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Chapter 01
The woman’s face in the mirror was very beautiful.
Her silver hair shone with a healthy gloss. Her dreamy, violet eyes looked as if amethyst had been melted and set into them.
She was extremely lovely, but her face was drawn and hollow as if all vitality had been drained away.
Her skin, originally as white as porcelain, was marred all over with red marks.
They were the traces of the torment she’d suffered from last night — from the moment she couldn’t remember until this morning.
How could she possibly go home looking like this?
Me — who had lived quietly for twenty years! Looking like this! How could I face my father and brother now?
“Sigh…”
She truly wanted to cry.
It had been twenty years since she was reincarnated into a book. And in the nineteenth year, she’d made this enormous mistake.
Of course, the character she had become — Yulia Beatrice — was an extra in the novel.
Usually when someone reincarnates into a book, they’re trapped in dangerous plots tied to the male or female lead and have to scramble just to survive. That wasn’t her case.
She liked the setup of being born into a warm, loving imperial family and being the youngest princess who enjoyed their doting affection.
They’d pampered her so much that she became willful and self-centered — that part she could accept. After all, that was how Yulia was written in the original work, not how she herself had been in her past life. But there was one part she really couldn’t accept.
Unlike the early setup, the character Yulia ended in tragedy.
She fell hopelessly in love with the villain, following him around like an infatuated fool. Because he found her bothersome, the villain slaughtered the entire imperial household that loved her and then took the throne for himself.
Finally, utterly shattered by the sight of her family’s deaths, Yulia killed herself.
“Ugh…”
Her legs gave out; she sank down with a thud.
She had spent twenty years hiding in the palace specifically to avoid any entanglement with that villain, refusing to let her beloved father and brother be killed because of her. And yet all of that effort had evaporated.
She’d spent a night with him by mistake — truly, there were no words.
If she’d somehow slept with an extra, or a character who never appeared in the original, she might have been able to shrug it off. If it had been the male lead or a harmless side male lead, she might have been able to live with it.
But of all people—of all people—it was the villain! The very villain who, in the story, would behead her family!
Damn alcohol. If she hadn’t drunk last night, she wouldn’t have made this life-shattering mistake.
Apparently she and alcohol had some kind of fate together. In her previous life she’d died drinking too. Adults were right: drink in moderation — her father had told her that before sending her out.
“Yulia.”
A voice sounded through the door and emotion surged inside her.
How could even his voice feel so villainous?
She wanted him to drop dead of annoyed apoplexy, or break his spine, or have his head chopped off — any reason, it was all his fault if she died.
She’d always wanted love that came naturally, not arranged or contrived — and yet somehow she’d become the kind of person blinded by the desire to pursue a meeting she thought would happen on fate’s terms.
Maybe others wouldn’t think so, but she felt it painfully, and it made her despair.
“Ahhhhh!”
In the original, Yulia didn’t just feel a mild romantic interest in the villain — she obsessed over him, stalking him relentlessly.
Because he found her bothersome, the villain massacred her family and seized the throne.
She had deliberately hidden herself for nineteen years to avoid drawing the villain’s attention so her family would be safe.
And now, because of last night, all of that was ruined.
“Yulia?”
“Don’t come in!”
Although she was a princess, she was a bit lower in rank than the duke who stood beyond the door.
She had no memory of last night, but if she thought about the shameless things he’d done this morning, she couldn’t blame herself for being furious enough to speak roughly — she’d have expected him to at least have some conscience.
Why did she feel so sorrowful?
She should’ve just listened to her father and brother. Or at least when they told her not to go, she should have put on a helpless face and stayed holed up in the palace.
“Waaaaah—”
Oh my fate! She would beat the ground with regret! But what good is regretting now? It’s already over!
What’s over? Her life was over.
Her purity had been taken, and now her family’s lives might be taken by the villain!
Outwardly she could act as if everything was normal, but she knew well that he was exactly the terrifying lunatic the story described.
The door slammed open and the villain entered.
“Yulia! Why are you crying?”
“…Do you think I’m not going to cry right now?”
If she merely cried and stopped there, maybe if she killed herself here her body would quietly disappear without a trace. If she died, she wanted her family to find her body and bury her properly. She wanted a grand funeral.
But if she killed herself here, he might dispose of her corpse to cover evidence. He could make it vanish, and that terrified her.
“What are you going to do about this?”
He looked unbearably innocent and oblivious, which made her furious.
The events of last night and this morning could be explained if two consenting adults had ended up in bed together — they could have just acknowledged it as a mistake and gone their separate ways.
But this was a different problem.
Her whole body hurt from top to bottom. How could she possibly explain this to her father and brother?
“How are you going to take responsibility for this?” he demanded.
“I never said I wouldn’t take responsibility.”
He countered boldly; she was stunned at his audacity and bit her lower lip hard.
“Have I ever said I wouldn’t take responsibility?” she asked.
“N-no…”
She was angry. She’d never said she wouldn’t be responsible, but this was nothing more than a one-night mistake.
A lapse — that’s what it was. Just a deviation. She wanted to erase it and pretend it never happened.
“Let’s just…pretend it never happened…”
“Never happened?”
“As I said before…this can be something that happens naturally between consenting adults…”
Even she felt the excuse was ridiculous. Not all adults had those accidents.
