After the manor and garden tour, Stella was invited to join the Chevalier for lunch afterward. The events and dialogues were going according to what the young alpha remembered and this would be the first time in this life that she would meet with the entire family. As Stella and Ophelia were on their way to the dining hall, coincidently they ran into the youngest alpha sibling who was on his way to the hall as well. Stella’s eyes grew wide for a moment her eyes met with his.

It was a signature of the Chevalier family to have pink hair and green eyes but a variety of tones depending on their secondary gender. Theo had a much deeper pink hair tone color compared to Ophelia, but he shared the same sparkling green eyes just like hers. When their eyes met, Stella instantly recalled the last image she had of him in her past life. Even though she wanted to forget what she saw, she couldn’t possibly erase the image of Matteo’s gruesome death as he drowned in his own pool of blood while holding onto a sword—

“Ah, you must be my sister’s fiancé, right?”

Stella snapped back and realized she slipped into her reverie for a moment. Even now, the memories of the past and this overwhelming guilt would occasionally haunt her. She gave her attention to the boy once again and noticed he was a very shy and soft-spoken boy. Matteo was about three years younger than her, so he should be 12 years old right now. Stella stared at his face for a couple of extra seconds before she let out a smile of relief. Even though she knew his name already, it was best to pretend she didn’t know him. After all, this was their ‘first’ encounter with each other in this life. She hoped this action of hers would set a new beginning for their friendship.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Stella.”

“Nice to meet you too, you can call me Matteo.”

He smiled and Stella could feel how sincere he was. Did he always have a gentle expression like this since the beginning? Most likely, she never noticed it before in her previous life. As she no longer held onto her hatred and anger, she was able to see things much more clearly than before. This realization only brought her more regrets that she didn’t realize this sooner.

At the dining table, Stella was warmly welcomed by the Marquis and Marchioness. Everyone in the family was there and the young alpha clearly remembered who they were. The person to Marquis Hugh’s right was his first wife, Marchioness Shannon Chevalier, biological mother to Theo and Ophelia. To his left was his second wife, Baroness Florence Lyman, who was Eleanor’s mother. Lastly, the older lady sitting slightly opposite Stella was the 3^rd wife, Baroness Clarissa Eldon, who was Matteo’s mother.

It wasn’t rare for alphas of a noble lineage to have multiple partners especially if it was a marriage for convenience. She remembered learning about this in the past that both Baroness Florence and Baroness Clarissa married Marquis to strengthen their family’s business with the Chevalier. One thing for certain was that she didn’t miss seeing Theo and Eleanor at all.

“I look forward to getting to know you better, Stella.”

“Please make yourself at home.”

Theo and Eleanor wore their signature friendly smile on top of their filthy nature. Stella felt funny seeing them pretending to be nice when they were innately the most abusive and cruel individuals in this place. She remembered vividly how inhumanely they treated their servants and everyone else they deemed to be beneath them.

 

-

 

For the next couple of days, the young alpha was invited to go to the nearby city every day by the pink-haired fiancé on the pretense that she wanted to show Stella around. However, she just basically wanted to indirectly flaunt to the public that she had such a close relationship with her Albrecht fiancé. She was very much used to this kind of treatment from her past life already. Ophelia made her accompany her whenever she left the manor for the city. Most of the time, none of her matters were related to her at all. It was either she wanted to go on a long shopping spree, attend tea parties with her aristocratic colleagues, or many other trivial matters that Stella doesn’t exactly remember anymore. By the time they returned to the manor, the whole day was gone already.

“I’m sorry to make you accompany me, Stella. There are several things I must purchase for the urgent tea party today.”

“That’s okay. I don’t mind it.”

Stella lost count of how many shops they went to as Ophelia bought plentiful extravagant dresses, shoes, and accessories with an unlimited budget. Since it was just the two of them together, ultimately made Stella was the only one who had to carry all the shopping bags for her. She knew that this was Ophelia’s plan to get on her nerves by dragging her around, ultimately wasting her time, since it worked wondrously in her past life.

