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Chapter 1
A running puppy.
A raccoon rolling across the grass with its belly exposed.
A puppy enjoying a swim.
A cat circling around my feet and acting cute.
This place was practically the paradise I had built with my own hands. And seated across the table was the peace-destroyer who had invaded my heaven.
The teacup I had been holding precariously in my hand slipped onto its saucer. I had not even taken a single sip.
Clink.
At the sound, the man’s gaze moved toward me. The peace-destroyer had not even touched his tea.
When our eyes met, the man said in a cold voice,
“I heard my dog is here, Agatha.”
The moment paradise turned into hell was instantaneous. The peace-destroyer’s expression twisted.
“Did you kidnap my dog to get my attention?”
His voice was especially cold.
Everyone in the Empire, and every reader of Don’t Be Obsessed with Saint Lucia, knew that the peace-destroyer was a famous dog lover.
But kidnapped? Me? I’m such a decent girl I could live without the law my whole life.
“I received a report that my dog was seen here. You’d better not play dumb.”
“Cough!”
A report? A report?
The man frowned and looked away from me, as if it were disgusting to watch me choke and cough.
The man’s name was Nael Millan Bruls.
“Why would that dog even be here?”
I didn’t bring it with me.
At my words, Nael turned his head back and glared at me coldly. Even with glasses on, the murderous aura leaking through them was intense.
His face was so beautiful it was almost spellbinding. It was enough to make one wonder if he had received every last ounce of the male lead buff through his looks alone.
Hmph. He looked like he could kill with a glance. I subtly averted my eyes and denied it.
“There’s no way.”
It wasn’t me, I said.
After entering this body, I hadn’t even stepped on Nael’s shadow. All my efforts had been ruined because Nael came looking for me.
He seemed to think I had kidnapped the puppy he kept so I could meet him.
Ha, this is so unfair. I really didn’t do it. This is exactly what you’d call being wronged by the system.
“Fuu. Let’s stop this meaningless squabbling. Hisha is my dog. I need to take him back.”
The peace-destroyer said it as if he were granting me a favor.
Whatever it was, I quickly nodded. If he’d lost the puppy he was raising and would leave once he found it, there was no reason not to let him.
“Then let’s go look for him quickly.”
As if waiting for my permission, Nael sprang up and strode off.
Who was it? Which dog had bitten the male lead and brought him here? If it really was true, I’d bite that cute little butt to death.
I couldn’t understand how the original Agatha had chased after a man like that.
I’d suffocate just from his stare.
I muttered to myself as I followed after the peace-destroyer.
What if I said it out loud and he heard? If I got killed by his gaze after running my mouth, that would be a truly dog’s death.
In that sense, I hoped this would be the last time we met in this life.
Nael was a huge obstacle to the paradise I dreamed of.
A little time passed. Nael soon returned to where I was.
I had been certain his dog wouldn’t be here.
“Fuu. You really are hopeless, Agatha.”
In Nael’s hand, dangling by the scruff, was a small puppy.
Sorry for the first meeting, but give me that little butt. I’m going to chomp it.
Since I had unintentionally ended up looking like the one who kidnapped Nael’s dog, I could only keep my mouth shut.
The puppy complained with all the injustice of the world on my behalf.
“Yip……”
“Shut up.”
That was how he spoke to something so cute. If the baby got hurt emotionally, he’d be the one losing out. Puppies get sulky so easily.
“Never do something like this again, Agatha. Consider this a warning.”
Ptooey, ptooey.
Instead of answering, I spat in my head.
I could even spit at a handsome face. Of course, only in my head.
If I did it for real, my neck might get cut off. In the original story, Agatha Lucy Stadion dies at Nael’s hands.
Nael glanced at me as if he no longer wanted to deal with me, then left my paradise.
Yes, don’t ever come back. Please.
“Duke, are you all right?”
A maid asked me with a worried expression. I had clearly seen her flee to a safe distance when Nael showed up.
I glared at the maid, who looked awkward, and said,
“Throw salt.”
