TVBS 01

Absolutely. I’ll keep the same character, personality, humor, dramatic tone, inner monologue style, and dialogue feel rather than making it sound like a stiff literal translation.

Chapter 1

Prologue

In the original novel, The Fate of Triya, which I had possessed into, there was a villainous family.

The one and only House Kereis.

Their reputation had been renowned ever since the founding of the Triya Empire, when they defeated an army of a hundred thousand enemy soldiers.

However, fearing that their power would continue to grow, the Emperor sent the Kereis family to the west under the pretext of granting them the most fertile lands.

Far away from the southern part of the capital.

The Kereis family accepted this and gradually expanded their influence.

And after a long, long time, the twelfth head of the Kereis ducal family took his place.

His name was Getre Kereis.

He was a man whose cruelty was beyond words.

And he had three sons who looked exactly like him.

Shebert.

Ron.

Krimu.

‘These are the famous three brothers.’

They were the three villainous brothers who appeared in the original novel.

The infamous trio whose very names were enough to make people tremble!

The bloodless, tearless Kereis brothers!

All three had blue hair and bright-red eyes, and they were equally rotten in personality.

Of course, aside from that, they each had their own individual quirks.

First, if we’re talking about the eldest, Shebert Kereis…

“What the hell was that? Were you just giving me a dirty look?”

At first glance, he was unbelievably handsome.

But his mouth was filthy.

He was basically a mouth of destruction that fired off whatever came to mind without bothering to pass it through his brain.

On top of that, if anyone got on his sensitive nerves, he never simply let it go.

He would suddenly transform into a giant beast and charge at them.

And before you knew it, he’d have them beaten so badly they wouldn’t even be able to pick up their own bones.

It didn’t matter who his opponent was.

He was every bit the arrogant eldest son of the Kereis family, a man who feared absolutely nothing in this world.

‘Of course, Shebert is practically adorable compared to the others.’

Compared to the second brother, Ron, that was.

Ron Kereis had the darkest blue hair among the three brothers and shining red eyes.

He was, quite literally, a mad serial killer.

The one you had to be the most careful around.

“I’ll kill every single person who catches my eye.”

Ron Kereis would go completely berserk if he didn’t see blood at least once a day.

He always carried a sword in his hand, and the stench of blood seemed to follow him wherever he went. Darkness always seemed to lurk around him.

There were even rumors that the reason he lived was simply to kill someone.

Ron Kereis was also known as the ‘Seed of Calamity,’ cursed by his own family.

Because in the future, after becoming an adult, he would slaughter thousands of people and bring down the Kereis family.

‘Ron really is a lunatic.’

And finally.

The youngest of the villainous family, Krimu Kereis…

“I won’t do it like my brothers. So how about we just take one hit each and call it even?”

Unlike his two older brothers, he wasn’t the type who enjoyed seeing blood everywhere.

If anything, he would frown when he saw something particularly cruel.

That didn’t mean Krimu Kereis was a good person, though.

Instead, he preferred ending things with a single blow.

He would strike his opponent’s vital point and—

Bam!

And as he grew older, his strength became downright monstrous, to the point that his very existence was practically a weapon.

Considering that he was the youngest and yet possessed such overwhelming power, there was no one among the three brothers who could match him in sheer strength.

Therefore, as a reader of the original novel, I came to one conclusion.

‘Shebert, Ron, Krimu… None of them are normal.’

What on earth had the author been thinking when they created these guys?

Regardless, there was one thing I absolutely had to do.

I had to make sure I never encountered these terrifying men.

Even if I happened to run into them on the street, I had to avoid them at all costs.

And if I ever did see them, I should immediately pretend to faint.

But despite my determination…

‘Aaaaaah! No! I don’t want to! I really don’t!’

I, who had possessed the body of a character in that very novel, quickly ended up inside their den.

There was, however, one saving grace.

This was six years before the original story officially began.

In other words, the three Kereis brothers were still children.

‘What? They’re not scary at all.’

The young Kereis brothers weren’t cruel.

They weren’t frightening, either.

