Chapter 2
In the light novel, there was a character name Maria Rosendrey, a spoiled and bratty rich girl, who was so deeply obsessed with the male lead, a.k.a the crown prince, that despite how many cruel words he threw at her, she still chased after him. It was at this point that most readers labeled her for having a m.a.s.o.c.h.i.s.t fetish.
Throughout the story, Maria constantly chased after the male lead, only to fail time after time, and when she tried to attack the female lead, she failed at that too. None of the other villainous love rivals saw her as a worthy rival and compet.i.tor when it came to trying to steal the male lead. Who, in Maria's honest opinion, wasn't worth that many girls fighting over him. Heck, she didn't even like the male lead! The guy always let his emotions get the best of him, always falling for one of the evil plots set up by one of the love rivals, except Maria's, that always led to him breaking up with the heroine.
And despite the female lead risking her life for him, explaining things to him with added proof, he never listened to her. Which would then result in a long arc of them trying to reconcile their romance with the help of the other male characters who were in love with her. It happened so much in the novel, that Maria remembered her original self-stating that the heroine deserved a better male lead than the one given to her. "Wait, usually in this type of situation, shouldn't I be worried about my bad ending?" Left alone in her room, Maria pondered over these things.
"Then again, now that I think about it, I never finished the story so I don't know if Maria gets a bad ending. c.r.a.p, this is bad! I don't even know my own bad ending! If I'm not careful, I'm gonna die! At a time like this, I need to come up with a plan." Closing her eyes, a chibi Maria stood in front of two miniature versions of herself. One was Light Maria, the reasonable and positive part of her inner conscious while floating across from Light Maria was Dark Maria, who was the negative and evil part of her inner conscious.
"At a time like this, you must remain calm and not do anything too rash," spoke Light Maria, only to have Dark Maria scoff at her words.
"Bull c.r.a.p! I say we go find that little punk of a prince and show him that we are not someone to be messed with. Revenge! Revenge!" chanted Dark Maria, wearing a psychotic smile on her face.
"I'm not a genius doctor with peerless abilities or a bada.s.s a.s.sa.s.sin who can kill people in a matter of seconds. Sadly, I'm too much of a coward to go chasing after revenge. I want a peaceful and lazy life until I can find some way back home," Maria instantly denied Dark Maria's suggestion.
"You're also not that smart and more of a dumba.s.s than anything," mockingly added Dark Maria.
"I resent that!" angrily yelled Maria.
"Violence is not the answer!" interjected Light Maria.
"I haven't even thrown the first punch yet. But she is a dumba.s.s! Remember that time she tried to cheat, only to still fail her test in the end," recalled Dark Maria.
"Such a thing never happened!" Maria's face was crimson red due to the embarra.s.sment of that particular memory. Suddenly a knock on the door brought Maria out of her thoughts and back into the real world. Walking through the door was her beautiful mother, who was escorted in by her two loyal maids.
"Marichan, how about we go and sit under the gazebo in the garden and have some tea," suggested her mother. Wanting to get out of bed, Maria of course agreed. Though first, she had to freshen up, letting her maids who were named s.h.i.+rone and Kuroka, pick out her clothes and style her hair. Once presented in the full body mirror, Maria saw that she was wearing a cute bowknot lace tutu dress; the hairstyle the maids had given her consisted of two large heart-shaped buns on either side of her head with a braid hanging down from each one.
In all, Maria found that her appearance was cute, yet not overly cute. She had somewhat of an average appeal, which was a deep contrast compared to most of the heroine's love rivals who were all described as drop-dead mature beauties. 'Poor Maria, you just can't win.' The soul trapped within Maria couldn't help but pity the poor character. Once dressed, her two maids escorted her to the garden, which was filled with a varied range of vibrant and lovely flowers.
In the middle of the garden, sitting under the gazebo was her mother, enjoying some cake
'Her hair is so pretty~! I wonder if she would let me touch it?' Maria could never help herself when it came to long, pretty hair, trying to resist the urge of running over there and instantly start playing with the woman's hair. She was so busy staring at the woman's hair that she wasn't paying attention to her footing and almost fell face first to the ground until someone raced over and saved her.
"Are you alright?" asked a concerned voice. Looking up, Maria was met with a pair of dazzling bright sapphire blue eyes staring down at her. It was only then that she noticed holding her was a very handsome boy, who seemed at least two years older than herself. The boy's face had a slight feminine touch as soft crimson hair barely came to his shoulders.
'Hair the color of crimson and eyes that glitter like sapphire jewels... Wait a minute! This is the male lead's villainous cousin!' Maria remembered that in the book the male lead had a villainous older cousin, who was determined to avenge his family, who was wrongly murdered by the Empress. At first, Maria recalled wondering why would the Empress murder his family, only to find out later that the Empress's first love was actually the Emperor's brother, who instead had fallen in love with a mysterious crimson-haired woman.
It seemed that even after she married the Emperor, the Empress was still upset that she couldn't be with the man she loved, so she plotted a scheme that would get the man she loved, along with his wife and child killed. It was only thanks to the family's loyal butler that the son survived the tragic event, but afterward, he was never the same again. Since then he wanted nothing more than revenge and honestly, Maria couldn't blame him. She was quite sad when in the climax of the story, he was unable to fulfill his wish and was killed by the male lead.
Maria was so deep in her thoughts, that she was unaware when her large emerald eyes began expressing deep sadness that caught the boy by surprise. Maria was brought out of thoughts when she realized how everyone's attention was directed towards her. Even back in her own world, Maria never like to be in the limelight. Looking towards the crimson-haired woman who was also looking at her, Maria blurted out the first thing that came to mind.
