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Episode 1
“Your mana is completely exhausted. You’re nothing but a burden to this family. Even the animals raised in the duchy are more useful than you!”
Inside the room, a furious middle-aged man was shouting at the top of his lungs.
“I-I’m sorry, Father… cough! C-cough… cough, ugh.”
“Tsk. And yet that thing still dares to show her face at noble banquets, carrying this family’s name.”
The moment I heard that, my eyes lit up.
That’s right. Go on. Say you won’t let me attend the banquet!
“This is the first public event since receiving the Grand Duke’s marriage proposal. Make sure you behave properly.”
But contrary to my hopes, Father didn’t change his mind. He simply left the room.
“No… I really didn’t want to go.”
I muttered blankly and reviewed the situation I was currently trapped in.
A month ago, I had transmigrated into a novel called Moon Hidden by Darkness.
This novel had a rare feature.
There was a character who was even more popular than the male and female leads.
The villainess and her accomplice—the mastermind behind everything, the Grand Duke.
Those two characters were the reason people loved the novel.
There was clearly something between them that went beyond a strange atmosphere.
Love and hate.
Master and servant.
It’s a relationship packed with irresistible tropes.
The story never officially stated that they were in love, but their feelings could easily be interpreted that way.
The combination of a charming bad man and a dangerous bad woman had far better chemistry than the main couple.
Including me, most readers desperately wanted them to end up together.
But the problem lay in their first meeting.
While carrying out a scheme to frame someone else, the mastermind Grand Duke entered a political marriage without any feelings involved.
Then he murdered his bride.
While quietly cleaning up the crime scene, he soon came face-to-face with the only witness to his crime—
The villainess, who had been disguised as a maid.
The Grand Duke became interested in her calm reaction despite witnessing a murder.
Under the excuse of keeping her silent, he placed people around her to monitor her.
Later, after discovering that the villainess could use dark magic, the two joined forces.
Together, they committed countless evil deeds while constantly getting in the way of the protagonists.
And my role in all of this?
I was the extra bride who got murdered for no reason on her wedding night.
What I learned after waking up in this body was that she had spent her entire life being exploited by her family because she was a mage.
When her body became too weak to recover, and she eventually lost her mana, she was practically sold off to marry the Grand Duke.
Whew. What a miserable life.
At this rate, I would marry the Grand Duke soon and be murdered on the very first night.
But even knowing that didn’t mean I could do anything right now.
Not a single trace of mana remained in this weak body.
Just how badly had they overworked her?
After transmigrating, the only things I’d done were attend a few banquets and listen to Father’s verbal abuse.
Knock knock.
Just then, a knock came from the closed door.
“Miss, I’m coming in.”
Ah, right. There was one more thing.
“Sara! I missed you!”
Keep the villainess happy.
“How was today? Nobody bullied you, right? No, wait—not the people you bullied. I mean, people who bullied… um… you. Well, there probably weren’t any.”
The first problem that came to mind after realizing I’d transmigrated was, of course, the mastermind Grand Duke who would eventually kill me.
But there was something I had overlooked.
Sara, the villainess disguised as a maid, stayed by my side every moment of every day.
If I accidentally offended her, I might lose my life before I even got married.
“Please sit down, Miss. We don’t have much time before the banquet.”
“O-Okay. I mean, yes.”
I awkwardly sat down and stole a glance at Sara through the mirror in front of me.
Just look at her.
That striking red hair.
Those sharply raised eyes.
Her appearance practically screamed, ‘I’m the villainess.’
As for me…
Well, I looked incredibly easy to push around.
Light pink hair.
Pink eyes.
I was quite pretty, but my small frame and pale coloring made me look weak.
As I felt Sara gently arranging my hair, I suddenly asked,
“Hey, Sara. Did you hear that too? About Grand Duke Cronhart proposing to me…”
“That the proposal arrived a few days ago? Of course, I heard.”
“What do you think about it?”
“I’m completely against it. I hate it.”
Sara’s eyes gleamed in the mirror with an almost frightening intensity.
I hadn’t expected such a strong reaction to such a casual question.
My heart immediately started pounding.
Could dark magic include seeing the future?
Maybe she didn’t like the idea of me marrying the Grand Duke, who was practically her future husband!
