DustyDream

*Character illustrations in the auxiliary chapter.*

Born and raised as a nameless shadow guard for his kingdom’s crown prince, his life’s purpose was to be used and discarded at the whims of his liege. 

And his meaningless life ended when the gaze of a princess lingered on him for too long. The crown prince had him beheaded without a second thought, as if throwing out trash.

Transmigrating into the body of a baby girl, the nameless shadow finally had a name, a family, and a place to call her own. Throwing away his past, the shadow guard was now called ‘Emilia’, and walked on a new path to seek fulfillment. 

It was not meant to be, however, as the girl whom she had loved with all her heart and soul ended up mercilessly plunging a dagger through Emilia's love-struck heart at the highest point in her life.

The crowd clamored at the ‘deserved death of the villainess’, and at that moment, the shadow could only wonder… why? 

Why am I always the one to dedicate myself fully to someone, only to be thrown away like trash in the end?

And thus, as her soul floated away while cursing in resentment, ‘Emilia’ vowed to herself that in her next life she shall never be the one to fully dedicate herself. 

Whatever she likes shall be held in her palm, and shall never escape!

The moment the vow was made, a self-proclaimed villainess system proposed to partner with her, to explore and conquer the worlds through their anchors—the heroes and heroines. 

And by cultivating this energy, she shall one day go back. Back to the world she was born as ‘Emilia’ in, and face the so-called heroine once more. 

The second time they meet, Emilia won’t be the one drowning in regret!
...
Current cover was drawn by Scal2let, and commissioned by The Shadow King of Hearts (I love it so much, it's amazing, ahhh!!!

The Villainess with a Heroine Harem

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

While the rest of the world was busy debating over her intentions and plans, Emilia found herself being scolded by Noelle for what felt like the tenth time that day.

"Irresponsible, careless, and stupid to the extreme—!"

The crimson-haired beauty looked away in embarrassment as the older girl continued huffing and puffing for almost a full minute before finally taking a deep breath to calm down.

"Listen… I know you're probably used to taking some 'risks' now after going through the whole rebellion thing, but can you please refrain from putting your life at risk when there's no need to do so?"

Crystal and Dixie looked at each other helplessly, but in the end, neither of them spoke up for Emilia.

After all, while they were very much in favor of Emilia's pursuit of her goals and ambitions most of the time, they also didn't like seeing her be in harm's way, especially when it could be avoided.

Punishment or Reward?