TVBS 03

Episode 3

Strangely enough, there were no daughters in the Kerace family.

They say girls had been born into the family a very long time ago, but at some point, the line was cut off.

Because of that, the original novel only featured the Duke of Kerace and his three sons.

When describing them, the author would often use the phrase, “a family of dazzlingly handsome men.”

‘Even though they weren’t on the cover, I was curious. But seeing him in person… this is a double-nosebleed situation.’

While the maid was setting down the tea, I sneakily stole glances at the Duke of Kerace.

He was carefully moving the glass to match the angle of the table.

‘That’s right, he’s a perfectionist!’

Although he was a vicious villain, he was also a perfectionist who couldn’t tolerate even the slightest error.

Well, with looks that perfectly balanced, I suppose everything around him had to be just as perfect for him to feel at ease.

“How long are you planning to stare at my face?”

“……!”

Startled, I quickly turned my eyes away.

The Duke of Kerace leaned languidly against the sofa and spoke.

“I don’t like complicated things.”

I looked at him again as he spoke in his deep, heavy voice. I knew exactly what he was getting at.

“There is only one reason I brought you here.”

“…….”

The Duke of Kerace was ambitious.

He already belonged to the greatest family in the empire, but it seemed he wanted enough power to even control the emperor of the empire.

And to achieve that, he must have needed a mage with exceptional talent inherited through a powerful bloodline.

My uncle had lied to the Duke of Kerace and sold me off, claiming that I had inherited the bloodline of the Delve Count’s family and possessed the talent to use magic.

My uncle must have made sure to take a hefty sum, calculating all the way into the future.

“I intend to make you the fiancée of my eldest son.”

“……!”

Ding. My head rang.

It had finally come.

I swallowed hard.

Engaged to Shevert, the eldest son.

“No. I……”

“It has already been decided.”

“Duuuke……!!”

As I raised my voice, the Duke’s hand suddenly came closer.

Thump, thump. My heart began pounding.

Then, without much thought, he reached out and brushed down a strand of my hair.

It must have been blown around and gotten tangled. Apparently, even that had bothered the perfectionist duke.

He could notice something like that even at a time like this….

I steadied my trembling heart and pleaded with him again.

I was too young to get engaged!

But it was useless.

My uncle, who had sent me here, had already handed all authority over me to the Kerace family.

‘You damn bastard of an uncle……!’

The original story was proceeding as smoothly as ever.

Maryann, engaged to Shevert, the eldest son.

After becoming an adult, Shevert would fall hopelessly in love with the female lead, and eventually, I would help Shevert and walk down the path of becoming a villainess.

I could already clearly picture Shevert and Maryann becoming a villainous couple in the future.

My anxious eyes turned toward the Duke of Kerace, who was smiling coldly.

---

The duke gave me a rather luxurious room.

“Woooow. Look at how perfectly everything is lined up.”

For the moment, I completely forgot about what had just happened and let out an unrestrained exclamation of admiration.

As expected, having money was the best.

Compared to the crumbling bedroom in the count’s household, everything from the bed to the table and wardrobe practically screamed money.

And on top of that, everything was so neat and harmonious. It was exactly what one would expect from the tastes of a perfect duke.

I ran my fingertips over the smooth surface of the table before flopping down onto the bed.

My mind was a mess.

So many things had happened in just one day.

“Ahh, how does a situation like this even make sense for a thirteen-year-old……”

Without thinking, I pulled the twig out of my pocket.

Even though only a few days had passed, it was already drying out and becoming brittle.

My heart felt just as sad.

Then my eyelids slowly grew heavy, and before I knew it, sleep came rushing over me.

In my dream, I found myself in a world filled with hazy fog.

I couldn’t see anything, so I had no choice but to wave my hands around.

Suddenly, the fog cleared, and I saw a baby lion.

‘Why is there suddenly a baby lion?’

And at that very moment, the baby lion came running toward me and rubbed itself against me.

Its round, sparkling eyes seemed to say, “Please hug me.”

It was so cute that I crouched down and hugged the baby lion.

I gently stroked its soft fur when—

‘……!’

At some point, the baby lion had disappeared, and a boy was suddenly nestled in my arms.

What my hand had been stroking was his deep blue hair.

Gasp! He’s a member of the Kerace family!

The moment I was startled and pushed him away—

“……Gasp!”

Like a spring shooting upward, I bolted upright in bed.

“Kerace!”

It happened again.

Another Kerace bastard had appeared in my dream.

“Haaah…….”

I hadn’t seen his face this time either, but there was no doubt he was a Kerace man.

I must have been thinking about the original novel so much that my dreams were starting to twist the story.

I collected myself and took a deep breath.

At times like this, I needed to stay calm.

That was when—

“……Waaah.”

I heard the cry of a young child from somewhere.

“What?”

I wondered if I had heard it wrong, but the miserable sobbing came again.

I left my bedroom and looked around the hallway. A door to a room a little farther away was open.

Was someone in there?

Just as I was slowly walking toward it out of curiosity, a tiny child suddenly darted out of the room.

“Oh my gosh! You startled me—!”

At the sound of my voice, the little boy, who looked around four or five years old, stopped crying. Then he saw me and froze in place.

“Young master! Young master Krimu!”

A woman who looked like a nanny hurried out of the room, desperately calling for the little boy.

