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Chapter 2…
So… is this what possession is supposed to feel like?
I slowly looked around the empty, silent room. I was certain I’d never seen it before, yet it felt as familiar as the room I’d been living in just moments ago.
I had the strange feeling that I could find the mirror, the jewelry box, and the fountain pen even with my eyes closed.
I was stunned. My unfocused eyes wandered aimlessly. The dim dawn light seeped through the window.
Faint sunlight crept onto the bed, glinting off the hair that lay across my chest—a soft, unreal pink that rippled gently.
The hair shimmered like a delicate, blooming pink rose. When I swayed it in front of my eyes, I could almost imagine catching a whiff of flowers. My mind felt hazy, as if I was in a daze.
…Pink hair? My hair was supposed to be black.
Ah, right. This is Ariel Vallienor’s hair.
So I really have possessed a character in a novel—
and not just any character, but the eldest daughter of a villainous family destined for extermination.
…Damn it.
Why is it always the eldest daughter? Are you kidding me?
I Rescued a Cat and It Became Obsessed with Me.
The title alone made its intentions painfully obvious. This was a novel with the perfect mix of a decent villain, a bit of catharsis, and a pinch of romance—enough to be moderately popular.
The plot was painfully simple.
In the Eldrian Empire, the deposed crown prince, Rishar, was abandoned and left wounded in the form of a cat.
The heroine discovered the injured cat collapsed by a wall and nursed it back to health. The cat, once recovered, transformed into a man—and fell in love with her.
But unfortunately, the heroine was already engaged—to none other than Ariel’s younger brother, Jeremiah Vallienor.
Jeremiah was a man with a twisted sense of love, willing to use any means necessary to possess the heroine. He kidnapped her and confined her in the ducal estate.
“If you won’t be mine, I’ll kill everyone. Your parents, your friends, your territory—if you want to lose everything you love, go ahead and do as you please. As you know, Vallienor has the power to destroy it all in an instant.”
“You lunatic. Just kill me already.”
“Sorry, but I can’t kill you. Instead, I’ll kill Rishar right in front of you.”
In the end, the heroine became the Duchess of Vallienor to protect her family, her people, and Rishar.
Rishar, in turn, staged a rebellion to save her. The logic behind this was questionable at best, but the readers were united in rooting for him—
—for one simple reason: they wanted to see that insane psychopath brought down.
Rishar easily ascended the throne and annihilated House Vallienor. He justified the purge by exposing the family’s long list of crimes to the entire empire.
The Vallienor family’s reputation had never been good to begin with. If the imperial family was the light of the empire, Vallienor was its darkness—that was considered common knowledge.
“If you keep crying, the Vallienors will come and take you away.”
“They say Vallienor and their ilk are behind all the major incidents in the empire.”
“No one knows what they’re doing in the shadows. Everyone who does is dead.”
When it turned out most of those rumors were true, Vallienor was erased from history.
And the heroine and hero lived happily ever after. The end.
…What a garbage life.
Why is my life like this? Why can’t I just be happy?
Even when I possess someone, why do I have to be the villain’s older sister?
If this were a romance novel and I were the protagonist, it wouldn’t be a love story—it’d be a survival story. Surviving the Doom of a Doomed Family, or something like that.
If I remember correctly, Ariel is sixteen right now. That means there are still nine years before the original story begins.
Good. Once I’m an adult, I can run away somehow. Should I go for a contract marriage? Or defect to another country?
As I was racking my brain over this hopeless life plan, I heard movement outside the room.
“Where’s Ariel?”
“She hasn’t woken up yet—about ten minutes ago, at least.”
“Her condition?”
“Breathing, pulse, and temperature are all normal.”
“Let’s go in.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Hearing that the duke was coming, I quickly straightened my posture and closed my eyes, pretending to sleep.
The oppressive aura radiating from Ariel’s father, Duke Meteerio Vallienor, made goosebumps prickle across my skin.
I could feel his gaze boring into me as he sat in the chair beside my bed. I didn’t even dare to breathe too loudly.
“At least she’s breathing.”
The chill in his voice was sharper than a blade.
