Chapter 2 – Even a Villain in a Fairy Tale Needs a Happy Ending
I had memorized the original story down to the last word, but I wasn’t sure if that would be of much help.
Why?
Because the original story was a fairy tale.
It was a book meant for children, so the content was extremely simple compared to most books.
So simple, in fact, that it left barely any clues. The characters didn’t even have names.
Instead, the book was filled with beautiful illustrations.
Though it was a short book, every page had such enchanting drawings that they could captivate even an adult like me.
I narrowed my eyes as I recalled the image of the story’s heroine.
The small girl in front of me looked reasonably similar to the one in the illustration.
Especially her silver hair and green eyes.
‘I do have a way to confirm if she’s really the heroine from the fairy tale.’
But I didn’t have the courage to actually do it.
My shoulders hunched involuntarily.
Marcia had hated her younger sister.
That was partly why she had avoided coming to the basement.
She hated her sister, and hated coming down here even more, so Marcia made a point of staying out of the house.
She attended every party she could find and drowned herself in alcohol, trying to forget the state of this family.
‘And this is what it came to.’
I bit my lip as I recalled the ending of the fairy tale.
Even Marcia must have felt awful seeing her sister like this.
I stepped back, swallowing down a wave of nausea.
Just then, there was a commotion outside the basement.
Someone was approaching with heavy footsteps.
It was obvious who it would be.
Only three people in this house had a duplicate key to the secret room in the basement.
Marcia, her father, and her older brother.
The man who entered moments later was a completely ordinary-looking middle-aged man.
“Marcia?”
As I expected, it was Igor Blick, our father.
“What are you doing down here?”
Igor, holding a switch in one hand, was surprised to see me in the room and asked.
‘Huh? What was Marcia’s relationship with her father like?’
Since Marcia had ignored him most of the time, I had no idea what to do and just awkwardly forced a smile.
‘This should look like a smile… more or less.’
Igor strode over and patted my shoulder.
“I heard you were in a carriage accident, but you must not be too hurt if you managed to come down here. Still, it’s not good to move right after an accident. Go lie down and rest.”
His tone was gentle, but the way he pointed toward the door with the tip of his switch was firm.
“Go on, leave.”
Before I knew it, I was being ushered out of the basement.
The heavy door closed behind me with a thud.
But I didn’t head straight back to the room at the top of the mansion.
I heard an unexpected sound from beyond the closed door.
“This business failed again because of you!”
“The ship sank because you didn’t cry on time!”
The words were so shocking I couldn’t believe they came from my father’s mouth.
Among those sounds, I thought I heard a faint scream.
A chill ran down my spine.
‘…Wait a second.’
There was only one small girl in there who looked no older than ten!
The real Marcia would have already returned to her room at the top of the mansion by now.
But now, I was in Marcia’s body.
I couldn’t just stand there listening.
I threw the door open and ran back into the basement.
Igor glanced at me but didn’t stop swinging the switch.
I screamed.
“Father!”
Only then did Igor pause and straighten up, panting slightly.
“My dear Marcia, didn’t I tell you to go rest in your room? I’ll send for a doctor soon.”
Wow, listen to that gentle voice.
Just moments ago, he’d been shouting at his youngest daughter, and now he sounded like a loving father.
“I mean it. I’m only short on money to call the doctor right now, but we’ll have it again soon. As long as that girl cries.”
As he spoke, Igor turned back toward the girl, his expression quickly twisting into something monstrous.
Even though both Marcia and Larisa were his daughters, he treated one kindly and beat the other mercilessly.
Right in front of each other.
‘Was it really this bad? Was he this cruel?’
I was stunned.
Marcia hadn’t been down to the basement in years and had tried hard to forget.
She had desperately tried to forget.
At that moment—
Tears glistened in Larisa’s eyes, falling slowly down her pale cheeks.
They rolled down to her chin, then fell onto her clothes and dropped to the floor.
As they hit the ground, a clear, delicate sound rang out.
“That sound just now…”
I turned toward where Larisa was sitting, startled.
Before I could take a single step toward her—
Igor let out a strange noise and dove to the floor like a beast.
He dropped to his knees, frantically sweeping the filthy floor with his bare hands.
Moments later, he stood up, his face alight with glee, holding three of Larisa’s tears in his hand.
Even in the dim lamp light, the tears sparkled brilliantly in every direction.
“…!”
They were diamonds.
Not just any diamonds.
They were fairy tears—top-quality diamonds.
Igor immediately pulled out a small velvet pouch from inside his vest and carefully placed the diamonds inside.
“You should’ve just cried earlier. You’re so stubborn—you make things harder on all of us.”
His tone softened slightly as he tucked the pouch away.
Even as he scolded her, Larisa kept her head down and didn’t move.
“Drink more water from now on. I’ll send someone to tend to your wounds. Marcia, come to think of it—did you come down here because you’re out of money too? Don’t go too far.”
Gone was any mention of sending a doctor.
Igor gave my shoulder a couple of light pats and left the basement.
I stood frozen in place.
The glimmering tears I’d just seen still danced before my eyes.
‘They were diamonds. Her tears really turned into diamonds.’
That confirmed it—I really was inside the fairy tale.
The protagonist of the story was a girl whose tears turned into diamonds when she cried.
Her family had locked her up from a young age, never letting her step outside.
At first, they gratefully took the diamonds when she cried.
But later, they beat her to force the tears out.
Even then, the girl grew up to be incredibly beautiful.
When she turned sixteen, a young prince passing through the region ended up staying at her house.
The prince fell in love with her at first sight.
He executed her abusive family and rescued the girl.
They got married and lived happily ever after.
That was the story.
A girl whose tears became priceless jewels, and her greedy family.
‘It’s a common type of tale—aside from the jewels part.’
I frowned.
In the book, the heroine was treated like a walking money bag, eventually beaten to wring tears from her eyes.
Even the vivid memories from Marcia’s life weren’t much different.
After their mother died giving birth to Larisa, the father sank all the jewels into hopeless business ventures, while the brother wasted them on gambling and drugs.
It didn’t matter.
‘They always had money coming in.’
Because Larisa was an endless diamond mine.
Marcia was no different.
She was lost in luxury.
Whenever she needed money, she didn’t come down to the basement herself—she sent the nanny to do the beating.
If there was a difference, that was it.
And the fairy tale ends with a happy ending.
A savior appears.
Of course, he’s a young, handsome prince.
The wicked family who tormented the girl meets a brutal end.
Larisa was thirteen now.
That meant there were three years left until the prince would show up, kill everyone, and rescue her.
‘If I want to live, I need to run away from this place with everything I can grab.’
That would be the only way to survive.
‘Or… maybe I should try to endure a little longer, save up more money, and then run?’
Just then, I heard footsteps approaching the basement again.
“Miss Marcia? What brings you down here?”
The one who entered was the nanny, Harley.
Aside from family members, she was the only one allowed in here.
Igor must have given her the key, just as he said he would send someone to treat the wounds.
Sure enough, she carried a basin of clean water and a medicine box.
I panicked for a moment but crossed my arms and pretended to stay calm.
“Why? Am I not allowed down here?”
“Not at all. It’s just rare for you to come, so I was surprised. Will you be doing it yourself today?”
Doing it myself?
Wait, was she asking if I was going to beat Larisa myself?
‘What the hell…’
I frantically waved my hands.
“No, I’m not. Just do your thing.”
“As you wish.”
The nanny gave a light bow and approached Larisa.
I watched for a moment as she began tending to Larisa’s wounds with detached hands.
