[Ding!]
[Welcome, my dear host! You have one minute to complete your task or you'll die!]
[Task number 1: throw a fruit at your servant Bella. Goodluck!]
Anna blinked, her lids weighing a ton. The annoying dings echoing in her head made her brain vibrate.
"Ten more minutes," she mumbled, thinking she was still asleep.
[Ding! You have exactly fifty seconds left! Remember, the penalty is death!]
At the mention of death, Anna's eyes flew open. The scene before her was unfamiliar. Instead of her cluttered desk at work, it was a lush garden. She looked around, her brows scrunched in worry.
Where am i?
"P-Princess? Is anything the matter?"
Anna looked up to see a girl with…
"Dog ears?"
The girl went down on her knees and began to tremble. "I'm so sorry Princess! I didn't—"
[Host, you have thirty seconds left.]
Anna looked around frantically. She didn't understand what was going on, but a voice in her head counting down to her death was the kind of thing that happened only in movies and books.
She grabbed what looked like a bad, gray apple and threw it at the girl, Bella.
The fruit bounced off Bella's head with a dull thud. Bella screamed, and passed out.
Anna rose to her feet, her heart pounding out of her chest. "Hey," she whispered, nudging Bella with her foot. "Hey. You're not dead, are you? Oh, my goodness did I kill someone?!"
[she's not dead, host. But damn that was a good throw! Were you an athlete in your past life?]
"I was an office—wait, did you just say 'past life'?"
[You are correct. You died and transmigrated to a fictional world! Your goal is simple, remain the villainess and you'll get the chance to go home to a perfect life!]
Anna's jaw dropped. The words registered but didn't make any sense.
Death? Transmigration? Villainess?
"This sounds like a story," she whispered. But when she ran her fingers through her hair, she found that it was silky and smooth and black, unlike hers that was brown and dry.
She grabbed the closest reflective surface which happened to be a glass of water, and stared into it.
The face that stared back wasn't hers.
Anna wasn't the most beautiful girl in any sense, but she had a gentle appearance and a kind smile.
The face she had now was that of a supermodel, or billionaire actress. Long black hair not a strand out of place. Pink eyes like gems. And two fluffy cat ears peeing from her head.
Anna laughed, disbelieved as she touched her cat ears. They twitched, showing that they weren't decoration. "Which book am I in now?"
[You're calm about this,]
Anna shrugged. In her life, she had seen and faced a lot of shocking situations. This easily took the cake, but she wasn't surprised. Years of working under irritable bosses and aggravating colleagues primed her to remain calm under pressure.
"I'll figure it out," she said.
[I'm not allowed to give out information for free. But yes, you were reading this book last night.]
That shocked Anna.
"The one with that evil Princess and her beasthusbands?! The one where she tortured them and terrorized an entire kingdom?"
[Yes! I trust you enjoyed the story?]
"I didn't finish it."
[…]
[What?]
"I don't have much time. I didn't finish the book. I stopped at chapter 20, but that was more than enough for me to know that that Princess deserves to die."
[I chose the wrong host.]
Anna's left eye twitched. "send me back then."
[I wish I could. But until you complete your tasks, I cannot do that.]
Anna nodded and sat down.
She quickly did a mental rundown of everything she had learned.
The last thing she remembered, she was at her desk at midnight trying to finish the extra work piled on her, when everything went silent. Then she woke up here.
Now she has to remain the Villainess. As if by cruel coincidence, the Princess' name was Anna too.
She had zero knowledge about this book. All she knew was how doomed she was.
[are you done thinking?]
"Yes."
[your next task is up. Seduce your husband, Leon, and hurt him with your spores.]