Chapter 15: The Protagonist

Everything felt like a blur, a fever dream turned reality. Emberlynn was focused, completely aware of everything that surrounded her, yet consciously felt dazed by their actions. They were dancing, her body moving on her own according to its muscle memory. She felt every click of her heels, but her mind couldn't pull herself together from this vague atmosphere.

Theodore quietly stared at her, not speaking up. She returned his gaze and regained her purpose. She silently gulped before speaking and boldly sharpened her gaze.

"Could you tell who I am?" she asked.

"No, I couldn't. You wore a disguise going into this ballroom. I could only tell it was you when you offered to dance. No young lady would ever do so in such a brash manner."

He shot her a blank gaze, lightly warning her to confess.

"I naturally have much to say. But I won't be revealing who I am just yet. Unless I can completely trust you to not harm me, I would tell you my identity."

"Isn't that what I should be saying to you?"

He then spun her as the music then suddenly quickened its pace.

"You are now under my grasp. I have no intention of keeping you alive if you don't prove your worth."

"But I don't have high expectations of having this exchange going well. I will tell you now I am not with the church and am a third party."

"How would I know if you will keep your word?"

"Capture me. You have a way of telling whether or not I would be lying right? The church wouldn't be so rash as to send someone who has precious information that may gamble their plans."

Emberlynn once again spun and turned her back against the Grand Duke. He held her hand up high and grasp her waist.

"Then tell me a piece of information. Something that only you would know and I'll be the judge of whether or not you could be trustful."

Emebrlynn smiled. He half-spun her back into the position where she was forced to face his expression.

"I told you in the letter that I would tell you something. View this information as an offer for you."

"Tell me, then we could talk more business."

"Alright. Marquess Dewbringer. He works with those of the church."

Theodore widened his eyes, his gaze flashed a fierce aura before regaining his composure.

The dance ended. They both bow under the moonlit night, the butterflies circling them.

"You'll be coming with me, Ms.…"

"Cecilia, Cecilia Gardner," she bowed.

"Ms. Cecilia Gardner," he nodded while bowing himself.

He took her hand and pulled her into a room. She was met with several people she vaguely recognized.

***

Cecilia Gardner was a mere young girl who worked an office job back on Earth. She wasn't overwhelmed with work per se, she was content with it. However, besides it, there was nothing much in her life. She lived the average working life.

She went through elementary, middle school, high school, and college. She graduated and then got a job. That was it. She didn't have anything interesting in her life. Unlike those around her, she had no passion, no hobbies, nor an intense interest of any kind. She only liked reading novels, novels of a world she could only dream of having. To bury herself and live vicariously through the characters in them.

The novel, A Heartfelt Dream, was one of the passing novels that she ended up reading. It was the basic trope of characters falling in love to defeat evil.

The Saintess, Daphne Ambrose, was a naive young girl who happened to become a saintess. In this world existed beings that were demonic beasts, creatures that run amok terrorizing innocent people. As the saintess with "holy magic", she worked to dispel these creatures. As she worked, she soon discovered how the church was behind these activities. Therefore, she ran into the arms of the male lead, Alexander Alaric, who was coincidently the first prince. Together, they destroyed the forces of the church.

However, unlike the other novels, this novel didn't have an epilogue. The author just ended it after they defeated the evil forces of the church, they never wrote a proper happy ending for the main couple.

Cecilia was a bit troubled that the novel would just end this way, but she didn't pay it any mind. She just wouldn't expect to be hit by a truck.

'I died just like that? What a life! I guess I should be grateful to die without living a troubled life. I didn't struggle nor did anything special. I guess I was just one of the normal people in this world. Wouldn't it be nice to live a more fulfilling life in the novels? Ah, that reminds me of that one novel. What was it called? A Heartfelt Dream? What a weird name. It didn't even have a proper ending. Though this is kind of pathetic. I am thinking of a novel before dying?'

Thus, she passed away but didn't expect to be transported into the novel she once read.

'Was it because I wished to do so before dying? I did think about that novel before dying but to be transported into it?'

However, she never realized she was transported into the villainess character in the novel!

Emberlynn Levin was a supporting character in the novel. She was more of a canon fodder that progressed the love between the female and male lead. The original Emberlynn loved the first prince and does her best to chase him. When the saintess got in the way, she was filled with jealousy. Due to her getting in between their love, she had a miserable end. After being abandoned by her family and stripped of her status, she was left to die.

Not wanting such an ending, she decided to quickly leave this family and avoid the prince as much as possible. Throughout this, she saved up money while living in the Levin family's estate. Cecilia quickly found out about the horrible treatment of Emberlynn and couldn't understand why. She was described as the villainess with a bad reputation yet is being mistreated by her own family; something was not adding up.

She found out a detail that was never mentioned in the novel.

'Emberlynn wasn't the legitimate daughter?'

Her father cheated on his wife and accidentally had her. Unable to ignore her, he paid the mistress some money for her to quietly leave and took her in. Due to her not being legitimate, she was treated horribly by his wife and her kids.

Having enough of this family, she saved enough money and vowed to crush this crippling household down to the ground. In order to do so, she needed power. All she had was a bit of money and knowledge of the future.

She couldn't contact the first prince due to obvious reasons and didn't think she was capable enough to start a business. She needed a job to earn money. The only real way to do anything is to use the precious information she had.

'The Northern Territory…'

The north was run by the Grand Duke, who would soon perish as the church's first move.

'I could prevent that by giving them the needed information…'

It was a gamble. A huge gamble on her life but she needed their power and protection. The Grand Duke of the story, Theodore Rosenvelt, was described as cold and untouchable. Although he was a small character that dies early on, he was merciless when it came to enemies and so she had to carefully plan this out.

She decisively spent a few days in the capital in order to get used to the social scene of this, including how to act like a noble lady and basic etiquette. There was a lot more to etiquette than she imagined, like the different types of dances depending on the music, but she got the hang of it. The reason why she had a higher position in the company of her last life was because she was incredibly versatile and quick to uptake. Therefore, it helped her merge her identity with "Emberlynn Levin".

While learning how this world worked, she was pleasantly surprised by a few details the author missed out on. After voluntarily leaving the Levin household, she spent a few days in the capital before leaving for the north.

She never imagined being faced with characters that were never mentioned in the novel before.