“I must go to the tea party now. It shouldn’t take that long, could you wait for me here?”

“Sure. Take your time.”

Due to her past life experience, the young alpha was more than used to waiting for her for hours. She knew how to entertain herself with books or take a good nap unbothered by any deranged Chevaliers. Stella took her seat at the café located opposite from where the tea party was hosted and finally had her peaceful quiet moment to write down her plan. Memories could fade away over time, so ever since she returned to the past, she had been writing down important events that happened over three years.

“Now I have plenty of time to plan things out peacefully…Hmm, her birthday is about a month from now.”

The first major event was Ophelia’s birthday, and that was when many things would change drastically. The omega would intentionally shame her in public for presenting her with a tacky birthday gift. However, it wouldn’t be the smartest idea to prevent the incident. The young alpha needed to come up with a plan that would allow her to benefit from this situation instead.

“It would be smartest to stick to the original events rather than trying to prevent them, for now.”

With that approach in mind, she would know all the upcoming events and be able to plan the best course of action to work around them. If she tried too hard to change the events right now, then things may change too much to the point that the future would be distorted and become unpredictable. That would only put everyone including herself at risk and Stella wasn’t here to play that kind of game.

Until then, she had some time to plan out and deal with Ophelia’s provocation.

Technically, Stella had no reason to be here, and it was more of a waste of her time. In her previous life, she recalled things escalated when she began refusing Ophelia’s invitation. She began treating Stella like her property, and it was her cruel façade to alert Stella to the truth of her situation as early as possible. However, she wasn’t that same naïve 15-year-old child anymore. This time, Stella planned to enjoy some sweet little revenge against the older omega for getting on her nerves and being such a pain in the past.

 

-

 

A whole week flew by quickly and it was as Stella anticipated. 

Ophelia took her out every day for the past week to show off her off as her fiancé to her circle of aristocratic friends and they were all extremely envious of her. As Stella was the youngest of the Albrecht family and also an alpha, most aristocratic ladies across Northland secretly showed great interest in her for multiple reasons.

“Oh my, I bet others will be extremely envious of you.”

It was a given that she’d be eyed by many omegas or betas as they searched for an alpha of a higher status than themselves to marry into, which made Stella become the center of attention as an Albrecht noble and the only alpha among her siblings. However, that wasn’t the only thing that made her extremely popular among the ladies.

“I’m very glad to meet you once again, Lady Stella. I never had a chance to thank you properly that night…I hope you’ll accept this gift!”

One of the ladies at the tea party, Lady Alice, gave Stella a small gift box that contained a luxurious blue handkerchief made from the finest silk with gold embroidery. A few years back at the grand annual banquet when Stella was twelve, she saved this same lady from being harassed by an abusive noble alpha who was notorious for being a playboy.

“Lady Alice, you really didn’t have to gift me something extravagant such as this at all.”

“Is it not to your liking…?”

“Not at all! It is a very beautiful handkerchief, and I don’t know if I deserve this.”

“You do! If you weren’t there to save my life, I don’t know what could’ve happened to me…”

She was genuinely grateful for Stella protecting her that night and remembered it to this day. She expressed her gratitude and accepted the gift with a courteous smile, which made her blush shyly. Even though she knew that Stella was taken by Ophelia, admittedly she had a small crush on this young alpha. Alice hesitated for a short moment before she asked if she could meet Stella again in the future as she wished they could become acquaintances.

“That’s sneaky, Alice. I want to get to know you better too, Lady Stella!”

“Me too. I always wished I had an opportunity to get to speak with you in a more casual setting that’s not some formal banquet…”

Several ladies at the tea party quickly jumped in and expressed their interest in becoming friends with her too. This was a rare opportunity to become friends with an Albrecht noble, and they wouldn’t want this chance to slip.

“Sure, it would be my pleasure to get to know Ophelia’s friends as well.”

Stella smiled and reciprocated their requests out of courtesy, and they were overly joyous. It would be rather impolite to refuse a request from a lady as well. She turned her eyes over to Ophelia and decided to play along with this ‘good fiancé’ role a little bit longer.

