ODVRE 2

Chapter : 02

Aeyrensia Valtheim, the villainess of the romance fantasy Sword of the Blue Sky, a story that raced headlong toward obsession and ruin, was infamous for having a personality that was utterly, catastrophically deranged.

She would swagger around with handsome men flanking her on both sides, causing chaos wherever she went—regardless of place, rank, gender, or age—hurling liquor bottles and spewing curses at everyone equally. A once-in-a-generation lunatic.

Her notoriety was so legendary that even when she didn’t physically appear in the story—when not even a single strand of her hair was shown—there wasn’t a single episode where she wasn’t mentioned.

Whether as rumor or metaphor, her name came up constantly.

For example, like this:

[You’re going to swear loyalty to Her Highness the Princess? Allen, you’re making a mistake. Don’t you know the rumors? They say she bathes in the blood of women like you every night! This isn’t the way to save your family! …What do I mean by “women like you”? Th-that’s none of your business!]

[She’s got quite the temperament. Even that princess everyone calls a rabid dog would’ve clicked her tongue at that one. Good. That’s how a Countess Cesena’s daughter should be.]

[I’m sorry, Sir Cesena. It’ll be difficult to rescue the prisoners from the salt mines. The deal fell through because Count Verdin fell into a coma. How did that happen, you ask? Haha. The Princess smashed his head in with a liquor bottle. Damn it! That cursed woman!]

One of the sub–male leads even left behind these words to the heroine just before he died:

[…Alexis Cesena. Truly the Empire’s second-greatest lunatic, right after the Princess. Ahaha. I’m kidding. Stop crying like that. I’m not going to die.]

And that infamous, rabid-dog Princess Aeyrensia—while drunkenly swinging a bottle—nearly shattered the heroine’s nose before having her own head cleanly severed by the true male lead, the hidden mastermind, in an absurdly anticlimactic death.

Every time she appeared, she broke new records for pathetic behavior. I’d practically clutch my chest in frustration while reading.

…But now—

“That lunatic is me?”

No. Absolutely not.

“I quit!”

Thump!

I hurled the carrot I’d been enthusiastically shaking onto the bed, then startled and stared down at my own hands.

Ever since earlier, Aeyrensia’s memories had been melting into me drop by drop, like icicles thawing in sunlight.

Maybe because of that, my mouth and hands kept moving on their own, blurting and flailing without permission.

My memories as Han Seo-seo were intact, but my thoughts and emotions felt like they were slowly regressing—becoming childish.

“G-get out! Leave me alone right now!”

“Ugh….”

Another fragment of Aeyrensia’s memories stabbed into me, and my head burned hot.

If I looked in the mirror, I half expected steam to be rising from the top of my head.

I muttered, This is insane, and pressed a hand to my forehead.

“Your Highness. You still seem to require rest. Would you like to lie back down and recover?”

The old man spreading the bedding looked strangely familiar—like someone who had cared for the Princess for a very long time.

“Are you feeling uncomfortable anywhere?”

“……”

I nodded slightly. At once, Got’s expression stiffened.

“The fact that you’re not throwing vases suggests you haven’t fully regained your strength yet.”

Vases? Throwing them?

“You must recover quickly. Seeing you lying still like this makes this old man’s heart ache. I almost miss the days when you’d energetically smash chairs to pieces.”

“……You miss that?”

“Yes. At least back then, you were healthy enough to exert that much force. Recently, though…”

The Aeyrensia described through the old man’s words was nothing short of horrifying.

Apparently, she once insisted on trying horseback riding and ended up getting a stable hand kicked by a horse. Another time, claiming she wanted sword training, she dragged her older brother the Crown Prince’s attendant over, tied him to a practice dummy, and beat him senseless with a wooden sword.

In the end, the Crown Prince—his eyes blazing—showed up saying, “Let’s spar, since you like it so much,” and Aeyrensia was beaten to a pulp so thoroughly that dust flew despite the pouring rain.

And another time, she threw freshly served meals straight into a maid’s face.

The maid not only suffered burns on her left cheek but also a mild concussion.

It was an absurdly extensive criminal record for a child who was barely ten years old.

What the novel showed was mild by comparison.

In the story, she’d only appeared as a frustrating obstacle—used by the mastermind to block the heroine’s path.

A thoroughly unpleasant villain who was properly “educated” in the end, delivering a cathartic downfall.

But hearing about her directly from Got made even me—someone who’d been relentlessly abused by a stepbrother—feel sick to my stomach.

“When Your Highness pushed Tom out the window and broke all four of his limbs, that was truly… haah…”

By now, all joy at the Princess’s awakening had vanished from Got’s face. His once-sparkling silver-gray eyes looked clouded over, as though wrapped in fog.

This is going to be a problem.

