Ch 1: An unfamiliar face

"Ugh, my head! Did I overwork myself to death? I was sure I only took four Advil yesterday. There is no way that small amount should knock me out?"

The white-haired female rubbed her head as she tried to clear it.

Her eyes looked outside the window, only to notice how dark it was. It could not be any later than 06:00 AM, meaning she still had some time before she needed to wake up.

"Should I go back to sleep? Ugh, but this splitting headache….Did I drink last night? I don't remember much of what happened."

All the woman remembered was that she was in a hurry to finish her work, and to make that happen, she had made some questionable decisions.

The woman rubbed her forehead, and the tilt of her head caused some of her hair to fall in front of her eyes.

They instantly grasped the female's attention, and she stopped to look at them.

My hair…when did it turn white? A mirror! I need to look in the mirror right now. This appearance is not mine!"

The female yelled as she clutched her hair in her hands. All she could see was silver hair that shined in the candlelight.

"My hair! No, my face! Who is this person? I did not look like this. My hair was black, and my eyes were also a different color. Wait! Who was I? Why can't I remember?"

The female asked as she tried to remember anything from her past. She could remember most of what happened to her except her name or family.

To make matters worse, she could tell that the person she was looking at was familiar, but she could not put a name on that face.

The body she was looking at was young, exceptionally so. She could not be older than six, but the woman remembered being 35 before sleeping.

*Knock*

The silver-haired female looked at the door that was urgently knocking at the door, and it did not take long before it was knocked open.

"Keep it down. Or do you need me to beat the obedience back into your body? Sheesh! One would think that you would have learned by now, you bitch!"

A hand grabbed her hair and pulled the silver-haired female up. It made the female look sharply at her would-be abuser.

"You should consider yourself lucky! I was specifically ordered not to damage your face. You won't sell well if you have defects on your face."

The female spoke harshly as she dragged the silver-haired female around.

That tight grip made the silver-haired female's scalp burn. She could feel her head erupting in pain, but she bit her lip and endured the pain.

She was not going to yell out in pain and give her abuser the satisfaction of hearing her speak aloud.

It worked, and the older abuser got bored of her quickly.

"Tsk, so you will not scream for me, huh? Fine! Be like that. But you better behave yourself once you get sold, kid. People like you are only worth it if you are pretty and obedient."

The female abuser finally left, and the silver-haired woman let out a sigh of relief.

Finally, she was left alone. But she still needed to know who she was and where she was. She at least needed to know her name-.

[Welcome to your new life, Layla Lockhart.

Your Role: Villainess

Your first mission: Attract Lord Lockhart's attention tomorrow and get him to adopt you. 

Reward: opening of the story.

May the user work hard for the survival of this world]

The system-like screen lit up in front of Layla, startling her.

She clutched her heart when she saw the translucent white screen floating before her. But as soon as she tried to touch her, it felt solid.

"Is this not a dream? And that name…it sounds familiar. Did I know Layla Lockhart?"

The chances were that Layla knew about such a character. But she had read too many books in her time to relieve herself of her burden of work.

As a result, all of her stories were beginning to mesh in her mind. 

"A Villainess, huh? I don't have time for all this! My precious work…I need to finish it. I was about to make it big back home."

The silver-haired female suddenly felt bitter.

Her life has been hard, and she has worked her bones off to get to where she is. She was finally about to reap the benefits when this happened to her.

"Why me? What do I do now? I don't think I can stay in this place for any longer.

It is clear that I will not make it…let me think about what I can recall…"

From what Layla remembered from similar stories she had read, the most common way for the person to live was to approach the main character and snag them.

But Layla had no romantic bone in her body. She had never felt an attraction towards anyone in her life, and she doubted she would ever feel romantically for anyone in this life either.

So, love was out of the question.

But there was no doubt about one thing - Layla needed the main characters if she wanted to live a good life this time around.

"Let's follow the plot for now and see what happens. I am sure that I will get my chance after a while. And if I don't…I will have to work hard like I always do. Stepping back is not an option for me."

The female had no memories of who she used to be, but she did not know who she used to be; she only needed to know who she was now.

And the person she was now needed all the resources she could get to live her life.

"I will not die again. I will overcome my fate and live a better life. Layla Lockhart? I will make that name that name shine the brightest in this universe. No one will be able to deny me."