Chapter 2

"Have you woken up only now, Lilith? There's nothing to be done about your lazy personality, but you should at least put forth a little effort."

The woman stared coldly at Lilith, starting off the morning with a biting remark. However, she soon began to feel something was off. 

Usually, when she stared fiercely at Lilith, the latter would cower in fear and refuse to meet her eyes. Now, she glared right back at her without looking away. 

Having received a strange premonition, the woman reluctantly began to speak. 

"Melody has been looking for you since earlier, so it'd be best if you went on your way. Make sure to also visit Aria afterwards. The party hosted by the royal family is being held today, so you have to be quick about working."

"The party hosted by the royal family?"

"That's right. I already told you that a very important party is being held today, so you have to get up early to prepare. How many times does that make it, now?"

Wearing an expression that told of clear dislike, the woman then added on another few insincere words. 

"I've let the royal family know that because you have a weak body, you won't be able to attend the party. You should be grateful."

The woman then turned sharply and began to mutter aloud after giving her two cents. 

"How she can choose to be so foolish and infuriating is beyond me."

Having spit out every venomous word she could think of, she disappeared, leaving Lilith with just a single thought. 

A party hosted by the royal family. I lived in an empire run by an emperor, not a kingdom, though?

She was also sure she was familiar with the names Melody and Aria. After a moment of thinking, she soon remembered where she'd heard them. 

Those were the names of Lilith's two older step-sisters that showed up in ⟨Kalix's Crazy Love⟩. 

That must be a coincidence. There's no way I could be in a book right now. 

It was too outrageous of an idea, even as a fleeting thought. 

—No. Why wouldn't that be possible?

It was entirely possible, seeing as she'd already read the similarly titled story that wrote of her past life. While still trying to make certain of the truth, she went to find Melody as the middle aged woman from earlier had ordered. 

"I was told you were looking for me, so I came."

Melody, who had long since grown angry at the tardy Lilith, wore her iciest expression as she turned around. 

You'll definitely start trembling and begging for my forgiveness if I snap at you, right?

But somehow, those words refused to leave her mouth. The Lilith currently leaning on the door didn't seem like the same person she had previously known. 

Unlike the smile she normally wore while gauging other's reactions, her emotionless expression now is nothing short of ominous. 

Even the usually tactless Melody began to question her in a cautious manner. 

"Lilith, what's wrong with you today? Did you eat something weird?"

"No, I'm perfectly fine. And how would you know what I'm normally like? Are you my sister or something?

"Huh? 'You'? Did you just refer to me as 'you'?"

Though she had just been trying to get a read on her sister, Melody was wholly unable to stand those words, and her anger flared yet again. 

"Lilith Delfi! Have you actually gone insane? How could you not recognize your own older sister!"

Oh my God. 

Shocked out of her wits, Lilith's mouth refused to shut. Her impossible speculation had been right.  

This had clearly been a story in her past life, and yet this was now real and the place she had previously known was fictional. 

But whether it went against logic or not, this was now the reality she was forced to face. 

She was now the abused Lilith Delfi from the book she'd read in her past life, ⟨Kalix's Crazy Love⟩. Mistreated by her stepmother and stepsisters, the unimportant side character would then be married off to an abusive baron who was said to have already beat several of his wives to death. 

She now understood why she'd previously felt that her face looked young. In the story, Lilith had only been nineteen years old. But the situation was still quite hard to believe, so Lilith stealthily stuck her hand out and pinched Melody's cheek. 

"Aack!"

"Wow, it's real," Lilith innocently wondered in awe. 

This strange reality wasn't an illusion after all. She was truly Lilith Delfi. Though it could be said at the fact that she pinched another person's cheek that her character had undergone a complete change.

"Y... you really...!"

Melody was dumbfounded by her usually meek younger sister's unexpected action. So you've already forgotten about this morning's scolding, huh? Out of habit, Melody raised her hand in order to pinch Lilith's side. 

"Ack!"

But the person who yelled was Melody, as Lilith quickly seized the incoming hand and twisted it. 

Earlier, she had been injured only because she was caught by surprise, but Lilith wasn't the type of person who would let that happen twice. 

In addition, she was also familiar with defensive martial arts. She then began to give words of advice to Melody, who had collapsed on the ground. 

"Violence is bad."

"Aaagh. It... it hurts."

"You should also be a bit more careful too, sister. You'll be punished someday if you live as a wicked person."

I'm giving you great advice I've learned through my own life experiences, you know. 

It hadn't been long since she'd promised to do kind deeds, and yet Lilith was overwhelmed at the thought that she had already done one. 

Starting anew as Lilith Delfi seemed to be a good thing after all. With the death of Lilith Detroi, she had paid for her wrongdoings in full. 

Adjusting to this new place and living as the foolishly kind Delfi lined up with her interests of being a good person. 

"If you understand, then get up quickly. I'll help you get dressed."

However, Melody remained dazedly staring up at her, so Lilith lifted her up herself. She then began to dress her up as the middle-aged woman, otherwise known as her stepmother Carmen, ordered her to. 

"I'm about to tighten your waistband, so tell me if it gets too hard to breathe."

"S... sure."

A nervous Melody, who had responded to her with more than a bit of hesitation, began to examine Lilith. 

Is this really my sister? Though she looked the same, she didn't seem even remotely similar to the submissive girl she had previously known. 

But whether Melody had been examining her or not, Lilith was too busy decorating her to notice. 

Lilith had always loved the act of dressing herself up. Perhaps it was because of what she'd read in the book from that same morning; that because she was a villainess, she never focused on the inside. Instead, she loved making herself up lavishly, looking only to better herself on the exterior. 

