Episode 1

At a window, a little girl watches as below in a sumptuous garden, a group of young ladies between the ages of 15 and 17 sip tea and savor desserts beautifully presented. The child with ruby eyes and purple hair merely smiles, while beside her, a maid dressed in servant's attire sits with a rope around her neck, eyeing the girl with fear. Her body remains motionless, unable to even cry out for help.

"You know, Dorothy, you and I could have been good friends, but you picked the wrong side."

"Please, miss...forgive me..." The maid's tears stream down her cheeks.

"Oh, sweet Dorothy, to think apologies erase mistreatment... no, it's never forgotten. I, Charlotte Leroux, do not forgive."

With that, the child pushes the maid who falls out the window, letting out a desperate scream as the young ladies enjoying their conversation erupt into shrieks. The girl then leaves the room with a few skips.

Below, the commotion is a cacophony of the girls, the butler, and the head housemaid orders all the young ladies inside while someone must rush to the palace to report the incident.

"What's happened here?" An elegantly dressed woman emerges and screams upon witnessing the sight of the hanged maid.

"It's Dorothy, my lady... she has committed su*cide..." another maid informs her.

"Take the young ladies home and explain what happened. Mariam, darling..." the lady embraces her own daughter.

She can't stop crying at such a traumatic sight. A brown-haired girl also peeks out, hearing everything, and the lady commands her to return to her room and not to go out into the garden.

******

In a lonely room, the girl with purple hair celebrates by dancing with her stuffed animal partner.

But one may wonder, why would a little girl do something so gruesome? Well, it has an explanation. The soul inhabiting this child doesn't belong to her; it is that of a 30-year-old woman named Anika Will, a modern-era woman who was merely a secretary, though it was but a facade to conceal her true self. Sadly, she lost her life by failing to take certain precautions, and now, she finds herself in the body of Charlotte Leroux, the future villainess of a romantic tale where her fate is grim, but not now, for she is determined to change everything, starting by ridding herself of those who made that poor girl's life a misery, simply branding her a villainess without knowing her past.

Charlotte Leroux is labeled as the villainess in the novel "Romantic Fantasy." The story follows the sweet Shana Roche, the Earl's daughter, who falls hopelessly in love with the prince at the debutant ball organized by the empress. Shana and the prince dance together three times, and malicious rumors spread about how the prince plans to break his engagement to Charlotte as he's taken an interest in Shana. When Charlotte discovers this, she tries everything in her power to destroy Shana, but in the end, everything backfires, and the poison meant for Shana is consumed by the empress. This leads to an investigation, and Charlotte is found out, losing even the empress's affection and sentenced to the guillotine.

But no one knew the torments Charlotte faced in her childhood at her family's mansion. She was the daughter of the Marquis Leroux's first wife, who, three years postpartum, succumbed to illness. Following her death, the Marquis's first concubine rose to Marquise, marginalizing Charlotte and exploiting the Marquis's frequent absences to treat her abominably, stripping her of jewels and luxurious dresses and allowing her daughters to taunt Charlotte and demand servile obedience. If that wasn't enough, the Marquise's eldest son viewed Charlotte with perverse and lustful intent, spying on her as she bathed. When Charlotte divulged this to her father, she was scorned a liar.

Because of this, she faced severe punishment, confined to her room for a week with only stale bread and water once daily. The Marquis claimed the punishment served to make her reflective and refrain from falsely accusing his amicable son.

Luckily for Charlotte, after a week, the boy was sent to the academy and the Marquis continued his travels, while the girl continued to endure unwarranted and brutal punishments. The only respite came when her grandmother visited, the sole person to challenge the Marquise, for she didn't recognize her as the Marquise, being a former concubine of non-noble birth. Even the woman's children were never accepted as her grandchildren by Valentina; Charlotte was her only acknowledged grandchild, birthed by a lady of good family and the Marquis's legal wife.

At fourteen, Charlotte was taken to the palace to be introduced to the empress, who, charmed by her beauty and poise, immediately proposed an engagement to the second prince, to which the delighted Marquis assented. The Marquise, of course, was furious and demanded her daughter Rogelia, more beautiful and clever in her view, be the one engaged instead.

"What foolishness are you speaking? Do you think the empress will fancy marrying her son to the daughter of a concubine with no noble blood?"

Valentina, Charlotte's grandmother, offered her opinion and the Marquis did not contest. Valentina even suggested taking Charlotte to her own home for a proper upbringing. Charlotte was elated to leave a home where she was unwanted. At her grandmother's, she found happiness, until the "inevitable" happened: Hugo met Shana, and Charlotte met a tragic demise.

A sad tale where nobody bothered to understand the villainess; she was only ever judged.

Now, Anika, the one who had arrived at this world, in the body of young Charlotte, had to confront the insanity of it all. She locked herself in her room for two torturous weeks, grappling with this new reality, trapped in the body of a girl whose memories only painted a picture of unhappiness and misery. But things would be different going forward. This Charlotte wouldn't vie for a man unworthy of contention; instead, she would vanquish those who harmed the hapless child. And so, the maid Dorothy became her first casualty, as she was the one responsible for administering Charlotte's punishment, mercilessly whipping her without an ounce of empathy. As such, Charlotte felt no need for compassion.

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