It was three days before her family would come to get her.
No matter how shocked Victoria was or how much she didn't want to believe she had truly gone back in time, she had no choice but to accept it. Fate had given her a second chance, the very one she had secretly wished for in her past life.
For the following good two days, she lived in quiet calm, a kind of peace she never knew. She spent those hours alone, sustained by the food she summoned from her mother's locket. All she had to do was wish for a meal...warm soup, fresh bread, chicken and it would appear, as if lovingly prepared by invisible hands. She didn't need to steal as she had always did before just to survive. She lived the two days to the fullest, knowing what was coming once she returned to her father's mansion....a place filled with punishment, cruelty, and humiliation.
And despite having magic at her fingertips, she chose not to change her appearance. She remained in her torn, faded clothes with a crude mask barely concealing her face. She wanted to meet her family again just as they remembered her....pitiful, powerless, and silent. That image would serve her purpose.
On the third day.....the day her suffering would begin anew, Victoria was already prepared. She rose early, bathed thoroughly, and dressed again in the same ragged garments. Her long silver hair was uncombed, tangled into knots that hung down her shoulders. Her face, pale and delicate, peeked out from behind the battered mask.
She had eaten her breakfast....nothing luxurious, just a slice of warm bread and sweetened milk and then sat on the pavement outside, in front of the dilapidated building. The sunlight bathed her skin, but she barely felt it. She was waiting for the car that would come pick her.
Time passed slowly, each second stretching into eternity. Just as she began to wonder if they had changed their minds, maybe the second chance wasn't following the original plot, a sleek black car pulled up and came to a slow stop before her. Victoria didn't need to be told it was meant for her. She recognized it immediately. Still, she remained seated, feigning ignorance, pretending she hadn't noticed the vehicle at all.
A few moments later, the door opened, and a middle-aged woman stepped out. Her black hair, streaked with white, was neatly packed into a tight bun. She wore a long black gown with thin white stripes and a white mask covered the lower half of her face. Two other women followed behind her...one with fiery red hair, the other with jet-black locks dressed identically and masked as well. They moved with a quiet, efficient grace.
"Good afternoon, young lady," the middle-aged woman said as she approached, her voice calm and clipped. "Are you Miss Victoria Ashford?"
The woman held a folded sheet of white parchment in her gloved hand, which she opened carefully. It was an old portrait....an image of Victoria as a baby, her silver hair already present even in infancy, her violet eyes wide with innocence.
The woman's gaze flickered from the image to Victoria's face, and something softened in her eyes....a flash of recognition. That hair color, after all, was exceedingly rare. Only one girl in the Ashford family line had silver hair and violet eyes.
Hatred rose in Victoria's throat like bile.
She recognized the middle aged woman. The head maid. She had once been the instrument of her suffering, the one who delivered every cruel punishment without question. Beatings that left bruises, starvation that weakened her to the point of collapse, nights locked outside in the cold rain with nothing but her thin rags to keep her warm. Victoria had endured all of it.
Looking at the woman now, she felt her hands twitch with the urge to strangle her. But no... this was not the time. Revenge required patience. Soon, very soon, they would all pay.
"Yes. I am Victoria," she said at last, rising to her feet with practiced meekness. "Who are you people, please?"
The head maid offered a stiff, formal bow. "You are indeed young lady Victoria Ashford, the daughter of the esteemed Lord Ashford. We have been sent on his orders to retrieve you and bring you home."
Her words were smooth, rehearsed, official but they struck Victoria like a blade.
Home?
That cursed place of torment and control. She doesn't have a home. She never did.
This was exactly how they had acted the first time.....nice, respectful, almost reverent when they came to fetch her. Back then, Victoria had been so naïve, so hopeful, that she'd considered them royalty sent to rescue her from poverty. But now? Now, she saw them for what they truly were.....thorns buried deep in her flesh. And this time, she couldn't wait to pull them out, one by one.
"My mother told me my father is a wealthy man," Victoria said softly, her voice laced with carefully crafted innocence. "She said living with him would give me a better life. That his name is Mr. Ashford. I... I never imagined a day like this would come."
Tears shimmered in her violet eyes, but they were false....summoned from a well of fury so hot it threatened to erupt. A brittle smile stretched across her lips, masking the hatred coiling within her chest.
The head maid gave a small, polite smile and nodded. "Your mother is right. Very right, indeed." She extended a gloved hand toward Victoria. "Now, come with me, young lady, so your mother's wish may finally come to pass."
'Oh, it will,' Victoria thought as she took the woman's hand, allowing herself to be helped to her feet. 'Just not the way any of you expect.'
Once upright, she let herself be gently ushered toward the sleek black car. She stepped inside, followed closely by the red-haired, black-haired maid and the head maid. The car door shut behind them with a soft but final thud, and moments later, the engine rumbled to life.
As the car moved steadily toward the looming Ashford estate, Victoria sat quietly, hands folded on her lap. But inside, her heart was a storm. She knew what lay ahead. Danger. Suffering. Manipulation. But this time, she would not enter that mansion as a helpless little girl. This time, she is entering with a purpose. And having the memories of her first life, knowing every plot her enemies would be up to is an advantage to her now.
She had died once.
The memory of the laborator...the screams, the cold metal, the searing pain was still fresh.
She no longer cared if she died a second time. As long as she brought her enemies down with her, it would be worth it.
Her so-called family? Worthless. She doesn't care about them anymore. Her mother's locket, enchanted and responding to her wishes, was enough to sustain her. And if things got worse....if the virus continue to spread, if the world crumbled further, then so be it. She would survive.
"We've arrived, young Miss," the head maid said, her voice breaking through Victoria's spiral of thoughts.
The chauffeur stepped out of the car immediately and move to open the door. The two younger maids exited first, standing with perfect posture as they held the door open for Victoria.
Victoria emerged slowly, standing tall despite her ragged clothes and tangled silver hair. Her purple eyes flicked up to the golden plaque that gleamed above the gate:
Ashford Mansion.
"Let's go in now, young Miss," the head maid instructed, gesturing toward the wide, ornate main gate.
Victoria nodded absently and began walking....but not in the direction expected. Her feet moved toward the narrow side door, tucked behind the shrubbery. That small, unadorned entrance meant for maids and guards.
"Where are you going, young lady?" the head maid asked sharply, her voice laced with confusion as she halted Victoria in her tracks.
Victoria turned, equally confused. "I'm going inside... Didn't you say it's time to enter?"
Her brows knit together as she pointed toward the side entrance. She hadn't expected it to be closed. In her past life, that door had been left wide open while the main entrance had been shut signaling clearly where she belonged. She had been shoved through it like a servant, no better than a stray mutt.
"This way, young Miss," the head maid said, stepping forward and gently taking Victoria's hand. "That door is for lowly maids and guards. You are the second lady of the Ashford family now. You must walk through the main gate, as befits your status."
Victoria stared at her.
What?!