No One’s POV

Alina entered the mansion, her footsteps light as she hummed a sweet, haunting melody. She giggled to herself, the sound echoing through the empty hallway.

Suddenly-

A strong arm slammed against the wall beside her head, trapping her in place.

"Hey!! What is this?" she snapped, looking up angrily. "I did what you said!"

"I told you to give her a warning," Elias hissed, his face inches from hers, "not actually throw a dagger at her. It could’ve hit her."

"I wish it did!" Alina spat, her eyes burning with hatred. "She should’ve died right there."

The pressure against the wall increased as Elias leaned closer, his grip tightening.

"Ouch," Alina laughed mockingly. "Don’t tell me you fell for her! I knew it! That witch has you under a spell too-"

"SHUT UP!"

The hall seemed to tremble.

It was the first time Elias had truly lost his composure. His voice thundered through the corridor, making Alina flinch.

"You pathetic thing," he snarled. "Do you think killing her there would’ve been the right move? Before the story is even fixed?" His eyes darkened. "Do you want to die by Dante’s hand?"

He exhaled sharply, finally stepping back and dragging a hand through his hair.

"I am doing everything for you."

Alina rolled her eyes, smoothing out her dress as if nothing had happened.

"You said we need to kill her to bring back the real Viella," she replied lazily. "But how are we even supposed to bring her back? She’s dead."

"Of course she’s dead," Elias said coldly. "You’re the one who killed her."

Her smile faltered for just a second.

"I told you not to mess with my lines," he continued, his voice sharp. "But you never listen. Silly girl. Now look what happened to this book"

Alina plopped down onto a nearby couch, looking utterly bored.

"Okay, okay. Whatever," she said with a shrug. "I’ll just kill this one too. And everything gonna be back to how it was"

Her lips curled into a twisted smile.

"this time... no one will find out."

---

Viella’s POV.

I looked at Lily, and she looked back at me as we moved through the mansion like spies.

"Everything looks the same," I whispered. "Do you see anything different?"

Lily shook her head.

"Where’s Nonna?"

"In her room," she replied shortly.

We exchanged a quick nod and made our way toward her suite. Carefully, we peeked through the small gap in the door.

We didn’t see an old lady knitting or sipping tea.

Instead, Nonna was calmly cleaning her collection of guns.

I slowly turned my head toward Lily.

"You know what," I whispered, sweating a little, "we should probably just stick to observing the maids... haha."

Without another word, we noped out of there and hurried back to my room.

Earlier, we had tried sneaking out of the mansion, but the guards didn’t even let us near the gate.

Duh.

I guess Dante wasn’t kidding about watching me.

"I have no idea what that crazy bitch Alina is planning," I muttered, sitting on the edge of the bed. "But hey, Lily... do you have any idea what actually happened to your lady before I came here? The real Viella?"

Lily’s expression grew even colder than usual.

"She was found in her bed, covered in blood, and rushed to the hospital"

"Yah you told me that before" I cut her off.

She said quietly. "The official story was that she tried to commit suicide after Lord Dante insulted her in front of everyone, because she tried to drug him."

A chill ran straight down my spine.

Drugs? Suicide?

"But you don’t think that’s what really happened, do you?" I asked.

Lily met my gaze without hesitation.

"My lady was many things," she said flatly, "but she loved herself far too much to die for a man who hated her. She rather kill whoever wants to take him away"

---

"You’re right," I said slowly, frowning as I checked my wrists. "But when I woke up, there was nothing on my body. No scars. No bandages. Nothing."

"You were brought back home after the hospital and didn’t wake up for three days," Lily explained.

"But even then," I pressed, "that doesn’t mean my body would heal that fast. A wound like that would leave a mark."

"I agree," Lily said, nodding. Her eyes narrowed as the realization settled in. "The math doesn’t add up."

My heart started to race.

"Did anyone enter the room while Viella was unconscious?" I asked. "Anyone suspicious?"

Lily went quiet for a moment.

"For that," she said finally, "we’ll need to check the CCTV."

I groaned, throwing my hands up. "But I can’t even go out! Dante’s guards are everywhere. I’m basically a prisoner here!"

Lily looked at me then- really looked at me. There was a sharp, determined glint in her eyes, something I hadn’t seen before.

"Leave that to me, my lady."