“It depends on Lady Ophelia if she would allow me to accompany her to her future tea parties.”

All the ladies turned to the pink-haired Chevalier with pleading eyes. Ophelia was caught off guard slightly since she expected the alpha to fluster in this unfamiliar setting. It turned out that Stella was able to handle the situation impeccably and even directed the conversation to her instead.

“…Hehe, why wouldn’t I not bring my fiancé along with me?”

Ophelia wore her signature courteous smile as soft chuckles escaped between her lips. She walked over to Stella and hugged her arm to display their intimacy. Everyone at the tea party unanimously agreed they were such a perfect couple for each other, especially since they both came from two extremely powerful and influential families in Northland. They were surprised and touched by how Stella always escorted Ophelia to every tea party which was extremely rare for any alpha to do for their partners.

“That’s just so sweet that Lady Stella always accompanies and waits for Lady Ophelia until the party is over, I wish I could find an alpha that would take care of me like this too!”

“I know right? She’s such a gentleman…I wish my boyfriend was like that too.”

Stella could hear the chatters in the background complimenting how perfect they were as a power couple. The more that others saw them intimate, the less that people would suspect the filth brewing behind the scenes, and the more that Marquis Hugh would be pleased with Ophelia’s progress as well.  A couple minutes later before the tea party was about to start, Ophelia asked her to wait at the same place until she was done like usual, which would be for the next couple of hours.

“Please wait for me at the usual place. I’ll come find you once I’m done.”

“Sure, do take your time.”

Even after countless hours of waiting for the past week, Stella was more than happy to spend time outside the manor reading novels with a cup of hot Earl Gray tea while admiring the beauty of the bustling city. It had been a while since Stella was able to relax without having any worries about her responsibilities as the duchess in her past life and she considered this a true vacation to relieve all the stress she accumulated for months. Before she realized it again, it had been more than five hours before Ophelia showed up again.

“Sorry to keep you waiting, it has been a while since I met with my colleagues, so they asked me to stay a little longer.”

“Not at all! I had a good time reading books and trying out different snacks and drinks here.”

“H-Huh…that’s good then. Let us go back before dinner.”

The pink-haired lady was clearly puzzled by Stella’s overly joyous reaction. The alpha knew Ophelia intended to provoke her but then this turned out to be quite fun for her as she witnessed her flustered expression. As they were on their way home in the carriage, Ophelia demanded a gift that she received from Alice. It was at that moment Stella knew what was about to happen.

“Give me the handkerchief Alice gave you.”

“Why?”

“Don’t ask, just give it to me.”

Her tone became even more stern but didn’t faze Stella at the slightest. She dragged her exhale before she looked straight at Ophelia with patience.

“I’ll give it to you if you tell me what you’re planning to do.”

“You’re not in the position to negotiate with me.”

She raised her voice, and it was getting colder and harsher than earlier. It felt like her words were not reaching Ophelia at this rate and that was when Stella decided to catch her off guard instead of making her drop her guard down.

“You want to get rid of it, am I correct?”

“—!”

The omega froze for a second and stared back at Stella’s blue eyes in disbelief. She was confused and surprised that the black-haired alpha knew what she planned to do, but that wasn’t enough to stop her from following her plans.

“So, what if it is true that I want to get rid of it? I don’t need my alpha to have another person’s gift, especially from another omega. Do you have an issue with my decision?”

“Yes, because I don’t want you to do something so cruel like that.”

Ophelia flustered for a second because she didn’t expect Stella to be this calm and looked at her with such a gentle gaze that her heart fluttered with hesitation. However, she bit her lips and berated the younger alpha for not doing as she demanded instead.

“You’re just my possession that your family discarded, now that I own you, know your place and be obedient if you still value your life.”

It was at this moment that she was forced to admit the cruel truth of her situation that she was given away to become Chevalier’s property. If it was the past Stella, she would still be in shock and grieve with that truth Ophelia slapped across her face. However, she only sighed and returned her gaze to her instead.

