2: The female lead arrives early

Ever since her birth, Elysia Raffle knew a few secrets of this world. First, the world she had been born in was a book and Elysia was the villainess in that book. She was destined to be slain by Adam on her 18th birthday and the day of their marriage.

She had no idea why or how she knew this. But Elysia believes this to be the truth of this world. Every time she visited the holy lake and cleansed herself, the images of a possible future filled her mind.

Maybe it was the goddess curse that made Elysia aware of what was going to happen to her but she was thankful.

Because if she knew what was going to happen, Elysia could prevent herself from going down the wrong path.

The Elysia in those dreams was a naughty child who was sold to the royal family because that was her only worth to the temple. But she had ended up falling in love with the crown prince.

To get his love, Elysia had pretended to be a sweet and innocent girl who had tormented the female lead, Eve.

As a result, Elysia was killed on her 18th birthday and the day of her wedding.

The images of the distant future had scarred the young girl. Every time she viewed the future, she was haunted by pain and suffering.

It all started with the arrival of the male and female lead in Elysia's life and it ended up with them killing her off.

But even so, the six years old could not think of a solution to her problem except to stay away and behave differently from the child in her visions.

Surely if she behaved herself and proved her worth, she would not be sold off to the royal family? Surely she would be kept around.

So the six-year-old had done everything she could to prove her worth. She had studied hard, she had taken up and soaked every skill she could.

She had even started participating in prayers to make herself seem more mature than before.

But it had all ended up in smoke the second her powers had manifested.

You see, unlike the healing powers of the church, Elysia was gifted with every offensive power imaginable. Her power was strong but useless to the church fraction and could only be used by the imperial fraction.

But even the imperial fraction would want nothing to do with her once the female lead arrives on the scene.

Once the male and female lead met, it would be the end of Elysia's easy life.

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Elysia had not even been grounded to her room for even a single hour before the head priest decided to visit her.

She had only met one of the key members that would contribute to her harsh life and it was already going off-track.

His face held a look of disappointment and regret. It burned Elysia worse than any anger could. She had strived so hard to make this man happy that seeing him look at her in disappointment hurt.

"Elysia, I hope that you know I am not angry at you. I am just disappointed to see you lose your temper. I don't understand why you hit the crown prince so can you explain your reasons to me?"

The gentle tone of the old man caused Elysia to break out into cold sweat.

She did not want to admit that the only reason she had hit the crown prince was that he was annoying and she wanted nothing to do with him.

But the disappointed look being aimed her way was something Elysia wanted to avoid.

"H-He is not a good person for me. I feel like I will die if I stay with him."

Elysia decided to tell the truth to the head priest. She had never opened up to him like this before so she was not sure how much of her words he would believe.

But there was no harm in trying. The man had raised Elysia as his daughter so surely he would listen to her.

"I know you feel unsettled because a crown prince is an unfamiliar man but you'll soon come to appreciate him. He will turn out to be a handsome man in no time and then you will feel different."

The head priest's words would have worked on anyone else but Elysia. But because Elysia had an idea of what was going to happen, she felt even more scared of the future.

What if she accidentally fell in love with the crown prince and ended up as the fated villainess?

"I don't think I want to like him. He is not my type."

"Elysia, you are too young to have a type. Now rest for the time being. We will have guests tomorrow. I heard that my brother picked up an unusual girl on his way here. According to him, she emerged from a lake and speaks an unknown language."

Unknown language? Would it be the same one Elysia something ended up speaking when she slipped up?

Suddenly, the thought of facing the darkness of her room no longer felt daunting to her. Elysia could not wait for the guests to come.

Her excitement even made her forget a key factor - the only one who should be able to speak the strange tongue as Elysia would be the female lead.

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"Now Elysia, I know you made a terrible impression on our guests yesterday so I want you to be on your best behavior today. My brother does not have the best temper and he might judge you because of your lack of healing powers."

Elysia frowned once she heard the last part.

She did not understand why people did not like her powers? Her power was unique and beautiful. It could make plants grow and ice fall. It could even make fire if she concentrated.

The only thing it could not do was heal. And she was the only one who had been tested for the holy attribute but held no healing powers.

"He's here. Now, Elysia, stand straight and do not look my brother in the eye."

The head priest sounded worried but Elysia was not that worried. Her visions showed the head priest's brother as a virtuous man who helped the female lead at every step of her journey.

He was a nice man with a hard exterior and was often misunderstood. Elysia was sure everything would be alright even if she did end up meeting the man's eyes.

"Brother, you are finally back home. I heard that you picked up a stray lamb on your way here."

The head priest sounded happy to see his brother again. There had not been many instances where Elysia had heard him sound this happy.

It made Elysia want to pick her head up and look at the man's face but she had been asked not to.

"That I did. Eve is someone who has a lot of potential and her powers are much stronger than anything we have ever seen. She is not a disappointment to the church's name unlike someone else I can name."

Elysia could feel someone staring at her neck. The burning stare was harsh and Elysia did not dare pick her head up and see. Suddenly, she did not want to be in that room anymore.

"Brother, don't be like that. Elysia is still young and she is learning slowly to manage her powers. You should not discourage the children like that."

Thankfully, the head priest was on Elysia's side. His calm and loving words made Elysia feel better.

But even they could not stop the cold sneer of the head priest's brother.

"We shall see about that. I am sure my child will outdo yours pretty soon. Ah, I have yet to introduce you to her, right? The child I picked up. Eve, come here please."

Elysia heard the harsh tone soften as soon as the man called the other girl's name. Elysia's heart hurt to see that she was the only one who received the harsh words.

"Father, you called for me?"

Elysia picked up her face to look at the girl in front of her.

Beautiful would be an underestimation to describe the flawless ivory-skinned girl. Red hairs flowed down her back like flowers and her grey eyes looked like jewels.

She was a unique child who would turn out to be a beauty in the future.

But something about her name and her looks bugged Elysia. She felt like she had heard the name 'Eve before.'

"Elysia, go and take Eve to play with you. My brother and I need to have a small chat."

'And please be civil this time.' Went unheard but Elysia heard it.

Not that she intended to be rude anyway. Eve was a beautiful girl and her purity shined through her innocent nature. Elysia wanted to be her friend.

"Hello, my name is Eve Rosemary. It is nice to meet you, Elysia. Is it alright if I call you Elysia, right?"

The second Elysia heard the girl's full name, she remembered why it had sounded so familiar to her.

This was the female lead of this world. But what was she doing here as a child? She should not be in this world for another three years at least?