Villainess x Grimoire

My weary senses awakened upon feeling a soft patting throughout my hair and hearing a strange lullaby.

[

Lay down in the roses, love.

Where shadows softly creep.

The petals close around you.

And rock you into sleep.

Their thorns will never harm you.

They only hold you tight.

They keep the darker things at bay.

That wander through the night.

You might hear gentle chewing.

As evil wanders through.

It eats the petals one by one…

But saves the thorns for you.

So drift into my cradle,

Where spirits sway.

The roses in the darkness

Will guard you every day.

]

It took no time at all for our gazes to meet, and when they did, my mouth opened briefly, but no words came out. I was still mesmerized by her singing.

"You're awake," her unbothered tone gave sense and calmness to my confusion.

"Y-you're..."

"Aurora. I'm the one you saved from the mirror in your past life. Didn't I release your memory?"

I got up from the floor, receiving her help to sit on the bed close to us. She looked just like me if it wasn't for her blue eyes. They were clearer than the sky on a sunny day.

"Aurora..."

She muttered a sound upon being called.

"Aurora!" I embraced her in my arms, causing her to be slightly surprised. Yet, she dared not to utter a word. Instead, her arms took me in, sheltering my body. "I'm so glad you're okay now!"

"It took quite the effort to free myself from that curse."

"So that's what happened." Our bodies were distanced from one another, allowing me to have a proper look at her once more. "Why do you look so much like me?"

"It's thanks to my transformation skill," she quickly changed into a floating book.

"That's amazing! What else can you transform into?" Excitement took over me, feeling blissful for this new type of magic that I had never seen anyone use. I went as far as to clap twice, doing tiny jumping with my bottom on the bed like a little kid.

She reverted back to a human being. "So, I can't communicate in a grimoire form. How annoying."

"Thank you for showing me." A smile escaped my lips, one that she didn't mimic. "You can't chat because the grimoire doesn't have a mouth?"

"I guess?" Her head tilted to the side, crossing her arms. "I could feel my surroundings at least." Her reply came out in a cold tone.

"To manage one thing but not the other, how strange." Laughter escaped through my lips innocently, unaware of her emotions.

"To think you'd keep your name from your past life, Iris." Her expressionless gaze pierced me.

"True, I was surprised myself, but it feels best like this. Also, your name is very pretty, Aurora, it sounds lightful." I irradiated my happiness towards her.

"Thank you." Her gaze fell on the space between the two of us. "It's ironic you say that, as I have the unique dark element."

"That element? Does that mean that you were the one who had it back then when I did the test with my parents?"

"Yes. When you activated yours, mine got activated too. Thanks to that, ever since then, I've been eating the light from that wretched seal."

Her hand shone, passing it through her hair, straightening it magically. "Not only do I get sealed in our past world, but I also received the same treatment here. Plus a curse."

I rubbed my fingers onto each other, feeling awkward and sorry about her. "The seal is gone, isn't it?"

"Yes."

"And the curse?

"I absorbed it with my dark element, and it became a skill."

"A skill? What does it do?"

"Not sure." She sighed.

"I really do wonder what it does..." Without wanting to bother her, I repeated to myself in a lower voice, entangled in my own curiosity.

"Would you like to see it?" Her dull expression struck me as if making me a favor.

"Sure! Please show me!"

She extended her left arm to the side of the bed and shouted. "Mirror!"

"It's the one from back then! I'm surprised it even kept its appearance."

An antique mirror bigger than ourselves, about 2 meters tall and 40 cm in width.

"Since it's a skill and has glass, maybe it has magic?" I took out my shoe and surrounded it with a bit of mana.

Notice: 10 mana has been deducted.

Before allowing the effect to subside, I threw my shoe at the glass without much force, avoiding the possibility of breaking it. The moment it collided, the shoe disappeared, and then I felt something hitting the back of my head.

"Ouch!" Quickly, I caressed the pained spot with my slender fingers, looking at the source of the damage. "What the..."

Notice: 1 health has been deducted.

Behind me, my shoe was immobile, lying on the bed.

"Cursed..." Aurora declared, furrowing her eyebrows, along with an eerie expression, looking at it while shivering slightly.

"How curious," unsatisfied, I threw my shoe again to understand what happened. Though this time, I ducked the moment it hit the glass, losing a bit more mana.

To our surprise, nothing happened other than the object landing successfully on the floor upon losing its momentum.

Without spending mana, I attempted with many objects, noticing that nothing happened, and also how resilient the glass was.

"So strange. It's not working anymore..."

I stole a glance at Aurora's way, but she just looked away.

"Have you tried to go inside?"

"I don't want to. I've had my share of it." Her tone was the coldest yet. For her, my question only made her remember a collection of all the horrors of being locked inside.

