BVFYS 02

Chapter 2

Brother, Please Take Off That Coat

“Mother.”

“I… I saw Sola heading this way.”

The voice of the woman he called mother was thick with tears.

“She’s not here, Mother.”

Eilin is still alive?

The person Jerop was calling his mother—this savior—was none other than his own mother, Eilin Dykers.

This was the story after her death in The Villainess Torments the Emperor Yet Again. In the original, her death had driven Jerop to the brink, sending him into a violent frenzy.

He had burned down an entire village just to defeat the crown prince.

Even as a fan, I had to admit—that was going too far.

“My daughter, my daughter… Sola… cough!”

“Mother.”

In a gentle voice, Jerop soothed Eilin.

Meanwhile, I kept my eyes tightly shut. I had told him to kill me quickly, but the more time passed, the more I regretted it. Every second they talked was another second of my life prolonged. My bound hands and feet tingled.

“Sob… Oh, Sola… how did you come to be in such a pitiful state…?”

The last time I had a sword pointed at me, it had been just Jerop and me.

She says Sola is here?

I cracked my eyes open and glanced around. I couldn’t miss my chance to see the heroine.

Our gazes met—hers, wet with tears. Her neatly kept hair was now messy, her bare feet showing under a thin nightgown.

“Sola. My Sola.”

“Huh? Me?”

The sound of bare feet slapping the floor grew closer until she reached me and pulled me into her arms. Her trembling hands cupped my cheeks, icy to the touch.

“Put down that sword at once! How can you point a weapon at your younger sister? What sort of grown man threatens a seven-year-old?”

With her slender frame, she squared up fiercely to Jerop, who towered over her.

“Mother. This is not Sola.”

Either she didn’t hear him or she refused to—her eyes stayed fixed on me.

“Sola, my little one. Come, I’ve made you the cocoa you love. I’ve washed Mr. Bunny too.”

Sola Dykers—missing since age seven. The youngest daughter of House Dykers. The protagonist of the novel I had transmigrated into.

Her favorite things: cocoa with milk, a bunny doll made by Mrs. Noma, homemade pancakes from the duchess herself, and searching for four-leaf clovers in the grass.

Eilin had waited for Sola to come home until the day she died, baking pancakes to the very end. She had never reunited with her daughter.

Now, even here, her face bore the pallor of illness.

“Mother!”

“How can an elder brother be so cold to his little sister? Untie her at once!”

Her commanding voice made Jerop reluctantly swing his sword. With a single precise cut, the ropes fell to the floor. True to his skill as the empire’s top swordsman, not a scratch marked my skin.

The Dismantling Ropes with a Sword Show, starring the Empire’s #1.

Quite the spectacle.

“Come here, child. Jerop, put that dangerous thing away this instant.”

Her delicate hand smacked Jerop’s, making him drop Ester—the national treasure sword—unceremoniously to the floor. That sword was said to be enough to found a small principality.

“Sola? Come here.”

Eilin smiled brightly, hand outstretched.

If I take her hand, I’ll live.

There were so many places I wanted to see in the Lunacidium Empire while I was here.

The spot where the leads first met. The restaurants they frequented while dating. The sunflower field the crown prince had made just for Sola.

Above all, I wanted to see Jerop’s future.

I wanted him alive, eating well, and living happily. This was a rare chance to witness the epilogue—I couldn’t waste it.

I want to live!

Even if I had to die, I’d do it after the story ended.

“Yes, Mother!”

I smiled innocently and grabbed her hand. I tried to spring to my feet, but after kneeling so long, my legs cramped. I stumbled, and Eilin caught me firmly. Jerop’s gaze grew colder as he watched her hold me.

“My little one… you call me ‘Mother’ instead of ‘Mama.’”

“No! Mama!”

For her sake, I yelled it at the top of my lungs, my voice echoing in the empty space.

“Stand down.”

His voice was icy, but I wasn’t afraid. As long as Eilin was here, he wouldn’t kill me.

“Bleh.”

Clinging to her arm, I stuck out my tongue at him. His jaw clenched, fist tightening in fury.

“Mama, let’s go to your room. It’s cold.”

I wrapped my arms around her fragile shoulders. Her lips trembled in the chill.

If only she had a coat… but dressed as a maid, all she wore was the typical black dress, white apron, and cap—now dirty from falling to the floor.

“Brother?”

My former favorite, now my brother, Jerop Dykers, looked startled at my sudden change in tone.

“You’re calling me?”

“Yes, Brother. Could you take off your coat?”

The unshakable iron wall of the Lunacidium Empire—Jerop Dykers—hesitated, his eyes wavering under the colors of stained glass.

“…What?”

Maybe my modern phrasing was too strange for someone so aristocratic.

“Honorable Young Lord Dykers, would you kindly remove your outer garment?”

In the hallway, walking toward the room.

Sola looked so much like her mother. Seeing her in person, she truly was beautiful. Delicate as fine porcelain, yet even in illness her posture never faltered.

Her complexion had improved since earlier; warmth returned to her once-cold fingertips.

“Warm, isn’t it?”

Though he looked displeased, Jerop handed over his coat. I wrapped Eilin in it, fastening every button to her neck to keep the drafts out.

“Mhm. It’s nice. Aren’t you cold, dear?”

“I’m fine.”

Jerop was so large that Eilin looked like a child in her father’s clothes.

“The duke will worry if he hears.”

She smiled shyly at the thought of her husband, and it was endearing.

So the former duke is still alive?

I tried to place the timeline. It was clearly before the main events of the novel.

“This is a corridor you like, but you seem uninterested.”

Walking with her, I made myself look around. The corridor was blindingly lavish—decorated pieces inlaid with gems, even the candlesticks were gold.

The Dykers duchy truly had more wealth than the imperial family.

The fake Sola, raised with a commoner’s instincts, couldn’t help but wonder how much it all cost.

My face reflected in a suit of armor polished like a mirror—brown hair, big green eyes. Quite a cute face, with a rosy blush I particularly liked.

Further along, famous paintings in ornate frames lined the walls.

“Oh?”

I stopped before the largest frame. The shape was… maybe an animal? Or a building? The background looked like the sea.

“Do you like it? There’s a statue you simply must see as well.”

Eilin guided me kindly.

“Wow! It’s a ship!”

Now the pieces clicked.

Beside the painting stood a full-length statue, sword at its side, exuding authority. It was the size of an adult man, but the face—any Korean would know it instantly.

The guardian of Gwanghwamun.

Seeing a familiar face in an unfamiliar place nearly made me cry.

General!

Without thinking, I let go of Eilin’s hand and stepped closer.

It didn’t match the medieval setting at all, but it was as welcome as kimchi on a trip abroad. Who had made it?

Looking closer, I saw golden lettering on the plaque: A gift from His Holiness the Pope. A holy man with a golden plaque—very worldly indeed. Large, glittering jewels surrounded it.

“Do you like it? Shall we put it in your room?”

“N-no, that’s fine.”

As much as I liked the noble face that reminded me of home, it was far too imposing for a girl’s bedroom.

“Jerop has always disliked the gods.”

She stroked the plaque wistfully. Then—the letters on it writhed.

Did I imagine that?

Before I could blink, black smoke curled up from the plaque, swirling into a lump. It shot into Eilin’s mouth and nose.

“Cough!”

The coughing she’d suppressed flared again, her face twisting in pain.

“After keeping the temple closed so long… cough… there’s dust everywhere.”

No way all that came from a shiny plaque.

“Hack—cough—!”