She had been frowning, but the moment she spotted me, her expression quickly softened.

Seeing the scene unfold before me, I immediately understood.

‘Krimu!’

That crying child was Krimu, the youngest son of the Duke of Kerace!

I could tell just from his light blue hair, the color of seawater.

After the duchess died early on, no one paid any attention to the youngest son, Krimu, and he grew up however he pleased.

Once he reached a certain age, I remembered from the original story that he became even more uncontrollable, rampaging around because of the overwhelming power he couldn’t control.

But what mattered was that Krimu was still just a child.

“Lady Maryann’s room is over there.”

The nanny spoke to me.

At the same time, she hurriedly ushered the child back into his room, blocking my view of Krimu.

I returned to my bedroom.

“Looks like that little guy isn’t crying anymore.”

The hallway outside my bedroom grew quiet again.

After meeting the duke, I had now met his youngest son, Krimu. And this was the Kerace family, the dark mastermind family, and I had already set foot inside.

Then when would I meet my fiancé, the eldest son?

Ugh, I didn’t want to meet him.

I needed to make a new plan.

Since living at my uncle’s house had failed, there was only one thing left to do.

I needed to save as much money as possible before becoming an adult.

I didn’t want to die as the greatest villainess of all time.

I gathered my complicated thoughts once again.

I had the right to be happy.

If my previous life had been miserable, then in this life, I would somehow, no matter what, become happy.

I pulled out a crumpled piece of paper from the cloth pouch I had brought with me when I left the count’s household.

It contained notes I had written down, trying to remember as much as possible.

“So, the current point in time is before I become an adult—in other words, before I become a complete villainess.”

In the future, I would become an adult and officially marry my fiancé, Shevert, the eldest son of the Duke of Kerace.

But Shevert was secretly in love with the heroine, Saint Bianca.

So he kidnapped her, and I, the villainess, played a huge part in helping him do it.

That was much later, but Maryann also fell in love with the male lead, the Crown Prince.

On top of that, the second son, Ron Kerace, known as the Seed of Calamity, would step onto the stage and turn the empire into a horrifying sea of flames.

That was it.

That was all I remembered from the original story.

“I remember thousands of people dying, at least.”

But I hadn’t read beyond that, so I didn’t know what happened afterward.

The Crown Prince, the male lead, probably won in the happy ending anyway.

In any case, feeling sorry for my future self, I decided to change the original story a little.

Couldn’t I just quietly slip out of the story?

Just like the countless female protagonists in web novels had done, there was no reason I couldn’t do it too.

I just needed to save money and disappear somewhere no one knew about.

To carry out my plan, the first thing I needed was to earn the Duke of Kerace’s trust.

“To do that…… I first need to get along with these crazy people!”

I decided to tackle each member of the Kerace family with a customized strategy.

---

The day after making that decision, the first person I met was the youngest, Krimu.

I had been walking around the garden, lost in thought.

Then I felt as though someone had given the hem of my dress a long tug.

“Ah, what the…… huh?”

My gaze slowly slid downward.

There stood little Krimu, whom I had met a few days ago.

Oh my, was he frowning at me right now?

His adorable little eyebrows were drawn together as if he were angry.

He had such plump cheeks and such a tiny body that he was cute enough to—no, destroy the earth.

But when he got angry, he looked like an ugly little baby bird.

What? Was he picking a fight with me?

But I immediately put on a bright smile.

It would be troublesome if I made an enemy of even one member of the Kerace family.

“Your name is Krimu, right?”

“Ppu.”

I asked him sweetly, but Krimu pursed his tiny lips and made a strange sound.

“Ppu? Yes. That must be your way of saying hello, right? My name is Maryann. Nice to meet you, Krimu.”

“Pupup-pu.”

“Huh!”

As it turned out, he wasn’t making a “ppu” sound.

Krimu was shooting spit at me.

“W-what does this little brat think he’s doing?!”

I shook out the slightly damp hem of my dress.

This little thing! He was already getting on my nerves!

I wanted to flick him right on the forehead, bonk, but when I saw the maids standing behind Krimu, I held myself back.

“Krimu, you mustn’t do that.”

Just like I had seen in countless web novels, I decided to train Krimu properly.

He was only four years old, so I figured he would be the easiest one to get on my side.

“That’s right. You’re not going to do ‘ppu’ anymore, right? Aww, what a good boy.”

I slowly stroked Krimu’s blue hair with my hand.

The softness of his hair traveled into my palm.

At the same time, the crease between Krimu’s brows gradually relaxed.

Oh, does he like it?

Of course! There’s a reason the heroines in web novels do this to the male leads!

I cheered inwardly, thinking it was only a matter of time before I had Krimu completely trained.

Krimu, who had only ever had brothers, must have been experiencing the warm touch of an older sister for the first time.

Yes, it must feel strange at first.

But as you grow up, the “Maryann” older sister will gradually take a powerful place in your heart.

Mwahahaha.

But then, an angry voice suddenly rang out.

“Hey, you! What are you doing to my little brother?”

I was startled by the shout, but before I could react, Krimu’s nostrils began to flare.

As if he had made up his mind to cry.

And just as expected, it happened.

The tiny little brat burst into tears.

“Waaaaah! Big brotheeeer!”

Why was he crying all of a sudden?!

Ah, I’m screwed.