Villainess x Grimoire

After exhausting my mana, the screen in front of me appeared with newer information.

My eyes glimmered in shades of verdant happiness.

[

System Library:

World of Artana I, II, III

Fishing I, II

Baking I, II

Cooking I, II

Farming I, II

Lumberjack I, II

Hunting I, II

Maid I, II, III, IV, V

Butler I, II, III, IV

Miner I, II

Tales of Artana I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X

]

"It actually worked!" The book that had been gifted by Elise's mother, along with its ten tales, was now in last place on the list.

The ones that I already had seemed to gain more volumes.

This made my heart race, bursting with an unfathomable amount of happiness.

Books were priceless little gems.

My legs took me out of the room, my pulsating heart ecstatic.

It took me no time to sneak up on Aurora, hugging her from behind.

"Did it work?"

"Yes, thank you so much!" I smiled gratefully, rubbing my cheek on hers.

"You're welcome."

After talking about all kinds of things with my sister and mother, the two of us returned to the room and took a seat on the bed.

As I held her hand, a message resonated within me.

Notice: Do you wish to make a contract with that weapon?

'A contract?' Hastily, I wondered about the fact that our souls were already bound, yet my skill status didn't seem to acknowledge that as sufficient.

Notice: A contract between a being and an item, depending on the grade of the grimoire, will grant benefits to both.

'Not sure she'd be happy with such a contract...'

I glanced at her, who was staring at the mirror in a brown dress she had worn shortly after returning to my room.

"What's wrong?"

"Hum..." I gulped. "Would you like to make a contract with me?"

"Don't we have one already?" Her icy eyes fell on me. "One between our souls."

I looked away, placing a finger under my chin, compiling the information given by my status skill.

"This one is different. It’s a contract between uh... who we are." I took a quick breath, unwilling to call her a weapon, but having to. "Between grimoire and human."

Her gaze returned to the mirror, taking her time to think about it.

She didn't have many expressions, to be fair.

I had yet to see her smile or do anything other than be cold.

But I knew a bit about her sad past.

During that nightmare, all those people that must've crossed her life.

The way they despised her.

It made my heart ache.

'She must've been so lonely.'

I couldn't possibly be alone for longer than I felt needed, especially now with my very few friends and my lovely parents.

A sigh escaped her lips; her expression looked tattered, almost as if she was discussing with her inner self, possibly calculating the pros and cons. "If I die, you'll die, and the other way around also applies."

Her words caused me to frown, understanding the overwhelming weight that they carried. "I understand."

She turned to me, averting her gaze, "Be sure not to mistreat me... sister."

"Of course! I promise! You're my twin after all!"

She nodded lightly, returning her gaze to the mirror.

"Status skill. How do I make a contract?"

Notice: Write your name on the first page of the grimoire with the tip of your finger imbued with your element.

"That's interesting..."

"What is?" Her tilted self looked at me, unaware of the instructions I received.

"I'll show you. But I need you to revert and come here." I spread my hands to her.

Then, she transformed and floated my way, docking on top of my palms.

"I-R-I-S," letter by letter, I muttered as I signed it.

System: The title Contract has been received.

For the first time in forever, a screen of my status opened by itself.

Notice: Soul-bound has reacted: The two souls have further assimilated to a total ratio of 2%.

[

Soul-bound:

Master core: <Iris>

Sub domain: <Aurora>

Soul assimilation rate: 2%

]

Upon the new information, I realized then that my soul was the most important aspect, going as far as to regard my twin soul as an extra.

"Ugh! Not again..." My eyes closed, causing me to faint on the sheets.

A memory of Aurora resounded in my mind.

My eyes took a glimpse of a lonesome girl exploring an incredibly large and beautiful garden.

A complete fantasy.

The grass was always so fresh and soft.

I could notice the time passing, but I was not aware of how fast it went.

As much as she loathed it, speaking ill of the mirror a while ago, I could see her relaxed face on top of the lustrous green, making me want to lie down next to her.

