None of her family members seem to have expected it. After all, most people keep the name they have been given at birth throughout their entire lives. They may become known by a nickname or use a pseudonym for various things, but people's real names were rarely changed.
That is not to say it was impossible, or even hard to do. Some people who did not like their names did end up changing them, often before high school. It's not like Danielle's parents had never heard of it, after all.
They just never thought they would have to call their precious jewel anything but 'Danny' and 'Danielle'. But even if they wanted to object, her earlier words kept echoing in their mind.
'I promise to become a different person… someone you can also respect.'
Together with the fact that she must have gone through a lot of trauma before finding the courage to come to them, neither her parents nor her elder sister found it in themselves to object to her request.
Her elder sister was the first to voice her support. "Alright then, if you're sure about it, I'll call the principal to get the records changed before you go to class tomorrow. But you have to forgive your sister if I still call you Danny sometimes, okay?"
Her parents also reluctantly agreed, both of them telling her to not mind if it took them a while to adjust.
It was fortunate that Emilia did not have any more bombshells to drop on them, because the three of them looked both exhausted and relieved by the time they left the dining hall.
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"Good job Emilia! Though there is one thing I don't understand…"
Emilia could already guess what her system was thinking.
"You want to know why I had the villainess's name changed to match my own, right?"
"That's right!"
"Well… I can say that it takes a long while to get used to being called by a different name, and it's not a big deal to get your name changed while young…"
"Of course, makes sense…"
"But that's not the real reason."
"It's not?"
"Right. The real reason is… personal. You know I did not have a name in my first life. I was just a disposable guard, only slightly better than a tool. Even if everything in my second life turned out to be an illusion, I have at least earned this name—Emilia!"
Cynthia did not know what to say in response, so she just remained silent. She, who had never loved anyone, could not know what it felt like in Emilia's place.
'Should I ping her with system messages to distract her?'
Thankfully, Cynthia didn't actually do it, or maybe Emilia really might snap and summon her out just to beat her up.
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The next morning, Emilia got ready for her first day in high school far earlier than the family butler expected. Not only was there no lunchbox ready for her, even her driver hadn't reported in yet.
The lunchbox wasn't a big issue. After all, the cafeteria in the city's best school was at least decent. Even if the food wasn't as good as the one prepared by their chef, it was certainly palatable in emergencies.
The absence of a driver was another issue entirely.
The old butler looked embarrassed and kept apologizing. Normally there would always be a driver available in the mansion, but one of them had called in sick today, and the other one would only arrive half an hour later.
"I'm sorry, miss, please allow me to drive you to school personally."
Emilia felt slightly awkward. She had never used one of these 'cars' herself, although she was quite proficient with horses. She didn't know if it would be too stressful for such an old man to control.
Just as she was wondering whether she should just agree to the butler's request, her 'sister' came to the rescue.
The butler stepped back with a bow. "Miss Samantha!"
"You go take care of other stuff, uncle, I'll drop my sister off myself."
The old butler sighed, as if feeling sorry for someone. "I understand, miss."
Samantha's curly brown tresses barely reached her shoulders, and she had a naturally cold face. If Emilia hadn't seen her bawling openly yesterday, she would have thought the relationship between the two sisters was lukewarm at best.
After all, the villainess's sister was barely mentioned by Cynthia while going through the plot.
Emilia reached out and held the taller girl's hand in her own, and was relieved to see that the bruising had mostly faded away from her beating the table last night.
"Well, it's good that you didn't hurt yourself too much. Sister shouldn't be so reckless in the future. If you're angry with someone, take it out on them, not yourself!"
The taller girl looked at her sadly. "What's with calling me sister now? If you're no longer Danny, and you won't even call me Sam anymore… what, is that bastard so much more important to you?"
Emilia felt awkward, thinking how nice it would be if she really knew everything beforehand. How was she to know what the villainess called her sister?
"Ah, no… don't be like that, Sam… It's just, I feel like turning a new page in my life now. It doesn't mean I want to push you away."