"You're right, I'm sorry."

"Would you like to try it? Though you could get stuck inside, so I don't suggest it." Her sorrowful expression led me to give it a try. Knowing that she was next to me gave me the strength and will to go forth with the unthinkable.

'I'll do it for her. To show her that everything is alright now.' My conviction to make a difference was grandiose, big enough to get out of bed and move closer to it.

'I'll try to support her, and do my best to open her heart.' I recollected the long time I spent with my parents, these past fifteen years, that had helped me improve in some ways.

I smiled innocently at her. "Since the curse is gone, I hope something interesting will happen!" And without giving it a second thought, my hand touched the glass, going as far as to put some strength into it. Then I tried with both hands and even pushed it, becoming a bit red on my cheeks. "It doesn't work, Aurora."

Upon hearing me out, she left the bed in a hurry, confused. And then, once next to me, her nail lightly tapped on it, realizing that it was now devoid of magic, empty just like a normal mirror.

"Did the dimension perish?" she muttered, feeling relieved about it, breathing deeply to calm herself down.

"Mind if I try something else?" I asked her politely with a kind smile.

"Go ahead, and be at ease. You're like... a sister? Yes. Family." Her icy eyes gazed down at my feet, muttering that last word one last time. She clenched her fingers, almost ripping her wrists with her long and sharp nails.

"Like? Why don't you become my real sister? I mean, we even have the same appearance.”

"Iris... do you mean like twins?" She leaned her head forward, allowing the hair to cover part of her face, taking an interest in the idea.

"Yes! We are very hard to distinguish, disregarding the..." And then I realized in my reflection that what my parents had always told me. "My eyes are green..."

"Yes?" Her hand passed through her hair, pushing it all the way back, fixing her curved posture.

My reflection was no longer one whose eyes were melancholic. They were of a beautiful green, like the outside grass, similar to the Saintess's hair.

"If your parents accept that, it is."

"I'll convince them if I have to!" My voice cheered her up. This time around, I attempted to inject some of my mana directly into the mirror.

Yet, nothing happened once more, ceasing my curiosity as I had no other experiment.

I took a quick look at my status, looking for any changes caused by releasing Aurora from wherever she was sealed in.

[

Skills:

Active skills: Status, System Library, Freezing(4/10).

Passive skills: Mana Control(3/10), Swordsmanship(2/10).

Unique skill: Appraisal.

Extra skill: Unidentified.

]

"Unique skill appraisal? Unidentified skill? What are these things?"

"The first one I don't know, but the second one I also received."

"Do you know what it does?"

"No."

"I see..." We looked at the skills together, making me aware that she was able to see my own screen. "We usually can't share the status."

"Might be due to our souls being connected."

"Does that mean that they are one?" My head tilted slightly to the side as my eyes brimmed with curiosity.

"Hmm... partly."

"Really?"

"Yes. Upon the contract, before you died, it connected our souls for all eternity." Her arms spread as her hands waved gracefully through the air, showing me how prolonged such a distance could be.

"Oh..." I voiced lowly, not expecting her explanation. However, I hadn't known there was a price to take upon releasing her from the mirror. As I was about to ask her more information about this peculiar oath, the door of my room opened, giving way to my mother.

"I'm... back?" She stared dumbfounded at us, sighting the differences between us, quickly finding the right one: me with the green eyes.

"What in the world is this? Why there's a copy of you!?" Her shouts rained down like thunders splitting trees in half.

"It's okay, mother. She's my friend, and apparently, transform back, please."

Upon my request, she returned to being a floating grimoire. At that mom approached us, grabbing her, going as far as to open, scrolling through her many pages.

"They're empty?" Her gaze returned to me before continuing. "What's the meaning of this?"

"Yes. It's a magical book that can copy my look."

Upon feeling it shaking, her hands let go of it, allowing it to float back to the top of the bed, gaining some distance, and transforming back into human form. She remained there with an annoyed expression, probably from having become a book.

"A magical weapon?" My mother murmured, unsure of what she was.

"I've been reincarnated as a grimoire." She pulled her hair behind her shoulders, freeing her cute face.

"Reincarnated..." my mother pondered for a while, not believing her ears. It was common knowledge that humans went through the cycle of life and death. However, they were able to reincarnate once more in their own race. Not as a book like this soul had. "I quit." My mother swayed her head to the sides, not understanding how this was possible.

"But..." Her eyes took on a serious gaze at the girl. "Who are you?"

"My name is Aurora. I met Iris in our past... life." Her gaze raised as if remembering things from back then, "a different world..."

