Raising a Villain

First published (temporarily abandoned June 2020)

Tags: #Romance, #Josei, #Drama, #Action, #Mystery, #Magic, #Fantasy, #Reincarnation, #transmigration, #Villain, #OverpoweredFL, #OverpoweredML

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SYNOPSIS:

Thalia looks at Kiel, two years her junior, a striking man oozing with strength and charisma. Had there been teenage girls around they would've fawned even as they feared for their lives. Only she can resist that demonic charm of his. After all, she had been the one who raised him.

Holding her lance, she watches as he overcame all of his enemies—soldiers, generals, and now the king—and he turns his head to meet her eyes just as the former monarch begged for his life.

Such a villain, that boy.

Well, he was, since Thalia had written him that way. But now that she was inadvertently born into this independent world of her own creation, she ended up changing his tragic fate.

Now her only wish is to be able to say she raised him well.

She watches as he decapitated the former king—his mortal enemy—eyes filled with satisfaction, highlighted by the devious smirk on his handsome, bloodstained face.

I sighs.

But he turns to face me with a gentle smile reserved only for her. "I did it." He says, "I am King now.

"And you will be my Queen."

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...

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CH 1 : A New World

"Welcome to Veroa, my child."

Thalia stared at the beautiful woman staring at her with such warm eyes, unsure.

The woman was rather large compared to her, but she wasn't intimidated. In contrast, she felt a pleasant sort of warmth.

She was also very beautiful, which brought her comfort in this mysterious situation she was in.

Thalia smiled, making the larger woman's eyes widen slightly.

It was around this time that a booming voice exploded near them, and her body flinched unconsciously.

"My baby!" The new voice yelled, causing the woman to frown at him.

He flinched under her stare and smiled sheepishly, embarrassed, just before returning his gaze to Thalia.

Unlike the woman, who had blonde hair, fair skin, and blue eyes, the man has brown skin and dark hair, though eyes so green she couldn't even tell if it was real—

"Hello, my baby—My little Thalia. I'm your daddy!"

Hmn...?

Wait a minute...

"What a beautiful child, Mirea, you must be proud."

Thalia turned her head with an unusual amount of effort to see the source of the voice.

It was a kind-looking old woman, standing at the side of the bed. Dumbfounded, it was only now that Thalia paid attention to her surroundings.

They were in a simple room with wooden floors and brick walls, there was a window to her left, and a door directly across the bed.

Thalia thought feng shui must not exist here.

She tried to turn or at least lift her head but it felt like a cow was sitting on her. She frowned, confused, not knowing what to think of her situation.

"Troy! Take those off! It's dirty! Don't you know the room should be pristine?!"

She blinked in surprise, abruptly pulled back to the present. She stared at the man called Troy, who was wearing an armor and a red cape. He was dressed like one of those knights in a period TV drama she watched with the kids in the orphanage.

She noted that they had been using an unfamiliar language all this time. The words were similar to Latin, but the enunciation with tints of German. What was odder was that she could understand every word they uttered.

"OH. SORRY." He said, running outside the room, and when he returned he changed into a worn-out tunic of sorts. "I washed my hands as well." He grinned before walking to the bedside and leaning his head so his face was only an inch away from Thalia's.

She raised her arms to touch the man who called himself my father. She blinked repeatedly as she stared at the hand no bigger than his nose. It was so… small.

Too small.

"Aww! Does my princess like papa's nose?!"

Uhmm....

I open my mouth to ask what's going on—

"Hmnggah"

"Is she trying to tell us something?" He squeaked and raised his head to stare at Mirea, then tilted his head down to me again. "What do you want to say my baby?"

"Oh my—my baby's so smart!"

"She'll be smartest in the whole of Veroa, I'm sure!"

Veroa? That familiar word again.

Thalia knew that word.

But that didn't really matter now, did it?

Just... how many times had she been called baby this past minute?

It was here that a vague memory of ubiquitous fire and smoke flashed through her eyes and she paled. However, it was not vivid enough for her to cry out.

Besides, the ridiculousness of all this warranted a long time of absorption. She reckoned this must be one of those times where the extreme reactions would come belatedly, and for that she was thankful. She'd rather cry in a corner somewhere later than sob like the baby that she currently was in front of all these people.

Thalia inhaled as much oxygen as she could, ignoring the fascinated stares of the people around her.

It seems she had died—in a painful one, at that—so did this (if this wasn't a dream) mean that she reincarnated into a baby?

Was she supposed to remember her past life? Interesting, but she had been studying all her life and she had never heard of a country called Veroa before.

At least not on Earth...

"She's pondering deeply, isn't she?"

"Oh, don't be absurd Troy."

"I mean, seriously."

At this time, the baby in question was rummaging her memory for where she had heard of the word. It was incredibly familiar, like at some point it had been a common use integrated with her life…

Veroa, Veroa... hmn...

"Look at her red hair, how rare!" The old lady, probably the midwife, exclaimed as she attempted to play with her hair: A habit of her when she was confused. Unfortunately, her tiny arms rendered her unable to reach her nearly non-existent hair, though, but it was apparently enough for the unrelated woman to coo. "It's so beautiful! It matches her green eyes perfectly!"

Troy's beamed in pride. "She probably got it from her grandmother."

The older woman looked at him in surprise. "Your grandmother's from Azalea, then?"

Azalea?

Veroa and Azalea... sounds just like some of the countries she invented as a kid, based on her friends' names: Veronica and Alea.

What... a funny coincidence, she thought.

Heh...

"Yep, proud and true Azalean warrior that woman is."

Hngg…

Thalia ignored the inkling that was currently scratching her consciousness, decisively not thinking about it for now.

Instead, she stared at the man and woman in front of her, looking at her with so much joy and pride. The worries that plague her were momentarily blown away.

"She'll be at least as strong a woman as my mother." He said and the pretty woman held her closer. At this, her husband enveloped her into his arms as well.

Thalia thought it was so… warm, she felt like she was melting—in a good way...

She didn't really recall her parents from her previous life. They died before she turned four, in an accident that cost her her legs.

"Thank you for being born my child."

She hadn't really absorbed it until this moment.

She had parents.