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Chapter 2
When Pesha was around nine years old, she fell from a tree and hit her head. That was when she realized that she had ended up inside a romance-fantasy novel.
In the original story, Pesha Rydel was the wicked villainess who tormented the female protagonist, Io Clark.
According to the original novel, Pesha was the same age as Io and had been her childhood friend. She had always looked down on Io in subtle ways, but when Io’s situation improved, Pesha could not overcome her jealousy and began tormenting her relentlessly.
But the villainess’s end was always merciless.
‘Even after marrying the male lead, she still doesn’t come to her senses. She keeps plotting against him until he eventually kills her.’
And it happened early in the original story, meaning she would die young without even getting to live a long life.
I was born as the daughter of a prestigious ducal family, so how could my fate be this unfair?!
Pesha racked her brain for a solution.
‘If my evil deeds are the problem, then can’t I just live a good life?’
Yes. That was all she needed to do.
‘I’ll treat Io well and become a kind helper to the male lead instead of a villainess!’
It would be even better if she could avoid having anything to do with them altogether!
The two protagonists would fall madly in love, just as they did in the original story, so if Pesha helped their love along, everything would be solved.
Io could live happily, while Pesha could stay as far away from the original plot as possible and spend her leisurely retirement living off the wealth of the ducal family.
It was a perfect plan.
“…Or so I thought.”
Pesha muttered under her breath.
Duke Rydel, whose face had turned bright red, shouted at her.
“Are you listening to me or not?! Do you think your father is a joke?!”
Pesha sighed inwardly.
She furrowed her brows and put on a sad expression as she shook her head.
“Of course not, Father. I just thought Count Namoi was far too good for me. Wouldn’t my friend Io be a better match for him? It might not be too late yet. Even now, perhaps…”
Smack!
Before she could finish, Pesha was slapped across the face, making her head snap to the side.
Her cheek stung where the blow from his huge hand had landed.
Anger surged up from her chest, but Pesha endured it calmly.
“Are you still talking about that?! Lady Clark is a precious purification mage! Do you really think His Majesty would marry her off to some commoner bastard?!”
Then what about me?
The words rose all the way to the tip of her tongue, but there was no point asking.
She already knew what her father would say.
Yet, contrary to her father’s words, if Io really was such a precious purification mage, then she had an even greater reason to marry Owen Namoi.
After all, she was probably the only person capable of purifying the contaminated lands in the east.
“Are you upset about it? Then you should have been born with purification magic too!”
Her father spoke as though purification magic were something as ordinary as carrots or potatoes sold at the market.
But people who possessed that power were so rare that there were fewer than five of them in the entire country.
Because of that, Io’s value was practically limitless.
Since Io had purification powers, Pesha had naturally assumed that she would end up marrying Owen.
In the original story, Io lived a miserable life, being mistreated by everyone around her. She did not even know that she possessed purification powers until she was forcibly married to Owen by order of the Emperor.
At first, she was treated poorly because Owen was wary of her and his subordinates were rude to her.
Then, after accidentally discovering her purification powers, she began purifying the contaminated territory and gradually earned recognition for her abilities.
As the relationship between the two developed dramatically, Owen eventually learned about all the wounds Io had suffered and ruthlessly punished Pesha for tormenting her…
No matter how clever Pesha had become after tormenting Io for years, there was no way she could escape the male lead who had conquered the eastern region.
‘But I’m the one who’s going to marry him? How does that make any sense?’
While her father continued shouting, Pesha kept her head lowered and absentmindedly counted the patterns on the floor, trying to distract herself with useless thoughts.
Then another roar came down over her head.
“How dare you refuse His Majesty’s command and bring shame upon me! Your crime is beyond measure. You are forbidden from leaving the house until your wedding day!”
“F-Father.”
“I don’t want to see your face! Get out!”
Her father, furious from head to toe, drove Pesha out of his study.
Bang.
She stood quietly in front of the closed door.
Only then did she finally let out a deep sigh.
“This is really bad…”
At this rate, she was genuinely going to have to marry Owen Namoi.
‘He must have made a deal with Father while he was looking for a duke with a daughter to marry.’
Her father had probably received part of the territory that Owen Namoi had taken from the Kingdom of Clapton.
It was exactly the same situation as when Io had been married off like she was being sold in the original story.
