After I came home that day, the children from the orphanage were leaving.

The new building was ready and they were all packed to move. The Mansion was going to be Aiden's in two and a half months so it needed to be properly maintained and the interior was to be designed according to his fiancee and him.

I asked Choco if she wanted to leave with her friends but she said no. Rather she wanted to live in the Royal hostel for Mages without family or those who travelled far to reach the capital.

But I refused. She was too young to start living alone. Mother and Father agreed with that.

So she is currently living with us, though she negotiated her stay here till I'm here. Once I leave the mansion, after getting engaged (if I get engaged, that is), she'll leave too. She is too smart for a 5-year-old.

Now, at the mention of me getting engaged, mother was excited, father and Aiden sulked silently, while I was just wishing to get engaged to a sexy, sweet and rich man above 20.

Well, it would be fine if he is not rich (since father is rich, he can probably buy me whatever I ask for after marriage) but sexy and sweet is a must. And since I'm in a novel world, this type of man should exist, who is both, sexy and sweet, at the same time. Now, a 20 above age is also a must (I can't feel like I'm pedophile after marriage). Adailia is 18 so it won't be a problem to get married to a man around 20 or 25.

The next day Choco was going to the Academy for the first time and she travelled with Seanna and me in the carriage. She looked calm but I could tell she was nervous.

So I tried talking to her, keeping her mind off the Academy which partially worked.

But once we reached there, Choco freaked out and refused to get out of the carriage.

After trying to convince her for 15 minutes, Sir Gaston just lifted her up and we started making our way towards the gates of the Academy.

Choco was crying by the time we were inside the building. Seanna decided to take it from here and I left for the knight's building.

As I was walking there, I noticed that all the corridors were empty, which was surprising since at least half the male knights keep fooling around in the corridors and when I reached my classroom, I realised why.

There were only girls sitting there with a book in their hand.

I completely forgot that today was the first test for the Empress selection contest.

The girls looked like me when I was preparing for my college entrance exam. Or when I watched anime throughout the night on a school day.

Even Olivia looked haggard. There was not a single male in the room and I think it was cause they had a holiday today because of the test.

Soon a few professors came in and told us to take any seat.

Later they handed us question paper and a professor stood between each table to ensure that nobody cheats.

Now, they should've just used anti-cheat spell on the paper or something like that instead of doing this low budget thing. Cause if they think I'll be able to write even a single word with this teacher watching me, they are hella wrong.

I won't be able to solve this thing even if it's elementary level.

But I was wrong.

Not about the solving part, but about the elementary part.

I read the question three times to make sure I actually read it correctly.

I was starting to think that I'm just sleeping and this is just a dream but it did hurt when I pinched myself.

How do you expect us to solve this?!?!

All throughout the year, they taught us 2+2 and when it's time for the test, interest rate and shits come?

How did Carrots become David?

I looked around to see if someone fainted just by looking at the paper but nobody did. I even saw a few girls solving it.

You got to be kidding me!?

What was all that drama near the lake where they were struggling to solve basics? How can these kids go from elementary to high school in a day?

Now, it's not like I can't solve this (I obviously can, I'm 29), but I may or may not have forgotten the formula.

But when I saw Olivia actually writing something, I started solving too.

But ten minutes passed by, and I was still on the first question.

Why am I torturing my brain cells like this?

I looked up and noticed that something was written on the board.

Students can leave once they're done solving the paper.

Wait....we can leave? Just like that?

Then why the hell am I still sitting here? It's not like I want to be the Empress, I should go home and read that new book I brought two days ago instead of wasting my time like this.

So I quickly wrote

And then I submitted the paper and went straight home to relax.

I wrote that note on every single test paper after that.

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_____

I sighed as the carriage rattled. After all the tests were over, now we had some outside test shit in this weather.

I really don't know what we were supposed to do since I zoned out while they were giving instructions.

"What's wrong?" Seanna asked since we were travelling in the same carriage.

"Nothing." I said and when she opened her mouth to retort, I quickly asked, "How were all your tests?"

She raised her eyebrows, "Pretty much fine. How were yours?" She asked.

"Uh.....I didn't do much." I said as the carriage stopped and we got out. The cold wind rushed through me, making me bring my scarf up to my chin.

"Why? You are smart though." She asked, frowning.