Samantha kept shaking her head, looking a little distressed. "No… Emilia… It's not your fault. It's true that we haven't been so close these past few years… I always thought you were busy with your childhood sweetheart. I never imagined you were suffering alone."
Emilia thought it was a pity that this cold beauty was a cry baby. She was ready to cry again, and Emilia hated watching people cry.
Because when a man cried, she felt his hopelessness and despair. And when a woman cried, she felt her distress and agony. Hopelessness, despair, distress, agony… were all emotions that were far from what she sought—happiness.
So, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around the taller girl. "Sam, I know you feel sorry for what happened to me. But compared to what could have happened, don't you think I was lucky?"
The brown haired girl looked a little lost as she thought about it.
Although it was a good thing that the villainess's family cared for her so much, she did not want them to always feel distressed about her. One of her goals in this world included leading this family to the pinnacle, and how could that be done if they weren't even happy?
"Let's just put the past behind us. Like I said, I wish to turn a new leaf, and live my life seeking only happiness from now on."
Emilia released the girl from her hug and clutched her shoulders, not letting her look away from her eyes.
"Sam… do you want me to be happy?"
The taller girl nodded furiously. "Of course!"
Emilia smiled with some amusement, thinking how although she was so tall, she was still acting like a child in front of a younger girl. Not to mention getting lectured by her younger sister. This was definitely a soft persimmon. She would have to watch out in case she got bullied by others!
"Then you can't be sad anymore. If you want to cry, you can cry, but I want you to always seek happiness moving forwards, not wallow in the past miseries all the time. What happened with Amos and the Black Tiger family cannot ruin our mood all the time!"
There was a light of inspiration in the jet black eyes of her elder sister. "Y-You're right… Danny—no, sorry—Emilia has really grown up! From today, your big sister Sam will lead by example."
A few minutes later, a bewildered Emilia was sitting behind her elder sister on a 'motorcycle' with a strange head armor that she called 'helmet'.
'C-Cynthia… what is this iron horse thing? I-Is it safe?'
Cynthia's voice didn't mask her amusement at all. "Well, if you can think of cars as carriages that run without horses, I suppose calling a bike an iron horse is not strange coming from you. Oh, but don't worry, you won't die, probably."
'P-Probably?!'
"Oh, don't be so shocked, don't people die while riding horses all the time?"
Cynthia couldn't make fun of Emilia anymore, as Samantha made full use of the 750cc engine to make her little sister squeal in shock while they zoomed through the road.
By the time they reached her school, Emilia's face was pale and her legs were shivering.
Her older sister looked quite embarrassed, feeling that she had gotten too carried away. It was the first time she was letting someone ride her bike, as she rarely even took it out herself. She should have gone a little slower.
"Uh, Emilia? I'm sorry, it looks like that was a bit too much for a first timer. Are you going to be okay? Shall I take you back?"
Emilia's pale face shook at the thought of another ride on that monster. If she ever got the chance to ride a dragon, she imagined that she would not be too scared anymore.
"N-No! I'm fine. I'll head in now, you go back."
"Um, alright."
Samantha could only leave reluctantly under Emilia's imploring gaze, hoping her little sister didn't feel sick at school because of her. Seems like she got a little too motivated by the happiness talk.
Emilia sighed in relief once Sam left. She really couldn't bear another ride on the iron horse. Her butt was sore, and her hands were aching from holding Sam's waist too tightly in fear. Not to mention even her head felt dizzy.
At first Cynthia kept rolling around in laughter in the system space, but after a few minutes, she started to feel bad for her partner.
"Don't worry, Emilia, just keep circulating the void formula in your mind and the dizziness will go away in a few minutes."
"Thanks."
Samantha had dropped her off only a few meters away from the school gate, and she was almost two hours early. With some luck, no one should spot the embarrassment today, and the villainess won't gain more notoriety for her to wash off later.
Her hopeful thoughts were interrupted by a voice filled with apparent worry.
"Uhm, are you okay?"
With short golden hair in a neat bob cut and pure blue eyes, who else could it be but the heroine herself?