If anything, they were unexpectedly… kind of cute?

Before I knew it, I ended up helping them a little.

I saved them from danger!

I saved their lives!

I became their friend!

And then…

Something completely unexpected happened.

‘…Huh?’

It was a beautiful world, like something straight out of a fairy tale.

White, fluffy clouds floated across the sky, and a field of flowers stretched out like a soft, cozy blanket.

Ah, this was nice.

Just as I was getting drunk on the refreshing scent of flowers…

The perfectly normal bushes started shaking…

And suddenly, three identical boys poked their heads out one by one.

Pop.

Pop.

Pop.

Before I even had time to get flustered, the eldest, Shebert, gave me a playful wink.

“Ah-heh.”

Before I could even recover, the youngest, Krimu, waved his tiny hand and smiled brightly, his dimples showing.

“Hehe. Hehehe.”

They were so ridiculously cute!

Just as I was about to smile without even realizing it…

My gaze was stolen by the boy calmly standing beside them.

“Hi.”

It was the boy smiling sweetly with both hands held beneath his chin like a flower.

Dark blue hair.

Two exceptionally bright, crimson-red eyes.

The second brother, Ron Kereis.

‘He’s so pretty!’

How could anyone smile that beautifully?

But get a grip!

The people standing in front of me were the three brothers of the villainous Kereis family.

“Hahahaha.”

I awkwardly laughed it off and slowly backed away.

But then those little brats came charging after me, asking where I thought I was going.

Apparently, I was their savior.

The person who had saved their lives!

Ah, please! Stop clinging to me, you little monsters!

And so, my long and troublesome relationship with the three brothers began when I was thirteen years old.

---

“Ugh… It’s so bright.”

The maid threw open the bedroom window.

Even though I was still half-asleep.

“I still haven’t gotten enough sleep!”

I covered my eyes from the morning sunlight, and the maid pouted.

It had already been a month since I’d started seeing that complaining face every morning.

“Honestly, Miss Anne has changed so much. You used to be so diligent.”

In this world, my name was Maryanne.

Just as the maid called me, my nickname was ‘Anne.’

At thirteen years old, I sprang out of bed in my small body.

Long, glossy red hair cascaded down past my shoulders.

“Yaaawn.”

As if on cue, I yawned, and the maid handed me a glass of water.

“Uncle said he was coming, right?”

“Yes. You need to get ready after breakfast.”

“Okay. I’m mentally preparing myself.”

“…”

The maid looked at me strangely again.

“Miss… You really have changed.”

Ever since I had possessed this body, the maid had kept saying that I seemed like a completely different person.

Of course, even I couldn’t believe it at first.

I had possessed a character in a web novel!

In my previous life, I had been chased by a murderer on a dark night and died.

And when I opened my eyes, I was inside the web novel The Fate of Triya.

At first, I was confused, but eventually, I accepted it.

I had imagined that someday I might escape my miserable reality and travel to a completely different world.

In fact, there had even been nights when I had fallen asleep desperately wishing for exactly that.

Maybe that was why.

After possessing this body, I had questioned again and again whether I was dreaming.

But eventually, I accepted everything.

And just like that, a month had passed.

“I’m hungry.”

As the maid continued to give me suspicious looks, I blinked my big black eyes with the innocent expression of a child.

“Yes. It’ll be ready soon, Miss.”

The maid returned to straightening my blankets, as if trying to focus on the task in front of her.

Soon, I followed her out of the room.

“Miss, are you going to the backyard again?”

“Mm-hm.”

“Breakfast will be ready soon, so you need to come back quickly.”

“Okay.”

The place I went for my morning walks was the backyard of the estate.

There was no gardener to take care of it, so weeds grew wildly everywhere.

But that was exactly why I liked it.

It was a place where I could think by myself.

I crouched down in front of a single tree standing tall in the middle of the backyard.

Strangely enough, whenever I was near this tree, my memories seemed to come back much more clearly.

Though maybe it was just my imagination.

‘So, let’s go over everything one more time…’

I had read the web novel right up until the moment I died in the real world, so I knew roughly what kind of situation I was in.

