ISVYB 02

Chapter 02

It was such a perfectly sunny day—except for the fact that Seizar had returned with the female protagonist, Floe, and delivered my death sentence.

As I looked at the cloudless scenery outside, my heart felt like someone waiting for the last leaf to fall.

Who would understand this feeling?

Sob.

I swallowed back my tears and let out a sigh.

They say that even if you enter a tiger’s den, you can survive as long as you keep your wits about you.

I thought that saying was a complete lie.

Fine, let’s say you could survive if you think positively.

But wouldn’t you at least come out with one leg torn off?

And yet, I was now facing a situation where I had to believe—whether I wanted to or not.

‘Well… maybe a tiger’s den could be cozy…?’

I tried to comfort myself, but I knew better than anyone.

A cozy tiger’s den, my ass.

In the end, I realized that escaping a tiger’s den required the boldness to risk your life and throw yourself into action. That reminded me of the plan I had prepared in advance—before the novel even began.

The moment I remembered, I rummaged through the drawer beside my bed and pulled out the notebook in the second drawer.

The notebook was full of scribbles I’d written absentmindedly over time.

Flip—
As I turned the pages, huge black letters appeared right before my eyes.

The very first thing I had to do in order to prevent my death once this novel began.

‘Become close with Princess Isabella.’

It meant befriending the strongest villainess in this story’s world.

Ah, seriously. Life is so exhausting.

Can I… survive?

“Ugh…”

As I messed up my hair in frustration, a knock sounded.

“Asha, I’m coming in.”

Seizar Yusupov.

The male lead of this novel—and my enemy-like blood relative.

Seizar found himself bothered today by the fact that Asha was eating noticeably less steak than usual.

She hadn’t originally had a big appetite, but ever since she’d fallen off a horse and been bedridden, she had changed drastically. Her once quiet and gentle personality had become cheerful and bold, and she had turned into a big eater. The doctor who treated her said that such changes could occur after a severe shock to the head. Seizar had been extremely surprised at first, but he thought he had adjusted well by now.

Yet today, something felt off.

‘She goes crazy over steak… what’s with her today?’

Even if she hadn’t been eagerly waiting for him to return, she had always at least said, ‘You’re back?’ whenever he came home.

‘Is it because I brought a woman with me? Did Asha originally have a brother complex?’

That was the trivial reason Seizar ended up entering his younger sister’s room—something he rarely did.

And even now, Asha didn’t look like she was in a good mood.

“Asha, are you sick?”

“Sick? No, I’m not sick. I’m in danger of dying.”

“…What on earth are you talking about?”

Asha was telling the truth, but Seizar—who couldn’t possibly know that—looked perplexed.

As he stared at his younger sister, who kept spouting incomprehensible nonsense, his expression gradually turned exasperated. Then, with a doubtful look, he spoke.

“You’re not seriously…”

“……”

“…Is this because I brought a woman with me?”

What nonsense is this now?

Asha, at a loss for words, stared coldly at her brother, who had eaten well and was now spouting nonsense.

But Seizar, who failed to notice her deadpan expression, waved his hand with a scoff.

He was clearly clueless.

“It’s not the kind of relationship you’re imagining. I’m not someone who falls for looks. That’ll never happen, so don’t worry.”

“You can really guarantee that?”

“Of course. I guarantee it.”

“Then want to make a flick-on-the-forehead bet?”

Asha smirked as if amused and gestured arrogantly.

Seizar leaned closer at her gesture and followed her gaze downward.

Asha tapped the wooden table in front of her and placed her hand on it.

Then she lifted her middle finger with all her strength—and brought it down.

Thud—!

With a dull sound, the wooden table shook.

Tremendous strength.

Innate strength.

Ordinary noble ladies wouldn’t even have half of that power.

Seizar was genuinely surprised.

Exercise aside—his sister, who basically only breathed and ate, had this much strength?

‘If I taught her swordsmanship, she’d improve quickly.’

That was obvious.