“Putting up with it would be a waste of time— ahem. That’s not what I meant.”
Huh?
I blinked in confusion.
“You’re still far too young, Miss. It would be better if you experienced more of the world with me.”
“You were thinking about my side of things?”
“Who else would I be thinking about?”
Sara continued, looking slightly sympathetic.
“Besides, your father only cares about selling you for the highest possible price. Oops. Sorry if that sounded rude.”
As the villainess continued making brutally honest comments, my eyes gradually filled with emotion.
I remembered all the days I’d spent acting pitiful after transmigrating.
“H-Here… Do you want this? I don’t really like sweet things.”
I had sacrificed my precious snacks for her every day.
“Listen, you don’t have to do any hard work anymore. Just stay by my side. If anyone complains, you can blame everything on me.”
I had even tried acting like a kind employer.
Then one day, Sara suddenly smiled and said,
“Miss, you remind me of someone I knew when I was young.”
“R-Really? Who?”
“I picked up a puppy off the street and raised it.”
“What?”
“She had light-colored, fluffy fur. She was absolutely adorable.”
Was being treated like a puppy by the villainess considered a success or a failure?
I was still wondering that when Sara finished getting me ready.
The reflection in the mirror had gone from merely pretty to genuinely beautiful.
Everything was perfect.
Except for the worry filling my face.
Trying to encourage me, Sara shrugged and said,
“Anyway, enjoy yourself today, Miss. It might be your last banquet before the wedding.”
Right.
Or maybe the last banquet I’d ever attend while alive…
“Also, stop worrying so much. I checked your fortune today, and your future looked very bright.”
Wait.
Can she really predict the future?
More importantly, why was I tempted to believe her?
She’s the villainess!
Before I knew it, I had left the mansion and climbed into the carriage.
Soon, the wheels began rolling forward with a loud rumble.
By the time my lower back started aching, the carriage finally reached its destination.
I briefly closed my eyes against the overly bright chandelier lights.
The moment I opened them again, I sensed something strange.
I looked around.
Countless eyes were focused on me.
‘Is that the lady who received a proposal from Grand Duke Cronhart?’
‘Why her of all people? She’s pretty enough, I guess.’
‘Other than her ducal family background, she doesn’t seem particularly special…’
‘I heard ten chests of jewels were sent to her family.’
Were rumors in high society always this fast?
Suppressing my surprise, I first approached the hostess of the banquet.
“Good evening, Countess. I’m honored to have been invited today.”
“Oh my, Lady Wintersore! Perfect timing!”
The Countess greeted me enthusiastically as though she’d been waiting for me.
“We were just talking about your upcoming marriage.”
“My marriage?”
“Yes! Grand Duke Cronhart being in love, of all things…”
“Huh?”
I was so shocked that I forgot to maintain my polite smile.
Fortunately, the Countess mistook my reaction for shyness.
Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she continued.
“The entire social circle is talking about how deeply the Grand Duke has fallen for you.”
Ah.
I really shouldn’t be getting dizzy this early.
I desperately gathered my thoughts and asked,
“W-What exactly have you heard?”
“They say he couldn’t bear to wait, so he skipped the engagement entirely and proposed marriage right away.”
That’s just because he didn’t want to waste time.
“They also say he treasures you so much that whenever you go out, he hides you away so completely that not even a single strand of your hair can be seen.”
He’s not hiding me!
We’ve literally never even met!
“And I’ve heard he constantly sends all kinds of rare gifts to your family day and night.”
Gifts?
To the Wintersore estate?
I was about to say it was the first I’d heard of it.
Then I remembered how strangely busy the servants had been lately.
Come to think of it… I did see several carriages coming and going from the estate.
Father was exactly the kind of person who wouldn’t tell me a thing even if he had received a hundred chests of jewels instead of ten.
“Judging by your reaction, the rumors must all be true!”
The Countess beamed.
Meanwhile, a terrifying realization suddenly hit me.
The rumors had already spread beyond control.
And there was physical evidence to support them.
At this point, whether the stories were true or not didn’t even matter.
That terrifying man.
He’s creating an alibi.
After killing me, he doesn’t want anyone to suspect him—so he’s making it look like he’s madly in love with me first!
