I tamed the female lead

Chapter 3

I don't want to die. At least not right now being way too young. But how young am I anyway? A few days ago I was still a 21 year old girl but one day I just opened my eyes and found myself in the body of a 5 year old. So was I still 16? Or was I 5 years old? No that couldn't be! I didn't want to do everything over again. School was horrible but I always thought that it was okay to do it once and then never have to do it again. When I saw children going home from school I thought to myself: thank god I don't have to go through it again. But now I had to! I never thought reincarnation was real and didn't want it to be either. I was happy with living and then dying but why was I another person now?

The life of a 5 year old was terribly boring. I couldn't go anywhere alone because people were too afraid that I would hurt myself or get lost or even kidn*pped. They were right but I wanted them to leave me alone. I was a grown woman. Well, at least I used to be one. A very happy one nonetheless. I wasn't someone famous or important but I had my little daily routine and I followed it thoroughly. I had a lot of friends and didn't really miss them but wanted to go back to see them anyway. Who was going to pay for my apartment while I was here? I couldn't wait to open my eyes and see my old room but unfortunately it never happened.

Day after day I woke up in this small body and was forbidden to do anything interesting. People weren't even nice to me. They were as polite as you would be to someone who pays you but I felt that they couldn't care less about what happened to me. I hated being a child over anything. I needed my space and independence. During those boring days I nonetheless discovered some things about this boring body. Her name was Poehina and she was the daughter of the Duke of the south that I never saw because he was away for the moment doing who knows what a Duke did.

The name of this body was familiar but I didn't realize it immediately. Maybe it was the boredom but it took me a few days to glue the pieces together. Everything fell into place slowly. I transmigrated into a book! This was a very interesting novel that started as a simple romance but then became something much darker. I started reading it to read something I didn't have to think hard about and what was easier to read than a romance? The story was full of roses and sentiments and I never would have started it if I wasn't in that mood. But I was very glad to have started it because the end of the book changed everything. The story that started as a cliché romance soon became a blood bath. We discovered that nothing was as it seemed and it became an amazing story of revenge. I read it hundreds of times and considered it one of my comfort books. However when I was reading it, I wasn't reading it from beginning to end and only read my favorite chapters and paragraphs.

Even though it sounded impossible, that's where I was: in a book. The first book which was a romance between the male lead, Alastair and the female lead Astéria. The female lead was the hidden child of the emperor abandoned because of the color of her eyes and had been sent to the Duke to grow up without anyone knowing the truth. Alastair on the other hand was the fiancé of Poehina and the first love of Astéria. They would meet in college and it would be love at first sight. Unfortunately life wasn't that easy for them, it wouldn't be fun that way. Who would read a book without any hiccups?

In fact, Poehina didn't know Astéria was a princess. Astéria and Poehin were both Duchesses and at every gathering Poehina spent her time tormenting Astéria who didn't retaliate for years because she didn't see Poehina as a threat. Therefore, Poehina tormented the poor girl for years but would soon regret it. This abuse continued during college and got even worse when Poehina discovered that her fiance was in love with Astéria. Was Poehina in love with Alastair? According to my friend who I told the story about, Poehina was a poor child who had been neglected and who didn't know anything about human relations. She believed that Poehina really liked Alastair and felt inferior to Astéria therefore tormenting her the way she did. This wasn't an excuse but it helped us understand her actions. Which was still pitiful and I knew what I was talking about because I was in her body. I wouldn't put that much energy into a human being. Never. I felt repulsed by the villainess. Who would go mad over love? It wasn't worth it at all. Apart if it was in a book and the male lead was obsessing over the female lead. But this wasn't fiction anymore.

Anyway, at the end of the book, Poehina went over the top and killed Alastair after discovering Astéria was the princess. Poehina was quite smart herself because she was the only person to discover it before Astéria made the truth known. She couldn't bear the thought of losing Alastair to Astéria and decided to kill him if she couldn't have him. I hated Poehina and found her pitiful. How could you kill someone you loved?

