The Villainess held a card that no one saw coming. It was a plot twist that remained unbroken until the final chapter I had read back on Earth.
Vivienne was born with a terrifying affinity for shadows. At the tender age of six, when other children played with dolls, she ventured into the Eternal Mourning Valley, a cemetery left behind by the long-forgotten Cursed War.
Those who dared to step foot on that ancient battlefield usually returned with their minds shattered or their souls stripped away.
But she returned with an army. A billion shadows answered her call.
This was the sole reason the Demon King hadn't dared to execute her the moment he discovered the pregnancy. He feared the legion sleeping in her shadows.
Yet, the foolish original host sought personal strength, going to such lengths that she tortured her own son to study his defenses.
Now that I thought about it, the woman always craved power. It was an obsession, a hunger that gnawed at her even after she reached the pinnacle of the world.
I took a sharp breath, shaking my head to clear the memories.
The irony was palpable. Rather than awakening the terrifying Shadow Mage class that defined the villainess, I had awakened 'Paparazzi.'
It was the exact same profession I held on Earth. Fate, it seemed, had a twisted sense of humor.
My footsteps echoed against the stone walls as the massive double doors zoomed toward me. I just wanted to leave, to get away from that toxic throne room. Before I could reach the exit, a mountain of meat blocked my path.
A frown marred my face.
"Adrian. You are nothing but a dog of my useless brother. How dare you block me?"
The words escaped my lips before I could filter them, and I knew I had messed up the moment I saw the man's expression shift.
Vivienne was cold. She was aloof. Above all, she was a clean-mouthed royal. The original villainess never used such crude language.
Hell, she barely spoke at all, especially to people she believed were beneath her notice.
To her, speaking to a guard was a waste of precious air.
Her outburst against her family earlier could be written off as emotional turmoil from being cornered. But snapping at an ordinary captain of the guard? That was out of character.
"I had heard bastards always lack civic sense. But it's the first time I'm seeing their mother too affected by them."
Lucas walked up beside me, a condescending smile plastered on his ugly face.
There was a reason he dared to defy the villainess again and again. It wasn't bravery; it was insurance.
On her deathbed, their mother had forced Vivienne to swear a blood oath. A promise that she would never hurt her brother or sister, no matter what they did.
Lucas always utilized this loophole to spit in her face, knowing she was magically bound to endure it.
I had branded the villainess an idiot after learning about this contract. But now...
Hehe.
He didn't know the truth.
The Vivienne of the past was no more. In her place stood me. A paparazzi from Earth. There was no promise between me and the dead mother of this body. I owed this family nothing but contempt.
"Sha…" I muttered.
It was a sight to behold. The smugness on Lucas's face vanished, replaced instantly by pure horror.
"Blood Wings!"
He shouted the command, his martial spirit flaring to life in a panic. A pair of blood-red feathers erupted from his shoulders, ripping through his clothes.
A ball of crimson aura surrounded him, pulsing with the energy of a Nascent Soul cultivator.
His martial spirit had already gained intelligence because of his cultivation. Yet, this powerful cultivator looked ready to wet himself simply because I whispered a name.
Sha was the shadow of a Giant.
Giants were extinct, wiped out entirely during the Cursed War. He was one of the shadows that followed the six-year-old Vivienne out of the Eternal Mourning Valley. He was her premier killing machine.
In the original manhwa, the protagonist lost one of his beloved harem members to this very shadow.
Thinking about the harem that awaited my son in the future, a surge of irritation spiked in my chest. If there was one thing I hated in the story, it was how the female lead characters were written.
They all acted like entitled brats toward the protagonist at first. They mocked him, beat him, and treated him like trash.
But the moment he showed a sliver of brilliance or power, they all swooned, acting as if they were doing him a favor by letting him claim them.
I placed a protective hand over my belly.
It was impossible for the embryo inside to have a thought process yet. Still, I internally vowed to teach my son better.
He would have standards. He would never choose more than one woman, and he certainly wouldn't choose women who treated him like garbage.
My attention shifted forward where the darkness on the floor began to bubble and rise.
Sha manifested.
He rose ten feet into the air, a towering mass of obsidian darkness. There were no distinct features, only the jagged silhouette of ancient, spiked armor and a helmet that seemed to absorb the light around it. Two pinpricks of violet light burned where eyes should be.
As he fully arrived, the head of the guard, Adrian, simply ceased to exist.
There was no fight. No struggle. One moment the large man was standing there, and the next, a massive shadowy hand had clamped down.
Squelch.
Adrian's head burst like a ripe watermelon dropped from a skyscraper. Blood and gray matter painted the stone floor and splattered against the grand doors.
"On your orders, Mistress."
Sha kneeled on the ground, his voice sounding like grinding stones.
"Now, that's better," I spat at the headless corpse.
Externally, I was the picture of arrogant nobility. Internally, my soul was screaming in horror. As a person from Earth, a modern society with laws and order, it was the first time I had seen someone die so gruesomely right in front of me.
My throat tightened, and bile rose in my esophagus. I had to clench my jaw to stop myself from retching.
I never expected Sha to kill Adrian. Not like that. I just wanted to scare the daring guard and his owner. Lucas had already fled back into the safety of the main hall the moment Sha's knee hit the floor.
'Why did you kill him?' I mentally complained to the connection I felt with the shadow.
'You looked like you wanted to kill,' Sha replied, his thought echoing in my mind like a deep vibration. 'Your heart rate. Your anger. I obeyed the intent, not just the word.'
I sighed, suppressing the shudder that threatened to rack my body.
"Let's go."
Acting cool while trying my absolute best to hide my trembling hands, I walked past the headless corpse. I stepped carefully to avoid the pooling blood.
There was a tingling sensation on my back. I knew exactly what that was. Malta must be staring at me with killing intent from the throne. She wanted me dead. But she would never dare to make a move.
Not when my shadows were awake. With them around, even the Demon King would hesitate to mess with me directly. If I wanted a safe life, I could just stay here, ruling through fear.
But no. This place was poison.
Pushing open the heavy doors, I stepped out of the palace. I glanced up at the gloomy sky.
A blood moon burned in the heavens. It was always there, a permanent red eye watching the world below, regardless of whether it was night or morning. This was the Demon Realm. Sunlight was a myth here.
The Blood Clan was just a low-level family in the grand scheme of the Demon Realm. Their most powerful member was Malta, with her Nascent Soul stage eight cultivation. That was nothing compared to the true heavy hitters of this world—and nothing compared to my army.
Their cultivation methods were barbaric, revolving around feeding on the blood of living beings.
I looked around the settlement below the palace, sighing at the depressing sight. Countless humans moved mechanically through the small-sized town. They were thin, pale, and devoid of hope.
All of them were blood cattle.
They existed solely to feed the three members of the clan. Yes, the Villainess's "royal family" consisted of only four people including her.
The Demon Realm was not a place to raise a child. Absolutely not my son.
If he stayed here, even if he were never physically hurt, he would be twisted into a monster like them.
The complex political structure of the Demon Realm, with countless greedy eyes wanting me in their arsenal, would make my son's life a living hell.
I had to leave. I needed to go to the Human Realm, forge a fake identity, and live a quiet life.
I would be a full-time mother. I would bake cookies, attend sect meetings, and chase away bad influences.
That was my dream.
So, on my very first day as a villainess, I made a choice.
I quit.
I quit the schemes, the power plays, and the darkness. I chose to be the mom the protagonist never had.