She couldn’t look him in the eye. Even if they’d shared a night, he was the villain in the original; she hoped, if possible, not to be involved any further.
“Hah…!”
She flinched — not just at his voice, but at the look in his eyes. It terrifed her.
The villain from the original: Duke Chester Zikbert.
He had lost his parents at an early age. When the child heir inherited the family, his relatives tried to take the position away from him. The young head had joined the Empire’s conquering wars and, leading the vanguard, returned a war hero at a young age.
After his return, he personally beheaded every relative who’d threatened his position with the very sword he’d used on the battlefield — doing so with an expression that showed no emotion, cold and terrifying.
That very look might be what was in his eyes now — an icy, frightening stare.
“Do you expect me not to take responsibility?”
“…”
She was so scared her lips wouldn’t move.
But she felt she had to answer, so she nodded.
Yet the ominous feeling she sensed — what could it mean? He stared at her with an intimidating intensity.
“Then you must take responsibility for me, shouldn’t you?”
“…Excuse me?”
Had she misheard? She wanted to deny reality, but he kindly — and unnecessarily — made it clear.
“You must take responsibility for me, Yulia.”
“Duke… I…”
“Chester.”
“Duke.”
“You called me ‘Chester’ this morning just fine. Is this sudden formality necessary?”
“This isn’t formality! I… I’m not in any kind of relationship with you!”
“So the princess thinks a one-night affair is nothing?”
He gripped her chin with one hand and gave a twisted smile.
“For a first time, it was quite memorable.”
“…”
Her heart trembled. The pounding in her chest was surely born of fear. What had possessed her last night?
The memoryless anxiety gnawed at her.
“Yulia. You must take responsibility for me.”
He kissed each knuckle of her fingers.
He did it while staring at her with a fixed, sticky intensity, and then proceeded to kiss her wrist.
His eyes were predatory, as if he intended to devour her.
“You wouldn’t be thinking of seducing an innocent like me just to take my purity and then run away, would you?”
Hearing someone so clearly not innocent say that angered her into silence. Who had been the mess this morning?
She was too stunned to speak.
“No,” she managed.
She couldn’t say much, but that answer held some meaning: she never intended to sleep with anyone. She truly didn’t understand why she’d tumbled with this villain.
Maybe she should blame her taste for handsome faces — despite him being the villain, he was handsome.
Seeing yesterday’s self made her want to grab her current self by the hair and throw herself into the imperial palace in punishment. She resented that version of herself.
“Duke…”
“Call me Chester, Yulia.”
This time his voice was sweet and tender as he whispered.
His gaze was hot and full of a hunger that seemed ready to swallow her whole.
“…Chester.”
Reluctantly, she said his name.
If she made a fuss, it would only prolong things. Better to give him what he wanted and leave quietly.
She’d already stayed out overnight; she couldn’t possibly let them learn she’d caused a major scandal too.
“Yulia. Don’t even think about leaving.”
His voice was gentle in tone, but his words were chilling.
He said that if she left, he’d kill her — but the tone didn’t feel threatening at all; it was almost affectionate.
“What would happen if I left…?”
She had a rough idea, but she asked anyway — perhaps hoping the villain from the original might still hold some moral restraint.
“If you really want to check, stepping out once mightn’t be bad. If you try to run and we catch you, you’ll never be able to get off the bed again.”
The pleasant voice dripped with menace. She knew from experience he wasn’t exaggerating.
Even now, though her waist throbbed, she could stand and walk properly only because Chester allowed it. She felt completely drained and helpless, while he showed no signs of fatigue whatsoever.
No — perhaps his energy exceeded human limits. A chill ran down her spine.
“Locking me up is kidnapping royalty…”
“Did I say I was locking you up? I told you not to move. Once you step out of the mansion, understand it as a request to be confined to bed.”
“…I’ll tell my brother.”
“Please do. If you can, go ahead. I won’t stop you.”
Her threats had no effect. Even if the story had changed, the villain role fit him perfectly. He didn’t flinch at her attempts to use threats.
“If my father and brother find out… it would be terrible…”
“…”
“It won’t just be a scolding… I’ve never caused trouble before…”
“That’s fortunate.”
What did he mean?
“Because I’m your first. I’m confident I’ll be your first and your last.”
“…You know who I am?”
“I know very well, Princess Yulia Beatrice.”
He’d known all along and behaved as he pleased. She’d secretly hoped he might have been unaware she was a princess, but that was wishful thinking.
If she’d known this would happen, she wouldn’t have spent nineteen quiet years!
“Will you keep it a secret?”
“…Really?”
“If you want, I’ll keep my mouth shut about this incident.”
For the first time, a sliver of hope appeared.
She’d feared he wouldn’t treat it as if it never happened, but the offer to keep quiet gave her hope.
She looked at him expectantly; his smile, however, was not ordinary.
“Do you want me to keep it secret with an empty promise?”
“…Then how will you keep it secret?”
He could ask for almost anything. After all, she’d been dearly cherished as the youngest daughter in the imperial family. She could give him almost anything short of imperial treasures.
As her thoughts raced, he placed a finger over his lips and smiled, beguiling.
“To silence the mouth, you must silence it with the mouth.”
He murmured lazily in a low voice.
