Reborn as the Villainess?!

Festival Lights

Alas, I soon discovered that his name was, in fact, not Tinkerbell.
Alf.
His name was only a single syllable and easy to remember, although his personality was rather twisted, which I attributed as more to his lack of conversation. After all, I seemed to be the second person to 'see' him in the last few hundred years. Granted, my ability to see him wasn't due to my talent alone.
"How rude." He said again, his frown giving off an eerie feel, his aura reflecting his emotions.
"What?" I rubbed my arm, a prickling sensation spreading over my body which Nyx easily dampened.
"It is only polite to return the gesture, I offer you my name yet you fail to give me yours."
With the prickling sensation becoming numb, I tried my best to smile. "Edythe DeVillanova."
His aura felt as if it had suddenly been dipped in oil. It became dark and suffocating. "DeVillanova?"
His words were clipped. "I did not realise Kael had spawn."
Ew. Although I was technically Kael's child, being called his spawn made me very uncomfortable. "Believe me, it's not like I would pick him if I had a choice."
Alf's eyebrows twitched. "It seems as if you harbour some ill will towards your predecessor."
I thought about it for a moment. "Not so much ill will, as much as wanting out of this place."
He laughed. "Ha! There is many a human I have met that would die for the wealth at your feet."
His words felt mocking, making me bristle. "You mean his wealth. I'm stuck here, a prison with solid gold bars is still a prison."
My conviction was beginning to feel weaker as of late, especially after Kael had recently been letting me go my own way.
The fairy's aura became bright again, like a light switch being turned on. His emotions seemed to go up and down like a yo yo.
His amusement shone through his bright eyes. "You act as if you have never heard the word prison break."
My silence seemed to confirm something for him as he raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you've never tried?"
With pursed lips, I folded my arms. "If I wanted to die, then yes I would have."
Alf flew close to me, his beautiful wings reflecting the light. "You really think he would kill you?"
"Why wouldn't he kill me?"
He held his hand out. "You should feel privileged, I don't do this for just anyone. Now take my hand before I change my mind."
Despite his strange words and gestures, I found myself taking his hand. A weird tingling sensation spread up my arm and I saw Alf's eyes lose focus for a moment as he appeared to stare at something beyond me.
In seconds, he was back to normal and let go of my hand. "Interesting."
Naturally, that offered no explanation as to what had just transpired and he appeared as if he had no intention of ever letting me know.
"Let's make a bet."
My refusal was immediate. "No."
There was no way I was going to make a bet with a spirit/creature I knew nothing about, especially with my life on the line.
"Tch, you're no fun." He flew back to the top of the log and landed gracefully, spinning back to face me. "Let me tell you a secret, you are guaranteed to win this bet."
Then why was he even doing this?
"I see the question in yours eyes, and the answer lies in the fact that I've been bored these last few hundred years. I'm willing to let the other party win if it means I can enjoy myself."
With eyes full of distrust, I tried to appear unconvinced. "What did you want to bet?"
His smile was devilish despite his angelic appearance. "I bet that if you escape the territory tonight, Kael will not kill you."
I scoffed. "What are you saying? Of course he'll kill me."
There was no doubt.
"I'm a fairy, and with the forest as my witness, I am not lying."
I took a step back. "You want me to run away?"
He did a flip in the air. "Ha! Did I ever mention running? I only meant to step outside for a while and possibly even attend the festival tonight, and return before the night's end."
Did that mean that Kael wouldn't notice me disappearing? Is that why he didn't think I would die? His promise felt serious, as if he had spoken an oath. It made his crazy words feel slightly more believable.
Then I did a double take. "Wait, you said festival?"
A gleam. "Celebrating the winter solstice. It happens each year."
Why was I not aware of this? In fact, I had never heard anyone breathe a word about any type of festival in all the years that I had been here.
"The choice is yours."
It surprised by how much I was considering the idea. I had thought I would be completely averse to an idea such as this, but my latest theory regarding my immunity/immortality before my foretold 'death' led me to believe that perhaps I wouldn't die before then. Meaning, I wouldn't die by going to this festival.
Yet the fear was still palpable.
The idea that I would have to face an angry Kael made me sick to my stomach.
A flutter by my ear. "We would be back before they even knew you were gone."
I bit my thumbnail, the thought seriously tempting. After all, I had never seen a festival before. Was it really as beautiful as described in the novels?
Seeing my curiosity, Alf smiled. "Follow me."
He fluttered back towards the bushes, and my feet followed him before I had any say.
Nyx was surprisingly complacent. It seemed that she too, was interested in this festival. She seemed to view the winter solstice as very auspicious.
Alf's trail was short, but there were so many twists and almost no visible path to follow that I quickly lost sense of my surroundings. As if by magic, we found ourselves at the wall that separated this demon's territory from the rest of the land. The more I thought about it, the more I realised how impossible it should have been for us to make this distance in only a few minutes. Kael's territory was no joke. It was huge.
Alf caught on quick, giving me a fiendish smile. "A trick of the trade."