“Pardon?”
“Buy a ton of rock salt and scatter it everywhere! So he can never come back.”
Salt, not spit.
“Yes, Duke!”
Watching the maid enthusiastically sprinkle rock salt everywhere, I dusted off my hands.
Let’s cut ties. Cut them completely.
You hate me? I hate you too.
The original Agatha Lucy Stadion had devoted her life to Nael. Even when I read the novel, I found that strange. Agatha had money and beauty, so why was she obsessing over Nael enough to earn the title of villainess?
Now that I had become Agatha… I understood even less. I even had a decent personality now, so why would I cling to a man?
The bourgeois Agatha has no interest in a guy like that.
The original Agatha might have hated him, but if she’d already handed her body over to me, then she no longer had a choice.
My life as a normal little commoner had changed into the life of bourgeois Agatha six months ago.
“Don’t go too far! Yuna!”
“Yes, teacher!”
The small girl answered energetically, then looked around and slipped into the forest.
The teacher, who had many children to watch over, would not bother searching specifically for Kim Yuna. She could slip back out when playtime ended and it was time to return to the orphanage.
It was something she’d done more than once or twice, so Yuna walked into the forest with a relaxed expression.
If you go inside, a wolf might eat you. You know there are wolves in the forest, right?
“I don’t believe that.”
Yuna muttered in a sulky voice. It was all just a lie to scare the children and keep them from going into the forest.
She had never once seen a wolf in the forest. Yuna wrinkled her nose.
“All adults are liars.”
Her mother, who had promised to come get her soon, still had not returned even after Yuna turned eight. As Yuna trudged along, thinking that adults must all turn into liars once they grew up, she suddenly heard—
“Ugh……”
A small groan.
Yuna pricked up her ears.
The orphanage where Yuna lived was in the forest, so there were no people nearby.
But that sound was definitely—
Yuna lowered her body to the ground and carefully parted the bushes with her hands.
“Huh…?”
The fur of a huge dark blue wolf shimmered in the sunlight filtering through the leaves. Its coat was glossy, and it had an air of mystery about it. And the sharp purple eyes looking at Yuna shone like amethysts set into its face.
There really is a wolf!
The wolf did not seem hostile at all. Yuna swallowed hard.
“Are you hurt somewhere?”
The wolf slowly lowered its head. Then it nudged something carefully with its snout from where it lay in its arms. The groaning deepened. Yuna’s eyes widened.
“Is someone injured?”
The wolf lifted its head and looked at Yuna silently.
“…Will I get hurt if I come closer?”
The wolf shook its head. It clearly understood what Yuna was saying. Yuna carefully approached it.
Inside the wolf’s arms was a boy who looked to be about Yuna’s age. Glancing at the wolf, Yuna crouched beside the child.
The boy’s hair sparkled in the light. It was the kind of hair color one might see in a fairy tale.
“Where does it hurt?”
Yuna asked softly.
Then the boy slowly opened his eyes. The eyes revealed between his eyelids were a beautiful green, as though they held all the greenery of this forest within them. There seemed to be a faint bluish tint too.
“It hurts……”
When the boy let a teardrop fall, Yuna panicked, sprang to her feet, and flustered, said,
“If it hurts enough to make you cry, then it must really hurt…! What should I do…!”
The young Yuna had no help she could offer the boy right away. She needed an adult who could give him proper assistance.
“I—I’ll go get the teacher! Wait here!”
“No… don’t… please don’t……”
The boy burst into tears. The way he clutched at Yuna’s clothes was desperate. The wolf pulled him closer into its arms as if protecting him. Seeing that, Yuna swallowed.
“Don’t? Why?”
“People who want to kill me are coming……”
Such a tiny thing, and yet he was saying all sorts of impossible things.
“That’s nonsense. You know how scary the police officers in our country are? Who would want to kill you? Our orphanage teachers are all kind……”
The boy shook his head furiously. His face had gone pale, as if he could hardly breathe. Just as the boy was trying to open his mouth—
