Chapter 1. Bad Guy
The dry winter wind blew fiercely. As usual, it was just my mother and me in the dining room.
“Just eat. This is the best we’ve got today.”
“…I know.”
“Then hurry up and eat.”
“Yes.”
Despite my mother’s curt and cold tone, the table was quite abundant today. Even in winter, there were some fresh vegetables, soft white bread, and even some high-quality meat. All of them were hard to come by in this place.
Compared to that winter three years ago, when we first came to the North and survived on boiled beans for days, this was practically a feast. Even now, when times get rough, there are days when we only eat bread or thin vegetable soup to get by.
Of course, none of this would have been imaginable in the past. There were times when a single dinner would cost as much as a small house. So it’s no wonder my mother speaks this way.
“The new cook’s not bad at all.”
“Seems like it.”
“She has three kids, apparently. Maybe that’s why she’s good.”
According to Mr. Schuwalt, my mother’s only acquaintance and occasional visitor, things were supposedly going to get better for us soon.
But several years have passed, and we’re still trapped here in the North. That alone makes it clear that things won’t be improving anytime soon.
At my mother’s urging to eat quickly, I lowered my gaze and used my fork to bring a piece of sliced meat to my mouth.
Only after confirming I had begun eating did my mother cut a piece no larger than a fingernail and start eating herself.
After taking a bite, I looked at her quietly again. Why does someone so beautiful only commit evil?
“Don’t stare at me for no reason. Just eat.”
“…Okay.”
I bowed my head again at her sharp remark and continued cutting the meat to eat.
The reason I’m stuck in such thoughts is because there’s a huge problem with this seemingly quiet family. And that problem is—
This world is inside a romance-fantasy novel titled My Delicate Fiancée. And my mother is not the protagonist, but rather the infamous villainess, Luchellai Ludwig. I’ve been reincarnated into the body of her adopted daughter, Carbella.
Or, to be precise, I’ve been reborn as a character in the novel.
In any case, one thing is certain: Luchellai Ludwig is an irredeemable villainess destined to meet a gruesome end. And her daughter—me—will die along with her. That alone is enough to show just how desperate my situation is.
The current point in the story is already in the latter half of the novel—when Luchellai, after committing countless atrocities and being disowned by her family, ends up in the ruined, poverty-stricken North. It’s also the time she starts using her adopted daughter as a tool for revenge. That daughter being me.
But I absolutely don’t want to live risking my life like that. I don’t want to die, either! I just want to live quietly, slowly, and happily in a modest way.
“Ah.”
“What is it?”
There’s no way my mother would ever let me live like that!
Luchellai Ludwig is someone who won’t hesitate to destroy entire noble families or use poison just because someone dared to oppose her or simply displeased her.
There were even depictions of people taking their own lives because they couldn’t endure her cruelty and pressure. Of course, most of her atrocities were only suspected, with little direct evidence.
That’s why, even though the family tried to stop her repeatedly, they eventually gave up and exiled her to this place. The funniest part? More than half of what Luchellai did was originally ordered by the family itself.
Knowing that, I’ve been doing my best to stay under the radar and wait for a chance to escape. Fortunately, I’ve been able to live a relatively comfortable life so far, but…
Truthfully, I only realized this was a novel world just last winter. Who would’ve thought I’d recover the memory after getting hit in the head by some random object that fell from a tree? If I had known earlier, I might’ve been able to stop more of her evil deeds.
“Your coming-of-age ceremony is soon.”
“Ah, yes.”
“Your powers should awaken soon.”
I awkwardly set down my fork and forced a smile. Suddenly, I had no appetite.
“Well… I’m only a half-blood. No, more like a quarter.”
“They’ll definitely awaken.”
Her confident words left a bitter taste in my mouth again. She still only sees me as a tool.
I met my mother in an orphanage. I had been abandoned there by a nameless gypsy woman, who, it turned out, belonged to a special bloodline known as the Ferenya.
The Ferenya had a unique ability—to imprint themselves on others. Even if the other person didn’t want it, they could still be forced into an imprint. A reverse imprint, you could say.
Because of that ability, I had the power to bring either paradise or hell to the one I imprinted on. For some, that would be considered a gift. But to me, it felt like a curse.
Not only was I incapable of truly experiencing love dressed in sincerity, but I also had the potential to completely ruin someone’s life. How could that not be a curse?
Somehow, Luchellai caught wind of that rumor and went out of her way to visit the nearly-bankrupt orphanage to get her hands on me.
She intends to use me to bring irreparable despair to the Emperor and Empress—the protagonists of the novel.
The reason is simple. She couldn’t have the Emperor, and she couldn’t sit at the highest throne. Not because she loved him, but out of ambition. That’s why she wants to destroy them.
To do that, she needs me to put a leash on their son, Valeri Ahivara Kashinev, and utterly break him.
Luchellai Ludwig’s life motto is simple: if she wants something, she’ll have it no matter what. And if she can’t have it, she’ll destroy it completely.