The only difference was that Pesha had replaced Io.
She had tried her best to live a good life, yet in the end, she had somehow become the unwanted obstacle standing in the way of the male and female leads’ love.
She had already grown distant from Io as they got older, and if she interfered with their love as well, Pesha had no idea what kind of consequences would await her.
But no matter how much she thought about it, she could not come up with a way to avoid the marriage.
Maybe I could secretly run away at night, or find a capable ally…
‘But who could I hide behind to escape the strongest person in this entire world?’
Pesha kicked the wall in frustration.
“Ow!”
Only her foot hurt.
“If he were just a little weaker, I could at least find someone stronger than him.”
That man’s ridiculously overpowered abilities made finding another ally almost impossible.
He drives away an entire kingdom’s army? He wipes out foreign tribes? What kind of general is this? Does he have some kind of teleportation technique?
At this rate, he’ll probably start riding down from the trees on leaves.
“Haa…”
Pesha grabbed her hair.
“Isn’t there some way out of this…?”
She was muttering to herself when someone approached her.
“What are you doing?”
The voice was familiar and full of mockery.
Pesha weakly turned her head.
Her younger brother, Jeremy, was looking down at her with an intentionally arrogant posture.
“What are you doing in Father’s study?”
She had just been scolded by her father, and now she had to deal with Jeremy, who looked so much like him.
Her mood instantly worsened.
“……”
Pesha ignored him and tried to walk past without answering.
But Jeremy suddenly grabbed her arm with considerable force.
“Did you forget that I told you not to wander around the main house whenever you feel like it?”
His tone was just as provoking as always.
“Who do you think you are, coming into a place like this?”
Pesha’s head began to ache.
Ever since realizing that she had been reincarnated into the novel, she had lived more like a good person than anyone else.
For example, when she was young, Pesha had shown great talent in herbal medicine and had once been given the opportunity to study abroad in a duchy where medicine was highly advanced.
The problem was that around that same time, Jeremy had suddenly become interested in swordsmanship.
Her father clearly seemed more interested in investing in the son who would inherit the family than in his daughter.
So the rare opportunity to study abroad was given to Jeremy instead.
‘If you were going to steal my opportunity, you should have at least studied hard.’
After only two years of studying abroad, Jeremy got tired of swordsmanship and returned home on his own.
Their father, who had placed great expectations on Jeremy, was disappointed by this.
And that disappointment ended up falling on Pesha.
Her younger brother, who had previously only treated her indifferently like most siblings, began actively trying to keep her down.
He had always assumed that he would naturally inherit the family simply because he was the son.
But when he noticed that their father’s attitude toward him had changed, he became anxious that Pesha might inherit what he believed should be his share.
Pesha had never had the slightest intention of competing with him for the succession.
Still, seeing Jeremy so openly trying to crush her pride naturally made her competitive spirit flare up.
Now that Pesha was going to be married off like she was being sold, Jeremy seemed delighted and continued provoking her as though he had no intention of giving her even the slightest opening.
“Oh, I get it. You begged Father to cancel the marriage, didn’t you? Of course, he must have given you quite a scolding.”
He was slightly off the mark, but what he said was not entirely wrong.
“Don’t you have anything better to do? Go do your own work.”
Even though Pesha answered coldly, Jeremy did not care in the slightest.
“How dare you act so arrogantly… Do you really think someone like you will be able to say a single word to me once I inherit the family?”
He had been spoiled rotten since childhood and had never had to struggle for anything, so his arrogance had reached the heavens.
Every word he said was so irritating that Pesha wanted to punch him in the face.
But she soon abandoned the thought.
The Emperor had already announced the marriage directly to Owen Namoi when he returned victorious.
There was no turning back now.
Because of the adults’ pride and reputation, this had become a marriage that could no longer be canceled.
There was no point blaming someone when the water had already been spilled. She needed to find a way to clean it up.
‘But I really can’t stand seeing him this full of himself.’
Pesha crossed her arms and gave a small laugh.
“Really? Well, I’m going to become Countess Namoi now, so I have no interest in this family that you’re going to ruin anyway.”
“What?”
“That’s right. The House of Namoi will continue rising after this marriage because it will strengthen His Majesty’s trust in them. But…”
Pesha tilted her head slightly.
“Hmm. I have absolutely no expectations for the House of Rydel once you become the duke.”
