Rise To Stardom: My Villainess

The nude-colored curtains are lifted to the side, uncovering the large glass window. On its own accord, sunlight slowly slips through the screen. It lights up the room and tries to warm it as well, but the air conditioner prevents that from happening.

Stretching her upper body while she sits up in her bed.

Ember would have looked so angelic with the pure sunlight c.a.r.e.s.sing her body if not only for the cranky expression plastered over her face. She still looks a goddess though despite waking up early in the morning.

Standing up, she lets her feet land on the soft white pure-wool carpet that surrounds a portion of her bedroom floor to cushion its fall. Upon opening the door to leave her bedroom, she is surprised to hear sounds from downstairs一 almost like it comes from the kitchen.

At first, she has the thought that the noise comes from burglars; but it seems rather too impossible, judging by how tight the house's security. Her parents definitely made sure that no one will be able to break into her place. And so, she shrugs off the idea.

Her face is scrunched up with irritation as to who would dare disturb her house with such noisy and make her worry early in the morning. She begins to walk toward the source of commotion with no fear written over her beautiful face. As she's about to enter the kitchen, she spots a woman in her forties walking out with food in her hand.

A kind smile dawns on the woman's face when she sees Ember giving her a wide-eyed look.

"Keina-jie."

"Ember! It's a good thing that you woke up already. I was starting to think that you're sick with how long you took to go downstairs."

The woman places the food down on the table, immediately going to the stunning beauty to usher her to sit down.

"Come on. Take your seat now, so that you can start eating your breakfast already. The others are already on their way back. I know how difficult it is for you to function without the staff you have personally chosen yourself especially with that personal trainer of yours. Since you are going to audition for roles soon, it's very important for you to keep your body in shape," Keina rambles on and on while Ember quietly eats the food in front of her.

Her manager is so occupied in her speech; she's still saying her lecture when the girl has already swallowed down the last piece of omelet from her porcelain plate.

Ember then chugs down a glass of milk and softly smiles at the maroon-haired woman. She has never thought that she'll miss the feeling of being lectured at by her manager. "So, Keina-jie, have you found any roles that I can audition for?" she asks, cutting the woman's monologue that would have lasted for hours if there's no disruption.

Ember stands up and begins to fix her mess, not forgetting her manners at home. Removing the silverware and glassware from the table, she places all the utensils on the dishwasher beside the sink.

Keina quietly observes her actions and softly smiles to herself before putting on a professional expression on her face. She clears her throat and opens her bag, rummaging through the things for something necessary to give to her talent.

"Here. I found this for you."

Placing the three color-coded folders on the table, Keina waits for Ember to check it herself. Her glasses flash as the light of the room reflects on it. The beauty takes the folders and opens the blue one first. Keina eventually allows herself to speak, "'My Heart is not a Ball' is your typical High School drama wherein the manager of the basketball club gets rejected by her long-time crush, the team captain."

Ember's brows are knitted together as she skims through the file.

"And then we also have this handsome transferee who is already a known genius in the world of basketball but quit his former team for some unknown reason. The manager tries to scout him and to cut the long story short, they fall in love."

Keina shrugs, not looking interested as well with the plot of the story. "It's a cliche yet romance drama that only has 5% sports theme throughout," she states while Ember gives the file a look of disbelief.

Surely, she won't dare take this one. Ember's never fond of a full-blown fluff drama, and she wonders where her manager even got that idea.

She opens the green folder, and Keina starts to explain, "Oh! That green one over there is called 'Between Impossibilities,' which is about a woman who is a big fan of the Male lead's idol group. Although her bias is the Second Male lead… Through several circ.u.mstances, she ends up entangled with the Male Lead instead of the love of her life."

Ember closes the blue folder, looking so displeased by the available dramas. Her head starts to ache in irritation due to all the cliches.

"Umm, Jie, why did you recommend those dramas to me in particular?"

Ember doesn't believe that Keina has a low taste for dramas, but there must be something why she showed this to her.

Keina sighs but nods.

Sure enough; there is.

"Well as you can see, Ember, the directors of these two dramas actually personally called me themselves. They wanted you to audition the roles of the Female Lead in their dramas; I didn't see anything bad, so I agreed. But of course, it's still your choice on whether you accept it or not."

Ember almost scoffs.

