SMaddie

A woman, doomed to live the life of a fantasy romance novels villainess again and again. Decides that this life she will simply be lazy, allow the story to drag her where it may
However, the other main characters are acting rather strange this time around. They simply will not leave her to laze about in peace.

This is my first book, and also incredibly self indulgent. Created mostly for my own enjoyment. Featuring: an mc who gives no fucks, obsessive male leads, and gratuitous use of fantasy tropes. What more can a gall ask for. 
(There is no weird sibling stuff, and there is very little of the miscommunication trope. Mostly because I personally dislike that sort of thing.)

A Tired Villainess and the Obsessive Male Leads

I spotted her as I was making the usual boring rounds of greetings and well wishes that was required at all these sorts of events. She was standing off to the side, alone, dressed in red and black. None of this would have normally gained more than a passing glance but it was the passive energy she radiated that truly interested me.

The unbothered calm. Like perfectly still lake, no ripples, nothing beneath but darkness.

The Kartesh family was given the gift of 'the minds eye'. The ability to read a persons thoughts and emotions, so that we as the ruling family could truly understand the hearts and minds of those we ruled. Or at least that was what my parents had always preached.

For most members of the family general emotions could be gleaned with eye contact. Thoughts could be read with physical contact, prolonged eye contact, and a bit of concentration.

These rules are not the case for me.

The emotions of the people around me bombarded me at all times, their greed, lust, and hunger for power constant. All it took to hear the thoughts running through a persons mind was physical contact, which was why I took to wearing gloves at all times. Already the emotions and intent of the people around me told me all I wanted to know about their inner thoughts. I had no interest in hearing whatever these 'nobles' thought of me.

There was something entirely new about her though. At first I thought she simply had not noticed me, which was why she radiated such disinterest and apathy. However, then I saw her glance at me out of the corner of her eye before going back to staring at the crowd. It was clear she knew I was there and simply did not care, and in fact did not wish to speak with me at all.

There has never been anyone so entirely uninterested in me before, none except my aide. Everyone was at least curious if nothing else. Yet I felt none of it even when I focused on her.

Well, Father did want me to find a woman to marry here and there was no way I was marrying any of the women who only felt lust and greed when they looked at me. I would be driven to kill them within the month. This one held promise though. First, however, I need to see if that apathy held up after I approached her.

It did, with the exception of a brief flare of dismay when I approach, confusion when I asked her to dance and when I began to speak, and a small but noticeable flare of rage when I mention her father, that apathy stayed put. No greed, no lust, not even any fear.

Dancing with her was like letting out a breath I did not even realize I had been holding. The relief of finding someone so tolerable was greater than I had expected. It was not something I had ever considered could happen. Finding my aide had already been a stroke of luck but this was simply to good to pass up.

I cannot help but wonder what was so different about her, about her life that she had turned out so completely different from all those who surrounded her. I suppose it does not truly matter at the moment though.

As I watch her walk away from me, black dress accented in a blood red, I decided. I will marry her, finding someone like her was rare. I could barely even stand my own family. This gem could not be allowed to escape my grasp. Not when the alternative was being married to a woman I could not stand.

9 Inside Alaric