Seeing her love murdered, or that was what we thought before we learned the truth about Astéria's motives, Astéria tortured Poehina for months before sending her to die. I was really surprised by the turning of events and was quite pleased to have a strong and terrifying female lead. But it was different when the life in danger was actually mine. Now I was Poehina and I had no intention of being tortured. I didn't want to die either and decided that until the day would come when I could go home, I would stay as far away from the princess as possible. If she didn't hate me, then she wouldn't hurt me. Astéria was the biggest villain and the strongest person in this whole universe. I couldn't be on her bad side. Never.

I still had a long time before the actual meeting between Poehina and Astéria and I knew I would never bully her. One because I was terrified of her and two because I wouldn't be able to look in the mirror if I did. Astéria arrived at the Duke's mansion when she was 14 years old and after two years she made her entry to society. Poehina started bullying her immediately, jealous of her not being the only Duchess anymore. I had to not only not bully her when she would arrive but completely disappear from her memories and maybe leave completely. If I disappeared completely, then she wouldn't remember anything and she wouldn't hurt me.

"I'll leave when I turn 18."

My plans didn't go as smoothly as planned. I didn't understand why people were so protective of a child. Okay, guess I understood but I needed to move freely in and out of the mansion and it wouldn't be possible if I kept being followed around. Poehina was usually ignored by everyone, even by her family but for some reason there was always one maid that I couldn't get rid of. My maid was very nice and she talked to me with a broad smile on her face but I just met her and didn't know if she was very trustworthy. Coming from someone who didn't believe in human goodness, you would understand why I had some doubts. I wasn't her real child, why would she care about me so much? It must be for money and that was understandable but still not trustworthy. I really wanted my maid to give me space but for some reason she seemed to love spending time with me. No matter how cold I was she just kept coming back. I really wanted to kick her but with the strength of this body I would do no damage at all. I was on edge and was used to people in this book being horrible. I felt bad being cold to the maid but I couldn't waste time and needed to survive first. I would make friends later.

I thought about getting her fired so I could find another maid who would give me space but when I thought about her gentle smile I couldn't bring myself to be mean to her. I learned that she had a miscarriadge and thought that was the reason why she was so patient with me. How could I fire her knowing all of this? No matter my motives, I wouldn't be able to look in the mirror if I did. Therefore I tried being more patient as well and decided to give my maid the benefit of the doubt for now. I loved independence and hated being followed around more than anything but I had to survive this.

Well a few years later my maid was still amazing and I liked her. Her name was Prissy and I started relying on her more and more. She was my only friend in the castle and I enjoyed spending time with her. When you were surrounded by sexist racist nobles, it was nice having one good person on your side. She talked a lot but was always ready to help me without asking for anything in return. We usually enjoyed tea time outside and she always talked cheerfully about some castle gossip while I was munching on some biscuits. I didn't really care about what was going on in this world but listening to her became some kind of routine and without wanting to I knew about everyone's life here . Especially that of the maids. I knew who liked whom and who was on bad terms with the other. I never talked to them but knew all their lives because of my chatty friend. Despite not liking the nobles, I made some good friends with the maids and knowing everything about them helped me a lot to make myself liked. I was very good at knowing what to say to them. I thought I would leave my bad habits in my old life but it was stronger than me. I didn't want to be liked by anyone here really but it was just so easy.

After a few months I finally met my new parents. I wasn't really curious about them and was rather stressed about seeing them because in the books they weren't the warmest parents on earth. Observing them from up close they did look like grumpy noble racists. I doubted they ever smiled in their lives and knew they spent money like nothing while saying poor people didn't work hard enough. That was the feeling I got from them but there was also something strange around them. I couldn't put my finger on it but they seemed rather... Silent. They were even shaking a bit. I didn't understand what was going on but couldn't compare because it was our first meeting even if they didn't know that. Moreover, I didn't have much time to think about it because they weren't alone.

There was a little blond head next to them and I frowned. I didn't remember Poehina having a sister. Was she such an unimportant character that they never talked about her? Maybe. I stared at her intently. The young girl was very small and frail. She was really cute and beautiful and I immediately liked her. She had short blond hair and purple eyes. She didn't resemble my new body at all and she rather resembled the female lead in the first book. She was all shy and didn't even dare look me in the eyes. It was so cute that I wanted to hug her immediately. But before I could get too excited, my new parents introduced me to the girl.

