Ophelia sits inside the massive room given to her in the Nathaniel mansion.
She can only marvel at the amount of gold used to decorate the walls and floor.
The Blackwood mansion also had gold decorations, but not like the Nathaniel mansion, where gold was used to carve out murals on the walls. A massive floor-to-ceiling window gives a perfect view of the famous greenhouse of the Natheniel family.
Her eyes trace the soft corners of the wall tables, where vases full of blue roses contrast against the shimmer of gold and cream in the room. A king-sized canopy bed with the softest cream bed curtains dominates the space. Even the carpet feels like it's made of clouds.
Ophelia blinks, staring at the ceiling, which apparently has a mirror.
She squints, staring at her own reflection in the massive mirror above the bed.
"This room... it was given to Jessica in the novel..." she mutters slowly. The memory of reading this novel in her first life makes her body feel hot, shivering with adrenaline.
"It's the same bed where Kayros fucked Jessica like a beast... the mirror reflecting their nasty deeds..." She gulps; her throat burns, and her mind flashes to the black ink and the explicit details of bedroom activities done by Kayros and Jessica that she read as Odette.
Eyes of Glacier was one of the best-selling adult romance books on the New York Times list. Odette Erikson, finally free from her abusive family, living in her cozy apartment in Manhattan, spent her adult money on romance books and cozy cute dresses, totally unsuitable for a rising star corporate lawyer.
Odette loved the story of Eyes of Glacier, mostly because the male lead of the story was her ideal type through and through.
Dangerous, obsessive, powerful, wealthy, loyal, and so handsome that even angels would feel shy. Kayros Natheniel, born to rule the underworld, was feared. Even people who had never seen him knew about his glacier-like eyes, sharp enough to pierce through a soul.
The story followed Kayros falling in love with Jessica Black on Christmas Eve, when she saved him from being killed at a party. Jessica Black was the daughter of a powerful Black family and the commander of a special intelligence force.
Beautiful silver hair, burgundy eyes, and a doll-like face with the softest voice for someone who constantly dealt with darkness. Kayros fell for her obsessively, dangerously. It was a forbidden romance between a Mafia heir and a military princess.
They fought. Jessica hated her growing feelings for Kayros, and Kayros loved her anyway, claiming her each time as his. He protected her, defended her, honored her, and married her.
He was revered as the most evil male main character who would turn the world upside down for one woman.
They were a power couple, but there was another main character in the story.
Ophelia Blackwood. The villainess.
The black sheep of the Blackwood family. Once Kayros's fiancée, whom he never loved, she publicly broke off the engagement on her eighteenth birthday for her lover Vincent.
Ophelia was sharper than anyone could expect. She brought down the Blackwood family, the same family that never accepted her, just because she was born at the cost of her mother.
She poisoned her father. Killed her sister's husband, who was also Kayros's best friend. Killed her brother's secret lover and drove him insane.
Ophelia calmly and cruelly changed the power trajectory of the underworld to make Vincent the Mafia King of the Unified Underworld. Kayros hated her; they clashed countless times, and each time one of them ended up injured.
Ophelia coldly told him once, "Your hatred is the most genuine feeling I have ever received."
Kayros had choked her. "And you're burning everything for that bastard!"
Ophelia and Kayros hated each other, almost desperately.
"This will only end with one of our deaths." Kayros had pointed his gun at Ophelia in the middle of a snowstorm in the Himalayas.
Ophelia pulled the trigger, shooting Kayros in the shoulder. "And that will be you."
And true to her words. Ophelia massacred the entire Nathaniel family—for her beloved.
Kayros died.
Jessica died.
So did Ophelia—in the hands of her beloved and best friend.
The novel ended with Ophelia lying in her own pool of blood. Vincent and Elosia became the king and queen of the underworld.
Hero, heroine, and villainess—all dead.
The villain got his happy ending with his lover.
The novel was heavily criticized, but many readers found this new trope fascinating. Odette thought about how foolish Ophelia had been.
Until she was reborn as Ophelia, lived as Ophelia, and died as Ophelia. Only to be brought back in time as Ophelia.
Ophelia laughs, shaking her head. Irony doesn't fail to mock her.
Her reflection stares back at her.
"Now... this time, the villainess will rewrite the story even before the story begins."
The door opens with a few soft knocks. The butler walks in with ten racks of designer dresses, rolled inside the room by the servants.
Ophelia stands. Her eyes scan the sudden appearance of a literal walk-in closet of a luxury clothing store.
It would be a lie to say she isn't impressed by the design and quality of the dresses.
"Young Master told us to arrange everything for you, Young Lady. The wedding will be in fourteen days, and designers will be here tomorrow for your wedding fit. These are your primary winter clothes. This is all we could arrange in a short time."
Ophelia takes slow steps, letting her fingers touch the fabric of the dresses. Everything was arranged with her comfort in mind. She looks at the butler in confusion.
"How did you manage to get so many dresses according to my style and size in just three hours?"
The servant shifts uncomfortably. The butler looks at her, stunned. He wasn't expecting such a question.
Ophelia's gaze is unforgiving. The butler feels nervous under her strong stare. "Young Master knows how he got them. I am just delivering them."
Her eyes flutter, snapping toward the racks of dresses.
"Kayros arranged all these fifty dresses for me?"
"Yes."
"He did it himself?"
"Yes."
Ophelia gasps, covering her mouth, her eyebrows curling together doubtfully.
"Does he want me to do something?" she whispers cautiously. The butler looks at her pleadingly. "Young lady, I have no idea. I just follow the rules and orders."
His unsaid plea: Please, I am already tired from serving a lunatic master. Pity this old man; I have grandkids.
Ophelia nods, looking back at the dresses. Her stomach flips strangely—a feeling far from butterflies.
Because, according to Ophelia's best knowledge,
Kayros Natheniel's guilty pleasure lies in tormenting her in every possible way.
"Are these from Crescent Moon Boutique?" Her eyes follow the familiar small hand-stitched logo on one of the dress's sleeves.
The butler nods. Ophelia grows even more skeptical…
Kayros is planning something. Which most likely floods her with luxury products because two racks full of heels, sandals, loafers, and boots roll in by four more servants; another two walk in with at least twenty bags, and another five carry boxes of jewelry boxes.
Ophelia stands in the cacophony of money and luxury, eyes wide, mind buzzing...
With only one conclusion coming to her mind.
Kayros Natheniel is a shameless shopper, and she has no idea exactly what kind of treatment she was expecting, but clearly not this.