1. A villainess feels more at home with the villain than with the prince.
“There is no mercy for an evil woman.”
Even as the emperor’s words fell like a sentence, Lilith didn’t shed a single tear.
She had truly loved him. But that emotion blazed so fiercely, it reduced her to ashes.
“Any last words?”
“None.”
She was born as Lilith, the only daughter of Duke Détrois.
A life where everything was handed to her from birth was easy.
Exceptionally beautiful and honored as the empire’s First Lady, she had never once doubted that she would become the empress.
But everything changed when a saintess appeared in the empire.
The title of First Lady went to her instead.
People praised the saintess’s pure and serene charm, while they disparaged Lilith’s dazzling beauty as vulgar and obscene.
But what Lilith couldn’t stand the most… was the emperor abandoning her.
She had loved him. It wasn’t just an act because they were engaged—her feelings were real.
But the emperor told her he’d fallen in love with the saintess at first sight, and soon after, he broke off their engagement and announced his marriage to the saintess.
The absolute ruler of the land and the saintess sent by the heavens—it was the perfect match.
The people were ecstatic.
Everyone except Lilith.
She wanted to kill the saintess who had taken everything from her.
So, whenever she got the chance, she subtly tormented the saintess and schemed to corrupt her.
But the saintess remained unshaken, and Lilith slowly lost her mind.
In the end, she sought help from her father.
The Détrois family was never exactly clean, so she was able to abduct the saintess with their assistance.
Finally, Lilith stood before the saintess with a poison-laced dagger in hand, prepared to kill her.
But even after deciding to go that far, she couldn’t bring herself to stab her.
How did I end up like this…?
While she hesitated in a moment of regret, she was overpowered by the emperor’s knights.
It was like the end of a villain in some storybook.
Only then did she start to feel regret.
But by then, it was far too late.
“Drink it. Or I’ll pry your mouth open and pour it down myself.”
“No need for that kind of trouble.”
She was only twenty-five. Far too young to die.
But she had already come to accept that everything was her own fault.
So Lilith drank the poison the emperor handed her without hesitation.
Yes, she drank it—but…
“Lilith! Didn’t I tell you to clean my room too?!”
Why on earth was she scrubbing floors now?
Staring down at the floor like it had personally wronged her, Lilith scowled at the absurdity of it all.
She had wanted to atone. But not like this. Absolutely not like this.
She thought everything would be over once she died, but now she had woken up in the body of some nobleman’s daughter.
A noblewoman in name only—her life was no different from that of a scullery maid.
She once said she was reduced to ashes by love, and now she was literally covered in soot every day, tending to the hearth.
“…I’ll endure it.”
After enduring another tantrum from her stepsister, Lilith silently resumed scrubbing the floor.
Yes, she had done terrible things and deserved punishment—but this?
“I can’t take this anymore!”
Getting abused by a stepmother only to be married off to some violent baron?
No way. Absolutely not.
She knew her future because she’d read it in a book in her previous life.
What was the title again? Calyx’s Mad Love, maybe?
Back then, she had picked up such a corny-sounding book only because the emperor she loved was also named Calyx.
To her surprise, the book had a character named Lilith as well.
In the book, Lilith was the daughter of a count named Delphie.
She wasn’t a major character—just some background extra meant to make the male lead shine.
Lilith had been annoyed that someone with her name was portrayed as such a pushover.
If your stepmother bullies you, you should fight back. Why just sit there and take it?
If your husband hits you, you should hit him ten times harder! Why just cry?!
She had gotten so frustrated with that pitiful Lilith that she threw the book away before even finishing it.
If she had known this would happen, she would’ve read the ending more carefully.
After drinking the poison, she had woken up in a shabby room.
Still groggy, she reached for the mirror beside her—an old habit.
“Why is this thing so filthy?”
The mirror was smudged, with a crack in one corner.
It was nothing like the gilded mirror she’d used every day.
Still, the bigger shock was what she saw in the reflection.
She was wearing clothes even worse than the prison uniform she had worn before execution.
Worn-out maid attire that she wouldn’t touch with a hundred-foot pole.
“Seriously, what is this rag?”
Her face was the same, but nothing else matched.
This outfit didn’t even compare to the tattered dress she had worn when she was captured.
And the room didn’t even have bars on the windows.
It wasn’t a prison—but it sure felt like one.
A tiny space with only a palm-sized window, a creaky bed, and a small drawer.
That was it.
“…Was that poison really a sleeping potion?”
