Episode 2
“Ugh…”
A splitting headache echoed in my skull as I opened my eyes.
I slowly sat up, pressing a hand to my forehead.
My familiar room, and an unfamiliar self.
I blinked, trying to confirm my reality, before burying my face in my hands.
In just a few hours, I had recalled my past life.
And I had read about my “death.”
Edith Sertia.
The worst kind of villainess, who seduces the male lead, gets pregnant with his child, and then forces him into marriage.
I had transmigrated into that villainess in the novel.
‘Haa… First, let’s sort things out.’
The last thing I remembered was collapsing in a restaurant.
Looking at the dawn outside, it seemed a day had already passed.
‘That means today is the day of the banquet.’
“Tomorrow evening, the Grand Duke will attend the Imperial Banquet. Make that man yours… and bear Luciano’s blood in your belly.”
The day I was to meet Denok.
I got out of bed and immediately tried to open the door.
Click.
The doorknob, halfway turned, stopped moving.
They must have locked me in, just in case I tried to escape.
To think of locking up their daughter, even after she collapsed.
‘Should I say it’s just like Father?’
A hollow laugh escaped me.
In the original story, I, Edith, went through with the marriage for such a father.
Edith was a woman who lived solely for her father’s approval.
Yet, despite that, she poured all her hysteria over the unwanted marriage onto the innocent male lead.
‘Are you ignoring me right now?’
‘…I am not ignoring you. It’s just the territory’s situation—’
‘How can you not understand that ignoring me means ignoring our child! You’re being so frustrating; no wonder the villagers think you’re pathetic!’
The villainess, who threw tantrums whenever she couldn’t get what she wanted.
Her end was simple.
She was caught in the male lead’s magic rampage and died without a trace, her body completely obliterated.
And when the female lead calmed the male lead’s rampage, tada. A happy ending was complete.
‘W-wait…! Calm down. For our child in my belly, please!’
‘…If it’s a child I cannot love, it is better for us to die together.’
Perhaps it was because I had just learned of the tragic end Denok and I would face in the original story. Just thinking of him made my heart uneasy.
Especially knowing why my father desired this marriage so much.
The only blemish on the Sertia Ducal family, who were lauded as perfect.
All direct descendants of Sertia died before reaching fifty.
“The magic noble house of Luciano. Magic flows in their blood.”
That power that could work miracles and control nature.
“If we could obtain the blood of the Luciano family… couldn’t we solve our family’s long-standing problem of short lifespans?”
The Duke intended to infuse that power into the Sertia family. Through the child I would bear.
But…
“…Why should I live such a life?”
I clenched my trembling hands, staring at the firmly shut door.
I might have been the villainess in the novel, but…
I, Edith, had lived a life devoid of freedom, trapped in the vast ducal mansion, never once receiving genuine love from my father.
I didn’t want a life spent yearning for unrequited affection, nor one spent tormenting others.
All I wanted was to…
Live a free life, even if just once.
Not a life as Edith, constantly craving her father’s love.
I squeezed my eyes shut and then opened them again, immediately turning around.
I had a lot to prepare.
To break my father’s will.
And all the answers were already in my head.
That evening.
As deep darkness settled over the Empire.
Carriages, shining like stars, began to gather around the Imperial Palace.
Edith’s carriage was among them.
“…”
“…”
The Duke closed the book he was reading and slowly raised his head.
His daughter, sitting opposite him, was simply gazing out at the darkness.
Her expression gave away nothing of her thoughts.
‘This is… unexpected.’
She was the child who had collapsed yesterday right after hearing those words.
Fearing she might try to escape, he had kept her confined until morning.
Yet, she had come out dressed and remained docile until she boarded the carriage.
There were no tear stains on her delicately made-up face.
Could she truly be unfazed?
‘Is it an act, or is she genuine…?’
The Duke subtly furrowed his brow, then slowly curved his lips into a gentle smile.
“Are you nervous?”
At the Duke’s question, Edith flinched, then slowly turned her gaze to him.
And as their eyes met, she cautiously lowered her head.
“…A little.”
Her hands, clasped together, clenched at the fingertips, clearly trying to hide her nervousness.
Edith, receiving his gaze, hesitated for a moment, then parted her lips and whispered.
As if confessing a secret she wished to keep hidden.
“I’m afraid.”
“Of what?”
“That I might not be able to fulfill Father’s wishes.”
The Duke’s tightly closed lips spread into a wider smile.
He had wondered what she was thinking, but it was merely this concern.
Still so young. And naive.
The Duke slowly extended his hand.
And lifted Edith’s chin, which had been lowered towards the ground.
“Do not lower your head.”
“…”
“You are of the Sertia bloodline, and my daughter, Asrell’s daughter. You are so beautiful today… you need not worry.”
