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Chapter: 3
Wait… let’s trace back Irilin’s past that was only briefly mentioned.
She had chased after Vin as if her life depended on it, and when he still showed no interest, she pestered the Marquis until she climbed all the way to the position of his fiancée…
Hold on. Could it be that this all happened just before the school break?
“Who was it that threatened to jump off the roof if he didn’t get engaged?”
“Th-that was…”
“You wanted to show off that even if you couldn’t win his heart, the marriage would inevitably be with you anyway, didn’t you?”
“N-no!”
“Don’t try any clever tricks. Even if you don’t, I already know. As long as I can’t go against the adults, it will ultimately end up with me marrying you.”
Vin said this coldly, his words laced with bitter sarcasm.
In his piercing blue eyes, there was no emotion but contempt.
Wow… is that really the face of a mere 13-year-old?
I knew he lacked many things, having been deprived of parental love, but seeing it firsthand made the depth of it even more palpable.
I recognized that scarred face. I had seen it countless times.
The face of my older sister, who had been by my side since birth.
Her face had been exactly like that.
“What have you been doing locked in your room every day! Writing something like this?”
It was what my father had said when he discovered my sister’s novel The Crown Prince’s Lover on the day it was completed.
The sister, with a face just like Vin’s, disappeared from the world that day.
Even now, three years later, no one knows her whereabouts.
All that could be known was this:
Whenever my sister struggled, she would hide away in our mother’s wardrobe, and inside was the laptop containing the manuscript of The Crown Prince’s Lover, left there alone.
“Just know this: even if you win me, you’ll never win my heart. Never.”
If one could feel coldness in a voice, this would be it.
Vin lowered his silver eyelashes arrogantly and nobly, turning his gaze away from me.
Then, as if giving me a look was already a tremendous favor, he passed by indifferently and sat in the farthest seat from me.
“…Are you okay, Young Lady?”
Cally asked, clearly concerned.
I offered her a gentle smile.
“I’m fine.”
Though in truth, I wasn’t fine at all.
Memories of my sister came to mind, and I also realized that things might not be as easy as I thought.
I thought that one line—“Vin, I don’t like you! So go ahead and live happily ever after with the Crown Prince!”—would solve everything. Yet he still didn’t believe me.
Why is it so difficult?
If I act even a little normally, he wants to lock me in a mental hospital. And even when I insist I don’t like him, he won’t believe me!
“Truly… the road ahead is so long.”
I muttered to myself with a sigh.
At that, Vin’s gaze, from the far end where he was seated, briefly flickered and then fell away.
The Heather Marquis family, Irilin’s lineage, had tradition, power, and wealth—nothing lacking.
A perfect setting for a villainess, isn’t it?
But there’s another reason why Irilin could truly become a ‘villainess maker.’
Her parents, the Marquis and Marchioness Heather.
They spoiled Irilin excessively and encouraged her feelings toward Vin, nurturing their daughter into the ultimate villain in the novel.
Without realizing that such indulgence could ultimately lead to death.
“Why the long face, Irilin? You don’t look well.”
The Marchioness asked, worried, noticing my sudden gloomy expression.
I forced a bright smile and asked the question I had planned to ask as soon as I met my family.
“Mother, was my engagement to Vin right before the school break?”
“Yes, that’s right. When Vin declared he wouldn’t see you, you begged to be engaged just to keep him by your side. Don’t you remember?”
The Marchioness glanced at me as if checking whether my mental state had relapsed.
I shook my head firmly to signal, I’m perfectly sane! Please don’t send me to the mental hospital!
And added a serene smile as a bonus.
“Yes… I remember! I just didn’t recall the exact timing, so I asked.”
“Really? That’s a relief.”
Relieved, the Marchioness smiled softly and resumed the meal that had briefly paused due to our conversation.
Naturally, all of us, including me, lifted our spoons again.
As the clinking of utensils filled the dining room—
“Thank you for the meal.”
Sith slammed his spoon down and stood up.
He had been at the table all along but hadn’t said a single word until now.
Not surprising. Sith was always silent.
Sith Heather. At 14 years old, he was Irilin’s only older brother.
Though he shared Irilin’s bright blue hair and eyes, the boy somehow gave off a gloomy impression.
And he’s… gay.
