I will not die a Villainess's death

"Lady Dirac, are you not going to head in now? I thought you wanted to have a ceremonial bath and that is why you came here."

Elysia wanted to cry at hearing that voice but all she could do was smile and show that she was not worried about going into the Ceremonial pool at all.

'I hope nothing goes wrong. We cannot afford for today's ceremony to go wrong at all costs.'

There was a big reason behind Elysia's thoughts and it was the winter feast sacrifice.

The sacred power that would form as a result of today's ceremony formed an animal that would become a subject of the hunting festival.

The objective of the hunting festival would be to let the sacred animal find the eternal pool and cross over to the godly realm. In return, gods would provide their world with abundant knowledge and magic power.

That was the belief of contract that resulted in the birth of this ceremony. It was a sacred festival that was being held for a long time now.

"Lady Dirac, are you not going to enter? Is everything alright?"

"Huh? I was lost in thoughts there for a sec. Of course, I am going in now. Why won't I go in now?"

Elysia quickly entered the Ceremonial pool's bounds to escape the eyes that were looking at her sharply.

People were eying Elysia and her delay, likely looking for her to mess up and give them a chance to catch her in the act.

Not only were they excited to see Elysia mass up as herself but also as the Lady of Dirac house. There was no love lost between the Dirac house and the temple.

'It has not changed a bit. I wonder how the place feels to Eve when she uses it. She's the only other priestess who regularly uses this place.'

Elysia wanted to procrastinate and then go out without taking a dip in the bath. She would feel so much better if she did not have to follow the customs.

In the end, Elysia had to enter the Ceremonial pool and surrender her body to it. The water covered her body and Elysia found her consciousness drowned in the water.

It was a familiar sensation and one Elysia was used to. The water was dragging Elysia into its depths.

It almost felt like shackles were holding Elysia down. But she could not even feel afraid since this sensation was rather familiar.

'I feel so sleepy. I wonder if it's alright to go to sleep now. Will my dream be a familiar one of me dying? Or will I see another place again?'

Elysia's body hit the pool's end rather abruptly but she did it even realize it.

She had all but stopped breathing as soon as she had entered the pool. Her body was suspended in the air and the water was rushing all around urgently.

And then Elysia felt her consciousness suspend itself in a familiar embrace.

......…..

The feeling of claws on her neck was familiar. The way her body was being held close to that well-developed chest was familiar as well.

'You tried to trick me, but that was not enough. Do you think you will succeed?'

"You tried to trick me, but that was not enough. Do you think you will succeed?"

A familiar voice and familiar tone. This was a vision Elysia often had. So naturally, she was also familiar with the owner of that hand on her neck.

Any second now, Even would enter the scene as well and talk to Elysia. It would be any second now.

"Where are you looking at? Ah, maybe you want to have a last look at the world and yourself before you die? Won't you want to see that?"

"I-let me go,"

'T-That is not my voice.'

But it was familiar. The scenes in the vision were so familiar but the contents had changed again. But why and how?

"Look at the world. None of them care for you, just as they don't care for me. So why should we care for them?"

'Nononono, this is different. Adam never said that in the original script. Why were the contents of her vision different when everything else was the same.'

"Let me go."

Elysia released with a jolt whose voice she was hearing coming out of her mouth. Of course, Eve had not come in.

It was because the body Elysia was occupying belonged to Eve. She was Eve currently and this vision was seen from her perspective.

But then what happened to her? What happened to Elysia and what time frame was this?

"Adam, where is Elysia?"

This vision has felt familiar before, likely because Elysia had been in this situation before. Maybe it was Elysia who was supposed to be here instead of Even initially but something had gone wrong.

"Don't say her name. She betrayed us and escaped. She's far gone beyond my grasp."

"So can't you just follow after her? You're half-dragon. Surely you can do that?"

Elysia tried to make Adam snap out of the mood he had gotten in. She suddenly realized that this was perhaps a vision in which Elysia had managed to live.

'Am I alive? Did I run away? What about Lucas? And Sora? Did they come with me?'

Elysia was at a point where knowledge was power. If she could guess what had happened then she could know how she had gotten away and to where.

She could not let this chance step by. This was the payoff to everything Elysia has been building up toward.

A future where she had managed to live.

'I need Adam to speak up. Wait! What is he doing? He needs to get down right now.'

"Adam, get down from there. Whatever you are thinking of doing, don't do it. You don't need to take such a drastic action like-"

"But you're the one who said I should follow after her and that is what I am going to do next. Even, perhaps he was right in saying that I was a coward but I can still make my wrongs right."

Adam was standing in front of the window, his back to Elysia so she could not guess his expression.

But he likely looked bitter until the end as he jumped down the window.

Elysia followed behind him, her body loving before her brain could. But she forgot one thing and that was that she was not in her one body.

Even as she reached Adam, she could not pull him back up.

"What are you doing? How did this all happen?"

'How did things end up this way? The more Elysia thought over this issue, the more she realized that she had no idea.'

But one thing was for sure, Elysia had not expected Adam to try and kill himself over her disappearance. Or at least make a suicide attempt.

Elysia wanted to know how things ended up this way. What had happened to make things this depressing?

"Why?"

"Don't you recall how it all happened? It's all his fault but he escaped as well."

"Who-?"

Elysia asked it her words were lost in the wind. She could not see Adam anymore as frost started to rise from the ground.

No, not the ground. There was a lake underneath Elysia and Adam's falling bodies and they were going to crash into it soon.

"The fault is yours, so will you take responsibility for your actions?"

Elysia's mouth was open in a silent scream but there was nothing that came out of her mouth.

But there was a pounding sound that resonated around Elysia's ears. It was bringing her closer to consciousness.

......…..

The pounding did not stop even after Elysia woke up from that sub-space. It was clear that the one knocking on the door was present in real life and not in her vision.

'What a nightmarish world I saw in my dreams. I hope I never have to face it again.'

Elysia was more than aware of how rigid fate was. It had refused to change anything even after Elysia had begged and begged for things to change.

But was changing things really for the best now?

"Lady Dirac, how long do you need to stay in there? It is almost time for the ceremony to start."

The speaker was loud enough to get Elysia's attention this time. It was quite a desperate knock as well, dragging Elysia out of the vision completely.

It was also then that Elysia felt her breath start again and water filled up her lungs. Her body jumped into an over-drive and Elysia broke through the surface.

The first gulp of oxygen felt like a breath of fresh air for her and Elysia took it in like a greedy child.

It was like a sweet taste Elysia had missed before and now she could not get enough of it.

"Lady Dirac, are you alright? Do you need me to come in and help you out?"

The door to the Ceremony Pool was knocked twice before Elysia comprehend enough brain power to realize what a bad idea it was.

Someone opening the ceremony pool door was asking for trouble. Especially considering what happened last time someone dared to enter this sacred place unannounced.

"DON'T COME IN. WHATEVER YOU DO, DO NOT DARE COME IN. I WILL BE OUT IN A MINUTE SO JUST WAIT OUTSIDE."

Elysia's voice was rough and used, but it was enough to get the maid to back down. That was one trouble out of the way for Elysia.

The next thing on her agenda was to exit the pool and find some time for herself.

The vision of the future she saw was unlike any Elysia had before. Adam had not looked that good and Eve had also been rather dismissive.

Elysia was sure that had she not been in Eve's body, Eve might not have even taken an initiative to stop Adam from being foolish.

But there was one clue Elysia did have and it was that it all linked back to her disappearance and a mysterious 'he.'

That reminded Elysia that this was not the first instance of this 'he' she had heard. But what it meant, she had no idea.