The original novel, The Fate of Triya, was a story that took place in an empire called Triya.

A tragic love story between the male and female leads.

And the ‘Maryanne’ I had possessed was a villainess.

Not just any villainess, either.

She was an orphan who eventually became the daughter-in-law of the villainous family and transformed into one of the greatest villains of all time.

There was, however, one thing I could be grateful for…

Maryanne hadn’t become a complete villainess yet.

I was thirteen years old.

‘Which means I still have time before I become an adult. Yaaawn.’

But why was I sleepy again?

Sometimes, while thinking like this, I would unknowingly doze off.

And every time I did, I dreamed.

Sometimes, I dreamed of Shebert and Ron Kereis brutally slaughtering hordes of monsters.

Other times, I dreamed of the Duke of Kereis raging in fury.

It was as though the original novel had turned into a series of nightmares.

Every time, I would shudder in terror.

But today, I had a particularly strange dream.

“I… I really, really like you!”

The man confessed shyly.

The corners of his lips curved up so beautifully.

But his face was hidden by the bright sunlight shining down on him.

Still, I liked it.

I liked the rapid pounding of his heart.

I liked his sincere confession.

So much that I wished this moment could last forever.

Then, for just a brief moment, I met one of his eyes as the light faded away.

‘Those crimson-red eyes…!’

They were the symbol of the Kereis family.

No way.

“…Miss? Miss?”

I suddenly opened my eyes at the maid’s voice.

“Goodness, Miss. You can’t keep sleeping in the backyard like this. Breakfast is ready, so hurry up and get up.”

“…Huh? Oh. Yeah.”

I was dazed all the way from the backyard to the dining room.

I didn’t even know how I was walking.

Because my head was filled with thoughts of him.

‘Was he really a man from the Kereis family? Wait, but… who?’

No matter how hard I racked my brain, I couldn’t figure out who the man in my dream was.

Was he the Duke?

Or one of the three brothers?

Perhaps the most likely possibility was the eldest, Shebert Kereis.

In the original novel, Maryanne Delve became engaged to Shebert, the eldest son of the Kereis family.

A shiver ran through my entire body.

And now I was even dreaming about him?

Maybe I’d been thinking about the original novel too much.

Yeah.

It was just a stupid dream.

I casually erased the dream from my mind.

---

“Anne! Maryanne!”

When I looked down from the window, I saw my uncle standing beside an old carriage.

I greeted him with the bright, innocent expression of a child, waving happily at him.

But…

‘…Damn old man.’

That uncle was planning to take me to his house.

Maryanne’s deceased parents had left behind no inheritance.

All they had left was a shabby estate and a maid.

At the time, my uncle had been the only person who reached out and took Maryanne’s hand.

Why?

Because he had happened to read an ancient book that had been passed down through his family and discovered that Maryanne’s parents, who had died in an accident, possessed pure magical abilities.

Of course, this was something no one knew except my uncle and me, the person who had possessed Maryanne’s body.

And there was a reason for that.

There were no naturally born pure-blooded mages in the Triya Empire.

Apparently, they had existed a very long time ago, but their bloodline had died out, leaving only mages who had learned magic later in life.

Which meant my existence was extremely special.

“Anne, my dear Maryanne!”

When I met my uncle in the first-floor hall, he grabbed my hand as though he had just found a long-lost child.

“Uncle, it’s been a long time.”

“Yes, yes. You’ve grown so much since I last saw you.”

I gave him an awkward smile.

Before I possessed her, Maryanne had been a meek and obedient character.

Of course, after she was sold to the villainous family, she changed completely.

“Alright, are you ready to leave now?”

“Yes, Uncle.”

My uncle gave me the kindest smile in the world.

No one knew that he was actually a cold-hearted man who cared about nothing but money.

To everyone else, he simply looked like a kind uncle who felt sorry for the child left alone in the estate and had decided to take her in and raise her.

“Anne, you get in the carriage first.”

“Yes.”

But I knew the truth.

That bastard of an uncle was going to sell me to the villainous family in a few months!

