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chapter 5
“Haah…”
“Oh my.”
With their parents’ sighs and surprised reactions.
“…Coal monster.”
Yuri muttered as she quietly watched Jeril.
Jeril was completely covered in soot from head to toe.
“Jeril, you should greet our parents first.”
“Oh, right. Welcome back.”
“…Welcome back, yeah.”
“Huh?”
It was a back-and-forth conversation between Seran, Jeril, Yuri, and Jeril again.
Lirian shook her head as she watched her youngest brother, who looked like a rolling lump of charcoal.
“Dummy.”
At her comment, all three older brothers turned their gazes toward Lirian.
“What?! This tiny thing!”
Of course, it was Jeril who huffed indignantly.
“Lirian, have you been well?”
Seran smiled kindly.
“Wow.”
Yuri widened her eyes slightly as she looked at Lirian’s chubby cheeks.
She stared at her as if witnessing the marvels of nature.
“Now, now, I’m glad you’ve returned safely, kids. Jeril, let’s go wash up with Dad.”
“Can’t I wash up later?”
“Ahem.”
“Tch.”
After the commotion settled, the Ersioni family gathered together, including Jeril, who had transformed back from a coal monster into a slightly rough-looking but handsome boy.
“Now, the agenda.”
Caesar, the chairman, cleared his throat and stood.
“It’s about our youngest, Lirian’s, ‘How I accidentally reincarnated.’”
A short silence fell over those seated around the round table.
The children whispered among themselves.
“What’s reincarnation? Can you eat it?”
“Jeril, shh.”
Jeril and Seran.
“It doesn’t make sense magically.”
Yuri muttered, clearly disliking illogical things.
“…….”
Lessa silently patted Lirian’s head affectionately.
She already knew everything because her husband had told her in advance.
“Now, is there anyone who wants to speak?”
Jeril tried to stand with a “Uh, me!” but Yuri quickly and quietly blocked him.
The eldest brother raised his hand with the dignity befitting his position.
“Yes, Seran.”
“Since it’s Lirian’s agenda, I think we should listen to her.”
Caesar nodded.
“Reasonable.”
All eyes turned to Lirian.
She took a small, deep breath.
“I…”
Her trembling lips opened toward her concerned family.
“I missed you.”
Countless words sparkled like stars in her heart, but she chose to say what she wanted most first.
“I really missed you.”
Sevir and even the gentle people of the duke’s household—everyone Lirian loved was here.
‘Ah, except one.’
She smiled brightly, recalling the silver-haired man whose cloak shimmered with starlight.
She really wanted to protect them all.
By the time she gained the power to do so, they were already gone.
Lirian sincerely thanked this “unbelievable fortune.”
Drip.
Clear tears fell from her large eyes.
Lessa, standing nearby, embraced her with a choked voice.
“Our child grew up too fast.”
Caesar wrapped his arms around the two of them.
“Indeed. I wish she had grown up a bit slower.”
Seran came over and wiped Lirian’s tears.
Yuri quietly held her hand.
Jeril, left alone, felt the weight of the family’s gaze and blushed as he confessed suddenly,
“I-I! I ate your pudding.”
“What?!”
Lirian sniffled and glared sharply at Jeril.
The “Pudding Disappearance Incident” from long ago came to mind.
They had never found the culprit before her reincarnation, and now she suddenly knew the truth.
“Why did you eat my pudding, brother?!”
“You could have had a little!”
“My pudding!”
“Ah, sorry! I can give it back later!”
“Eeeek!”
“I said I’ll give it back!”
Finally, the five-year-old jumped up from her seat and chased her six-year-old brother, muttering.
Seran muttered, observing the scene.
“Just like always.”
It was a normal day in the Ersioni household.
“If I catch you, you’re dead!”
“Hmph! Try and catch me!”
The little ones ran around the round table.
Lessa, watching quietly, elegantly sipped her tea and then stood.
And.
“Stop right there.”
She immediately grabbed the two kids who had been unstoppable.
The two clung to Lessa, glaring at each other indignantly.
“Now, apologize to each other.”
“…….”
“…….”
“Hurry up.”
Lessa smiled encouragingly.
The two, knowing a truly angry mother was terrifying, spoke hesitantly.
“I-I’m sorry…”
“…Sorry.”
“You should only play pranks in ways that don’t hurt each other, understand?”
“Y-Yes…”
“Mm-hmm…”
“Lirian, in these cases, you say ‘yes.’”
“Y-Yes…”
Finally, after shaking hands to reconcile, the two were released.
“Not easy at all.”
“And is raising kids easy?”
Watching this, Caesar commented, and Lessa smiled.
Even knowing it wasn’t easy, she could smile because the children were so adorable.
And so.
“…Here, take this.”
Unlike the neat Lirian, Jeril, with his hair tousled and a big bandage on his cheek, grumbled as he handed her the pudding.
“Don’t cry anymore.”
Lirian looked at her youngest brother and carefully split her pudding in half.
“This is enough for me. You can have the rest.”
“What’s wrong? The little one refuses food?”
“Ugh, just eat it!”
Seeing them share their snack while bickering, the parents exchanged glances.
They saw themselves reflected in each other’s eyes.
Smiling.
“Big brother, I want milk.”
“Brother, I’ll take juice!”
“Jeril will probably take an apple, Lirian, cocoa for you?”
“Yes!”
“Yuri, what do you want to drink?”
“Coffee.”
“Oh, a child drinking coffee! Not allowed!”
