black. Maybe it was from the mother.

To clearly understand which novel you have reincarnated into, one must remember the description of the characters; at least the main characters and then the rest of the story unfolds, if you remember the story that is.

From the faces I saw, I couldn’t figure out the novel. Okay then, we move on to the names.

I remember that man yelling her name out. Rozalia. Rings a bell? No. It doesn’t. Why? Because it’s just one name that many of them use. I think I know more than one book that has a Rozalia in it, but her description doesn’t match with theirs.

In such cases, where one wishes to know the full name without being suspicious, especially when the ladies’ knight is beyond suspicion and staring at me as if I were a witch and had a hand on his sword hilt ready to slice my head off, we go with a simple line.

“I don’t remember.”

Amnesia. A lovely diagnosis for people, especially those who reincarnated into a world they weren’t familiar with, who wish to know everything but don’t want any suspicions on them.

“Pardon?”

“I don’t know my name.”

Wow, his eyes literally blew up twice the size.

“Your name…you don’t know your name?”

“I don’t.” I wince, clutching my head in my hand as I groan, “Ever since I woke up, I just keep drifting in and out. There are fleeting moments that just zip past my eyes and it hurts trying to remember it.”

“Is that why…you fell?” he seemed confused by his own question.

“I believe I hit my head wrong in the morning and thought that a fall could cure it and bring me back to my senses. Alas! It failed.”

The knight definitely thought my logic was stupid, it could be seen on his face. “Are you telling the truth?”

“Yes. Why would I lie?”

He seemed to ponder over my words. I just hope he buys it. The last thing one needs to go through in an historical reincarnation is to be burnt down to cinders all because they believe her to be a witch.

“Are you sure you don’t know your name?” he asked, “What about me? Do you know me?”

“I just know you as my knight, because you introduced yourself as such.” 

“Hmm…it might be true, that you have indeed lost your memories. I mean, you’ve been off the very minute you screamed in the morning at that poor man. It was hard explaining it to him.”

“Apologies.”

“Don’t, please,” he looked away, shaking his head, “My lady never apologizes.”

“Really?”

“Nor is she kind to people. She treats everyone as dirt and worms. Your words, not mine.” Evil vibes indeed. “You should have informed the lord about your amnesia or even the doctor rather than keeping it hidden.”

“The lord was cruel to me. And even if I were to tell the doctor, he would inform the lord later. I don’t wish to indulge my worries to untrusty humans. I mean, my very own father wishes for my death and this can be the very excuse for my nearing end.”

He nodded, understanding my statements. “Then I guess, it’s a secret between the two of us.”

I smiled. “Yes. Our very own dirty, little secret.”

“Please don’t say it like that,” he seemed disgusted.

I frowned. “I am your lady. I have every right to say my words however I wish to say.”

“My lady would never say that.” Ah, he’s pissing me off.

“Listen, just because I’ve lost my memories doesn’t mean my personality must remain the same as it was before, okay? Remember your position as a knight and I, as your master.”

He nodded, but I noticed a glimpse of an eye-roll. Cheeky fellow. “What do I get for keeping this ‘dirty, little secret’?”

“You want something?”

“Nothing in this world is for free. Even secrets.” Should I just throw him off the balcony? But then again, I need an information extractor and this man seems good, sadly. I’ll keep him till I get a replacement for him. Because I’m sure our personalities are going to clash against each other.

“What do you want then?”

“Unlimited access to food.”

“Huh?”

“Food is the best thing that exists in this world,” He looked dreamily at the air, as if reminiscing his long-lost lover, “I wish to have unlimited access to food where ever we go.”

“Uh…sure?”

“And also, when you order your usual tea time snacks, please make it double,” he nodded. “I like those biscuits.”

“…Sure.” Didn't his previous master give him snacks? Right, she was cruel. Well, food is a better bargain than something utterly impossible to get.

“Now, what is it you to wish to know, my lady?”

I sat on the bed while he sat opposite on the lush chair. What is it that I need to know first? 

"Are we rich?" He looked disgusted and puzzled. I need money and riches to live my life to the end because the other world me lived on scrapes thanks to my college stubbornness. Ain't no way am I going to die a poor girl in an unknown world. 

"Yes. We are the amongst the richest in the kingdom, with the master doning the title of a marquess." Would have preferred the title of a duke but it's better than a baron.

“My full name.”

“Rozalia Leslie Sordredei.” Did it ring any bells? I thought hard but no novel came to mind. Okay, maybe the mention of other characters might help me remember something.

“My family. Their names and the drama.” Drama to know the plot and to know tea because life at college was dry.

“The marquess name is Edwin Leslie Sordredei. The other lady is Irina Leslie Sordredei. As you know, you both are twins birthed by the marchioness.”

“Twins?” I repeated.

“Yes, twins. I’m sure you’ve noticed the resemblance.”

“It’s only in the eyes.”

“Well, it is true. Both of you have the same eyes inherited through generations. I believe the old nannies of the mansion would speak of how the two of you were quite like each other when you were young. The only way to differentiate was by the hair.”

“Yes. I noticed that.”

“Overtime, my lady grew her features sharper and cunning while your sister embraced the softness of her looks.”

“You have a lovely way with words.”

“Your punishment in reading old literature, poems and love stories on daily basis has now carved me into a man of words.”

“Looks like it was worth it,” I smirked. There was no reciprocation but a simple nod. Seems he’s not the smiling type. “So, if the world were to describe us, I’m like the cruel sister and she the good one.”

“Indeed.”

“Was I really cruel?”

He nodded. “How cruel?”