"Could it be..." We stared at Rosaline's expression. There was something peculiar about it, almost as if she was reaching a sudden realization. "When Iris was younger, and the dark element appeared, was it yours?"

"Yes."

"Iris..." her glance wavered as if she was collecting the necessary strength to ask one of us something.

"Mom?" I questioned innocently, keeping my calm self. This situation was bound to happen; I knew that, however, it was still nerve-racking. But showing such emotion would just cause my parents to be in an uproar, and I couldn't allow that to happen.

"Did you..." she gulped dryly before focusing her gaze on me.

"I had some memories but..." I leaned my head a bit, disappointed with myself. I was too scared about the reaction they could have had back then.

"Some of them were sealed by the system, giving her a hard time."

I looked at Aurora, slightly dumbfounded, and she was taking my side without me asking her to.

"That explains how you learned everything so fast."

I consented with a nod, approaching them, telling my mother about my past life: everything but the way I met Aurora. I had the urge to save her ominous words about her having killed the king of some kingdom.

My mother hugged me very tightly, embracing Aurora in it. The three of us remained still in her motherly love: It had saved me many times, and I hoped the same would go for my newly gained twin.

Our conversation quickly deepened, and we spoke of an ancient contract that persisted even to this very day. Of my death being entangled with her life. If either of us met our end, the other would too. In exchange, my mother didn't have to worry about this new figure.

Unlike other humans, at the very least, this one was innately a trusting ally, as neither of us wished to die.

"Alright, girls. Let's go eat something as we chat some more." At her words, I smiled, getting hold of Aurora's hand and pulling her to me.

"I don't need to do human things. I'm ultimately... a book." She frowned at her own words, disgusted for calling herself that.

"How about sleeping?" I asked, wondering about what it was like for her during the grimoire side of the transformation.

"I can shut down a bit, but it's something different than sleeping. It's more like fixing myself, I suppose."

Her strange term made me wonder if it had something to do with getting damaged. We recovered health and mana by sleeping. "I see..."

Mom got up and said. "Well, keep us company at the very least."

"Fine."

"Let's go!"

Amidst our conversation, my mom attempted to give us an opportunity.

"Well, you both have received a new chance to live happily. I know for a fact that my little Iris has." Her gaze quickly fell on my twin, "so feel free to grab that chance too."

"I'll consider it..." Her icy gaze fell on her hands.

"One day at a time, that's how I started," I added some warm, hopeful words, finishing with a smile full of happiness.

"I know. I copied your memories."

"You can copy memories?" Mother asked, surprised, making some of the bread crumbs fly to the table.

"Ah, not anymore. I was able to when I was sealed inside Iris."

"Does that mean you possess the knowledge of what I taught her?"

"Yes." She averted her gaze from us, speaking coldly. We did our best to not mind her manner of speech. After all, everyone had a past, and hers sounded very complicated.

"How about swordsmanship?" I questioned her curiously.

"I have, but I don't have the skill or the feel for it."

"Is that so?" Hastily, I took on a big bite of the bread, causing the butter to drip onto the table.

"Don't be in such a rush, baby." Our mother passed a cloth on it, cleaning up my little mess.

"Yes! I'm sorry!" I spoke with my mouth full, causing her to flick my forehead, narrowing my eyes to my cute, small nose.

I gulped it all down my throat, changing the topic. "I still haven't received any new books."

"The ones in your skill?"

"Yes." I frowned, carving for more.

"Did you finish all the ones you had to read?"

"Yes! System library." I had a quick look through the list, noticing Aurora's finger touching my screen, but unlike mine, hers went through.

"Can only see..." her murmur reached my ears. She, too, was grabbing this carefree chance to learn more about this new world where she was now stuck alongside me.

[

System Library:

World of Artana I, II

Fishing I, II

Baking I, II

Cooking I, II

Farming I, II

Lumberjack I, II

Hunting I, II

Maid I, II

Butler I, II

Miner I, II

]

"World of Artana, fishing, baking." Aurora started reading from my screen, uninterested in them.

"I'll let you read them soon," I felt bliss being able to share my things with her.

"I already know these from you." She reminded me once again of something that I wasn't quite used to.

"Oh, right. Then..." I wondered a bit, thinking about what I could say that would make her happy. "Whenever I get new ones!"

"Fair," she added briefly, not sounding as cold as usual. Perhaps this was of her interest. With some luck, she, too, was a fellow bookworm.

Suddenly, she twisted her fingers, causing a loud snap. "Have you tried to use your skill in books?"

Aurora figured there could be a similar way to copy things as she had done with my memories.

"I didn't think of that." Once I finished eating, I left the table and ran to my room, where I had my old birthday gift.

Once I grabbed the book from inside the box, I used my skill on it, hoping to bring a new change.