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🖤 The Villainess Just Wants to Sleep

Chapter 2: A Doll Among Lions

> “Smile when they look down on you. One day, they'll look up—and it will terrify them.”

— Lady Virelia

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The Grand Autumn Banquet was not meant for concubines’ children.

It was for heirs, generals, and pure-blooded nobles — the "future of the empire."

And yet, Kaelaira stood beneath the golden chandeliers of the Imperial Hall, a vision of porcelain and ice, her small hands folded in the exact position dictated by the Royal Handbook of Formal Grace.

She was ten years old.

She was not supposed to be here.

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“Who is that child?” a noblewoman whispered, fanning herself.

“She’s the concubine’s girl… what was her name? The etiquette tutor?”

“Ah yes, the baron’s shame. Why is she dressed like a princess?”

No one answered.

Because Kaelaira didn’t look like a mistake that night.

She looked like a mirror someone had dared to polish — and now hated what they saw reflected back.

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Across the room, the Queen sat with her chin tilted high, her expression unreadable.

Beside her stood Princess Elara, her daughter, smiling and giddy, basking in attention.

Kaelaira was placed just three steps behind the princess — a calculated insult.

But she didn’t falter.

She didn’t flinch.

She simply stood. Like a blade in a sheath.

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Then came the moment: the Empress Dowager herself arrived.

The crowd fell silent. All children of noble blood were to bow, greet, and present their chosen virtue — a tradition meant to showcase their future roles.

Princess Elara stepped forward with a bright, chirping voice:

> “I represent grace, Your Majesty. For I shall be the empire’s flower.”

The court cooed. Elara’s curtsy was textbook.

The Queen smiled like victory.

Then came Kaelaira’s turn.

There were murmurs. Some thought she would be skipped.

But the Empress's gaze settled on her with curiosity, perhaps cruelty.

> “Step forward,” she said.

Kaelaira did. Calmly. Quietly. She curtsied lower than a princess ever should.

“Your virtue?” the Empress asked.

Kaelaira raised her head.

> “Silence, Your Majesty.

For only in silence can one observe the world for what it truly is.”

The hall fell utterly still.

Even the Queen’s fan stopped moving.

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Then, Kaelaira lifted her hand — and presented a hand-painted scroll. On it were five proverbs in the ancient script, each one subtly criticizing vanity, ambition, and inherited power.

The Empress raised an eyebrow. “You painted these?”

> “I translated, wrote, and illustrated them this morning. I also bound the scroll myself, Your Majesty,” Kaelaira answered softly.

The Queen’s smile twitched.

The nobles stared.

She was ten.

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Later that night, whispers spread like wildfire:

> “She speaks like a scholar.”

“She bowed lower than a crown princess!”

“They say she’s a swordmaster, too…”

“That smile… it didn’t reach her eyes.”

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Back in her private carriage, the Queen sat motionless.

Her fan had cracked in her grip.

“She’s dangerous,” she said quietly to her lady-in-waiting. “A little viper hiding behind silk.”

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Meanwhile, in the cold wing of the palace, Lady Virelia poured herself tea with trembling hands.

For the first time, her daughter had been seen — truly seen.

Kaelaira stood behind her, expression unreadable.

"Did I perform well, Mother?"

Virelia sipped the tea, then set it down without looking back.

> “You didn’t shame me. That’s enough.”

Kaelaira said nothing more.

But as she walked away, a strange thought came to her — like a whisper from the wind:

> I wonder what it would feel like… to be hated for who I am, not who they made me.

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End of Chapter 2

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