“…I already know how my brother and Aunt Yvette want to get rid of me. They have nothing but hatred towards me and my mother.”

“Huh? You knew…?”

“It’s obvious that this is the marriage of convenience as a cover-up. Appearing as a perfect couple in the eyes of the public to hide the truth that I’m ultimately the Chevalier’s property, am I correct?

Ophelia widened her eyes since she expected more reaction coming from the young 15-year-old alpha. Her unperturbed reaction was the last thing she expected, but that wasn’t the case. Her reaction didn’t seem like someone who just learned about this but rather knew about it for a long time already. The omega noticed her peculiar reaction and did not hesitate to point it out.

“You’re oddly too calm about this.”

“Well, we never get along with each other for years. So, it didn’t surprise me he would abuse his powers to get rid of me as his first agenda as the duke.”

Perhaps the tension between the two siblings was much worse than what Ophelia predicted. Nevertheless, her focus returned to Lady Alice’s gift for her fiancé. Once she made her decision, Ophelia would do everything she could to carry on her mission. She planned to make Stella miserable so that she would hate her and the Chevalier family.

“Well, now that you know your place. Don’t make me repeat myself, give that thing to me.”

“…”

She went silent for a short moment, but it wasn’t because of the truth that Anthony wished to get rid of her or the fact she became one of Chevalier’s properties. This pain she felt was from seeing Ophelia doing everything she could to paint herself a heartless villainess in Stella’s eyes when the truth was that she had such a gentle soul. She didn’t want Ophelia to sacrifice for her anymore, and this time she decided to show her commitment to this as well.

“…If you don’t want me to keep it. Then I’ll get destroy of it instead.”

“H-Huh?”

Stella took the handkerchief out of the gift box before she tore it right in front of Ophelia’s face. At that moment, she looked at the alpha with her mouth agape. She couldn’t believe her eyes that she would tear the handkerchief gift with her own hands instead and that left Ophelia in greater confusion. Stella felt bad doing this, but she had a feeling this pink-haired omega wouldn’t drop this until she achieved her goal as well.

“Will this suffice? Or should I tear more—”

“Stop, that’s enough.”

The awkward silence fell upon them, and Ophelia couldn’t comprehend Stella’s actions since a kind-hearted soul like her wouldn’t destroy a lady’s gift with no shed of hesitation. Nothing about this made any sense. As the omega was still deep in her thoughts, Stella broke the awkward silence between them as she explained her action.

“I know you won’t stop until you get what you want, but since I don’t want you to do something so heartless and cruel, I did it instead.”

“Oh? Suddenly trying to be such a good puppy to earn some approval from me? I commend you for the effort, but it is futile.”

Her green eyes were just as cold as her sarcasm, but Stella confronted her with equal persistence and made herself extremely clear with her pink-haired noble.   

“It doesn’t matter to me if I earned your approval or not. I’m simply…doing whatever I want.”

The alpha’s words were simple and childish, yet they conveyed such a great weight that Ophelia couldn’t begin to describe. For someone as candid as Stella, it was hard to believe that she was lying to her. Luckily the awkward silence between them ended once they arrived at the manor before neither one could speak up. The gentle alpha stepped out and extended her hand for Ophelia to take.

“Watch your steps.”

The omega fell in silence and bit her lips with conflicted emotions as she took Stella’s hand. After they had such a turbulent exchange, Stella was able to wear such a gentle expression and spoke with no animosity in her voice. The more that the alpha directed her gentle smile at her, the more her heart raced, and sorrow twisted its knife into her chest. She would prefer the black-haired alpha to give her a death stare. The more she smiled her way, the more it only made things harder for Ophelia…

 

-

 

As days went by, Ophelia tried countless methods to challenge the alpha’s limits. She made Stella spend the majority of the day with her to the point where she wouldn’t be able to have any personal time for herself. Even when she tried to sound more forceful and spoke bluntly to her, Stella was still unbothered. 

“Stella, I want to go out for an afternoon picnic.”

“Okay. I’m ready to leave any time.”