I rolled my eyes and quickly asked what was bothering me, "I knew your level of Math was hard, since mages have harder and more higher-level subjects, but we nobles have it easier. However, on this test, it was like ten times harder and we weren't even taught anything! I don't know how they expected us to do it but surprisingly, almost everyone was able to solve the test paper."

She raised her eyebrows before frowning, "It's obvious they planned it all." She mumbled annoyingly, "I should've guessed it earlier."

I frowned, "What do you mean?"

"The noblewomen planned everything. They purposely didn't participate so that they could frame you in front of the Emperor and you would be eliminated from the contest. Remember how everyone said they didn't join because of you? They obviously wanted you out since you are influential." She explained and my frown deepened, "That doesn't explain how they were able to solve such high-level Math and stuff?" I asked.

"What do you think the four weeks were for? Obviously they prepared in those four weeks." She replied in a duh tone.

My jaw dropped.

I wasted more than four years of my life in school and these kids went elementary to high school in four weeks!

I feel like my whole life has been a lie.

I was about to say something but a professor interrupted us and we were guided to an open lawn with a few houses at its corner and forest at one of its side.

All the girls started going inside one of the houses to do something but since I didn't know what to do, I just headed towards the forest and sat on one of the chopped tree trunk and patiently waited for this event to get over.

Suddenly, I felt as if someone was watching me.

Now, I'm not one of those female characters in stalker stories who bluntly ignore this feeling.

I'm in a novel.

When you feel someone is watching you, someone is watching you.

Let's get out of here.

As I was getting up, I heard the rustling of bushes and I made a run for it.

Fuck!! I'm scared!

Soon I heard footsteps running behind me.

Oh God! Who changed the genre of this story?!?!?

When I was just about to get out of the forest and in the plain lawn, I felt someone grab my arm and spin me around, knocking me into the tree. My head hit the trunk hard and my world spun for a second before a cloth came to my mouth and covered my nose. I silently removed my heel from my foot.

Aaaaaahhhhh! I'm gonna die now!!! Why did he want to kidnap me!?!? The female lead is supposed to deal with this shit! Not me! I'm the Villai......wait....is that chloroform?...HOW IN THE WORLD DID HE GET A CHLOroform......

My eyes started getting heavy and I blacked out.

__

____

I feel my head pounding.

It hurts like hell.

I tried to raise my hand to massage my head but I couldn't move it.

I opened my eyes and almost instantly shut them because of the bright light.

When I opened them again, I saw that my hands were tied to my waist and my legs were lashed together.

"Oh you're up?" A voice sneered and I looked up to see a guy with brown hair and eyes standing near me.

He walked towards me and looked at me with disdain.

"Remember me?" He asked.

No. I've never seen this guy in my entire life.

Then he scoffed before saying, "Right. I'm not only one whose house you turned to ashes."

Adailia burnt his house too? What the hell?

"Just because you are rich you think you can destroy everything, don't you? I was left with nothing! My daughter died with my wife with everything else!" He shouted and I flinched.

But my brain was still working at a high speed.

I left my shoe back in the forest, someone should have seen me going there and if they see a shoe, they'll put two and two together (hope so). But it's still bright, that means it hasn't been that much time since I passed out. The event should still be going on, that reduces the possibility of someone noticing me missing.

I took a quick look at the surroundings. There were a few houses in front of me and a few feet away, beside me was a lake. The houses were made up of bricks and tin roofs, similar to the one I saw near the edge of the field, it means I'm not that far away from the field. Good, now I just need to somehow get him to untie me and...

"You ruined me. I'll ruin you!" He spat as his eyes darkened, "Payback time."

Shit. What will he do?

He pulled on my hair and I winced but my eyes widened when I saw where he was dragging me.

The lake.

He is going to drown me.

"I'm sorry! I'm SORRY!" I yelled desperately, fear creeping into me.

He was nearing the edge of the lake and I tried to pull away but his grip on my arm tightened before his other arm shot up and clenched around my neck.

"Shut up!" he sneered in anger before he continued dragging me near the edge.

He then turned around and grabbed my neck and lifted my feet off the ground.

"I'm sorry....please..." Let me live. I tried to say but couldn't.

He laughed. A sad one as I saw tear brimming his eyes, "You know what, " he said,

"I'm sorry too. For this."

And then he let go of my neck. A scream escaped my lips.

The chilling cold water soaked in my clothes as I gasped for one last breath before my head sank below the surface of the water and that's when I knew,

I was going to die.