Chapter 1
Crushed by a Disaster of Her Own Making
“Vivian, I couldn’t find you in your bedroom. What are you doing out here?”
“Well…”
It was a warm and sunny afternoon.
Hiding between the garden bushes and glancing around nervously, Vivian slowly lifted her head.
Standing before her, arms crossed and looking down at her, was her fiancé—soon to be her husband next month—Aslan Rezeph Astaroth.
Nearly two meters tall with broad shoulders, a firm chest, and arms lined with prominent veins, he looked as threatening as a wild beast.
But when he looked at his fiancée, his eyes curved into charming crescents.
“If you wanted to go for a walk, you should’ve called me. It would’ve been nice to go together.”
“You… You looked so busy…”
“If it’s something you want, I can always make time.”
The crunch of gravel under Aslan’s approaching footsteps echoed ominously. That alone made cold sweat trickle down Vivian’s back.
Because, in truth, she had been caught trying to run away.
“You don’t look well. You shouldn’t overexert yourself when you’re unwell. Let’s go back inside.”
“T-That’s a bit difficult…”
“Difficult?”
“I received an urgent letter and need to go out for a bit. Here, the letter…”
She had anticipated such resistance.
Vivian pulled out Plan B—her secret weapon—a letter from her half-sister whom she adored to the point of obsession.
The golden envelope gleamed brightly in the sunlight between her lifted fingers.
But for some reason, what she was holding wasn’t her sister’s letter—it was a letter from the Crown Prince.
“W-Why is this here?! I definitely threw it away!”
“Oh, I see.”
Aslan’s eyes hardened at the unexpected appearance of the wrong letter.
She didn’t know why such an ominous item had ended up here, but one thing was clear—Aslan’s mood had soured immensely.
“Haha… My eyesight’s been blurry lately…”
Vivian laughed awkwardly and tried to hide the letter behind her back.
But it was already too late. Aslan stepped behind her and tore the letter to shreds.
The flashy golden envelope disintegrated into fine powder.
“Well then, there’s no reason we can’t return to the bedroom.”
“T-That was a mistake! Look, this is the real letter from Iris, my sister!”
The Crown Prince’s letter was gone—destroyed. With the evidence gone, she thought Aslan wouldn’t pursue it further.
Vivian pulled out her sister’s letter and smiled confidently.
But what she failed to consider was that Aslan saw Iris as nothing more than a thorn in the side of his time with his fiancée.
“You’re not planning to leave, are you?”
“W-Why are your eyes like that…”
“You promised to spend today with me. I’ve been waiting for this day.”
Again—it was a lovely afternoon. Bluebirds chirped, and cats napped lazily under the sun.
But Vivian was freezing. Aslan’s chilling aura dropped to subzero, and she could barely stand it.
Cough cough!
“Vivian…!”
“Ugh, it’s nothing. I just feel a bit chilly.”
Just as she staggered from her coughing and accidentally fell into Aslan’s chest, the freezing aura immediately dissipated.
Feeling the warmth of a spring breeze once more, Vivian quietly wept inside.
‘How am I ever going to escape at this rate?!’
Aslan’s low voice, wrapped around her slim waist, trembled like a wild beast barely holding back.
“Our wedding is just around the corner. The thought of it excites me so much, I can’t sleep. You feel the same, right, Vivian?”
Absolutely not!
She wanted to scream, but all she could do was cry silently inside.
When she thought back to how she ended up in this mess, it all began with one poorly written will.
* * *
[By the time this will is found, I will no longer be of this world. My departure is for the good of all, so do not look for me or wait for me.
All rights to my property and estate shall pass to my fiancé, His Highness Aslan.]
Aslan Rezeph Astaroth, the Empire’s second prince and a Grand Duke, frowned deeply as he read the paper handed to him.
He didn’t even bother reading the content—his eyes went straight to the signature at the bottom.
Vivian Eleonora.
The name of his politically chosen fiancée, whom he had come to utterly loathe. She had committed unspeakable acts in the name of love.
His voice dripped with sarcasm.
“You disturbed me during work hours just to show me a piece of paper?”
“It’s not just any paper—”
“Yes, a will. Ha! Another one of her dramatic acts to get my attention. What a remarkable woman, constantly testing the limits of my patience.”
Just thinking about her snake-like gaze gave him a headache.
But this nonsense would soon come to an end.
Until now, political considerations had kept him silent, but he finally had a legitimate reason to break off the engagement.
‘Duke Eleonora has an illegitimate child. He has brought shame upon the nobility.’
Nobles thrived on gossip. They loved using their sharp tongues to spice up their dull lives.
When the Duke assaulted an innocent maid in his youth, and when she became pregnant, he tortured her near to death and abandoned her in the wild to cover it up.
The maid died shortly after childbirth. Unaware of her origins, the child was now heading to the capital in search of her father.
No secret lasts forever.
‘With a little push behind the scenes, the Duke’s reputation will plummet. Then the breakup will be much easier.’
Vivian also knew this. He had told her to her face.
So this so-called suicide must’ve been her last-ditch effort before being discarded.
Yet the chief attendant still looked grim.
“Sire… this time, it seems to be real.”
“What do you mean?”
“She’s developed tuberculosis.”