Staring at the wall, I began to feel all enthusiasm drain from my body. "It's too big. I can't climb that."
But after another conversation on the little faith I had in fairies, me being forced to close my eyes and finally opening them to discover I was on the other side of the wall, I was positively bewildered. Perhaps he was more useful than I initially thought.
Just as I was about to step forward towards the light in the distance, Alf stopped me. "If the people here are anything like me, I'm afraid they won't take too kindly to the presence of a DeVillanova, so–" he held out his palm and blew into it, as if he were blowing pixie dust over me. "A change is in order."
For a moment, I thought he was making fun of me, but then a blonde strand caught my eye.
A weird pang was felt in my heart. I hadn't seen this colour in so long. Desperately, I grabbed a chunk of my hair and held it before my eyes.
It was undeniably blonde. A dirty blonde. But still blonde.
Just like in my previous life.
It was bittersweet.
Alf seemed pleased with himself. "And blue eyes no less!"
I gave him a smile, for the first time my reply was genuine. "Thank you."
He drew closer as he saw the tears on the edges of my eyes. "Humans really do cry over the strangest things. Though I must say, I prefer your crying face when you have black hair and red eyes."
Wiping them away, I began my walk with him towards the town. In the distance, I could already tell that it was beyond my expectations. For some reason, I had been expecting old wooden houses with dilapidated roofing and old shutters. This went beyond my expectations, there were beautiful stone pathways and reclaimed wooden houses stacked high, with lights strung between them.
And it was big.
My brain had assumed one street being the hub of activity. Yet this was more than one street.
Streets. Multiple streets and lights and music and people.
It was stunning. My feet couldn't take me there any quicker. By the time we arrived on the outskirts, I was thankful that I had a cloak that covered my body. Although I was wearing my training clothes, I still didn't want to draw attention to myself. It made me nervous to think about what these people would do the moment they discovered I was a DeVillanova.
At first, I was nervous. It felt as if the moment people laid eyes on me they would be disgusted. My appearance had always brought some kind of reaction from every person I had met.
In fact I was so conditioned to the response, that when someone walked past me, glanced down at me and kept going I was almost led to believe that they hadn't seen me at all.
I stepped out.
No one looked at me.
I was a normal, ordinary girl.
Excitement overtook me. Why hadn't I done this sooner?! For the first time, I was excited and happy without the constant fear or worry looming in my subconscious. It was enlightening.
As Alf said, no one appeared to notice his presence. Which meant I would appear as a normal girl on her own enjoying the festival.
Smiling, I walked under the strings of lights and listened to the live music that flowed through the streets. The markets were open and many people were selling various wares. They ranged from clothes to jewellery to collectables.
It was only when I stumbled across an old book store that I stopped. There were many books here that I hadn't seen at the library back home. Although most of them appeared insignificant, a book with a scorched cover caught my eye. Aside from its obvious worn out appearance, it had a strange glow. That same glowed emanated from one of the stones on the table.
"The young miss has a rather unfortunate eye."
Looking up, the shop keeper had his eyebrows raised. "You have picked up the two items that belonged to the same traveller I happened upon a few months prior."
I held both the items in my hand. "Where is he now?" Perhaps he would be able to tell me why these books had a weird energy. Judging by his looks, the shop keeper couldn't sense the energy from them.
"Crossing the bridge into the afterlife."
I was stunned. "He is dead?"
"The outside world is a harsh place little miss, but we do what we can to make a living."
Right. It was different here. The world wasn't so kind. If you didn't have money, you would starve. At least he was kind enough to tell me and not shoo me away.
"How much for these items?"
He scratched the back of his head. "Although the book is only three copper, that stone has a good purity level. It is one silver coin."
The stone was more than I was expecting. Was he ripping me off? That idea quickly disappeared when I could tell he already thought I couldn't afford it.
He was right. I didn't have any coins.
Running my hands through my pockets, I felt something. The pen I had forgotten to take out of my pocket after writing some notes at the desk in my room.
I held it out. "Will this do?"
His eyes widened. It was a fountain pen with a crystal nib. After a moment, he disappeared behind his stall and returned with a necklace. "Take this, it was his as well."
It was a simple corded necklace with a metal insignia I didn't recognise.
Although I was entirely sure the exchange was fair on my part, I really wanted the book. It was hard to pass on something so curious.
I left the stall feeling extremely satisfied.
"How boring." Alf was fluttering beside me. "You attend a festival and buy a book. Where is your sense of enjoyment?"
I placed the book, stone and necklace in the inside pocket of my cloak. "I'm guessing you don't read much books. You wouldn't understand."
He sniffed. "I do not need to. I am a fairy, not some human. Our knowledge is passed on through the mind, a book is unreliable and subjective."
"How sad." I dodged a person as I made my way up the street. "It's always the subjective feelings that pull you in."
A scoff before he promptly turned away from me. As my eyes followed him with a smile, I froze when I saw a flash of beautiful golden hair.
My feet froze as the golden hair caught the light and disappeared.
It was only a second—but I had only ever read of that kind of brilliantly golden hair belonging to one person.
Eleanor.