~Chapter 01~
In the Baldur Empire, the Lux Grand Duchy stood at the peak of power.
A small hand knocked on the large door of the mansion.
Bang! Bang!
“At this rate, her hand might bleed.”
The one knocking was a young girl around ten years old, with red hair and red eyes. Her name was Ruby Brooklyn.
“That’s not enough to make it bleed. You have to hit harder!”
Her seven-year-old younger brother, Calix Brooklyn, kicked the door with all his strength.
But he was still just a child. His kick didn’t even make a dent in the sturdy door.
“Ugh, my brother and sister are both useless. Let me try!”
Their four-year-old little sister, Sasha Brooklyn, clenched her tiny fists.
Crack. Boom!
The huge door—at least twenty times her size—shattered into pieces.
“See?”
Sasha crossed her arms and looked very proud.
Ruby sighed and put her hands on her hips.
“Sasha, I told you to open the door, not destroy it…”
“It’s open, isn’t it!”
Sasha’s cheerful grin gave Ruby a headache.
“Buaa.”
“Quiet, Maria.”
Sasha frowned at the baby Maria, who was cradled in Ruby’s arms.
“You shouldn’t look at your baby sister like that, Sasha.”
“Hmph.”
Sasha turned her head away with her arms still crossed.
“Let’s charge in!”
Calix pulled out the toy sword hanging on his belt and rushed inside the mansion without permission.
“Calix! You can’t just go in like that!”
Ruby tried to stop him, but Calix never listened.
“I’m going too!”
Sasha followed without hesitation.
Ruby looked around with Maria in her arms.
“No choice, Maria. We’ll have to go in too.”
“Agubu.”
Maria cooed as if she understood Ruby’s words.
***
The inside of the mansion was even scarier than it looked from the outside.
The children wandered through the foggy, maze-like garden.
“Calix, where are you? Sasha, come back!”
Ruby couldn’t see her siblings because of the tall trees and heavy fog.
Then she heard their voices.
“Who are you?”
“Let me go, you monster!”
It sounded like Sasha and Calix had been caught by the guards.
Ruby quickly ran toward the sound.
“Who are you?”
Aside from the guard, there was a huge man—twice Ruby’s size—with a long white mustache and hair.
From his appearance, Ruby could guess who he was.
“Duke Lux.”
When she called out, his brows furrowed.
“Who are you? How dare you enter this estate?”
Ruby looked at her siblings, dangling from the duke’s hands, and sighed.
“My name is Ruby Brooklyn. These are my siblings—Calix on your left and Sasha on your right. And the baby in my arms is Maria.”
Still holding Maria, Ruby bowed politely.
“Brooklyn?”
The man frowned even deeper, either because the name was familiar or because he didn’t want to hear it.
“Yes, Duke. Our mother is Mary Lux.”
“You’re saying… you’re Mary’s children?”
The Duke’s eyes widened as he looked at the children.
“And why should I believe that?”
Ruby immediately took out a pendant from her coat.
“This was my mother’s keepsake from my grandmother. She took it with her when she left this estate.”
The Grand Duke let go of the children and snatched the pendant, checking inside.
There was a photo of his late wife.
It was the very pendant he had given to Mary after her mother passed away.
“And this is my mother’s identity tag.”
Seeing item after item that only Mary could have possessed, the Duke had nothing more to say.
He looked closely at the three children and realized they really did resemble Mary.
He gently set down Calix and Sasha.
Though he looked scarier in person than in pictures, Ruby was still afraid.
Even with proof, she wasn’t sure he would believe them easily since he seemed very suspicious by nature.
“So… you’re really Mary’s children.”
His sharp eyes scanned the kids again.
Ruby gulped nervously.
Finally, the Duke asked.
“So what is it you want?”
It was time to be honest.
Ruby lined up her siblings and made them bow with her.
“Please raise us!”
That was why Ruby had traveled all the way to the Grand Duchy with her siblings.
“What about your parents?”
Ruby looked troubled.
“Our mother and father have passed away.”
“Mary… is dead?”
The Duke’s eyes widened again in disbelief.
His parted lips showed how shocked he was.
He had cut ties with Mary long ago, so he hadn’t even heard the news of her death.
“Our parents… died in a carriage accident.”
The Duke looked even more shocked hearing Ruby’s calm explanation.
“We’re still too young and need a guardian. Please become our guardian!”
The Duke couldn’t speak for a while.
Ruby and the others had no choice but to come to the Lux family because they couldn’t rely on their father’s side.
Their father had been an orphan who earned a knighthood and the name Brooklyn after his service in the war.
One day, the neighbor lady told Ruby something heartbreaking.
“Ruby… I don’t know how to say this… but your parents… they’re gone.”
Ruby had only been ten years old at the time.
She fainted from the shock of the news.
And when she woke up—
‘Why am I a child again?’
She realized she had reincarnated.
In her past life, she was Woo Yeon-soo, the eldest of five siblings in Korea.
This world was from a novel called My Family Must Regret It, and the heroine was the baby Maria, who had no blood relation to the siblings and was adopted.
In the original story, Ruby, Calix, and Sasha bullied Maria and were punished by the male lead.
In her previous life, Yeon-soo was also the eldest of five siblings.
Her father had long abandoned them for gambling, and her mother was bedridden from working too hard to raise the children alone.
“I’m sorry, Yeon-soo.”
“No, Mom. Please just focus on getting better.”
“Thank you. I’m so lucky to have you as my eldest daughter.”
Because of those words, Yeon-soo gave up everything.
She dropped out of high school to work day and night so her siblings could go to school.
“Unnie, give me some pocket money.”
“Noona, I need money to hang out with friends.”
Her immature siblings treated her like a wallet.
When Yeon-soo was about to explode, her mother held her hand tightly.
“Yeon-soo, can you please endure a little longer?”
Her mom said it every day, and Yeon-soo could only keep working hard and giving her money to her siblings.
At twenty, Yeon-soo gave up on college and worked nonstop.
She worked at a bakery during the day and at a convenience store at night to support her family.
Her only joy was reading romance fantasy novels on her phone.
She found comfort in watching heroines overcome hardships and find love.
Her favorite story was My Family Must Regret It.
“It’s update day! I should read the new chapter before going home.”
She had no time at home to read, since she had to care for her siblings. So she always read outside.
She stood by the crosswalk and read the update.
That’s when it happened.
BEEEEP!
A loud horn.
And Yeon-soo’s body flew into the air.