In fact, this was where the whole problem began.

The starting point of the adorable and lovable Maryanne becoming one of the greatest villainesses in history.

It all began when she entered the villainous family.

That was why I had tried everything to avoid going to my uncle.

I threw tantrums.

I tried running away.

I racked my brain for solutions.

But I failed every single time.

And I even considered my final option—dying…

‘Aaaaah!! Help… someone, please help me!!’

But perhaps because of my trauma, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.

Every time I remembered my life before possessing this body, chills ran down my entire body.

A murderer holding a knife.

A man whose entire body, except for his face and hands, was covered completely in black.

Late at night, inside an empty train, he had stared straight at me with those chilling eyes.

What if I had noticed him back then?

Would things have turned out differently?

I had thought about it dozens, hundreds of times.

About all the possibilities of what might have happened to me.

But those were things that would never happen.

I had to focus on the present.

“Anne, what are you thinking about so seriously?”

Once we were alone in the carriage, my uncle spoke, his expression subtly changing.

Lost in thought, I gave him a cute, bright smile.

“I was just thinking about how happy I am that I’ll be able to live with you from now on, Uncle.”

“Y-yes. Happy… I see.”

My uncle looked awkward for a moment before putting on a fake smile.

Pretending not to notice, I rubbed the little twig tucked inside my dress pocket.

I had taken it from the tree in the backyard.

I’d only spent a short time there, but I had already grown attached to the tree.

And, though it was probably just in my head, having this with me somehow made it easier to remember the original novel.

---

Maryanne’s family, House Delve, was an insignificant count’s family with neither money nor power.

And what a complete mess the family was.

They had no talent for managing their finances and had squandered what little inheritance they had left.

The moment they saw even the tiniest hole where money might come from, they pounced on it.

Just like they were doing with me.

“Uncle, is that a money pouch you’re holding?”

As I asked while entering my uncle’s estate, he jumped in surprise.

It was the money he had received from selling the estate under the pretext of taking care of me.

Naturally, he was flustered when a child pointed it out so directly.

“Ah, i-it’s nothing…!”

I swallowed my mocking laughter and smiled brightly again, putting on an innocent expression as though I knew nothing.

“Wow, the garden is so pretty!”

I gave my uncle a cute little wink and an adorable smile.

Usually, people loved it when I did this.

But my uncle’s expression didn’t exactly look pleased.

He looked like he’d bitten into something rotten.

…Well, maybe it was just my imagination.

Anyway, this was my plan.

I would become extremely lovable to my uncle and stay in this house until I became an adult.

I absolutely did not want to die as the greatest villainess in history.

To do that, I had to make sure I never met the villainous ‘Kereis family’ at all.

According to the original story, my uncle would sell me to that family in exactly one month.

So I had to work hard before then.

I couldn’t let him sell someone as pretty, lovable, and clever as me.

---

That evening, my uncle and I had dinner together.

We even ate dessert afterward and spent quite a long time enjoying a warm, pleasant meal together.

Mostly, I chattered away like a little sparrow while my uncle listened with an expression that gave away absolutely nothing about what he was thinking.

And the next day, a guest came to the estate.

“Say hello. This is Doctor Huyas.”

“Hello, Mr. Huyas.”

The white-haired Huyas returned my greeting.

In truth, I knew he wasn’t a doctor.

He was a mage.

However, he had spent a long time as an alcoholic and had eventually forgotten almost all the magic he had learned later in life.

During the day, he merely pretended to be somewhat sober and normal.

Of course, my uncle, who hadn’t read the original novel, had no idea about any of this.

“Huyas will check your health. You can’t afford to get sick if you’re going to live with me.”

My uncle added this excuse before ordering Huyas to examine me quickly.

He wanted to find out whether the magical abilities possessed by Maryanne’s deceased parents—and their pure magical bloodline—had been passed down to me.

“Hmm…”

Huyas felt the pulse at my wrist.

Then he rubbed the corners of his alcohol-reddened eyes and stared intently at me.

Eventually, he let out a quiet sigh.