The little girl was named Orange and according to Prissy, it was the first time anyone ever saw that child. Orange was a year younger than me and it wasn't uncommon in noble families to have the children raised by someone else until they reached the age to learn how to be a good noble. But it wasn't the case for Orange. I had never met her but she wasn't the my sister at all and she wasn't being presented as one. No one knew where she was from but all we knew was that the Duke and Duchess decided to raise her as my lady in wanting. Being that shy and everything, I wasn't really surprised that she wasn't in the book. She was nothing but a backstory and that seemed really sad. Her origins weren't even known.

I wanted to get to know her better. I could have approached her slowly but I guess I got over excited about the idea of meeting someone interesting and just jumped on the occasion of being her friend. I started talking to her and couldn't stop. I loved shy people and became very extraverted around her. I didn't even remember what we had talked about first. I just ran up to her when I saw her and started saying the first thing that came to my mind:

"Hi Orange! I am so happy that you are here. I was starting to feel lonely. Your name is so cute. I love oranges and my favorite color is orange."

Orange listened to my jabber for hours without saying anything but I knew she was listening because when I would stop she would ask me to continue or she would just stare at me waiting for more. She always listened with the utmost focus and would smile happily while doing so. She didn't talk a lot and sometimes it took me days to hear even one word from her mouth. I loved taking care of her and soon our tea times with Prissy turned from a duo to a trio. Prissy would tell us about the habitual gossip and then ask us about our day. Orange never talked to Prissy or never even looked at her because she was so shy so she just stared at me waiting for me to answer, which I did. Prissy did try to become friends with Orange but the latter never opened up to her.

Therefore it would be only Prissy and me talking but to make sure Orange felt included, I always looked at her and asked her yes or no questions where she just had to nod or shake her head. While I was talking, Orange would always serve me cake and tea. I wanted to do the same for her but she was so quick that I didn't even see her move. Therefore I only had to focus on the conversation. Slowly Orange started opening up to me and she followed me everywhere. I hated people clinging to me more than anything but Orange soon became an exception. She was so cute and affectionate with me that I couldn't be mad at her for anything. Not that she ever made mistakes. Strangely, Orange was a very calm and mature child. She never cried, never broke anything and never pouted. Despite being an adult in a child's body, I felt like the less mature one and always felt very calm and protected around Orange which was rarely the case with others. Orange and Prissy were my only friends in this world and I slowly grew up with a chatty maid and a shy friend.

Orange being a year younger than me I soon took on the role of teacher for her. I helped her with her homework and taught her how to defend herself. She was so sweet and shy that I was scared someone would bully her later on. Better safe than sorry. Orange always listened to me with complete focus and I loved that feeling. But because of her personality, Orange started being picked on by the other children in the Dukedom. She didn't tell me about it but one day I saw her surrounded by mocking kids:

"Do you think you are better than us because you hang out with Poehina all the time? I hope you didn't forget your place."

I didn't wait a second and ran up to the children to push them away from Orange:

"What do you think you are doing? Leave Orange alone. I hang out with her because she is way better than any of you. If you have a problem with that then you should work on yourselves first.

-Poehina! You can't hang around servants. People will start assimilating you to them if you do.

-I much prefer being assimilated to her than to you.

-You are going to regret this.

-I dare you to try anything."

I grabbed Orange's hand and dragged her away without a glance back.

"If people ever bully you, you have to come find me immediately. I'll protect you, okay?"

Orange slowly nodded. I thought the children would continue bullying her and was on the lookout ready to beat them up if necessary but strangely things stopped there. I didn't even see those children again which was kind of weird. Did they move out? I didn't mind because they were bad people to begin with but it was still strange.

Prissy didn't even hear about the whole bullying thing and no one knew about it but us. We soon forgot it too and things quickly went back to normal. Orange and I spent so much time together that she started following the same classes as me despite being a year younger. She was talented but she still had a hard time which was understandable because she was studying subjects for older children. I helped her as much as I could and really liked the way she was staring at me. Now we were really together every second of the day and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way.