The young alpha knew Ophelia would try to catch her off guard, so she made sure she was always prepared. Even though Ophelia was good at hiding her expression, Stella was able to see through her tough façade easily. She may be the mastermind behind the grand flawless scheme in her past life, but this pink-haired lady was undeniably still a 16-year-old girl. When one encountered the unexpected, it was inevitable they became even more frustrated over time.

“So… aside from shopping, attending tea parties, and having afternoon picnics, what are your hobbies?”

As Ophelia tried to waste her time, Stella used this chance to pester with questions to learn more about her hobbies, favorite food, and drinks, as well as what she disliked. The omega took a sip of her tea as she turned her attention to the young curious fiancé.

“Why do you want to know?”

“Why wouldn’t I want to know about you?”

“Because that’s none of your business.”

“How bad would I be in public if I cannot tell what my fiancé likes?”

The emphasis on fiancé made her fingers twitch subtly. The alpha made a good point that they should know each other because it would arouse doubts about their relationship if they barely knew a thing about one another.

“Very well then. I like to read books.”

“What kinds of books?”

“Commerce and finance. The house of Chevalier governs Northland’s major trading, so every member in the family must be well versed in this.”

“What about novels?”

“I don’t have time to waste with such unusable fictional information.”

Even though Ophelia’s tone was harsh and blunt when she was answering the question, she was considerate enough to give a detailed answer. To make things fair between them, Stella also answered the question as well, so it was a fair trade between them. She wanted things to be different between them this time. This little activity of theirs eventually became a routine every afternoon when they spent time together.  

“What’s your favorite color?”

“It’s blue, particularly something like azure.”

“What a coincidence, that’s my favorite color too.”

“…”

Even though it seemed like a one-sided effort, the black-haired alpha knew that she was putting on a disinterested façade to discourage her. The omega was still reluctant to share facts about herself and her reaction was quite entertaining. Back in her previous life, she barely knew anything about Ophelia even though they were practically living together for three years. Thus, she wanted to put an effort into closing the gap between them bit by bit. Hopefully, this would bring them closer and change the future as she eventually gained Ophelia’s trust over time.

Today was one of the ordinary days that Ophelia forced her to go out for a picnic, and they walked past the library. As she looked inside, she saw the lonely young boy reading by himself. Every time they walked past the library, she could always see Matteo sitting alone in the library most of the time aside from meal hours at the dining hall.

“Ophelia, I have a request. Could we invite Matteo?”

Seeing a young boy who should be spending time outside in the garden like any other boy of his age instead of hiding behind his books.  Perhaps this was the first time Stella spoke up and that instantly made the omega stop in her tracks. She took a couple of seconds to process what she heard and was still in doubt. When she asked for her reason, the alpha sighed and replied with genuine concern for him.

“I don’t think it’s good for him to coop in the library alone without getting some fresh air. He shouldn’t stay indoors like this, especially for his age.”

“…”

The alpha knew how much Ophelia cherished her little brother even though she didn’t express it openly and had no choice but to agree with Stella about this matter. As she expected, ever since that day Matteo had been invited to join the picnic and spend time with them every afternoon. A week went by with the three of them sitting in the garden enjoying the chilling wind breeze accompanied by a subtle sweet fragrance of flowers. Stella also used this opportunity to get to know him better as well. Matteo always stayed in the library reading books without interacting with other siblings and cousins as much, which unfortunately made him unmemorable and practically nonexistent in Stella’s past life. She felt guilty for being one of those people who didn’t recognize or even forget about him.

She hoped she could make it up to him.

If it wasn’t for him who left the letter at the manor and tried to reach out to her, Stella wouldn’t have come back in time to change the past. If it wasn’t for him, she would’ve blindly followed Viscount Henry’s words and their deaths would be unjust as she misunderstood them for the rest of her life. However, it would be different this time. Perhaps it was out of guilt, but Stella wanted to redeem herself by keeping both Ophelia and Matteo safe from their tragic predicament.

“If you like adventure books, then I believe you’ll enjoy the ‘The Lands Beyond the North’ written by Commander Samuel.”