With that level of strength, she wouldn’t be overpowered even if she sparred with male knights.

As Seizar fell into thought out of professional habit, Asha, thinking he was intimidated, smiled proudly.

“I’m a Yusupov. I was born like this. If I hit you with this strength, wouldn’t it hurt?”

At her confident words, the corners of Seizar’s red lips curled upward.

If that level of strength were enough to hurt him, how would he have survived battles full of blood, flesh, and screams?

Sometimes, Asha had a tendency to seriously underestimate him.

Not that it hurt his feelings.

It was just funny.

“I don’t think getting hit by you would hurt in the first place. And what exactly are we betting on?”

“There is something. Whether you fall for the young lady you brought or not.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yeah.”

He was curious why she was suddenly acting like this, but Seizar thought there was no reason he couldn’t accept the bet.

He felt uneasy since Asha spoke as if she already knew everything, but he eventually nodded.

“Fine. Let’s bet. If I fall for her, I’ll let you hit me.”

“Good! I’ll sincerely hope you don’t fall for her.”

For some reason, Asha sounded genuinely serious.

Seizar felt like he’d finally figured out why her mood had been off.

She clearly cared about him more than he’d thought.

A brother complex.

‘So all that constant grumbling was her way of expressing it?’

Having reached a completely wrong conclusion, Seizar gently ruffled Asha’s light orange hair, which looked unusually cute today.

Asha recoiled in disgust and shook her hair out.

“Kyaaah! Are you insane? Why are you doing that? Were the battles really that stressful?”

“Just because. Can’t your brother do this much?”

“No, obviously not. You’re supposed to be ‘cool but warm to your woman’ type.”

Ignoring Asha’s incomprehensible words, Seizar spoke calmly.

He’d already seen her face, so now he had to go back to his duties. Today, he had to report to the imperial family about the battle. Judging by how freely she was talking nonsense, she seemed perfectly fine.

“I’m going to report to the imperial family that the northern battle has been concluded. Make sure you eat dinner properly. I’m leaving.”

“…Go.”

As he turned the doorknob to leave, he heard a faint voice behind him and glanced back.

Then he flinched and took a step back.

‘That face…’

It looked similar to a troll he’d once encountered in battle.

To see a troll-like expression on the face of his beautiful younger sister—who looked just like their mother—was shocking.

While Seizar stood there stunned, Asha rushed toward him with the face of an enraged troll.

“Wait!!!”

“W-What?!”

“Brother, let’s go to the Imperial Palace together.”

“…What?”

Sitting in a carriage with an incredibly smooth ride, I was enjoying the road to the Imperial Palace, fully satisfied with my unexpected savior.

Colorfully dressed people passed by as we went through the bustling streets, along with shops bearing huge signboards.

Carriages sped past in the opposite direction.

With the window open and the breeze blowing in, my mood improved significantly.

After whining for an hour to get Seizar to take me along—and extracting a promise that I’d behave—I was now peacefully on the way.

‘I’m a genius. A genius.’

The more I thought about it, the more convinced I became that I was indeed a genius, and I patted my chest proudly.

I ignored Seizar’s comment of, “What are you, a gorilla?”

‘No matter how difficult the plan is, I have to meet her first before I can do anything.’

Whether it turned out well or badly, I needed to face her first. So I considered this a good start.

Of course, Seizar looked like he was worried to death that I might cause trouble, judging by how he watched my abnormal behavior.

“You really have to behave. The Imperial Palace is huge, so don’t wander around strange places.”

“Of course.”

“Especially don’t go anywhere near Rose Palace or Wood Palace.”

“Hm…”

“What do you mean ‘hm’?! If you make me uneasy, I’ll leave you here immediately.”

“N-No! It’s just that I don’t even know where Rose Palace is, so how would I go there?”

“……”

From the moment I asked why I shouldn’t go, Seizar hadn’t relaxed his suspicion even for a second. He looked completely fed up.

I lightly ignored him and started thinking quickly.

I needed to meet Princess Isabella—whether to become friends or enemies.

