Chapter 2: If You’re Not a Problem Child, You’ll Die
The shocking incident that had happened in the dining room spread quickly throughout the Duke’s mansion. The servants couldn’t talk about anything else.
Even the maids gathered in the kitchen, preparing ingredients for the next morning, were buzzing with the same story.
“Hey, did you hear?”
“You mean when Lady Leriel comforted the maid who broke the glass?”
“Yes! She didn’t even get mad—she even used her own handkerchief to stop the bleeding!”
One maid peeling potatoes shook her head in disbelief.
“That villain, Leriel Tenebris? I’d sooner believe the moon rose in broad daylight.”
“She’s fired dozens of maids just because she didn’t like them. I bet the story got twisted somehow.”
“No, it’s true! She even brought ointment for the maid later. Someone saw it with their own eyes!”
The maid who brought up the story waved her knife around as she complained. The other maids quickly scooted away, afraid of getting cut.
“Why would she do that? Did she hit her head or something?”
“Even if she’s gone crazy, it’s still weird. Everything else is the same except her personality suddenly got kind?”
“No way. People don’t change. And this is the Tenebris family we’re talking about. Who really wants to work here? We only stay because they pay us well.”
“Ah…”
Everyone fell silent at that. They all understood what those words really meant.
The Tenebris Ducal House.
A powerful family that held true influence in the Kingdom of Perik Trian.
They had a history stretching back over 200 years, and at the center of it were always cruel and ruthless people.
“Get this trash out of my sight.”
Anwem Tenebris, the 8th head of the Tenebris family, was a cold and calculating man.
He would cut ties with anyone, even a lifelong friend of over ten years, if they were no longer useful to him.
He wasn’t just blunt—he showed no emotion at all. Most servants believed no woman would ever marry such a man.
But then, he held a grand wedding and introduced a wife who would stay by his side forever. The world had no choice but to agree they were a perfect match.
“We have to crush them so completely they’ll never even think of challenging us.”
Lobrin Tenebris, back when she was still the daughter of Count Maplelia, was already infamous as a wicked woman in high society.
One word from her could ruin a person’s life. A few nasty rumors from her would destroy a family’s name beyond recovery.
And then she would smile behind her fan and say, “Well, they wouldn’t have suffered if they hadn’t made mistakes.”
“I’m so proud of you, Leriel.”
“Our daughter’s going to make a wonderful head of the family. Just look how well she handles the servants already.”
And so, Leriel Tenebris was born from those two people—and of course, she was no ordinary child.
She inherited Anwem’s coldness and Lobrin’s cunning, all wrapped in a stunningly beautiful appearance.
“Do you still not understand what you did wrong?”
Unlike third-rate villains who just scream when they’re angry, Leriel kept her dignity while ruthlessly exploiting people’s weaknesses, smiling coldly all the while.
She had all the traits of a perfect villain—even among the Tenebris family, she was legendary.
In the 20 years Leriel grew up in the mansion, countless servants lost their jobs and were thrown out. The entire estate lived in fear of her. Even high society carefully watched her moods.
Eventually, even the royal family acknowledged the Tenebris family’s power. Her engagement to the Crown Prince was practically forced into being.
Leriel had only smiled beautifully, as if it was all a matter of course.
“So you’re telling me that person picked up a maid’s cut finger and gave her a handkerchief? Be serious.”
The maid laughed quietly and went back to peeling potatoes. The soft scraping of the knife echoed through the kitchen.
A few seconds later, the maid realized something was off. The others—who had been chattering away just a moment ago—were now staring in frozen silence.
What’s wrong? What happened?
She was just about to ask—
“L-Lady Leriel…”
A maid across from her muttered while staring behind her.
Only then did she realize something was wrong and turned her head.
Standing right behind her was Leriel Tenebris—the very subject of their gossip.
She looked down at them with cold, icy eyes. The air around her was freezing, like a blade made of ice stabbing straight through their hearts.
“…”
Thud, roll…
One maid dropped her potato in shock. It rolled across the floor… and stopped right at Leriel’s feet, bumping against her shoe.
Leriel quietly bent down and picked it up.
The maid bit her lip. She braced herself. That potato was definitely going to fly at her face.
If she only got a bruise, she’d be lucky. It could be much worse.
“Everyone, thank you for working so hard this late.”
…Huh?
But again, something unbelievable happened.
“Don’t overwork yourselves, okay?”
Leriel didn’t get angry. She didn’t slap anyone. She didn’t curse.
Instead, she gently placed the potato back in the maid’s hand… and even gave her a small pat on the hand.
Rather than denying the rumors, Leriel made them worse—she acted even kinder than expected. The maids stared wide-eyed at her like scared rabbits.
Even though patting a maid like that was inappropriate, Leriel didn’t seem to care at all.
She smiled sweetly and walked out of the kitchen.
She didn’t need to look back to know that every pair of eyes was following her. Just as she wanted.
Good. Everything is going as planned.
Now the maids would spread this story even further.
Hopefully, it would travel not just across the estate, but all the way across the kingdom.
Muttering to herself, Leriel walked down the hallway and into her room.
Only after she closed the door did her proud expression fade slightly.
It was an expression no one had ever seen on Leriel Tenebris’s face before—awkward, even embarrassed.
If I can just fall out of the Duke’s favor…
That’s right. Leriel Tenebris wasn’t really Leriel Tenebris.
More precisely, she looked the same on the outside—but inside, she was someone completely different.
She was actually Han Gyeoul (Heibl), an ordinary college sophomore from South Korea.
Wearing Leriel’s face, she slumped onto the bed.
Sigh…
A heavy breath escaped her lips.
How did I end up in this mess…
She buried her face in the pillow and groaned.
The start seemed okay, but there was still a long road ahead.
But there was no other choice.
Becoming “Good Leriel” was the only way to survive this novel.
If she didn’t become the black sheep of the villainous Tenebris family, she would die.
That cold truth played over in her mind as Heibl—no, Leriel—closed her eyes.
* * *
Where am I? Who am I?
She didn’t need those cliché questions.
Because when Heibl opened her eyes, a giant mirror was right in front of her.
She had woken up in front of a dressing table in a luxurious dressing room.
As soon as she met eyes with the icy beauty in the mirror, Heibl understood what had happened.
Leriel Tenebris…?
Her reddish-orange hair shimmered slightly as she moved.
Her dark green eyes—like a shadowy forest where no sunlight ever touched—blinked quickly, clearly confused.
Heibl touched the mirror with her long, slender fingers, then pressed the small mole under her pink lips.
There was no doubt.
The face in the mirror was the villainess Leriel Tenebris from the novel “The Saintess Doesn’t Forgive” (or Saint-Doesn’t for short). She remembered seeing the illustrations.
This can’t be real…
The moment she realized it, Heibl was filled with despair.
Because Leriel was a villain doomed to fall.
If it were just a normal villain ending, that would be fine.
But this particular novel was infamous—even among romance fantasies—for its extreme and shocking plot twists.