I stared at her, then let out a small breath and gave her a hopeful look.

---

Just as Lily left, I sat down.

Damn, so much stuff was going on... I couldn’t sleep at all. My brain felt like it was melting. I was exhausted. Without even realizing it, I leaned my head back and dozed off.

(Twenty minutes later)

I felt something cold and soft caressing my cheek. The touch was gentle- almost hesitant.

"Dante...?" I muttered. I tried to pull myself out of sleep, but my eyelids felt like they were made of lead.

Suddenly, the hand stopped.

I forced my eyes open.

The room was pitch black.

Wait... did I sleep that long?

I squinted into the shadows. The figure standing in front of me didn’t look like Dante at all.

"Who-"

Before I could even finish the word, a hand slammed over my mouth.

"Even in your sleep, you’re taking his name," a voice whispered- cold as ice. "Tell me, Viella... did you really fall for him? Hm?"

My heart slammed against my ribs

Elias.

I tried to bite his palm, but he didn’t budge. He only looked down at me with those hollow, emotionless eyes.

"Don’t do that," he murmured, leaning closer until his breath brushed my ear. "It’s disappointing. You aren’t supposed to be like this."

His voice lowered.

"You’re just a guest in this body, remember? You’re ruining my script."

I grabbed his wrist, trying to yank his hand away so I could scream, but his grip was unbreakable, he was furious I could feel that.

"I’ve always been curious," Elias continued softly, dangerously. "What exactly did you do to make Dante fall for you?"

My breath hitched.

"I’ve been watching from the shadows," he said. "Watching you change everything I wrote."

He leaned closer, his eyes searching my face as if he were looking for something beneath my skin. Something that didn’t belong.

"You changed the plot," he whispered. "You changed the characters."

His thumb brushed my lower lip.

Slow. Deliberate.

My blood ran cold.

"Maybe..." he trailed off, his voice almost thoughtful, "you even changed my heart."

I froze.

What the hell is he saying?

"But a change like that comes with a price, Viella," he whispered. "This world doesn’t like it when the reader starts writing the story."

Suddenly-

Click.

The door handle turned.

Elias released me instantly.

"One week," he reminded me quietly as he stepped backward toward the balcony. "Let’s see if you can survive your own ending."

The lights flickered on.

The curtains billowed as cold air rushed in, the balcony doors slightly open.

Elias was gone.

Only the echo of his words remained heavy and suffocating

Lily rushed in, her face pale with worry. "What’s wrong, my lady? I kept knocking and you weren’t opening the door!"

She looked around the room suspiciously, her eyes darting toward the open balcony. "Someone has been here, haven’t they?"

Vivien remained silent. She could still feel a lingering gaze from the darkness outside, making the hair on her arms stand up. Lily didn’t wait for an answer; she walked over with a glass of water and a small flash drive.

Vivien looked at the drive in her hand. "You managed to get it? How so fast?"

"I found the CCTV footage in Lord Dante’s private office," Lily whispered.

Vivien stared at her, her heart dropping. "What? How the heck does he have them?"

"It’s not just the estate," Lily added, her voice trembling. "I found every CCTV footage of your family house, too."

A cold shiver ran down my spine.

"I am literally going to die with so much discovery in one day" I muttered, gripping the flash drive. "So he’s been investigating me....for how long who knows"

Lily opened her laptop with practiced speed. She had come prepared. "Miss, you need to see what really happened that night," she whispered.

The footage began to play. On the screen, I saw myself, the original Viella, sleeping soundly. The maids had already left after serving her. I watched as Lily paused for a moment by the bedstand, offering a small prayer for her lady before slipping out of the room.

I glanced at Lily. She avoided my gaze, looking down at her lap. I smiled softly, she really had loved the original Viella. Then, I focused back on the screen.

The atmosphere in the video shifted. Suddenly, a figure appeared near the bed. The footage started to crackle and distort with static. It wasn’t easy to see the face, but the person held a sharp, mysterious knife that seemed to pulse with a strange energy. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

I looked at Lily, and she nodded grimly. We watched as the figure leaned over my sleeping form. A voice, cold and dripping with malice, became audible.

"I can’t wait any longer for Dante to notice me... He’s too busy observing you all the time. I can’t take it anymore. You have to go." The figure leaned closer to Viella’s ear. "I am the angel of death for you, darling. Or should I say, the devil?"