It sounded like he meant, “Good, she’s still alive,” but the tone was closer to, “Want me to make sure you stop breathing?”
In the original story, Meteerio was a cold-blooded man without a shred of compassion. Even his own children weren’t spared.
He was already dead by the time the main plot began, but his influence loomed large over the story.
“Your Grace, you must rule with the same dignity as the late Lord Meteerio.”
“Hmph… If it were Lord Meteerio, such lowly scum would never have risen in the first place. Jeremiah is far too soft.”
Among all the Vallienors in history, he was considered the most Vallienor-like—
which was a polite way of saying he was the biggest psychopath of them all.
The memories Ariel had of her father matched the description perfectly: ruthlessly indifferent and utterly cold. He had never once looked at his children with affection.
Realizing that I was alone in a room with the story’s ultimate villain made my whole body freeze.
At least he didn’t seem to have any immediate plans to kill me.
But what if he suddenly changed his mind? He could very well decide to make me regret ever coming back to life.
My imagination ran wild with chilling scenarios. In this frail body, fighting back would be impossible—my best bet would be to strike first and run.
Just then, a sound I could hardly believe reached my ears.
“Huuuaaaangh.”
…?
“Hhhhk, huuuaaaangh.”
…What did I just hear?
My eyes flew open before I realized it. Huaaangh? Did I really just hear that?
“Thank goodness… you’re alive… huuuaaaangh.”
…??
I stared blankly at the man before me.
With hair as silvery as molten mercury, a man as beautiful and lethal as poison was wiping his nose and eyes with both hands—
and sobbing.
“H-honey, you protected Ariel, didn’t you? You did… huuuaaaangh… sniffle.”
…
Uh, excuse me? You are Meteerio Vallienor, right?
Why is the man infamous for treating his family like dirt suddenly acting like this?
I stared at the crying man with a dumbfounded expression. I almost laughed from sheer absurdity.
Ladies and gentlemen, the greatest villain in the world is currently using my bed sheets as a tissue while bawling his eyes out.
Ha. Is this real life? This feels more unrealistic than the possession itself.
“Sniff… hhhuuuuhhh?”
After shaking with sobs for a while, the duke suddenly lifted his head, perhaps sensing my gaze.
His gray-blue eyes, as dry and hard as stone, trembled. His pale face cooled like ice.
“…”
“…”
We both stared at each other with equally dumb looks, each of us seemingly hoping this was all just a dream.
…What now? Should I pretend to be asleep again?
Yeah. That’s probably for the best.
Moving as slowly as a sloth, I crept back under the covers.
Taking the chance, the duke quickly fixed his face and clothes before solemnly declaring:
“Nothing happened.”
“…”
“Nothing at a—”
A drop of snot sliding down his perfectly straight nose completely stole my attention.
I instinctively reached for a towel and handed it to him—damn this eldest-daughter reflex.
“Here, wipe with this.”
“—all. Sniff.”
…Uh-huh, sure.
Please don’t eat your snot, just blow it out.
The duke obediently blew his nose. Before he could repeat his “nothing happened” line, I beat him to the punch.
“Oh dear, I must be seeing things now. There’s no way Your Grace would come all the way here just to see lowly little me. I should get back to sleep.”
Perfect. A flawless method performance.
I lay back down, closed my eyes, and even added the soft, even breathing of someone fast asleep.
It didn’t take long for the duke—understanding the unspoken wishes of his eldest daughter—to swiftly leave the room.
Click. Thunk.
…
What the hell was that just now?
The image of the iron-blooded villain, Meteerio, crying his eyes out wavered in my mind like a mirage.
It was probably more reasonable to believe the whole thing was just a hallucination.
But still—this was character derailment on a whole other level. Weren’t villains like him supposed to be too cold to even sweat, let alone cry and snot?
And this guy was sobbing “huuaaaangh”? Seriously?
I buried my face in my hands and rolled across the bed.
By now, the sun had fully risen, and the warm morning light wrapped around me like a blanket. Sleep came rushing back all at once.
When I opened my eyes again… maybe, just maybe, I’d be back in my own body.