But even knowing that, she had no desire to give up this pleasure of hers.

It's not necessarily a bad thing to make yourself look good, right?

Delicately braiding Melody's bright blonde hair, she took a flower from the vase next to her and used it as decoration. Though it wasn't her own hair, it looked quite beautiful, which left her in a good mood. 

Whether she felt the same or not, Melody's face was much more relaxed in comparison to earlier. Lilith then took it upon herself to ask in a pleased voice,

"Do you like your hair?"

"No!"

Yelling at her out of habit, Melody ended up startling herself. 

I'm going to end up on the floor just like earlier, aren't I?

But unexpectedly, Lilith merely retracted her hands with a flinch, showing no particularly special reaction. 

"Is that so? I'll take them all out, then."

She then began to pluck out the flowers plaited in her sister's braid. Melody, who had actually adored her previous hairstyle, could do nothing but watch helplessly as the flowers disappeared one by one. 

In any case, it was her who had said she'd hated it. With a small and sulky voice, Melody began to grumble. 

"My hair's all messed up now."

"Then I'll redo your braid."

She had whispered it under her breath in fear that her step sister would do something odd again, but having clearly caught what she said, Lilith swiftly began taking care of her hair.

Phew, I just barely kept myself from tearing out my own stepsister's hair. 

When looking at it objectively, it had turned out beautifully.  However, because of Melody's intentional naughtiness, she'd flinched and nearly grabbed her by the hair. Though she'd only just vowed to live a kind life a few moments ago, she was just barely able to restrain herself.

Let's turn a blind eye to her yelling since I'm such a kind person. 

Lilith was creating standards for the requirements of living as a kind person as she pleased. In truth, she had been born as a villainess and had never done any good deeds in her life, so it was natural that she had no idea what "good deeds" looked like. 

"Surely this is neat enough?"

Though Melody was staring at the re-braided hair reflected back at her in the mirror, her thoughts couldn't be any further. 

I was so surprised when she pinched me earlier. But she's acting like she usually does now?

It's just like Lilith to not do anything when I scream at her. Melody was a painfully simple person, so having recovered her originally temperamental personality, she then began to order Lilith around as usual. 

"Clean my room now and then get out."

Without uttering any useless complaints, Lilith began to clean. I have to listen to other people well because I'm a good person. But she certainly didn't forget to purposely trip the hindrance that was Melody's feet. 

To think that you'd keep me from doing something nice. That's something I could never accept. 

She didn't begin to concentrate on scrubbing the floors until she had grabbed the weeping Melody's neck and drove her out of the room. It was quite hard for her, seeing as it was her first time doing chores. Her life had truly become exhausting, but it was worth suffering from muscle pains everything single morning. She felt that as she'd decided to live as the kind Delfi, it was something she simply had to go through. 

That's why she would tolerantly endure, no matter how much her stepsisters tormented her, or how hard her stepmother was to bear. As she'd made up her mind, she would even do them favors occasionally. 

Of course, those good works were based on her own standards.

But even that had all come to naught within that very month. 

—————————

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Lady Lilith."

"Hurry and introduce yourself to Baron Schurtz, dear."

As a result of just a month of enduring, she was introduced to Baron Schurtz by her stepmother Carmen. The same man with a violent personality that had already beat several of his wives to death. 

Baron Schurtz was originally a considerably successful commoner. 

With a strong desire to dominate, he bought the title of baron, as well as a few beautiful young wives on the side. 

Those who had sold their daughters to him for a fortune dared not report their deaths, much less protest, as the knowledge of what they'd done would bring their houses immense shame. They were also afraid that he would ask for the money back. 

"I saw your portrait, but you're even more beautiful in real life."

Every time he laughed, the baron's chin would jiggle in response. No words could be used to better explain his appearance other than "villainous underling #3", as he bore a jutting out stomach and a face full of greed. His baldness coupled with the repulsive way he was staring at her were truly just the cherry on top. 

"My little girl is quite the shy one, so it seems that she's embarrassed. Come now, why haven't you introduced yourself yet?"

"Hello."

She gave her greetings with a terribly frigid face. At the end of her month of suffering, she was met with the worst possible outcome— meeting with Baron Schurtz. 

What's worse, her current situation was even more unfavorable than it was in the original story. 

Rather than meet and marry at the age of 20 like Lilith did originally, she had now come in contact with him an entire year early. 

One might say it was only a year's difference, but it wasn't just that. Within just a single year, Lilith could legally get married to that baron.

******

The Scum Villain's Self-Saving System : Scumbag System

summary:

Can't I read stallion novels anymore?! [yokubo: genre with OP protag & harem]

Shen Yuan is reborn into a young man and scum villain destined to die, Shen Qingqiu.

But it must be known that the original Shen Qingqiu was sliced alive by his disciple, Luo Binghe, into a human stick! A human stick!

Shen Qingqiu's heart was full herd of grass mud horses running full tilt, yet:

"It's not like I don't want to hug this main character's thighs, but who let this fucking man be so black. The revenge that needs to be taken is some thousands of deeds!

Why is all the romance that should be going to the women in the plot imposed on him?

Why as a scum villain, should he still have to block gun and knife for the protagonist and sacrifice himself?

Shen Qingqiu: "... _(:□)∠)_I think I can still save him one more time."

He wants to prove – even scum villains can live, and live coolly at that!

It's also the story of a small white flower who later became a black flower attacking a scholarly, scum villain type.

This is the story of a master and disciple's everyday unknowing, very strange, dog-blood process of falling in love.

It's also a scum villain's firsthand account of the male protagonist turning from a small white sheep into an overbearing black king, sort of story...