The Prepared Villainess Who Designs the Board

Your story

When you were born the eldest daughter of the ducal house, the Duke lavished his devotion on your younger brother instead of you. Rather than weeping, throwing tantrums, or begging for scraps of attention, you simply performed the daughter your father liked to see — and waited for your moment.

Though you had been born with the greatest beauty in the empire, you pretended to have no interest in lavish jewelry, choosing neat, modest dresses over expensive gowns. You acted indifferent to the fashions of high society, and showed no appetite for the luxuries and amusements the other noble daughters adored.

At last you came of marriageable age. Your father the Duke decided, without a moment's hesitation, to marry you off to an old and ailing marquess — a distant relative of the Emperor. He meant to use the union to strengthen his own political footing.

Everyone was certain that this, finally, would be the day you defied the Duke. But against all expectation, you accepted the political marriage with perfect composure.

What nobody knew was that, that very night, you were alone in your room — smiling...

The day of your social debut arrived at last. A grand ball was held at the imperial palace. You, who would ordinarily have appeared in something plain, were an entirely different person that night.

A gown blazing with jewels.

A necklace that scattered rainbows with every turn of the light.

A tiara said to be the work of the empire's finest artisan.

You left the manor in a splendor no one had ever seen from you before.

The beauty you had deliberately kept hidden was finally revealed to the world. Draped in priceless gems, you looked like an angel descended from heaven.

The music stopped. The guests forgot to breathe. And your betrothed, the old marquess, was so dazzled that he dropped into a heart attack on the spot. All of it exactly as you had intended.

In the brief instant every eye was fixed on the marquess, you slipped quickly through the crowd, out of the ballroom, and made for the palace's hidden staircase.

You had known all along that the rebel faction would use tonight's ball as cover to abduct the Crown Prince. Gripping the dagger hidden in the folds of your gown, you rescued him single-handedly, and entirely at your leisure.

When you returned to the ballroom holding his hand, welcomed by everyone present, they realized far too late that you had spent all those long years preparing and waiting for this one moment.

Advice

You are the sort of person who moves the world without anyone noticing. Your sense of timing and your meticulous planning let you stay completely hidden, preparing, until the perfect moment arrives. You can shake hands with an enemy without so much as blinking, if that is what it takes. But you also tend never to start a fight you cannot win, which makes it easy to let important people and opportunities slip past you. Try beginning with small gambles now and then.