She remembered clearly: she drank poison from the emperor himself.
But here she was, alive and breathing.
She touched her face as if to confirm. Her skin was warm.
Was I exiled instead of executed?
That seemed plausible, given the state of the room.
But something felt… off.
If she’d really been in prison, her skin would be a mess—but her cheek felt oddly plump and elastic.
And there were other strange things, too.
The shoulder wound from the emperor’s sword was completely gone.
Her hair, which had been cut short when she was dragged away, now flowed down to her waist.
But the strangest thing was that she was alive at all.
“…What the hell happened?”
She picked up the mirror again to study her face.
At first, she thought it looked the same—but then she noticed the difference.
The red hair flowing down to her waist and her striking features were the same as before.
But she looked… younger.
Maybe in her late teens?
She still looked pretty.
Before, she was like a flower in full bloom. Now, she was a tightly closed bud—wilted from sadness and exhaustion.
…Is it because I’m tired?
Her whole body ached. Maybe she’d been tossed around in some wagon and gotten sore.
But there were too many weird things happening to dismiss it so easily.
She opened the drawer to put the mirror away—and saw a familiar book.
Calyx’s Mad Love?
It was the romance novel she had once read so intently.
Why is this here?
The out-of-place book made her reach for it without thinking.
Then came the shock.
“W-What? This is about me?!”
It wasn’t the same book as before.
This one contained a detailed account of her previous life.
Like she was possessed, she began reading.
Calyx and Lilith’s first meeting.
Their once-sweet relationship.
The saintess’s appearance.
Calyx falling in love at first sight.
Their sacred, pure romance.
Lilith’s crimes. Her failed schemes. Her execution.
In the book, she wasn’t the protagonist.
She was the villainess—described as having inherited generations of evil and born with a wicked nature.
Even when she repented at the end, the book detailed how she was rightfully executed for her sins.
Still, she had enough of a conscience to admit the descriptions weren’t completely unfair.
The terrifying Détrois family values had always fit her like a glove, and she had lived however she pleased, without a care for what others thought.
After meeting the saintess, she had completely lost her mind.
Kidnapping her, planning her murder… she had been blinded by love, losing all reason.
“…I’m truly sorry, saintess.”
Even if she was a villainess at heart, she still knew right from wrong.
She couldn’t help but feel genuine remorse.
Why did I treat her like that? Calyx was the one at fault.
Now that she could see clearly, everything made sense.
Calyx was a total bastard.
Sure, people fall in love and break up. That’s human.
But what he did went beyond bad manners—it was outright cruel.
She had taken out that humiliation on the saintess instead.
I got the wrong target. Should’ve tortured and kidnapped Calyx instead.
“Asshole.”
She slammed the book shut and began to pray earnestly.
“If there’s a god, please make sure Calyx breaks his nose even if he falls backward. And let the saintess live happily ever after.”
He better know what a bastard he is.
With a repentant heart, she made a vow.
She didn’t know why she was alive when the book said she’d died,
but since she had been given another chance, she would abandon her villainous nature and live kindly to atone.
She had no interest in repeating that tragic ending.
…But, wait. Where was this place?
“Lilith!”
Just then, a shrill voice came from outside the room.
Lilith opened the door to see a girl about her age, glaring and fuming.
“Why didn’t you come to my room?!”
“…What?”
“Don’t act like you don’t know! I told you to come help me get ready this morning!”
Lilith stood there dumbfounded, still trying to grasp the situation.
The girl shrieked again.
“Are you defying me?!”
“Ah!”
The girl suddenly pinched her hard in the side, and Lilith collapsed from the pain.
Smirking, the girl said smugly,
“That’s what you get for acting out. Be in my room once you’re done here.”
And with that, she skipped away like nothing happened.
Lilith clutched her side, tears welling from the pain.
She didn’t even have to look—she knew there’d be a big, ugly bruise.
Once the pain subsided, she jumped to her feet, fuming.
“What the hell is that crazy bitch’s problem?!”
When did I agree to be her servant?
Then it hit her—she had just promised to live kindly.
She needed to stop swearing.
“…What a uniquely troubled young lady.”
Yes. Kind Lilith would be the bigger person.
Even as she rubbed her aching side, she left the room.
Clearly, she was working as a maid in this strange girl’s house.
Or so she thought.
But she was wrong.
Lilith wasn’t just a maid—
And this wasn’t a house with one eccentric person.
It was a house full of them.
