Chapter 2 – A Twisted Woman (1)
Eugene got up and walked to the dressing table. In controlled breaths, she stared at the reflection in the mirror.
No way.
She drew her head closer and reached for the antique-looking mirror. In reaction, the woman in the mirror also reached out to meet Eugene by the palm of her hand.
Eugene blinked her eyes hard and frowned. She poked her lips from side to side and then stuck out her tongue. Sitting on the sofa, she tilted her head obliquely with one hand on her chin and the other on the sofa’s arms, brazing herself. The woman in the mirror did all the same things!
It was then that her body was blasted with shock, unfathomably severe that she couldn’t move a muscle and only stare long at her reflection. Her mind long understood it, but she refused to believe the bizarre thing that had happened to her until this very moment.
The woman in the mirror was long-haired. Her straight jet-black hair hung down to her waist, and her eyes were undeniably black, too—two dark pools full of mysteries staring back at her.
Eugene was accustomed to the appearance of different people as she grew up. Strictly speaking, Jin Anika’s appearance was different from that of Asians.
Her hair felt light and soft; it didn’t even feel attached to her scalp. Winding her fingers through a bunch of it, it felt like cascading waters slipping through her hold.
Eugene felt intimidated. Her eyes were disturbingly black as if they were soaked in ink. The color was so deep, she felt like drowning in it. The irises of the eyes were almost indistinguishable from the pupils—swallowed by the irrefutable black pupils.
Her frame was close to Westerners. However, her bones were slimmer, and her physique was a bit softer than ordinary Westerners. She looked like a mixed-race fairy in fantasy operas, using Westerners as a basic form.
Frankly, when she first saw her reflection in the mirror, her jaw dropped in an instant. It was not every day that she sees such beauty.
The overall appearance was exquisite—her slim, delicate limbs and spotless clear skin made her look innocent and pure while her naturally red lips created a sultry vibe. The improbable contrasting charms were in great harmony.
There’s no law that a villain shouldn’t be a beauty, but…
Eugene felt somewhat queer. The embarrassment of having imagined a vicious, mean woman to be as ugly as her soul and then embodying her, only to find out that she was eternally beautiful made her insides shrink.
It’s not so bad, she thought to herself. Her mind thought of worse characters that she could have possibly transmigrated into.
Much better than being a slave. So what if she’s a villain? At least she’s beautiful and has a high profile.
With this thought, Eugene felt better little by little.
Jin Anika married the Fourth King and became Queen of the Hashi kingdom. In the long run, she met her miserable end in her husband’s hands.
Therefore, at this moment, Eugene was faced with a problem.
Her expression, which briefly brightened up, became forlorn again. “I don’t know the current progress in the novel!”
In any novel, the moment when a villain enters the spotlight is when she begins to commit an evil deed. But she was returned to the safety of her chamber with no fuss, so she assumed that Jin Anika hadn’t yet enacted several crimes following the plot.
“Anika,” Suddenly, a soft voice broke the silence.
Startled, Eugene turned to the door where the voice came from. A minute passed, and she still didn’t answer.
“Anika.” The voice which sounded cautious and nervous called her again.
“Anika, the king has returned.”
Eugene’s eyes went wide open.
***
The horse carrying the King passed another gate into the inner city wherein the castle was located. There, a lot of people had come out of their houses and been waiting for his arrival.
Kasser swung the reins of his horse around his hand and pulled it roughly as they neared the gate but, his horse named ‘Abu’ refused to slow down, and instead run in a pace faster than his owner wanted him to.
Abu, the mighty black horse was admonished by the King several times. The thing was, his horse loved to show off. As ridiculous as it sounds, Abu enjoyed the warmth and attention from the people’s welcome, so he ran faster than what the King’s hold on his reigns told him to.
Nearing the castle at a fast speed, Abu finally skidded his front hooves in fear of being reprimanded by his owner. It was not easy to suddenly stop with the built-up inertia.
There were times when he was scolded for disobeying orders and speeding up or changing direction in advance. And he would receive greater punishment if he hurt someone, so the horse drastically buried his hooves under the dirt to halt himself!
After desperate efforts, Abu managed to stop a few steps apart from the man who was standing at the front gate.
“Whoa!”
The watchmen breathed sighs of relief here and there. The sight of a mighty horse near them chilled them to their bones, but the man who was in a breathtaking distance from Abu’s hooves displayed a cool, unbothered exterior.
Chancellor Verus didn’t even blink his eyes in a startle. People around him, specifically the ladies, whimpered in admiration to him.
A horse’s hooves could cause serious injury. But he appeared nonchalant, showing off his laid back smile at the presence of the King.
Kasser came down from the horse and took off his helmet. A mass of messy vivid blue hair previously squeezed by his helmet was now in full view.
Everyone went down on their knees, for the King of the Hashi Kingdom had finally returned to his castle.