He hesitated, as he avoided looking at my eyes. I tried making contact with him, but he kept avoiding as if telling that my cruelty was a sin or perhaps a curse that wasn't meant to be spoken out. Wow, how cruel was I that he— “You killed your sister’s dog.”

…

…

…

Huh?

I didn’t hear that right. “I stole my sister’s hot dog, you mean.” I nervously laughed.

He looked at me like a crazy fellow who escaped from the asylum. “You didn’t steal a hot dog…or whatever dog it was. You killed your sister’s dog. In the sense, you ended its life. You had it go to heaven. You stopped its heart beat. You brought a soul before death's door. You had the hell shake its head and the heaven glare at your sins."

“I killed a dog?”

“Yes.”

“My hands have been once stained with the blood of a dog I killed?”

“Yes.”

“Did I cry while killing the dog?”

“No.”

“How old was it?”

“Just a year old.”

“I am the cruellest.” He nodded with no hesitation. Kill a human, fine. Kill a bug, also fine. Kill a family member, perfectly fine! But kill a dog!? A puppy! A baby! “I am a true villainess. There is no redemption for my sins.”

“Indeed.”

“Aren’t you supposed to console me?” I said in between my sobs.

“You told me before, it’s better to console one with the knife-stabbing truth than the sweet, poison of lies that erodes one's mind slowly.”

“That’s better.”

“You were ten years old when you killed the dog.”

“Ten?” I was a born villainess? Did the blood of the villainess flow through me the minute I was born to this world? “Why would I even kill it?”

“Because you wanted one and your sister got it instead.” Ah. Jealousy. Then couldn't she just dognap it rather than ending it's life? Or at least end the sister's life instead of the dog. Or better, say goodbye to your father at heaven's door. Or another lovely non-violent solution, find a stray dog and adopt it. 

The minds of a villain is hard to understand. 

If I’m not wrong, I remember the marquess saying about the villainess coveting for her sister’s fiancé. If that’s the case, then this villainess here has some sort of deep hatred and jealousy towards her sister.

But how could one hate such a sweet being who has nothing but love for her sister? Rozalia, I don’t understand you.

“Do I hate my sister?”

“You hate her so much to the point you even tried to kill her.” It confirms it then. This villainess here is going to die sooner or later. But she will die because the plot of the story says so. Then again, maybe there’s a slight chance I won’t die because there’s a slight chance that I can be a side villainous character. The main villainess' side chick, perhaps?

“How’s my relationship with my parents?”

“It’s a huge family drama,” he said. Right after he finished, his stomach grumbled, “I’m hungry, my lady.”

I rolled my eyes. “Call for the snacks.”

He didn’t smile, but there was a glimmer in his eyes as he walked out with a glow on his face. I wonder which woman out there will stand above his love for food. Is that even possible?

The snacks arrived in a cart. Yeah, a literal cart because I apparently ordered for twice the snacks I usually eat. He sat on the chair, munching on his biscuits and he continued. “The marquess and the marchioness marriage was arranged by the family. It’s a scandalous one, in fact. However, the details of the scandal aren’t quite put out there for the public to know, so all that is there are speculations.”

“Like?”

“Her loving another man. Her having another child with a lowborn, such like that. Since it was a marriage neither liked, it started out rough and gradually the two gave up because hating was an exhausting job. All was fine, in the sense there were no huge fights that left the workers working overnight, until one day things went downhill.

“It was the birth of the girl twins. While the marchioness was ecstatic, the marquess was not. He wished for a son to succeed him. He needed a heir. They tried again but this time, the marchioness lost the baby before it was born. The doctors said that it was no more possible for the marchioness to bear more children and this had the lord of the house in furies, turning the place upside down. She left the mansion ever since and only visited for you, my lady.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You. But her trips began to diminish from once a month to once a year.”

That’s cruel. I understand that the marchioness didn’t like her husband, but that didn’t mean for her to neglect her children. Could it be that the start of Rozalia's villainess arc because the marquess was cruel to her and the only one who ever loved her was her mother who then no longer came and this set her to distrust every person around her and in the end the love left by her mother within her was diminished by her hatred towards her family and all of a humankind? Or she was born a villainess. 

“The marquess favoured your sister as she resembled him close, while he despised you, because you resemble your mother most. Now you know the reason behind the hatred that flourishes in his eyes when he sees you.”

“Do I bear the same hatred towards my sister, that she was loved by a parent and I was left neglected?”

“It is a known fact.”

“When was the last the marchioness visited?”

“Two years back.”

“She’s dead?”

“There is no news of her presence. It’s hard to get news about her when she disappears so well. We haven’t a slightest idea whether she’s alive or dead.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to visit.”

“One must consider the marchioness’ feelings too. For her, this place is like hell. And here, not many are by her side.”

“What about my sister’s fiancé?” I changed the subject, to dull down the fuming hatred that suddenly erupted from within. Though the soul of the real owner has disappeared, her emotions within the body remained intact.

“What about him?”

“Who is he? I believe the lord was speaking of me coveting him.”

“Who wouldn’t covet him when he’s the crown prince and the next to throne of the kingdom?”

"Who?"

"The crown prince of the kingdom. The one you have a major crush on."

Oh, my lord! The crown prince?! Like the crown prince who will soon take over the throne and rule over the kingdom? The crown prince who is like the richest being in the whole kingdom?! That very crown prince who Rozalia wishes to marry and hence, has a deep hatred towards her lucky sister!

Oh dear, Rozalia. You are definitely not a side character villainess; you are the main story’s villainess who’s destined to die in the end. And my fate is for surely tied with your death.