Audition?! They're most likely offering the Female Lead roles to her themselves. She shakes her head and sets down all the folders on the table.

"No thanks, Jie. I don't want to be acknowledged as an idol-turned-actor due to the easily attainable roles. I want to be more than that, surpassing that label; and I couldn't do that without facing the struggles of honest auditioning. I didn't become an actress just to be more famous or something. I am serious about this. I want to be viewed as a legit actress and genuinely praised for my good acting skills."

Ember sighs in disappointment. All these directors offering her as if she's someone in need, a beggar. That truly hurts her pride.

'I guessed that I still have to wait longer,' she thinks with a pout.

Keina takes note of it and shakes her head with a smirk.

Reaching her hand to the table, she only takes the orange folder from the three and gently gives it to her talent. "Well, if you had let me finish, then you wouldn't have been so disappointed." Ember curiously looks at the folder but takes it anyway and begins to skim through it.

'Across the Stars, huh…'

The maroon haired woman begins to summarize the story, "So this one is a bit different than the others. This one is about a Reincarnator who was killed in her past life by the mistress of her husband. Due to her intense hatred, she is rebirthed again, waking up years earlier before everything in her life starts to turn downhill. After a long journey of ups and downs, she ends up with her former husband's best friend whom she didn't take notice of before.

Keina turns to Ember, expecting her gaze to be at least enthusiastic a bit but is instead disappointed by the beauty's reaction. "Oh, by the way, you are not going to audition as the Female Lead. This is a big production. We can't let you get the role since there's a chance that you may get tons of backlash if we go through that direction."

Keina takes a seat down as she starts to get a bit too exhausted standing up and explaining all this information. "Instead I'll allow you to audition for the Second Female Lead instead. Anyways this character meanwhile is a Transmigrator from ancient China who suddenly occupies the body of the Mistress of the husband. The Reincarnator clearly doesn't know the change as she continues to pick fights with the Transmigrator, especially when she senses that the Male Lead and the Second Female Lead is starting to cozy up with each other in the first half of the dra─"

Not letting her finish, Ember cuts off with glee.

"I like it!"

The woman blurts out while her golden eyes seem to sparkle than ever. "The Transmigrator seems to be more interesting than the Female Lead, and it is also a less risky move. Certainly, I'll face backlash if I jump straight to being the lead of the drama. This one is truly a more wise decision."

Ember nods in agreement as she begins to think of possible, fair ways to ace the audition.

Keina sighs in relief, seeing that woman is satisfied with the drama she is shown. Pulling out a phone, she begins to type down her password down. "Then I'll call and have your name be signed up for the audition."

Ember obediently nods.

Silence then dawns within the dining room as the beauty expectantly stares at the older woman with lingering excitement. Keina finally finds the number, but then she remembers something. She doesn't press the call button, letting that necessary action stall for a moment "Oh yeah, before I forget to mention, there are rumors that Peichang, Fuwei, and Caiden may star as the Male Lead.

'What? Those three Kings of the Acting Industry?!'

Ember furrows her brows together as she skeptical gazes at the manager.

"From what I can recall, Peichang is busy working for his current drama 'Me Against You.' so I don't think that he'll be playing the Male Lead. And someone told me that Fuwei is taking a break from dramas for now, but I do think that he would have suited the Male Lead if he's ever going to play the role. And let's not talk about Caiden, he has not acted in a drama ever since he has been crowned as the Film Emperor. I have a feeling that he'll chain himself to acting in movies until the end of his career with what he's currently doing."

Ember rolls her eyes. She is really doubtful of the rumors her manager just fed to her. The manager nods as she takes the orange folder from Ember's hands.

"Well, those are just simply rumors. It might have been spread by just anyone, but I'm certain that either of those three playing the Male Lead would ensure that this drama will sell."

Now to those words, Ember holds no doubts. Those three are the current best males in the acting world. They're just like her, on top of their game; the only difference is that she's famous in the world of singing, and she's a female. Ember smirks at the shameless thought while she thinks of those three handsome actors.

"Alright, I can see that; but I don't really care about who plays the Male Lead anyways. All I care about is how I can win that audition," the beauty nonchalantly says, dismissing her manager with a wave of her hand.

Keina shakes her head to herself as she leaves the dining area with her phone in hand. In solitude, Ember excitedly and seriously begins to thinks of ways on how she can prepare for the audition and ace it.

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