And that alone was obviously going to be difficult.

‘As soon as brother goes into the audience chamber, I’ll run straight to Rose Palace.’

If Seizar had heard my plan, he would’ve grabbed me by the back of the neck and dragged me away. I grinned slyly so he wouldn’t notice.

Of course, I didn’t even know where Rose Palace was.

If only the novel had included a map.

Finding Rose Palace in this massive palace based only on vague descriptions would be my first real obstacle.

To get straight to the point, I successfully escaped the knights Seizar had assigned to watch me.

He’d grabbed me and lectured me for two full minutes not to go anywhere, but the moment he left, I bolted down the main path, leaving the knights behind.

And now, I was thoroughly punishing myself for forgetting just how enormous the Imperial Palace really was.

“You idiot! How can you be this stupid?!”

I wanted to punch myself in the head, but I knew very well—

If I hit my own head, it would hurt.

Where even was I?

The palace was far bigger than I’d imagined, and there wasn’t a single palace maid in sight.

After walking for what felt like ages, I spotted a small palace beyond a path overgrown with untrimmed trees.

It was far too old and rundown to be considered part of the Imperial Palace.

“This isn’t Rose Palace, that’s for sure…”

Out of all the countless palaces, this place—with no knights around—was undoubtedly an abandoned one.

As I walked through the unkempt grounds, I came across a small garden attached to the palace.

Since my legs were heavy from walking so long, I decided to take a short rest and looked around.

The only sound was the rustling of trees in the gentle breeze.

Clearly, no one was around.

“I’m exhausted…”

I plopped down on the edge of an old fountain and roughly fixed my now-messy sunset-colored hair.

Had Seizar finished reporting by now?

Had he noticed I was gone and started searching everywhere?

As I was wondering where to go next to find Rose Palace—

Rustle—

I heard a small sound of movement.

‘…What?’

Since there’d been no one around, a chill ran down the back of my neck.

I sprang to my feet and looked around, but saw nothing.

It could just be a small animal, or the wind brushing against the leaves.

Reassured, I sat back down.

But the moment I did—

Rustle—

“W-Who’s there?!”

The sound was closer this time.

I stood up again, recalling the self-defense techniques I’d briefly learned as a noble.

If someone approached, circle around to stay on guard.

Then charge in lightning-fast and strike the weak point!

Repeating this in my head, I walked toward the bushes beside the fountain where the sound had come from.

And there, what I saw was neither a small animal nor the wind.

It was a man lying on the ground—wearing a mask.

“We’re sorry. The young lady was too fast…”

“And you call yourselves knights of the Yusupov family?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

At Seizar’s cold rebuke, the knights assigned to protect Asha shut their mouths tightly.

They had no excuse, but they still felt wronged.

The young lady might look small and delicate, but she was undeniably a member of the Yusupov family.

Which meant she’d been born with exceptional physical abilities from the start.

Whether by genetics or not, she had incredible control over her movements. Honestly, if she ever picked up a sword, there was a high chance she’d reach mastery faster than any of them.

‘So when she seriously tries to escape, it’s true that even we struggle to catch her.’

They all knew this from experience.

But they couldn’t say that.

The man standing before them was someone who had likely never lost a single sword fight.

Their excuses would never be accepted.

So all they could do was bow their heads and say what needed to be said.

“We’ll go bring her back immediately!”

Seizar watched the knights rush off and let out a quiet sigh.

He’d expected she had some scheme when she insisted on coming, but he never imagined she’d disappear so recklessly.

‘She’ll probably just beg me to show her around…’

He’d underestimated just how uncontrollable she was.

The Imperial Palace was massive.

Getting lost here was incredibly easy.

Especially for someone like Asha, who barely ever visited.

‘As long as she doesn’t go near Wood Palace or Rose Palace…’

That was his small, earnest wish.

“Who are you?”

“……”

Asha—who had completely shattered Seizar’s wish—was now cheerfully questioning the mysterious man lying on the ground.