I was reborn into a world straight out of a fantasy novel. A rigid medieval society of royalty and nobility, where even magic, elves, and dragons existed.
That’s what the books Serin unnie read to me said—but there was no way to know if it was all true.
Because once you entered this orphanage, no child ever left.
There was only one window, and it was placed high up near the ceiling.
Still, according to Aik and Theo, who arrived at the orphanage at a relatively older age, most of it seemed to be true.
“I even saw His Majesty the Emperor when I was selling flowers in the capital!”
Whenever Theo shared stories he’d heard and seen from the capital, the orphanage kids would gather around, eyes sparkling as they listened to what could only be fairy tales—true or not.
“How do you know it was the emperor?” Serin unnie asked skeptically.
“He was wearing a cloak with the crest of the Grepin imperial family. That means he’s the emperor!” Theo replied proudly.
Serin unnie gave him a pitying look.
“Cloaks with the imperial crest can be worn by knights too, you know.”
“Oh, really? No wonder there seemed to be so many emperors.”
At Theo’s response, Serin unnie sighed and looked down at me, who was lying across her lap.
Grepin? I’ve heard that somewhere before…
As if reading my mind, Serin unnie pulled a worn golden button from her pocket and showed it to me.
“Lia, you’ve never seen the imperial crest before, right? It’s engraved on this button. It represents the empire.”
She said she picked it up off the street long ago—but as I stared at the button, an unsettling sense of déjà vu washed over me.
The two lions with black manes engraved in the red emblem reminded me eerily of the crown prince described in the novel I had been reading before I died.
The lions’ eyes, made of tiny red gemstones, gleamed a chilling scarlet.
Black hair and red eyes—a trait said to appear only in the imperial bloodline—flashed across my memory. If I was right, the name of that royal house was…
Grepin.
Oh god. Something was seriously wrong.
If I traced my memories back, before I came to this world, I was just riding the bus home, reading a web novel as usual, when an accident occurred.
I probably lost consciousness in the snow before the pain even fully hit—and when I woke up, I was in the body of a small child!
Though I’d often read about “reincarnation” or “possession” in novels, living it was a completely different matter. For weeks, I convinced myself this was just a long, vivid dream.
A lucid dream, maybe? I thought that could explain it… but it dragged on.
It went on so long, I gave up hoping to wake up. I had no choice but to accept this as my new reality.
Still, I found myself hoping—maybe I had become the beautiful heroine of some romance novel.
And I hate to admit it, but just judging by my looks, I definitely passed the visual test.
Despite my sharp, cat-like eyes, my features were delicate. My future looked dazzling even at this young age.
With pink-tinged silver hair and vibrant green eyes, it was clear my birth parents in this world weren’t ordinary people.
But that hope quickly vanished after a few months at the Troy Orphanage.
Miss Rayola shouted constantly, the kids cried nonstop, and the place was so miserable and hopeless I seriously believed I had reincarnated into a trash heap.
And now… the Grepin Empire?
That was the very setting of the novel I was reading before I died—“The Child the Villains Loved.”
Serin unnie noticed me trembling and looked worried, but I didn’t have the energy to respond.
Lia… that name sounded familiar. Wasn’t that the original name of the villainess Laveria before she was adopted into the duke’s house?
“The Child the Villains Loved” was a story entirely devoted to the heroine, Senia.
Senia was the youngest daughter of the villainous Cavlos Ducal House that ruled the empire’s underworld. Despite her bloodline, she had the heart of an angel, which constantly worried her villainous family.
The cold and emotionless duke, her father, and her older brother—classic villains—were all utterly charmed by her innocence.
Eventually, Senia learned of her family’s past crimes and, while investigating them, encountered the male lead, Luca, who was trapped in an orphanage.
Luca, a year younger than Senia, escaped the orphanage with her help.
His true identity? The missing crown prince of the empire who had vanished years ago.
Moved by her help, Luca fell for Senia, and even as an adult, he married her despite the interference of the duke and his son.
Had that been the extent of the story, it might never have reached hit-novel status.
But every good novel needs its villains.
Some called them “frustration bombs,” necessary evils that made the plot exciting.
In this story, the ultimate villain was… me. Laveria.
“This is getting scary, author… why would a villainess pop out of the wardrobe on the couple’s wedding night?”
“How many times is Luca going to run to Laveria’s bedside? This man is the definition of a regretful male lead.”
“Is she really terminally ill or just faking it?”
Laveria was a fellow orphan of the male lead. When he failed to escape and was punished, she took the beatings for him and ended up with permanent leg injuries.
Later, because of her silver hair, she was adopted into the Layes Duchy, leaving the orphanage before him.
When Luca regained his place as crown prince with Senia’s help, Laveria—lonely and used by the Layes family as a stand-in for their missing daughter—developed a twisted obsession with him.
Out of guilt, Luca couldn’t cast her aside, and even when he was with the heroine, he’d run to Laveria at her call.
Readers were torn between frustration and anticipation—waiting for the day the male lead would choose the heroine once and for all.
Eventually, the author delivered: Luca chose Senia, and Laveria went insane.
I had read it, cursing the villainess for making the story so frustrating. And now I was her?
A tragic villainess who becomes crippled at a young age, lives in inferiority under the shadow of the beloved heroine, and dies of a terminal illness at twenty-one?
How cruel and ridiculous!
“Oh no, Lia’s crying!”
“Serin unnie, feed her something. She’s probably hungry.”
I wasn’t hungry. Life was just already too exhausting.
I took the cookie they handed me and nibbled it with tears in my eyes.