“Father…”
Her eyes, the color of the sea, like her mother’s, shimmered.
She was a child whose beauty even the Imperial family coveted.
‘The Grand Duke will surely not refuse.’
The Duke, a faint smile on his lips, impulsively brushed a strand of hair from Edith’s face.
Her lustrous, rose-colored hair, so much like his own, felt unexpectedly soft.
Just as he was about to remind Edith of today’s objective once more—
“This is…”
The Duke paused, noticing something revealed as he moved her hair.
A small pearl earring adorned Edith’s earlobe.
‘I distinctly ordered sapphires to be worn, didn’t I?’
As the Duke’s eyes narrowed, Edith lowered her head, pulling away.
Her hair slipped from his hand, obscuring the subtly gleaming pearl.
“I was so nervous… I thought wearing Mother’s would calm me down a little.”
Indeed, those pearl earrings were a memento left by Edith’s mother.
‘These… are still here?’
Just as the Duke’s green eyes deepened.
A loud gulp echoed within the carriage.
Edith’s face began to flush faintly.
Her expression, as if caught in an embarrassing moment and unsure what to do, made the tension drain from the Duke’s shoulders.
“Very well, if that is your wish.”
This child couldn’t possibly know what this meant.
The Duke, smiling faintly, suddenly looked out the window and said,
“Prepare to disembark now.”
“…”
“We’ve arrived at the Imperial Palace.”
Beyond his smiling face, the colossal Imperial Palace revealed its grandeur through the carriage window.
“Duke Asrell Sertia of the Sertia Ducal family, and Lady Edith Sertia, entering!”
As the gatekeeper’s booming announcement concluded, the heavy doors swung open.
The bright light from within the ballroom streamed out, illuminating father and daughter standing on the grand staircase.
“Ohh…”
“My goodness.”
Hushed gasps spread like a wave.
The Duke leaned down and whispered into my ear.
“Didn’t I tell you? You are beautiful today.”
I barely managed to suppress a frown.
‘Indeed, they did put in a lot of effort.’
Before getting into the carriage.
From morning, the maids who had stormed into my room had focused intensely on adorning me.
Thanks to that, my current appearance…
“…”
As I stepped onto the stairs, my black silk dress unfurled like water.
The elegant low-cut black dress, with a thin lace overlay on the bodice, subtly outlined my figure.
With every step, the skirt swayed, revealing glimpses of the crimson lining within.
With each reveal, gentlemen held their breath, and ladies’ eyes sparkled as they nudged each other with their elbows.
Tomorrow, this dress would likely become the hottest gossip in high society, with everyone asking which salon it was made in.
‘Even so, it’s just pretty wrapping paper.’
I lowered my eyes, feigning shyness, avoiding all those gazes.
As soon as I descended the stairs, people swarmed around me like bees.
“Duke, your daughter is truly dazzling.”
“Ahaha. I’m just grateful you see her as beautiful.”
“Duke. This is my eldest son, who just graduated from the academy. Say hello.”
“Greetings, Duke!”
“Duke, thank you so much for your investment in the construction project the other day…”
No matter what anyone said, the Sertia Ducal family was one of the pillars supporting this Empire, and unsurpassed in wealth.
Hands eager for scraps reached out from all directions.
I momentarily showed a look of weariness at the endless stream of greetings, then subtly retreated.
‘Now, no one will notice if I slip away.’
Sure enough, Father was too busy responding to the deluge of comments to notice my withdrawal.
‘Haa… Finally, I can breathe.’
Only after reaching a secluded corner did I let my rigidly held posture relax.
My face ached from all the forced smiles.
‘By the way…’
I narrowed my eyes and murmured.
“He’s not here yet, is he?”
No matter how I looked, I couldn’t spot that particular individual.
According to the novel’s description, he would be impossible to miss.
I was hidden in the shadows of a corner, observing my surroundings when it happened.
Suddenly, the air around me felt incredibly heavy.
‘…What is it?’
It wasn’t just me who felt the shift in atmosphere; other nobles in the ballroom also looked around.
A moment later.
“Lu—”
The same doors I had passed through upon entry.
“Grand Duke Denok Luciano of the Luciano Grand Ducal family, entering!”
At the trembling gatekeeper’s voice, both doors swung wide open.
A rush of cold air made the chandelier lights flicker, and the music in the ballroom slowly faded.
And through the open doors, a man appeared.
My eyes blinked blankly as I took in the man’s appearance.
Denok Luciano, the male lead of this world, whom I had only vaguely imagined.
“Ah…”
A gasp escaped me.
‘A hunched back and a monstrously huge physique. Shaggy hair covering his face, making him seem gloomy?’
That was half true, and half wrong.