“Father, she’s seven.”
“Seven? That’s still a kid!”
Seeing her husband rush toward the children in panic, Lessa laughed and raised her teacup.
‘If this is the flow of fate…’
Her gaze lingered on her precious ones.
Especially Lirian, who had inherited her ‘eyes.’
‘…Let’s twist things a bit.’
On the back of Lessa’s hand holding the teacup, faint violet veins appeared and disappeared.
…It had been so touching.
“Of course, our Lirian is a little villain. Don’t you think that cute?”
“Of course she’s cute! I just don’t get why it’s always villain and mastermind. Can’t it be normal?”
How did it end up like this?
Lirian alternated her gaze between her arguing parents and took a bite of the cookie in her hand.
Crunch!
‘Mmm, tasty.’
So it all started with Lessa’s words.
‘That means… we have to become villains?’
When tea time ended, the meeting resumed.
The main agenda: “How can we save the world?”
Lessa immediately suggested, “We need to cut off all the rotten heads.”
Caesar looked flustered. She emphasized once more:
‘Making the royal family puppets, suppressing the magic tower, controlling the church—that’s being a mastermind, isn’t it?’
It was a complete rebellion.
Lirian realized, watching her mother repeat her exact words:
Wow. What I was planning was actually rebellion?
“If we follow Lirian’s plan, there’s no answer. Unless we overturn the entire empire, it won’t work!”
“That’s…”
“Rotten water is still rotten water, no matter how much you stir it. You know that too.”
Caesar was speechless.
Lirian munched her cookie, secretly thinking her mother had taken the upper hand.
“…Still, how could we touch the royal family…”
“Typical conservative nobles,” Lessa frowned.
Caesar frowned.
“Nobles? You’re no different now.”
“Hmph, by the council’s standards, I’m always a commoner.”
Lirian later learned that her parents had once been the protagonists of a love story that shook the empire.
Her ears perked up.
“…Who said that?”
Inside, the notoriously iron-blooded Duke Caesar appeared grim.
Lessa gave a secret, triumphant smile.
“Well, just something said behind the scenes. I can’t stop it all. Sometimes it just hurts, it’s painful, it’s hard.”
Crack. An ominous sound came from Caesar’s fist.
“…Those meddling old people who do nothing anyway—maybe it’s not bad to get rid of them.”
“Oh my, you think so too?”
Her parents had achieved dramatic compromise!
Lirian applauded with her brothers.
“Since it’s come to this, I’ll handle politics.”
“Then I’ll handle society and the ladies.”
“…Are you sure?”
“I know my body best.”
Lessa’s confident answer eased Caesar, who looked like he had much to say but restrained himself for the children.
“Then may we handle finances?”
Seran spoke calmly, and Caesar regarded his son quietly.
“Do you think money is easy?”
“No, father.”
“Before going to the capital, you told me to see the world for myself. What I realized is that the world is swept by the flow of enormous money. I still don’t understand politics or society fully. I couldn’t measure up to you or mother.”
But.
“I am Seran Ersioni.”
At those words, Caesar laughed.
“You make grand claims about just using the family name.”
“Talent is innate.”
“Stubborn like your mother.”
“Stubborn like me? You’re the exact same.”
The couple bickered.
“Fine. Then I need to know who you mean by ‘we,’ Seran.”
“Yuri and Jeril.”
Yuri, drinking cocoa instead of coffee, looked at her parents and siblings.
“She’s interested in magic, so she’ll help a lot with the magic tower. She’ll grow too.”
“Hmm, true.”
But why Jeril…?
Their gaze went to the last one.
“Hmm hmm.”
Jeril had fallen asleep so deeply one wouldn’t notice even if he were picked up.
“…I just feel uneasy if he’s out of sight.”
“I see.”
“I don’t know what mischief he might cause…”
So, they’d just keep him close.
“…I’m sorry.”
“No, father.”
Father and son felt a kindred bond.
It seemed everything was settled.
“Then me?”
Bang bang.
Lirian, listening quietly, banged the table in dissatisfaction.
“I want to do it too!”
Unable to disappoint their daughter, Lessa said:
“Our Lirian will become the family mascot—the little villain!”
Caesar quietly objected.
“Only we need to be masterminds. Does Lirian need to be a villain too?”
“But she’s cute! Imagine Lirian in a villain outfit.”
“…True.”
“Then you agree?”
Finally, Lirian received the title of “Little Villain.”
“Now, let’s have the little villain title ceremony.”
“Clap clap clap.”
Caesar placed the Moonlight Crown, a toy from the Moonlight Witch Rose, on her head.
Lessa tried giving her the Flora Moon Ruby Staff, but
“Not that, sword!”
Due to her daughter’s changed preference, Jeril’s toy sword was used instead.
“But what do villains do?”
“Well…”
Seran, briefly puzzled, smiled and said:
“Just… help the whole family.”
With cuteness.
He didn’t mention the implied meaning.
“Oh!”
Lirian nodded.
‘If necessary, it probably means chop off the hindrances, right?’
The misunderstanding grew smoothly.
Seran set off toy fireworks, Yuri clapped with a straight face.
Jeril slept.
“Kuuul.”
Lirian straightened her shoulders confidently.
“I’ll protect everything!”
Quiet Yuri pressed the belly of the Rose doll.
A voice came from the doll.
-By the name of the villain, I will reform you!
Thus was born the future legend—the mastermind of the empire, the Ersioni dukedom.