"I-I really like your hair!"
No one was expecting this to be her response; the crimson-haired woman herself couldn't help but laugh at such an honest response. "Maa, why thank you. I like your hair as well," she complimented the blus.h.i.+ng little girl, who was drowning in her own embarra.s.sment, unaware that her actions caused her savior to think she was quite cute.
"My clumsy silly, little Maria. This is Archd.u.c.h.ess Raina Scarlet and her son, Richard," her mother introduced the two people, who would soon have tragic fates.
"Marichan is quite adorable. I can't believe Alan would actually do something so harsh." It was evident that Archd.u.c.h.ess did not approve of the crown prince's actions, but Maria really didn't want her to do something that would most likely make her a target for his anger.
"Please do not worry about it. I'm also at fault. For now on, I promise to stay away from the crown prince as he wishes." In other words please, do not make things worse for me, Archd.u.c.h.ess. Yes, the crown prince is a jerk, but he is a jerk with a lot of power, mentally voiced Maria. Who was reminded that even though her father held the t.i.tle of Earl, a man who was looked up to and respected by many, including the Emperor who shared some respect for her father, in the end, she was only the daughter of an Earl while the crown prince was the son of the Emperor.
"I really don't get why the crown prince would be cruel to such a cute girl." The archd.u.c.h.ess shook her head, though Maria didn't know whether to laugh or cry. The 'real' Maria or the one in the book was very spoiled and bratty, always pus.h.i.+ng her affection onto the prince. So it made sense that he would detest her strongly.
'Step number one to staying alive, stay far away from the crown prince. He would only make my life worse,' Maria told herself.
"I know right! My Maria is the cutest girl in the country yet he dares treat her so cruelly. Hmph, that crown prince definitely doesn't deserve my cute Marichan's affection." Maria could only sweatdrop at her overly-affectionate mother who was grumbling and pouting her lips like a child.
"How about Marichan escorts me around the garden? I would like to spend more time with her," politely asked Richard, who really took after his mother in terms of appearance, inheriting both her crimson hair and sapphire blue eyes, wearing a sweet smile on his face.
'It's such a shame that he ended up with such a cruel fate,' depressingly thought Maria. Making their way towards the rose garden, Maria exclaimed when she saw a beautiful large pink rose.
"So pretty~! This would make a lovely hairpin for okachan!" exclaimed Maria, who began thinking of ideas of turning the rose into a hairpin to give to her mother. Back in her own world, Maria remembered how she was fond of crafting and making her own DIY jewelry. Now that she thought about it, if she was going to make a hairpin for her mother, she should probably make one for the Archd.u.c.h.ess.
Shyly looking at the boy beside her, Maria asked, "Does your okasama have a favorite type of flower?" The two maids standing close by couldn't help but wonder what their ojou-sama was planning.
"A favorite type of flower? That would be the Royal Pa.s.sion." After hearing that, Maria told Kuroka, the maid with the black hair, to go find a Royal Pa.s.sion flower in the garden and bring it back to her. After instructing Kuroka, she turned to s.h.i.+rone, the neko-maid with long white hair, and told her to bring back a short list of items she requested. Once s.h.i.+rone had left, Richard turned to her and asked,
"Just what are you planning to do with those items?" he curiously asked the young girl, who shot him a secret smile.
"You'll see," she told him. Once all the items she asked for were brought to her, she set them all out on the small coffee table and began getting to work. Using old spare jewelry parts, she began crafting a hairpin for her mother first. Those standing behind her watched with awe in their eyes at the young girl's craftsmans.h.i.+p.
Gluing the large pink rose onto a plain gold hairpin, she added three gold chains onto the bottom of it. Dangling from each chain was a small pearl heart that she crafted together. Picking up the Royal pa.s.sion flower, which was bright lavender camellia flower, she repeated the same steps as she did for making the one for her mother, though with dangling amethyst diamonds. Once she thought of the tragic fate which awaited the archd.u.c.h.ess, she wanted to add a little something more.
On either side of the flower, she included a feathery lilac and dark purple feathers that were shaped like angel-wings which she adorned with several tiny sky-blue and indigo gems. Seeing the finished product of the archd.u.c.h.ess's present, those standing behind her couldn't help but gasp.
"Ojou-sama, it's beautiful," complimented s.h.i.+rone.
"Okasama would definitely love it," added Richard.
"Thank you, though now that I think about it, I should probably add some more detail to okachan as well." Maria didn't want her mother feeling left out, so she also included a pair of feathery angel-shaped wings, though they were white and pale pink, which she adorned with several tiny pink gems. Once each hairpin was finished, she made her way towards the archd.u.c.h.ess and her mother and presented both of their gifts.
"Maa, what a gorgeous hairpin~!" gasped the archd.u.c.h.ess, marveling the young girl craftsmans.h.i.+p. Meanwhile, Maria was suffocating from her mother's an overbearing hug.
"My darling Marichan actually made Mommy such a beautiful present! Don't worry my little darling, Mommy will wear it to show off your amazing craftsman skills!"
'Okachan, I can't breathe!' wailed Maria, who was being suffocated by her mother large bosom
Making her way in front of the little girl, the archd.u.c.h.ess patted the little girl softly on the head. "Thank you, Maria, for making such a lovely gift for me. Seeing you in person, I can tell that you are a pure-hearted and sweet girl. I will definitely repay you for giving me such a lovely present."
Staring up at the Archd.u.c.h.ess, whose smile was more beautiful than a fairytale princess, Maria thought that this world was unfair for the tragedy that awaited her. 'This nice woman does not deserve to die.'