TBSVD 02

“…Hmm? This feels like such a familiar development. It sounds like something straight out of a romance novel!”

“I thought you’d like it.”

Max smirked as he looked at my sparkling eyes.

Why does my heart suddenly feel like it’s racing?

As soon as I showed interest in the kind of plot that belonged in a romance novel, Max continued explaining.

“The newspaper said that after Blake Leblanc discovered the young lady he had a crush on had fallen for another man, he left alone for the battlefield so he wouldn’t interfere with them.”

Though honestly, I have no idea why a witch newspaper is delivering human world gossip.

I lightly ignored Max’s grumbling.

“S-so what happened after that?”

“How should I know? I’m not interested. The newspaper didn’t say.”

“…Max.”

At my low voice, Max’s shoulders trembled slightly.

“Do you know what annoys people the most?”

“What?”

“Stopping in the middle of a story. No, seriously, what happened after that?! This is driving me crazy.”

I pounded my chest dramatically before collapsing back into the chair in disappointment and throwing my head backward.

My soft hair, mixed with mysterious shades of red and pink, fluttered through the air and dragged along the floor.

“Your hair is sweeping the floor like a broom. I didn’t clean this room today.”

“Blake Leblanc… why does that name keep sounding so familiar?”

“You probably got interested because you just heard he’s the protagonist of some provocative romance story.”

“No. I really think I’ve heard it before.”

A long time had passed, but I was certain I had heard that name somewhere.

A name I must have seen in one of the countless romance fantasy novels I had obsessively read in my previous life.

“Hmmm….”

As I held my head and searched through my memories—

Boom!

A colorful firework exploded beautifully across the dark night sky.

Seeing it, Max ran toward the window.

“Oh. Looks like that little witch living nearby came to visit. She fired a doorbell firework.”

“…Ah, who was it again?”

“The little witch, Annie. You know Annie, one of the few witches living in the West?”

“Ughhh….”

“You’re disqualified as the representative witch of the West, Lady Vivian. How can you be one of the four witches representing the East, West, South, and North yet not know the witches living in your own territory?!”

To escape Max’s nagging, I stood up, covered one ear with my hand, grabbed the newspaper with the other, and instantly teleported into the garden.

I could hear Max shouting, asking where I was running off to again, but I ignored him.

“He really has gotten old.”

It had already been 250 years since I picked up and raised that baby dragon abandoned by its mother because its wings were torn.

Though I never expected him to grow into such a nagging fussbudget.

“Open sesame.”

With that meaningless spell, I snapped my fingers.

The fountain in the garden split apart to both sides.

A staircase appeared beneath it, and I slowly walked down.

Since I still couldn’t figure out what original novel I had transmigrated into no matter how many times I thought about it, I had developed the habit of checking every newspaper that carried Human World Special Reports.

Flopping onto the sofa hidden in the secret room, I unfolded the newspaper again.

Blake Leblanc.

Just as Max said, he really was an impressive young man.

“I knew I’d find you here.”

Clunk—

The basement door opened, and Max entered while holding the hand of a small child.

Annie, with bright orange hair and freckles sprinkled across her cheeks, quickly removed her pointed witch hat and bowed politely.

“Hello, Lady Vivian! I’m Annie! You said you’d show me the basement last time, so I came!”

“Hello, Annie. Feel free to look around.”

“W-wow…! This is the basement of the Great Witch of the West, Lady Vivian!”

Gold and jewels glittered so brightly they hurt the eyes.

Around them were all sorts of suspicious magical tools.

Of course, everything was completely mixed together in total chaos.

“There are so many amazing things here!”

Chuckling at her adorable reaction, I proudly shrugged.

“These are treasures I collected over the course of 300 years. Be careful. Honestly, some of them were things I randomly picked up, so even I don’t know what might happen.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

Annie saluted crisply with her palm open before immediately getting distracted by the piles of junk in the basement.

Meanwhile, I buried my face in the newspaper again and practically crawled into it while carefully studying Blake’s face.

Clear and translucent silver hair, dazzling like stars scattered across the night sky.

Eyes glowing violet.

A young man so perfectly handsome that no one could ever easily forget him.

He really is handsome.

Even looking again, his face was absurdly good-looking.

Would it make more sense if I said even the beautiful dragon race would have to admit defeat before those looks?

“You’re still staring at that human man? Apparently, even though he’s impressive, rumors say his personality is filthier than a Black Dragon’s.”

“Filthier than a Black Dragon? How is that possible for a human? Those guys are unbelievably rotten!”

