TVPTL 01

Chapter 01

Good riddance, you idiots.

BOOM—!

The instant a massive explosion rang out behind me, horrified screams erupted into the air.

“W-What is this?! My mansion! Who dared to do this to our family?!”

My father, Count Tekins, who had brought his hidden mistress and their children home before my mother’s funeral was even over.

“My dress! My shoes! My jewels! Aaah!”

My stepmother, Countess Tekins, who had cleverly painted me as the villain while making herself look like the victim, ruining my reputation and driving me out of the family.

“Get in there and bring it out! The document inside is worth more than your worthless life!”

My older half-brother, who had committed every filthy crime imaginable—loan sharking, blackmail, smuggling—and dumped all the blame onto me.

“No! No! The ball is next week! If the mansion is gone, where am I supposed to hold it?!”

And even my younger half-sister, who mocked me and had an affair with my fiancé.

What a collection of trash.

Trusting people like them as family…

No wonder the original owner of this body had been used and discarded until she died.

“Tsk.”

I clicked my tongue.

They’re panicking this much just because half the mansion collapsed?

They shouldn’t.

There’s still one more charge left…!

BOOOOM!

The moment I grinned, a pillar of fire shot into the sky, and the remaining half of the mansion collapsed with a thunderous crash.

Perfect timing.

This time, I couldn’t hear the screams from that garbage collection.

They were probably either buried beneath the rubble…

…or unconscious.

Personally, I hoped it was the former.

Still, not one of them is looking for me or Beloa.

Everyone knew I had been locked in the highest room, while Beloa had been imprisoned in the basement.

After all, Count Tekins himself had personally locked our doors.

Yet all they could do was scream about their dresses, jewels, important documents, and gold.

Not once did they call my name.

Nor Beloa’s.

As though we had never existed.

Whatever.

Soon enough, they’d be completely…

Utterly…

Absolutely ruined.

Smiling to myself, I glanced down at the leather bag in my left hand.

It looked like an ordinary travel bag.

But the inside was anything but ordinary.

Before blowing up the mansion…

I had stripped the count’s estate clean.

Not only had I emptied his secret vault—

I’d also taken every last jewel.

And that’s not all.

I organized every crime committed by Count Tekins and my older half-brother.

Along with all the evidence I found in their rooms, study, and hidden vault…

I sent everything directly to the Imperial Knights.

While I was at it, I also returned all those predatory loan contracts to the people who had been suffering under them.

Once the fire dies down… that’s when the real show begins.

By now, those outrageously unfair contracts should have reached their rightful owners.

The victims would come charging here with murder in their eyes.

As for the rest…

The Imperial Knights could handle it.

They’ve spent years tormenting innocent people through loan sharking.

It’s about time they paid for their crimes.

Isn’t that right…

Brother?

Towering flames.

A collapsed mansion.

An emptied vault.

A crowd of furious people.

And the Imperial Knights arriving all at once.

The entire place had become such utter chaos that no one would even notice if one or two people disappeared.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Now I could disappear too…

And spend the rest of my life as an unemployed freeloader.

“Ah…”

Someone suddenly grabbed my hand tightly.

Right.

There was still one last thing I had to do.

Looking down, I saw a small child clutching my hand as though it were the only lifeline left in the world.

Soft pink hair, like roses blooming at dawn.

Golden eyes that looked as though molten gold had been poured into them.

Snow-white skin.

Rosy cheeks.

Tiny, adorable hands.

She was unbelievably lovable.

Though she was painfully thin from malnutrition, even that couldn’t hide her cuteness.

She was the kind of child who made you think…

If the word “adorable” became a person, it would look exactly like this.

She was Beloa Leandro, the heroine of The Real Young Lady Walks Only on Flower Paths, the novel I’d transmigrated into.

As for me…

I was an extra.

An extra among extras who died right at the beginning.

…A pitiful fool who got used by her own family before dying in their place.

How was my life before and after transmigration practically identical?

“Beloa.”

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I crouched down until our eyes met.

