Alina swept her arm across the vanity, sending a crystal perfume bottle shattered against the floor. The expensive scent filled the room.

"Why didn’t he take my name??!!!" she shrieked, her chest going up and down. "He looked at the camera and said ’fiancée’! Why wasn’t it Alina?!"

Elias stood by the window, his silhouette dark against the morning light. He stared at the blank television screen, his expression blank.

"Don’t tell me Viella changed the plot again!" Alina’s voice rose, her face twisting with a mix of fury and genuine panic.

She scrambled toward him, grabbing his sleeve. "Elias... tell me!! How is that possible?! Dante was finally becoming mine after all that hard work! He was supposed to say my name in today’s interview! The script said he would!"

Elias remained perfectly still, his arm like a frozen branch in her grip.

"The book... where is it? Let me see it with my own eyes! Where is it?!" she demanded, her nails digging into his coat. "Why aren’t you saying anything?!"

Slowly, Elias turned his head. His eyes were cold.

"Did you think Dante was becoming yours," Elias asked, his voice a low, chilling whisper, "or did you just assume that?"

Alina froze, her breath hitching. The room became silent for few minutes.

Elias’s gaze turned ice-cold. He stepped closer, towering over her until she felt small.

"I am giving you tonight," he said, the words dropping.

"Tonight, you will figure out if he is still my controlled doll or if he is actually breaking free of being my controlled doll."

"But... but his love for me..." Alina stuttered, her confidence crumbling. "The yearn I saw in his eyes... it can’t be fake, Elias. I felt it! He looked at me like I was his entire world!"

Elias let out a dry laugh.

"The eyes see what the mind is told to believe, Alina"

____________

Viella sat in front of the vanity, her skin glowing from moisturizer.

Her eyes drifted to the stack of cursed papers and the original book. "Should I just burn them?" she muttered a fleeting thought of freedom crossing her mind.

"What would happen then? Would the world reset, or would I just be stuck in a story forever?"

She dismissed the idea with a sharp shake of her head.

"No. I have to see if it’s working. If it does... I can write my own ending. Hehe." An ambitious smirk played on her lips.

Lily stepped into the room, holding a tab. "My lady, I couldn’t get you a new phone without alerting the trackers, but I found your old tablet in the back of the mansion’s safe."

Viella grabbed it, her fingers flying across the screen to pull up the latest gossip. As she expected, the internet was drowning in photos of Alina and Dante at his new restaurant. They looked like the perfect Couple.

Then, Viella scrolled down to a high-speed shot of the black Ferrari.

"You look quite pretty here, my lady," Lily remarked, leaning over her shoulder. "The wind in your hair gives it a very ’aesthetic’ vibe. You should frame it."

"Yeah, frame it so I can remember the exact moment Dante decides to kill me inside that car," Viella deadpanned. She let out a heavy sigh and turned to her.

"Lily, were you able to gather any new updates from inside Dante’s estate?"

"No, my lady. The security has spiked to an impossible level. It’s odd, if you’re already ’gone,’ why would he double the guard?"

"Probably for Alina," Viella said, rolling her eyes. "His obsession is probably reaching peak ’Yandere’ levels, so he wants to keep her locked in a gilded cage or something. Blah, blah, romance."

Lily stayed quiet, her expression unreadable.

"Anyway," Viella continued, her voice dropping to a whisper. "I wrote something specific about Dante’s mission today. Do you have any idea if he’s actually attending one?"

Lily reached into her apron and pulled out a phone that looked expensive asf. Viella stared at it in pure disbelief. Since when does the help have better gear than the Lady?

"Hmm..." Lily scrolled. "There are a few high-stakes movements scheduled for today. But we can only confirm which one is the target if we follow Lord Dante ourselves."

Viella bolted upright. "Ah hawl nahhh! Me? Following him? Nuh-uh! He has the senses of a bloodhound! He’ll find me in five seconds!"

"If we don’t take the risk," Lily said, "then we will never know if what you wrote is actually changing the reality of this world."

Viella bit her lip, the words of the Original Viella echoing in her mind. Three days. "I only have three days to kill Alina and Elias," she whispered to herself. "If my plot works, Alina should be dead by tonight... and Elias by tomorrow. I guess you’re right. Let’s get ready for the mission, Lily."

The two of them exchanged a firm, determined nod.

____________

"Do you think hiding under the bushes is the right choice, Lily?" Viella whispered, her voice strained as a stray leaf poked her in the eye.

They were currently crouched in a very expensive looking bush directly in front of 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Dante’s office.

"It’s best, my lady. Trust me, no one can see us..." Lily replied, her face expressionless.

Nearby, a passerby stopped, stared at the rustling, human shaped bush for a solid five seconds, blinked slowly, and then kept walking, deciding that whatever the Viella family was up to today wasn’t worth getting murdered over.

"Oh... okay," Viella muttered, pulling her knees closer to her chest.

An hour and a half passed. The glamour of being a "spy" had officially worn off, replaced by the agonizing pain in Viella’s legs.

"How long is this going to take? My knees feel like they’re about to be torn off," she groaned, shifting her weight and accidentally snapping a twig.

