The Villainess who has Reborn Five Times

Chapter 5

Words of Lady Florence breaking off her betrothal with Lord Hank spread soon after that. 

"Odette, how could Lady Florence break off her betrothal with Lord Hank?" Rachelle complained with anger. "Lord Hank is such a nice gentleman! He is a powerful sorcerer but yet he's so kind to the weak! Lord Hank is so devastated with the news! He was so sad when we met yesterday."

I just continued with reading the book on my lap while nodding noncommittally. In my note, I told Florence about how Lord Hank offered to take Rachelle around town. I asked her to observe in the dark with her own eyes. It's totally up to her to decide if she still wished to proceed with the betrothal or if it's better to break everything off before it turned into a huge scandal. 

From what I knew, what hurt Florence so badly in my previous lives was because her opponent had goaded her about her fiance's new love just before their duel. Telling her no wonder her fiance chose a beauty like Rachelle instead of her. Her opponent had told her it had been a known secret among the aristocrats except her because her family blocked the news from her to avoid distracting her. At that exact moment, as if it was a scheduled plan, Lord Hank's servant had brought her a letter from Lord Hank about the broken betrothal. There was not an ounce of respect for her nor her family. 

Florence was a girl known for her sensibility. If she had the chance to see how Lord Hank treated Rachelle and compared that to how he treated her, she would know how to react. All of Rachelle's suitors looked at her in similar ways, the doting look, the honey dripping glance. It's very easy to distinguish the difference between you and Rachelle. There's no chance getting in between them. The best way was to break off everything before gossips broke. 

"Oh poor Lord Hank!" Rachelle sobbed. "How I wish I could comfort him."

Lord Hank was one hundred percent pretending in front of Rachelle so that she could go and comfort him.

"I can comfort him! He has been so nice to me, now it's the time I repay him!" Rachelle clapped her hands excitedly. "Odette, I'm sorry I have to leave now." 

I gave her an elegant smile and waved my hand. I was trying hard to suppress my urge to shout 'Just leave! Do you think I want to hear about your love life?' at her.

She rushed out of the room soon after that. As soon as she left the room, I rolled my eyes and flopped down on the armchair, covering my face with the book I was reading.

Now what comes next? I thought. There are some events that always happen in all of my previous lives. Let's call them cornerstones. Meeting Lord Hank in the tea party being one of them. In this life I intervened a bit, but fate still drew the two of them together. Now what's the next cornerstone? 

"Ah! Must be the meeting with my stupid fiance!" I sat up, the book I placed over my face fell to my lap. With that the golden black crow feather I tucked in the book also fluttered to my lap. "I should have burnt this."  As I muttered beneath my breath, I slipped the feather back into my leather bound book. 

It's about time Father sent me back to the temple. Originally, sending Rachelle to the wind temple was not even on Father's mind. But then Father's new wife stepped in and said Rachelle had dreams of becoming a priestess ever since she was small. She believed that's a prophecy of some kind. Or else why would Rachelle kept having the same dream ever since she was four? Father was totally convinced. If Odette had little hope of becoming a priestess, what about Rachelle? 

So Rachelle would follow me back to the temple in a few weeks. My fiance, Henri, came from a family also serving the god of wind. That's where Rachelle met him. I didn't know about Rachelle, but that's where Henri fell in love with her. Rachelle could not catch up with her study, so she asked for my help. In my first life, being the evil stepsister I was, I of course kicked her away after some sort of humiliation. In the end, it was Henri tutoring her. And then Henri told me he had to break off our betrothal as he fell deeply in love with Rachelle.

See the pattern here! Rachelle met a guy, that guy fell deeply in love and then broke off the betrothal. Wherever Rachelle went, she left behind a strings of broken hearts. Broken hearts of girls. 

After burning to death in my first life, I had reflected. Did I really like Henri that much? Had he really been worth it? Or had I been so fixated on him just because Rachelle once again stole something from me and I had just been jealous? Had it all been because of my silly pride? 

When I saw Henri for the first time in my second life, I realized I really felt nothing for him except for the anger and hatred for plotting my death with the other suitors. I felt not an ounce of jealousy when he was with Rachelle. Even when they were flirting around. That's when I realized, I really didn't like Henri as much as I had thought. It's all my silly pride. 

"Thank gods I don't like him!" I rolled my eyes as I muttered beneath my breath. "How can my taste be this bad." 

In my previous life in which I pretended to be the best sister alive. Whatever Rachelle wanted, I gave it to her. That's why when Henri announced that he was going to break off our betrothal in a family gathering with both of our families all seated around a table, I had acted like a heart broken yet understanding ex-fiance and then accepted the sad truth that Henri wanted to marry Rachelle instead graciously. This had earned me an approving nod from Father. But the fact that Henri had dumped me in front of everyone and then declared he would marry my stepsister instead was a huge insult to me. 

No wonder I lashed out in my first life when I was still childish and spoiled. Now that I thought of it anger seemed to build up in my body. Do you know how insulting that was? How humiliating when your supposed acquaintance all silently pointed their fingers behind your back and mocked you? 

No I won't let that happen to me again! I swore to gods internally. Then how about we speed things up? 

My lips could not help but to quirk up for this upcoming drama. 

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Author's note

That's the second time Odette mentioned the crow feather. What's the secret about it? What will Odette do about her ex-fiance, Henri? Stay tuned! 

Thank you for reading, see you next time!