The soil had no fissures, nor bugs, the only life form other than her were the very plants and flowers that adorned the view.

They remained blossomed, divine beauties, each of them.

It was clear just how perfectly nourished they were, causing me some confusion, as there was not a hint of rain in that place.

Thanks to having become a farmer to make some money and complete some achievements, I had some knowledge of how impossible that scene was.

"I am..."

I heard the hint of sorrow in the girl's voice; she didn't seem to know who she was.

I thought to myself how that was feasible.

Was it even possible for us to forget who we once were?

"This place puts me at ease, yet why is it that I can't help but not be content to stay in it?"

The way she spoke alone made my heart ache. I wanted to hug her, to tell her I'm here, but sadly, this was but a memory.

I glanced at the long walks she had, never finding a pattern of flowers that looked the same.

No matter the direction she went.

Staying in the same spot for a good portion of time didn't amount to much either.

There were many things the girl attempted to do, but nothing ever changed aside from her.

'It's so brilliant.' The blue aura around her kept growing despite her being unable to use magic inside this dimension.

"I can feel it. A tremendous pressure piled up inside of me, wishing to be used."

She befriended many flowers, talking with them, singing, and even playing. But always seeking a way out of this place, the exit to this maze.

"Why am I lost in this garden!?" I heard her madness take shape.

The white dress she was in fitted her pale self; it reflected the infinite sunlight beautifully.

"I don't remember the night," she murmured, causing me to understand that there had been a time she had been outside.

"The long-forgotten sense of being hungry, of being tired, and of being sleepy. Day by day, without ever stopping, looking for a crack, a rupture, a hidden door, or something to get me out."

'Poor girl,' my heart pitied her as it had never done so for anyone else. My past life had been awful, but hers... a lot worse, no doubt.

"Who am I? Why am I here? Why can't I leave?" Her many screams filled the place, echoing, disappearing.

She scratched her head, ripping some of her silky smooth white hairs, "stop sealing my memories, my very existence from the outside world."

'Please, stop hurting yourself,' I told her in my mind, crying in vain.

After walking for who knows how long, she found a golden rose, bending the knee by its side, smelling it.

"So fragrant... so nostalgic..." Strangely, it made her at peace, causing her icy blue eyes to sparkle with admiration, consumed by the very essence of that flower.

"I wouldn't mind becoming a little flower like you, you know?"

At that moment, she scratched the top of her head and then reached out to it, attempting to pluck it out of the earth. Upon contact with the stem where thorns patiently awaited to be touched, her finger skin ripped, causing blood to drip, turning the green into red.

"I forgot beautiful roses had thorns, silly me..." she smiled in pain.

A strong breeze flew through the garden, passing by the rose, bringing many kinds of petals and making them fly. The petals circled her in a twisting way, like a little tornado, making them float randomly.

"It's so beautiful, like a festival of fireworks."

The rose was shaken by the wind, causing it to nod as humans would in agreement.

This time around, her fingertips approached the petals, sensing a heartbeat like no other from it.

Surprised, her hand left in a rush, wondering what this sensation was all about.

"I've never seen anything like you before," she took a quick glimpse at every other flower, finding nothing but heartlessness.

This one was vivid, mysteriously so.

"All of them have friends and family, yet you seem lonely like me. Maybe there's a chance we could be friends."

At that moment, I saw her finger tremble, healing.

'What is that flower?' My confusion remained as Aurora's expression became bewildered, jumping off the grass in shock.

"My finger!?"

The skin was intact and smooth as the rest of her hand, soft like silk, as if nothing had happened in the first place.

"You who gave me pain and also who comforted me through healing, will you tell me the way out of this place?"

A wind blew against the rose, and this time it nodded in a different direction, resembling a human saying no by swaying its head.

"Ah..." the poor girl burst into tears. "What have I done to deserve such an excruciating, suffocating life?"

The golden rose became heavier and heavier with every single drip.

"Won't you let me go no matter what?"

It gave no response like past times, not that it had in the first place, but her delusional self must have thought so.

