Annie

 is a supporting character in the series "The Villainess Reverses the Hourglass" who serves as one of Aria Roscente's personal maids. Initially sent by Mielle Roscente to spy on Aria, she ends up becoming one of Aria’s closest allies, assisting her master in her schemes several times.

About
Annie is the youngest among Count Roscente's maids, being fifteen years old when first introduced (making her the same age as Aria Roscente). Although she doesn’t play a prominent role in the original line of events, she becomes one of the mansion’s key figures in the new timeline.

She serves as one of Mielle Roscente's maids until Mielle decides to send one of her maids to Aria in an attempt to monitor her sister's behavior, particularly with regards to Oscar Frederick. Aria, in turn, takes interest in Annie after noticing her envy and succeeds in breaking Annie’s loyalty to Mielle by taking advantage of her materialistic tendencies.

From that point onwards, Annie accompanies Aria regularly, occasionally carrying out tasks for her master such as acting as a messenger to business affiliates. She also serves as Aria’s pawn in her plans to destroy Mielle, most notably playing a key role in the Reverse Destiny Arc. Unlike Jessie, Annie does not mind carrying out even extremely heinous acts on Aria’s instruction, feeling she will benefit in the long run if she diligently carries out her master’s orders.

Appearance
Annie is a red-haired young woman of average height who is described as having highly prominent freckles and is thus not considered conventionally attractive, although it is remarked that her facial features are quite pretty. Upon receiving high-quality cosmetics from Aria, Annie began to cover her freckles, leading her to be viewed as much more beautiful than before. She has a pointed chin, a sharp nose, and rather large brown eyes. Furthermore, she is noted to have pale white skin, leading Aria to assert that she could pass as a noblewoman. She generally keeps her long hair either in braids or in a bun, though she is occasionally seen wearing it open.

When first introduced, Annie is seen wearing a black maid’s uniform, as worn by most other maids in Count Roscente’s mansion, consisting of an ankle-length dress with long sleeves that accentuate her shoulders, a white apron with a small belt tied around the waistline, and brown boots. Upon becoming Aria’s playmate, Annie begins to dress in a somewhat more luxurious way, wearing a long-sleeved light brown dress with white frills around her shoulders and chest as well as boots of similar color. Finally, Annie’s attire becomes quite exquisite towards the end of the series due to Aria’s financial support and her upcoming wedding with Baron Burboom, leading her to be frowned upon for, despite being a commoner, dressing in a manner befitting of high nobility.

Personality
Annie is a deeply selfish and materialistic girl, described by Aria Roscente as resembling her quite closely. Disliking her status as a commoner, she is fascinated by the lifestyle of nobility, dreaming of one day marrying into a noble family and going so far as to practice etiquette in her free time and steal cosmetics from Mielle Roscente. She enjoys dressing up in glamorous and excessive ways, leading her to be delighted upon receiving clothing and accessories from her master each and every time, and is quite immodest in this regard, happily displaying her possessions towards her surroundings.

However, unlike her master, Annie is much less calculating and quite a bit more frank. She doesn’t generally mind serving as a puppet in Aria’s schemes and, while vaguely aware of her superior’s twisted and calculating nature, doesn’t care as long as serving Aria is advantageous to her. Feeling that she will be the most likely one to lead her to the life she desires, she is quite loyal to Aria in spite of her general personality traits.

As a rather unrefined person, Annie frequently expresses her surprise and other emotions, usually making her quite easy to read, although she does manage to deceive Emma for a while and hide her shift in alignment. In addition, Annie is noted to have a very bad temper, much like the Aria of the original line of events. Nevertheless, she is able to display a remarkable degree of intelligence when needed, most clearly exemplified by her elaborate bullying schemes towards Mielle and, to a lesser extent, Berry that impressed even Aria.

Aria Roscente
Initially, Aria becomes interested in Annie after noticing her envious and greedy nature, figuring it would be easy to win her over and feeling sympathy for her. This leads her to be appointed as the second of Aria’s maids by Mielle on Aria’s suggestion. Annie, on the other hand, is initially rather contemptuous towards her new master, considering her to be beneath her due to her status as a prostitute’s daughter and feeling envious of her rise in social standing.

After being won over, however, Annie grows to be highly fond of Aria, being sincerely worried when her master is in danger, becoming excited when she has good news to tell, and even accompanying her on a trip of multiple weeks to the Kingdom of Croa without having even been asked to do so. Aria, in turn, cares deeply about Annie’s well-being, possibly in part due to seeing herself in her. This leads her to set her maid up with Baron Burboom in order to guarantee a bright future for her, gift her various possessions and harshly punish those who speak ill of her.

Baron Burboom
Annie is quite flustered by Baron Burboom at first sight, who initially shows little interest in her. She goes on to visit him rather frequently after receiving romantic advice from her master, assuming the role of Aria's representative but also engaging in small talk with him. They develop a genuinely amicable relationship over time (possibly with the help of Aria), which leads them to attend social events together and finally plan their marriage.

Annie appears to quite like the Baron, although her romantic interest in him somewhat declines over the course of the story and she occasionally wishes for him to be more of a romantic like the Crown Prince. Despite his rather stoic and professional attitude, he seems to like her as well.

Jessie
As Annie’s fellow maid and another one of Aria’s close allies, Jessie is often seen together with her. Jessie’s modest and rather inexcessive personality clashes noticeably with Annie’s materialism, with Annie preferring to carry herself in a glamorous and noble manner and Jessie having the tendency to be quite wary of her status in society, refusing even dresses gifted to her by her master. This generally leads Annie to treat her somewhat dismissively, asserting that their status as the personal maids of Aria makes their treatment appropriate despite being commoners.

In spite of these differences, however, the two of them appear to greatly respect one another, prominently illustrated by Jessie’s surprised reaction upon hearing of Annie’s mistreatment of Mielle, stating that “Annie is a good girl” and being so firmly convinced of Annie’s good character that Mielle’s badmouthing proved ineffective in undermining the two maids’ relationship.

Mielle Roscente
As her maid, Annie was deeply submissive towards Mielle, attempting to gain favor from her. After switching to Aria Roscente's side, however, Annie starts developing a noticeable distaste for both Mielle and Emma, likely originating in part from her goal of assisting Aria and gaining her support. Much like Jessie, Annie starts actively resenting Mielle following her crimes and her loss of influence in noble society.

When Annie legally becomes Mielle's guardian, she abuses and harasses her; although partly Aria’s instruction, Annie becomes extremely cruel towards the former noble lady, setting up strikingly heinous and elaborate bullying schemes. This leads Mielle to despise Annie, feeling hurt in her pride as a former aristocrat and viewing her as a commoner who doesn’t know her place. Her hatred culminates in a failed attempt to kill Annie by poisoning her, an incident set up by Aria that ultimately leads to Mielle's execution.

Etymology

 * The name Annie means "Gracious/Grace, Merciful" in Hebrew, English.