0̷̜̬͉̤̅͒͊͊̂̾̉̾͠3̵̛̫̳̐̅̊͒͛͊̉͊̚1̵̣̝̤͚͓͉̺̳̤̞͓͊͂̅̕͜

Corlissa had acquired a multitude of accomplishments despite her young age but none of that mattered to her. Everything was for a purpose, every action she took all built up to the final plan that was the accumulation of everything in her arsenal.

The far-away, idealistic future that the previous villainess aimed for, Corlissa would strive to make it a reality.

With that in mind, days turned into months which turned into years. The time passed by with the annual occurrences, some conflict driven by Evie and some interrogations with the now Crown Prince.

There was a ball held the year after Corlissa won her first Proelium where the Crown Prince was announced to be the First Prince. This was supposed to be a major event in the storyline where Evie would have gained the attention of the Crown Prince because she had information unknown to the rest of the public.

However, this time, the Crown Prince had his eyes set on the young Veronique. From his seat next to the King, gazing upon the ball presuming below them, he kept his stare on the Veronique. His stare was rather ambiguous, his intentions were unknown but he was certainly brimming with curiosity.

Evie was crowded with young school students who bombarded her with various questions about her academy life and were spitting praises just to get on her good side so their parents could reap the benefits. Yet she could not see past the shallow mask they were putting up so her baseless ego rose along with her vulnerability.

Whenever the Crown Prince had as much glanced at her, she grew flustered and embarrassed despite his stare laced with boredom. How typical of her character.

The Crown Prince had an odd fixation on Corlissa Veronique, who quite honestly found quite unnerving. He eyed her as if she was some novel existence that he had never seen before. He already knew the script, watching as Evie Luxiere was intensely gazing at him so anticipatingly, he could only feel second-hand embarrassment.

Nothing else had occurred throughout the ball and the next year had quickly passed.

Corlissa had already graduated from Amiere Academy despite her young age, rather she could’ve qualified for graduation from when she was 8 years old otherwise when she had first entered the institution. Her father was proud of her achievements but felt that she was growing up too quickly, Corlissa herself found that she was not able to experience a genuine childhood but she was grateful for meeting people that wouldn’t force her onto the ground.

She was finally a legal adult on the terms of the Merillis Kingdom in which the age is sixteen years old. There were fewer restrictions in place that prevented her from investigating further so she began commencing more undercover investigations while keeping an eye on the Crown Prince.

She was growing closer to seeing the fruits of her efforts but the Crown Prince was still an ambiguous factor in her plans, she didn’t know which side he was on and his significance in the true world.

This was now the year of her debut and fittingly enough, she decided that she would reveal everything on this very day that she would be considered a legal adult. Corlissa did not want to involve her family nor friends or even acquaintances with what she was about to do.

“Now entering, Duke Veronique and Miss Veronique!” announced the guard at the door.

Everyone turned their heads around to catch even a glimpse at the most desired bachelorette of society, she was the ideal partner especially the type of partner that parents would want to match up their child with. She had the intelligence and the looks, not to mention she had an astounding highly desired family background, she was simply ideal.

“Announcing, His Majesty the King and the Crown Prince!” announced another guard from opposite the door which the Veronique’s entered through, the other door was reserved for royalty and also had gold accents on it to emphasise how ‘regal’ it was.

A head of easily recognisable raven hair walked through the door following just behind the King. Corlissa quickly made eye contact with him, both of them analysing each other with a scrutinizing gaze before the Crown Prince let a small smirk adorn his face.

It was customary for the ‘highest ranked’ individual of each group debuting as adults to make a speech. Males became adults at 18 years old, while females became adults at 16 years old, this meant that both Corlissa and the Crown Prince would each perform a speech.

Generally, this meant that by the time they graduate from the academy, they would become adults, males could choose to do an extra 2 years of education but they focused more on the application of strategies that are used in war. It was more similar to military and soldier training than of a typical magic educational institute.

“The Crown Prince will now speak!”

“I must convey my sincere gratitude to everyone here for coming to this event, debuting as an adult is an important milestone in everyone’s life so I congratulate everyone debuting today for officially becoming independent. There may be many more hardships ahead especially with the increase of responsibilities but I will strive to make your lives even a little bit easier so I hope you will continue to help this kingdom flourish,” the Crown Prince spoke.

Despite him having a picturesque smile on his face that made girls swoon, Corlissa already knew that it was fake, they were both similar people after all.

“Miss Veronique will now speak!”

‘How cliché, some ladies in the crowd instantly warped their expression into scorn. They should become actresses at this point,’ Corlissa thought.

“The Crown Prince has already finished the formalities, I am now an individual, although I carry my family’s name I am held accountable for my actions. So…”

Corlissa held out her hand to the questioning gazes of everyone in the room and clicked her fingers. A sharp sound came from the click of her fingers and with that came the collapsing of the building they were in.

Gasps, murmurs, shouts and yells quickly resounded, some had anger and scorn while others were in shock or fear. The Crown Prince was easily identifiable in the crowd, it was just him who showed little reaction, he merely narrowed his eyes further.

“I am the villain. You are the victims, here is my present to you,” Corlissa spoke as she clicked her fingers once again, however, this time her pointer finger was facing up.

Everyone’s gazes shifted to the sky which began to gradually shatter from the very top, the small areas that broke off revealed darkness.

“Hate me for all you want. Direct your scorn to me. But good luck, have fun surviving in the real world,” Corlissa announced darkly, a tone of malice intricately laced through her words partnered with an eerie smirk plastered on her face.

“This is our requiem.”