THE PLOT THICKENS

Sophia was silent for a long time, and she had a scary expression on her face. Usually, that meant she was plotting someone's demise. Selene still felt wary whenever she saw it, even though she knew she would never be Sophia's target.

Selene was just about to ask her what she was thinking when Sophia suddenly turned to face her.

As she laid out what she'd just discovered, Selene had no idea what to think. Reincarnated- sorry, transmigrated- into a book? Into a romance novel? Where she was the villainess? What the hell did any of that mean?

"Okay, let's go through this one more time, Selene. What's your full name?"

Selene huffed in frustration. "Selene Margaret Ellsworth."

"How old are you this year?"

"Sixteen."

"Who am I?"

"My older sister, Sophia Juliet Ellsworth."

"What are the names of our parents?"

"Lillian and Henry Ellsworth."

"And what are you absolutely not allowed to do?"

"... Kill without your permission." Selene pouted.

Sophia nodded, satisfied. "Okay. Time to meet the family I think."

Selene was a little tense as she followed Sophia down the stairs and towards what she assumed was the dining room. How Sophia even knew the way there, she didn't know, but Sophia seemed to know almost everything, so she didn't question it.

The first thought that Selene had when she entered the room, was that Sophia looked exactly like their father. She had the same sandy brown hair that he did, and the same bright green eyes. Even the shape of her nose was like his, long and pointed. Selene, on the other hand, definitely took after their mother, who was blonde just like her, and had similar red eyes, though her mother's seemed to be a shade darker.

"Mother, Father." Sophia greeted.

Selene echoed her greeting, then sat down and immediately started to stuff food in her face. Sophia ate as elegantly as she always did, seemingly mimicking the way their parents were eating.

Breakfast passed by in silence, but the minute they were all done eating and the maids had cleared their plates, Lillian turned stern eyes towards Selene and Sophia.

"What's going on with you two this morning?"

Selene and Sophia exchanged a glance, which didn't go unnoticed by Henry.

"Selene and I have made up, Mother." Sophia replied. "This morning she came to my room, and we finally had a long discussion about the state of our relationship. We've both come to the conclusion that it simply wouldn't be healthy for this family if we continued to fight, and so we decided to put the past behind us and start anew, as true sisters."

Henry gaped openly, while Lillian narrowed her eyes suspiciously at them. "And Selene, what do you have to say about this?"

Selene gulped. "It's true, we've both apologised for how we behaved before and now we're totally fine."

A deathly silence enveloped them for a moment, before Henry suddenly clapped.

"It's good to see you two finally getting along! We've been waiting for this day." He said happily, seemingly just glad he didn't have to deal with their petty squabbles anymore, despite how strange the situation seemed.

While Lillian didn't seem to quite believe them, she didn't say anything more about it, and so the topic was concluded.

Selene returned to her room to get changed into an outdoor dress (why she had to change into a whole other dress just to go outside seemed ridiculous to her, but Sophia insisted), when suddenly a maid walked in without so much as a knock.

"Miss!" She said, with a strange urgent tone to her voice.

Selene had no idea who this was. "... Yes?"

"I've heard from the other maids that you've made up with your sister, is that true?"

"Yes, it's true."

"But, Miss... how could you be so naive? Whatever she promised you this time I swear it's not true! She's done this before, promised to treat you better only to betray you after, hasn't she? You mustn't listen to her-"

Selene got tired of hearing this strange maid talk, and something about what she said felt kind of off, so she simply shut her up by landing a solid punch to her mouth. The maid yelped in surprise and pain, and spit out two of her front teeth. She then looked to Selene in fear, but Selene gave no explanations, instead she grabbed a hold of one of the maid's ears, and then tugged forcefully, making her follow as she walked to Sophia's room.

When Selene got to Sophia's room, dragging the maid with her, she walked in to see another maid there, shivering and cowering in the corner, sweating and crying, Sophia standing over her with a sinister smile on her face.

"Oh, you got one too?" Selene said.

Sophia turned to look at Selene, then the trembling maid Selene was pulling by the ear, and nodded, as the pieces finally came together.

"Put her with the other one." Sophia instructed.

Selene shoved her maid forward and she collapsed against the wall, huddling close to the other maid, the both of them clinging onto each other for dear life.

"So," Sophia spoke, her voice low and calming, but her eyes promising nothing but pain, "who wants to start talking?"

They've done this routine millions of times before, Sophia in charge of the interrogation while Selene stood in the dark, in charge of putting pressure on their victims and inflicting fear on them to make sure they talked.

The maids cracked in no time, and revealed that Selene and Sophia's maternal aunt, Victoria Boyd, had bribed them to sow discord between the two sisters. Sophia couldn't think of a single reason why her aunt would want that, and the maids had no answers when she asked.

When Sophia was sure she'd gotten everything out of them, Selene knocked them both out with a good conk to the head, and then tied them up and left them laying there against the wall.

"I've got my old strength." Selene commented, having noticed it first when she punched the maid.

Sophia looked up at her. "Oh, yes, you certainly do. That's strange..."

"I wanted my muscles back, but I guess this is just as good." Selene shrugged.

Sophia had no answers for her, and was clearly busy trying to figure out the puzzle of Victoria Boyd, and what her motivations were for poisoning her and Selene against each other.

Selene was just glad she was finally getting some action.