Aslan’s hand, which had been flipping through documents irritably, stopped mid-motion.
The servant quickly continued.
“We’ve been secretly recruiting staff from the Eleonora household. According to her physician, by the time the symptoms were found, it was already too late to treat.”
“The coughing of blood at the last banquet…”
“Yes. After hearing from the doctor that nothing could be done, her behavior changed drastically. Like she became a different person.”
“Tuberculosis… not even the royal physicians can cure it.”
Aslan recalled her face.
More specifically, the eyes hidden behind a beautiful mask—cold and lifeless like a dead fish.
‘Who could believe a woman who speaks of love with eyes like that? Obsessed with false power—what a hollow end.’
He felt some pity, but that was all.
Still, politics were another matter entirely. His older half-brother, the Crown Prince Johannes, wouldn’t miss the chance to use this against him.
If Vivian died, they would surely blame it on Aslan—claiming he had neglected his fiancée or failed in his duty.
“Any word from the Emperor?”
“His Majesty, seeing the fiancée of a prince as akin to a daughter-in-law, has ordered a thorough investigation.”
“Damn it. Find her. I don’t care what it takes—just find her before she dies!”
His voice thundered as he slammed the desk.
She was an infuriating woman, always dragging him down to the end. But he couldn’t let her die now.
He had to eliminate anything the Emperor could use against him.
“Bring her to me—dead or alive. Even if it’s just her corpse, bring it. We’ll need to stage some pitiful theater.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
They would decorate her room like a duchess’s, and prepare for both a wedding and a funeral.
The attendant bowed deeply, already imagining how busy the days ahead would be.
* * *
It had been several days since Vivian escaped the duchy with her will in tow.
She was quickly realizing her situation was… not great.
Not that it ever was, but now it was undeniably, royally screwed.
‘All I wanted was to leave a little early before I died… Wanting to live out my final days in peace—is that really a sin?!’
Vivian regretted interfering with the original plot—but it was too late now. A massive black lion loomed before her.
Glowing golden eyes. A chilling killing aura tightening around her like a noose.
If she ran, she’d be torn to pieces on the spot.
‘Why the hell is Aslan here, in this terrifying form, when he should be calmly inheriting my estate back in the capital?!’
She retraced how she got into this mess.
She had died in an accident, right after reading a hardcore R-rated fantasy novel called “The Curse of Astaroth.” She was reincarnated into that very story.
It began in ancient times, when an unnamed hero defeated the demon Astaroth.
The dying demon cursed the hero.
[I will return. I shall use the body of your descendants to resurrect myself!]
The hero became Emperor, and strange things began happening in the imperial line.
Princes and princesses born human began turning into black lions. Upon their deaths, the curse passed to other royals like a shackle.
The male lead, Aslan, was a prince who had the curse artificially transferred to him.
Originally, the curse was meant for Crown Prince Johannes. But the Emperor used dark magic to move it to his concubine’s son—Aslan.
Vivian was his fiancée in this tragic setup.
She was a typical villainess—obsessed with his looks and power, unaware of his curse. When he fell for her older half-sister, the heroine, she tried to kill her and was executed.
‘At least I transmigrated before the heroine appeared…’
She had arrived a month before the main story began. She thought if she stayed quiet, she could survive.
But of course, nothing ever goes as planned.
As a side character without detailed background, she had one huge problem hidden behind the scenes.
Vivian was dying of tuberculosis.
Her doctor said she had, at most, a year.
Her pale, paper-white face and bony body in the mirror confirmed it. No one came near her at the duchy, even though the disease wasn’t contagious in this world.
Even the servants ignored her.
But she took it positively.
‘Well, at least no one’s watching me. I may be dying, but I might as well enjoy what time I have left.’
She had inherited enormous wealth from her mother’s side and the Duchess.
Enough to live lavishly for a thousand years.
‘Even if I take just a portion, I can live comfortably. I’ll run away without looking back.’
She immediately made her escape plan and wrote a will.
[By the time this will is found, I will no longer be of this world.]
To fake her death and start a new life.
[My departure is for the good of all, so don’t look for me.]
She planned to relax in the South’s finest resort. Don’t come looking.
[All property and estates shall pass to Aslan.]
‘It’s not like the story will fall apart if I change a few lines. Besides, I can’t take it all with me anyway.’
She didn’t want her father, Duke Eleonora, to get it. He had never once visited her, even knowing she was terminally ill and mistreated.
Even when they passed in the halls, he looked at her like she was garbage.
‘It’s all ready. Time to go.’
She traveled carefully at first, dressing plainly and taking detours.
But after reaching the southern gate of the empire with no pursuers, she let her guard down.
She switched back to fancy clothes and hailed a carriage. After all that hardship, she deserved a break.
Then she encountered bandits.
But it was bad luck—for them, not her.
“Dare rob my carriage?! Are you tired of living?!”
“P-Please, mercy…!”
The Eleonora family was a prestigious military house, and Vivian was well-trained in swordsmanship.
She sent every bandit to the afterlife with ease.
But her trials were just beginning.
Growl.
She pulled back a suspicious cloth in the bandits’ base and found a giant cage.
Inside was a massive black lion, its golden eyes glowing between its dark fur.
It was Aslan Rezeph Astaroth—the male lead himself.
End of Chapter 1
