Always Screaming Siren

👻 Alma would've been a gulper eel. The sketches below are still WIPs so it's not the final design but I still felt like sharing;

,,, and Atom would've been an old diving suit full of sea angels!! Instead of deep space the story would take place in the deep sea. (No concept art unfortunately </3)

Rebecca is not from some grand family. She is not special nor magical. She was, however, the most beautiful debutant at the age of 17.

Her mother knew from the start.

The great Count Devonshine was far and above her daughter. He had no reason to want her. It was suspicious. Originally, the matriarch stepped in and rejected the proposal. Then later on their business failed and the generous Count offered help.

She knew, but her daughter was in love. She wanted to believe that it wasn't all desire to posses. That her daughter's happiness was real, and a little ruthlessness is normal for a noble man.

They marry, and everyone who ever truly loved beautiful Rebecca regretted that day.

A doll.

That is what she became that day. Trophy wife does not encompass how tightly controlled she is. Count Devonshine picks her outfit every day. He bribed her "low class" friends to stay away from her. He used money to keep her family completely underneath his heel, so no one would dare tell her a bad thing about him. He only ever punished his wife when she tarnished her own perfection. By dancing with other men at balls...or looking at them too long. Crimes like that.

He loves art. He has a locket with her photo in it. He fell for her at first sight. Everyone knows of his intense and crushing love, and some other noble men even understand it. After all, Rebecca is so beautiful. It would be a shame if she ran off with another man, or got led astray by some charlatan. Beautiful women need to be protected.

Don't they?

The Count plans out everything, from her skincare routine to her diet.

Truly, there as no one as devoted as him.

He is so enamored that he is willing to take a second wife. He would never, ever divorce his perfect wife. Rebecca is his first wife. Not some concubine or the second or the third. In his perfect vision she is there. Even if she is infertile it's fine. Even if her body is too thin to produce an heir it's alright. She's perfect anyways and he can always take on a window dressing second wife.

Rebecca watches on in horror as the young second wife steals her child.

She fled the mansion. She planned to live as a simple bar keeper with her child, but he found her.

If she won't love him fine. He'll make the child she tried so hard to hide love him.

Rebecca has gotten old anyways.

She's no longer perfect.

He burns her alive for leaving him anyway.

When Rebecca reincarnates it's just in time for wedding number two. Rebecca obediently watches the Count marry his common lover for breeding purposes.

He instructs her how to smile properly before the procession begins.

Rebecca makes a heartbreaking choice. She will never see the child she had with him again. Her beloved child shall never be born into this life. No, she must dedicate this life to revenge.

The little commoner rose up. From pitiful discarded fling to maid. Then all the way to second wife. Rebecca didn't see it coming in her first run because she was so desperately lonely. Now, things are different.

She likes her former enemy.

She is curious.

She wonders what would drive a woman to want to sneak in so badly, when the Count is so...strict.

That second wife shares a deep truth. Pretty commoner girls do not go a day without being harassed. Being slapped around occasionally by a rich man, while you sleep in a plush mansion, is very preferable. It can be love if you try, and if you're used to worse treatment it's a dream.

Rebecca does not try to save the second wife, but she understands.

She truthfully says she's planning on leaving, and her place is free to take.

Duke Johannes saves her from a sad future solely dedicated to revenge. Rebecca needs to divorce her obsessed husband to make his misery begin, so she picks a fake husband. A classic contract marriage candidate. A guy with a curse.

He says yes, but instead of intrigue and blood her future grows brighter.

Her family reaches out to her. She decides to try and forgive them. The Duke's curse and his magical bloodline issues are....kind of silly. A breath of cat? themed fresh air compared to the Counts stuffy obsession with observation.

He falls first and she becomes happier until all is lost.

She will ruin her first husband, but her second life doesn't have to be fake.

Being with him makes her feel like she's allowed to move on.

Also lesbian secret assassin jumpscare? Ok, it's just implied but Kanna is way TOO loyal. There's even a long speech near the end of the story, where Kanna finally "accepts" that the Duke belongs with Rebecca. His kindness wins her over too, despite her broken heart.

(It is all implied but hey. It's there.)

She won him over by patting his head. Her evil plans aren't the first or tenth thing he likes about her. Women who go through bad experiences are allowed to go back to the soft life they miss. Rebecca doesn't have to become a sword master or a magician to earn her freedom. She has to commit to leaving behind a life she used to desperately want, and I think that's a lesson lots of people need to learn.

..

....

.....