He would become the sub-lead in The Crown Prince’s Lover.
Ordinarily, a sub-lead competes fiercely with the main character to win over someone, but The Crown Prince’s Lover doesn’t follow convention.
The one who battles fiercely with the main character isn’t the sub-lead—it’s the villainess.
Of course, the villainess still clashes with the sub-lead.
Because our villainess, Irilin Heather, wreaked havoc on everyone except Vin.
The sub-lead Sith despises Irilin even more than he does Vin, who actually ended up with the prize.
“When the Crown Prince ordered ‘Irilin Heather shall be executed!’ it nearly failed for lack of justification. The Heather family wouldn’t stay silent, after all.
It was Sith who created the justification: the Crown Prince poisoning incident.
With full cooperation from the victim, the incident was manipulated to make it appear that Irilin was the culprit.
Enemies everywhere!
The Crown Prince, who might one day try to execute me; Sith, who helped orchestrate it; and Vin, the cause of all this.
All are dangerous.
Of these, Sith is probably the most dangerous.
If he believes I no longer have feelings, the Crown Prince might spare me—but Sith… he just despises me.
Trauma accumulated since childhood has formed him.
No matter how well he treats me now, that trauma will never vanish.
If he suddenly treats me kindly, I might think it’s a new form of torment, or suspect I’ve relapsed mentally.
“Alr-ready finished eating…? You should eat more to make that toothpick body of yours look human.”
I tried to express concern in a very Irilin-like tone, but Sith didn’t even glance at me and left.
Ugh. No wonder. My words were nothing more than tsundere-style teasing.
I felt guilty toward innocent Sith, yet couldn’t apologize.
If I apologized, I’d end up dragged to the mental hospital!
I couldn’t speak normally, and if I didn’t speak at all, I might be killed someday…
How could I survive?
By the time I realized it, Sith had already completely disappeared from the dining room.
Regaining my senses, I put down my spoon and stood up.
“Sorry. I’ll go first…”
“What…? Sorry?”
Ugh! My normal behavior slipped out again. Saying ‘sorry’ as Irilin Heather!
“I-I’m going to hit Sith for standing up first… I’m apologizing in advance! I still have a conscience, you see! Hahaha.”
“Oh, what nonsense. Go ahead. Don’t hit him too hard.”
This insane family!
Encouraging me to hit my brother while I’m trying to discipline him…
Even if I succeed in gaining Sith’s favor, if the family’s bias persists, his resentment may never fully disappear.
That could lead to my death.
I cannot allow that! I have too much to do.
I must survive and return to my original world.
Resolving this, I walked until I reached Sith’s door.
I had never approached it before due to his strong aversion toward me, but today I felt I had to, even at some risk.
Partly because I had instigated trouble, but meeting Vin and the Crown Prince earlier made me more determined to survive.
“Sith.”
I knocked and called his name, but there was no answer.
He hadn’t come out? No, he liked to stay in his room.
He wouldn’t leave at this hour.
The only logical conclusion: he’s pretending not to be there.
“Sith. I know you’re in there. If you don’t answer, I’m coming in. Ten—9—”
I counted down to zero and flung the door open.
He still didn’t answer. I thought he had locked it, but he hadn’t.
But to my surprise, he really wasn’t in the room.
“What… he’s really not here.”
Why would he go out? This homebody never leaves his room without necessity.
“I thought maybe he had put honey or something outside the door since he never leaves his room.”
Sith’s room was extremely ordinary.
Less lavish furniture than expected for a noble, blackout curtains blocking all light, and books on the shelves that seemed advanced for a 14-year-old…
Everything was as expected.
Only one thing was off: his usually pristine desk was a chaotic mess.
“All the writing tools and papers are scattered… Wasn’t Sith supposed to have obsessive cleanliness?”
What I saw didn’t match the character.
And why…
“Why are all of Vin’s drawings here…?”
The papers on the desk were all failed attempts at drawing Vin.
Did Sith even have a hobby of drawing? No…
He wouldn’t feel love for Vin Ortega until adulthood.
So why was a 14-year-old boy drawing Vin?
“What… you.”
“Ah!”
Sith had somehow appeared behind me.
His blue eyes were fixed directly on the drawing in my hands.
“You saw it.”