I reached out to straighten her messy clothes—

“Eek!”

Her reaction was nothing like I expected.

Beloa immediately covered her head with her arms and curled into herself.

Her tiny body trembled violently.

The dark bruises covering her arms…

Those were the handiwork of Count Tekins and my older half-brother.

Those bastards.

I ground my teeth.

How could anyone beat such a tiny child?

There wasn’t even enough of her to hit.

She was at the age when she should have been chatting away nonstop.

Yet she could barely speak.

I should’ve buried those bastards alive.

They should’ve suffered even a fraction of the pain Beloa had endured.

“Ah…”

Perhaps she misunderstood the fury on my face.

Beloa’s complexion instantly turned pale.

“A… ah…”

Still gripping my hand, she frantically shook her head.

Her large eyes quickly filled with tears.

She didn’t want to lose the only person who had ever been on her side.

“Beloa.”

Suppressing the boiling rage inside me, I smiled brightly.

“It’s okay. Big Sister isn’t angry.”

“Ah…?”

“I mean it. See? Why would I ever get angry at Beloa?”

If I were going to be angry…

It should be at the trash currently burning behind us.

“I’m actually sorry for waking you up so suddenly.”

I lifted Beloa into my arms and hugged her tightly.

Her tiny body was so warm that it naturally made me smile.

Only then did she finally seem to relax.

“Hehe…”

With tears still covering her face, Beloa smiled brightly.

Her tiny little hand gripped mine tightly.

How adorable.

I pulled out a handkerchief from my pocket and gently wiped her face clean.

While I was at it, I also fixed the clothes I hadn’t been able to straighten earlier.

We were about to meet someone very important.

We had to look presentable.

“Beloa, we’re finally going home.”

“…?”

She tilted her head in confusion.

She looked just like a curious little puppy.

It made me chuckle.

“The place we were living before…”

“…was never your real home.”

Beloa had been living in the Tekins estate as Count Tekins’ illegitimate daughter.

And considering I, the daughter of his first wife, already existed…

There was no way the countess would welcome another child.

She tormented Beloa relentlessly.

Not only did she starve her—

She refused to let Beloa leave the basement.

She even forbade the servants from speaking to her…

Or acknowledging her existence at all.

She did it on purpose.

She enjoyed watching Beloa slowly wither away.

That nightmare continued…

Until one day it was discovered that Beloa was actually the only niece of Leandro Grand Duke.

That was where the original novel, The Real Young Lady Walks Only on Flower Paths, truly began.

The Leandro Grand Duke, who had desperately searched for his missing niece all these years…

Rushed over the moment he learned the truth.

“You are… my niece… my only remaining family…”

The instant he saw Beloa…

He recognized her.

And Beloa immediately recognized him as her family as well.

Their reunion had been so heartbreaking and emotional…

That I’d almost become that woman crying alone on the bus after work while reading it.

Meanwhile, the Tekins family sacrificed Ermia in a desperate attempt to save themselves.

Poor, original Ermia Tekins.

She trusted those monsters until the very end.

And now…

I’m Ermia.

A tear rolled down my cheek.

I wiped it away.

“Anyway, Beloa.”

I smiled.

“We’re going to find your real home.”

“…”

“And your real family.”

This time, Beloa tilted her head the other way.

Seriously.

She was too cute.

She reminded me exactly of the little Pomeranian my old neighbor used to raise.

“When we get there…”

“You’ll be able to eat as many cookies and delicious foods as you want!”

Cookies.

Delicious food.

At those words, Beloa’s golden eyes immediately sparkled.

That’s right.

Children her age cared about food more than anything.

“All right.”

Our reunion was happening three years earlier than in the original story…

But it would be fine.

After all…

This was Beloa, the heroine of a childcare fantasy.

And Leandro Grand Duke, her one and only family.

Holding the drooling Beloa tightly in my arms once more, I declared dramatically,

“Let’s go.”

You’ll go find your flower path…

And I’ll go find my way to survive.