Staring blankly at the carrot buried in the white sheets, I let out a deep sigh. I could vividly imagine the looks I’d be getting from now on—it made my vision go dark.

“My body is fine.”

“That’s a relief, but… you collapsed so suddenly. This old man was terribly worried.”

True to his words, he looked worn down. His already thin cheeks were so gaunt he resembled a goat that hadn’t eaten grass for ten days.

Though his role was minor, Got Hiler was one of the most memorable characters in Sword of the Blue Sky.

In a palace overflowing with schemes and conspiracies, he’d preserved his humanity and risen to oversee the Sun Palace where the Emperor resided.

Though he was demoted to the Princess’s palace after angering the Emperor with honest counsel.

Still, the respect he’d earned through character and ability—not brute power—never disappeared. On the day Aeyrensia died, Got had nearly been executed alongside her… but survived.

Afterward, grieving the loss of the Princess he’d raised like his own child, Got left the palace and vanished without a trace.

He’ll definitely be an asset to me.

Now that I was living as Aeyrensia instead of Han Seo-seo, I intended to live well. I had zero intention of being isolated, manipulated by the mastermind, and dying like the original Princess.

And considering how the original story ended with everyone holding hands and marching into ruin together, I couldn’t afford to sit still.

I didn’t come back to life just to die again.

I steadied my mind as I thought ahead.

In a future with an unpredictable flow, I needed the strength to protect myself.

First and foremost—people.

“Why are you looking at this old man like that?”

Got asked suspiciously, his eyes twinkling like small stars.

His expression—like he’d bitten into something bitter—was exactly the same face I used to make when politely probing people to assess a situation.

“If I made you uncomfortable, I’m sorry.”

When I replied meekly, Got waved his hands in panic, sweat pouring down.

“Please, speak freely. Since you woke up, you’ve been acting so differently that this old man doesn’t know how to behave.”

“Mmm… okay.”

…No honorifics.

I nodded awkwardly and frowned.

Speaking casually to an elderly man I’d just met felt strange.

Uncomfortable, but somehow comfortable.

That too was probably the influence of the body’s original owner.

As soon as I realized that, another memory fragment surfaced.

“Hey! Where do you think you’re going?! I told you to stick right next to me, didn’t I?! Sit down right now! Hey! Come here! Heeey!”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

In the scattered memory, the Princess was beating the blankets furiously in a fit of rage.

Instead of doing something adorable, she did nothing but torment a seventy-year-old man.

Anger boiled up from deep inside me.

I shook my head hard, forcing the memories away.

This was not the time to relax.

If I want to survive in this novel, I need allies.

They didn’t have to be many—but they had to be people who would unquestionably stand up for me and protect me.

I didn’t expect perfect, unconditional trust. I’d never had that even in my life as Han Seo-seo.

Blind familial affection. Comrades willing to die for each other. Those were fairy tales to me.

Some people might have them, but not everyone—and I knew that well.

I’d simply been unlucky. And even if I had possessed such bonds…

There’s no such thing as an eternal relationship. Especially not one built on emotions.

“You can trust Director Kim, can’t you?”

What Chairman Han trusted more than his own brilliant son was someone who owed him something.

I despised everything about Chairman Han—but on that point, I agreed.

The more desperately someone needed something, the more reliable a deal became. Value exchanged forged stronger bonds.

The problem is—I have nothing.

With possession alone, I couldn’t risk revealing future knowledge when I didn’t know how the story might already be changing.

What I can offer right now is…

“……”

As I sifted through the Princess’s memories, my stiff expression softened.

Slowly, my chubby cheeks lifted into a smile, and my sharp, un-childlike eyes relaxed into something bright and sweet.

“Thank you for worrying about me, Got.”

Aeyrensia had been so cruel that I needed to start behaving kindly—at least enough to melt some of that resentment.

The price could be prepared later.

Got was someone who’d even risk his life for Aeyrensia in the novel. …For now, this should be fine.

A faint sting pricked my chest.

I couldn’t tell if it was Aeyrensia’s feelings or Han Seo-seo’s guilt.

So I smiled even brighter.

A sweet, cotton-candy-like smile.

“Haah….”

A low sigh escaped from the wrinkled lips before me.

“You’re not calling me ‘Wrinkly’… and you’re thanking me, of all things…”

…Huh?

Wrinkly?

At that moment, a memory smacked the back of my head.

“Hey! Wrinkly! Why isn’t my homework done?! Finish it before I’m done eating! What? You can’t? You want to get hit?!”

“Oh dear! Your Highness, please restrain yourself! This old man will die!”

It was a memory of the Princess kicking the old man’s shins like a wild colt, forcing him to do her language homework.

“I… uh…”

“Your Highness?”

Got’s worried voice reached me—though his feet were already inching backward.

The sight was so absurd I let out a dry laugh without realizing it.

…This chestnut-sized little brat?