The figure plunged the knife into Viella’s chest.

On the screen, Viella’s eyes snapped open. Instead of screaming, she reached up, her hands terminal and desperate, and began choking the person.

"Ugh! How are you still alive?" the person hissed.

Viella let out a wet, painful laugh, blood beginning to coat her teeth. "I knew you weren’t innocent... but I didn’t know you would be such a bitch. Trying to erase me?"

With a burst of dying strength, Viella pushed the person back. It was Alina.

Viella crawled closer to her, blood leaking from her mouth, her voice a ghostly rasp. "You can never get rid of me. My face will forever haunt you. Dante will never be yours..."

She grabbed the knife, trying to stab back, but a second figure stepped out of the shadows behind her. They shoved Viella back onto the bed with a brutal force. Viella’s eyes began to close as she muttered one final, chilling promise: "I swore to heaven, a soul will be back in this body either mine or ....someone else’s" with that Viella laughed one last time, Blood still dripping from her mouth.

The footage continued to roll, showing the two figures lingering in the room, that figure threw something beside Viella before he left,

but I slammed the laptop shut.

My heart was racing. The "fragile" female lead was a murderer which i am not even surprised anymore, and the original Viella hadn’t just died suddenly, she had been executed.

I noticed Lily wasnt anywhere near me,

I realized Lily was gone. "What the heck? Where did she go?"

I scrambled out of the room, my heart speeding up. I grabbed a passing maid by the shoulders. "Where is Lily?"

The maid trembled, pointing down the hall. "I saw her headed toward Miss Alina’s room, my lady."

"Dang it! If she kills her now, I’m a dead woman!" I didn’t wait. I sprinted toward Alina’s room, my silk robes fluttering behind me. I burst into the hallway, expecting to see a crime scene, but the door was shut and the hall was silent. No Lily. No Alina.

"What are you doing here?"

A voice rang out right beside my ear. My entire body jolted, and I nearly hit the ceiling. I spun around, gasping, only to see... Lily.

She was standing there, leaning against the wall, casually holding a bowl of popcorn.

I grabbed her arm and dragged her back toward my room,

Once we were inside and the door was locked, I lost it.

"WHAT THE HELL! I WAS SO SCARED! WHERE THE HECK WERE YOU?"

Lily just shrugged, tossing a piece of popcorn into her mouth. "I went to grab some snacks. But what were you doing outside Alina’s room?"

"I THOUGHT YOU WENT TO FUCKING KILL HER!" I hissed.

"Oh," Lily said, her expression bored. "It’s not like she can die anyway."

I froze. My blood turned to ice. "What do you mean? Wait... don’t tell me you’ve tried before..."

Lily suddenly became very interested in the wall. When I tried to catch her eye, she stuffed a massive handful of popcorn into her mouth, chewing loudly to avoid speaking.

"Lily! If you don’t tell me right now—"

"LORD DANTE PAID ME SEVEN FIGURES TO NOT TELL YOU ANYTHING!" she blurted out through a mouthful of kernels.

The room went silent. My brain stalled

I grabbed Lily by the shoulders. "I will pay you ten figures! Just tell me everything!"

Lily looked at me with a mix of pity and amusement. "But my lady... you don’t have anything under your name anymore."

I blinked, my grip loosening. "What?"

"I mean, Lord Dante bought all your properties from your father weeks ago," Lily explained, tossing another piece of popcorn into her mouth. "Technically, you only ever had your daddy’s money, and now Dante owns that, too."

I stood there, stunned. I was the "rich heiress," but I was actually broke? Dante didn’t just want to own me, he had already financially gutted me. I looked over at the massive, open balcony windows, the sheer curtains fluttering in the wind.

"Oh, wow," I whispered, feeling lightheaded. "Should I just jump out of the balcony and kill myself now?"

Lily didn’t even flinch. "I wouldn’t. The rose bushes down there are very thorny. It would be a messy way to go, and you’d probably just end up paralyzed and still married to him."

I sat down on the edge of the bed, burying my face in my hands. "So I have no money, my fiancé is a psycho who bought my life, the ’innocent’ female lead is an assassin, and my only ally is a maid who’s a millionaire thanks to my enemy’s bribes."

"Pretty much," Lily said, offering me the bowl. "Popcorn?"

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TO BE CONTINUED