“Yes! That’s one of my favorite books on the list!”

After they talked about his hobbies and interests, the young alpha boy began warming up to Stella and expressed great enthusiasm when they talked about his favorite books. From a shy little boy suddenly became chatty and lively after he opened himself to her. The older black-haired alpha was surprised that Matteo showed great interest in the same types of books as hers, which were adventurer and explorer biographies. One of his favorite books was written by one of the famous commanders of that era, Sir Samuel Valens, who ventured into the dangerous lands beyond the Northland and returned safely to share his expedition tales with everyone.

“It is extremely informative and exciting when he shares the story of his expeditions to the most dangerous places beyond Northland. Have you read most of his books too?”

“You can say it’s a mandatory thing that all descendants of Valens must know the story of his legacy. After all, Commander Samuel is my ancestor from my mom’s side.”

“Ah right! He is from the Valens family like you! That’s so cool…!!”

His eyes sparkled in a way that in a way that no one in the manor would ever see him. Even Ophelia herself was surprised with how much Matteo opened up to the black-haired alpha after a few afternoon tea sessions. They exchanged as if they had been friends for a while already. It all felt like a dream to her to see the two people she genuinely cherished get along well with each other this much. Even though she pretended to be disinterested in their conversation, she genuinely enjoyed watching Matteo smile openly like this.

This place, the Chevalier Manor, was no different than a prison to the two of them.

No such thing as warmth behind these dark cold walls where the Marquis instilled the concept of survival of the fittest to all of them ever since the pink-haired omega could remember. If one doesn’t prove their worthiness as a Chevalier, then they would be deemed as dirt that degraded the family’s glorified name. Thus, whether it was Ophelia’s siblings or her cousins, everyone strived to become the best if it meant trampling on other people. Therefore, it felt like a load was lifted off her chest when she could see her younger brother wearing such a wide smile on his face.

“That’s quite rare to see you daydreaming like this, Ophelia.”

The familiar gentle low-pitched voice interrupted her train of thoughts and that snapped her back to reality. When she realized it again, both Stella and Matteo directed their attention to her as they noticed she wasn’t involved in their conversation.

“You should read books that Matteo recommended. I believe you’ll enjoy them.”

“I told you already, I don’t have time for that insignificant information as they bring no benefit to the family—”

“There’s no harm trying something new, right? We’ll choose one book for you to enjoy recreationally during your free time.”

“You…!”

Stella couldn’t be careless and cut her off once again. Matteo was surprised that Stella was able to deal with his older sister so comfortably. Even though Ophelia replied bluntly and contemptuously to her, Stella was unfazed by it in the slightest. Instead, the alpha even seemed to enjoy seeing his older sister flustered.

“Hah, you seemed to take great pleasure getting on my nerves, do you?”

“I simply want to know you better and now you’re accusing me of intentionally annoying you?”

“Yes. You’ve been constantly annoying me with your trivial questions for the past week!”

“You asked for it. Since you’re forcing me around to your afternoon tea parties, then it’s fair I have some fun forcing you to entertain me too.”

Stella did not hesitate to argue back with her words as well since she was inevitably salty with how Ophelia successfully annoyed her so much in her past life. Since the omega attempted to get on her nerves once again, she needed to make sure she had fair revenge against her by having some fun teasing her too.

“Y-You—!”

“As much as you make me have to deal with you, then it’s fair you’ll have to deal with me.”     

Stella stuck her tongue out and that made Ophelia even more annoyed at her mischievous attitude. They began bickering back and forth like usual every time they had their afternoon picnic. As the younger boy watched them argue, he did not feel any hostility from either one of them. He was quite sensitive to people’s emotions, and he could tell how much his elder sister enjoyed interacting with Stella despite how much it contradicted her words and actions.

At the very least, her heart was still honest as he could see her ears took on red coloration. 

 

---

 

Special Arts (by me lmao): 
(Yes I drew this myself during my free time)

Stella Albrecht (Left) and Ophelia Chevalier (Right)

I may add more images in the future when I draw more characters!