TVNFL 01

CHAPTER 01

The world was red. Feeling something filling my lungs, I reflexively coughed.

Then, with a gurgling sound rising from my throat, a red mass surged up and spilled out, splattering onto my palm before I could even cover my mouth.

Beyond my blurred vision, something silver flashed coldly, moving erratically.

“Let us grant final mercy to Princess Erina Marbas, the disgrace of the nobility.”

A cold, emotionless voice echoed in my ears.

At those words, pain finally registered in a body that had felt nothing but the sticky fluid climbing up my throat.

I didn’t fail my awakening because I wanted this. So the price of failing an awakening is death?

“Is it because I’m someone even my fiancé abandoned… someone everyone points fingers at, that I don’t even deserve to live?”

After the awakening ritual, even my family turned away from me. Maybe… dying like this would be better.

My vision tilted sideways. I could vaguely see someone’s feet stepping closer.

The person leaned down toward me and whispered something—at that very moment—

“……! Hah—huck, haah…!”

I jolted awake as if doused in cold water. No matter how deeply I inhaled, it felt like I couldn’t get enough air, and I clutched my chest while gasping.

“Ah, damn it. A dream.”

What a disgusting dream. Of all things, why did I dream of being killed by an assassin and mocked at the moment of death? Have I been reading too many romance fantasy novels lately?

Because it felt so vivid, it was even more unsettling. I was in the middle of steadying my breathing when I froze.

……Wait, what is this soft blanket?

I didn’t own any pajama like this—something so light and dress-like and soft.

A familiar opening straight out of novels flashed through my mind, and I shot upright to look around the room.

“……Whoa, what the hell.”

It was extravagant. So dazzlingly ornate that my vision swam, and I wondered if I was still half-asleep standing up.

I pinched my cheek.

It hurt. So it’s not a dream. If so… did I actually get transmigrated like in those novels?

Then where am I?

I rushed to a full-length mirror in the corner of the room. What I saw made me let out a hollow laugh.

“What is this… familiar description of a beauty.”

The word “beauty” slipped out on its own. Even the blank expression I was making looked beautiful enough that it was unsettling.

Deep violet eyes like amethysts. Jet-black hair with a faint reddish sheen, glossy and flowing all the way down to the waist.

Pale skin that contrasted with her black hair looked almost translucent.

But the problem was that this beautiful young lady matched the description of a character from the novel I had recently been reading.

“No way… Princess Erina Marbas?!”

Why is that villainess from the novel here?

Erina Marbas was a character from the ongoing serialized novel I Never Wanted to Be Loved, a textbook example of what happens when a noble fails to awaken properly.

To be honest, I was more of an Erina supporter than a heroine fan.

I mean—if your awakening is half-failed, your family abandons you, your fiancé dumps you, and nobles constantly gossip about you, anyone would snap.

And on top of that, constantly being compared to the heroine? Of course she’d go dark. Honestly, it’s a miracle she didn’t break sooner.

“The family was all uniformly cold to Erina.”

In the end, Erina meets her death by assassination.

The most frustrating part was that it was only implied who did it—never clearly revealed.

Even though the novel was still ongoing, it felt like the author was basically saying, “The villainess’s death isn’t important~,” which made it even more infuriating.

—I used to spam comments like: The villainess Erina is better than the saintly heroine! Bring Erina back!

And now… I’ve become that Erina.

I sighed deeply, feeling completely lost.

She looked a bit younger than the novel described. How old is she right now?

Knock, knock.

“Have you woken up, my lady? I’ve brought water for washing.”

Turning toward the sound, I saw a maid holding a large basin.

My heart started pounding. I closed my mouth. It would be better not to say anything suspicious and assess the situation first.

When I said nothing, the maid tilted her head in concern.

“Shall I call a healer? You’ve been having trouble sleeping lately.”

“No, I’m fine.”

A healer? I’ve only just been transmigrated—no thanks, I don’t need more complications.

I shook my head, but the maid didn’t easily back down.

Instead, she looked sympathetic and said,

“You must have had a nightmare. The Duchess’s funeral was just yesterday… How cruel the heavens are. Since you were seven, you never met her again, and now she’s passed…”

From her words, I could piece things together.

If there was a funeral for the Duchess, then Erina is seventeen years old now.

‘Then I still have two years until the awakening ritual.’

That was a relief.

I had no intention of repeating Erina’s fate from the novel.

‘If I cut off the roots of becoming a villainess from the start…’

I just won’t attend the awakening ritual. At nineteen, people undergo it to become dragons—but in the story, it had become less about becoming a dragon and more about obtaining power.

Besides…

‘There’s already a dragon on the continent.’

A human who awakened as a dragon after hundreds of years—the Duke who rules the southern region of the empire, Shurandis, the dragon who remains on earth.

He was both an ally who helped the heroine and one of the male lead candidates.

The novel wasn’t finished yet, so the true male lead wasn’t confirmed…

But what mattered was that Erina was destined to fail her awakening.

And not just fail—she barely manifested any power at all, worse than nothing.

Because of that, her father ignored her, her eldest brother treated her harshly despite doing nothing for her, and her second brother picked on her at every opportunity…

‘Alright. I’m leaving.’

No matter how high the status, I wasn’t about to walk a road lined with thorns straight into an early grave.

Yes—run away. If I hide my identity, I won’t need to go through the awakening ritual.

While being dressed by the maids, I strengthened my resolve to escape the duchy.

No one in the family cared about Erina anyway. If I disappeared quietly, they wouldn’t bother searching desperately.

Perhaps because the funeral had just ended, the maids suggested a calm black dress.

I changed into it without objection and was fixing my hair when—

Bang.

The door suddenly burst open.

There were only three people in the ducal mansion who would enter the princess’s room without knocking.

“Erina!”

A voice that sounded almost desperate rang out.

I turned my head.

“…F-Father?”

What the hell? Why is the duke acting like that?

Wasn’t he the one who always ignored his youngest daughter?

Before I could process it, he rushed right up to me.

“…?!”

And then he hugged me.

So tightly I could barely breathe.

“F-Father…”

“Erina, you…!”

His body was trembling. Why is a man who never once showed affection like this suddenly acting like this?

“Father, it’s hard to breathe…!”

I pushed him away with difficulty. After a brief struggle, he finally let go and stepped back.

“What’s wrong with you?”

What is wrong with you? You’re one of the main reasons Erina became a villainess.

You were always too busy to care, ignoring your sick wife and neglecting your children. So why are you suddenly like this?

The duke flinched, his hand hovering awkwardly in the air.

An awkward silence fell between us. I had nothing to say, and he seemed lost.

I just hoped he would leave, but—

Footsteps rushed in from afar.

“Erina!”

Bang—another door slammed open.

A man in military uniform with a sword at his waist, and another wearing a mage’s emblem necklace, entered.

I sighed.

“Brother Gawen, Brother Russell.”

Why are you two here now?

You barely paid attention to Erina before, so why are you all acting like this?

My head was spinning.

I had literally just changed clothes—from pajamas to everyday wear. I hadn’t done anything.

So why were all of you suddenly looking at me like that, as if everything had flipped overnight?