CHAPTER 01
“I finally found him.”
It took five long years.
Five years spent searching for him.
After meticulous planning to keep my identity hidden, I finally brought him secretly to an abandoned building.
Technically, I guess it’s kidnapping…
I muttered the boy’s name inwardly as he lay unconscious, wearing a black blindfold.
‘Lennox Euclid.’
The boy in front of me was none other than the protagonist of this world’s original novel—and the last surviving member of House Euclid.
Lennox, only eleven years old and unconscious, looked like he could die at any moment. His skin clung to his bones.
He was so malnourished that his frame was even smaller than my nine-year-old sister Melin’s.
He may seem powerless now, but one day, he’d become the secret mastermind holding my life in his hands.
I turned to Agathe, who had brought him here at my command.
“Did you feed him?”
“He resisted, so I had to hold him down and force-feed him rice gruel.”
“…That’s torture.”
“But we couldn’t let him die.”
“True.”
I stared at the sleeping boy in front of me.
His features were obscured by dirt and grime from life on the streets, but I had no doubt that this was Lennox.
The reason was simple.
‘That necklace.’
He was still clutching it tightly in his sleep.
Though it looked like an ordinary emerald necklace, it was a treasured heirloom of the Euclid family.
‘I can’t believe he managed to keep it all this time.’
I didn’t know exactly what kind of life he lived in the slums, but protecting that necklace couldn’t have been easy.
I gestured to Agathe.
“Give me that necklace.”
“Are you serious?”
Her look said it all.
A heartless criminal who not only kidnapped a poor child but now was stealing his valuables, too.
I nodded calmly.
“Yes.”
“That’s like stealing a flea’s liver…”
“And it looks delicious.”
I took the necklace from her and tucked it safely into my coat.
‘If Lennox keeps this, he’ll only be putting himself in danger.’
The imperial family didn’t yet know he was alive.
But if he were ever discovered, this necklace would be undeniable proof of his identity as a Euclid.
In that case, it wouldn’t be a treasured heirloom anymore—it’d be the noose tightening around his neck.
“So, what will you do with him now?”
Agathe asked.
Looking at the sleeping Lennox, I reviewed the plan I had prepared long before I found him.
“I’ll send him away soon.”
“Where to?”
That was the key.
Somewhere my sister couldn’t meet him, and…
‘Somewhere that’ll erase any desire for revenge against our family.’
“Send him here.”
I handed Agathe a letter.
Once she confirmed the recipient’s name on the envelope, she nodded.
I looked back down at Lennox.
‘Live well there, Lennox Euclid.’
There, he would no longer be the descendant of a traitor. He’d live under a new identity.
‘Until then, I’ll pave a path of flowers for you.’
Whispering words he’d never hear, I returned to the mansion.
Five Years Ago
That was when it all began—when I got reincarnated into this damn novel.
On my way home from work, I tried to save a child about to be hit by a truck, and ended up hit myself.
Why was I always sticking my nose into things?
‘Well… at least the kid didn’t die.’
I saved the child, and in return, I… well, I got a new life. Yay?
‘Since it turned out this way, I might as well live this life to the fullest.’
That thought barely lasted five minutes before I realized this life was about to be discontinued, too.
“Snff… My lady, the Count and Countess… have passed.”
When the elderly butler approached with red-rimmed eyes, I knew something was off.
My parents, Count and Countess Jacqueline, died together in a carriage accident during a storm.
“So you must… arrange the funeral, my lady.”
On top of being reborn, I was given the joyful task of organizing my parents’ funeral a day later.
Fine. I could live with that.
Until I saw my sister Melin—and remembered which novel I was in.
<Melin’s Happy World>
As the title suggests, the main character of the novel was Melin.
‘Wow, I’m the heroine’s sister? Jackpot!’
That’s what someone else might think.
If the relationship with the heroine went well, the sister could expect a peaceful life.
‘Yeah, I wish.’
The story actually begins with our family destroying the male lead’s family.
Yep.
Despite the cutesy title, this was actually a dark R-rated tragedy novel.
Lennox, the male lead who lived as a servant in our household and was constantly humiliated, eventually reclaims the throne—and massacres the entire Jacqueline family.
The only one who survives?
Melin.
Kind-hearted Melin had pitied young Lennox and taken him in, and that kindness sparked an obsessive love in him.
So he says things like—
‘You’ll bear the sins of your father. That’s your responsibility now.’
Then kidnaps and imprisons her.
Back when I was just a reader, that twisted relationship was kind of thrilling in a messed-up way.
But now? I wasn’t just a random side character—I was one of the ones who got brutally killed.
‘I’m so screwed.’
If only he killed me cleanly. But no, it was described like disassembling a toy block by block…
Let’s not go there.
I’d love to prevent that horrific future, but my timing in entering the story was the worst.
It hadn’t even been ten days since Count Jacqueline falsely accused the Euclids of treason and wiped them out.
‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’
No chance to stop anything. No chance to change anything. At the funeral, I eventually fell to my knees.
‘Dear God, I only ask one thing!’
Surrounded by sympathetic mourners, I prayed earnestly.
‘Not reincarnation—regression! Please give me a do-over, not a new body!’
What I needed wasn’t a new life, but a second chance in the same one.
But cruelly, time only moved forward, not back.
Five Years Later
Now, five years have passed.
As soon as I returned to the mansion, Melin came running from her room.
“Sister!”
Her violet eyes sparkled with joy and excitement.
Even though we only saw each other every three months, she always greeted me with a radiant crescent-moon smile.
“Nothing happened while I was gone?”
“Nope! Everything was fine!”
Hmm. Really?
I scanned her up and down to make sure she was okay while attending the academy.
‘No visible injuries, but why does she look so thin…?’
She always had a small appetite, but she looked even skinnier than before. Was she starving while I was away?
“What about you, sis?”
“Same here.”
Despite the five years since I reincarnated, Melin—six years younger than me—reminded me so much of my sister from my previous life, who’d always smiled when I visited her in the hospital.
‘What did she like so much about a sister she barely saw?’
The memories made me uncomfortable, so I changed the subject.
“Do you have anything else to say?”
“…No.”
She pursed her lips, clearly wanting something. But I ignored it, as always.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Actually, sis…”
I knew it.
When I looked at her, Melin fidgeted before finally meeting my eyes with a determined gaze.
“Can we keep a cat at home?”
“No.”
“Aww…”
I ignored her disappointment.
I might seem cold, but it was better than giving her false hope.
‘It’s not that I don’t want a cat…’
It’s just that I had no authority in this household.
Not even to allow a cat.
I handed my luggage to Agathe.
“Agathe, can you unpack for me?”
Unlike usual, where I traveled light and left the same day, my luggage was heavy.
It held everything I’d used over my four years at the academy.
“I have something urgent to deal with today.”
Well, not something—someone.
I glanced at the grandfather clock.
Evening was approaching.