"If taking your life will free me, that is what I shall do!" A strong, warm breeze went against her like a warning.

The tears that had fallen from Aurora were now descending between the petals through the stem down to the very roots as if the golden rose was shedding her own tears.

Her hands approached the rose's body, plucking it from the earth, suffocating it. Her hands became bloody, and slowly the flower lost its color, becoming grayer and grayer, withering away.

This time, a new flower did not grow back in its place.

This had never happened before.

Her hands hastily sheltered the top of her head.

"I remember! I remember! No! Please no! Don't! Stop it!" The fragments were filthy and vile, too much for an innocent lost soul to conceive.

Madness echoed every inch of her ill brain, corrupting its every cell with the truth of her past.

The protection she was receiving from this dimension had worn off as its guardian died, and now the girl looked dead.

Expressionless, like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

What once was a beautiful land devoid of sin was now being plunged by a wave of pure and almighty darkness.

In the soaring heights, daylight faded at every pacing second, and far away from the path Aurora had taken.

An eerie white smile took shape in its very blackened sky.

The night was approaching.

The night was coming to consume it all.

Noticing this, she started to beg for forgiveness. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! Please forgive me!"

The yells didn't amount to much; fear, in another way, caused her legs to run in the opposite direction, towards the leftover fading light.

I saw the way she tripped and ragged her skin, advancing no matter what pain came to her.

The tears distorted her vision, similar to looking through a glass lens that didn't suit the person's eyes.

The things she saw became my own, temporarily so.

Far away, after running for a long time, something caught her eye. There was a mirror, and she approached it.

On the other side of the mirror, there was a blonde girl.

I saw how badly she tried to go to my encounter: me from back then.

Now, knowing that there was something evil that was corroding the garden, I, too, in her place, would've done my best to escape.

But the mirror did not allow her physical body to go through.

The powerful curse was meant to keep her from running away, feeding the vile presence within.

The food? Her despair, her pain.

Till then? Until the day it'd grow strong enough to consume the poor girl's soul.

So she thought very hard, feeling the magic returning to her body.

'What can I do to escape?' Every forbidden spell ran over her vast mind at a quick pace. It was thanks to the vast amount of information that filled her brain as her memories kept bursting.

"Soul-bound! If that doesn't work... I'll die in this place."

She took quick glances at the darkness that slowly made its way here, taking its time to consume every inch.

"I don't have much time left; I must make a contract with this girl and save my soul. Everything is better than the darkness behind me, even becoming her slave..."

Her hands turned into fists, and she bumped onto the glass, vowing to herself.

"In exchange, I'll only ask one favor from her, to be able to avenge myself. To kill the god of light, the sage, and the hero."

A far darker depravity than the entire night behind the girl took on the shape of a maleficent expression on her beautiful face.

"I will destroy everyone in this world that treated me as a monster, devouring everything but her." Expectantly, she looked at me with eyes full of hope, causing the glass to shine.

A strong mana flowed from her hand, covering the glass.

"Can you help me? I'm trapped inside this mirror." And the old me looked at her innocently, causing this memory to fast forward to its conclusion, the few bits that I hadn't fully recovered.

I saw her pass through the mirror, leaving her physical self behind to be destroyed.

The darkness of that place turned everything black, fulfilling its mission.

The night consumed the place, bringing a swift end to that gigantic, flowery world.

On the other side, she knelt, whispering in my ear.

"From today onwards, your soul is mine, Iris, and my soul is yours. Related to the question that remained unanswered, my name is Aurora, the woman who will corrupt this world."

Thus, her hands reached out to the air, causing an ominous power to surround them. "Death to those of this house, but Iris."

It spread like blight through the entire mansion, killing my stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, maids, butlers, and, of course, my father.

And then she saw my eyes close, feeling my life extinguishing.

"But... I just came out of that prison..."

She stretched her hands to me, and upon touching me, my body sucked her soul and mirror deep into my core.

For thousands of years, Aurora's soul walked through this dimension, but now, she was finally free.