Lily remained completely unfazed, her eyes locked on the exit of the building. Suddenly, her posture sharpened. "My lady, look."

Viella peered through the leaves. Dante was stepping out, looking terrifyingly handsome in a charcoal suit. His men followed him, they got inside a black car and the car began to pull away.

"Let’s go, my lady!"

Before Viella could even process the fact that she had to stand up, Lily reached out and grabbed her arm. She dragged the stiff-legged Viella out of the bushes and toward their own getaway vehicle before Viella could even let out a protest.

"Wait! My circulation hasn’t returned yet! Lily, I’m walking like a newborn giraffe!" Viella hissed, but Lily didn’t slow down.

The car finally came to a stop in front of a massive, high-end shopping mall.

Behind them, Lily and Viella exchanged looks of pure confusion. The tension they had felt in the bushes evaporated, replaced by a sense of "Wait, what?"

"Is this where their ’dangerous mission’ is going to take place?" Viella whispered, peering through the tinted glass. "In a department store?"

"I mean, anything is possible, my lady," Lily said. "Terrorists like luxury goods, too."

"Hmm, let’s go."

They watched as Dante stepped out of his black sedan. He strode into the mall.

Curious, the duo followed at a safe distance, slipping through the crowds until they saw him enter a prestigious bridal boutique. He began browsing through racks of white silk and lace with focused eyes.

Viella and Lily hovered outside the shop, hiding behind a large potted palm tree. "Why is he inside a wedding dress shop?" Viella hissed.

Lily looked her up and down, then back at the shop. "I wonder why," she said mockingly. Viella rolled her eyes.

After another hour of agonizing waiting, Dante finally emerged, nodding to a staff member before heading toward the exit. The moment his car pulled away, Viella bolted into the shop. The staff, recognizing her immediately, bowed low in a flurry of panic state.

She dismissed their formal greetings with a sharp wave.

"Miss Viella! Are you here for the wedding dress? Lord Moretti was just—"

"I know," Viella interrupted, "Can I see it?"

"Of course!" They rushed to the back, while Lily stood by the glass storefront, her eyes fixed on the street to ensure Dante hadn’t pulled a U-turn.

When the staff finally brought out the gown, even Viella’s breath hitched. It was a masterpiece of ivory silk faille, featuring a sculpted corset bodice intricately embroidered with hand-sewn seed pearls and silver thread. The skirt was a voluminous cathedral-length train of French Chantilly lace, layered over soft tulle that shimmered like moonlight.

But something caught Viella’s sharp eyes. The proportions looked... off. "Can you give me the size measurements of this one?" she asked, her voice tight.

"Lady, hurry up! Lord Dante is leaving!" Lily hissed from the door.

Viella ignored her for a split second, grabbing the measuring tape from the startled seamstress. She checked the bust, the waist, and the height. Her stomach did a slow, sickening flip. As she had suspected, the measurements were far too small in the waist and too short in the hem.

"This isn’t my size," Viella whispered, her eyes widening. "This is Alina’s size."

Before Viella could say anything else, Lily pulled her back toward the exit. "Let’s go, my lady! We are already late, late, late!"

They scrambled back to the car, and Lily didn’t hold back. She slammed the vehicle into gear and drove at full speed.

Viella stayed absolutely silent in the passenger seat, her knuckles white and tight against her lap.

"What’s wrong, my lady?" Lily asked, her eyes darting to the rearview mirror.

"Nothing," Viella snapped. "Just keep driving."

They eventually reached a quiet, high-end restaurant. The black sedan was parked right out front.

"Huh?" Viella blinked, looking at the peaceful exterior. "A restaurant? Again?"

"I mean, it can still be a ’place,’ you know," Lily said, checking her surroundings. "Dangerous missions happen over expensive appetizers all the time."

Viella nodded and followed Lily inside. They slipped past the host stand, staying low behind a series of decorative marble pillars. But the view in front of them was truly unbelievable.

There was Dante, looking perfectly composed, eating his lunch with a middle-aged man who looked like a high-level corporate client.

Viella: "..."

Lily: "..."

Viella, who was already starving from the smell of the seared steak and truffle pasta, looked at Lily with a look of pure betrayal. Lily just gave her a sheepish half-smile.

"Are you sure he’s really going to have a mission today, Lily?!" Viella was about to shout, but Lily’s hand snapped up to cover her mouth.

"Shhh! My lady, look!!"

Viella followed Lily’s pointing finger toward the far end of the dining room, near a large decorative fern. Her eyes widened. Tucked away in the shadows, wearing oversized sunglasses and a trench coat was someone they both knew.

It was Alina.

She was hunched over a small table, her eyes fixed on Dante. She was stalking him, just like they were.

"She’s also following Dante?" Viella whispered through Lily’s fingers.

"Seems like so," Lily whispered back, her eyes tracking Alina’s every twitch.

"But why—"

Then, a sudden realization washed over Viella.

The memory of those blood-stained pages flashed in her mind.

Alina was supposed to save Dante during the mission. She was supposed to jump in front of a threat meant for Dante and die a horrible, tragic death... exactly as Viella had written.

Viella’s breath hitched. "So... the plot I wrote is actually working...?"

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

TO BE CONTINUED