“Exactly. I heard it’s because he can’t sleep properly due to the curse. But still, just how terrible does someone’s personality have to be?”

“Max. What do you mean by rotten? Where did you even learn words like that?”

“From you, Lady Vivian.”

“…Sorry.”

A human whose personality was worse than a Black Dragon’s.

As I clicked my tongue in disbelief, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind.

‘Wait.’

The strongest person no one could defeat when it came to having a ruined personality.

A mouth from hell that spewed venom every time it opened.

The heir of the most powerful family in the Empire, feared by everyone.

But also known as a romanticist who cared for nothing except his first love.

And—

‘The man who spent his entire life trapped in hell because of a curse that prevented him from sleeping!’

The newspaper slipped from my hands and fell to the floor.

My trembling pupils slowly widened as I shouted loudly,

“My Lovely Savior! That was the title of the book!”

<My Lovely Savior>

A story where the kind and gentle female lead, Leah, becomes childhood friends with the abandoned imperial prince and male lead, Ian, and ultimately saves him.

And Blake, the childhood friend of both of them and the female lead’s second male lead, appeared in that novel!

“That’s right, Blake Leblanc was the villain in the novel!”

If I remembered correctly—

Blake, who wandered helplessly between love and friendship, suddenly made a terrible choice one day.

‘Hmm… was it because he wanted to possess the female lead?’

The exact reason didn’t matter.

In the end, he couldn’t abandon the friendship that meant just as much to him as love.

And the novel ended with him saving the two of them and dying in the process.

It was such a tragic ending that shocked readers filled the comment section with outrage.

“The poor second male lead who suffered because of the curse… why did I only remember this now?”

“Huh? What are you suddenly talking about— Annie, don’t touch that!”

Max frowned like he’d just heard nonsense, but then hurriedly stopped Annie after seeing the shelves collapse forward and all the objects tumble out.

Whatever she touched, the basement shelves tilted over and the items inside scattered everywhere.

“Achoo! Cough cough!”

“Oh no, Annie! Put that down! It’s a potion that turns people into frogs!”

The already chaotic basement became even more disastrous.

“I finally remembered the original novel! I’m so moved I could cry. Sob.”

“That’s not emotion, that’s dust! Achoo! Annie, stop!”

“Wow! What’s this old papyrus?”

Holding a terribly worn papyrus she found somewhere, Annie bounced excitedly as she asked.

“Uh… I don’t know either. I’ve never seen it before. It does seem like something stuffed away a very long time ago….”

“Then open it!”

Even at the critical moment when Annie unfolded the papyrus wide open, I was still overwhelmed with emotion.

After all, the vague itch that had bothered me for 300 years had finally been resolved.

Then suddenly—

‘Wait, were there witches in that novel?’

It was surprising that the worldbuilding was more massive than I expected, but it wasn’t particularly important.

Right now—

‘It would’ve been even better if the portal still existed so I could go see the original story in person!’

Since there was currently no way to travel to the human world, I decided I should visit Laura later and ask her to include more human world news.

And just as I thought that—

“Wah!”

A brilliant white light suddenly flashed beside me.

I slowly watched Annie drop the violently vibrating papyrus from her hands.

“…Huh?”

A purple magic circle burst out from the papyrus and flew straight toward me.

A magic circle?

Everything happened far too quickly for me to process the situation.

My vision exploded with a blinding flash of light.

“Lady Vivian!”

“Ahhhh! What do we do?!”

Max’s green eyes filled with horror.

But the last thing I saw was him desperately reaching out as if trying to grab me before the world went black.

And when I opened my eyes again……

“Hahaha, I heard Blake Leblanc is coming to today’s banquet.”

“That Blake Leblanc? Why on earth?”

“Why else? This banquet is Lady Leah Everett’s birthday celebration. Everyone knows about Young Master Leblanc’s unrequited love.”

“Still, it’s unsettling. The people of House Leblanc give me chills.”

“Shh! Are you trying to get yourself killed?! If someone hears you, Young Master Leblanc might make you disappear without a trace.”

…What?

A banquet? Blake Leblanc?

Thump-step-step—

An elegant waltz echoed in a steady rhythm.

Beyond the giant glass doors, I could see people dressed in glittering gowns and tuxedos.

“W-wha?”

My frozen brain slowly began working again as I rapidly grasped the situation.

Dong, dong.

As the bells rang to welcome the New Year on January 1st, I screamed in shock.

“This can’t be… the human world?!”